I’m all for appropriate trailer positioning, but the debut last night of a teaser for something called Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief may have gone a little overboard. Actually, I change my mind: a lot overboard. The movie, based on Rick Riordan’s fantasy novels, is about a 12-year-old boy who finds out he’s part Greek god. Sounds a bit like the story of an 11-year-old boy who finds out he’s a wizard. But in case that’s not enough to be marketable to Harry Potter fans, the first trailer for Percy Jackson notes that the movie is directed by Chris Columbus, who kicked off the Potter films by helming both Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. What else could Fox 2000 do to exploit the other franchise? Hmm, how about a logo that looks exactly like the one from Sorcerer’s Stone?
Certainly such a teaser should be positioned in front of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince right? Well, actually, I think it could hurt the upcoming potential franchise starter, which doesn’t hit theaters til next February. Potter fans aren’t dumb and they’re sure to see that their beloved character is being completely ripped off and exploited. And with a record-breaking midnight box office for Half-Blood Prince last night, this teaser probably struck a bad chord with millions of moviegoers. As observed by Alex Billington of First Showing during one screening, the New Moon trailer obviously garnered huge cheers while Percy Jackson was met with “confused silence.” Meanwhile, the movie doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot of attention online save for negative postings by film bloggers who agree that it’s a blatant Potter wannabe.
Check out some of those negative reactions after the jump:
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Opening today, Soul Men features the final performance from Bernie Mac, who died unexpectedly on August 9. The movie also includes a cameo from Isaac Hayes, who died one day later. Both men join a long list of people whose last films were released after their deaths, a list that includes Brad Renfro, whose final performance, in The Informers, can be seen in theaters come next May.
Unlike some names on that list, Bernie Mac, whose voice can also be heard in the new animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, isn’t likely to receive a posthumous Oscar nomination as a tribute to his final work. But as one of the most underrated comic actors of the past few years, Mac likely gives a great performance as soul singer “Floyd Henderson,” enough to fall in with the crop of posthumously released roles we’ve showcased below:
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Though I first buzzed about an Academy Award nomination for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight more than a month before his death, I now want to take it all back. I feel all the talk of Ledger’s posthumous Oscar chances will cloud my mind when I finally do see it, and it will probably also cloud the Academy’s judgment, too. Six months from now, when the nominations are announced on January 22 (coincidentally the one-year anniversary of Ledger’s death), if Ledger is not recognized for his role as The Joker, there will surely be an uproar — actually, Hollywood might just up and self-implode.
I’m not the only one annoyed by all the Oscar buzz. Terry Gilliam, who directed Ledger in The Brothers Grimm and the upcoming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is calling “bullshit” on the whole thing, particularly against Warner Bros., which Gilliam accuses of exploiting Ledger’s death and chance of a posthumous Oscar for publicity purposes. Considering most Oscar campaigns for live actors are really just part of movie marketing, he has a good point.
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Ten-percent of Harry Potter fans are addicts. This is a fact, according to a recent scientific study. But after watching We Are Wizards, a documentary about Harry Potter fandom directed by Josh Koury, it seems clear that the study was a waste of time. One only needs to see this film to know that Potterphiles go a little overboard with their love for the boy wizard.Koury’s film is not simply Trekkies for the Hogwarts set, however. It’s not so much about the obsessed as it is about the inspired; We Are Wizards puts the spotlight on those Harry Potter enthusiasts who have turned fandom into a source of creativity. Like most popular franchises, J.K. Rowling’s series of novels and Warner Bros.’ movie adaptations have spawned their share of fan fiction, fansites and podcasts on the web, which has in turn introduced the phenomenon of fans of fans. But considering Pottermania and the Internet exploded at about the same time, the significance of online Potter fandom is huge. Let the multiple lawsuits brought by Rowling and Warners against the fans be a testament to that. These legal battles have opened up new debates regarding intellectual property and fan loyalty with regards to the (world)wide-open arena of the web. Just last week, in fact, yet another fan was sued for publishing a non-fiction work celebrating the Harry Potter lexicon. …Read more
