There’s so much going on in movie news right now that instead of covering it in a dozen separate articles, I wanted to give some summaries all in one spot.
First, the money…
Box Office Top 10:
1. Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($90M)
2. Bridesmaids ($21M)
3. Thor ($15.5M)
4. Fast Five ($10.6M)
5. Rio ($4.65)
6. Priest ($4.6)
7. Jumping The Broom ($3.7)
8. Something Borrowed ($3.4)
9. Water For Elephants ($2.1)
10. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family ($990k)
11. Soul Surfer ($950k)
12. Midnight in Paris ($579k)
If the criteria were to rank the movies based on the average amount of money they pull in per theater instead of just the total amount they pulled in, Jumping The Broom would jump one spot to #6, Will Ferrell’s EVERYTHING MUST GO would be behind it in the #7 spot (instead of at 13), and CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS would supplant THOR from the #3 spot. And that’s not including MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, which would be in the #1 spot BY FAR (4.5 times the per-theater average of PIRATES 4), but PARIS only opened in 6 theaters. Still, a $96.5k per theater average is VERY impressive.
Source: BoxOfficeMojo
Non-Financial News
While Hollywood has a habit of remaking movies which don’t need updating, I’m somewhat optimistic in hearing that Great Gatsby is getting redone for next year. Baz Luhrmann (Australia, Moulin Rouge, Romeo + Juliet) is at the helm, both writing the screenplay and directing, and so far there’s a great cast involved: Leonardo DiCaprio in the titular role, Carey Mulligan as the love interest, and with supporting roles filled by Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and (GuysNation favorite) Isla Fisher. (Credit: GordonAndTheWhale)
Taylor Kitsch is on his way to becoming a Hollywood leading man. Getting his big break as Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, then an exciting role as fan-favorite Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and now he’s getting a big role in an upcoming film. In this film about Navy SEALs who conduct a mission similar to the one which caused the demise of Osama Bin Laden, Peter Berg (The Kingdom, Friday Night Lights) has cast Kitsch in LONE SURVIVOR in one of the four primary roles. (Source: Deadline)
One area Hollywood is getting increasingly good at covering is the backstory behind major world events, and an upcoming project dealing with some of the negotiations near the end of the Cold War sounds really interesting. REYKJAVIK is a film whose plot centers around the talks between Reagan and Gorbachev in Iceland to figure out a solution to ease tensions between the US and Russia, and Ridley Scott (GLADIATOR, AMERICAN GANGSTER, BLACK HAWK DOWN) is now attached to the project, though some speculate that with the other projects on his plate, Scott may not remain on the project. (Source: Gordon And The Whale)
Despite the fact that box office totals are typically not strong for movies whose subject matter focuses on the porn industry, it’s once again the topic of an upcoming feature which looks to have some promise. CHERRY, co-written by porn star Lorelei Lee (who also happens to be a graduate from NYU), will feature James Franco, Heather Graham and Dev Patel (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE). Hopefully this film doesn’t fail to get noticed like Luke Wilson’s MIDDLE MEN. (Sources: Variety and ThePlaylist)
Darren Aronofsky is no longer attached to the sequel for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and now two very high profile projects are apparently courting him: MALEFICENT (retelling of SLEEPING BEAUTY from a different perspective) and the Bible-themed MOSES. (Source: Bad Ass Digest)
FLETCH is getting the reboot treatment, and although it has been stalled for a while, it now has a new writer (which gives you an idea of where it is in development). David Mandel, who has previously worked as a writer-producer on Seinfeld and helped pen Sacha Baron Cohen’s next project (THE DICTATOR), has been pulled in to work on the reboot, which is said to not be a remake of the original film nor its sequel. An optimism-inspiring note is that Warner Bros bought the rights on the novels which served as source material for the original Chevy Chase starring films, showing that Hollywood isn’t likely to be taking a lazy approach at creating an uninspired project which loosely relates to a concept from a previously successful film from decades ago. (Source: Hollywood Reporter)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a truly one-of-a-kind film, and while Robert Zemeckis has apparently been working on a sequel for years, he’s got an upcoming project which doesn’t sound like a sequel, but sounds like it could pave the way to increase interest in Roger Rabbit II. It’s called ANIMATED AMERICAN, and it will feature a similar animated-and-live-action crossover. The plot sounds like the opposite of ELF, as an animated character raised by live-action humans decides it’s time to go find his birth parents. (Source: Bad Ass Digest)
