Australia tanks at the US Box Office
November 29, 2008
Baz Luhrmann’s wannabe epic Australia has tanked on its first day at the US Box Office. According to news.com.au, Variety and the Herald Sun, the film made $3.4 million on its first day (Thanksgiving). This works out to an average of $1318 per screen. Compare this to Twilight’s takings of an average $35.055 per screen and we start to realise that it really didn’t open.
Even Oprah’s endorsement couldn’t get bums on seats it would seem.
Thanksgiving is a tough weekend at the US box office and Australia was competing with Twilight, Four Christmases (Reese Witherspoon’s new film that has been renamed Four Holidays in Australia), Transporter 3 and Quantum of Solace.
I am going to see Australia tonight, I’ll review it on the next podcast (episode 17) in detail.
Read the whole articles by clicking the links above.
Forget Australia - Wolverine’s Back!
November 27, 2008
Empire magazine has revealed some new shots (including the cover) from “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”.
Forget the movie “Australia,” Hugh Jackman was born to play Wolverine! He had this to say about the new film, ”There’s a scene in the first X-Men movie, where Wolverine’s introduced in a bar, fighting in a cage, and you felt that he did this every night of his life. If this movie is successful, you should feel that this guy can walk straight off the end of this film and into that bar.”
I don’t know about you, but as a comic geek (and a huge Marvel fan and a even bigger X-Men fan) I am suddenly excited about this. Please don’t mess this up!
Click the Empire link at the top to see the cover.
It’s Back! New Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Promo!
November 27, 2008
Geeks of the world unite! Battlestar Galactica is almost back. As we discussed on this weeks podcast (episode 16), SCI FI Channel has revealed a new promo for the second (and final) part of the fourth season for “Battlestar Galactica.”
The season continues January 16, 2009. As everyone knows, the series is going to go where the original wasn’t allowed to … Earth! While the series is very popular and successful, the producers have decided to finish it. I don’t know, but I can’t wait to see how this all wraps up. Here is the trailer.
Baz Luhrmann made ‘big mistake’ picking Nicole Kidman for Australia
November 21, 2008
According to AAP (Australian Associated Press) and reported in the The Sydney Morning Herald and News.com.au, Baz Luhrmann’s (want to be) epic film “Australia” may suffer by the casting of Nicole Kidman.
The choice of actress has been savaged by British newspaper columnist Melanie Reid (The Times). She describes the casting of Kidman as a “big, big mistake.”
In the article, Reid goes on to say that Kidman is an immediate turn-off for female cinemagoers who feel she is “one of the most overrated actors” in the world and who has “been the kiss of death in practically every movie she has starred in”.
To quote Reid, “Kidman is exquisitely accomplished at being awful, she can’t act. Instead she drifts around films like a lost porcelain doll, looking frozen, brittle and vapid, staring at the camera with her oh-golly-look-how-I’m-looking-interesting blue eyes.”
Now, I love this article because I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I referred to Kidman as box office poison in the last podcast (episode 15 - Rumspringa). The woman hasn’t managed to really open a film in years and she is boring as batshit to watch. Now, I haven’t seen “Australia” yet, I will see it next week and I will review it on the next available podcast but my expectations are very low for this film.
My Energy! - Astro Boy is Back!
November 21, 2008
For those of you that are of my generation, you are all familiar with Astro Boy. Well, he is hitting the big screen in 2009. I feel better about this than I did Speed Racer because at least the creators of Astro Boy have gone the straight CG route instead of trying to make a “live action cartoon”. Speed Racer was awful, hopefully this will fair a little better.
You can watch the new teaser here http://www.moviefone.com/movie/astro-boy/30167/main
The new movie stars the voice talents of Freddie Highmore, Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, Matt Lucas and Eugene Levy. It is directed by Colin Brady. The synopsis for the new movie is (taken from the moviefone website):
A thrilling tale of a true hero, ‘Astro Boy’ is an all-new, full-length feature film full of action, adventure, humor and heart. It will be brought to life on the big screen in breathtaking CGI animation on October 23, 2009.
Set in futuristic Metro City, ‘Astro Boy’ is about a young robot with incredible powers. Powered by pure positive “blue” energy, Astro Boy (Freddie Highmore) is endowed with super strength, x-ray vision, unbelievable speed and the ability to fly- not to mention the purest spirit on the planet.
Embarking on a journey across the planet to discover his powers, Astro Boy encounters a netherworld of robot gladiators and other comic characters, and learns the joys and emotions of being human. When he learns his friends and family are in danger, Astro Boy marshals all his awesome super powers and returns to Metro City, in a valiant effort to save everything he cares about and to embrace his place in the world.
The New Trailer for J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek !
November 20, 2008
Paramount Pictures has revealed the new trailer for director J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek , opening in theaters on May 8. Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the film stars John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Marlene Forte and Jimmy Bennett.
Source: comingsoon.net
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Academy Disqualifies The Dark Knight Score
November 14, 2008
Variety reports that the score for The Dark Knight has been disqualified by the executive committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences music branch from being considered for an Oscar.
Source ComingSoon.net
Wonder Woman Fraud
November 7, 2008
What looked like a Battle of the Megans (Megan Fox vs Megan Gale) turned out to be a fan started fraud that was convincing enough to start internet speculation.
Let’s start at the beginning. Wonder Woman, the iconic DC superhero, is a troubled property. They have been trying to bring her to the big screen for sometime now. Joel Silver, the super producer behind such hits as Die Hard, The Matrix, Lethal Weapon and V for Vendetta had the rights and really wanted to bring her to the screen. Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) had been attached to write and direct that film, but alas, it all ended up falling apart.
Recently, George Miller (Mad Max series, Witches of Eastwick, Happy Feet) had been signed to direct “Justice League Mortal” and had even hired actress/model Megan Gale to star as Wonder Woman. She was finally going to get her big screen appearance. But then again, studios are a fickle bunch of bastards and the plug has been pulled on that production too.
That brings us to now.
Fan hysteria broke our when a new site launched that looked very much like a real teaser site, complete with company logos and everything, for a new Wonder Woman film starring Megan Fox (Transformers, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People). Megan Fox was recently rated one of the sexiest people alive, so you can imagine the fanboys suddenly finding out that she might be dressed as Wonder Woman (a big geek fantasy but not as big as Princess Leia in the gold bikini, you know what I’m talking about!) Warner Bros. has denied all the reports and says it is a fake. You can visit the site here. It was a very convincing mock up, but wasn’t Megan Gale signed to play Wonder Woman?
Megan Gale’s publicist said her Justice League contract with Warner Bros prevented her from speaking on the controversy. She said. “Megan has an agreement with Warner Bros that she cannot comment on details of film projects that she’s been linked with and she has to respect that request.”
Australian director George Miller has always said that Megan Gale was his first choice for the role because, in his words, ”She got the job because she blitzed her screen test. I had no idea she was so good. She was brilliant. Once she read we all looked around at each other and said, ‘Well, there’s no question.’ ”
It will be interesting to see if the Amazon Princess will ever make it to the big screen because Warner Bros. has decided that all the DC heroes have to be dark, moody and realistic because of the success of “The Dark Knight”. The only problem with this theory is, to make Wonder Woman ‘dark, moody and realistic’, you would have to pretty much re-invent this fairly high camp concept hero and wouldn’t that pretty much change what we all love about Wonder Woman. I mean do we really think we can make a dark and serious Wonder Woman and still have her running around in that costume? If you change the costume, she just isn’t the same, in my opinion.
Other than cartoons, the last time Wonder Woman graced our screens (TV screens that is) was in the 70s when Lynda Carter put on the bracelets.
Clash of the Titans Starts Casting
November 7, 2008
Well, this remake just keeps rolling along. First we got the news that Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, Silverado, Raiders of the Lost Ark) had been hired to write it. Then Louis Leterrier (The Transporter 1 & 2, The Incredible Hulk) got hired to direct it. Now we find out that casting has begun on the mega budget, Warner Bros. remake of Clash of the Titans. The remake that I was most horrified about is actually starting to look like a film I might be looking forward to.
For those who haven’t seen the 1981 original, the story is about Zues’ son Perseus and his quest to get Medusa’s head so he can save Andromeda from the Krakken (I’m not making this stuff up!). The original is one of those films that is so awful that you just can’t help loving it and it has the esteem of being on my list of worst films, “The Gloriously Wonderful Bad List“.
Sam Worthington (Rogue) who is soon to be seen in the next terminator film, “Terminator Salvation” and James Cameron’s mega budget sci-fi epic, “Avatar”, is in talks to play Perseus.
The interesting footnote to this is that Warner Bros. was obviously so blown away by the success of their production, “300″ that they are not only bringing this sword and sandals epic back, they are also producing “War of the Gods” directed by Tarsem Singh. This is another big, Greek mythology based epic and is being produced by the producers of “300″. Apparently Henry Cavill is in negotiations to star.
Warner Bros. is banking that the people still want to see a lot of mythology.
Is This Just Rambo 5 By Another Name?
November 7, 2008
Variety has announced that Sylvester Stallone is going to star and direct a new film for Nu Image/Millennium Films called “The Expendables”. The story (written by Stallone) is about a group of mercenaries who go on a mission to overthrow a South American dictator.
Now, Stallone has mentioned before that he wants to do another Rambo film and he has also mentioned that it would take place in South America. Is this the working title of Rambo 5?
“The Expendables” co-stars Jason Statham and possibly Jet Li (he is still negotiating) in a bid to grab younger audiences who probably wonder who the hell the old dude with a speech impediment is 
Filming for this film is supposed to start in February. More news as it comes to hand.
