Tag: George Clooney (Page 4 of 5)

“New Moon” rises while sinking; Thanksgiving box office gets hit on “The Blind Side”

November 29, 2009 /

My Wednesday prediction that this would be a healthy Thanksgiving weekend at the box office certainly proved true — and it was nice to see it wasn’t at the rest of the economy’s expense: holiday shopping actually went up slightly this year and went up a lot more virtually. Also, the movie everyone expected to hit number actually did one hit number one. However, looking beneath the surface just slightly, movie consumers were making some interesting choices.

The argument prognosticators were making last week was that Summit’s “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” pretty much had to come out on top because, considering its $142 million+ opening weekend, even if it suffered a catastrophic drop in its second weekend, it still would be ahead of everything else, and that’s pretty much what happened. The vampire-werewolf-human love triangle dropped a massive 70% but, as reported by Box Office Mojo‘s weekend chart and trade mag writers jolly Carl DiOrio and Pamela McClintock, it still earned an estimated $42.5. That was a mere $2.375 million ahead of this week’s surprise #2 film, “The Blind Side,” which not only actually won the box office race on Thanksgiving day (which is not included in the weekend tallies) but came refreshingly close to winning the weekend with $40.125 million. The five day total for the films offer a bit more air between the #1 and #2 spots, with an estimated $66 million for “New Moon” and just over $57.5 for “The Blind Side.”

blindside

The impressive aspect of the Sandra Bullock-led sports film/cross-cultural family drama combo is that it did something I don’t remember seeing whenever I’ve been paying close attention to grosses.  In a world where we think it’s good if a film drops less than 45-50% on its second weekend, “The Blind Side” actually climbed 17.6% on its second go-round without a significant expansion (it went from being in 3,310 theaters to 3,340). I haven’t seen the film but I will say that this seems to be a sign that it’s possible what attracts most audiences today isn’t so different from what attracted them 50 or 75 years ago.

Continue reading »

Action Movies, Actors, Actresses, External Entertainment, External Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Xmas ghosts, a dead popster, goat starers, aliens, a box, and some demons

November 5, 2009 /

Yes, it’s a real mishmash this weekend at the box office and I’ve got less time than usual — but let’s just see how it goes.

A Christmas Carol

Anyhow, the clear winner over the next few days will almost certainly be yet another version of Charles Dicken’s constantly remade and revisited holiday perennial, this time from Disney, “A Christmas Carol.” Jim Carrey stars as Scrooge, who won’t hurt at the box office and Robert Zemeckis, in his “Polar Express” mode, is at the helm. Personally, while I found the earlier motion-capture movie a fun visceral thrill ride in Imax 3-D, despite a story that was the very definition of treacle, I personally find this style of animation extremely ugly; it’s as if it’s always stuck in the armpit of the Uncanny Valley. Moreover critics, including our own David Medsker, complain that Zemeckis gets carried away with the effects and makes things a bit too visceral and scary for the film’s own good. Still, if it worked even for Mr. Magoo, there’s no reason to think it won’t work well enough for some fiscal redemption. THR‘s Carl DiOrio, whose nearly as jolly as an way-too-early St. Nick, is guessing it’ll grab about $40 million in premature yuletide cheer. A split decision by critics is, I suppose, neither here nor there.

After that, we have four films that will be duking it out with two extant strong releases, Michael Jackson’s ghostly final bow, “This Is It,” which may benefit from better than expected word of mouth and, of course, the horrifyingly profitable “Paranormal Activity.” Intriguingly, all these new major releases have a slightly spooky and/or “paranormal” spin and trying to guess which will do best is probably about as wise as playing with a Ouija board at a demon-infested San Diego townhome.

Continue reading »

Actors, Actresses, Documentaries, External Entertainment, External Movies, Horror Movies, Movie Comedies, Movie Dramas, Movies, News, Sci-Fi Movies

Paramount sends us a little “Up in the Air”

September 9, 2009 /

“Juno” director Jason Reitman’s latest dramedy, “Up in the Air,” just finished wowing the crowds at the Telluride Film Festival, and now Paramount has released a new clip from the film so everyone can get an idea of what the fuss is all about.

Starring George Clooney as corporate hatchet man Ryan Bingham, “Air” tells the story of what happens when a man who’s made his career out of being a sort of professional grim reaper (that’d be Clooney, of course) feels the sting himself — and right on the cusp of achieving his long-held goal of collecting five million frequent-flyer miles, no less. With a cast that includes Clooney, Vera Farmiga, and Jason Bateman — not to mention Reitman writing the script and sitting behind the lens — we know we can safely expect plenty of the seemingly effortless chemistry and smart, downplayed humor on display in this clip. Watch it now — and mark your calendars for December 4.


Movie Dramas, Video

Monday Night Quickies

July 6, 2009 /

Not that kind of quicky. I’m referring to brief links to stuff around the interwebs, tonight with a geeky edge.

* The “actuals” are in on the weekend box office race. The “Transformers” sequel won by a wafer thin half a million smackers, dang it.

* I’m not sure how this started, but my pattern on the “Harry Potter” franchise has been to read the books just before the films come out. To avoid spoilers for “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (I’m on page 139 and the story’s barely begun), I’m not reading any reviews right now. Thanks to the miracle of Rotten Tomatoes I can nevertheless say that the reviews for the film thereof are looking quite good thus far. That’s a good thing because director David Yates is finishing out the series, which seems to be wrapping up much better than it started. The choice of Yates, a specialist in TV miniseries, to wrap up the films makes a lot of sense, especially since that’s essentially what the Potter movies are — the most expensive miniseries ever made.

Continue reading »

Action Movies, Actors, Horror Movies, Movies, News, Reviews, Sci-Fi Movies

The movie world is a busy place

July 1, 2009 /

As Hollywood prepares for an early weekend 4th-of-July weekend (which we’ll be discussing in a commensurately early box-office preview, mañana), things are popping. To wit:

* Variety blogger Mike Fleming and Nikki Finke (who is supposedly trying to slow down for just a moment as she retools her site for its new owners and recovers from a virus) are both reporting a major shake-up at Paramount with the loss of a number of gigs for various folks. Just a little more good news for the California economy. As La Finke comments, the timing of this with the “Transformers” sequel windfall might strike some as obnoxious, but that’s show business for you.

* Meanwhile, Finke has also picked up on and “confirmed” a huge sounding Financial Times story about Paramount, Sony, and Fox being in talks to merge their home entertainment divisions. No doubt, this will be spun as a being a case of less-than-meets-the-eye. We’re told it’s mainly about economies-of-scale dealing with the production of DVDs, and that the studios plan to keep their brands entirely separate, which only makes sense. Still, it’s what’s happening below the surface that worries me here.

Continue reading »

External Entertainment, External Movies, Movies, News

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2023 Premium Hollywood

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑