The Hollywood Roundup: September 2
News and notes from the silver screen.
BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. Tropic Thunder - $11.5 million ($83.8 million)
2. Babylon A.D. - $9.7 million ($9.7 million)
3. The Dark Knight - $8.7 million ($502.4 million)
4. The House Bunny - $8.3 million ($27.8 million)
5. Traitor - $7.9 million ($9.4 million)
6. Death Race - $6.2 million ($23 million)
7. Disaster Movie - $6.1 million ($6.1 million)
8. Mamma Mia - $4.4 million ($131.5 million)
9. Pineapple Express - $3.3 million ($79.7 million)
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona - $3 million ($12.7 million)
It would seem that the summer blockbuster season has come to an end, when Tropic Thunder held on to the #1 spot at the box office this weekend with a measly $11.5 million. This raises its three week total to $83.8 million, still short of its $92 million budget.
Steven Spielberg is still slated to direct the first of three films about the sleuth-like Belgian reporter Tintin and his trusty fox terrier Snowy (based on the European comic strip by George Remi, who published his creations under the pen name Hergé.) despite recent rumors that Peter Jackson would be doing the honors. Jackson, who will serve as a producer on the Spielberg-directed installment, is still onboard to direct the sequel.
Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club book was adapted into a film in 1999, introducing the mainstream to his unique blend of shock and counterculture. He's got another adaptation about to hit with Choke later this month (starring Sam Rockwell), but the twisted author currently has three other projects in development. Survivor and Invisible Monsters have been greenlit for pre-production, and word has just descended that his most recent book, Rant, is up next as well. The book was first published just last year and is reportedly already been picked up by a production company. Unfortunately for Chuck fans, this is bad news. The book absolutely sucks.
Last weekend, The Dark Knight became only the second movie in history to surpass the $500 million mark. It's still a solid $100 million behind the all-time biggest film, Titanic, although in fairness Titanic was re-released for the holiday season. Should Christopher Nolan's masterpiece see the same treatment, in all likelihood a man dressed as a flying rodent will be the single biggest movie icon in Hollywood history. Fine with us.
Quentin Tarantino has cast beautiful German actress Diane Kruger in his star-studded upcoming film Inglorious Bastards. You know her from her work in Troy and those ungodly National Treasure movies, but after the Tarantino treatment we won't have to discuss those films anymore - because this flick is bound to be awesome. If there's one thing Quentin does consistently well, it's reroute the careers of his central characters (John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Michael Madsen, Uma Thurman, etc).
Users on the Internet Movie Database have declared Disaster Movie to be the very worst movie of all time. The film currently has a 1.3 standing out of a total 10 rating, with 4100 votes so far. Just to put this "worst-ever" list into perspective, Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie is #14 on the list. So just imagine the horrors that abound in the top ten. Disaster Movie is lowest-common-denominator comedy aimed only at the kneejerk laugh. The schtick gets old after ten minutes of every one of these types of movies, and evidently Disaster Movie is no exception.
