Karlovy Vary | SpoutBlog

Hell and School. Trade Roughage 07/14/08

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Variety says Hellboy 2 “did hellacious business in debuting to an estimated $35.9 million.” This seems to be a compliment. Meanwhile, Meet Dave bombed, and Journey to the Center of the Earth made a very respectable $20 mil on just 854 3D screens.
Richard Linklater, Mike White and Jack Black will collaborate on a sequel to School of Rock, and it’s got what’s destined to rival Babe 2: Pig in the City for mockable sequel titles: School of Rock 2: America Rocks. Where’s the exclamation point?
Terribly Happy, a Danish crime film, took the top prize at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival over the weekend. Man on Wire took the documentary prize, and there was also a “special mention” for Bigger, Stronger, Faster.

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Hancock made $107.3 million over the five night weekend, giving the Will Smith fractured superhero tale the third best July 4th opening of all time. It’s considered a victory for Smith’s star power, but it’s still almost $50 million less than Spider-Man 2 managed in a similar time frame. Meanwhile, The Wackness enjoyed the highest per-screen average of the weekend, earning $24,177 on each of its 6 screens.
SAG is expected to make an announcement today about AMPTP’s “final offer”––although they might just announce that they need more time to think it over. Meanwhile, at a press conference at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival over the weekend, Robert DeNiro argued against a strike, accusing his fellow actors of not having “done their homework” on the economics. “I do not know if it is the right time to be doing this at all with the economy the way it is,” he warned.
The opera directed by David Cronenberg based on his movie version of The Fly is bombing with French critics. Though complaints regarding the score’s “lack of expertise and imagination” have damaged ticket sales somewhat, apparently “Cronenberg diehards, Paris’ trendy 30ish art crowd and a sprinkling of goth girls” are still coming out in full force.

By Karina Longworth posted 1 year ago

Questions: Why are both The Love Guru and Get Smart––broad comedies that should have mainstream appeal, if they actually appeal to anyone––opening on the same day, and how is the competition going to impact each film’s box office? Answers: either because Paramount locked in a bunch of promo deals for The Love Guru before realizing how much wider Get Smart was tracking, or because Mike Myers didn’t want to change the release date; and badly.
First Run Pictures has picked up film critic Godfrey Cheshire’s personal documentary, Moving Midway. The film, through which Cheshire examines race relations and his own family’s plantation, will open in New York and then make the unusual move of going straight to a platform release in the South.
What Just Happened?, which just got its U.S. release date via Magnolia, will open the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on July 4.