Salieri's So-So Reviews and News

Weekend Box Office: "The American" Leads Quiet Labor Day Weekend

2010-09-05T11:55:00.000-04:00

An American hit man took on a former Mexican fed during the final weekend of the 2010 summer movie season as George Clooney's "The American" beat out Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" to land at the top spot at the North American box office, while the Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic comedy "Going the Distance" couldn't even get out of the starting gate. With these three new releases, Hollywood closed the books on a summer movie season that was decidedly a mixed affair at best. This weekend was off 14% from last weekend's totals and 1.5% from 2009's Labor Day weekend totals.

Estimates reported below are for the 3-Day weekend and does not include Labor Day Monday.

Opening this past Wednesday to get a head-start on the long weekend, "The American" landed in 2,823 theaters and grabbed $3.1 million for those two days. For the weekend, the movie pulled in a so-so $12.7 million to bring its total to $15.8 million. Reviews were mixed for the Clooney thriller, whose ad campaign emphasized the action to sell it as Bourne-esque but failed to tell people that it was more cerebral than action oriented. The film was directed by Anton Corbijn (Control).

Ask anyone who saw 2007's "Grindhouse" what their favorite part of the film was, chances are they would say the faux trailers. One of those trailers was Robert Rodriguez's "Machete", whose three minutes of blood, guts, bullets and babes proved more faithful to the Grindhouse genre than Rodriguez's feature-length contribution, "Planet Terror", was. Rodriguez has gone and made a feature-length film out of the "Machete" trailer, which Fox debuted on 2,670 screens this weekend to gross a mediocre $11.3 million. The film opened at number one on Friday with $3.9 million but moved to second place on Saturday as "The American" rose to first place and "Machete"s grosses stayed flat, indicating that the movie has limited appeal outside of Rodriguez's fanbase . Reviews overall for the Danny Trejo/Robert De Niro action flick were favorable.

Last weekend's number one film, Screen Gems' "Takers", fell by an acceptable 44.5% to land in second place this weekend for an estimated $11.45 million, bringing its ten-day total to $38 million. The film, which had the best per screen average in the top ten, should finish somewhere near the $55-60 million mark. Dropping a scary 63% from its debut was Lionsgate's "The Last Exorcism" with an estimated $7.55 million to land in fourth place for a ten-day gross of $32.3 million. The Eli-Roth produced thriller should finish with roughly $45 million.

After what seemed like an eternity of watching Drew Barrymore and Justin Long make goo-goo eyes at each other in the commercials and press, Warner dumped their movie "Going the Distance" into 3,030 theaters and wound up grossing an un-romantic $6.9 million in its premiere weekend. Critics were unimpressed (46% on Rotten Tomatoes) with the R-rated comedy, and the weak $2,272 per screen average showed that audiences appeared to be even more apathetic toward the film. In sixth place was Sly and friends as their hit "The Expendables" eased only 29% from last weekend, adding another $6.75 million to its cinematic body count, which now hovers around the $93 million mark. Overseas, the film has already smashed through the $100 million mark.

Will and Mark were back on the beat this weekend as "The Other Guys" eased a mere 14% to add $5.4 million to its total, which now stands at roughly $107 million. The film might find its way to $120-125 million prior to policing the home video market this fall. Julia Roberts' comedy/drama "Eat Pray Love" also benefitted from the holiday weekend, easing a slight 29% to gross $4.85 million, bringing its total to the $69 million range. The cinematic adaptation of the runaway bestseller still has a shot at finishing its run near the $80 million mark, commendable but still shy of "Julie and Julia", which was also a Sony-released comedy/drama that debuted during the August timeframe as counterprogramming to R-rated action fare (which was District 9 and Inglourious Basterds).

Christopher Nolan's "Inception" continued to draw people in its eighth weekend out, dropping only 7 percent while adding $4.7 million to its total, which currently stands at approximately $277.1 million. The Dream Team should finish its domestic extraction job near the $290 million mark. Universal's "Nanny McPhee Returns" spent one more weekend in the top ten by adding $3.575 million in estimated ticket sales to bring its total near the $23.6 million mark.

The top ten grossing films for the summer season are as follows:

• Toy Story 3: $408 million

• Iron Man 2: $312.1 million

• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse $299 million

• Inception: $277.1 million

• Despicable Me: $241.2 million

• Shrek Forever After: $238.4 million

• The Karate Kid (2010): $176 million

• Grown Ups: $160 million

• The Last Airbender: $131 million

• Salt: $115 million

Next weekend, the fall movie season kicks off with "Resident Evil: Afterlife". With no other contenders, watch for the 3-D sci-fi action film to dominate the dormant box office.

Weekend Box Office: Sly's Expendables fend off five newcomers for the number one spot

2010-08-22T21:24:00.000-04:00

If you were at the movies this past weekend and happened to hear crickets chirping instead of your fellow moviegoers talking, then your hearing was not deceiving you. As August heads into the home stretch, the 2010 summer movie season is (thankfully) coming to a close. Studios have begun dumping titles onto the marketplace in the hopes of making a quick pre-DVD buck. With such a weak selection to choose from, it should come as no surprise that the overall box office was down from last year at this time.

After the biggest opening (pre-inflation) of his long career, Sly Stallone’s action hit “The Expendables” fell by a little more than half this weekend but still managed to command the top spot. Off 53%, the film nabbed an estimated $16.5 million 3,270 screens to bring its ten-day total to $65 million. This is the first time in seventeen (!) years that a Stallone film has stayed at number one for two weeks, the last being “Demolition Man”. Sly and the guys might finish their domestic campaign at or near the $100 million mark.

Fox’s latest film spoof from the brain trust that brought us “Meet the Spartans”, “Disaster Movie” and “Epic Movie”, the “Twilight” goof “Vampires Suck”, opened on Wednesday in 3,233 theaters and managed $6.4 million in mid-week sales. For the Friday-to-Sunday period, the movie grossed an estimated $12.2 million to bring its overall total to the $18.6 million mark. With a whopping 3% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes (one reviewer out there is desperate to get their name in a commercial) and probably an approval rating not much higher than that from ticket buyers, “Suck” should become as fast a fade as the other turkeys that filmmakers Friedberg and Seltzer have unleashed on us over the past few years.

Julia Roberts’ global search for self-discovery, the critically-panned “Eat, Pray, Love”, had a fairly respectable hold in its second weekend. Off 48%, the Sony Pictures comedy/drama consumed $12 million in estimated ticket sales to bring its ten-day total to the $47 million mark. As the film’s target audience is largely adult women, the drops over the next few weeks may not be as steep as other films with a younger demographic that will be heading back to school. Julia’s summer trip may end its run between $75-80 million domestically, a far more impressive tally than her last film, 2009’s “Duplicity”.

In fourth place was the new Warner Brothers comedy “Lottery Ticket”, with $11.1 million in estimated sales from 1,973 screens. The $5,639 per screen average was the highest in the top ten, besting the $5,046 per screen average generated by “The Expendables”. The low-budget urban comedy showcases an ensemble that includes Bow Wow, Loretta Devine and Ice Cube.

In fifth place was the Will Ferrell/Mark Whalberg cop comedy “The Other Guys” with an estimated $10.1 million and a new total of $89 million. The Sony hit should pass the $100 million mark by Labor Day. Close behind in sixth place with a $10 million debut was the Weinstein Company’s 3-D horror comedy (I’m guessing it was played for laughs) “Piranha 3-D”. Despite a surprisingly strong 80% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences were not enticed by the multi-dimensional gorefest.

With kids heading back to school shortly and parents undoubtedly having more than their fair share of family movies over the past several months, Universal’s sequel “Nanny McPhee Returns” debuted quietly over the weekend. The sequel to the 2006 hit starring Emma Thompson opened roughly 40% lower than the first film, which arrived stateside in January four years ago. The film received a strong 77% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Overseas, the movie has amassed a healthy $63 million to date, which makes the soft domestic debut a bit easier to swallow for distributor Universal Pictures.

Next up from Miramax was the Jennifer Aniston/Jason Bateman pregnancy comedy “The Switch”, which failed to deliver with only $8.1 million from 2,012 screens. In ninth place was Warner’s summer smash “Incpetion”, which eased 32% in its sixth weekend to $7.6 million and a new domestic total of $261.9 million. Rounding out the top ten while dropping 53% in its second round was Universal’s hipster dud “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”. With only $5 million for the weekend and $20.7 million in the bank so far, Scott will be lucky to finish his North American fight near the $30 million mark (or roughly half of its production budget).

You know the summer movie season is over when the most exciting thing being released next week is…a Christmas movie from last year. That’s right kids, next week heralds the return of James Cameron’s 3-D behemoth “Avatar” to 3-D screens across the country (well, 700 of them anyway). Also opening next weekend is the PG-13 horror film “The Last Exorcism” and the action film “Takers”.

Weekend Box Office: Sly’s “Expendables” Owns Julia's "Eat Pray Love" and "Scott Pilgrim"

2010-08-15T14:16:00.000-04:00

It was the ultimate battle of the sexes at the North American box office this weekend as Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables” fought off the new Julia Roberts drama “Eat, Pray, Love” to land in the top spot by a comfortable margin. Universal’s quirky “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” landed softly in fifth, while last week’s champ “The Other Guys” hung tough in third. Overall, the box office was up a bit from the past two years, roughly 10%.

You may have heard the term “has-been” used quite a bit recently in association to the ensemble cast for “The Expendables”. To a certain extent, the term was properly used. After all, it has been quite some time since the likes of Dolph Lundgren or “Stone Cold” Steve Austin were listed above the title of a movie. Even with the respectable business brought in by 2006’s “Rocky Balboa” and 2008’s “Rambo”, Sly Stallone’s career has certainly seen better days.

Or has it? Judging by the bloody good $35 million estimated opening for “The Expendables”, it appears that while Hollywood may have written these guys off (to a degree), their fans have not. Opening on a wide 3,270 screen count, the $80 million Lionsgate production gave its targeted male audience exactly what they were looking for: male bonding, explosions and a ridiculously high body count. Even if the film’s grosses dropped slightly on Saturday (down seven percent) from its $13.5 million opening on Friday (the film is estimated to lose roughly 20-25% today), the R-rated testosterone flick hit its intended target demo and took down another high profile debut in the process.

That other debut would be the much-anticipated big screen adaptation of the runaway bestseller “Eat, Pray, Love”, which stars another Hollywood star that hasn’t been around much of late, Julia Roberts. While the guys checked out “The Expendables”, the gals helped push Ryan Murphy (Glee)’s adaptation of the Elizabeth Gilbert novel to a decent but not great (given the book’s popularity) $23.7 million opening on 3,082 screens. The film scored a somewhat rancid Rotten Tomatoes score of 38% (The Expendables received a 43% approval rating), and those exiting the movie on opening day only gave the movie a “B” for a Cinemascore Rating. Also raising a bit of concern for distributor Sony is that Friday-to-Saturday grosses showed no increase, which may indicate word-of-mouth was mixed at best.

Last week’s winner, the Will Ferrell/Mark Whalberg action comedy “The Other Guys” held up well in its second weekend out. Off 49% from its $35.5 million debut, the duo arrested an estimated $18 million on 3,651 screens to bring its ten-day total to the $70 million mark. The comedy should have no trouble passing the $100 million mark by the time it winds down, making it the fourth successful collaboration between star Ferrell and director Adam McKay in a row.

Closing in on the quarter-billion mark and finishing in fourth place this weekend was the Warner smash hit “Inception”, which fell 39% in its fifth go-around to an estimated $11.3 million and a new to-date domestic total of approximately $249 million. Watch for Leo and his dream team to finish north of the $290 million range. Overseas, the Christopher Nolan-directed sci-fi mind trip has amassed close to $300 million in ticket sales.

The graphic novel series is much beloved, and the movie itself received the best reviews of all the wide releases this weekend (80% approval on Rotten Tomatoes). Yet, Universal’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” couldn’t expand past its fan base to achieve mainstream success. The $60 million comedy landed on 2,818 screens and could only muster $10.5 million in ticket sales to land in fifth place. Similar to this past spring’s “Kick-Ass”, “Pilgrim” was heavily marketed and screened for quite some time beforehand, the latter which may have helped curtail ticket sales. And much like the Lionsgate underachiever, all the marketing was merely a case of preaching to the choir. For now, it looks as though “The World” may have won this round, so Scott will just have to put up a bigger fight this winter on DVD and blu-ray.

In sixth place was a movie that Universal has had nothing but success with this summer, the animated hit “Despicable Me”, which held tough yet again as it brought in an estimated $6.8 million (off only 27%) in ticket sales to bring its domestic total to an excellent $222.2 million. The film should zip by “Shrek Forever After” in the next few weeks to become the second biggest animated film of 2010 behind Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 3”. Speaking of that animated behemoth, which landed outside the top ten for the first time this weekend, Buzz and Woody crossed the sacred $400 million domestic mark while climbing closer to the one billion mark in overall global sales.

In seventh place was Disney’s 3-D dance dud “Step Up 3-D” which fell by 59% to an estimated $6.6 million in its second weekend to bring its ten day total to the $29.5 million mark. Watch for the third and (pray) final installment in this series to finish around $43 million, a sizeable step down from its two predecessors. Still kicking ass in eighth place for the weekend was Sony’s hit “Salt”, which added $6.3 million to its domestic coffers, which now stand at approximately $104 million.

Stabilizing in ninth place in its third weekend out was Paramount/Dreamworks’ comedy “Dinner For Schmucks”. Off a moderate 39%, the Steve Carell/Paul Rudd laffer earned $6.3 million for the weekend to bring its total to the $58.8 million range. The film should finish its run near the $70 million mark. Rounding out the top ten was Warner’s 3-D kiddie sequel “Cats and Dogs: the Revenge of Kitty Galore” which added $4.1 million to its slim domestic total, which now stands at approximately $35 million.

Next weekend sees another spoof film from the guys who gave us “Disaster Movie”, “Date Movie” and “Epic Movie”, the “Twilight” goof “Vampires Suck”. The film opens on Wednesday (you know, to benefit from the guaranteed glorious word of mouth it will generate). On Friday, a quartet of late-summer movies debut: “The Switch”, “Nanny McPhee Returns”, “Lottery Ticket” and “Piranha 3-D”.

Review: Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

2010-08-11T13:02:00.000-04:00

Over the past eleven years or so, British filmmaker Edgar Wright has quietly carved out a very impressive career. Be it his television series "Spaced", 2004's romantic zombie comedy "Shaun of the Dead" or his 2007 spoof of American buddy cop films, "Hot Fuzz", Wright’s work has proven to be both quite smart and very funny. Each production had one common thread outside of Wright: the participation of actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Their contributions, be it starring in the leads or helping out with the writing, cannot be underestimated. Unfortunately, the duo weren’t around to assist Wright on his first American production, “Scott Pilgrim Vs the World”, and boy does it show.

Based on the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O'Malley and starring Michael Cera ("Juno") as the title character, "Pilgrim" is the story of a 23-year old Toronto musician (with a 17-year old girlfriend named Knives Chau) who one day meets Ramona Victoria Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), the girl of his dreams (literally). In order to win over Ramona, Scott has a big task ahead of him: he must defeat seven of her evil exes before they finish him off. His "foes" include a skateboarding actor (Chris Evans), a Vegan Rocker (Brandon Routh), a pair of identical twins, someone that looks like a pirate, a girl and a smarmy record executive (Jason Schwartzman). If he can defeat all seven, Scott may have a shot at true love. If not, he can always go back to cradle robbing.

If you're not into videogames, anime or are older than the age of twenty, then you will probably want to skip this film. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of videogames (I have a few), anime (Miyazaki's work aside) or comic books (never warmed up to them). I will also admit that I am way past the targeted age group for the film (let’s leave it at that). But since I enjoyed Wright's earlier work immensely, I was more than willing to give his new film a shot. If Wright could smartly send up police actioniers and horror movies, why couldn't he make a smart, funny movie out of a graphic novel that with across-the-board appeal?

Judging by the overwhelmingly positive audience reaction at the screening I attended a few weeks back, he may very well have. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the thin characters (I did get a kick out of a few of the exes), ADD-generation editing and obtrusive use of comic book visual trickery. While I applaud Wright’s efforts to be as faithful as possible to the source material as possible, I found that the visual verbiage, paneling and retro videogame graphics only pushed me further away instead of drawing me in.

Another big problem I had with the movie were the leads. Now, I thought Michael Cera was good in “Juno” and “Superbad”, but I’ve come to realize that the young actor is giving the same performance over and over again (a few episodes of ‘Arrested Development’ cemented that theory pretty quickly). Thanks to Cera playing Cera, Scott comes off as a mousy, whiny dork not worth cheering on in the least. What exactly does Ramona see in Scott, anyway? And for that matter, what does Scott see in Ramona, aside from the fact that she’s cute (well, Winstead is anyway)? The thin characters don’t give us any clues as to why, and neither do the somewhat lifeless performances.

I really wanted to like this movie and cheer on Scott Pilgrim as he took on "The World" to win over Ramona, but in the end I just couldn't. I have no doubt that the film will please the legions of fans of the graphic novel, but I’m not sure it will appeal to too many folks outside of that. As for Wright, I have no doubt that he will bounce back and give us another movie with quality along the lines of his earlier work. He simply needs material that will match his talent.

Weekend Box Office: "The Other Guys" arrest the top spot while "Step Up 3-D" proves to have two left feet

2010-08-08T12:17:00.000-04:00

"The Other Guys" sent both The Dream Guys and The Dance Guys packing this weekend at the North American box office as the new Will Ferrell/Mark Whalberg comedy debuted at number one, ending the three-week domination of the Leonardo DiCaprio blockbuster "Inception". The 3-D dance flick "Step Up 3-D" grooved its way to a mediocre third place debut. Overall, weekend ticket sales closed roughly 9% below figures from the same weekend last year at this time as one of the worst summer movie seasons in recent memory limped into its final month.

Following an aggressive ad campaign that had its two leads promoting the film wherever they could, "The Other Guys" brought in a big $35.6 million in estimated ticket sales from 3,651 screens. Following the disaster that was "Land of the Lost", Ferrell reteaming with director Adam McKay ("Anchorman", "Talledega Nights" and "Step Brothers") proved to be just what the funnyman's career needed. "Guys" had the added benefit of receiving a solid 79% approval rating from the nation's critics on Rotten Tomatoes, a rare occurrence for modern-day comedies. The film also continued the summer winning streak for Sony Pictures, who has struck gold with the likes of "The Karate Kid", "Salt" and "Grown Ups".

While it may no longer occupy the top spot at the box office, don't feel too bad for "Inception". The Christopher Nolan smash held strong in its fourth weekend, dropping a mere 32% from last weekend to gross an estimated $18.6 million 3,418 screens, bringing its domestic total to a huge $227.7 million. With no real direct competition to speak of, it should be smooth sailing for Leo and his dream team for the remainder of the summer en route to a possible $290-300 million final domestic haul.

Not even the added con -I mean, allure- of 3-D could make "Step Up 3-D" a big hit this weekend as the movie pulled in an average $15.5 million from 2.435 screens in its debut. The third chapter in the profitable dance series had the weakest debut of the "Step Up" films so far, following the $20.7 million opening of the original and the $18.9 million from the sequel. Of the 2,435 screens, 1,851 of them were 3-D. Friday opened to a decent $6.6 million in sales, but dropped off sharply after that, indicating that this may have been one too many trips to the "Step Up" universe.

Angelina Jolie's spy thriller "Salt" had another solid hold this past weekend as the movie ebbed only 43% in its third weekend to gross an estimated $11.1 million 3,317 screens. With a new three week total near the $92 million mark, the Philip Noyce-directed film could see a final domestic gross between $115-120 million when all is said and done.

Falling a troubling 55% from its opening last weekend was Dreamworks/Paramount's "Dinner for Schmucks" which consumed an estimated $10.5 million from 3,004 screens. After ten days, the Jay Roach-directed comedy has amassed a so-so $46.7 million. Not only did the film suffer from the debut of the Will Ferrell film, it also was hit with decidedly mixed word-of-mouth from ticket buyers. Watch for "Dinner" to finish its theatrical meal near the $75 million mark.

Carell's other comedy in the top ten, the smash hit "Despicable Me", held well once again as it eased a mere 39% to gross an estimated $9.5 million from 3,413 screens, bringing the film's domestic total to a decidedly un-despicable $210 million. Seventh place went to Warner's 3-D sequel "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" which collected an estimated $7 million from 3,705 screens this weekend. Off 43% from its debut last weekend, the ten-day total for the 3-D talking animal comedy stands at a weak $26.4 million.

Zac Efron's critically-derided "Charlie St. Cloud" continued the freefall it began on its second day of release. Off a steep 62% from last weekend, the drama pulled in $4.7 million to bring its ten-day total to approximately $23.5 million. With a final domestic gross of $30 million (at best) on the horizon, is it too late for the teen heartthrob to star in another "High School Musical"?

Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" added another $3 million from 1,714 screens to land in ninth place and bring its domestic total to $396.3 million. The film should hit $400 million domestic mark within the week. Tenth place went to Focus Feature's "The Kids Are All Right", which grossed $2.6 million on 994 screens. The new total for the $4 million indie comedy now stands at $14 million.

Next weekend, three new films arrive on the scene: Universal's "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", the Julia Roberts drama "Eat, Pray, Love" (which looks like a Lifetime Network movie run wild) and Sly Stallone's ode to testosterone, "The Expendables".

-Shawn Fitzgerald

Friday Box Office: "The Other Guys" knock off The Dream Guys for the number one spot

2010-08-07T11:38:00.000-04:00

The Will Ferrell/Mark Whalberg action comedy "The Other Guys" arrested the top spot at the North American box office on Friday. The comedy pulled in a big $13.1 million from 3,650 screens on its opening day, which was enough to knock the smash hit "Inception" from the top spot. Watch for Marky Mark and Ricky Bobby to pull in $33-35 million by the end of the weekend.

Speaking of the Christopher Nolan film, "Inception" fell to third with $5.5 million for Friday. Down a slight 31% from last Friday, the Leonardo DiCaprio hit should see $19 million for the weekend, which would bring its domestic total to the $227 million mark.

Opening in second place with $6.6 million was the latest in the "Step Up" series, the imaginatively titled "Step Up 3-D". Opening in 2,435 theaters (over 3/4 of them 3-D), the sequel is looking at roughly $16-18 million for its debut weekend, which would make it the lowest opening of the series so far, even with the added benefit of charging more for 3-D presentations.

Dropping like a rock in its second weekend, no doubt affected by the arrival of "The Other Guys", was Paramount/Dreamworks' "Dinner For Schmucks". Off a steep 60% from its opening day a week ago, the Steve Carell comedy pulled in $3.3 million on Friday for what looks to be a $11 million weekend. Possessing another decent hold is the Angelina Jolie action flick "Salt", which saw a 45% drop from last Friday to collar $3.2 million for a possible $11 million weekend.

Weekend estimates will be announced on Sunday. Check back in the afternoon for the weekend roundup.

Weekend Box Office: "Inception" Beats Out Schmucks, Cats, Dogs and Charlie St. Cloud to Remain Number One.

2010-08-02T07:49:00.000-04:00

Schmucks, Cats, Dogs and Charlie St. Cloud all came out to play at the North American box office this weekend, but none were potent enough to dethrone Christopher Nolan's blockbuster "Inception" from the top spot. Of the new arrivals, only the Steve Carell comedy "Dinner for Schmucks" managed to make much of any real impact, while "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" and "Charlie St. Cloud" were dead on arrival.

Dropping a mere 36% in its third weekend, "Inception" extracted an estimated $27.5 million to bring its 17-day total to an excellent $193.3 million. Tuesday will see the Warner smash sail past the $200 million mark. The film is Leonard Di Caprio's biggest hit since 1997 "Titanic" and Warner's biggest film of the year so far. Overseas, the movie has amassed a big $170 million so far for a three week global total of $363 million.

"Inception" did briefly abdicate the number one spot on Friday when the new comedy "Dinner for Schmucks" debuted with $8.4 million. But while the Christopher Nolan film surged 30% on Saturday, the Jay Roach-directed remake of the French 1998 comedy "The Dinner Party" dropped in its second day of release, which is never a good sign for a new film that doesn't have a built-in audience. Still, the movie managed $23.3 million for the weekend, which was enough to land it in second place. The film faces direct competition next weekend with the debut of the Will Ferrell comedy "The Other Guys" on Friday.

Dropping a spot from second to third but holding up well in its second weekend was the Angelina Jolie action flick "Salt" with $19.3 million in estimated sales. Off 47% from its debut weekend, the movie has pulled in $70.3 million in ten days and is looking at a final tall north of $100 million with plenty more revenue to come in from overseas markets in the weeks to come.

Steve Carell's other comedy in the top five, the animated smash "Despicable Me", displayed another strong hold this weekend as the film pulled in an estimated $15.5 million in sales. Off a mere 34%, the gross stands at $190 million to date while looking at a possible final gross of $240-250 million. The film is the first Universal Pictures release to hit the $200 million mark since "The Bourne Ultimatum" hauled in $227 million three summers ago.

Fifth place went to the new 3-D family comedy "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore" with a flat $12.5 million from a wide 3,705 screen count. A sequel to the all-but-forgotten 2001 sleeper hit "Cats and Dogs", "Kitty" couldn't sway families away from the likes of holdovers "Despicable Me" and "Toy Story 3", even if it were the new multi-dimension offering from Hollywood. Reviews were, not surprisingly, bad.

Zac Efron also encountered audience resistance with his new drama "Charlie St. Cloud", which debuted outside the top five to a weak $12.1 million from 2,718 screens. While Zac's legion of young female fans turned out on Friday to the tune of $5.4 million, they stayed away in large amounts on Saturday (down 32% from Friday) and Sunday (a projected 30% drop from Saturday), which indicates that those who saw it Friday had only two words for their friends: Stay. Away.

For its seventh week in the marketplace, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" moved closer to the $400 million mark by grossing an estimated $5 million for the weekend. Off 44%, the film's total now stands at a mighty $389.7 million to date. Overseas, the animated juggernaut has made $436 million thus far, making for a superb global haul of $826 million to date. In eighth place was another long-running summer hit, Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups". For the weekend, Adam and his gang joked their way to an estimated $4.5 million and a new to-date domestic total of $151 million.

Freefalling 55% from last weekend to land in ninth place this weekend was the Nicolas Cage dud "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with $4.3 million in ticket sales and a new to-date gross of $51.9 million. Overseas, Cage has conjured up $40 million in sales so far. Rounding out the top ten was "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse", which collected $4 million in sales for its fifth weekend to bring its total to the $288 million mark.

Next week, Will Ferrell and Mark Whalberg are "The Other Guys", while all of your unanswered questions from "Step Up to the Streets" are answered in "Step Up 3-D". Sigh.

Weekend Box Office: "Inception" stays at number one while "Salt" has a strong debut and "Despicable Me" continues to impress.

2010-07-25T19:40:00.000-04:00

After months of rehashes, crap sequels and reboots, original ideas made their presence known at the North American box office and audiences turned out in big numbers. The science-fiction smash "Inception" held up remarkably well in its second weekend, fending off a strong debut of Sony's Angelina Jolie action flick "Salt" to remain at the top of the box office for a second straight weekend. In addition, Universal's hit 3-D animated feature "Despicable Me" continued its winning ways in its third weekend. Overall, the box office was down 10% from last weekend but up 11% from the same weekend a year ago when the wise-ass rodents of Disney's "G Force" debuted with $31.7 million.

Benefitting from excellent word-of-mouth and repeat business, Christopher Nolan's "Inception" dropped a mere 31% from last weekend to take in an estimated $43.5 million this weekend from 3,792 screens, bringing its ten-day total to a superb $143.6 million. The highly-acclaimed film will easily become the filmmaker's second-biggest hit of his young career (right behind "The Dark Knight"). A $275 million domestic gross is a given. The $300 million mark is also a strong possibility. The film exploded into the foreign market this weekend as well, bringing its early total to the $87 million mark.

While it may not have been enough to knock Leonardo Di Caprio and company out of the top spot, Angelina Jolie still kicked up a storm with her new espionage thriller "Salt". With $36.5 million from 3,612 screens, the Philip Noyce-directed thriller offered up something that was all but nonexistent from this summer's movie lineup: an ass-kicking female action hero. Reviews were mixed, but audiences have responded well to the $110 million Sony Production, which portends to a healthy run throughout the remaining summer weeks. One has to wonder how the movie might have done had Tom Cruise stuck around to play the lead and not chosen to do "Knight and Day".

America's love affair with Gru, his little girls and those funny minions of "Despicable Me" continued strongly as the Universal smash dipped a mere 26.5% from last weekend to gross an estimated $24.5 million to bring its three week total to a great $161.7 million. The film should zip by the $200 million mark within the next week or so, and may wind up passing the $235 million gross of this past May's "Shrek Forever After" to become the second-highest grossing animated feature released in 2010.

After a disappointing debut last weekend, Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" only dropped by 45% to an estimated $9.68 million for the weekend and a new total of $43 million. Despite the modest drop, most likely due to some decent word-of-mouth, the film is still a major disappointment for the Mouse House, who poured close to $150 million into the Jerry Bruckheimer production. Domestically, the Nicolas Cage fantasy should finish between $65-70 million at the box office.

While Disney licks its monetary wounds caused by Bruckheimer, they can take solace from animated partner Pixar. Fifth place went to the seven-week old powerhouse "Toy Story 3", which added another $9 million to its coffers to bring its total to an estimated $379.5 million. Off a mere 24% from last weekend's take, Buzz and Woody are looking to pass the $400 million domestic mark sometime in August. Overseas, the film has amassed $351 million so far to bring its global total to the $730 million thus far. With many of the overseas markets just starting to play the movie, there is a good chance that the third entry in the much-beloved franchise could top one billion dollars in ticket sales. If that happens, Disney can lay claim to having two films doing so in 2010, the other being Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland".

Twentieth Century Fox's summertime woes continued this weekend with the debut of "Ramona and Beezus", which was DOA with $8 million from 2,719 screens. While the movie was produced for a mere $15 million and received a fair amount of approval from the nation's critics, the movie's timing couldn't be worse as families are still busy checking out the likes of "Despicable Me" and "Toy Story 3". Like so many of Fox's releases this summer, this film will have to find its audience on home video this fall.

Sony's "Grown Ups" once again held up well, dropping a mere 23% for a $7 million weekend haul and a new domestic to-date take of $142.3 million. Look for Adam and the boys to end their run with a solid $160 million. "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" dropped 47% to land in eighth place for the weekend. Teams Edward, Jacob, Sleepy, Dopey and Bella worked together to gross an estimated $7 million to bring the third film's domestic take up to $279.7 million to date. The film may still pass the $296 million made by the second film, "New Moon".

Rounding out the top ten were two fast-fading sci-fi/fantasy films. Paramount's "The Last Airbender" eased by 46% to $4.1 million and $123.4 million to date, while Fox's other film in the top ten, the sci-fi flick "Predators" landed in tenth place with $2.85 million. Off 60% from the previous weekend, the Robert Rodriguez-produced film has pulled in $46.5 million domestically and another $48 million internationally, which is more than enough for the studio to consider another "Predator" film in the near future.

Next weekend, Paramount invites filmgoers to "Dinner With Schmucks", while Universal releases "Charlie St. Cloud" and Warner unleashes the 3-D sequel "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore", all attempting to challenge "Inception" for the number one spot.

-Shawn Fitzgerald

Weekend Box Office : "Inception" dreams up a big $60.4 million in its debut while "Sorcerer's Apprentice" fails to conjure up box office magic.

2010-07-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

As expected, the highly-anticipated Christopher Nolan sci-fi heist flick "Inception" made a big impact in its debut at the North American box office while Disney's fantasy "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" stumbled out of the gate during its premiere. A strong hold by last week's number one film, Universal's "Despicable Me", helped keep ticket sales 10% higher than the top ten a year ago this weekend.

Commandeering a huge 3,792 screen count, of which 197 were IMAX, "Inception" rode the wave of strong reviews, a great ad campaign and huge anticipation from the filmmaker's legion of fans to a huge $60.4 million estimated weekend take. With the inclusion of the $3 million generated by midnight shows at 12:01am Friday's take was $21.56 million. Saturday's take was nearly identical at $21.57 million (which is actually 15% more than Friday's gross minus the 12:01 showings) while Sunday's gross is estimated to land in the $17.3 million range, off 20% from Saturday.

While the film may not have reached the $158 million that "The Dark Knight" did when it opened two years ago this weekend, the opening for "Inception" is still impressive given the film's 148-minute running time, the fact that it is aimed more towards the adult market and that the film lacks the benefit of the higher-priced 3-D tickets, which is what many a pricey blockbuster is now counting on to bring in the big bucks.

But now that the months of anticipation and marketing have led to a big opening, the question is what type of legs the movie will have. Warner knows that Nolan's fans will go back for a repeat viewing or two, but what about the average moviegoer who went on opening weekend after being intrigued by the glowing reviews and cool ads? And will they urge their friends to check it out in the theater, or advise them to stay away from the mindbender action epic (the film scored an "A" from adults polled by Cinemascore, while the younger set gave the movie a "B+") ? The second weekend will be the tell all.

Universal's hit animated comedy "Despicable Me" held strong in its second weekend by easing only 42% to $32.7 million from last weekend's big opening for a solid ten-day haul of $118.3 million. Audiences are enjoying what they are seeing and telling their friends to check out Gru and his minions in the theater. Not only is the film doing solid family matinee business on the weekend, it's also bringing in solid numbers during the week. And what do you know? Plans for a sequel were announced this past week! Until that one arrives in theaters, look for this film to finish in the $185-190 million range.

Disney's live-action summer woes continued this weekend with the weak bow of the Nicolas Cage-starrer "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". The effects-heavy family fantasy, inspired by the Mickey Mouse sequence from 1940's "Fantasia", opened on a wide 3.504 screen count and only managed $17.3 million for the weekend ($24.4 million since its Wednesday debut). With this film and May's "Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time" failing to catch on with American audiences, producer Jerry Bruckheimer's reliable golden touch seems to be tarnishing a bit. As with "Persia", which has done a whopping 72% of its business overseas, Disney will have to look to foreign markets to recoup their investment costs on "Apprentice".

After dropping a little less than expected in its second weekend, the new "Twilight" film "Eclipse" took a bigger hit this weekend by dropping 57% to an estimated $13.4 million and a new total of $265 million. The film lost most of its IMAX screens to "Inception" this weekend, which no doubt expedited its decline. Originally expected to finish just past the $296 million generated by last year's "New Moon", "Eclipse" may now be looking to conclude its run with $280-290 million domestically.

In fifth place with $11.75 million for the weekend was the highest grossing film of 2010 so far, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3". With $362.5 million in the North American bank thus far, the movie is inching slowly but surely toward the $400 million mark. Overseas, the film is still in its early release stages (thanks to the World Cup) but has pulled in over $222 million thus far. Not bad for a movie once poised to go directly to home video.

Once again, Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" defied the odds and held its ground by easing a mere 36% from last weekend to haul in another $10 million in sales. With $129 million collected thus far, the Sony hit should finish its run with a solid $160 million. Not so lucky in seventh place was Paramount's "The Last Airbender", which fell another 55% to gross an estimated $7.5 million from 2,805 screens. With $115 million in the bank domestically, the $150 million production looks to finish its run close to the $130 million mark.

The biggest drop in the top ten belonged to Fox's "Predators", which fell a troubling 72.5% from last weekend to land in eight place. With a $6.8 million weekend haul and a new ten-day total of $40 million, the latest installment in the long-running franchise may have pleased more critics than Fox anticipated, but that did not translate into bringing in new viewers outside of the series' fan base. The Robert Rodriguez-produced flick should finish its domestic run just over the $50 million mark. Overseas, the film has pulled in $17.2 million since its day-and-date launch with North America last weekend.

Fox's other film in the top ten, the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz comedy "Knight and Day", also suffered a large drop in ticket sales this weekend. "Knight" dropped by 53% for a $3.7 million estimated haul. With $69.2 million in the bank so far, the $117 million production looks to be finishing its domestic run with a disappointing $75 million. Following a period that saw the likes of smash hits such as "Avatar", the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" sequel and this spring's "Date Night", Fox appears to be having one bummer of a summer.

Rounding out the top ten was Sony's other big blockbuster, "The Karate Kid", which added $2.2 million to its total, which now stands at $169.2 million. The surprise blockbuster looks to call it a day with $175-180 million in the bank before embarking on a long and profitable run on home video and cable this fall.

Next weekend, Angelina Jolie returns to movie screens with the new spy thriller "Salt", while Fox debuts the live-action version of the beloved children's book "Ramona and Beezus".

Friday Estimates: "Inception" extracts close to $22 million; "Apprentice" fails his first weekend task

2010-07-17T10:21:00.002-04:00

Warner scored something that has eluded them all summer on Friday at the North American box office: a number one debut.

Christopher Nolan's anticipated sci-fi mindbender "Inception" rode the wave of hype, anticipation and generally glowing reviews to debut with a potent $21.65 million on its opening day from over 3,700 screens (nearly 200 being IMAX). That total includes $3 million from midnight showings at 12:01 am Friday morning. Depending on which way Saturday and Sunday play out, the film could be looking at $60 million for its first three days.

The news, on the other hand, was not so good for Disney's pricey fantasy "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", which has been underwhelming since debuting on Wednesday. The first two days yielded a flat $7 million and yesterday's paltry $5.2 estimated total wasn't much better. In fact, the movie placed fourth for its first Friday out, behind "Despicable Me" ($11.5 million for Friday), and "Eclipse" ($5 million). The expensive Jerry Bruckheimer-produced family flick starring Nicolas Cage had been tracking terribly over the past few weeks. Bad reviews certainly didn't help matters any. For the weekend, the film may gross $15-17 million making its five-day opener a disappointing $22-24 million.

Check back on Sunday for the weekend estimate report.

Movie Review: Inception

2010-07-15T13:24:00.000-04:00

If you're like me and are ready to toss dirt on the coffin of this year’s summer movie season, you can put away the shovel for the time being. Just in time to save us from the likes of Aston Kutcher , wimpy vampires and The Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse (aka Sex and the City 2) comes Christopher Nolan's highly-anticipated follow up to his 2008 masterpiece "The Dark Knight", the science-fiction head trip "Inception". And unlike most movies shoved down our collective throats this summer (hell, this year), this dazzling motion picture not only matches the anticipation and hype surrounding it, it easily surpasses it.

Without giving too much away (the less you know, the better) "Inception" centers on Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio). Cobb is an "extractor", a person capable of entering the mind of an individual while they are dreaming. Cobb’s talents are largely used best by corporations, who hire him to invade the mind of rival executives to steal their most valued business secrets that are deep within their subconscious. Cobb is hired by a Japanese billionaire named Saito (Ken Watanabe) for a rather unique task: instead of extracting information from a rival of Saito’s (Cillian Murphy), Dom is to plant an inception in his memory that will help cause the demise of Fischer’s corporation.

In order to carry out the job, Cobb assembles a team to help him map out a plan and execute it. His crew consists of a Dreamscape architect (Ellen Page), a "forger" (Tom Hardy) who can change his appearance to control a dream, a chemist (Dileep Rao) and his longtime planner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). While the financial aspect of the assignment will undoubtedly be huge, the personal gain for Cobb will be far greater: if successful, Saito will be able to clear Dom of previous wrongdoing that cost him his wife (Marion Cotillard) and children while making him an international fugitive.

Nolan, having worked on the screenplay for the last decade, isn’t making one film with “Inception”. He appears to be making several at once. The first hour, which covers the assembly of Dom’s crew and the planning of the big mind crime, is classic heist-movie material. The foot and car chases and gun battles across multiple continents are straight out of the Jason Bourne and James Bond playbooks, while the director’s examination of dreams, the danger of holding onto memories and the blurring between perception and reality are the type of deep-thinking materials previously examined in films such as the original “Matrix” and 2004’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and even David Lynch’s 2001 classic “Mulholland Drive”.

Attempting to successfully cover so much ground at once could have resulted in a loud, overbearing, convoluted train wreck of a movie (aka your typical summer event film) that only succeeds in wearing –and dumbing- down the viewer. In most filmmaker’s hands, a project like “Inception” would guarantee a disaster or at the very least a confusing mess. But Christopher Nolan is a rarity. He’s a filmmaker who not only can handle a project of this scope; he can create something truly unique with it. He knows how to balance multiple characters and storylines, intelligently flesh out theories and ideas and execute some kick ass action sequences, all without one cancelling out another. Nolan respects his viewer’s intelligence, challenges them to pay attention and trusts them to come up with their own conclusion to what actually happened as opposed to spelling it out for them. The last time a near-$200 million summer movie did that was two years ago…which was “The Dark Knight”.

To give only Christopher Nolan praise would be an injustice to all involved. To fully flesh out his new world Nolan needed a strong cast to be in place, which is precisely what he has here. Di Caprio’s Dom is a character not unlike the one he played in Martin Scorsese’s mediocre adaptation of “Shutter Island”. T he talented actor does a solid job playing a broken man trying to correct the events of his past, only to make things worse in the process. He’s backed by solid supporting turns from Levitt, Page, Watanabe, Murphy, Cotillard and Hardy. I would also comment on Michael Caine’s performance, but since he is only in the film for all of five minutes (if less), there really isn’t much to say.

Is “Inception” perfect? No. At 148 minutes, it goes on for about ten minutes too long during the third act. And while the movie is technically brilliant in each and every department, it does lack a certain emotional connection. The storyline centering on Dom and his wife, which is meant to be the emotional core of the film, doesn’t quite achieve the impact that Nolan may have been hoping for. There is some, but not enough.

In a season where Hollywood is thriving on sequels, remakes, reboots and product that caters to the level beneath the lowest common denominator, “Inception” stands as a breathtaking accomplishment. The latest feature from my favorite commercial filmmaker of the last decade is a beautiful, thrilling cinematic ride that will stick in your collective memory for days (if not longer) after you see it. Rated PG-13. 148 minutes. Four stars out of four.

-Shawn Fitzgerald

Review: Dinner For Schmucks

2010-07-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

"Dinner for Schmucks", the new comedy from "Austin Powers" director Jay Roach, centers around an opportunistic executive named Tim Wagner (Rudd). Tim is in the prime position to make it to the big leagues at the financial company he works for thanks to a winning pitch he makes to Fender (Greenwood), his boss. After the pitch, Fender invites Wagner to a somewhat unique dinner that he holds monthly at his estate: each employee that is invited is required to bring a complete idiot to the dinner for Fender's amusement. The employee who brings the biggest buffoon to the dinner is guaranteed to be in Fender's good graces while climbing the corporate ladder at an accelerated pace. Tim's dinner "guest"? A simpleminded IRS agent named Barry (Steve Carell) who manages to turn Tim's life into a total nightmare from the minute they meet.

Based on the French comedy "The Dinner Game" by Francis Verber (who served as executive producer on the film alongside Sacha Baron Cohen), "Schmucks" is a comedy that has more than enough ingredients to make it a successful adaptation. Aside from Rudd and Carell, the cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Jemaine Clement, Ron Livingston and Bruce Greenwood, all talented and quite funny, the original source material was well-liked upon its release over a decade ago (I haven't seen it yet) and the new film is directed by a man who has had his fair share of funny films (the first and third 'Powers' films & "Meet the Parents").

Unfortunately, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. While it's not an outright disaster the way so many American remakes of foreign movies are, "Dinner For Schmucks" (awful title, by the way) just never gets it act together enough to be a success. The source of its issues? The screenplay by David Guion and Michael Handelman, the duo responsible for the godawful 2006 comedy "The Ex" (the only other screenplay written by the duo). It does have some inspired moments of hilarity, but it is also chock full of unlikeable one-note characters (I was ready to kill Barry after a half hour), predictable situations, stretched out slapstick and a neausiating amount of schmaltz. Roach manages to create a few funny sequences here and there, but their impact is dilluted by Roach allowing scenes to play out for far too long and allowing for things to go too far over the top. By the time the film gets to the big dinner in the third act, the film had lost whatever momentum it had.

As for the cast, the performances proved to also be a bit of hit-and-miss. Rudd makes for an amusing straight guy to Carell's schtick, but even he seemed bored by the film's mid-point. Carell, who I am a big fan of on TV's "The Office" and in movies such as "The 40-Year Old Virgin", yields his fair share of laughs in the film. But the character he plays is so irritating and one-note that by the time Roach tries to hit the audience up for sympathy in the third act, we feel animosity toward him more than anything else. Like Barry, Zach Galifianakis' wierdo IRS auditor yields a few yucks before becoming a bore. The same goes for Jemaine Clement performance as wacko artist Kieran Vollard.

"Dinner For Schmucks" marks the second film in a month that Steve Carell has starred in that has underwhelmed me (the first was the animated "Despicable Me"). If the actor is planning on leaving NBC's "The Office" after this upcoming season (Say it ain't so, Steve!), he better focus on picking better projects to star in than this half-baked mess. "Dinner For Schmucks" should have been a full-course meal of genuine laughs. Instead, it's more like something from the McDonald's Dollar Menu: tempting but ultimately not satisfying. PG-13. 112 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Weekend Box Office: Third "Twilight" film eclipsed by the Minions of "Despicable Me"; "Predators" Debut Bloody Good.

2010-07-11T13:01:00.000-04:00

The North American box office continued to show improved signs of life this weekend thanks to the solid debuts of the 3-D animated feature "Despicable Me" and the sci-fi action flick "Predators". The well-received duo joined solid holdovers "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse", "Toy Story 3" and "Grown Ups" to help the box office rise a whopping 44% over the same weekend from last year.

If there was one thing that Universal Pictures desperately needed not just this summer but this year in general, it was a big box office hit. It appears that their wishes have been answered with "Despicable Me", which landed in the number one spot with a huge $60.1 million estimated take from 3,476 screens (nearly 1,500 of those were 3-D screens). The cartoon received favorable reviews from a majority of the nation's critics, and the marketing campaign did a fine job reaching the widest demographic possible (everyone loves funny little minions). The movie's smash debut is the first genuine hit for the struggling studio, who has suffered disappointment after disappointment over the past year or so ever since "Fast and Furious" revved up $70 million in its April 2008 debut. Don't be surprised if a sequel is announced by the studio shortly.

The first two "Twilight" films were front-loaded affairs at the box office, taking a majority of their box office during their first week and a half. The 2008 original did $122.6 million in that period while "New Moon" grossed $235 million. "Eclipse" continues the front-loading tradition with one exception: the second week sales drop wasn't as steep. Whereas the first film dropped 62% in its second weekend and "New Moon" dropped a huge 70%, the estimated drop on "Eclipse" is only 48% from the 3-Day holiday weekend, which means that the movie may prove to have better legs than its predecessors. For the weekend, Team Edward sunk its fangs into an estimated $33.5 million to bring its twelve-day total to $237.1 million. If the film's drop offs continue to be moderate, "Eclipse" should have no problem breezing past "New Moon"s $296.6 million domestic haul as well as the $300 million mark.

The Robert Rodriguez-produced "Predators" landed in third place for the weekend with a solid $25.3 million from a moderate 2,669 screen count. Produced for only $38 million, the Nimrod Anatal-directed entry in Twentieth Century Fox's long-running franchise received more than its fair share of positive reviews (as opposed to the largely negative notices that every entry outside of the 1987 original received). While the film scored positive reviews and came away with a good-sized monetary haul for its debut, its day in the sun might be a short one as the film has dropped off precipitously since opening with a big $10.3 million on Friday. Even if the film does fade fast, it should prove be the one profitable movie Fox releases this summer thanks to its low production costs.

The arrival of "Despicable Me" didn't seem to have much of an impact on Woody, Buzz and company as the Disney/Pixar juggernaut "Toy Story 3" held up very well in its fourth weekend. Dropping a mere 27% from its 3-day holiday gross, the smash hit added another $22 million to its coffers to bring its total up near the $340.2 million range. Without adjusting for inflation, the movie has now passed the studio's 2003 classic "Finding Nemo" as its highest grossing film to date and is still eyeing a final take near $390-400 million domestically.

Bad word of mouth is taking its toll on Paramount's fantasy epic "The Last Airbender", which lost over 57.5% of its holiday business to nab $17.1 million while bringing its 11-day total to the $100 million mark. Produced for $150 million (which does not include marketing costs), the critically lambasted M. Night Shyamalan fantasy is looking to finish its run near the $130 million mark, which may not be enough for the studio to produce the trilogy that filmmaker has in mind (Thank God for small favors, huh?).

After dropping by more than half last weekend, Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" displayed the best hold in the top ten. The comedy dropped a scant 14% to land in sixth place with a $16.5 million weekend take. The movie has now amassed $111 million in three weeks. "Grown Ups" now marks Sandler's 11th film to gross $100 million or more at the North American box office in the last twelve years. Kind of amazing considering that all of them by and large suck.

Fox's "Knight and Day" also held its ground to nab seventh place. The Tom Cruise action comedy only dropped 24% this weekend to gross $7.8 million to bring its total to the $62 million range. The James Mangold film should finish its gross between $80-90 million. In eighth place was Sony's family hit "The Karate Kid" with $5.8 million for the weekend and a new to-date total of approximately $164.6 million.

Rounding out the top ten were two more films from Fox. "The A-Team" was in ninth place with a $1.8 million weekend take. With $73 million in the bank, Hannibal and company should end their theatrical run near the $80 million mark. Released through their specialty division, Fox Searchlight, the comedy "Cyrus" expanded to 200 screens to see its ticket sales soar 77.5% to $1.375 million for a new to-date take of $3.52 million.

Universal Pictures received more good news this weekend via its Focus Films division thanks to the debut of "The Kids Are All Right" which brought in a fantastic $505,000 from only seven screens. The Julianne Moore/Mark Ruffalo comedy has received some of the best reviews of any movie this year, and the huge per-screen average of $72,143 shows that people were paying attention to those raves. Watch for the film to climb into the top ten as it expands across the country over the next few weeks.

Next weekend brings the long-awaited debut of Christopher Nolan's latest film "Inception" on Friday and Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" on Wednesday.

The 2010 Summer Movie Season: Mid-Term Report Card

2010-07-08T13:01:00.001-04:00

The 2010 Summer movie season is halfway done.

Thank God for small favors.

Normally during the summer, I will go to the movies quite a bit. Even in Hollywood's off years quality-wise, I still managed to trek down to the theater and sit through a majority of the films trotted out by the major studios. Screenings were free, I didn't have to take home any work from my job and best of all, the theaters were air-conditioned.

But as the old saying goes, that was then and this is now. I now have a job with plenty of take-home work, I finally broke down and bought a A/C for my apartment and while the screenings are still free, a majority of what has come out this summer has not been worth my time and resources. So while my cinema going has been on the downside of late, I've still seen a bunch of flicks since the beginning of May. And without mincing too many words, I feel that this year's summer selections have been, hands down, the worst I have come across in at least a decade. Whether it was the still-lingering effects of the Writer's Strike from a couple of years ago or the fact that Hollywood has simply given up trying to make decent product, this summer season has by and large been one giant middle finger from Tinseltown to you and I.

Now, it is true that Hollywood is lucky to crank out four or five really good or downright great movies per summer. For example, last year we had "The Hurt Locker", "Star Trek", "UP", "Inglourious Basterds", "District 9", "Drag Me To Hell" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince". But we also had the likes of such shit as "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra", "Angels and Demons", "Terminator: Salvation", "Land of the Lost", "Year One" and the unwatchable nerdfest "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

This year is different. I can't even think of one great film that has been released this summer so far, just a few decent ones. Making the dire quality movie scene even more dire is the overwhelming amount of subpar crap: "Robin Hood", "Sex and the City 2" (a movie so bad that even the diehard fans thought it sucked), "Jonah Hex", "Killers", "The A-Team", "Marmaduke", "The Last Airbender", the list goes on. Fortunately, I am in the position to skip such films (okay, I saw a couple of the aforementioned snoozers). Unfortunately, my friends who are critics did not. They've had to sit through each and every one of the aforementioned snoozers (and about a dozen more stinkers on top of that). The past two months has been so bad for mainstream cinema that it's enough to make one swear off new movies from this point on.

But a modicum of salvation may be on the horizon, at least in respect to a few films heading our way this month. Christopher Nolan's trippy "Inception" has been receiving sterling early word-of-mouth from critics, giving hope to moviegoers that one high-concept blockbuster might actually live up to and possibly exceed its hype. Lisa Cholodenko's comedy "The Kids Are All Right" and the Duplass brother's "Cyrus" have also benefitted from raves while slowly expanding its theater count across the country. But the biggest surprise may very well be the new Robert Rodriguez-produced sci-fi actionier "Predators". Based on a press screening my friend attended in Boston, the Nimrod Antal-directed film is apparently a solid genre flick that delivers. Whether those four films can turn a dreary movie season around or not is anyone's guess, but at the very least, the quartet can provide a little bit of moviegoing solace in a sea of truly bad product.

The following are capsule reviews for the films I have seen so far this summer. More will be added as the days and weeks progress.

May 2010

"Iron Man 2" (Paramount. 124 minutes): The first "Iron Man" was a hell of a lot of fun, thanks to a director who understood and respected the source material and an ensemble cast that worked together like a well-oiled machine. The second installment may suffer from too many characters and a lack of freshness, but it still was a very enjoyable follow up. Once again the cast (led by the great Robert Downey Jr.) and director (Jon Faverau) helped elevate the material into solid summer entertainment. Three out of four stars.

"Robin Hood" (Universal. 148 minutes): What the hell were Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe thinking? This slow, dreary prequel to the Robin Hood legend is a convoluted mess that is nicely shot, but nearly insufferable to sit through. Even the action scenes, which Scott handled so well in "Gladiator" and (to a lesser but still successful extent) "Kingdom of Heaven", felt like uninspired outtakes. In fact, one has to wonder why the movie was called "Robin Hood" to begin with since Crowe's character is never referred to that name during the movie! Apparently, there is an extended version coming to home video this fall with a half hour reinstated to the film. Sounds like pure torture to me. One and a half stars out of four.

"Get Him to the Greek" (Universal. 109 minutes): From the director, co-writer and two of the stars of 2008's hilarious "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" comes this crass, consistently funny, well-acted rock comedy that doesn't quite match the creative heights of "Sarah", but it does consistently make one laugh. Russell Brand once again plays rock star Aldus Snow, whose career has hit the skids. Jonah Hill (playing a different character than the one he played in "Sarah Marshall") is a put-upon record company employee who is tasked with bringing the hard-partying rock star to the Greek ampitheater in Los Angeles from London to put on a concert. Chaos ensues along the way. Brand and Hill work perfectly together, while Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is just as hilarious as a profane record executive (this guy really needs to act in more movies). You know where everything is going and what is going to happen to who, but you could care less about predictability when you're laughing so damn hard. Three stars out of four.

June 2010

"Jonah Hex" (Warner Brothers. 81 minutes of my life I won't get back): A production so troubled that it made "Robin Hood"s look like a cakewalk. The end result of switching writers and directors, several weeks of reshoots and a marketing campaign that redefines the word "sucks"? Easily one of the worst films of the year. The story is stupid not to mention slight (the latter might be the result of some major sections chopped out in post-production), the characters non-existent and the action sequences poorly executed. Only Josh Brolin makes any sort of impact as the title character, which stops this film from taking the pole position as the worst movie I have seen in 2010 thus far. One star out of four.

"Toy Story 3" (Disney/Pixar 103 minutes): After scaling such creative highs with "Ratatouille", "Wall-E" and "UP", Pixar plays it safe with its latest summer offering, the third and reportedly final chapter of the "Toy Story" franchise. Despite being about 15 minutes too long and borrowing a fair amout from the 1999 second film, "Story 3" still manages to entertain and deliver a solid emotional punch during its conclusion. The 3-D effects are decent, but totally unnecessary to enjoy the film. Three stars out of four.

"Knight & Day" (20th Century Fox 111 minutes): If you can stomach the schizophrenic first half hour of James Mangold's action/comedy starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, you should find yourself enjoying the other 90 or so minutes. The story is a mess and the tone of the movie veers way too much for its own good. But the performance by Cruise is one of his better ones from the past decade or so (he looks like he's actually having fun) while Diaz offers up some solid support. The duo have some nice chemistry between them, which makes the movie far more enjoyable than it has any right to be. Two and a half stars out of four.

"Despicable Me" (Universal Pictures. 90 minutes): Neither horrible or great, the latest 3-D computer animated comedy has a fair amount of chuckles thanks to the voice talent likes of Steve Carell, Russell Brand and Jason Seagal. The only problem is that it really doesn't have much beyond that. The animation is Pixar-esque and the jokes Dreamworks Animation-esque. But the story is too slight and uninvolving to be worthy of either animation studio's time, which may explain why it ended up with Universal Pictures. Two and a half stars out of four.

North American Box Office: "Eclipse" and "Last Airbender" Rule the Holiday Weekend; "Toy Story 3" Hangs Tough

2010-07-04T14:16:00.000-04:00

Vampires, Werewolves and Airbenders arrived at the North American box office this holiday weekend to help sales rise 20% over last year this time as the latest "Twilight" sequel "Eclipse" and the new 3-D family adventure "The Last Airbender" both arrived to big numbers.

Debuting in a record 4,468 theaters, the latest chapter in the popular supernatural teen saga nabbed a massive $161 million since its debut at 12:01am on June 30th. In addition to the $92 million from its first two days on the market, the Friday-to-Sunday timeframe for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" generated an estimated $69 million in sales. The daily breakdown for "Eclipse" was $68.5 million on Wednesday (a record $30 mil at midnight and $38.5 during the day), $24.5 million on Thursday, a slight uptick to $28.5 million on Friday, $24 million on Saturday and $16.6 million on Sunday. Summit Entertainment is estimating a post-holiday uptick on Monday to $20 million which would bring its first six days to an eye-popping $181 million. Overseas, the film sunk its fangs into $100 million in its first weekend.

While the five-day gross of $161 million is astounding no matter how you decipher it, it does also show that the profitable series may be showing some signs of fatigue. For starters, the weekend gross of $69 million is only a slight bit better than the opening day take. As shown above, each successive date showed a fair-sized drop from the previous day (due to the 4th of July holiday, Sunday was expected to be off across the board for all movies).

The "Twilight" films have always been front-loaded in terms of their business. Witness the last chapter, "The New Moon ", grossing more than half its gross in its first four days. But given the screen count, which included higher-priced IMAX screens, as well as the fact that it opened during a big summer holiday weekend, the erosion displayed by "Eclipse" may indicate that a fair amount of the book's fans may have had enough of the cinematic exploits of Bella and company with "New Moon". Depending on the drops from here on out, "Eclipse" should be able to pass the overall gross of "New Moon", which would put the $68 million production in the elite $300 million club. How much further beyond that is anyone's guess. Reviews, which really don't matter when it comes to such a beloved franchise like "Twilight", were somewhat stronger than the ones that greeted "New Moon" last November.

Offering an alternative to moody heroines, sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves, Paramount launched M. Night Shyamalan's "The Last Airbender" on 3,169 screens on Thursday en route to an estimated $58 million weekend (Thursday landed $16.6 million while the weekend finished with $40.65 million). Despite unanimous pans from critics and some savage online feedback from viewers, the film succeeded in enticing fans of the Nickelodeon anime series the film was based on, "Avatar: the Last Airbender", as well as young males looking for their latest visual effects/action fix. The debut was Shyamalan's biggest since 2004's "The Village" and nearly double the $30 million opening of his last film, 2008's "The Happening".

Dropping down to third place with a 49% ease in business from last weekend, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" added an estimated $30 million to its domestic total, which now stands at a huge $289 million after 17 days. The film will pass Pixar's last effort, 2009's "UP", either tomorrow or Tuesday to become the studio's biggest hit since 2003's "Finding Nemo" (before inflation). Despite direct competition for 3-D and family dollars from "the Last Airbender" and next week's "Despicable Me", the Pixar smash should continue to hold its own over the upcoming summer weeks, which should help Wood and Buzz's final feature-length trip to cinemas (?) finish between $375-385 million.

In fourth place was the Adam Sandler comedy "Grown Ups", which dropped a sizeable 54% to $18.5 million from 3,534 screens for a new ten-day estimated gross of $77 million. The movie's performance at the box office is in line with Sandler's other slapstick comedies, and should finish with a gross slightly north of $110 million, a solid gross to be sure but not quite as big as Sony may have hoped for given the film's $80 million price tag.

Fox's action comedy "Knight and Day" landed in fifth place with $10.2 million for a new total of $45.5 million. Off 49% from last weekend's underwhelming $20.2 opening, the film is looking at a disappointing $60-65 million domestic take. Fox will have to hope for big returns from overseas markets to see profits from the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz flick. Maybe they should have converted the film to 3-D before it was released. Perhaps not.

Kicking up an additional $8 million in estimated sales this weekend to nab sixth place was Sony's reboot of "The Karate Kid". Down 48% from last weekend, the surprise hit remake has grossed an impressive $151.5 million to date. The $170 million range is still a possibility. In seventh place was Fox's "The A-Team" with $3 million in sales for the holiday. Off by half from last weekend, Hannibal and the boys have hauled in $69 million to date and should wind down its theatrical run between $75-80 million.

Two films nearing the end of their run occupied slots eight and nine this weekend. Universal's comedy "Get Him to the Greek" gave up 1,304 screens and fell a steep 62% to $1.1 million for a new total of $57.2 million. Paramount/Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After" surrendered nearly 1,400 of its screens and dropped nearly 75% for a weekend haul of $800,000 to bring its overall total to the $232 million to date. Aldus Snow should make it to the Greek with $60 million in grosses while Shrek and Donkey will head off into the sunset with approximately $235 million.

Arriving in the top ten this weekend is Fox Searchlight's comedy "Cyrus" with a big $770,000 from only 77 screens to bring its total to $1.5 million so far. The John C. Reilly/Jonah Hill R-rated film arrives riding a wave of raves from critics and will continue to expand across the country over the next few weeks.

Next week, the latest installment in the "Predator" franchise, the Robert Rodriguez-produced "Predators" arrives to take on Team Edward and Team Jacob. The teen dream teams will also find themselves fending off the computer-animated likes of Steve Carell and Russell Brand in Universal's new 3-D animated comedy "Despicable Me".

Weekend Box Office: Buzz and Woody hold off Tom, Adam and Cameron

2010-06-27T20:01:00.000-04:00

The toys of Pixar's latest smash hit "Toy Story 3" easily held court for a second weekend at the North American box office, according to estimates released today. While Buzz and Woody stayed at number one, Adam Sandler made a solid second place debut with his new slapstick comedy "Grown Ups", while Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz settled with a mediocre third place finish for their new action comedy "Knight and Day". Overall, this weekend's box office was off 19% from last year when "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" led the pack.

Dropping a moderate 46.5% from last weekend's huge $110 million opening, Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3" hauled a very sizeable $59 million from 4,028 screens for a new ten-day total of approximately $226.5 million. The film posted great numbers during the week, roughly $56 million from the 4-day Monday through Thursday period. The strong word-of-mouth has been as beneficial as the higher 3-D and IMAX ticket prices have been in contributing to the film's massive grosses. Audience support should help the Pixar smash in the long run as a percentage of the IMAX and 3-D screens currently occupied by the film are soon to be taken over to the likes of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" and "The Last Airbender" this upcoming week.

Following the disaster that was last summer's "Funny People", Adam Sandler finds himself back in familiar territory with "Grown Ups", which kidded around for an excellent $41 million estimated debut from 3,534 screens. The $75 million comedy, which costars Sandler's buddies Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and David Spade, may have been derided by critics (a 7% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes? Ouch!) but ticket buyers know better than to listen to them when it comes to a screwball Adam Sandler comedy. The opening is in line with Sandler's other recent crowd-pleasers like "Click" ($40.6 million), "You Don't Mess With the Zohan" ($38.5 million) and his remake of "the Longest Yard" ($47.6 million). All went on to gross $100 million or more at the box office, and this one should be no exception.

While it was expected that "Toy Story 3" would have another huge weekend and that "Grown Ups" would bring out the Sandler faithful, no one really knew what "Knight and Day" would ultimately do this weekend. The ad campaign was all over the map, which tried to sell the comedy without emphasizing the action, the action without emphasizing the comedy and even as a romance flick. The production has had a less-than-stellar production history, and tracking on the film was down there right alongside "Jonah Hex". Add to that the fact that neither Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz are the box office draws they once were, and you have a recipe for box office failure, something that Twentieth Century Fox really doesn't need following the disappointing results for "The A-Team" and "Marmaduke".

So, what was the end result after all the reshoots, various ad campaigns and moving the release date up two days to get a jumpstart on the weekend? A mediocre $20.5 million debut weekend estimate and $27.7 million for the film's first five days, neither number was what Fox was hoping for. While it's not an outright dud financially, the five-day debut for the reported $140 million production is definitely a step down for the once white-hot Cruise, especially in light of the openings for his other action films, namely the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. Reviews were mixed at best, so Fox will have to rely on the old standbys of audience word-of-mouth and (more importantly) foreign box office in the hopes of turning this film into a hit.

In fourth place was Sony's high-kicking family hit "The Karate Kid", which added an estimated $15.4 to its coffers for a new total of roughly $135.6 million to date. Despite "Toy Story 3"s domination at the box office over the past ten days, families have continued to support the 2010 remake of the 1984 drama. The film is looking to finish in the $185-190 million range domestically.

Fox's other big-budget action comedy in the top ten, "The A-Team", dropped by 59% from last weekend to add an estimated $6 million, which was good enough for fifth place and a new to-date gross of $62.8 million to date. In sixth place was Universal's "Get Him to the Greek" off 50% to add $3 million to its gross, which now stands near the $55 million mark. The mid-range hit should finish slightly ahead of the $60 million generated by the previous effort from "Greek" director Nicholas Stoller, 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall".

Seventh place went to Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After", which landed $2.8 million in ticket sales this weekend to bring its domestic total to the $229.3 million mark. Shrek and Donkey have pulled in an impressive $85 million in limited release from overseas market, most of which is waiting to release the film until after the World Cup concludes. Displaying some surprising staying power in eighth place is Disney's Memorial Day release "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", adding $2.9 million to its domestic total, which now stands at $86.1 million. The $213 million tallied from overseas has been a saving grace for the fantasy epic, which opened below expectations at the end of May but has managed to hold its ground.

Rounding out the top ten was Lionsgate's "Killers" in ninth place with an estimated $2 million from 2,271 screens. Off 60%, the film's new total stands at $44 million. Warner's colossal misfire "Jonah Hex" landed in tenth with $1.6 million for a pathetic ten-day total of $9.1 million. Dropping a scary 70% from last weekend, the DC Comics inspired action flick kept its 2,825 screens for a second weekend, but it didn't help matters any. The film should limp across the finish line with a dire $12 million box office gross.

With the arrival of "Eclipse" on Wednesday on over 4,000 screens and "The Last Airbender" on Friday in over 3,000 screens and the sure-to-be continued popularity of "Toy Story 3", "Grown Ups" and "The Karate Kid", the July 4th weekend could shape up to be one of the best the film industry has seen in quite some time.

Weekend Box Office: "Toy Story 3" Goes to Box Office Infinity and Beyond; "Jonah Hex" Cursed

2010-06-20T14:55:00.000-04:00

When they say the toys are back in town, you better believe it. Disney /Pixar's "Toy Story 3" hit the jackpot this weekend at the North American box office, while Warner Brother's "Jonah Hex" was a outright bomb. Thanks to the latest Pixar hit, the box office continued to show life following the big debut last week of Sony's "The Karate Kid", which withstood the return of Buzz and Woody to post a solid second weekend gross. Overall, business was up a healthy 31% from both last weekend and last year at this time.

"Toy Story 3" landed on 4,028 screens for an eye-popping $109 million in estimated ticket sales. Of that screen count, 2,463 screens were Digital 3-D screens while 180 were IMAX . The weekend breakdown was as follows for the second sequel to the 1995 classic: Friday brought $41 million, followed by an understandable 10% drop on Saturday to $37 million. Disney is estimating that Sunday's take will be $31 million. The higher prices for the 3-D and IMAX showings were no doubt of great benefit, to be sure. But even without those formats, the film would have had a big debut. Like most Pixar flicks, the film was very warmly received by critics, whose praise resulted in a 99% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Add to the raves the fact that the kids are now out of school and those who loved the first two have not outgrown the characters or series, and you have all the markings for another Pixar smash.

While the opening did not break the record set by "Shrek the Third" ($121 million in its opening weekend) three years ago, "Story 3"s debut did set a record for a Pixar debut, beating 2004's "The Incredibles" ($70.4 million) by a wide margin. As most Pixar films go on to gross four (sometimes five) times their opening weekend take during their theatrical run, a $400 million domestic total is not completely out of the question.

Making a quality hit movie out of a lesser-known comic book/graphic novel series isn't an impossibility. One only look at "The Crow", "Blade", "Road to Perdition" or "Men in Black" to see that. Warner's supernatural western misfire "Jonah Hex" will not be included in that group. The 1970s DC-Comics character finally made it to the big screen, but judging from its horrible eighth place $5.08 million gross from 2,825 screens, one has to wonder why they bothered to begin with.

"Hex" has had a turbulent production history right from the start, going through several screenwriters, a few directors and extensive reshoots en route to its opening, which was met with a tidal wave of negative reviews, an ineffective ad campaign from a studio that had already written it off and audience apathy. While Unviersal's "MacGruber" may have had a lower debut (but not by much), that film didn't cost anywhere from $35-65 million to produce (Warner claims $35 million while others state reshoots added $25-30 million to the bill). Following the disappointing domestic returns for "Sex and the City 2" and the non-start of the well-reviewed "Splice, Warner has to be praying that its next release saves their summer: July 18th's "Inception".

Dropping less than half (47.9%) from its big $55 million opening last weekend, Sony's reboot of "The Karate Kid" landed in second place this weekend to gross $29 million to bring its estimated ten-day total to an excellent $106.2 million. With the kids out of school, Jackie and Jaden's China adventure is looking to have a healthy run in the weeks ahead and could finish in $180-190 million range when all is said and done. Not surprisingly, a sequel is already in the works.

Last weekend's other opener, "The A-Team", dropped by an okay 46% to an estimated $13.7 million in its second weekend to land in third place. However, the $49.8 million in ticket sales after ten days has to come as a disappointment for 20th Century Fox, who no doubt was hoping that the heavily-promoted action flick would become a new franchise for the studio. Watch for the guys to finish their run between $70-75 million.

Fourth place went to Universal's raunchy rock comedy "Get Him to the Greek" with $6.1 million in sales for its third weekend. Off 38.5% from last weekend's take, the gross for the Judd Apatow-produced film now stands at approximately $47.8 million. "Greek" should close close to the $60 million range. Suffering the most from the arrival of Buzz and Woody was Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After", which dropped a steep 65% while losing a majority of its 3-D and IMAX screens. Landing in fifth place, "Shrek"s $5.5 million weekend haul from 3,207 screens brought its total to $223 million mark. The final installment of the Green Ogre series should finish between $230-235 million.

Holding well in sixth place was Disney's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" which only dropped 18% this weekend to nab $5.28 million for a new domestic total of $80.5 million. Seventh place went to the Katherine Hiegl/Aston Kutcher flick "Killers" which nabbed $5.1 million for the weekend and a new total of $39.4 million. The Lionsgate spy comedy to finish with approximately $45-47 million in domestic sales and the Jerry Bruckheimer adventure epic to close between $90-95 million.

In ninth place behind "Jonah Hex" was Paramount/Marvel's "Iron Man 2" with $2.67 million and a new total of $304.7 million. Rounding out the top ten was Fox's family comedy "Marmaduke" barked up $2.67 million this weekend to bring its three week total to the $28 million range. Watch for the big dog to close with roughly $35 million. Just outside the top ten was Warner/New Line's "Sex and the City 2", dropping 55% to add $2.5 million to its domestic total, which now sits at $90.1 million. Carrie and the gals should wind up calling it a day somewhere around the $95 million mark.

Next Wednesday, Fox releases its Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz action comedy "Knight and Day", while Sony unleashes Adam Sandler's "Grown Ups" next Friday.

Friday Box Office Estimates: As expected, "Toy Story 3" Huge while "Jonah Hex" DOA

2010-06-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

Following last weekend's wake-up call from Sony's "The Karate Kid", the North American box office showed a lot of life on Friday thanks to the arrival of Pixar/Disney's "Toy Story 3", which collected an estimated $40 million on its opening day. The second sequel to the 1995 hit that gave birth to the computer-animated genre benefitted from a number of factors: name recognition, premium-priced 3D and IMAX ticket, a huge screen count that went over 4,000 screens and an overwhelming amout of positive reviews from critcs. Strong word-of-mouth from moviegoers should take over from here. Saturday and Sunday matinees should be huge thanks to families, while the evening showings should also do terrific since Pixar movies manage to please every demographic. Look for Buzz and Woody to finish with a terrific $125-130 million for its first three days, with much more to come.

Landing with a thud that echoed across the film world was Warner's troubled Western "Jonah Hex" with a dire $2 million from 2,825 screens. The film marks the third underperformer from the studio in the past two months following "Sex and the City 2" (released via their New Line division) and "Splice". The reported $65 million adaptation of the little-known DC comic went through a pair of directors and an extensive period of reshoots en route to its non-opening. It wouldn't surprise me if Warner Brothers has candles lit around a poster for "Inception" in the hopes it saves the studio's summer. Watch for the 'hex'ed "Jonah" to finish under $6 million for the weekend.

Last week's champ, "The Karate Kid" hauled in an estimated $8.6 million on its second Friday and is looking at a possible $27 million weekend haul. Fox's "The A-Team" took in an estimated $4 million yesterday and is looking at roughly $12-14 million for its second weekend in the market, while Dreamworks' "Shrek Forever After" took roughly $2.5 million in its fifth weekend for a possible $9 million weekend.

Check back tomorrow for weekend estimates.

Weekend Box Office: "Kid" Blindsides "The A-Team"

2010-06-13T13:03:00.000-04:00

Hollywood's one-two punch of a 1980s flashback helped revive the dormant box office to life this weekend according to studio estimates. Sony's remake of the 1984 sleeper hit "The Karate Kid" surprised everyone, while Twentieth Century Fox's big-screen version of the '80s TV hit "The A-Team" arrived to smaller but solid numbers in second place. Combined, the two debuts gave the film industry a desperately-needed jolt following a dismal month of business. Overall, this weekend's business was up a healthy 10% from last weekend.

Produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's production company for a relatively cheap $40 million, "The Karate Kid" dropkicked an estimated $56 million in ticket sales from a huge 3,663 screen count, easily one of the biggest openers for the month of June. The PG-rated Jaden Smith/Jackie Chan remake succeeded in connecting with its targeted audiences: families and the nostalgia crowd, who made the original a surprise hit twenty-six years ago. Word of mouth has been strong, and the movie should be able to stand its ground again such big guns as next week's "Toy Story 3" and Paramount's "The Last Airbender" to become one of the bigger hits of 2010.

After a decades-long development period and a screenplay that passed through a reported eleven writers, Twentieth Century Fox's "The A-Team" arrived on 3,535 screens for an estimated $26 million take for the weekend. A hyperactive version of the cult TV favorite that ran from 1983-1987, Joe Carnahan's $100 million film version also clicked with its targeted demographics, young males and the nostalgia crowd, but unlike "Karate Kid", it didn't seem to succeed in reaching beyond that. Reviews were decidedly mixed for the Liam Neeson/Bradley Cooper starrer, so it will be up to ticket buyers to keep Murdoch and company afloat over the next few weeks.

Falling from first to third place was former three-week champ "Shrek Forever After" with $15.8 million and a new total of $210 million to date, making the film the fourth movie to cross the $200 million domestic mark this year. The film had a moderate 38% drop from last weekend, no doubt due to the arrival of the family-friendly "Karate Kid". Once again, Shrek and Donkey can thank the higher priced 3-D and IMAX tickets for cushioning the blow. The arrival of Buzz and Woody next week however should slow down the film considerably as it surrenders many of its IMAX and 3-D screens to the Pixar film. Watch for the film to finish off with a domestic gross of $230-235 million, which will make it the lowest-grossing of the series.

The best performer of last weekend's quartet of underperformers, Universal's "Get Him to the Greek", held reasonably well with an estimated weekend take of $10.1 million to bring its ten-day total to the $36.5 million. Off 42.5%, the film is hoping to finish near the $60 million mark that 2008's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" concluded at. A respectable amount for the $40 million comedy, but still lower than what the troubled studio may have been hoping for.

In fifth place was the maligned Aston Kutcher/Katherine Hiegl action comedy "Killers", which dropped by 48% to $8 million and a new ten-day total of $30.1 million. The $75 million Lionsgate film, their biggest-budgeted film to date, should finish with a meager $40-45 million at best.

In sixth place was the Disney franchise wannabe "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time" with $6.6 million and a new overall total of $72.5 million. While the domestic box office for "Prince" has been weak, overseas has been anything but. As of today, the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced flick had collared a substantial $190.3 million from overseas markets. Seventh place went to the Fox's "Marmaduke", which added $6 million in its second weekend for a ten-day total of $22.2 million to date. Watch for the talking dog film to finish in the $32-35 million range.

In eighth spot was another movie that was expected to do better domestically, the comedy sequel "Sex and the City 2", which fell another 56% to $5.5 million and a new total of $84.7 million. Like "Prince of Persia" and Universal's "Robin Hood", the movie has show better legs overseas. For Carrie and the gals, "City 2" has brought in $105 million in overseas sales thus far. Watch for the sequel to finish its domestic run at or around $95 million.

"Iron Man 2" was in ninth place with an estimated take of $4.2 million and a new overall gross of $299 million. Overseas, Tony Stark has made $288 million so far. The sequel should cross the $300 million barrier on Tuesday of this upcoming week. Rounding out the top ten was Warner's well-received but largely ignored sci-fi flick "Splice", which dropped a dangerous 62.5% to $2.8 million and a weak ten-day total of $13 million. Just outside the top ten and may possibly switch places with "Splice" when actual numbers are released on Monday is "Robin Hood", collared an estimated $2.7 million for the weekend. With a new estimated domestic take of $99.6 million, the Ridley Scott epic should cross the $100 million mark early this week. Overseas, "Robin Hood" stands at $183.3 million.

Next weekend, the toys are back in town with Disney/Pixar's "Toy Story 3", while Josh Brolin and Megan Fox go west in Warner's "Jonah Hex".

Friday Box Office Estimates: "Karate Kid" Kicks "The A-Team"s Ass

2010-06-12T10:34:00.000-04:00

Sony's reboot of "The Karate Kid" starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan opened to huge box office on Friday according to estimates, easily defeating Fox's big screen adaptation of the 1980s TV series "The A-Team".

Produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith's production company for a fairly low-budget $40 million, the Sony film debuted on 3,663 screens for a $19 million opening day. The PG-friendly drama should see a healthy spike during Saturday matinees. Watch for this "Kid" to kick up approximately $54-57 million for its debut weekend.

The other 1980s flashback that debuted on Friday, Fox's pricey action flick "The A-Team" opened to a mediocre $9.5 million from 3,535 screens. The PG-13 action flick was expected to give "Kid" a run for its money this weekend, but it wasn't even close. Depending on how the word of mouth works out for Hannibal and his boys, the film might finish the weekend with $27-29 million which is good, but not quite the level that was expected from the studio.

In third place was recent three-week winner "Shrek Forever After" with $4.5 million in ticket sales, "Get Him to the Greek" was in fourth place with $3.2 million and fifth place went to "Killers" with $2.6 million in ticket sales. Is it me or have the ads for the last movie all but disappeared following its dismal opening last weekend?

Check back on Sunday for the top ten in ticket sales.

Weekend Box Office: "Shrek" Stays At Number One, New Arrivals Mixed At Best

2010-06-06T11:57:00.000-04:00

A quartet of new films failed to spark much interest at the North American box office this weekend as Dreaworks Animation's "Shrek Forever After" stayed in the number one spot by a comfortable margin. Of the four new releases, Universal's raunchy rock comedy "Get Him to the Greek" and Lionsgate's "Killers" fared the best, while Fox's "Marmaduke" and Warner's "Splice" both bombed. Weekend business was not only down a hefty percentage from last weekend's holiday sales, but it was also down a troubling 26% from last year at this time as the general public continues to just say no to a weak lineup of summer offerings.

The first of the franchise to stay at number one for three weeks running, "Shrek Forever After" added an estimated $25.3 million from 4,367 screens to bring its 17-day total to the $185 million mark. The film should pass the $200 million milestone by the start of next weekend. The estimated weekend take for "Forever After" was close to the third weekend gross of "Shrek The Third" (which did $28.7 million in its third weekend), but is trailing that film's overall gross by roughly $70 million. Until "Toy Story 3" arrives in less than two weeks, "Shrek" should continue to reap the benefits of premium 3-D and IMAX prices.

Opening in second place was the Judd Apatow-produced comedy "Get Him To the Greek" with a decent $17.4 million from 2, 687 screens. Reuniting the director and two stars of the 2008 sleeper hit "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", "Greek" received mostly positive reviews but was hindered by Universal's ad campaign, which didn't do a particularly good job at selling the movie to audiences. Word-of-mouth will be the determining factor in whether "Greek" manages to become a sleeper hit over the next few weeks.

One could argue that a lack of star power was a factor in the so-so debut of "Get Him to the Greek". But having stars Katherine Higel and Aston Kutcher (if you can actually consider him a star...or an actor) in the leads for the $75 million Lionsgate comedy "Killers" couldn't help it bring in more than $16.1 million in its debut weekend from 2,859 screens. The "True Lies" wannabe wasn't screened for critics, which is never a good sign. Having a potential new owner of Lionsgate, Carl Ichan, bad mouth the movie during an interview on CNN would be another. But one didn't need critics or billionaires to let them know that the movie was a dog. The two-minute trailer or 60-second television spots were more than enough to keep people away.

In fourth place with a 54% drop from last weekend was Disney's "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" with a $13.9 million weekend gross and a new ten-day total of approximately $60 million. Much like Universal's "Robin Hood", "Persia" is compensating for a lackluster domestic box office run with a more robust overseas gross. As of Thursday, "Prince" has bagged $100 million from foreign markets. Watch for the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action flick to finish with roughly $80 million in domestic sales.

Also in its second weekend, Warner's "Sex and the City 2" broke a heel and fell 59% to an estimated $12.7 million from 3,445 screens and a new estimated total of $73.4 million. In comparison, the 2008 original grossed $21 million in its second weekend to bring its two-week take to $99 million. If the new film continues to freefall the way it currently is, it should finish in the $90-95 million range, roughly $50-52 million less than its predecessor (which will hopefully spare us from a third film).

In sixth place was Fox's latest live-action talking animal comedy, "Marmaduke", with an anemic $11.3 million from 3,213 screens. Hoping for another "Garfield" or "Alvin and the Chipmunks", the family comedy had the biggest screen count of all of the new films released. However, terrible reviews, the presence of "Shrek Forever After" and basing a movie on a comic strip character few kids (if any) know about kept the target demographic (families) away in droves. Fox might have been wiser to release this, ahem, dog in a less competitive time frame such as March or April.

Tony Stark landed in seventh place this weekend as "Iron Man 2" added an estimated $7.8 million to its total, which now sits at approximately $291.2 million. The sequel should finish in the $305-310 million range. In eighth place was the Warner sci-fi flick "Splice", which crashed and burned with an awful $7.45 million take from 2,450 screens despite overall decent reviews and an effective ad campaign. An acquisition from the film festival circuit, Warner's low financial investment in the movie should be easy to recoup once video and cable television sales are factored into the mix down the road.

Inching closer to the $100 million domestic mark is Universal's "Robin Hood", off 51% to add an estimated $5.1 million to its coffers, which now stand at $94.2 million. As of last Thursday, the overseas haul for the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe flick stood at $165 million. Rounding out the top ten this weekend was the Amanda Seyfried sleeper hit "Letters to Juliet" with a $3 million estimated weekend take and a new overall total of $43.3 million to date.

And in closing, let us take a moment to note the passing of Universal's "MacGruber", which lost 2,396 of its 2,546 screens this past weekend to drop 94% from last weekend to $96,000 and a new total of $8.4 million. Fare thee well, MacG.

Next weekend, Hollywood takes a nostalgia trip to the 1980s with the arrival of the big screen version of the television series "The A-Team" and the remake of the 1984 hit "The Karate Kid".

Del Toro leaves "The Hobbit" over stalled MGM sale

2010-05-31T11:28:00.000-04:00

"Pan's Labyrinth" director Guillermo Del Toro has given up directorial duties on the upcoming film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", according to an official statement posted by the acclaimed director on TheOneRing.net website. Del Toro stated that his departure was due to the ongoing production delays caused solely by the sale of MGM Studios, who owns part of the film's rights. As there has been no buyer for the long-troubled studio, no productions have been greenlit to commence filming for the studio. This includes the latest James Bond adventure, which was set to begin shooting this summer under the direction of "American Beauty" helmer Sam Mendes. Del Toro will continue to work on the screenplay with "Lord of the Rings" writers Phillipa Boyens, Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson, the latter who has gone on record stating that he will not replace Del Toro as director on the two "Hobbit" films.

Following the debacle that was "The Lovely Bones", I think that is a mistake. Jackson needs a sure-fire hit to get him back on track, although the upcoming "Adventures of TinTin" might do the trick for that. Still, since Jackson did such a great job with bringing the "Lord of the Rings" films to the big screen, he would be a perfect choice to continue bringing the world of Middle Earth to movie sceens. But if he is adamant about serving only as producer and co-screenwriter, then so be it. While I think he should be back, I can also see why he might opt out of it. He spent seven years on the "Rings" trilogy, and if you factor in his pre-production work on "The Hobbit" and (for argument's sake) another 3 years or so on the actual "Hobbit" production, we are talking about spending a solid decade plus toiling around Middle Earth, which is a lot of time on any type of project.

So, who would be an ideal substitute for Del Toro? There are plenty of choices. Sam Raimi is free of the reigns of "Spider-Man" (he could even work Bruce Campbell in somewhere!). I'd say Tim Burton but after blowing "Alice in Wonderland", he's not really worthy of consideration. Perhaps Tomas Alfredson, who atmospheric "Let the Right One In" was one of the best vampire films made in the past decade or so? Or maybe Neill Blomkap, the young filmmaker who already has worked with Peter Jackson on the superb sci-fi drama "District 9"?

All good candidates, but the person I really would like to see call the shots outside of Jackson would be Alfonso Cuaron, the superb Mexican filmmaker who brought us "Children of Men", "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and the true standout of the "Harry Potter" franchise, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". His unique filmmaking vision would be perfect for delivering a Middle Earth worthy of comparison to Jackson's. Of course, everything is pending on the sale of MGM, which I think is close to being placed in a Wal-Mart bargain bin. It really is a shame that a business sale has driven a talented filmmaker away from a dream project (I think he would have done a fine job with the films). Hopefully, this stalled sale won't also drive Sam Mendes away from the 007 project.

Happy Birthday, Clint Eastwood!

2010-05-31T10:30:00.000-04:00

While we mourn the loss of one Hollywood legend this past weekend, Dennis Hopper, let us celebrate the 80th (!!) birthday of another Hollywood legend that is happily still with us: Clint Eastwood. I won't give you a half-assed version of a recap on Clint's remarkable career thus far. But I will list some of my favorite work from the acting icon who has also become one of America's most prolific directors as well.

1) Letters From Iwo Jima: a look at the battle of Iwo Jima from the viewpoint of the Japanese with nary a word of English spoken in it (just a few lines). Easily one of the best movies from the last decade and one of the best war films I have ever seen, this is also the best movie that Eastwood has directed to date.

2) Dirty Harry: my all-time favorite police thriller, Don Siegel's 1971 hit was the movie that made Eastwood a major Hollywood player and rightfully so. Bit of trivia: keep an eye out for a movie marquee at the beginning of the film. The name of the film on the marquee? "Play Misty for Me", Eastwood's first big directorial effort.

3) The Good, The Bad and the Ugly: Pre-Dirty Harry, this was Clint at his coolest. Sergio Leone's big, operatic conclusion to his "Man With No Name" trilogy had Eastwood squaring off against the likes of Eli Wallach and the late Lee Van Cleef to find some Civil War Gold.

4) Unforgiven: Clint starred and directed in this 1992 Oscar-winner, the first time Eastwood won an Oscar. Dark, somber and completely engrossing, this tale of revenge and morality was to Eastwood's career what "Schindler's List" was to Steven Spielberg's: a major move forward into the realm of becoming a world-class filmmaker.

5) Million Dollar Baby: Even if the family of Hillary Swank's character was brushed in some pretty broad strokes (the only thing missing was a broken-down trailer in the background), Eastwood's 2004 Oscar winner had more heart and emotional heft to it than any of his other work (yes, even Unforgiven and Bridges of Madison County). And while I love Eastwood's acting in "Dirty Harry" and the Leone trilogy, his work as the crusty boxing trainer in this film is easily his finest hour as an actor.

6) The Outlaw Josey Wales: "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy." Clint seeks revenge on the Union soldiers who killed his wife and son in this 1976 Western classic. Eastwood took over directorial duties when "Right Stuff" director Philip Kaufmann left the production. Eastwood lists this as his personal favorite of all the films he has made (Even more than "Pink Cadillac"? Really?)

7) Mystic River: Clint's adaptation of Dennis Lehane's Boston-based novel is a remarkable piece of work, an engrossing character study that boasts a stellar ensemble cast that includes two Oscar-winning turns from Sean Penn and Tim Robbins.

8) Gran Torino: The movie might not be one of Clint's best works as a director, but as an actor it gave him the chance to command the screen once more. And some of the lines his character comes up with during the movie are hilarious (if completely un-PC).

9) The Bridges of Madison County: Gasp if you want, but Clint did the impossible with this 1995 tearjerker: he made an unreadable book into a great romantic drama, and gave a terrific performance that stood toe-to-toe with Meryl Streep's Oscar-nominated work.

10) In the Line of Fire: I'm not a huge fan of Wolfgang Petersen's 1993 assassination thriller, but Clint sure did a fine job as the Secret Service agent out to stop John Malkovich from carrying out his job. Worth watching if only to see the two square off several times...on the phone.

Weekend Box Office: Shrek decks newcomers to win slow Memorial Day weekend

2010-05-30T13:51:00.000-04:00

The Memorial Day weekend box office, which usually yields Hollywood with some of its biggest numbers of the year, turned out to be a bit of a sleeping giant this year. Thanks to mediocre bows by the critically-maligned pics "Sex and the City 2" and "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" and merely okay holds by "Shrek Forever After" and "Iron Man 2", box office dipped 14% from last year's numbers and 13% from the same weekend in 2008.

There were two major factors contributing to this weekend's underwhelming box office: high ticket prices and a lack of enticing product. if you look at the past half decade or so, each Memorial Day weekend had a big event picture: 2005 had the final "Revenge of the Sith", 2006 presented "X-Men: The Final Stand", 2007 saw the debut of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", 2008 saw the return of a certain archeologist in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and those who loved the original "Night at the Museum" in 2006 were offered "Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian" in 2009. While I know the fans of "Sex and the City" are legion and there are millions of people who have played the "Prince of Persia" videogame series, were many desiring either of the new films? I thought not.

Please note that the estimated grosses reported in this article are based on Friday-to-Sunday ticket sales.

Benefitting from those 3-D and IMAX ticket prices and a lack of interest in other multiplex offerings, "Shrek Forever After" stayed at the top spot this weekend with an estimated gross of $43.4 million from 4,367 screens for a new ten-day total of $133.5 million to date. Off a respectable 38% from last weekend's $70 million debut (maybe families are digging it more than anyone else?), the film could finish in the $210-220 million range, which would still be the lowest of the long-running Dreamworks Animation franchise.

The film expected to take the top spot this holiday weekend, "Sex and the City 2", underperformed with a $32.1 million three-day weekend estimate 3,445 screens and an overall gross of $46.3 million since Thursday. In comparison, the original opened two years ago this weekend (a non-holiday weekend at that) on fewer screens to a huge $57 million 3-day gross. The sequel, which was all but eviscerated by the critics, was pegged to have grossed $65-75 million for its first five days.

Sequels are always expected to drop a bit over successive days as devout fans turn out en masse on opening day, but even those numbers were lower than the originals (Opening day was $14.2 for the sequel, $26.7 million for the original). The lower-than-expected box office debut for the $95 million production proves two things, the first being that perhaps not as many people liked the first one as Warner/New Line had thought. Secondly, the word-of-mouth on the new film from fans appears to be mirroring the critics. For a third film to occur (God help us all), the foreign box office is going to have to save the day.

In third place with a somewhat weak $30.1 million take from 3,646 screens was Disney's big-budget Jerry Bruckheimer production "Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time". Filmed over two years ago under the direction of Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Four Weddings and a Funeral), the delayed big screen version of the hit videogame series suffered from a lackluster ad campaign (has there been one ad that has mentioned the videogame series?), critical indifference and the fact that Jake Gyllenhaal is NOT a big box office draw (a good actor, just not a marquee name). Adding to the Prince's box office woes was the fact that the "Shrek" sequel offered families a PG-rated alternative to the PG-13 violence and intensity of "Persia". Families were a key demographic that Disney was hoping to tap into for a big holiday box office start. As with "Sex and the City 2", "Persia" will have to set its sights on the global box office to recoup its pricey production costs.

Down 39% from last weekend, was Paramount/Marvel's "Iron Man 2" landed with a $16 million weekend estimate and now has a new domestic total of $274.6 million. The film is still on track to either match or pass the original's $318 million take. In fifth place with a $10.3 million take was Universal's costly "Robin Hood". Off 45% from last weekend, the film has brought in a so-so $83.5 million in domestic ticket sales thus far. Overseas, the Ridley Scott film has found bigger success by bagging a big $155 million thus far.

In sixth place is the Amanda Seyfried film "Letters to Juliet" with an estimated take of $5.9 million in sales and a new to-date gross of $36.6 million. Seventh spot went to the NBA comedy "Just Wright" with $2.2 million and a $18.1 estimated to-date gross. In eighth place with a 40% drop was the long-running "Date Night", which added $1.75 million to its domestic total, which now stands at a winning $93.5 million.

Dropping 63.5% but somehow managing to stay in the top ten was the Universal bomb "MacGruber" with a $1.4 million take and a horrible ten-day take of $7 million. It's kind of scary to state that the movie will not recoup its $10 million production cost at the box office (remember, half of the gross is usually what is sent to the studios). Rounding out the top ten is another long-running winner from this past Spring, Dreamworks' "How to Train Your Dragon", which dropped another 46% to $1.02 million and a new domestic total of $212.6 million to date.

Next weekend, the very funny Universal comedy "Get Him to the Greek" debuts, along with the Aston Kutcher/Katherine Heigl action comedy "Killers", the horror film "Splice" starring Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley and Fox's live-action family comedy "Marmaduke", featuring the voice of Owen Wilson as the dog.

Dennis Hopper: 1936-2010

2010-05-29T19:36:00.000-04:00

Character actor, director, photographer Dennis Hopper lost his battle to Prostate Cancer today in Los Angeles. He was 74 years of age. A true rebel in every sense of the word, Hopper got his start in the landmark 1950s drama "Rebel Without A Cause" and had roles in such films as "Cool Hand Luke", "Giant" and "Hang 'Em High" (along with dozens of television roles) prior to really making his mark writing, co-starring and directing the 1969 counterculture classic "Easy Rider". Made for a scant $350,000, the film went on to gross $40 million (in 1960s money, mind you).

It was at that point that Hopper's world, both professional and personal, began to unravel in major ways. His drug and alcohol abuse was legendary, and his behavior both on set and off made Hopper a very undesireable actor to work with (legend has it that John Wayne chased Hopper around the set with a loaded gun during the filming of "True Grit"). In fact, the only notable Hollywood film that Hopper starred during the 1970s was Francis Coppola's "Apocalypse Now", where he played the off-kilter photojournalist who resides at the Kurtz Compound in the film's third act.

In 1980, Hopper returned to directing with the critically-acclaimed "Out of the Blue". Most of his acting work in the first half of the 1980s was in fairly forgettable movies (My Science Project, anyone?) but at least Hollywood was beginning to indicate that it wanted to work with the "enfant terrible" again. In 1986, with Hopper finally conquering his addictions, Hopper began to hit his late-career stride. With memorable roles in three movies, "Blue Velvet", "River's Edge" and his one and only Oscar-nominated turn in the basketball drama "Hoosiers", Hopper was starting to become a recognizable star again. He even directed his first movie in eight years, the 1988 controversial gang drama "Colors", which was a hit with both critics and audiences.

The 1990s and the first decade of the new millenium saw Hopper starring in films such as "Speed", "True Romance", "Waterworld", "EDtv", "Red Rock West", the first season of TV's recently-cancelled "24" and the cable-tv version of the Oscar-winning film "Crash".

Most of Hopper's roles found him playing lunatics, dangerous psychopaths, or rebels, roles which seemed to be an extension of some sort of Hopper's personality. While that certainly makes for a scary image if one was to meet Hopper, especially in the days where he reportedly downed a gallon of rum a day, it certainly helped fuel his talent. Dennis Hopper was quite the talented actor and his directing was nothing to sneeze at either (I have never seen the 1971 film that derailed him for the better part of that decade, "The Last Movie"). His Frank Booth was and is one of the scariest villians ever created for cinema, which would not have worked one-tenth as well as it did had anyone else played the character. And while his character in "True Romance" was neither a psychopath, nutjob or rebel, his ballsy send off speech to Christopher Walken and his goons was one of the highlights of the 1993 film year. I think that scene is the way that I want to remember Dennis Hopper going out: knowing that his time is up but flipping off establishment in grand style while doing so.

Rest in Peace, Easy Rider. And thanks.