Everyone’s talkingtoday about how, while no one was looking, Step Brothers has somehow made almost $100 million. All this, in spite of middling reviews and an almost complete lack of buzz. And granted, this might have been a real surprise in a different year, but if you take a look at 2008’s overall box office numbers, you see a lot of films that were written off after disappointing first weekends and/or otherwise for some reason have not been touted as “hits”, but which have nonetheless very quietly grossed either just under or just over a million dollars.
The most notable example of this is probably What Happens in Vegas, which has made $80 million in just over three months. Its release never went wider than 3,000 screens, and it never hit number 1, but if you factor in international box office, it’s grossed $200 million––or, about six times its reported production budget. Why is no one is talking about this film, or what it means for the careers of Cameron Diaz or Ashton Kutcher, while 27 Dresses’ $76 million domestic gross, on a very similar budget, is pretty widely considered confirmation that Katherine Heigl has risen to the very selective stratosphere of actresses who can open a movie?
Is Cameron Diaz playing Lt. Ilia in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trekmovie? Or trying out for the part of Moondragon in Marvel’s Avengersmovie? No, she’s simply gone bald for New Line’s weepie drama My Sister’s Keeper. In the film, she plays the mother of a girl suffering from leukemia. And when her daughter suffers hair loss from chemotherapy, she shaves her own head in support.
Though I’m not sure if Diaz is actually shaved here or just wearing a bald cap, I’m hoping that either way little Dakota Fanning sees these photos (for more, head here). You may recall that the 14-year-old primadonna dropped out of the film because she didn’t want to shave her head. Well, Dakota, how’s it feel to be shown up by Cameron Diaz? I know, she’s hardly one to seem worried about her image (she’s brilliantly unattractive in Being John Malkovich), but still, no bad-skin paparazzi shots have made her look as frightening as this picture.
P.S. According to these additionalshots from the set, your replacement, Sofia Vassilieva, doesn’t seem all that happy to be bald. But at least she’s going to get that sympathetic Oscar nomination.
Word hit the web yesterday afternoon that Richard Kelly, the writer/director of cult hit Donnie Darko, has been hired to direct The Box, a PG-13 horror film based on his own script, and set to star Cameron Diaz. “My hope is to make a film that is incredibly suspenseful and broadly commercial, while still retaining my artistic sensibility,” Kelly told Variety.
Okay, fine. But what about Southland Tales? An allegedly unfinished cut of Kelly’s second film (a gonzo sci-fi meta-epic starring The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Justin TImberlake) was savaged by most critics when it screened at Cannes last year, but staunchly defended by Amy Taubin and J. Hoberman. That summer, the film was acquired by Sony, and Kelly made an appearance at Comic Con promising fans that the studio was committed to releasing the film. Then, in early April of this year, Kelly posted a message on his MySpace page saying that Sony had agreed to fund one last round of special effects. “The film will be completely finished for the first public screening sometime mid-summer,” Kelly promised.
Wouldn’t that be … now? Kelly hasn’t updated his MySpace page since the Variety story hit, but I’ve sent him a message asking for more details. I can tell you one thing: there’s no lack of curiousity about Southland Tales amongst comic book geeks. I’ve been trying to get my hands on the third installment of the Southland Tales prequel graphic novel series, but Forbidden Planet has been sold out for weeks.
Everyone’s 
