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?
A little film called The Dark Knightopens tomorrow tonight, and it’s so highly anticipated and it has received so much positive buzz that one expert is predicting it could gross anywhere between $100-150 million. I’m going to to do him one better and broaden that gap further to $100-900 million. Good thing this isn’t The Price is Right.
And speaking of down-on-their-luck, alcoholics, Jeff Bridges will play one — a country singer, though, not a superhero — in the T Bone Burnett-scored musical Crazy Heart, which will also star Maggie Gyllenhaal and Robert Duvall.
John Woo is known for announcing about 20 new directing gigs a year, so don’t get too upset if he doesn’t actually end up helming the comic book adaptation Caliber.
Can we expect a whole new marketing strategy for Tom Cruise’s Valkyrie? United Artists has just hired a new chief of marketing and publicity, Michael Vollman from Paramount, to replace the resigned Dennis Rice.
Documentary site SnagFilmshas acquired indieWIRE. Congrats and good luck to our SpoutBlog friends at iW, including Eugene Hernandez, who has a new position and will oversee content on both sites.
Hancockis expected to make around $100 million this weekend, simply because Will Smith + July 4th = boatloads of money, regardless of negative buzz.
SAG still doesn’t have a contract, but nobody seems to be particularly concerned. According to Variety, “There’s a ubiquitous sense among studio and network execs, talent reps and multihyphenates that SAG does not have the bedrock of support among its members to call for a work stoppage.” Meanwhile, Tom Hanks is supporting a ratification of the AFTRA deal, which would almost certainly nix any possibility of a SAG strike, whilst Jack Nicholson wants his compatriots to hold out for a better deal.
Sacha Baron Cohen will play Sherlock Holmes opposite Will Ferrell’s Watson in an as-yet untitled comedy based on the detective stories. But they’ll have stiff competition from a competing Sherlock film being developed by the week’s most famous male maybe-divorcee, Guy Ritchie…right? [crickets]
It’s bad enough that Hollywood has to remake all of my childhood memories (yes, I admit my childhood memories are mostly TV shows and movies from the ’70s and ’80s). But when they go and use CGI rather than actors and completely alter the way I remember things (man, that sucked how the Who’s the Boss movie featured a computer generated Mona), I just get so upset I could rant on a blog. So, imagine my relief when I saw this official photo from the set of Universal’s Land of the Lostin today’s USA Today.
Yes, those Sleestak look just as you remember. Only darker, more detailed, and a little (just a little) less like a costume with a human inside. But as much as I’d like to salute director Brad Silberling both for respecting my childhood and for shitting on CGI (which is still just too lazy a tool these days), the choice seems mostly to do with retaining the show’s cheesiness. Anthony Breznican writes for USA Today:
I don’t know what I’m happier about, the fact that “Bust-Ass” from All the Real Girlshas been getting a lot of supporting roles in big comedies (Hot Rod, The Heartbreak Kid, Pineapple Express, Drillbit Taylor, Tropic Thunder) or that he’s got the starring role in this little comedy, which ought to receive a decent theatrical run courtesy of Paramount Vantage. I’ll tell the truth, though; I hadn’t heard of The Foot Fist Wayuntil I was directed [via ComingSoon.net] to the movie’s new “restricted” trailer. Apparently it was quite popular when it screened at Sundance in 2007, and it so far has a rating of 9.7 stars out of 10 on its IMDb page (though only 29 people have rated it so far).
This trailer does something interesting that isn’t seen much in the world of movie marketing. It employs a sort of peer-recommendation that we’re used to seeing on book jackets. The trailer mentions the fact that it has been watched by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay at least 20 times, that it has been quoted by them and that they obsess over it. The only thing it’s missing is an actual appearance from the pair, or at least a direct statement from them. I feel like something less second-hand would be more effective.
The first half of this week saw a drought as far as new trailers are concerned. But when it rains it pours, and by the end of day Thursday the internet had received a relative monsoon of debuts, including the now-official release of the Sex and the City trailer, which Karina prematurely peeked at last Friday, and another awesome ad for Iron Man.
But the truly noteworthy trailers had to be those for three eagerly anticipated comedies, two of which we are seeing for the first time. First, there’s The Love Guru, which stars Mike Myers as his first originally created comedic character in more than ten years. Unfortunately, it kind of makes me wish he would just keep making Austin Powers movies. Maybe I just don’t get it, and maybe I should just accept that a Myers comedy is less about it and more about him. But it doesn’t look that funny. And I’m a person who can appreciate the making fun of Extreme and the parodying of Bollywood and the ridiculing of little people.
Oh, good: Indiana Jones and the Dorian Grey-ing of Harrison Ford Into Shia LaBouf will premiere at Cannes! Maybe. No one’s seen the thing yet, but according to Variety, “The cast, which includes Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett, have already been notified to pack their black-tie outfits for the French Riviera’s red carpet unspooling even though the fest has yet to confirm its official lineup.” Because celebrities pack suitcases 10 weeks in advance.
Theatrical exhibition conference ShoWest will confer a special “Freedom of Expression Award” to Ang Lee and James Schamus, for releasing Lust, Caution with an NC-17 rating instead of cutting the film to get an R. National Theater Owners president John Fithian is inexplicably trying to push studios to revitalize the NC-17 market, even though even Lust, Caution made just under $5 million domestically, and in fact was a super-hit in China…where it was cut to appease the censors.
Semi-Pro, which opens today, suddenly bears the dubious distinction of being the final release from New Line before the studio is subsumed into the clusterfuck that is Time Warner. It may not exactly send the studio out with a bang: although the comedy is said to be “tracking well among males under 25″ it’s nonetheless expected to “open well lower than Ferrell’s most recent films.”
For years, Armageddonwas certainly the most surprising movie to receive admission into the prestigious Criterion Collection. Technically it hasn’t been supplanted, but what if Criterion really did put out a special edition DVD of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’sThe Landlord – you know, that hilarious little sketch that put Funnyordie.com on the internerd map. I’m not sure if the whole company is endorsing it, but on the Criterion blog (”On Five”), there’s at least acknowledgement and support for the recent “Criterion Edition” clip of The Landlord, featuring a commentary track (and video) from Ferrell and McKay.
The video itself is pretty funny, though it goes on way too long. They really should have stopped commenting when the short ends. Instead, they ramble on about Ferrell’s ego and then ultimately get serious and thank the fans for making it so popular. Also, it would have been more interesting or appropriate to the Criterion model to be more than simply a commentary. Maybe ten years ago commentary and Criterion were synonymous, but not anymore. Where is the film historian/professor? Where is the new interview with Pearl McKay? I love the reference to Rick Baker, but otherwise isn’t this a bit of a missed opportunity, as well as an overdone one?
These things are funny: drunk basketball; guns pointed at crotches; and orgies. These words are funny: fuck; dick; blowjobs; and cock (as in “suck my cock; I’ll murder your family!”). What do they all have in common? They can be shown and heard in the red-band trailer for Semi-Pro, the new Will Ferrell movie opening in February. Why are they so funny? Because they can only be shown and heard in a red-band trailer, duh.
When I was growing up, I learned that swearing was a sign of a lack of creativity. When I was in high school and taking creative writing classes, I learned that swearing was a sign of realism. Now that I’m old, I’m learning that swearing is a sign that something is hilarious. I’m not sure exactly why curse words and other offensive dialogue and subject matter is considered necessary for comedy these days, but between all the red-band trailers and unrated DVD versions, it’s apparent that nothing is at its funniest until it’s allowed to let loose with the F and C words.
Musical theater legend Robert Goulet died yesterday at the age of 73, while awaiting a lung transplant. Goulet first made his mark starring in Camelot on Broadway in 1960; he was a staple of variety shows made-for-TV musical adaptations until both went out of fashion; he appeared in Beetlejuice and Atlantic City; he voiced the penguin in Toy Story 2. But most people of a certain age probably know Goulet best through Will Ferrell’s impersonations on SNL. So, in tribute to Goulet, I’ve embedded my favorite of Ferrell’s Goulet clips above. You get the idea.
Everyone’s 
A little film called The Dark Knight opens tomorrow tonight, and it’s so highly anticipated and it has received so much positive buzz that one expert is predicting it could gross anywhere between $100-150 million. I’m going to to do him one better and broaden that gap further to $100-900 million. Good thing this isn’t The Price is Right.
Hancock
Oh, good: Indiana Jones and the Dorian Grey-ing of Harrison Ford Into Shia LaBouf will premiere at Cannes! Maybe. No one’s seen the thing yet, but 
