Transformers Movie News from RopeofSilicon.com

'Clash of the Titans' is the New 'Transformers'

A couple of days ago I began working on an article headlined "Are there Any Good Sequels to Bad First Films?" I was working on it based on a conversation I was having related to the upcoming Wrath of the Titans (aka Clash of the Titans 2) and as we were talking I said it could be better than the first film. This comment was followed by a conversation about whether or not there actually were any sequels to bad first films that were actually good. After a long conversation we came to the conclusion Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was the only one we could think of, though I did toss in Wrong Turn 2: Dead End as a direct-to-DVD option, but that didn't really seem fair. Despite all that, the reason I didn't post the article was because there weren't necessarily all that many "bad" films that actually got sequels. However, there is one aspect of filmmaking and sequels that seems to be above quality... money. Transformers was not a good movie, but it made over $709 million worldwide so of course a sequel was going to be made. And it was. And people generally hated it. And it made over $836 million worldwide. And yet another sequel was made. And this one made over $1.1 billion worldwide. Now we have Clash of the Titans, a film I didn't entirely dislike, but am not above admitting it was not enjoyed by critics and it wasn't necessarily "good". Audiences, however, turned out to the tune of $493 million worldwide, much of that coming from overseas. Two years later and the sequel is due on March 30, 2012 from Battle: Los Angeles director, Jonathan Liebesman. Should we expect the same Transformers multiplier and expect Clash 2 to bring in around $581 million worldwide? Warner must believe so since they've apparently commissioned a script for a third film. Heat Vision reports Dan Mazeau and David Leslie Johnson, who co-wrote Wrath's screenplay with Steven Knight and also share story credit with Greg Berlanti, are working on Clash of the Titans 3, which would continue the adventures of Sam Worthington as Perseus, son of Zeus. The site reports a character named Agenor, a sidekick to Perseus in Clash 2 played by Toby Kebbell, may also figure into the new story, as the second movie leaves the door open for the character's return. Along with Worthington and Kebbell, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Danny Huston will return for Clash of the Titans 2 as Zeus, Hades and Poseidon respectively along with newcomers Edgar Ramirez as Ares, Rosamund Pike as Andromeda and Bill Nighy as Hephaestus. For complete story details click here. Are we looking at another Transformers-esque franchise with Warner's attempts to continue Clash despite the negative response to the first film? Clash of the Titans is certainly a cheaper franchise to make as the first film cost $125 million compared to the $150 million to make Transformers and Sam Worthington is definitely positive when it comes to the film, recently talking to Buzzine about the film saying:

You make Clash 2 weighty. Clash 1 is a video game. You make Clash 2 weighty. You take everything you've learned and go, "I'm not doing this f*cking sh*t! I'm going to do a weighty script in a blockbuster." That's the bigness of a blockbuster. They're very hard because they're done by such a machine, so you try to get that weight that an independent can allow you -- that freedom that they have on an independent script -- and then you try to fit it into a blockbuster where there's a whole set of people who have a say. With something like Clash 2, that's definitely what we've aimed for.

Maybe we not only have to ask if Clash is the new Transformers, but if Worthington is the new Shia LaBeouf. Either way, I am interested to see how Clash of the Titans 2 turns out. Will it be a sequel to a "bad" first film that is actually good?

Too Much Girl Power! LaBeouf Explains Why Megan Fox isn't in 'Transformers 3'

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Photo: Paramount Pictures

Could it possibly be a coincidence that one day after Shia LaBeouf "explained" to Rebecca Keegan at the Los Angeles Times why Megan Fox decided to bow out of returning as Mikaela Banes for Transformers: Dark of the Moon that one day later we get the first trailer for the film that features her replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, actually doing something other than walking around looking pretty? She actually has a voice, and talks... with WORDS! Granted, it's only three words, and we don't actually see her say them, but we can assume that she has at least one conversation... right?

First for LaBeouf's comments, which are comical, honest and strangely accepting (or is it judgmental) of what is clearly Bay's overwhelming machismo:

"Megan developed this Spice Girl strength, this woman-empowerment [stuff] that made her feel awkward about her involvement with Michael, who some people think is a very lascivious filmmaker, the way he films women," LaBeouf said. "Mike films women in a way that appeals to a 16-year-old sexuality. It's summer. It's Michael's style. And I think [Fox] never got comfortable with it. This is a girl who was taken from complete obscurity and placed in a sex-driven role in front of the whole world and told she was the sexiest woman in America. And she had a hard time accepting it. When Mike would ask her to do specific things, there was no time for fluffy talk. We're on the run. And the one thing Mike lacks is tact. There's no time for [LaBeouf assumes a gentle voice] 'I would like you to just arch your back 70 degrees.'"

That last bit kills me (not to mention the Spice Girl reference, how dare a woman gain a sense of self respect). The idea there is absolutely "no time" to suggest your sex-symbol actress arch her back in a provocative way so you can objectify her is silly. I just have to wonder how does Bay do it? Does he just yell out, "Megan! Would you just bend backwards and stick your tits out already!"

Megan Fox in Transformers
Photo: Paramount Pictures

Or what about this shot? "Megan, just put on the shirt, lean in and stick your ass out! Can someone PLEASE spray her with water so she looks sweaty! This isn't a f**king independent film god dammit!"

Megan Fox in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Photo: Paramount Pictures

For this shot in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen I hope he had at least one person calmly tell her just where exactly the camera would be positioned while she straddled this bike.

Then there are LaBeouf's comments regarding Huntington-Whiteley, whom Bay had worked with on Victoria Secret ads before casting her as Carly in the new film. "Rosie comes with this Victoria's Secret background," LaBeouf explained. "She's comfortable with it, so she can get down with Mike's way of working and it makes the whole set vibe very different."

Okay, I understand exactly where all of this is coming from, and most of it simply says Bay is a pig and treats women as objects. Nothing new, people have been judging him based on this fact for a long, long time. But man-oh-man the line where Shia says "it makes the whole set vibe very different" makes me really wish I had heard some of the conversations between Bay and Fox. It just sounds like it must have gotten really heated.

So with all of that said, here is the new TV spot for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which hits theaters on June 29. For more on the film, including a new featurette featuring the "winged" stunt team click here.

Shia LaBeouf returns as Sam Witwicky in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. When a mysterious event from Earth's past erupts into the present day it threatens to bring a war to Earth so big that the Transformers alone will not be able to save us.

Visual Effects and Cinema Audio Societies Announce Nominees

This week saw two groups weighing in with some nominations that may help some of you get a better grip on some of the below-the-line tech awards as you begin filling out your Oscar predictions. Both the Visual Effects Society (VES) and Cinema Audio Society (CAS) and both offer very little in terms of surprises. First let's take a look at those from CAS and I'll begin by offering a pair of audio features courtesy of the SoundWorks Collection.

I originally previewed the sound feature below for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen back on December 31 and it is quite fascinating if you haven't watched it yet, and the latest one for Star Trek is just as interesting.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	Star Trek

I think the obvious name that many will also turn to is Avatar, but I would never count out The Hurt Locker in this category either as that is a film that takes supreme advantage of the use of sound. Below are the nominees for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing as named by the Cinema Audio Society.

Avatar
Re-recording mixers: Chris Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson
Production mixer: Tony Johnson
District 9
Re-recording mixers: Michael Hedges, Gilbert Lake
Production mixer: Ken Saville
The Hurt Locker
Re-recording mixer: Paul N.J. Ottosson
Production mixer: Ray Beckett
Star Trek
Re-recording mixers: Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson
Production mixer: Peter J. Devlin
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Re-recording mixers: Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers
Production mixer: Geoffrey Patterson

The complete list of nominees, including television, can be viewed right here (downloadable .PDF). The Awards will be presented at a sealed envelope dinner on February 27th.

Next we come to the VES Award, which Avatar led with 11 nominations followed by Coraline with four while Weta Digital was the most nominated company with nine noms. Avatar is the obvious choice here and for those of you that haven't done so yet, just below is the 22-minute behind-the-scenes featurette for Avatar that Yahoo debuted this week.

It's a long video, but if you were wondering how James Cameron and his effects team were able to finally get motion captured performances to emote while Robert Zemeckis has failed to do it three straight times, just fast forward to about the 11:30 mark and find out how they did. Also tell me if you now believe Zoe Saldana should be nominated for an Oscar or if it was all CGI.

With that said, here are the VES's nominees for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Feature Motion Picture:

2012
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The VES also hands out several additional awards, all of the nominees can be found here.

'Basterds' for Best Picture? The Sound of 'Transformers' and the Awards Schedule

It's been a nice week. Thanks to the lack of news I was able to focus on my top 25 movies of 2009, but it won't be slow for long.

This past Monday ballots for the 2010 Oscars were mailed to the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and one day later ballots for the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards were sent out to nearly 100,000 actors. Oscar ballots must be returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by 5 p.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2010 and SAG ballots are due two days earlier, by noon PST on Thursday, January 21, 2010.

Speaking of ballots, Steve Pond at The Wrap posted a brain-bender of an article concerning the Oscar balloting system, which includes 11 different ballots in 11 different colors covering 15 of the 24 Oscar categories. He then proceeds to explain a couple of the peculiarities regarding each of them. It all sounded like a hot mess if you ask me. To get the low down for yourself click here.

While the ballots make the rounds, we are just over two weeks away from the 2010 Golden Globe Awards, which will be held on January 17, 2010 from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The show will be hosted by Ricky Gervais, and will be broadcast live coast to coast (which I believe is a first) on NBC (5 to 8 pm PT, 8 to 11 pm ET).

The SAG Awards will be held on Saturday, January 23, 2010 followed by the 2010 Oscars a couple weeks later on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

If those three shows won't satiate your awards fix the Critics' Choice Movie Awards will be revealed at the 15th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards ceremony on January 15, 2009 and broadcast live on VH1 Television Network. I've never actually watched this broadcast, but seeing how this is the third year the gala has been televised I may want to finally give it a watch.

Speaking of awards shows, have you boned up on the nominees? If not here's a list of the announced nominees so far with Oscar nominations set to be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT.

Moving beyond ballots and calendars, Kris Tapley at In Contention came across a fantastic video feature focusing on the sound mixing work done by Gary Summers and Greg P. Russell on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. No matter what you thought of the film, the magic behind the making of it presented in this six-minute video piece is sure to interest you. Give it a watch.

For some reason I always enjoy seeing the practical methods used to make some of those sounds. Transformers has got to be considered a major contender for sound and I would add Star Trek, Avatar and The Hurt Locker to that list as well. Beyond those three (which are pretty much the obvious choices) I guess I would add something like District 9 or maybe 2012. If we're talking editing I would definitely go with Hurt Locker, Transformers and Star Trek. With mixing I would take those three again and add Avatar and 2012. So there's a little something to chew on.

As for my top line predictions, I haven't updated those since December 23, but I feel an update is just around the corner as the likes of Avatar and Inglourious Basterds have me scratching my head. Can either of these films take home Best Picture?

Tom O'Neil at Gold Derby is convinced Basterds is the Best Picture front-runner. His reasons:

Film critics loved it
It was hugely successful ($311 million worldwide)
It's got a high "cool factor" with Pitt and Tarantino
Harvey Weinstein
It took home the most Critics' Choice Award nominations
Was nominated in ALL of the top Golden Globe races
It's got a great title

Any of these reasons convincing you? Personally I would love to see Basterds in the driver's seat with Tarantino holding the Oscar high above his head in March, and Lord knows it would bring in the ratings as it's definitely a fan favorite. I've already penciled in Christoph Waltz for a Supporting Actor win, Tarantino is likely to nab a director nom, and his original screenplay should do the same. O'Neil points out several other possibilities including Diane Kruger or Melaine Laurent for supporting actress, film editing, cinematography, art direction, costumes, sound editing and sound mixing.

As for Avatar, it's dominating the box-office after most recently scoring $19.4 million on Monday and another $18.2 million on Tuesday bringing its domestic total to $250.4 million and a worldwide total of $726 million already. I mean, great reviews, Best Picture buzz and now its on its way to a quick $300 million in two weeks. As a film that's been reported to have cost up to a half-billion dollars to make, the fact it could very soon double that figure in worldwide box-office receipts isn't too shabby. Do dollars translate to awards? The $1 billion worth of worldwide tickets sold by The Dark Knight didn't, and it too received great reviews and Best Picture buzz. What makes Avatar any different?

Nope, I don't think Avatar has the legs for a win (a nomination is assured), and I think the backlash against Precious is just enough to keep it out of the discussion. This leaves me with my current two front-runners -- The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air -- and O'Neil's whispers of Basterds in my ear. The race is undoubtedly down to these five films and I have pretty much convinced myself Up in the Air lost its legs as The Hurt Locker began dominating the critics' kudos. Does this mean I'm contemplating an Inglourious Basterds vs. The Hurt Locker Oscar showdown? Perhaps, but I'm not going to move too hasty. Let's just leave it open-ended for now and get your thoughts in the comments.

Yahoo Unveils the Top Ten Most-Viewed Trailers of 2009

Yahoo did this last year (get the list here) and it makes for a pretty good look back as well as shows just how powerful the Internet has become in terms of movie promotion.

Last year's #1 most viewed trailer was The Dark Knight, which is none-too-surprising. Again, this year's films aren't exactly all that surprising, but their places on the list may be. I laughed a little when I saw #8 and the trailer that took the #1 slot this year may surprise a few folks. According to Yahoo, the two most popular videos each nabbed over 20 million views. Can you guess which ones they were?

With that question in mind, all of the trailers on Yahoo's list have been included across the next four pages� Enjoy!

Avatar

Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

Star Trek

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Terminator Salvation

2012

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

This Week On DVD and Blu-ray: October 20, 2009

DVD LINKS: DVD NEWS | RELEASE DATES | NEW DVDS | REVIEWS | RSS FEED

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

	I know I shouldn't be surprised the Blu-ray, 2-disc DVD and single-disc DVD are the numbers 1, 2 and 3 best-sellers at Amazon this week, but for some reason I would have thought all the negative talk about this film surrounding its release would have discouraged folks to throw to down their hard-earned cash to endure this pummeling one more time. However, I can say it is nice to see prices on Blu-rays are dropping slightly, so much to the point the Blu-ray edition of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is actually $3 less than the 2-disc DVD, at only $19.99. That's all I really have to say about this one.

Monsoon Wedding (Criterion Collection)

	I just reviewed the Blu-ray edition of this one (read that here) and was really impressed with the entire package, which not only includes Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, but also seven short films from Nair, several of which are quite good. The best way to describe it is an all-out introductory piece to Mira Nair and as such it is a great value and one that surprised me considering neither Vanity Fair nor The Namesake moved me one bit, but this one has me looking farther back into Nair's filmography.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

	I may have to spring for a copy of this one or add it to the Christmas list. I already have the HD DVD edition, but I want to replace it with the new digi-pack Blu-ray. I love this film even if watching parts of it in reverse is beyond frightening.

Easy Rider

	Here's another one I would like to pick up and replace my DVD edition, but my DVD edition is that 2004 Deluxe Edition and it's quite an impressive package on its own so I will probably call this one good for now, but if you don't own this one you may want to give it a once over... here's a clip for your viewing pleasure:

Cheri

	It was hotly anticipated and thought to be a serious Oscar vehicle for Michelle Pfieffer and while Cheri isn't a terrible movie it just didn't do much for me outside of look really pretty.

Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead

	I really enjoyed Wrong Turn 2, but hated Wrong Turn, both of which I just watched over again on Blu-ray and still come away with the same opinion, but I am interested in seeing how the third film turned out and wish I had been sent a review copy since I am highly unlikely to blind buy this one and my Netflix queue just doesn't have the time for a direct-to-DVD horror. Oh well.

Blood: The Last Vampire

	Meh, not a lot here, but if you are interested don't buy it, just rent it and you will be more than satisfied.

100 Feet

	I included this based on pedigree alone and the likelihood that any horror fans reading the site may be interested as Eric Red (writer of The Hitcher and Near Dark) wrote and directed this film focusing on a woman living in a house possessed by the enraged and violent spirit of her dead husband. The flick stars Famke Janssen (X2) and Bobby Cannavale (The Station Agent). Those two would be the other reasons I would say this one is worth a once over. Here's the trailer:

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RMR: Fake 'Avatar' Trailer, 'Dirty Dancing' Remake, 'Saw VI' and 'Up In the Air' Posters and More

Okay, buckle up because you could be here for a while watching videos, perusing pictures and taking in casting, directing and production gossip from all corners of the globe. I even have four separate DVD/Blu-ray-related mentions in this one along with a fake trailer, a new clip and a behind-the-scenes explosion. Let's get started!

Production Weekly reports the following: "Lionsgate is developing a remake of the 1987 classic Dirty Dancing, from a new script by Julia Dahl." [Production Weekly]

International Transformers 2 and G.I. Joe sales sheets

The above image was sent in by a reader for the German releases of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra.

Entertainment Weekly posted Quentin Tarantino's list of "20 Movies -- and Posters -- You've Got to See!" I have listed the films below, click here to browse the list one pain-in-the-ass page at a time.

Coffy (1973)
Rolling Thunder (1977)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Eyeball (1975)
Dark of the Sun (1968)
They Call Her One Eye (1974)
The Inglorious Bastards (1978)
The Savage Seven (1968)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Vanishing Point (1971)
The Blood Splattered Bride (1972)
Twisted Nerve (1968)
Policewomen (1974)
The Girl from Starship Venus (1975)
Autopsy (1975)
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
Machine Gun McCain (1969)
Chinese Hercules (1973)
Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976)
The Sell-Out (1976)

I know some of you are interested in the fantasy-romance-drama-thriller Franklyn. Well, I can tell you not to expect it in theaters, but it is hitting DVD and Blu-ray shelves on November 17. Click here for pre-ordering information and click here for more information on the film which stars Ryan Phillippe, Eva Green, Sam Riley, Bernard Hill, Art Malik and Richard Coyle.

ABC is teaming with "Friends" creator Marta Kauffman and Warner Bros. Television to adapt "The Time Traveler's Wife" as a weekly series. The news follows this weekend's successful opening of the motion-picture version of "Time Traveler's." Starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, the New Line movie grossed nearly $20 million in its first three days and served as successful counterprogramming to more male-dominated fare. [The Wrap]

Entertainment Weekly reports "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" all-star James Marsters is joining the cast of the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel "Caprica" for a sizable role playing a dangerous terrorist leader by the name of Barnabus Greeley in a minimum of three episodes. Driven by desires both moralistic and carnal, Barnabus is as lethal as he is unpredictable. "Caprica" is set to make its Syfy debut on Jan. 22. [Entertainment Weekly]

Peter Berg discussed the rumored sequel to last year's Will Smith anti-superhero feature Hancock saying, "There might be another god out there... Might be another one." [SCI FI WIRE]

Diora Baird, whom I had never heard of until today, is apparently a beautiful, crude and witty C-level actress that likes to show off her breasts who told her Twitter followers she auditioned for Kenneth Branagh's Thor. Her message said, "Had an audition for the movie Thor today. Character description was 'pretty, but sturdy with muscle'. Damn type casting." You can find her on Twitter right here.

Next, I have a clip from next week's release of The Final Destination, which I just learned will not be screened for critics here in Seattle and I assume it will be the same everywhere else. Unlike My Bloody Valentine, this one I will probably head to the theater to check out.

Ryan Reynolds in Buried

Above is the first official still of Ryan Reynolds in Buried in which Reynolds plays a civilian contractor who is kidnapped in Iraq and awakes in a coffin, struggling against time to coordinate a rescue even though he doesn�t know where he's buried in the desert. You can get a larger look at Twitch as well as a behind-the-scenes image.

The upcoming November 17 DVD and Blu-ray releases of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek will have 9 deleted scenes, here are the descriptions of said scenes:

Spock Birth
Klingons Take Over Narada
Young Kirk, Johnny and Uncle Frank
Amanda and Sarek Argue After Spock Fights
Prison Interrogation and Breakout
Sarek Gets Amanda
Dorm Room and Kobayashi Maru (original version)
Kirk Apologizes to the Green Girl
Sarek Sees Spock

Speaking of Blu-ray, one option is the Sony PlayStation 3, which just announced the new "slim" model, which you can already pre-order and check out images of at Amazon.com. The console will retail for $299.99 and will be available from the first week of September.

Photo: Paramount / Lionsgate

Lionsgate sent over the new poster for Saw VI and Paramount sent over the domestic poster for Up In the Air as well as the first official picture of George Clooney. Click here for larger looks at Up In the Air pics and poster and here for Saw VI. [Saw VI / Up In the Air]

F. Gary Gray posted the following behind-the-scenes video of an explosion from the set of his upcoming movie Law Abiding Citizen.

The following is a fake Avatar trailer that made the rounds all day yesterday. It's sort of funny, but it really has me curious to see what the reaction to the upcoming trailer and this Friday's footage is going to be. People are already making parodies of this film and they haven't even seen a thing. This could get ugly.

Finally, there is a rumor I have no faith in whatsoever and will not even mention other than to say you can click here to read it if you like.

RMR: 'Transformers 2' DVD Date, 'Iron Man' Concept, 'Expendables' Footage and More

A reader at Blu-ray.com sent in the image to the right letting eager beavers know Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen should be expected on DVD and Blu-ray on October 20. I'll wait for an official announcement before adding it to the database though. [Blu-ray.com]

John Patterson at the Guardian posted a new story headlined "Quentin Tarantino: champion of trash cinema" which is something of a complimentary backhand... I guess. [The Guardian]

Slash Film has posted a wallpaper for Tron Legacy. [Slash Film]

Bruce Willis told MTV that he's still "waiting for a call from [Sylvester Stallone] about when [he's] going to try" and film his cameo appearance in The Expendables sharing the screen with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Stallone. [MTV]

Speaking of The Expendables, here's the first look at some footage from the film that just hit the net:

Cinema Blend found a casting announcement at Backstage for The Smurfs Movie that alludes to the plot for the film as it calls for humans, and not an ugly old man to play the evil wizard Gargamel. Check it out below:

Sophie: ages 8-10, a girl of great imagination and originality, though always appealing, she is often socially awkward and doesn't fit in with the other kids, she's smart and open, though she can be physically clumsy, when she discovers that the "doll" her father brought home from Belgium is actually a living, breathing Smurf, she takes "Clumsy" in as a member of the family and tries to get the household to embrace him and the rest of the Smurfs.
Sam: 13-16 (to play 14-15), Sophie's brother, a good kid, but he's going through that phase where he can be difficult and withdrawn and retreat to his room to play video games, through his involvement in the Smurfs' quest to get home, he reconnects with his parents and sister.

Next, we have the unfortunate news director Neill Blomkamp is already talking about a sequel to District 9 telling Entertainment Weekly, "I would do anything to go back to the world of District 9 again. Or District 10." Fortunately, he told Fangoria, "I've actually got an idea now for the next film I want to do, which is [another] science fiction movie." Good Neill, stay away from the sequel business and keep working with original ideas. [Slash Film]

Meanwhile, some folks are starting to think of District 9 as a potential Oscar consideration based on Academy applause. Clap, clap, clap... OSCAR! [In Contention]

For those checking out Inglourious Basterds this weekend, if you are also a fan of Tarantino's script for True Romance you may be interested in the following scoop via The Playlist:

Remember Lee Donowitz (the awesome Saul Rubinek) in True Romance? The slimy Hollywood film producer of the fictional Vietnam war film, "Coming Home In A Body Bag"?
According to a Qand#038;A last night with Quentin Tarantino in Austin, Texas, post-Inglorious Basterds, screening, Eli Roths�s character Sgt. Donny Donowitz is his father.

Lionsgate has picked up distribution rights to the Comic Con stand-out Kick-Ass directed by Matthew Vaughn. Plans are for a 2010 release. [Variety]

Two Terminator Salvation producers have sued the Pacificor hedge fund and one of its former employees alleging financial wrongdoing in a pair of suits. [Variety / Deadline Hollywood]

Another batch of images of the Dawn Treader ship from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader are now online. [Coming Soon]

You may be interested to read an alleged reason why Summit's Bandslam failed miserably at the box-office this past weekend. I haven't seen it so I can't speak on any of what Nikki Finke's article says, but it is certainly interesting. [Deadline Hollywood]

Featured just below is what many are speculating is the Mark II costume for Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) in Iron Man 2. The image originated at Marvel.com and I included a look at Rourke from Iron Man 2 for you to compare. Thoughts?

Photo: Marvel.com / Paramount Pictures

Finally, here is video of Werner Herzog talking about his new film The Bad Lieutenant, which I just added a group of 7 new pictures to the database right here. Thanks to In Contention for the heads up.

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jul. 31 - Aug. 2, 2009

31 weekends are in the books; this was the 8th worst weekend of the year. The last time things looked this bleak it was April. So what happened? Let's break it down.

#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week In A Row

1. Funny People

Wow. I didn't think I would end up under. This film actually opened higher than 40 Year Old Virgin, and that one ended up at $177m worldwide. But it couldn't match Knocked Up's $10k per screen. I think it was an issue of marketing. They lost all those who wanted pure comedy ... and didn't get enough who liked drama. It's not an awful result, it's just not a great one given some Universal projections had it in the healthy $30m range.

Result: 23.4 million (My rank: #1, $3.7m off)

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

IMAX. That's what got me here. It only fell 40 percent because those IMAX dollars rolled in, that's probably ten percent of the $17m right there.

Result: 17.7 million (My rank: #3, $2.7m off)

3. G-Force

Four of the top ten films this weekend were rated PG. It's paradise out there for parents. Well, besides the guinea pig thing I mean.

Result: 17.0 million (My rank: #2, $.9m off)

4. The Ugly Truth

Alert commenter Sebastian was closest on The Ugly Truth, he was at $12.7m. Most of us were over, and for good reason, as this was the biggest dropper of the weekend by a wide margin. Word of mouth must have been dismal.

Result: 13.0 million (My rank: #4, $1.7m off)

5. Aliens in the Attic

Okay, why was I so far over? Is it all marketing? Clearly, kids will see anything, so why did this get left behind? I can only surmise no one knew it was out. How they could afford 3,100 theaters remains a mystery.

Result: 7.8 million (My rank: #5, $4.6m off)

6. Orphan

A delightful prognostication. This one still has an outside shot at $40m domestically.

Result: 7.2 million (My rank: #6, $0.2m off)

7. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

It will hit $700m worldwide at some point this week. It's still a hefty $100m behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the 2009 crown though.

Result: 5.3 million (My rank: #10, $1.8m off)

8. The Hangover

Right now Warner Bros has three titles in the top ten worldwide, including The Hangover. Fox has three. Paramount/Dreamworks has two. Sony has one, Paramount one. Universal doesn't have much shot to crack the top ten based upon their current slate. Buena Vista will need A Christmas Carol or The Princess in the Frog to come through. So, without looking at production budgets it looks like WB, Fox, and Dreamworks have had a nice year.

Result: 5.0 million (My rank: #7, $.6m off)

9. The Proposal

I had it falling nearly 27 percent. It actually fell 24 percent. I'm not going to beat myself up over a measly three percent.

Result: 4.8 million (My rank: #8, $.7m off)

10. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

When we went to press I had 2,400 theaters penciled in but Michael Bay's masterpiece had a rollicking 2,626 when the smoke cleared. So it was one of those deals where it actually fell more than I predicted (percentage-wise) but the extra theaters helped it beat my dollar amount. Weird, eh?

Result: 4.6 million (My rank: #9, $.8m off)

Any surprises for you? Did you go to the movies, or were you part of the apparently large crowd that stayed home? Will Apatow be forced into more obvious comedy from here on out? Many questions abound, drop an egg of knowledge on us.

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Box-Office Oracle: Jul. 31 - Aug. 2, 2009

#1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks in a Row

1. Funny People

I just can't give this Knocked Up dollars. I liked it quite a bit, but it's not as marketable. If it goes higher than this it will be because there is basically no competition out there. At all.

Estimate: $27.1 million

2. G-Force

A 43.5 percent drop is what I'm calling for. Will Aliens in the Attic take a chunk out of its flank?

Estimate: $17.9 million

3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Alert commenter Jacob made a good point last Sunday. The Sunday wrap-up should be about why movies made what they made. The Thursday Oracle projection columns should be about the predictions.

Now then, I've got this beating The Ugly Truth by a cool $300k. So yeah, it could go either way.

Estimate: $15.0 million

4. The Ugly Truth

This should follow The Proposal's path... well, a two percent more dip because the names aren't as recognizable as Bullock.

Estimate: $14.7 million

5. Aliens in the Attic

I haven't seen anything resembling an advertisement for this film. How about you guys? Am I not watching enough Nickelodeon?

Estimate: $12.4 million

6. Orphan

The genre just doesn't make huge grosses, which is why they make them so cheaply. Anyone want to take a guess as to the highest worldwide cume on a horror in 2009? Friday the 13th is the answer, and it didn't even hit $100m. After $113m for Saw V, I'd say Saw VI has a better than even shot to crack the $100m mark worldwide, but what about Halloween 2?

Estimate: $7.0 million

7. The Hangover

The Collector, if you're curious, will finish 11th. Hurt Locker 12th. And it will be the weakest weekend since April.

Estimate: $4.4 million

8. The Proposal

$164m worldwide cume on a production budget of $40m. That's playing with power. Expect another few rom-coms starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock... though probably not together again. That would just be lazy.

Estimate: $4.1 million

9. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The original made $708m. This version will go over $800m this weekend. Advantage: Michael Bay.

Estimate: $3.8 million

10. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

The original made $383m worldwide. The sequel made $652m worldwide. This one stands at $686m, including a whopping half a billion internationally. Advantage: whatever Ray Romano charges for a few days of work.

Estimate: $3.5 million

You know the drill. Where did I go wrong? Can you see Knocked Up numbers for Funny People? Am I sleeping on Aliens in the Attic? Drop your predictions and witty insight posthaste.

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jul. 24 - Jul. 26, 2009

Curses. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fell a staggering 61.5 percent which meant my accurate G-Force prediction was worthless. Only alert commenter Checkspot had the order correct - we salute his excellence. Let's get it on.

#1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks In A Row

1. G-Force

Highly annoying. Wanna take a guess at how many films have won consecutive weekends this year? Got your guess in? The answer is four. And half of the titles were more about timing than anything, Paul Blart and Madea Goes to Jail both won lightly contested second weekends. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and The Hangover both came by their wins honestly, but we're reaching a point where domestic box-office is so frontloaded it's impossible to repeat.

Result: 32.1 million (My rank: #2, $.2m off)

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It's nearing half a billion dollars but they've got to be a little concerned. The film received 83 percent over on RT (up from Phoenix's 77 percent) ... and yet it's still sinking like a stone. Have the fans grown out of them? Or are they getting too dark to take everyone along? They've got to be scratching their heads a little over at Warner Bros.

Result: 30.0 million (My rank: #1, $7.0m off)

3. The Ugly Truth

Put out a generic rom-com, get rewarded. The rules are simple, folks. Now go buy an HD camera and start cashing in! I guess the one bright side here is that the budget was nearing $40m - which means they still have some work to do.

Result: 27.0 million (My rank: #3, $8.3m off)

4. Orphan

It made $4,644 per theater, I think I had it at $5,000. That's a variance I can live with.

Result: 12.7 million (My rank: #4, $1.1m off)

5. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Now that we're in the "been there, done that" section of Oracle I feel it's my duty to report to you that The Hurt Locker finished 13th. It was also beaten on per theater average by four films above it. That's not a good sign, people still don't love modern war.

Result: 8.2 million (My rank: #5, $0.9m off)

6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

You know what might sneak up soon? 500 Days of Summer. It only had 85 theaters but it cleared almost $20k per. That's double what anything else did this weekend. The slow-burn marketing might pay off there.

Result: 8.0 million (My rank: #6, $1.4m off)

7. The Hangover

The lowest percentage bleed of the weekend, another in a long list of accolades for this one. Todd Phillips is probably at the point where they're just delivering him cocaine and strippers without him even having to ask.

Result: 6.46 million (My rank: #8, $1.16m off)

8. The Proposal

I did have the two titles within a hundred thousand of each other, so I'll take partial credit.

Result: 6.42 million (My rank: #7, $1.02m off)

9. Public Enemies

Back on track! Is Funny People going to win next weekend going away? I know it looks to be more serious Sandler, but the competition really is minimal.

Result: 4.2 million (My rank: #9, $0.7m off)

10. Bruno

On the other hand, if guinea pigs can win I suppose Aliens in the Attic can make a charge, eh? Sigh. Oscar season can't come soon enough. But get your early calls in now, I'm gonna need the wisdom of crowds.

Result: 2.7 million (My rank: Not Ranked)

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Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jul. 17 - Jul. 19, 2009

As it turns out, I was closest on the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince number, somewhere in the single digits variance range. But alert commenter John might be on to something: All fan based movies are looking extremely front-loaded these days. If something opens Wednesday that's when it will bank, it's too risky to wait around for spoilers in the world of twitter, text, and IM.

#1 movie predicted correctly: 2 Weeks In A Row

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

It cracked $200m (worldwide cume) this weekend, but clearly it has a ton of work to do. I'm now not so certain about it hitting a billion. We'll know by next weekend how word of mouth is going to treat it. I'm glad I rebounded from overrating its Wed/Thurs numbers. We're now back to accurate rating.

Result: 79.4 million (My rank: #1, $5.3m off)

2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Only one film this year has grossed more than Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Wanna take a guess?

Result: 17.7 million (My rank: #2, $1.5m off)

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Correct. Michael Bay is still on top. We're now more than halfway home too, this was the 29th weekend of the year.

Result: 13.7 million (My rank: #3, $1.6m off)

4. Bruno

Bustray was dialed in here. An astounding 73 percent dip, the 31st biggest drop in the history of movies. This clearly had no legs.

Result: 8.3 million (My rank: #4, $5.5m off)

5. The Hangover

That's seven weekends in a row in the top six for The Hangover. It probably can't crack the top 10 (worldwide yearly cume) before it exits theaters though, it's $40m back of Fast and Furious and Up is still out there earning.

Result: 8.3 million (My rank: #7, $.8m off)

6. The Proposal

I wasn't that far off, I just thought The Hangover would dive at least 20 percent.

Result: 8.2 million (My rank: #5, $.6m off)

7. Public Enemies

Oddly enough, this fell the third most of the weekend, right behind Beth Cooper and Bruno. It seems as though audiences never really connected with the latest Mann vehicle.

Result: 7.5 million (My rank: #6, $.5m off)

8. Up

I thought Potter would take a little more from it. It didn't.

Result: 3.1 million (My rank: #10, $.8m off)

9. My Sister's Keeper

I nailed the next two dollar amounts but my order is all jumbled up. Most of y'all were too hard on Cooper or Sister's Keeper - but at this point the dollar amounts are so low that you can't really knock any prediction.

Result: 2.8 million (My rank: #8, Dead On)

10. I Love You Beth Cooper

Only falling 46 percent was more a result of no one seeing it the first weekend than a comment on its quality.

Result: 2.6 million (My rank: #9, Dead On)

You've got to like Potter, right? But how much will it fall? Will our new "fan frontloaded" maxim come into effect? While you're answering those questions, throw in a number for The Ugly Truth, G-Force and Orphan if you're feeling brave.

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'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' Opens With $58.4 Million

Laremy's early Wednesday/Thursday predictions had Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opening to the tune of $60.1 million with expectation the film would earn $34.7 million on Thursday. It appears he wasn't too far off.

After earning a record-breaking $22.2 million in midnight shows the film has rolled to a $58.4 million opening day from 4,275 theaters, well ahead of the $44 million earned by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix reports Variety's Pamela McClintock.

McClintock goes on to say predictions for the five-day weekend range from $125-150 million, which will have it still falling short of the $198.2 million Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned earlier this year, second only to The Dark Knight's $203.8 million. However, this is based purely on previous installments and seeing how this is Harry Potter's first PG-rated film since Prisoner of Azkaban back in 2004 and a film that still carries an 88% rating at RottenTomatoes we may be able to expect much more.

Of course, as Steven Zeitchik points out based on Potter's past, "Over its five previous installments, the series has shown a remarkable immunity to reviews. In fact, not only do strong reviews not matter -- they're correlated to fewer dollars." The two highest grossing Harry Potter films are the first two, the two that have the lowest RottenTomatoes scores at 78% and 77% with the others ranging from the mid-to-high-80s.

Who knows how it will all turn out, but I can tell you Laremy will take a stab at it. Stay tuned, later today he will have his three-day box-office predictions... Play along and see if you can beat him. Looking back at our Wednesday/Thursday estimate article I see "athar" came closest with a $58.5m prediction while "NackAttack" and "Topy" came a close second with $58m predictions. Good on yah folks.

UPDATE: 'Half-Blood Prince' Takes Down 'The Dark Knight' and 'Star Wars' for Midnight Record

UPDATE: USA Today is reporting the midnight number for Half-Blood Prince as $22.2 million.

Well, how do you think the Wednesday/Thursday box-office results for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are going to shake out now that it is being reported the film pulled in a record $20 million in midnight showings alone to beat The Dark Knight's previous record of $18 million and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith's $17 million?

Just yesterday our Box-Office Oracle, Laremy Legel, got his predictions in just under the gun and estimated a whopping $60.1 million for Wednesday and another $34.7 million for Thursday. Such ambitious predictions have it besting the $91.1 million two-day haul of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen... Will it be so? Revenge of the Fallen is already $4 million in the hole if we go off midnight screenings alone with its $16 million earned earlier this year.

To date, the highest grossing Harry Potter film remains the first one, which took in $317 million domestically and $974 million worldwide. Can Half-Blood Prince top that? I have heard people discussing the $1 billion worldwide possibility, but I am also already seeing a lot of complaining from fans regarding changes from the book to the film. It will be interesting to see how it all fleshes out.

To What Extent Does Word-of-Mouth Affect Your Movie Viewing Habits?

Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk concerning "word-of-mouth" and how it affects a film's box-office performance. Obviously Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was a kick-off point as critics came down hard on the film while audiences experienced a mixed reaction trending more toward acceptance. The film has now managed $672 million worldwide and from what I have heard will pass the $700 million mark once final international numbers are in from this past weekend. In all honesty I would say word-of-mouth played a very small part in Revenge of the Fallen's success as it was destined to be seen by many for a front-loaded weekend and then taper of as most blockbusters do. It was a huge film and has lived up to its stature.

However, I can't say the same for this weekend's new release Bruno, which opened to an impressive $14 million on Friday, but only managed to make an estimated $30.4 million for the entire weekend. The film dropped 38.9% from Friday to Saturday and then another 18.1% on Sunday. What gives?

It's hard to imagine word-of-mouth killed the film that badly, but it had to play a part right? Over at TIME, Richard Corliss floats the possibility "Bruno could be the first movie defeated by the Twitter effect." Corliss even goes on to say that if Twitter was the cause, Bruno "could prove to be a one-day wonder." Yikes, is that what's come to now?

Personally, I find it hard to believe a bunch of anonymous 140 characters-or-less posts on Twitter could actually stop someone from going to a movie, but then again I am a person that decides for myself when it comes to movies. I love listening to opinion, butI allow reviews and people's opinion to persuade me to see a movie not dissuade me from seeing one. If I want to see a movie I am going to see it and the last thing that would stop me would be the Twitter community.

Corliss also mentions GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios saying the film "decreases the public's comfort with gay people" and some scenes "hit the gay community pretty hard and reinforce some damaging, hurtful stereotypes." I don't see how this can really hurt the film either -- everyone loves a little controversy. If anything I would say controversy helps a film, but something must have caused a near 40% drop from opening day to Saturday. Of course, we could also point to the fact a film with racy sexual content is not going to play all that well in-between the coasts, but that argument was pretty much proven worthless with Borat... wasn't it?

If I were to wager a guess I would say it isn't that word-of-mouth killed Bruno as much as word-of-mouth didn't help Bruno, which is the exact opposite effect Borat encountered in 2006. Borat opened in only 837 theaters and scored a whopping $26 million. The film then expanded to 2,611 theaters at its peak and grossed $128 million domestically and another $133 million in foreign markets. Word-of-mouth is what made Borat the success it became. It seems the similarly raucous comedy in Bruno has suffered an opposite fate at the hands of public opinion as the eager beavers to see it opening night didn't necessarily come home with the smiles and high-fives Borat sent them home with.

Of course, with $30 million in the bank already on a reported budget of $42.5 million, $20 million of which apparently went to simply winning the rights to the feature in a multi-studio bidding war back in October 2006, on the surface things look pretty good for Universal as I would assume Bruno will end up somewhere in the mid-$60s to $70s. Not too shabby, but certainly no Borat. Brooks Barnes at The New York Times sounds a little more doomsday-ish saying, "Universal urgently needs Bruno to become a substantial hit," citing Land of the Lost (I completely forgot about that movie) and Public Enemies as a pair of Universal thuds even though the studio is apparently trying to spin Public Enemies as a "hit, as it is performing on par with expectations domestically and outperforming overseas." Barnes suggests a management shake-up could be in the offing...

Pushing corporate politics and speculation aside, the one thing I would like to go back to is Corliss's comment saying Bruno could potentially be a "one-day wonder." To pose this theory is to place a large amount of confidence in Twitter and the tendencies of its users. To assume such up-and-down box-office results could be attributed to Twitter is to suggest a serious game-changer. Personally I scoff at the idea, but it's undeniable at just how effective a word-of-mouth campaign can really help a film... or in Bruno's case hurt it. When those mouths go mute and aren't telling their friends to get in the theater a risky comedic venture such as Bruno doesn't stand much of a chance.

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jul. 10 - Jul. 12, 2009

Bruno coming in at $30.4 means the mysteriously named "BR" came in closest with a call of $29.3m. Only one other commenter was under my prediction of $33.1m, a fellow named Athar. So what happened? After a massive $14m Friday night Bruno fell quickly. Was it word of mouth? Too sexual? Let's break it down.

#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week In A Row

1. Bruno

My take is that while Borat was silly, Bruno was overtly sexual. Which had to have hurt it. Most of the commenter predictions were in the $30s and $40s, heck there was even a call for $50m on the board. So we can definitely say it didn't live up to box-office expectations. However, the studio has still got to be pretty happy as you can make a film like Bruno very cheaply, spending most of the dollars on marketing. It has a decent shot at $100m domestically, provided word of mouth isn't the problem. But I'm slightly dubious. I think $80m is a more realistic call.

Result: 30.4 million (My rank: #1, $2.7m off)

2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Of all the Ice Age films, this one fell the least. Has to be due to competition, right? Fox has already topped $300m worldwide cume here, so this is certainly a big win for them.

Result: 28.5 million (My rank: #2, $5.6m off)

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

No, it didn't tank this weekend, falling a respectable 42.8 percent. But nothing really fell this weekend, as competition was light, and only one film fell more than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Wanna take a guess?

Result: 24.2 million (My rank: #3, $2.2m off)

4. Public Enemies

Yep, Public Enemies. It was probably too slowly paced to garner much crossover appeal. At a budget of $100m Public Enemies is looking slightly doomed financially.

Result: 14.1 million (My rank: #4, $1.6m off)

5. The Proposal

"Raichu" nailed this number. Good on him. Sidenote: Does anyone see a reason Universal is sandbagging on Bruno at all? That Friday night was so big, $16m on Sat/Sun seems really light.

Result: 10.5 million (My rank: #5, $0.7m off)

6. The Hangover

It was the worst weekend in a month, and the third worst weekend of the summer, but it still wasn't as dire as I predicted. The top 12 made nearly $136m.

Result: 9.9 million (My rank: #6, $1.9m off)

7. I Love You Beth Cooper

We basically knew it would get crushed... and it did. I read a bit of the Hayden P. dust-up, so I'll throw my two cents in. I don't think she's overtly sexual, I think she just chooses bad roles for herself. Which means she won't be around in a decade if the trend continues.

Result: 5.0 million (My rank: #7, $0.3m off)

8. Up

Up vs. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at the box office. Who you got? Ice Age is ahead worldwide ($312m to $309m) and has done a ton of work internationally. Will Up end up coming from behind?

Result: 4.6 million (My rank: #8, $1.6m off)

9. My Sister's Keeper

Even My Sister's Keeper only dropped 27 percent. See, Hollywood? If you give people nothing new to choose from everything will make a little cash.

Result: 4.1 million (My rank: #9, $1.2m off)

10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Another $100m budgeted film that seems to be in trouble. Probably too late to save it, eh?

Result: 1.6 million (My rank: #10, $0.7m off)

Allright, get your Wednesday-Friday Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince predictions in. We'll break it down on Wednesday morning, right here, in living color.

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Box-Office Oracle: Jul. 10 - Jul. 12, 2009

#1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks in a Row

1. Bruno

Last weekend's victory was stolen from me on Monday when the actuals revealed Transformers: Revenge of the Bay had triumphed. Luckily, this weekend is much easier to call. It's going to be Bruno on top, the only thing left to predict is the margin.

Borat opened at $31,607 per theater, but didn't even hit 1,000 theaters. It expanded in its second weekend and did a more reasonable $11,017 per. Which is about where I have it. Though it's not great, people are going to watch it. I feel like I've been saying that for a month.

Estimate: $33.1 million

2. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Here is precisely where it gets interesting. The first Ice Age barely dipped in 2002. The second one dropped the industry standard 50 percent. I've gone a little softer on this title, I'm thinking 45 percent, if only because no genre competition is being released against it.

Estimate: $22.9 million

3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This film has caused an awful lot of conversation here on Rope, eh? I'm treating it much like Terminator: Salvation, another film that saw a 61 percent dip on its second weekend. However, just so you can't accuse me of punishing films I dislike, I'm only knocking it 48 percent this weekend. Terminator: Salvation dropped 49.8 percent. See? I can be nice.

Estimate: $22.0 million

4. Public Enemies

I'm bullish on this title. My theory depends largely on two million adults making their way to the theater this weekend. Something has to sell tickets this weekend.

Estimate: $15.7 million

5. The Proposal

It's gaining nearly 60 theaters because Beth Cooper and Bruno aren't appealing in some markets. So that's like $300k of the damage right there.

Estimate: $9.8 million

6. The Hangover

I've heard they are talking sequel, and you can't really blame them. They could fund three or four more efforts just like this without taking in another dime. It's almost as if plot and quality matter when the sixth weekend at the box-office rolls around.

Estimate: $8.0 million

7. I Love You Beth Cooper

I'd urge every young filmmaker to see this as a cautionary tale. It's a murderer's row of what not to do. Unlikable and illogical characters, unexplainable arcs, weird pacing, forced dialogue. Truly an achievement. Fox continues to knock it out of the park. On the monetary side it doesn't have enough theaters or awareness. Seriously, everyone involved should just take a bow here.

Estimate: $4.7 million

8. Up

Up has made $303m worldwide, but it still has tons of international dollars to collect. Terminator: Salvation has made $351m worldwide and is about done. So what I'm saying is this: Up could end up beating Salvation by a couple hundred million. I wouldn't have called that coming into this summer.

Estimate: $3.0 million

9. My Sister's Keeper

Anyone up for seeing a film about a kid with cancer in the midst of the worst recession of our lives?

Estimate: $2.9 million

10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Yep, that's a .9. It won't even take a million dollars to crack the top ten. Night at the Museum will end up 11th if you need a bonus projection. If my numbers hold this will be the worst box-office weekend in ten weeks.

Estimate: $.9 million

So am I low on Bruno? Can Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grab second? Am I underrating the teen appeal of Beth Cooper? Weigh in now, I read 'em all, even the mean ones.

Why Should Filmmakers Try to Make Good Movies?

I shouldn't really be surprised to see how many of the movie blogs around the Internet reported the story of the alleged soon-to-be Indiana Jones Part V b.s. story that sprouted up yesterday. The article was quoted as coming from The Insider when in fact The Insider is nothing more than a tabloid news aggregator that this time was spewing something submitted by UselessPlace.com, a site I am 100% certain none of the bloggers reporting the Indy story had ever heard of and most probably didn't even take the time to pay attention to. Fair enough, but what I find more interesting is the reaction many have toward the idea and most-of-all Nate's reaction from The Film Experience to Jessica Barnes's reaction at Cinematical:

Cinematical has guarded hope for Indiana Jones Part V. Ouch. Does anyone (anyone?) outside of those who would directly profit by the million$, really think in their heart of hearts that this is a good idea? Why does no one demand more of these people before showering them with money? I'm absolutely convinced that if George Lucas announced Star Wars Episode 7: The Journey of Jar Jar Binks people would still line up in droves. And then complain about it afterwards. Why should filmmakers even try to make good movies when we reward them for hurting us? Current Blockbuster Movie Culture = Stockholm Syndrome.

This is something that has bothered me a lot recently with the defenders of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I understand some people liked it but when I read comments on RopeofSilicon saying, "[If] you're looking for progress, why did you even bother going to see Transformers 2?" I can't help but get a little confused.

That comment was actually in defense of the film to someone saying, "You want a bad movie, and you're willing to reward films that aim for very little... and hit it. No harm in that, but let the rest of us who like progress have some room to breathe too." And this is something I believe is an important issue when it comes to the crop of films we have started to see hitting our multiplexes.

The problem people don't seem to be noticing is the fact Transformers 2 was made on a reported budget of $200 million and a worldwide marketing campaign at $150 million. When a piece of entertainment is made and sold for $350 million is it wrong to expect progress? Is it wrong to expect above-and-beyond quality? And is it wrong to speak up when you feel you were cheated as an audience member? Remember, this is your hard earned money and ticket prices aren't getting any cheaper.

Take this next comment from "Keith" which was posted on the site recently:

Money talks and the movie is making money cause they just enjoy watching the movie for what it is, majority of the people just want 2 enjoy, if your looking for movies that have good story and stuff they should just wait for the hurt locker, TRANSFORMERS IS NOT SUPOUSE TO WIN ANY OSCAR AWARDS, ITS JUST A MOVIE TO BE ENTERTAINMENT. Come on its transformers, people payed to watch robots fighting and things blowing up, what were you expecting?

Yeah, "money talks," your money. Considering this argument I point back to Nathan's query: "Why should filmmakers even try to make good movies when we reward them for hurting us?"

No one is saying films like Terminator Salvation or Transformers 2 are expected to be Oscar winners, but remember 12 months ago when everyone was talking about how great The Dark Knight was and then only six months ago how it was cheated out of a Best Picture nomination? Just imagine if the same effort was put into making the rest of these blockbusters that are made for hundreds of millions of dollars. Hell, look what J.J. Abrams was able to do with the same screenwriters Michael Bay had on Revenge of the Fallen, and a little extra effort. Star Trek is hardly a story-telling marvel of a film, but at least he found a way to tap into what makes a film entertaining... a little something called character development for starters.

One final comment from around the site that was posted just yesterday read, "Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Number ONE 2nd week in a row. Poor critics must be crying their eyes out. LOL." If critics are "crying their eyes out" I wonder why everyone else isn't either.

Love it or hate it, I have a hard time believing there is anyone out there that doesn't believe Revenge of the Fallen could have been much, much better. So why is it we -- as paying audience members -- don't demand more from these films? The only reason critics would be "crying their eyes out" would be because they know the same lack of care will now be taken into making Transformers 3 because the studio knows audiences don't demand anything more than what they have already been offered as Revenge of the Fallen now aims to become the second fastest film to reach $600 million in worldwide receipts.

Don't get it twisted, critics want to see nothing but great films. They would love it if every film was five-star caliber and if films like Revenge of the Fallen lived up to the Benjamins put into them, but at the same time they are willing to stand up and speak their minds when something doesn't reach its potential and in this case falls well below it. As a matter of fact, I would wager if Revenge of the Fallen lived up to its budget it would easily become the highest grossing film of all-time and the critics would be the first ones praising its accomplishments. Wouldn't that be a sight to see?

You tell me, would you rather have a $350 million movie with some thought behind it or a movie that doesn't "have good story and stuff" and "NOT SUPOUSE TO WIN ANY OSCAR AWARDS"? That's a tough one... think on it for a minute... I went to see Star Trek a second time this past weekend, I have made my decision on what kind of entertainment to support.

'Transformers 2' Ends Up Taking July 4 Weekend Top Spot

Brief update here considering weekend estimates had Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs tied for the weekend top spot with $42.5 million each. While a complete list of weekend actuals have yet to arrive, both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have confirmed Revenge of the Fallen took the weekend crown with roughly $42.4 million from 4,234 runs, while Ice Age grossed $41.6 million from 4,099 runs, according to preliminary numbers released Monday morning.

Final numbers will be made available later today and I will update them on our Box-Office homepage as well as the main homepage once they are available.

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jul. 3 - Jul. 5, 2009

I'm not sure whether to count this weekend as a win or a loss. On one hand I completely overrated Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. On the other hand I completely nailed my Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's 61 percent drop. Should I call it a draw?

#1 movie predicted correctly: 2 Weeks In A Row

1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Well, we all had this title over $50m, so it looks like a slight miss. Still, it's at $215m worldwide on a reported $90m production budget so they're probably not too upset over at 20th Century Fox.

Result: 42.5 million (My rank: #1, $13.4m off)

2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Revenge of the Fallen grabbed the top spot for the year, nearing $600m worldwide. But let me tell you about another film that dropped 61 percent on its second weekend... Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever. Oh, and also Glitter, starring Mariah Carey. The defense rests.

Result: 42.5 million (My rank: #2, $0m off)

3. Public Enemies

I went too low. However, I was pleased to see it open above Miami Vice, if only to provide Michael Mann a roadmap going forward.

Result: 26.1 million (My rank: #3, $2.9m off)

4. The Proposal

It cracked triple digits (worldwide) this weekend. Could we be in for The Proposal II - but this time he visits her dead family?

Result: 12.7 million (My rank: #4, $1.4m off)

5. The Hangover

Raichu was closest here with a $10.6m prediction. The Hangover could theoretically hit $300m, it's at $265m worldwide. I would bet against it, but pretty amazing that it even has a chance.

Result: 10.4 million (My rank: #5, $0.3m off)

6. Up

Y'all were right, I was wrong. I had it way too low.

Result: 6.5 million (My rank: #7, $2.0m off)

7. My Sister's Keeper

The budget was only $30m. But they are going to have a hell of a time reaching anything nearing a profit as the title is already fading fast.

Result: 5.2 million (My rank: #6, $1.6m off)

8. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Yamato, Nick, and Sebastian were all far more dialed in on this film than I. Those 1100 theaters it lost must not have been in busy areas.

Result: 2.5 million (My rank: #10, $1.0m off)

9. Year One

Cera and Black have yet to heed my door-to-door selling advice so it's hard to drum up much sympathy.

Result: 2.1 million (My rank: #9, $0.1m off)

10. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Star Trek fell out of the top ten. Shame.

Result: 2.1 million (My rank: Not Ranked)

Any early calls on next weekend? Borat opened at $26m in 2006. If Bruno matches that it just might be enough. Let me hear it.

GET MORE BOX-OFFICE INFO HERE

Box-Office Oracle: Jul. 3 - Jul. 5, 2009

#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week in a Row

1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

It's difficult to find much recent precedent for animation over the 4th of July. I know that Wednesday and Thursday will hurt it a little bit -- but I still have it going big.

Estimate: $55.9 million

2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Heavily frontloaded. The baseline bleed for Wednesday openings that pivot to a holiday weekend is about 57%. I've put this on a 61% bleed. Even if you're one of the people who likes it, you've got to admit that hasn't been the uniform response. This weekend the folks who hate this one will see some proof they're not alone.

Estimate: $42.5 million

3. Public Enemies

I liked it, but there are definitely reasons to be worried about its box-office prospects. It's a bit slow. it's a bit long. And it's not a sequel or a remake, which makes marketing it tougher. I hope people see it. But I don't see a huge number here.

Estimate: $23.2 million

4. The Proposal

The Hangover will challenge it for fourth. That may be the only real drama of the weekend - unless you've got Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen making a serious charge.

Estimate: $11.3 million

5. The Hangover

Does anyone have an R Rated film that can top The Hangover's eventual $250m worldwide cume for 2009? Inglourious Basterds and Bruno are my prime candidates, but I wouldn't call either of them a sure thing.

Estimate: $10.1 million

6. My Sister's Keeper

Seriously, who saw this? I know one of you out there couldn't resist. Fess up, and tell the group what we missed.

Estimate: $6.8 million

7. Up

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs will take a huge chunk out of its flank this weekend. But who has waited this long to see Up? You really should've seen Up already. Oracle mandate.

Estimate: $4.5 million

8. Star Trek

Angels and#038; Demons and Terminator: Salvation were both released after Star Trek. And both are already out of the top ten. Respect.

Estimate: $2.4 million

9. Year One

But I know we're all anxiously awaiting the unrated cut.

Estimate: $2.0 million

10. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Clearly this won't match the box-office power of last weekend. But if my numbers hold it will finish third for the year, not too shabby.

Estimate: $1.5 million

Any severe disagreements? Am I too high or low on Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? Are my fears for Public Enemies misplaced? Here's your chance to work me like a speedbag, flex your predictive might.

'Ice Age 3' Bests 'Transformers 2' With $13.8 Million Opening

Well, box-office prognosticators are going to have their hands full this weekend trying to decide if Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs will be able to take the top spot ensuring Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen only enjoys one weekend at the top. Early estimates have the third film in the animated franchise getting off to a promising start with an estimated $13.8 million on its opening day (via Variety), besting Revenge of the Fallen's $10.9 million by almost $4 million. Of course, I don't think Paramount/Dreamworks are shedding any tears with the film having now reached $240 million domestically and over $450 million worldwide.

The other big weekend film is Universal's Public Enemies, which is certainly having an effect on everyone that sees it, both negative and positive, and appears to be off to a pretty good start with an estimated $8 million on Wednesday, but will word-of-mouth kill it or help it hold on for a strong five-day opener? Going to be interesting.

If you've seen Public Enemies already head on over to my review and add your opinion in the comments. I'm curious to see where everyone else falls on this film. Click here to join in the conversation.

Oscar Update: 'Moon,' 'Transformers 2' and Still Talking 10 Best Picture Noms

This past weekend I painted the doors on the soon-to-be unveiled "The Contenders" for the 2010 awards season and I filled the stables with 29 horses. I still need to tidy up around the edges and make a few adjustments here and there, but with six months to go in 2009 and the upcoming release of Public Enemies (an awards contender disguised as a summer tentpole) it is time to begin talking Oscars on a more regular basis.

Today I have a couple of film updates as well as additional talk of that pesky Academy change from 5-to-10 nominations for Best Picture to talk about. First, let's talk about the movies...

The 63rd Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival closed Sunday with Duncan Jones's Moon winning the Michael Powell Award for new British feature reports Adam Dawtrey at Variety who goes on to say the sci-fi thriller "was arguably the fest's biggest success" and "was the first film in the program to sell out, and also ended up second in the voting for the audience award." Tomm Moore's Irish animated film The Secret of Kells took the audience top prize.

I mention this because Moon is not one of my 29 top contenders at the moment, but it seems to continue to gain notoriety including a large number of positive reviews (86% at RottenTomatoes) with many praising the work of Sam Rockwell and the story-telling ability of Jones. It could become an awards season dark horse, as could Cary Joji Fukanaga's Sin Nombre, which took the Skillset new directors award at Edinburgh, but the boat seems to have already sailed on that pic, a film that is expertly told but I'll be damned if it doesn't wallow in darkness.

Next we have this past weekend's box-office behemoth, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a film carrying only a 20% at RottenTomatoes, but one that will undoubtedly be earning Oscar nominations. The first Transformers was nominated for three Oscars in both Sound categories and for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. It didn't end up winning any, but I wouldn't be surprised if Revenge of the Fallen ended up with a similar three nods, but wins are going to be tricky with the likes of James Cameron's Avatar waiting in the wings and I would expect Star Trek to be a serious contender in the sound department.

Finally, we come to the continuing discussion regarding the move to ten Best Picture nominations. I already weighed in on this and many of you commented in that article and several of you in the original announcement, but yesterday a pair of award season regulars weighed in with their thoughts and bring up a few new issues some of you may be interested in.

First, David Carr at The New York Times comments saying, "The reporter in me that was bored to tears by last year's nonrace is inclined to be thrilled by the introduction of something, anything, to stir things up." However, he's hesitant to jump on board with the idea ten Best Picture nominations is the way to go.

He cites executives who "argue that the best-picture award continues to have resonance with consumers when used as a laurel in ads precisely because it is such a rare jewel" and how "niches could continue to rule, with smallish academy guilds like art directors, or special constituencies like British members of the academy, pushing through a particular movie crush that had left many others unmoved."

It's at this moment I should bring in Kris Tapley's column at In Contention and his addition to Carr's concern saying, "I imagine something will have to be done to address the concern that now one merely needs something like 600 people on board to get a film in the line-up... Block voting will surely thrive."

It's a shame, but as we saw the Weinstein Co. milk the system last year for The Reader, the change to ten nominations opens up so many more doors to roundabout ways of getting your name in that envelope. However, this brings up the issue of money.

Photo: Paramount Pictures

As Carr points out, "Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and mainstream newspapers (including The New York Times) will benefit from all that ad money." But as Tapley points out, "Those who like the idea of 10 nods and are hoping against hope for a Lovely Bones nomination come January will have to square themselves with the fact that Peter Jackson and company will now be sharing that pool of campaign dollars with Star Trek, for better or worse."

I'll finish that sentiment off with Carr's addition saying, "Who is going to be the one to tell J. J. Abrams that Star Trek is not worth more money and effort when there are 10 slots up for grabs?"

Personally I hold fast that if a film wasn't a contender before it won't be one now, but I can also see where one could argue the other side, but they'd be hard pressed to convince me Star Trek has a shot. Then again, we will all pretty much know what the top five nominees are in the Best Picture category by who is nominated in the Best Director category. The two don't always match up exactly but here's how they compared over the past ten years:

2009 - 5/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2008 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2007 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2006 - 5/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2005 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2004 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2003 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2002 - 3/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2001 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture
2000 - 4/5 of the director nominees were also nominated for picture

Only one year in the last ten had anything less than four of the Best Director nominees' films nominated for Best Picture. A pretty good barometer if you ask me.

Stay tuned as more Oscar coverage is on the way and the doors to "The Contenders 2010" will open very, very soon. For a look at last year's "Contenders" section, for those that may not have followed the Oscar coverage at RopeofSilicon, click here.

'The Dark Knight' Remains Five-Day Champ as Box-Office Actuals Arrive

Box-Office Mojo has updated their weekend charts with the three-day actual receipts and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen dropped from the original estimated three-day take of $112 million to finish with $108.9 million for the three-day weekend and $200 million for the five-day, which means The Dark Knight's five-day record of $203.7 million remains intact.

However, Revenge of the Fallen did still manage to break some records such as the biggest single-day IMAX gross with $3.9 million and the biggest five-day IMAX gross with $14.4 million. Of course, this does come with something of an asterisk since several of the so-called IMAX screens the film is showing on aren't the native 70mm IMAX screens as much as they are the refit IMAX Digital screens which are hardly representative of a true IMAX experience.

As for the rest of the box-office weekend, everything pretty much remained the same with Revenge of the Fallen being the only title to shift by anything more than $.2 million or so.

Critics Have Little-to-Nothing To Do With Box-Office Success

When people say a movie is "critic-proof" it really doesn't mean anything since reviews for movies have very little to do with determining whether or not the majority of people are going to go see a movie. With that said, what is published in David Germain's AP story "'Transformers': Worst-reviewed $400 million hit?" means absolutely nothing. Especially the line reading:

"Critics and mainstream crowds often disagree, but Revenge of the Fallen sets a new standard for the gulf between what reviewers and mass audiences like."

This line insinuates everyone that went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen this weekend liked it. Of course, the article backs things up saying, "According to Paramount's exit polls, 91 percent of the audience thought the sequel was as good as or better than the first Transformers, which received far better reviews." That sentence is so loaded with misconceptions it's staggering as it shows a complete lack of knowledge when it comes to movie watching.

Transformers is routinely referred to as "big dumb fun" and when it comes to "big dumb fun" there is a very short shelf life. Audience perception of a film is not generated in its opening weekend, it's created over time. Germain goes on in his article to reference previous films that reached the $400 million domestic box-office mark as that is where he sees Revenge of the Fallen headed. He begins comparing the movie to the likes of The Dark Knight, Spider-Man, E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Star Wars, Shrek 2 and Titanic. The matter in question here is will Revenge of the Fallen be able to sustain its dominance?

Last summer The Dark Knight remained at the top of the box-office charts for four consecutive weeks, Shrek 2 and Spider-Man only sustained two week dominance, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace lasted for three and the all-time king is Titanic with 15 weekends at the top of the box-office.

Let's not forget the first Transformers, which Germain is so quick to point out received better reviews than Revenge of the Fallen. It opened at number one as well only to fall to #2 in its second weekend to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Will Revenge of the Fallen be able to withstand this week's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Public Enemies? The last Ice Age opened to $68 million and I would think this one would do the same or better. Can Revenge of the Fallen match that?

Germain already tells us Revenge of the Fallen is getting great word of mouth saying, "Even after its whopping $60.6 million opening day, Revenge of the Fallen was packing theaters, a sign that unlike critics, who mostly hated the movie, audiences felt they were getting their money's worth and were giving the flick good word of mouth." This is in despite of the fact online ticket retailers were quoting figures almost two weeks in advance of the film's release saying showings were already sold out. Not sure how much word of mouth counts when people have already made up their mind to go see it, not to mention reviews weren't even online yet.

Perhaps the most twisted part of the whole article is the following:

Critics "forget what the goal of the movie was. The goal of the movie is to entertain and have fun," said Rob Moore, vice chairman of Paramount, which is distributing "Transformers" for DreamWorks. "What the audience tells us is, 'We couldn't be more entertained and having more fun.' They kind of roll their eyes at the critics and say, 'You have no idea what you're talking about.'"

So you are telling me Paramount isn't talking bad about their own movie? Shocker!

Here's the deal, audiences were going to see this no matter what. Reviews only helped raise the awareness. Good or bad, it didn't matter. Kids were just getting out of school and parents needed someplace to unload them. Transformers was already a familiar franchise and something parents could take their kids to see.

Of all the films Germain mentioned in his article, I wonder if he believes general audiences will look back at Revenge of the Fallen and compare it fondly to The Dark Knight, E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Star Wars and Titanic. If you wanted to use another public meter of determining an audience's perception of the film take a peek at IMDb and compare ratings for the first Transformers and those for Revenge of a Fallen, a film Paramount is trying to tell us audiences enjoy more than the first one (no account for short term memory considered).

The first Transformers currently sits with a 7.4 rating compared to Revenge of the Fallen's already lower 6.7 rating, and as most watchers of IMDb know these ratings typically start out high only to slowly fall and level off over time. Basically, as time wears on the general consensus for a film comes down to how it is remembered, not how much money it made one day ago. If it were the other way around Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would be considered the best film in the Indy franchise... not sure about you, but that isn't exactly how I see things.

To the point, critics have nothing to do with how a film does at the box-office. They are merely a tool for awareness and conversation starters. Critics see a movie, audiences see a movie and the film is discussed and its place in history is decided down the line. Some films will always be seen by more people; it's a fact that has nothing to do with reviews. The top spots at the box-office have always been reserved for the films that manage to appeal to the widest range of audience members. Revenge of the Fallen managed just that and just happened to not be liked by critics.

When I see people defending it the most common comment I see is something along the lines of "I think people expect too much" and "It's based on a cartoon, what did you expect?" This sounds to me like a person that got exactly as much out of the film as critics did, but were able to accept its flaws while others could not. Totally fair, but when you have to admit a film is bad in order to tell people it's good what is that really saying?

The consensus opinion at RottenTomatoes says, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is a noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch." I don't think anyone will argue with that...

Box-Office Wrap-Up: Jun. 26 - Jun. 28, 2009

Right now Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is 2.4m short of Dark Knight's five day opening. Based on today's estimates we are left with Revenge of the Fallen at $201.4m vs. The Dark Knight's $203.8m. But there are still three scenarios that could play out.

They've underestimated Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's Sunday.
Word of mouth is already catching up and the $112m is actually a bit high
They are dead on and Dark Knight has retained the throne.

While I hope Dark Knight retains the crown (I've yet to hear anyone argue Transformers 2 was superior) I don't have a good feel either way. So let's break down the numbers we've got and go from there.

#1 movie predicted correctly: 1 Week In A Row

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

The consensus was that I was too high with my number. But I'm looking pretty close. The only people closer were Nick and Gophers Attack! - but they both took aim on Friday... so I can only issue partial credit. My Friday projection of $39m was the most problematic as the number came in at $36.8m. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen stands at $281m worldwide, it had the biggest opening weekend of the year, the biggest June opening ever, and stands to break the five day and quickest to $200m number too, all depending on the Sunday actuals. Thus, though I didn't love it, I have to respect the box-0ffice might of the thing. Looking forward, will it be heavily front loaded? I would say hell... to-the-yes.

Result: 112.0 million (My rank: #1, $3.1m off)

2. The Proposal

My biggest miss of the weekend was The Hangover. It finally bowed to conventional math. The Proposal was exactly what we though it was, a 45% dipper.

Result: 18.4 million (My rank: #2, $.2m off)

3. The Hangover

It had fallen 27% and 18% in prior weekends, so you can see why I was thrown off. But clearly Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hit it in the demo. Still, $213m worldwide cume on a budget of $35. Very nice math for Warners this summer.

Result: 17.2 million (My rank: #, $m off)

4. Up

Re: summer Oscar love, Crash was mentioned, as was Gladiator, Braveheart, Unforgiven, The Silence of the Lambs, and Forrest Gump. To which I say, as communication gets faster and faster summer gets father and farther away from the nomination process. Crash was in 2005 against a weak crowd. Little Miss Sunshine was in July, but at an extremely slow burn. My gut instinct is that if I looked at the release dates it's gotten harder in this decade to pull a summer nom. But I'll look at it and report back, promise.

Result: 13.0 million (My rank: #4, $4.4m off)

5. My Sister's Keeper

It was the biggest weekend of the summer. Not nearly as big as I predicted, but still $25m more than the second place weekend.

Result: 12.0 million (My rank: #5, $4.9m off)

6. Year One

They need to have Jack Black and Michael Cera go door to door in support of this one. Otherwise it's not going to make it.

Result: 5.8 million (My rank: #6, $5m off)

7. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Is Tony Scott still a box-office guy? Another gut instinct: He was massive in the '80s, solid in the '90s and very hit or miss in this decade.

Result: 5.4 million (My rank: #7, $1.2m off)

8. Star Trek

It's still the number two box-office film of 2009 (Up took the top spot this weekend), but Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is less than $100m behind. Which is a shame, I really think Star Trek captured a nice balance between commerce and character development.

Result: 3.6 million (My rank: #9, $.4m off)

9. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

It still needs $4m to catch Wolverine for fourth overall this year, though of course they'll both be passed by Potter, Ice Age, Avatar and Transformers 2.

Result: 3.5 million (My rank: #8, $1.5m off)

10. Away We Go

Nice! No, it wasn't anywhere near my lofty $4m projection, but it did manage to come in tenth place. I'll take it, which brings us to next week...

Result: 1.6 million (My rank: #10, $2.4m off)

Can Public Enemies get in the $50s (the number probably needed to have a shot at knocking off Revenge of the Fallen)? And don't look now, but the last Ice Age made $68m opening weekend, which would definitely be enough to make Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen a one and done. Gonna to be interesting. What's your early call?

GET MORE BOX-OFFICE INFO HERE

'Transformers 2' Looks to Best 'Dark Knight's Five Day Box-Office Record

It's going to be close folks as estimates now peg Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen as hitting anywhere from $190-209 million for its opening five days, the latter number would mean a five-day box-office record for the feature as it added another $36.7 million to its cumulative total with Friday estimates.

Revenge of the Fallen has hit an estimated domestic total of $125.9 million in its first three days and now all eyes are focused on the five-day opening domestic box-office record of $203.8 million currently held by The Dark Knight.

Personally, this isn't surprising as I can't imagine anyone not at least being interested in seeing the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on the bigscreen as the film is currently playing in 4,234 theaters, 169 of which are IMAX. So what if critics (myself included) didn't like it? I guarantee if I wasn't reviewing this movie I would have been in theaters this weekend to see it even though I thought the first one was terrible. I don't think critical opinions matter on big dumb fun. I look at critical opinion in more of an effort to persuade rather than dissuade, and open up a line of dialogue, but that's just me.

While Revenge of the Fallen makes its way toward box-office stardom, last week's romantic-comedy The Proposal is holding onto second after Friday estimates with $6.1 million, while the Cameron Diaz weeper My Sister's Keeper opened to the tune of $5.1 million and currently sits in fourth position.

In the third slot is The Hangover with another $5.3 million and rounding out the top five is Pixar's Up with $3.9 million.

As for the limited releases this week Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is playing in only four theaters in New York and Los Angeles before expanding in July and opened with an impressive Friday tallying $44,528.

Miramax's Cheri took in $111,000 from 76 theaters and Woody Allen's Whatever Works brought in $98,000.

You can see the top ten slots from the Friday box-office just below and Laremy will be here tomorrow for a full weekend recap. Will Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen take The Dark Knight's slot in the record books? Stay tuned!

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - $36.7 million
The Proposal - $6.1 million
The Hangover - $5.3 million
My Sister's Keeper - $5.0 million
Up - $3.9 million
Year One - $2.0 million
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - $1.5 million
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian - $1.2 million
Star Trek - $1.0 million
Away We Go - $510,000

Box-Office Oracle: Jun. 26 - Jun. 28, 2009

#1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks in a Row

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

It crushed the Wednesday opening day record with an estimated $60.6m splash. Now then, as our only job here today is to figure out how much this monster will make over the next three days, let's break down the math.

It should make $27m on Thursday, if it follows the math of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. After that, word of mouth could hurt it, but it has no real competition in terms of marketing or demographic. So I'm projecting it to go 39/42/34, for a massive $209.1m five day opening. I didn't like the film, but it hardly matters, as I won't have to buy a ticket for it to rake in the cash.

For the record Raichu had it at $55m on Wednesday, only $5m under. The closest was JAB's aggresive $64m projection. But they are both now underneath my projection. Have I gone too high? Will negative word of mouth and reviews hurt this film? Or will it keep on keepin' on? I think the absolute min/max is now $90m / $130m

Estimate: $115.1 million

2. The Hangover

I've only bled it five percent this weekend, it remains a summer success story.

Estimate: $25.3 million

3. The Proposal

It' nicely positioned as the quid pro quo for Revenge of the Fallen night. Plus it's gaining two whole theaters. That should be the difference.

Estimate: $18.6 million

4. Up

The three through five slots are definitely a horse race. Re: Up's Oscar chances the issue is no longer animation. It's proximity to nomination season. If Pixar ever wants a shoo-in they need to open in October or November. Summer films don't get nominated because the Academy has the memory of a medium sized ferret.

Estimate: $17.4 million

5. My Sister's Keeper

It's hard for me to fathom that anyone wants to see this. But two million people will.

Estimate: $16.9 million

6. Year One

Hey, here's another movie gaining exactly two theaters. Not much else to talk about with this title, it's pretty much a financial disaster for Sony.

Estimate: $10.8 million

7. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

I've got the top twelve films grossing $239m this weekend, which would be the highest grossing weekend of the year by far (second place being the weekend of May 22 when Night at the Museum 2 led the charge to a $169m top twelve).

Estimate: $6.6 million

8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

It has a shot to pass X-Men Origins: Wolverine this weekend for the fourth highest 2009 Worldwide Cume. Then it will only be $8m away from the second slot, with Star Trek and Monsters vs. Aliens in the way...

Estimate: $5.0 million

9. Star Trek

...but only Transformers, Harry Potter, and possibly Avatar have a legit shot at Angels and#038; Demons $460m.

Estimate: $4.0 million

10. Away We Go

It's getting almost 500 theaters this weekend. That will be good enough for tenth place.

Estimate: $4.0 million

So where did I go wrong? Am I rating Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen too highly? Do you think it might be a reverse jinx on my part? Weigh in on the comments - let's get this party started!

Latest MPAA Ratings: BULLETIN NO: 2075

Here are the new MPAA ratings from BULLETIN NO: 2075.

The Bridge To Nowhere

Rated R For drug use, pervasive language, sexual content and violence.

Chai Lai Angels

Rated R For violence and some language.

A Christmas Proposal

Rated PG For brief mild language.

District 9

Rated R For bloody violence and pervasive language.

Release Date: August 14, 2009

The Final Destination

Rated R For strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality.

Release Date: August 28, 2009

I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell

Rated R For nudity, strong sexual content including graphic dialogue throughout, language and some crude material.

If God Wants

Rated PG For language and some rude humor.

Lonely Street

Rated R For language, some violent images and drug material.

Long Shot

Rated PG-13 For violence.

Love Ain't Suppose To Hurt 2 - The Wedding

Rated PG For thematic elements.

Ong Bak 2

Rated R For sequences of violence.

Release Date: September 25, 2009 (VOD, Amazon and Xbox; Theatrical release on 10/23)

Peacock

Rated PG-13 For disturbing thematic material and a scene of violence.

Release Date: TBA

Santa Buddies

Rated G

The September Issue

Rated PG-13 For brief strong language.

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (IMAX Version)

Rated PG-13 For intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material.

Release Date: June 24, 2009

Vigilante

Rated R For pervasive language, violence and brief drug content.

Virus Undead

Rated R For horror violence/gore, language and some sexuality.

You can always stay up-to-date on all the latest updates to our database right here.

Midnight Screenings Earn 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' $16 Million

Just because it is a hot topic I don't feel bad going with a short post on this one as Variety has revealed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned an estimated $16 million in midnight runs, second only to The Dark Knight. It's the best midnight run ever for a movie opening on a Wednesday.

Of course, the difference being The Dark Knight was opening on a Friday, but I think we can now expect big things from Transformers, as if we weren't already.

The Dark Knight went on to earn $67+ million on its opening day in 4,366 theaters. Transformers will take its estimated $16 million into 4,226 runs today after its roughly 3,000 runs last night.

Several of you have already made your predictions in our Transformers estimate article in which Laremy predicted a safe $43 million for Wednesday, a number that is now looking low as I would expect at least mid-50s. Thoughts?