District 9 Interview

Recently I got a chance to interview Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp of District 9 for The Surf.

Recently I got a chance to interview Sharlto Copley and Neill Blomkamp of District 9 for The Surf.

We discussed the failed Halo project, 8-bit Halo, potential sequels/prequels and American accents.

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Iron Man 2 Footage Leaked

The Iron Man 2 Teaser footage from Comic Con has been leaked on YouTube. This won't be up long so you better watch it while you can.


If the video below isn't working it means Marvel or Paramount had it yanked.

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Favreau Made an Offer for Iron Man 2

Nikki Finke is reporting that Marvel Studios have officially made Jon Favreau an offer to direct Iron Man 2. The big question now is weather or not he will take it. At the Hulk premier Favreau revealed that he is unhappy with the planned release date for the sequel.

Now In order for a Favreau directed sequel to happen one of the groups has to bend, either Marvel has to change the release date or Favreau has to jump on board with the small amount of time to pull the project together.

Lets hope they can make things work.

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Does The Hollywood Reporter Only Employ Idiots?

Who says cost cutting and synergy don't effect the quality of journalistic output. Take a look at what this mook from the Hollywood Reporter did.

I came across this completely useless piece of box office analysis on Yahoo! that originates from The Hollywood Reporter.

Journalist Carl DiOrio tries to put the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in perspective by arguing that its projected opening of more than $150 million may topple the record held by Spiderman 3 of $151.1 million.

There is of course one big problem with this analysis, which DiOrio is at least smart enough to pick up on:

That would put "Skull" on course to surpass the "Spider-Man 3" opening of $151.1 million in May 2007 -- with a big asterisk, given that Spidey reached that level in three days.

Yes, Spiderman 3 did reach that level in 3 days but this isn’t the 1961 Baseball season. It is pretty standard boxoffice practice to compare 5 day grosses with 5 day grosses and opening weekend grosses with opening weekend grosses – not some crazy case of apples, oranges and asterisks.

If DiOrio was some random commentator this could be forgiven but to be a professional journalist and not even take the time to do some of that research stuff – inexcusable.

Oh but wait there is more, it’s not like this is some guy working for the KwaZulu Natal Mercury, which has other topics to focus on – this guy is working for The Hollywood Reporter, which specializes in the film trade.

And the extra research he needed to do to make his article relevant? All he had to do was go to boxofficemojo.com, click all time under the boxoffice tab and then select 5 day openings. Is that all too hard for a professional journalist?

Anyway, here are the real stats that Crystal Skull has to compete with to get into the record books:

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	$172,802,507
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$169,506,744
Spider-Man 3	$169,444,466
Spider-Man 2	$152,411,751
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	$147,591,127

 

So Indy needs to get more than $172.8 million to become the new 5 day champ, a fete Steve Mason thinks it can accomplish.

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$51M-$60M Weekend for Caspian = Very Disappointing

Saturday reports place Caspian slightly better then earlier reported. With reports ranging from a $18M Friday and a $51M weekend to a $19M Friday and a $60M weekend the film looks like a major disappointment.

Some film suits are going to be having severe heart palpitations for the rest of the weekend and praying for a summer miracle.

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Has Prince Caspian Got Stage Fright?

Early Box Office reports say that the big budget fantasy sequel, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, may be off to a shaky start in the US. It looks as thought the film will only gross around $17.5 million for Friday and possibly a dismal $51M-$56M opening weekend. Is this figure holds (which is sketchy this early) it means Caspian will have fallen far short of the $75M-$80M it was expected to make with ease and even less than the $65.6M opening weekend of the first Narnia film.

With the new Indiana Jones film around the corner and the Summer being far more concentrated than the previous films December release it looks like it will be an uphill struggle for this to out gross the original. The film will probably still do big business internationally.

Iron Man on the other hand is looking to have another good hold and may be able to crack $300M during its run.

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Spiderman 4 and 5 to be Shot Together

Cinematical are reporting that Spiderman 4 and 5 will be filmed together. Apparently screenwriter, James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), has turned in his working draft of Spidey 4 and the story arc spans over two films. Sony are interested in filming both at the same time probably to save some money and maximize profits.

If the rumours are true it will be interesting to see if Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst return or if the studio will bring in some new blood for the franchise.

Any thoughts on which villain(s) could encompass a two film story?

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3rd Incredible Hulk Trailer

The New Hulk Trailer came out with Speed Racer and The Hulk is looking better.

Superhero Hype have posted a new Incredible Hulk Trailer. I'm not sure if it's because it's low quality but the Hulk is looking much better. Now that Iron Man has come out this is the film I am most interested in seeing because unlike The Dark Knight and Hellboy 2 it is unknown if this film will be good. The uncertainty of the project, mixed with the behind the scenes drama  make me curious if this will be a slam dunk or an utter failure. Here is the newest trailer:

The shot with the Hulk and Betty sitting in what looks like a cave while it is raining (this was in the last trailer as well) is what gives me hope for this project. That shot and a few others are classic imagery from the Hulk mythology. My one big gripe is Norton turning into the Hulk while he is strapped to the bed - it looks like the scene in Scooby Doo when Scrappy turned into a monster - disappointing.

Unfortunately, this trailer came out with Speed Racer so hardly anyone will have seen it. Let's hope it's also attached to The Crystal Skull or Prince Caspian.

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W - Oliver Stone's George Bush Movie

EW has the first look at Oliver Stone's new project, W (or dub-ya), about US president George W. Bush.

The film will undoubtedly cause controversy - since it may be released in early October during the height of the presidential campaign and Stone says it will be a ''fair, true portrait of the man,'' which is enough to give Republicans concern.

Josh Brolin will be in the title role which could make or break his floundering career, which is currently enjoying a bit of an up tick.

Look for the film to be turn out more as a comedy with Stone arguing that Bush is like a reverse Gatsby. "This movie can be funnier because Bush is funny. He's awkward and goofy and makes faces all the time." It could score at the Int.boxoffice.

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That's Pretty Racist Juno

Yes, we are going to attack the heart-warming movie of the moment with racist allegations. We are just that bitter. Would you like some gum?

I just got another hate comment on the racism in Transformers post and remembered how much fun it is to get all the clan lovers riled up. I decided I should point out some more racist action in the film industry and remembered I was planning on writing a post about Juno in December but never got around to it.

I won’t bore you with the whole I loved the movie I’m a huge Jason Reitman speech – I’ll just get straight to the point.

When they started marketing the film I was pretty pissed off to find out that it stole one of my signature lines – using Morgan Freeman as an arbitrary conversation point. Ask Viggly or Stelloh, they’ve heard me over the years use Morgan Freeman for al kinds of crap. Take the following pointless examples:

Person: Is that you Rob?
Me: No, it’s Morgan Freeman. (this is basically what the film used)

Person: You’ll never guess who I saw last night?
Me: Morgan Freeman.

Person: Hey, guess who Marcus scored last night?
Me: Morgan Freeman.

Person: What’s the capital of Brazil?
Me: Morgan Freeman.

I accidentally stub my toe.
Me: Morgan ‘Fucking’ Freeman that hurt!

Basically there was a point in my life where I’d just use Morgan Freeman as the answer to any question. Obviously, Juno (or more precisely Diablo Cody) didn’t steal it form me. But after Juno - especially since it’s grossed a ludicrous amount of cash and almost everyone will have seen it within the next year - I can’t use the phrase anymore without looking like a lame Juno imitator.

Anyway, back to the racism. Juno’s line in the film is something like, “No, It’s Morgan Freeman, need any bones collected?” Hello, Morgan Freeman wasn’t in The Bone Collector or has never played someone that’s trade mark is collecting bones. The person in question is Denzel Washington.

Now that’s quite an oversite. That would be like mistaking Brad Pitt (younger white actor in his prime) for Jack Nicholson (Old established white actor). So who ever is responsible for that line seems to think that all black people look the same. That’s just racist.

What are they planning on saying in Juno 2: Attack of the Abandoned Baby:

Friend: Is this Juno?

Juno: No, It’s Martin Lawrence, is Billy Bob Thornton around so I can have academy award winning depressed sex with him?

Here are a couple of lines Juno could have said that would not have been racist:

No it’s Morgan Freeman…

• Have any old women that need to be driven around?
• Any young Jack Ryan’s there for me to mentor?
• Have you seen Betty?
• Do you think my eyebrows looked ridiculous in Dreamcatcher?
• Know any junkies whose kids I can steal?
• Would you like to build an Ark?
• Have you seen that tall drink of water with the silver spoon up his ass?

Oh, and here is a drinking game you can play with the whole family. Pop the Juno DVD in and every time you see a black person have a drink. While you have fun playing that I’m going to have to come up with another celebrity name to use as my trademark.

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