The Big Screen Bulletin 01.23.12: Underworld Awakening Rules the Box Office!
Posted by Steve Gustafson on 01.23.2012
News and thoughts on Michael Fassbender discussing an X-Men: First Class sequel, another Dark Knight Rises villain being revealed, the Rock talking about his inspiration, WWE Studios picking up a found footage horror project, The Last Exorcism 2 getting a director and more!
Welcome to the Big Screen Bulletin! My name is Steve Gustafson and this is where we hit the big movie news from the weekend and anything else going on in the world of Hollywood!
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK!
This past weekend Underworld Awakening claimed the top spot at the box office. While the competition wasn't overly strong, this is still quite an achievement for a franchise that few thought would have legs.
With the success of Underworld, it got me thinking about where it stands in ranking with the other franchises. Which is my question to you: Where does the Underworld saga rank on the all-time franchise list?
VOTE BELOW!
CRAZIEST CASTING RUMOR OF THE WEEK!
I guess you can't believe everything you read. At least when it comes to movie titles. It looks like The Last Exorcism wasn't really the last exorcism. Funny how when a movie makes money people are surprised.
Shooting is expected to begin soon, using a script by Damien Chazelle. Over the weekend it was revealed that the director of the sequel would be Ed Gass-Donnelly and not Daniel Stamm, who helmed the first one. Oh, and Ashley Bell is returning to reprise her role as Nell.
And while story details are being kept under wraps, it is known that the events that take place pick up three months after The Last Exorcism. A Studiocanal (the company financing the film) exec told Deadline: "This much bigger scale movie will unravel a profoundly scarier chapter to Nell's battle between good and evil. God have mercy."
Gotcha.
YOUGOTTABEKIDDINME!
They keep trying! WWE Studios announced it has secured the rights to Bermuda, a "found footage" horror spec script from Bobby Lee Darby and Nathan Brookes. Set in the Bermuda Triangle, the story focuses on a documentary film crew that goes missing and the only trace of their disappearance comes when their film footage, chronicling their final terrifying days, is found.
Shockingly similar to other "found footage" movies.
"The Bermuda Triangle has always been an intriguing and mysterious setting," said WWE Studios President Michael Luisi. "Bobby and Nathan's script puts a very unique spin on the found footage genre."
Let's get into the REAL news!
A Villain Revealed!
This little clip is causing a lot of buzz on the internet. Some are happy with the announcement while others are saying it's "too much". Either way, 13-year-old Joey King was interviewed by My Entertainment World about her career, when talked turned to The Dark Knight Rises.
She got people talking when asked who she was playing, she said:
"It was so cool, I had an amazing time. I got to travel to places I'd never been to before. Christopher Nolan is so nice, so is Christian Bale. I just had the best time. I play young Talia al Ghul. I can't give too much away because I promised Mr. Nolan I wouldn't say anything. There are too many secrets about the character and the movie."
What do you think?
The Rock Speaks!
Looks like this guy has found his niche! Hollywood has certainly taken notice of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He recently spoke about who inspired him to consider an acting career and more. Really it wasn't a surprise who it is. He says, "I did a lot of my growing up here in Hawaii. I would skip school and me and my buddies would go down into Waikiki and there was a theatre down there and we would watch Harrison Ford movies, and Sylvester Stallone. I mean, those guys were my heroes, and I dreamt about this [successful career] back then. It was a special time for me."
Of course The Rock has found new success in action flicks but still remembers his family demographic with his new film, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. He said, "I enjoyed the first one, which is why I wanted to take a crack at [the sequel]. There are a lot of new things in this movie. I think that the writers and the filmmakers have really done a good job at elevating the series. The goal was to reboot it. The first one, you had a T-rex. In this one we have a gigantic lizard, we have miniature elephants, we have gigantic bees. There's a lot of cool action set pieces that people are going to see."
Bone!
Who doesn't love Bone? Looks like director P.J. Hogan is a fan and although he's known more for his romantic comedy work, the filmmaker also delved into fantasy with the most recent adaptation of Peter Pan.
Now Heat Vision has word that Hogan will head into another fantastical world by directing an adaptation of the comic book Bone with Greek creator Patrick Sean Smith adapting Jeff Smith's series which ran from 1991-2004 and found new life when bundled as graphic novels in recent years.
One can just read the graphic novels to get an idea of story details but the source material is rich with direction and should be a pretty simple transition to the big screen.
More X!
Let's get the sequel talk started! Michael Fassbender, who played Magneto in X-Men: First Class, was talking with IFC and offered up some of his thoughts on where he'd like to see Magneto go. Fassbender said:
"I get where [Magneto] is coming from, that's for sure — having read the source material, the comic books. From what we know with human beings, history has told us that we're a pretty destructive race, so you can see where he's coming from. It's always interesting for me to have the villains doing positive things as well as negative or destructive things. I just think it's more realistic.
It's like the actions will define the character . . . but it's more about making sure that it's intelligently written and there's a real driving force, there's real drama there, relationships are interesting, and that it's not lazy in anyway. A lot of the times I think with action films, the plot can be pretty weak because it's taking a back seat to the action sequences and the special effects. What we wanted to do with ‘X-Men' was definitely the reverse of that. We wanted to really focus on the characters and the plot and then have the action sequence there to sort of enhance the story."
Who's ready for more X-Men?
Trailer Talk
Paramount Vantage has revealed the trailer for writers/directors Jay and Mark Duplass'sJeff, Who Lives at Home, coming to theaters on March 16. The comedy-drama stars Jason Segel, Ed Helms, Judy Greer, Susan Sarandon, and Evan Ross. The plot:
On his way to the store to buy wood glue, Jeff looks for signs from the universe to determine his path. However, a series of comedic and unexpected events leads him to cross paths with his family in the strangest of locations and circumstances. Jeff just may find the meaning of his life... and if he's lucky, pick up the wood glue as well.
What do you think?
1. Underworld Awakening $25.4 million ($25.4 million total)
2. Red Tails $19.1 million ($19.1 million total) Read the review!
3. Contraband $12.2 million ($46.1 million total)
4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close $10.5 million ($11.3 million total)
5. Haywire $9.0 million ($9.0 million total) Read the review!
6. Beauty and the Beast 3D $8.6 million ($207.7 million total)
7. Joyful Noise $6.1 million ($21.9 million total)
8. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol $5.5 million ($197.3 million total)
9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows $4.8 million ($178.6 million total) Read the review!
10. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo $3.8 million ($94.7 million total) Read the review!
Box Office Survey!
Instead of me just repeating what you can see, how about we ask some questions about the weekend box office? Answer in the comments and NO CHEATING!
* There was a lot of studio exec's watching the number on Red Tails. What does it's box office take teach Hollywood?
* Should Disney be worried about Beauty and the Beast's drop?
* Is Gina Carano a serious player in Hollywood with Haywire's performance at the box office?
Before I say GOODBYE!
I would be remiss if I didn't mention some of the other OUTSTANDING articles on www.411mania.com. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't peep around the site. I always get my daily habit of reading. Here's a small sample!
