We have all secretly (or perhaps not) scanned the headlines on those tabloid magazines that are at the supermarket checkout. Is that stuff all true? Or is it all lies? Well read on to see a bit about Hollywood sensationalism and if that new rumour you read about is fact or fiction!
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Live From Hollywood...
Jul2
'Ice Age,' 'Enemies' both start strong on Wednesday
Nobody's sure yet about July 4, but July 1 sure was kind to this weekend's two new movies.
Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and Universal's "Public Enemies" both got a healthy head start on the weekend Wednesday, grossing $13.75 million and $8.2 million, respectively, in ticket sales, according to initial studio reports.
The two movies' stronger-than-expected first-day performances provided a boost to expectations, previously based on pre-release audience surveys only, for their grosses through Sunday. "Ice Age," which had looked likely to sell about $60 million worth of tickets, could now do $65 million or $70 million. "Public Enemies" has a very good shot at earning more than $40 million, whereas industry executives previously thought it would gross $35 million.
Even with a good start, however, neither picture looks like a smash hit yet. The second "Ice Age" opened to $68 million on a three-day weekend in 2006. That's about as much as "Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which cost $90 million to produce, looks likely to make in five days, despite rising ticket prices and a surcharge at the theaters where the film is playing in 3-D.
"Public Enemies," which earned largely positive reviews, will still need a long life at the box office beyond its opening to turn a profit on its production budget, which was, according to a source close to the film, a bit over $100 million.
'Public Enemies' Cheat Sheet: Everything You Need To Know
The outlaw vs. the man of the law. The American folk hero vs. the American federal agent. Johnny Depp vs. Christian Bale. That's the battle taking shape as Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," the true story of tommy-gun-toting bank robber John Dillinger (Depp) and FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Bale), pop-pop-pops its way into theaters, starting on Wednesday (July 1).
Set in the Depression-devastated 1930s, Dillinger forms a gang with some creatively named rule-breakers — Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd — and sets about looting banks that have been foreclosing homes and repossessing goods throughout the Midwest. Along the way, naturally, Dillinger finds time for a little bit of outlaw romance, as he falls head-over-machine-gun for Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), a vulnerable lounge singer. FBI head honcho J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) tasks Purvis with the task of capturing Dillinger and putting the kibosh on this crime wave sweeping the crisis-stricken country.
Will you root for the gangster or the law enforcer during this patriotic holiday weekend? Duck for cover and check out MTV's "Public Enemies" Cheat Sheet before you make up your mind.
Paramount said to be in talks with Sony and Fox
An industrywide slump in DVD sales and the weak economy have prompted Paramount Pictures to enter into talks with at least two competitors to merge some aspects of its home video operations, people briefed on the negotiations said.
Although discussions are still preliminary, the Viacom Inc.-owned studio initiated talks a few months ago with Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox to handle the production, packaging, distribution and administrative elements of their DVD businesses, these people said. Any potential combination would be about saving costs, not about sharing revenue.
Paramount would maintain its own marketing and promotion of home entertainment.
The recession and eroding sales of DVDs, which have long supported the movie business, set the stage for these discussions, people close to the talks said.
First-quarter DVD sales fell 14% compared with the same period a year earlier, according to DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, a trade association.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen shattered box office records this weekend, raking in $201.2 million since its release Wednesday, according to studio estimates from Nielsen EDI.
Despite pulverizing reviews — only a fifth of the nation's critics recommended the film, according to RottenTomatoes.com —Transformers was a juggernaut from opening day, when it did a record $60.6 million.
From there, it scaled near the top of every box office record. It grossed $126 million in its first three days, making it the fourth highest-opening film of all time. Transformers' five-day gross was behind only The Dark Knight's $203.8 million. For the weekend, Transformers did $112 million.
The film, which opened on a Wednesday to have as many competition-free days as possible before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince arrives July 15, gave Hollywood the shot in the arm it needed. Ticket sales soared 38% over the same weekend last year, and many films enjoyed spillover crowds from Transformers' sold-out shows.
The "Transformers" sequel was well on its way to becoming the biggest hit of the year so far after selling a better-than-expected $126 million in tickets during its first three days at the North American box office, distributor Paramount Pictures said on Saturday.
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," a follow-up to the smash robot hit of 2007, is on course to challenge the seemingly impregnable five-day opening record of $203.8 million set last year by Batman sequel, "The Dark Knight."
The biggest movie of the year so far is "Star Trek," which has grossed $244 million in seven weeks of release across the United States and Canada.
A clearer picture of "Transformers"' trajectory will emerge on Sunday, when the Viacom Inc-owned studio issues sales estimates for the weekend. Earlier in the week, Paramount had conservatively forecast a five-day haul in the $130 million to $150 million range. But industry pundits countered that a tally of at least $175 million was more likely. The film reportedly cost about $200 million to make.
We all knew Borat. Borat was a friend of ours. Bruno, you're no Borat.
Unfair to be sure, but because everyone is going to compare Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" to his insanely funny "Borat," let's be honest: While pushing the PC envelope in new and imaginative ways as well as the MPAA's R rating, especially insofar as the male member is concerned, "Bruno" is only intermittently funny and all too often the "ambushes" of celebrities and civilians look staged. The movie is even a tad -- dare we say it? -- tedious.
Admirers of the British comic's gifts for caricature and improvisation and nearly everyone who found themselves laughing uncontrollably at Baron Cohen's unrepentant anti-Semitic Kazakhstani in "Borat" probably will turn out for Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles' latest mockumentary. So boxoffice should be solid for Universal this time around. It's unclear though whether Baron Cohen can continue to bring his TV characters into the real world, or something approximating it, without diminishing results. Based on the evidence here, such results seem inevitable.
Like some of the most polarizing best picture winners -- "Shakespeare in Love," "Crash," "No Country for Old Men" -- the rules change made Wednesday to the Academy Awards' top category is splitting Oscar voters. The growing chorus of dissenters says the new inclusion of 10 best picture nominees will diminish the award's value, encourage bloc voting for obscure titles and possibly yield a best picture that wins with less than 11% of the total votes cast.
"I think it undermines the integrity of the Academy Awards," said marketing consultant Dennis Rice, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' public relations branch. "I have trouble most years finding five movies to nominate."
Said Robert Solo, an academy member for more than 35 years and the producer of 1978's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers": "It just eviscerates the whole value of the award. They did this because they're not getting the television ratings. Is this what the academy is about? They're worried the program would be canceled, but that's not why the academy was created. This is merchandising. This is not award giving."
The organization said Wednesday that it was doubling the number of best picture nominees from five to 10, starting with next year's awards (the ceremony is scheduled for March 7). Ratings for the annual Oscar broadcast have been plummeting, and even though this year's broadcast attracted more viewers -- 36.3 million -- than recent shows, the academy has been looking for ways to give the ceremony a more populist appeal.
"The Stoning of Soraya M." lives up to its title quite literally -- and rightly so, for it is important to understand just how cruel and drawn-out this ancient form of execution is and how prevalent it remains, not just in Iran, the film's setting, but in countries throughout the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa that follow Islamic Sharia law.
The timing of the film's release is apt, for it serves as a metaphor for the current protests in Iran against the long-standing oppressiveness of the Islamic Republic.
Based on a true story recounted in the late Freidoune Sahebjam's book, "The Stoning of Soraya M." was filmed in a remote mountain village in an undisclosed Middle Eastern country. Jim Caviezel is cast as Sahebjam, an eminent Iranian journalist based in France who is passing through the village when he is accosted by a distraught woman, Zahra (Shohreh Aghdashloo), who prevails upon him to tape the terrible story she has to tell.
Only the day before, her niece Soraya (Mozhan Marnò) was executed in the town square by stoning. Her husband, Ali (Navid Negahban), who has the village leaders in his thrall, had concocted a flimsy and completely false charge of adultery against Soraya, the mother of their four children, so that he can be free to marry a 14-year-old girl; Soraya had refused to divorce Ali because she had no other means of support.
'Transformers' gets panned but may still find Oscar gold
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" impressed far fewer critics than did "Transformers" in 2007. The original film rated 61 at Meta Critic but the sequel managed only a score of 42. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" merited a mere 22 among the top tier of critics while the original "Transformers" earned a respectable 67.
Transformers Shia LaBeouf Megan Fox movie news 1357986 However, the sequel should still equal the original at the box office. Advance ticket sales for "Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen" have it on track to be one of the top-grossing movies of the summer. Last night's midnight showings sold out across the country. And fervent fans of the franchise and stars Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf are packing today's screenings.
Among those sure to see the movie on the big screen in the days ahead will be members of the various technical branches of the academy. Two years ago "Transformers" earned Oscar bids in three technical categories -- sound, sound editing and visual effects.
"Transformers" lost both sound races to "The Bourne Ultimatum," and "The Golden Compass" won for visual effects. However, the special effects wizards did win four awards from the Visual Effects Society. As with most sequels, the studio has spent even more money this time round on all of those slam-bang special effects.
If ever there were a time that the town needed a jolt of adrenaline, Wednesday was it -- but from, of all places, the staid, mostly predictable Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences?
What everyone thought would be another sleepy announcement about an arcane rule change in the documentary or foreign language category turned into the headline of the day -- opening up the Oscar race to 10 best picture nominees.
The rationale is not that hard to fathom: The awards telecast has been dwindling in the ratings for a decade; at the same time, folks have been carping about the tilt of the noms -- too arty, too downbeat, too too -- or the exclusion of comedies or the relegation of animation to its own category. Some had even hazarded aloud that, of all things, the Golden Globes were the guys with the right idea, even if their 10 best pic noms are bifurcated by genre.
So with one masterstroke, all the goal posts have been shifted.
Most folks were gobsmacked by the news, with many -- think all those filmmakers who believe their films have been snubbed -- applauding the stratagem. As for wannabe Oscar consultants, now is the time to hang out that shingle.
