Jason Reitman says No Juno Sequel
The Hollywood rumor-mill is starting to spin the idea of a Juno sequel. You might be scratching you head wondering: Why would they even consider making a Juno sequel anyway?
Juno has taken in over $136 million at the box office. By the end of its theatrical run, Juno will likely have grossed more (domestically) than Superbad, Enchanted, Bee Movie, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard, Hairspray, Ocean’s Thirteen, Ghost Rider, Beowulf, SAW IV, Halloween, Sweeney Todd, and Resident Evil: Extinction. And I’m sure we’ll see another Fantastic Four movie, and they’re already prepping two more SAW films.
But director Jason Reitman wants no part of a sequel, citing possible story problems.
“I can’t see it. She got pregnant once; I just can’t see her getting pregnant again,” Reitman told the New York Post.
And with Diablo Cody being the IT screenwriter of the moment, I don’t think she’ll be finding time to work on a potential continuation. That’s not to say that the studio might not demand a sequel (hey, it’s easy money). And didn’t Searchlight proceed on a sequel to 28 Days Later without Danny Boyle’s participation? (Boyle was technically credited as executive producer). Readers are telling me that I’m incorrect about Boyle’s lack of involvement.
Juno is a much different entity and I don’t see any sequel talk progressing without the interest of Cody or Reitman. Kevin Smith made a Clerks II more than a decade after the release of the first film. So you never know if a story might present itself later on which may lead to a cinematic reunion.
Retro Movie Trailer: The Unreleased 1994 Fantastic Four Movie
On Saturday, we launched a new feature on called Retro Movie Trailer Flashback. We intended this feature to be a once a week thing, unless we came across something really special or in the case that it was a slow news day. And it turns out both this video and tonight qualify. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer ruled the box office this weekend, and to honor the series we present to you the movie trailer for the 1994 version of The Fantastic Four movie. If you thought Tim Story did a bad job, check this out.
Most of you probably don’t know, but the first Fantastic Four movie was made in 1994 by B-movie producer Roger Corman. As it turns out, Neue Constantin Films of Germany had owned the film rights to the Fantastic Four, but on December 31st they would expire and revert back to Marvel. Neue Constantin, who had also been behind the Dolph Lundgren Punisher movie and a crappy direct-to-video Captain America film, wanted to renew the option, but of course, Marvel said no. The only way Neue Constantin could retain the option on the characters was to produce a film by years end. The resulting movie was made for $1.5 million but never released theatrically or on home video. But a copy of the movie somehow leaked out and has since become a cult phenomenon in the geek world. The Fantastic Four rivals the The Star Wars Holiday Special as the most popular bootlegged movie among comic and sci-fi fans. The trailer we present to you was included on the home video version of Carnosaur.
You can read more about the 1994 Fantastic Four movie at teako170.com.
Box Office Predictions: How High will the Silver Surfer Fly?
Last week’s box office results were interesting. Ocean’s Thirteen easily took the top spot with $36 million. That is less than both of its predecessors made, but still a ton of money considering that Ocean’s Twelve was disappointing in the eyes of a lot of fans (even with a higher opening weekend, Ocean’s Twelve would go on to gross nearly $60 million less than Ocean’s Eleven). But clearly that didn’t effect the outlook for the third installment. Pirates 3 continued to do well bringing its total up to $253 million. Knocked Up continued its impressive early run with nearly $20 million its second weekend. The surprise for me was that Surf’s Up only made $17 million. Clearly, Sony’s recent animated films (Open Season, Monster House) haven’t been nearly as successful as Pixar’s (Cars, The Incredibles) or Dreamworks’ (Shrek the Third, Madagascar), but they have had better openings than this. Could it be from a saturation of animated films (or from the fact that there just was a penguin based cartoon Happy Feet last year)? Time will tell. And time will tell how this weekend’s Box Office goes. Also, I will tell:
1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The first Fantastic Four movie sucked, but it made $56 million its opening weekend, on its way to a total of $154 million. That is the reason why the movie is now getting a sequel despite the fact that it sucked. So the question becomes, if a lot of people saw the first (and they did judging from the Box Office total) and those people didn’t like the movie (and I haven’t met someone who did), then who is going to want to see another? The problem is that movie goers are suckers and they will still go to see it despite the problems with the first. Now, there have been some early positive reviews, and the trailers look better than the first (but still not great) so maybe it has a chance. It will do well, but not as well as the first, at least not in its opening weekend when it makes $40 million.
2. Ocean’s Thirteen. As I said above, Ocean’s Thirteen had a very good opening with $36 million. It has gotten much better reviews than Ocean’s Twelve, so it should have better staying power and a better overall fate. It will still drop from the competition, but make an impressive $20 million in week number two.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Despite poor reviews, Pirates 3 has done very well (maybe not as well as #2, but very well nonetheless). But it is slowing down and it lost 52% of its audience from week 2 to week 3. It will likely have a similar outcome this week as it brings in $12 million.
4. Nancy Drew. This is the second movie opening in wide release this week and is certainly good counter programming to the big summer block buster action movies out there right now. It is a good choice for teen age girls and maybe families. It is based on a series of books which have been around forever and are very popular. But I don’t see it being a huge hit. It will open with $11 million.
5. Knocked Up. It has gotten very good reviews and has done very well at the Box Office ($71 million so far). It held on to a pretty large percentage of its audience which shows it should have staying power. But there is a lot of competition. It will continue to do well with $10 million.
Well, that’s it. With the strong competition, Surf’s Up only stays in the top 5 for one week which is pretty amazing. Check back next week to see how I do.
Jessica Alba Comes Back In A Big Way
Jessica Alba Comes Back In A Big Way
If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen much of Jessica Alba on the big screen, you’re not alone. But the Dark Angel star has been taking the past two years off in an attempt to figure out where to go next. And it seems that next is starring in six movies.
That’s right. Jessica Alba is about to become the most seen woman in Hollywood. Over the next calendar year, she has a total of six movies releasing all over the world. “I got to do a comedy, a horror movie, a few independents and ’Fantastic Four.’ So it’s been a really fun year,” she told press.
For the Fantastic Four movie, Alba feels that it tops it’s predecessor, released back in 2005. “We all worked really hard in our character development, the story,” she said.
“The story’s a good, fun story. Basically we’re planning the wedding of the century and it gets crashed by the Silver Surfer. There’s a lot more action. The special effects are incredible.”
But Fantastic Four is just the start of the Year of Alba. “Bill,” “The Eye,” “Awake,” “Good Luck Chuck,” and “Sin City 2,” are all coming your way in the next 365 days, so brace yourself.
In the meantime, enjoy the photos of Jessica leaving the Mandarin Hotel on Monday (June 11), as well as some stills from the new Fantastic Four movie (in US theaters this Friday June 15)!