The Hollywood Round-Up: December 1
Star Trek goes IMAX, Vaughn and Witherspoon are a winning match and Brolin as a Terminator?
BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. Four Christmases - $31.6 Million ($31.6 Million)
2. Bolt - $26.5 Million ($66.8 Million)
3. Twilight - $23.6 Million ($119.6 Million)
4. Quantum of Solace - $19.5 Million ($142 Million)
5. Australia - $14.8 Million ($14.8 Million)
6. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - $14.5 Million ($159.5 Million)
7. Transporter 3 - $12.3 Million ($12.3 Million)
8. Role Models - $5.3 Million ($57.5 Million)
9. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - $1.6 Million ($5.1 Million)
10. Milk - $1.3 Million ($1.3 Million)
Four Christmases debuted #1 at the box office this weekend, raking in $31.6 million. Like I said before, the chemistry between stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon is about as believable as the screaming declarations by millions of teenage girls that Twilight really is a great movie, like f'realz.
Bolt learned some new tricks over the weekend, moving from #3 to #2 while making more money in its second week ($26.6 million) than its first ($26.2 million).
Twilight dropped to #3 this week, Quantum of Solace fell two spaces to #4 and Australia debuted at #5 this week with $14.8 million.
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa dropped to #6, while Transporter 3 debuted at a relatively disappointing #7 this week as well.
J.J. Abrams' much-hyped Star Trek reboot will be making its way to IMAX theaters next summer. The film, set for a May 8th 2009 release, wasn't shot with IMAX cameras, but will be converted to 70mm for IMAX projection IMAX is set for a big summer. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is the only film next year that is actually shooting with IMAX cameras, but Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will feature 20 minutes in IMAX 3D, and Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian will also feature IMAX footage.
Robert Downey, Jr. took a hard shot of reality in a recent interview with MTV about the future of the Marvel universe on the big screen. "If we don't get it right it's really, really going to suck," he told MTV. "It has to be the crowning blow of Marvel's best and brightest because it's the hardest thing to get right. It's tough to spin all the plates for one of these characters. I think its important that I do what Im supposed to do, which is keep my side of the street clean. The danger you run with colliding all these worlds is [director] Jon [Favreau] was very certain that Iron Man should be set in a very realistic world. Nothing that happened in Iron Man is really outside the realm of possibility. Once you start talking about Valhalla and supersized super soldiers and jolly green giants it warrants much further discussion."
Couldn't have said it better myself. But so far, so good, so let's keep the balls in motion and make some comic-film history.
You may have heard some recent rumors circulating that a Planet of the Apes remake is in the works. Not only are the rumors true, but the movie already has a director: Scott Frank. Frank made his directorial debut in 2007 on the overlooked gem The Lookout.
Here’s the official plot synopsis: “The origins of how the Apes took over Earth. A hyper-intelligent chimp raised by humans incites a worldwide ape revolution and causes the downfall of mankind.” Sounds prequelly delicious, in a Battle for the Planet of the Apes revamp kind of way.
Josh Brolin as a Terminator? That was the idea at one point, as Mr. Comeback explained to MTV recently. Evidently, Terminator Salvation director McG had Brolin in mind as an ideal choice for an early-model Terminator, but things didn't flesh out. "I talked to Christian [Bale] for a couple hours," Brolin told MTV. "I really liked the script though I hear that's not what they filmed. The one I read was very interesting and dark. Ultimately though I didn't think it felt right." Yeah, I don't think you'd have been alone there, Josh.
The holiday classic A Christmas Story is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made. The original 1983 film starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get his biggest wish, a Red Ryder BB gun, for Christmas. The film didn't do crazy well at the box office, but it was hailed by critics and eventually became a Christmas cult classic.
Roughly 4,000 fans are attending the convention at Cleveland's Renaissance Hotel, where a few of the film's actors will share in the slightly depressing experience of watching three documentaries made about the film. They'll also get to see the original 1938 fire truck, known from the film's frozen pole/stuck tongue scene.
Hugh Jackman told MTV recently that he wants the sequel to the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine to focus on Wolverine's time in Japan. "The most intriguing thing to me was the Japan story. I love the Japan story. I wanted to do the Japan story from around X-Men 2." Japan story. Japan story.
"Can you just picture Wolverine in Japan with the triads and the samurai? It's just genius. Comedically and dramatically, I thought, 'This is awesome'!"
His head's in the right place. THAT storyline was originally considered for the upcoming Wolverine flick, but ended up being shelved. Hugh disagrees with the chronology the studio went with, however.
"But how can you do that before you explain his origins?" Jackman elaborated. "If we tried to mix the origin and Japan together, it wouldn't do justice to either. So you can tell by the answer where I'd like it to go."
