The Hollywood Roundup: August 4
The Bat still reigns supreme and a Venom movie in the works.
BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. The Dark Knight - $43.8 million ($394.8 million)
2. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - $42.4 million ($42.4 million)
3. Step Brothers - $16.3 million ($62.9 million)
4. Mamma Mia - $13.1 million ($87.9 million)
5. Journey To The Center of the Earth - $6.8 million ($73.1 million)
6. Swing Vote - $6.3 million ($6.3 million)
7. Hancock - $5.2 million ($215.9 million)
8. Wall-E - $4.7 million ($204.2 million)
9. The X-Files: I Want To Believe - $3.4 million ($17 million)
10. Space Chimps - $2.8 million ($22 million)
The Dark Knight still reigns supreme with a third weekend as king of the box office, earning $43.8 million for a running domestic total of $394.8 million. The film now ranks as the 8th highest grossing film (domestically) ever, but will undoubtedly surpass Spider-Man ($403.7 million) for the #7 spot in the next few days.
Proof that there is no God: Brendan Fraser has two movies in the top five during summer blockbuster season. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor debuted at #2 with $42.4 million over the weekend, while Journey to the Center of the Earth held on to the #5 spot in its fourth weekend.
The hysterically absurd Step Brothers fell one spot to #3 in its second weekend, earning $16.3 million to raise its total earnings to $62.9 million. Go see it - where else can you see two grown men beat the shit out of an entire playground full of children?
The celebration of bastard children and whorish mothers known as Mamma Mia fell one spot to #4 in its third weekend, earning $13.1 million to raise its total gross to $87.9 million.
The latest Kevin Costner yawnfest Swing Vote debuted at number six with $6.3 million, making the case for Costner to receive the official title of Most Boring Actor Ever.
Disney's Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has been pushed back almost a year, to May 28th, 2010. The studio reportedly needs more time to complete the post-production special effects. The original release date was June 19th, 2009. There is also speculation that the delay is meant to avoid having to take on Transformers 2 at the box office as that opens on June 26th, 2009. Now the film will be released around the same time as Shrek Goes Fourth. Yeah. Another Shrek movie.
Mike Myers has started writing Austin Powers 4. The film will suppposedly focus more on the Dr. Evil character and his relationship with his son, Scott Evil, played by Seth Green. Because we really didn't get enough of that super-obnoxious one-joke sight-gag crap in the first three films. Will Mini-Me be back? Oh wait - we don't care. Hell, make your movie, Mike. Whatever works, man. Just don't go making a sequel to that Love Guru shitfest.
Please, not Topher Grace again: Sony is planning on developing a movie based on Spider-Man 3 villain Venom. They're hoping that the Venom movie will spark new life into another franchise we're all sick of, in the same way that the upcoming Wolverine movie is expected to revitalize the X-Men franchise. If they do it right, this could be awesome, but they probably won't (see: Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3).
Meanwhile, Spider-Man 4 is still set to be released in 2011.
Warner Bros. is planning a Marvin the Martian Christmas-themed movie. The film will be a CG/live-action hybrid, and focus on Marvin's coming to Earth to destroy the holiday, but he's prevented from doing so when he's trapped in a gift box.
Robert De Niro and jew-hating drunkard Mel Gibson are teaming up for Edge of Darkness, an upcoming thriller from director Martin Campbell. The film will be a remake of the 1985 BBC miniseries which Campbell also directed. The script, written by Oscar winner William Monahan (The Departed), follows a Boston cop (Gibson) investigating the murder of his activist daughter.
The X-Files: I Want To Believe is bombing hard at the box office, but creator Chris Carter says he is already thinking about doing another X-Files film. "We had really good fun doing this movie -- we have high hopes for it and we just want people to like it. If people do want to come and see it we'll certainly be talking about another movie." How many people, exactly? Cause there's always gonna be the Scullyphiles out there who can't get enough of her red-headed sci-fi geekdom.
Carter added that the next film may center around the December 22th, 2012 date which, in X-Files mythology, is the date of the alien invasion and colonization of Earth.
Yes, they speak English in What: Samuel L. Jackson spoke with MTV over the weekend and said that he wants his Nick Fury character to be more than just an Iron Man cameo. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to making that character a bit more integral, in terms of the other stories that are happening." Jackson went on to say that he wants Fury to appear in Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, and obviously The Avengers. If they make a Titanic 2 or a Pulp Fiction sequel, Jackson will undoubtedly be campaigning for a Fury subplot as well.
Iron Man 2 opens on April 30th, 2010, followed by Thor on June 4th, 2010, followed by Captain America on May 6th, 2011, and then The Avengers in July of 2011.
