Screener

Today's Film News: 301?

There's one thing you can count on when a movie makes over $200 million on a budget of peanuts: There will be a sequel. At least the planned 300 follow-up seems unique, in that it's taken over a year for the production company to admit they're doing it; maybe that means they're not just in it for a quick buck? Variety reports that Frank Miller is writing a graphic novel that will be a followup to his original 300, though it may wind up a prequel or spinoff or some other sort of continuation. Zack Snyder has said he will again direct if he likes what Miller comes up with. And, as is usually the case, if the price is right.

When Ellen Page announced a whole flurry of projects following her breakout role in Juno, I was concerned that my favorite of the bunch, Whip It!, would get shoved aside in favor of something bigger. But happily, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut is scheduled to get off the ground later this summer, with Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig and Juliette Lewis all joining the cast, according to The Hollywood Reporter. As befits a movie set in the world of roller derby, character names include Malice in Wonderland and Dinah Might. How can you not be excited about this??

Killing people is all the rage these days, didn't you hear? Matthew Fox will be giving James McAvoy and his Wanted company a run for their money when he stars in Billy Smoke, a--you guessed it--comic book adaptation about a hit man who has a change of heart and decides to rid the world of all assassins. Variety reports that the movie is based on a comic book series that comes out next year.

And finally, the first trailer for Quantum of Solace is up on Moviefone! But we've got it embedded right here. If you thought James Bond was fearsome when he was just doing his royal duty, just wait until you see him out for revenge!

Weekend Roundup: Hits Wanted, and Found!

Who knew there was room in America's heart for both a loveable, trash-compacting robot and a super-assassin who uses rats as tiny suicide bombers? Both WALL-E and Wanted made sensational debuts over the weekend, with WALL-E in first place with $62 million and Wanted not far behind with $51 million. Both movies outdid expectations, with Wanted especially impressive as the biggest-debuting R-rated movie to come out in June. That may not sound like much, but in the season for family-friendly blockbusters, finding success is a feat for any R-rated movie.

Last weekend's champion Get Smart fared pretty well in its second frame, dropping only 48% to come in at #3 with $20 million. It was a lot better off than fellow sophomore The Love Guru which dipped a steep 60% for $5.4 million and sixth place. That brings the comedy's total gross to $25 million, less than half of its budget. What's a kooky Mike Myers way of saying "ouch"?

Perhaps the biggest standout among the holdovers is Kung Fu Panda, which held on despite competition from WALL-E and brought in $11 million, good for fourth place. It even vaulted past The Incredible Hulk, which still did fine with $9 million in fifth place. With June about to go on record as one of the best box-office periods in months, it's strong holdovers like these that continue to bring in the staggering amounts of dough.

Down closer to the bottom of the top 10, Indiana Jones just barely missed beating the $300 million mark over the weekend, but snagged $5 million and seventh place for its trouble. The Happening, on the other hand, isn't hanging on nearly as well; it dropped another 63% in its third frame for a weekend gross of $3.8 million, good for eighth place. And finally, Sex and the City made $3.7 million at #9, with You Don't Mess with the Zohan finishing things up with $3.2 million. It feels surprisingly sad not to include Iron Man in this section, but it just missed the cut at #11.

After the jump, we once again have a truncated top 20 to reckon with, courtesy of Box Office Mojo. Mongol is the real standout of the bunch-- it has already grossed $2.3 million in limited release, and added 114 theatres over the weekend. Amid the explosions of the summer, an old-fashioned epic is finding some traction with the audiences who, for whatever reason, aren't seeing WALL-E.

Today's Film News: Thinkfilm to the Dark Side

Documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney usually focuses his rabblerousing on targets like Guantanamo Bay (Taxi to the Dark Side) and corrupt corporations (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), but now he's focusing his anger on ThinkFilm, the company that distributed the Oscar-winning Taxi. The New York Times is reporting that Gibney filed for arbitration against ThinkFilm last Thursday, claiming that the company did not have enough money to properly market his film, particularly after it won the Oscar. "The fact that they were fiscally unable to capitalize on the Oscar infuriated me for two reasons: They had been in financial difficulty for some time and hadn’t disclosed it to us; and we won the Oscar, and they still hadn’t disclosed it to us," Gibney said in the Times. Anne Thompson has a roundup of this case that also links it to the production troubles for Nailed and other rumblings in the indie marketplace. Both articles are worth a look.

It's surprising that it's taken this long since the success of 300 for two major studios to jump on another sword-and-sandals epic. Now Variety is reporting that both Relativity Media and Warner Bros. have gladiator movies in development, with Warner having the slight advantage with its Clash of the Titans remake, to be directed by Hulk helmer Louis Leterrier. Relativity, for its part, will be making War of the Gods with The Fall director Tarsem, about a battle of humans and gods vs. demons and titans. Honestly, why should these two movies competing against each other be a problem? They both sound pretty damn impressive.

As much as we like him up on screen, Philip Seymour Hoffman seems to be aiming to step behind the camera for a bit. His Cooper Town Productions has signed a two-year deal with Overture Films, with the first project, Unconditional, being an adaptation of a play first produced by his LAByrinth Theater Company. The Reporter says Hoffman will not act in most of the projects. What a waste!

And finally, the Toronto Film Festival has unveiled part of its slate-- none of the big Hollywood debuts, but many of the Cannes hits like Palme d'Or winner The Class. Let the awards season buzz begin... is it really that time again? Check out the full list in Variety.

WALL-E Finds Sorely Needed Magic in Humanity

How many neat things are there about being human? Let Pixar count the ways. We have the ability to create things like Rubik's cubes, refrigerators, sporks and bras. We can sing and dance and wave our hats like the specimens on display in Hello, Dolly! We can love, understand and even talk to a creature like WALL-E, a tiny robot with a box for a torso and binoculars for eyes. And, perhaps most importantly, there are a few geniuses among us who can tie ideas like this into a stunning, emotional and life-affirming movie like WALL-E.

There's no real need for me to join the chorus of praise for WALL-E, which opens today in the kind of hail of accolades that we last saw... well, when Pixar's last film, Ratatouille, came out a year ago. It's thrilling that Pixar can continue such a winning streak, melting the most cynical critic's heart and opening our eyes all over again to what animation can be. Just reading the endless good reviews puts the same warm feeling in my heart that I had watching WALL-E and his lady love, EVE, dance a strange ballet among the stars.

After seeing Wanted on Monday, a movie that revels in hating most everything about everyday people, I desperately needed WALL-E to reaffirm my faith that there is something good about being human, something worth saving even when the population as a whole doesn't give you a whole lot to appreciate. And, sure enough, like the people in the film who interact with the beeping robot, the dark scales were lifted from my eyes thanks to WALL-E. It's hard to decide what is the most wondrous: a nation of critics throwing up their hands in delight over a movie meant for children, a movie meant for children that makes adults tear up in joy, or the very people who made this movie to begin with.

Wanted has its own pleasures, in the good old American tradition of watching people kill others as a kind of catharsis for whatever is plaguing our lives. But WALL-E, which isn't afraid to look at the troublesome aspects of our current way of life, finds a way for you to forgive others rather than kill them, in a manner that's never overly sentimental or forced. When one character marvels over all the wonders that Earth can hold-- square dances! the ocean!-- no one can resist his enthusiasm. Going to see WALL-E may involve sitting in a dark room, but it's all about opening your eyes to what's outside it. At the end you won't need WALL-E's binocular eyes to see the beauty he found in us.

Box Office Outlook: Who Wants WALL-E?

Even though I have some reservations about Wanted, which I'll write about later today, there's no doubt that this is one of the best weekends for movies so far this summer. First there's Wanted, a gory, shoot-em-up action thriller that is wowing critics with its visual style and exquisite use of the exquisite Angelina Jolie (not to mention my personal heartthrob James McAvoy). And then there are the geniuses at Pixar, once again sweeping up their required accolades with Wall-E, a sci-fi comedy-drama that's melting hearts as well as evoking cries of "Best Animated Feature Oscar!" Well, it's Pixar-- what else do you expect?

WALL-E. Opening in 3,992 theatres. A robot left on earth 700 years after humanity abandoned it, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter--Earth Class) goes about his business in a desolate city, stacking garbage and collecting the niftiest pieces for himself. But when EVE (Extra-Terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) arrives in WALL-E's life, he's so smitten that he follows her back to the spaceship where she lives with what's left of humanity. The adventure proceeds from there, and if the critics aren't spoiling it, I won't either. Andrew Stanton, who wrote and directed Finding Nemo, performed the same duties on this one.

*Sigh*. There's virtually no one who hasn't fallen in love with WALL-E-- Rotten Tomatoes has only scored two negative reviews among the 90 counted so far. Our Kevin Lally, for starters, writes, "The studio takes big risks in WALL-E that pay handsome dividends." Among those risks are the first half-hour, which takes place entirely without dialogue; NPR's Bob Mondello loves that shout-out to silent-era filmmaking, writing, "I'm just as gratified by their look back 70 years to silent movies as I am by their look forward 700 years to a silent planet." Joe Morgenstern at the Wall Street Journal realizes he's risking hyperbole when he calls WALL-E a masterpiece, but he can't help describing it as "a love letter to the possibilities of the movie medium, and a dazzling demonstration of how computers can create a photorealistic world that leaves literal reality in the dust." Are you tired of reading nothing but raves for this movie? I'm not! "Somehow their expressions achieve an otherworldly eloquence," writes A.O. Scott at The New York Times of our lovers WALL-E and EVE. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times calls it "daring and traditional, groundbreaking and familiar, apocalyptic and sentimental." Owen Glieberman of Entertainment Weekly calls it "puckishly inventive, altogether marvelous." And, OK, I'll stop with just one more, from Roger Ebert: "It involves ideas, not simply mindless scenarios involving characters karate-kicking each other into high-angle shots. It involves a little work on the part of the audience, and a little thought, and might be especially stimulating to younger viewers. This story told in a different style and with a realistic look could have been a great science-fiction film. For that matter, maybe it is."

WANTED. Opening in 3,175 theatres. Based on an ultraviolent series of graphic novels, Wanted stars James McAvoy as Wesley, a cubicle drone whose life is transformed when he finds out his father was a member of a secret society of assassins, and he's their newest recruit. Trained by Fox (Angelina Jolie) and society leader Sloan (Morgan Freeman), Wesley prepares for his ultimate mission-- killing the renegade (Thomas Kretschmann) who murdered his father. But, as is usually the case with movies involving assassins and weaponry, it's not quite that easy.

Most critics have fallen for Wanted's flashy visuals and high-octane speed, but our Frank Lovece is not among them. He wasn't even excited by the visuals: "[Wanted is] a generic Hollywood product that looks and feels like a half-dozen other films that excited neither critics nor audiences." Newsday says the movie "feels like a rotisserie team of other supercool movies"-- but that's meant as a compliment. "Man, does it rock," The Detroit News says succinctly, and The Washington Post calls it "revenge of the nerds at its nastiest and most vulgar"-- again, that's meant as a compliment... I think. David Ansen at Newsweek saves most of his criticism for Jolie-- "Somebody needs to give this beautiful assassin a Fatburger"-- but also titles his review "America's Least Wanted." Ouch. And the always-cranky Anthony Lane at The New Yorker criticizes the film's over-the-top style with a non-sequitur pondering how director Timur Bekmambetov makes his coffee: "My best guess, based on the evidence of the film, is that he tosses a handful of beans toward the ceiling, shoots them individually into a fine powder, leaves it hanging in the air, runs downstairs, breaks open a fire hydrant with his head, carefully directs the jet of water through the window of his apartment, sets fire to the building, then stands patiently with his mug amid the blazing ruins to collect the precious percolated drops. Don’t even think about a cappuccino."

Today's Film News: Sarah Jessica, Back in the City

If Sarah Jessica Parker is trying to move away from her defining role as Carrie on "Sex and the City," she sure isn't doing a good job of it. The Reporter says her next role will be in a movie called The Ivy Chronicles, about a woman struggling with being single while part of New York City's elite society. No, nothing at all like Carrie Bradshaw. The Warner Bros. project is based on Karen Quinn's novel. Yet another nail in the coffin for the New York that doesn't resemble the glitzy world of these types of movies.

Perhaps inspired by his most acclaimed recent role, Nicolas Cage will be mimicking his Adaptation character and playing a screenwriter once again. He'll star in Roman Polanski's next project, The Ghost, about a political ghostwriter hired to write the British prime minister's (Pierce Brosnan) memoirs after the original writer turns up dead. Variety reports that Tilda Swinton will play the prime minister's wife, which makes the erstwhile James Bond and the recent Oscar winner one of the stranger onscreen pairings I've heard of recently. But that can be a good thing!

More bad news for foreign films hoping to get a leg up in America. The acclaimed Brazilian drama Elite Squad was picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Company after it won the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival, but now it will only see distribution through IFC's simultaneous theatrical and on-demand release program. According to The Reporter, that's a disappointment for a film that could have benefited from the Weinsteins' legendary skill at promoting smaller films. The Weinsteins retain the rights to the film, and IFC Entertainment wouldn't disclose the terms of the deal.

Every few years a movie about dogs doing work in snowy climates-- Iron Will, Eight Below, and don't make me bring up Snow Dogs-- shows up in theatres, so I guess it's time for another. Variety reports that Chronicles of Narnia producer Mark Johnson will help Walden Media adapt the nonfiction book The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic, about a 1925 diphtheria outbreak in Alaska. Cuba Gooding, Jr. does not appear to be involved, so they're already off to a good start.

Hancock Still Can't Break Will Smith's Winning Streak

My roommate decided without my knowledge that I have a crush on Will Smith. I realize I'm late to the party on this one-- he's been a heartthrob since I was in elementary school-- but I've recently become enamored with his ability to do, well, anything, and make it a success. And, thank goodness for Hollywood's sake, he hasn't tried to branch out as an entrepeneur and bring his golden touch to fashion or anything else. He's a bona fide, honest-to-God movie star, capable of creating lines around the block and instant franchises just by signing his name on the dotted line.

I'm realizing now how many other people share that same trust in Will Smith, reading Variety and The Hollywood Reporter's distinct pans of Smith's latest July 4 outing, Hancock. The Reporter calls it "spectacular but muddled," and Variety settles on "misguided." But even within its bad review, The Reporter stops to credit Smith's "effortless charisma in a vehicle that's only occasionally worthy of his superhuman skills. Who else on the planet could star in a summer tentpole in which his face dominates the entire poster and still not be blamed one iota for its failure?

In the responses to Hollywood Elsewhere's item about Variety's pan, a commenter pointed out that Wild Wild West, widely considered a gigantic flop even before it opened, debuted with $49 million in 2001, which amounts to even more in today's dollars. Is Will Smith really such a huge star that we will pay money to spend time with him, regardless of how bad the surrounding story is? For the time being, I guess that answer is yes. You'll have a hard time finding anyone who will predict that Hancock will flop, and even if it "underperforms" with something under $200 million, it will by no means be a chink in Will Smith's armor. The former Fresh Prince seems capable of carrying on as the invincible King of Blockbusters, and I for one will be happy to carry on with the boss. So long as he stays away from alcoholic superheroes in the future.

Today's Film News: Chris Carter Believes in Secrecy

Before that youngun J.J. Abrams was unraveling mysteries and infuriating viewers on TV shows like "Lost" and "Alias," Chris Carter was doing essentially the same thing with "The X-Files." Now, with another X-Files movie coming out this summer, Carter seems to be taking a page from Abrams' book for his next feature-- hiring unknowns and keeping the plot super-secret. The Hollywood Reporter writes that Fencewalker will star "The Tudors" actress Natalie Dormer and rapper Xzibit, among others. Carter claims that the story will have no supernatural elements, but if he really wants to go J.J. Abrams-style, he'll at least hint that mysterious giant lizard will play a role somewhere.

Stop me if you've heard this one before: Production for David O. Russell's Nailed has shut down. For the fourth time. Variety writes that the labor stoppage, once again due to the crew not being paid, is probably related to the recent closing of production company ThinkFilm's Toronto office. Both events are likely signs that all is not well for parent company Capitol Films, and the labor issues on Nailed may just be the tip of the iceberg.

The ongoing career of Walt Becker continues to baffle me. The man made one hit movie-- Wild Hogs, in case you've forgotten that gem-- and now has more projects in development than anyone truly deserves. At least for the upcoming Still You at MGM, he'll serve only as producer for the April Blair script about an ex-boyfriend who threatens to ruin a family vacation. Variety says Becker will produce alongside Aline Brosh McKenna, who wrote 27 Dresses and The Devil Wears Prada.

And finally, it's time for the battle royale between Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson that you've always wanted to see! Well, kinda. Nicholson, Ben Stiller, Martin Sheen and other actors have signed a petition similar to the one Hanks put his name to over the weekend, except the Nicholson camp is encouraging SAG members not to ratify the labor contract that AFTRA accepted earlier this year. The Reporter has all the messy details, which I'm still hoping I won't need to learn about because a strike will never happen. Wishful thinking!

Film History Washes Up on Universal Lot

During the very, very brief period of my college career in which I learned to make movies, I always found something talismanic about the strips of film that hung from pegs in the editing room, collecting in curls at the bottom of trim bins and getting swept, frame by frame, out of the way. They weren't movies, of course, and in my amateur filmmaking class most of the trimmed bits were blurry or discolored shots. But there's something to seeing an image of something recognizable on such a tiny piece of plastic, and making the connection between that insignificant scrap and the glorious movie images on the big screen.

Of course, we're moving away from that even as I write, as my colleagues at the Cinema Expo in Amsterdam talk about the new wave of digital projection in Europe. But Primer Magazine, pointed out to me by way of Anne Thompson, has a little snippet of film history that washed up, so to speak, in the wake of the Universal Studios fire. You can see at left the single frame from a print of Back to the Future, charred but very recognizable. How crazy is it that such a tiny little piece can show up intact, in a neighborhood near the location of the fire? And isn't it even crazier to think that Marty McFly and Doc Brown can burn?

Today's Film News: Boogie on the Internet

Oxymoron Entertainment, a production company that started up just last year, sure is aiming to make a name for itself, and quick. Variety reports that the studio's first production will be Middle Men, a comedy documenting the beginning of the Internet porn business. George Gallo (My Mom's New Boyfriend) will direct and write the movie with Andy Weiss. Can it do for Internet porn what Boogie Nights did for regular porn, even without Heather Graham on roller skates?

Former tween superstar Hillary Duff-- the original Miley Cyrus, if you must know-- is continuing her attempts to bolster her indie cred. She's taken on a role in Stay Cool, not a sequel to Be Cool but a comedy from Mark and Michael Polish about a successful author who returns to his hometown to deliver a high school commencement address. Mark Polish will play the author, The Reporter writes, with Winona Ryder as an unrequited crush and Duff as a sultry high school student named... Shasta. Perhaps the casting isn't a coup after all, but punishment for her participation in War, Inc.?

It was inevitable that the success of "American Idol" would eventually find its way into the movies, but who would have guessed it would be the original British version to hit screens first? According to The Reporter, "Idol" judge Simon Cowell will produce One Chance, a biopic of "Britain's Got Talent" winner Paul Potts, an opera singer who had nearly given up on a singing career when he auditioned for the show in 2007. Justin Zackham, who wrote The Bucket List, has signed on as screenwriter. Yes, the schmaltz will be unimaginable.

And finally, an old joke seems to be on its way to becoming a mystery novel first, and then a mystery movie. Just read this line from the Variety piece about author Larry Beinhart's Salvation Boulevard: "The detective is a born-again Christian, the dead man an atheist, the accused killer an Islamic foreign student and the D.A. is Jewish." Mandalay will produce the film, but no word on whether or not the characters will all walk into a bar at some point.