Furious Movie News 07.29.10: The Edition with the Dragon Tattoo

Posted by Arnold Furious on 07.29.2010

RoboCop is dead again, the latest details on This Means War, news on a follow up to The Big Lebowski, new trailers, a look at the box office top 10 and much more!

After mentioning it last week the Premier League "Player of the Week" scheme will be going ahead in collaboration with the guys at The Promised Land; a football based blog. We'll be compiling a Top 5 players based on votes between us for each week and then totting the figures up and hopefully, come next May, we'll have ourselves a Premier League player of the season based on week by week successes. I'll be posting the Top 5 in this column on a weekly basis and giving you all an update as to how it's going overall. Much like the wrestling zone's excellent "Wrestler of the Week" feature. Exciting times. I hope you all enjoy the feature when it's up and running. We'll have a trial of the system for the Charity Shield. I'll make a point of linking you all to the appropriate place to read it as soon as it's available.

NEWS!

This Means War – a cast assembled?

Action/comedy This Means War, for a long time in development hell with Fox, looks to be getting ready for action. It first took shape in 2001 as a vehicle for Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence. That idea was ditched. Bradley Cooper was cast not so long ago but dropped out because of other commitments. James Franco rejected the role and just last month the lead was offered to Sam Worthington. He's now left the project BUT it seems his replacement Tom Hardy is locked in. That means McG has assembled himself an official cast.

The movie sees two spies fall in love with the same girl. The girl in question is Reese Witherspoon, who signed on some time ago, who will also be working on the film in a producer capacity. The other spy is played by Star Trek star Chris Pine. McG is best known for his work on Terminator: Salvation, which had decent action sequences and the Charlie's Angels movies. Tom Hardy is on quite the run. Having starred in Bronson and recently appeared in Inception he's also signed as the new Mad Max. He has boxing drama Warrior in post co-starring with Nick Nolte.



Reese Witherspoon is a strange actress. Alternating between fluffy popcorn roles (Monsters Vs Aliens, Four Christmases, Legally Blonde) and serious heavyweight roles. Including Walk the Line, which won her an Academy Award. Perhaps she's just following the advice of Ben Affleck in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. You do a money picture then an art picture. Seeing as she has this and Paul Thomas Anderson's next film in pre-production I think you can guess which is which. Chris Pine will film Unstoppable before working on this. Unstoppable sees him directed by Tony Scott and working with Scott's muse Denzel Washington and Rosario Dawson.

Fincher won't plan trilogy before Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is shot



When talking to MTV News David Fincher told them he is only planning to make Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and isn't going to shoot the trilogy back to back to back like the Swedish have. His reasoning being that people will have to watch and like the first film before any plans are in place for more shoots. Which is correct. If the film turns out anything like the superb Swedish movie then I think people will be clamouring at the bit for another dip into these characters lives. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be released in December 2011 with Fincher having settled on Daniel Craig to play the central male character. Fincher has yet to select the actress to play Lisbeth Salander; the titular girl with the titular tattoo.

The Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was released in early 2009 in Scandinavia was such a success, pulling down over $100M worldwide, that it got a cinematic release in the USA back in March. The Girl Who Played With Fire is the second of the trilogy and is currently on release in the US. The third film; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest has yet to be released outside of some European markets. All three were released during 2009 in Scandinavia. Fincher has confirmed that his Girl with the Dragon Tattoo will be shot on location in Sweden.

No Robo

The Darren Aronofsky planned re-boot of RoboCop looks to be officially dead. It was in the planning stages last year but with MGM. And that particular studio has such dire finances now that the film has been cancelled. The film had been previously pushed back to a 2013 release. Aronofsky has kept himself busy despite the disappointment. He eventually got his sci-fi film The Fountain made in 2006 after previously failing to do with Brad Pitt starring. In 2008 he received critical acclaim for the film The Wrestler, which won Mickey Rourke a Golden Globe in a big comeback role. His next film is Black Swan; a drama about ballet dancing rivalries with a killer cast. It's scheduled to debut at the Venice Film Festival in September and stars Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Winona Ryder, Vincent Cassel and Sebastian "Bucky Barnes" Stan.



The news that RoboCop now won't reappear may disappoint some. After all Aronofsky is somewhat of a hero around the 411 offices for bringing a realistic depiction of professional wrestling to the big screen. Not only that but helping to resurrect the career of Mickey Rourke. However there were those who rejected the very idea of tampering with one of the 1980s best action films. After all it was exciting, satirical and violent. All trademarks of Paul Verhoeven's underrated work. Here's a clip.



No Dude either…

Jeff Bridges got the chance to go retro this year finally revisiting his role in Tron for Disney's Tron: Legacy, which is due out before the end of the year. Also due out before the year ends is another Bridges film; True Grit. I know what you're thinking; "True Grit, the John Wayne movie?" That's what I first thought too. Especially as it's a Western. But True Grit began life as a book and this is another, different, adaptation of the same book. Which means when Jeff Bridges dons the ol' Rooster Cogburn eye-patch it'll be as essentially the same character that John Wayne played. Reasons not to be upset; it's directed by the Coen Brothers. Which brings us to point two; weren't they planning some sort of follow up to the Big Lebowski?



According to Bridges it may have been considered and even talked about on the set of this new movie. But as it stands there are "no plans". Awww. I'm sure you'll all agree that The Big Lebowski was a wonderful film and if anyone was going to show us where those characters went to and did it would be the Coen Brothers. Bridges added if it did happen it would be "a wonderful surprise". So there's still a little hope there. You never know your luck. Seeing as we're talking Big Lebowski here's a clip…



Details on Cowboys and Aliens

IGN got the chance to do an in depth interview with director Jon Favreau about the forthcoming Cowboys and Aliens film. During the interview he describes the film as a Western but one that takes its tone from Alien and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The latter being important because Steven Spielberg is onboard as executive producer so Favreau picked his brain for information on how he shot Close Encounters. He also compared his stars Daniel Craig & Harrison Ford to Steve McQueen and John Wayne as their classical predecessors in the genre.



This is due for release next summer. The film will be set in Absolution in the old West with residents and the local Apache tribe putting their differences aside after a flying saucer crash-lands in their settlement. Daniel Craig plays a mysterious gunslinger with no memory of who he is; the town's last hope against these new alien invaders. Ford will play Colonel Dolarhyde; a tough military man who lays down the law. I can see this crossover working although the first time I heard the title I thought it was an animated comedy. Then I cringed when I realised it was for real. Hopefully they'll come up with something better by the time it's released but it looks like they're happy with it. It does tell you everything you need to know about the movie! Favreau has been improving as a director though and I think he'll do well here.

TRAILERS!!

Sucker Punch. It was in yesterday's movie news but just in case you missed it here's the trailer for the forthcoming release from Watchmen director Zach Snyder. It looks like a complete clusterfuck but the combination of stuff on display is just crazy enough to work. Hopefully the actual movie is slightly more coherent otherwise this could end up as porn for the eyes.



A longer trailer for The Goon. It seems like it was shot specifically to be a trailer but that doesn't stop it being cool. I approve.



CHART WATCH

We always get the run-down on the top 10 movies in the US. 411 does a post updating it every weekend and it's covered in other news columns at the head of the week. With Chart Watch I thought I'd take a look at how certain movies are doing on the all-time lists. Here's this week's Chart Watch;

2010 Releases;



Toy Story 3 is starting to establish a strong lead as the highest grossing movie in America this year. It now has $379M domestic. Some $45M more than Alice in Wonderland achieved during its entire box office run Stateside. Of course globally it's a different story. While Toy Story 3 added another $100M onto its global gross over the course of the last 7 days it still trails Alice by a whopping $300M. Alice, of course, breaking the $1 billion mark earlier this year. TS3 is well positioned to continue to haul in cash and its partner in animation dominance Shrek Forever After is starting to show real strong growth in foreign markets with nearly $600M banked. It's been a good year so far for the big animation studios. They've seen huge returns on their concluding parts to their headline franchises. Back in the USA and Inception is now into the top 10 movies of the year having retained its number one spot despite strong competition from Salt. Inception has $143M so far in the US and has already surpassed the likes of Grown Ups and Shutter Island.

All Time!!



Toy Story 3 has notched two more successes this weekend. Firstly it has made it onto the top 100 movies of all time when adjusted for inflation. Which is a tough chart to break into! Based on sheer box office dollars TS3 sits as the 12th highest grossing film in the history of US cinema. Just a shade behind Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. $400M will get you into the top 10 and that's a very real possibility for TS3. After all this past weekend it picked up $9M and its not really losing a lot of audience per week. It should take about $7M next weekend, which would take it up to $390M-ish. It's in it for the long haul, that's for damn sure. Although let us remember that it still needs another $60M or so to beat the current reigning champion of animated box office; Shrek 2, which did silly numbers back in 2004. Meanwhile Eclipse is up to #45 on the all time chart having passed both The Hangover and Meet the Fockers this past weekend. There are currently 5 active pictures on the all-time list, which is unusual but not surprising for the summer season. Although Iron Man 2 is pretty much done it did still notch another spot this weekend as did How to Train Your Dragon.

New Releases



Big release this weekend was Salt. It has the 17th biggest weekend for a movie not opening as #1 at $36M. It's a decent return and the $110M budget isn't out of its grasp. It has a similar opening to recent bomb Robin Hood, which went on to claim $104M total. That would be a disappointment for Angelina Jolie BUT Robin Hood had considerably more competition. Salt is opening with only Inception as a big player. There are a couple of comedies coming out in the next few weeks but no competition for the action dollar. I suppose you could make a case for Wahlberg/Ferrell comedy The Other Guys. But I figure Salt will do ok in terms of holds. Maybe not as well as Inception but it should be good enough to see it turn a profit. As far as Jolie vehicles go Salt opened up a little slower than Wanted and Mr & Mrs Smith, which were both in the area of $50M. But better off than Lara Croft or Beowulf, which were both movies that cashed in on her sexuality.



This being 411 we don't keep pictures on file for movies like Ramona & Beezus so here's a picture of Rambo instead.

Also opening was Ramona & Beezus. I don't think we expected much out of this movie as it only appealed to the female side of the kiddy market, which traditionally is a lot harder to score successes with. Especially with the tweenage market so obsessed with vampires and werewolves at the moment. So they were looking to pick up the younger crowd. Opening with $8M puts it on a par with Matilda, which finished its run with $33M. I'm sure with a $15M budget R&B would take that. It has already made more money than the incredible bomb that was City of Ember. Thing is…I saw that movie and it was good. But then if good movies made the most money the chart would look a lot different wouldn't it? Director Elizabeth Allen's last picture was Aquamarine, which opened to less and went on to make $18M. I think around $20M will be the total for this one.


REACTION!

How do the 411 readers feel about this week's chart?

lol, even after two solid weeks N0lan can't make a profit.
Only way he can have a hit is if it stars a man who wears his underwear on top of his tights.

Posted By: Chungles (Guest) on July 25, 2010 at 01:33 PM

I was going to comment on this and remind the commenter that Inception is on course to make a substantial profit then I realised it was Chungles and moved on. Every other comment is just insulting the troll.


Movers and Shakers

INCEPTION



Time to discuss what Inception is actually going to finish with here. It was a decent opening, considering what a hard sell the concept was, and it did open stronger than another Chris Nolan movie Batman Begins. BB finished with $205M. The 70% hold is a good one and suggests that Inception is here for the long run. Now the downside is that people simply don't return to the movie for the second visit and it drops off and finishes around $215M. It could happen. But there are people who want to watch this film again because of the mind-bending nature of it. So they're going back for seconds. That puts it in a different ball-park. For comparison I'm going for a fan-based series; Twilight. As Eclipse has a similar debut (just a couple of million apart) and that has already got $279M. If the holds continue then Inception should be looking at a similar return. Pushing toward the $300M mark. Good luck to Chris Nolan. I always appreciate directors who not only attempt something different after hitting the big time but don't make a complete mess of it.

DESPICABLE ME



In the midst of Toy Story 3's massive box office haul and Inception's lively debut people seem to have forgotten that Despicable Me has done some astounding box office figures since release 3 weeks ago. $161M domestic so far. The production budget was only $69M on DM though so it's laughing all the way to Hollywood bank. What's really impressive is that it fell by only 26% since last week, which shows people are genuinely digging this movie. Because they could have just gone and watched Toy Story 3 again. The only movie with a better hold is Grown Ups, which has experienced strong holds because it's the only live action comedy on the chart and has been for weeks. Grown Ups has ended up with a healthy $142M (a big hit now) simply because of release schedules. The glut of comedy movies come at the end of the summer. Both The Other Guys and Dinner With Schmucks land soon.

SORCERER'S APPRENTICE



Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. 45% drop-off since debuting last week and it seems this isn't going to be a hit or anything close to a hit. Previous collaborations between Nic Cage and director Jon Turteltaub have seen far more money rolling in. Mainly because they were the National Treasure movies and although they suck people buy Cage more as an Indiana Jones knock-off than they do a Harry Potter (or Dumbledore, I guess, whatever) knock-off. Oddly enough this opened to less money than Kick-Ass. Which is a movie that got a pasting in the mainstream for glorifying violence and saw big drop-offs as families avoided it. This movie has suffered from an entirely different problem where the audience just wasn't interested to start with. Just because Harry Potter is successful doesn't mean the audience wants a load of wizard movies. I don't think Disney thought this one through.

ECLIPSE



I am really getting sick of writing about Eclipse every week. It's supposed to have disappeared by now! And yet although it's hanging around like the proverbial bad penny Eclipse is still in the shadow of New Moon and its whopping $296M box office gross. Eclipse still only has $279M. This wasn't supposed to happen this way. It was supposed to slide past New Moon and the series would continue to make more and more money. But the theory of new viewers joining the series as it progresses seem to not be working a big enough swing. It will probably go past New Moon at some point but will future Twilight movies smash that figure? Only time will tell.

LAST AIRBENDER



This hasn't been the total disaster that M. Night Shymalan haters would have you believe. If you include the $27M foreign gross with the $123M from the US it has equalled the $150M budget. It doesn't open in some markets until August or even September. The suggestion is that Airbender will see some form of profit. Of course the movie sucked (at 4.3/10 on IMDB, hated by 411 readers) so I wouldn't worry about a sequel. I think the movie will have its supporters but at the moment it's getting slaughtered and the damage limitation has seen it make sufficient money for everyone to sit down and say; hey, that could have been worse. Let's not hire that Shyalala guy again. Wise words. You think I'm being harsh? RT has Airbender at 8% fresh. That's not a typo; 08 out of 100. Not only that but every positive review has been hounded by commenter's aiming to get their point across. It may be the most hated movie of the summer.

MISC



Predators has definitely made money. So much so, a huge $6M, that Rob-Rod is already talking sequel. Maybe that's a touch early but the positivity to come from the movie has generated a little more interest than there was beforehand. But the people have been staying away in droves. It still trails the original Predator for box office take and that was an R rated movie released 23 summers ago. I think Rodriguez should probably channel that energy elsewhere while he still has a reputation for making money intact. Interesting to note The Kids Are All Right got opened up into more theaters this past weekend and posted the highest per theater average of any movie. Nearly $2,000 per screen more than Inception! What the fuck is that? That almost never happens and it has already reclaimed its $4M budget. Everything from here on in is pure profit. I mentioned briefly earlier that Grown Ups has some sick audience retention, down a mere 23% on last week, but here's a scary thought for you…its now Adam Sandler's highest grossing movie in 5 years. All those movies where he experimented and did different things – forget them. We've literally told Adam Sandler we only want him to make retarded comedies. I look forward to not watching You Don't Mess With the Zohan II next summer.

Next Week

Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore. Seriously? Fucking hell, Hollywood must be feeling like compensating for the creative freedom given Chris Nolan. Also Charlie St Cloud and Dinner For Schmucks. Whether any of those top the chart depends upon Inception's audience retention. If Cats & Dogs 2 wins I'll try and find something else to talk about in Chart Watch next week and we'll pretend it never happened. My prediction is Inception top for the 3rd week in a row and Dinner For Schmucks opens at #2. Both films are likely to be in the $25-30M bracket.

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ELSEWHERE

The Top 100 Guy Movies 90-71. I voted but I don't remember writing any blurbs. Nice to see Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg collaborations pop up. I still can't remember what came out on top. So I'm reading this as a fan.

One for the road. What are you having Kyle?



Until next time, I'm Arnold Furious and you're not.