Jumper only managed to clear $38.1 million at the box office over the five day weekend, which may be enough for sequel talks, but doesn’t seem like such a victory against the news that Step Up 2 made $28 million over the same frame. Meanwhile, The Band’s Visit, which is not a new release, managed the highest per-screen average of any film over the holiday weekend with $12,295 at each of its 13 locations.
With Blu-Ray declaring “Mission Accomplished!” in the costly, confusing and totally pointless HD DVD format war, technology companies are expected to turn their focus towards creating consoles to handle digital downloads.
It’s an ultra-crowded weekend at the box office, with four major films (Michael Clayton, We Own the Night, Tyler Perry’s latest, and the sequel to Elizabeth) either opening or expanding. It’s so bad that neither studio prognosticators nor Variety are even willing to venture a guess as to the eventual winner. “Studio sources uniformly agreed that the weekend looks like a toss-up, with any of the four debuts having the potential to break out,” goes the Variety story. “The four bows are aiming at somewhat different auds, leading studios to hope they can co-exist peacefully.”
J.J. Abrams is stocking his Star Trek movie with stoner comedy veterans. John Cho (better known as Harold) will play Sulu, and Simon Pegg (better known as Shaun) has been cast as Scotty.
77-year-old Jean-Luc Godard is expected to show up at the 20th European Film Awards in December to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Band’s Visit, Israel’s choice for the Foreign Language Oscar entry, has been ruled ineligible for the award by AMPAS for containing “more than 50% English dialogue.” The film was recently picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for US distribution, ostensibly in part because the studio was hoping to launch an Oscar campaign. The producers say they’re already filing an appeal.
Some movies are violent, some are disturbing, and others are just plain wrong. Paul W. S. Anderson’s Death Race is a fun ride with some gnarly crashes, but it can’t hold a candle to its demented predecessor, Roger Corman’s Death Race 2000 (1975).
Cinema’s favorite weirdo, Cripsin Glover, is taking his film across the country, personally [...]
Jumper only managed to clear $38.1 million 
It’s an ultra-crowded weekend at the box office, with four major films (Michael Clayton, We Own the Night, Tyler Perry’s latest, and the sequel to Elizabeth) either opening or expanding. It’s so bad that neither studio prognosticators nor Variety are even willing to venture a guess as to the eventual winner. “Studio sources uniformly agreed that the weekend looks like a toss-up, with any of the four debuts having the potential to break out,” goes the Variety story. “The four bows are aiming at somewhat different auds, leading studios to hope they can co-exist peacefully.”
