Shia LaBeouf: Not a Fan of Flying
Shia LaBeouf: Not a Fan of Flying
When it comes to flying the friendly skies, actor Shia LaBeouf seems to prefer planes to helicopters. He was spotted at Dulles International Airport in Washington DC yesterday when he stepped outside for a smoke.
Reportedly, the “Constantine” actor had to wait on his transport from the airport, and during the lull, he go so bored, he even raced a paparazzo, emerging victorious.
But planes are pretty much the only way Shia likes to fly. After his latest film “Indiana Jones 4″ wrapped, star Harrison Ford gave LaBeouf flying lessons in his private helicopter. And it didn’t go so well for the “Transformers” stud.
An insider told press, “After the film wrapped, Harrison took Shia to Burbank Airport and they took off. But by the time they had landed, Shia had no stomach for a pilot’s career. He came barrelling out of the chopper and dashed for the men’s room. He lost it. When Shia emerged Harrison asked with a mischievous glint in his eye, ‘So when is our next lesson?’”
Is “Nuke the Fridge” the New “Jump the Shark”?
The Urban Dictionary has added an entry for “Nuke the Fridge”, a contemporary replacement for the slang term “Jumped the Shark”.
Jump the Shark is a reference to a scene in an episode of Happy Days when Fonzie literally jumps over a shark while water skiing. The scene was considered so preposterous, and is considered by many to signify the moment in time when the show became unappealing to its core audience.
The new term Nuke the Fridge is based on an event in the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Here is an explanation of the term from the online Urban Dictionary:
“Nuke the fridge is a colloquialism used to refer to the moment in a film series that is so incredible that it lessens the excitement of subsequent scenes that rely on more understated action or suspense, and it becomes apparent that a certain installment is not as good as a previous installments, due to ridiculous or low quality storylines, events or characters.
The term comes from the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, in which, near the start of the movie, Harrison Ford’s character survives a nuclear detonation by climbing into a kitchen fridge, which is then blown hundreds of feet through the sky whilst the town disintegrates. He then emerges from the fridge with no apparent injury. Later in the movie, the audience is expected to fear for his safety in a normal fistfight.
Fans of the Indiana Jones series found the absurdity of this event in the film to be the best example of the lower quality of this installment in the series, and thus coined the phrase, “nuke the fridge”.
The phrase is also a reference to the phrase “jump the shark”, which has the same meaning, only applied to a television series instead of a film series.
This phrase is not in common use.
“Star Wars didn’t really nuke the fridge until Jar Jar Binks was introduced.”
“Peter Parker dancing around the bar in Spider-Man 3? Kinda nukes the fridge!”
“The Godfather: Part III nukes the fridge.”
“Gremlins 2 more or less nuked the fridge.”
What do you think? Pretty funny but I think “Jumped the Shark” rolls off the tongue easier.
via: FilmDrunk
The Indy 151
Bull’s-eye.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull lived up to huge expectations, delivering $151.1 million in its first five days, per studio estimates today from Exhibitor Relations Co.
The movie accounted for nearly 60 percent of all ticket sales over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, grossing $101 million from Friday to Sunday, and $126.1 million from Friday to Monday.
After debuting with $25 million on Thursday, the movie, as expected, picked up speed over the weekend. Its biggest day was Saturday, when it grossed $37 million.
While the movie didn’t set any showy records and didn’t make it to the most outsized of projections that pegged a $175 million debut, it did make more money in its first 120 hours than all but four movies in Hollywood history.
In the annals of biggest three-day opening weekends, it ranks 10th, just ahead of this summer’s Iron Man, per Box Office Mojo. In the annals of four-day Memorial Day weekend debuts, it ranks second.
Worldwide, it simply scooped up a whole lot of money$313 million all together, combining domestic and foreign receipts, per Exhibitor Relations.
The $185 million Steven Spielberg-George Lucas movie, starring Harrison Ford, is the first new Indiana Jones since 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull should shortly overtake both Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($179.9 million) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ($197.2 million).
At the end of the adventuring day, however, the original Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark, should continue to stand as the giant of the series.
While Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will probably top that 1981 movie’s $245 million take, it probably won’t come close to topping its adjusted-for-inflation take.
In 2008 dollars, according to Box Office Mojo, Raiders grossed a titanic $606.4 million. (Temple of Doom’s take adjusts up to $368.3 million; Last Crusade’s to $340 million.)
If Indy doesn’t end up being as big as he used to be, then he’ll have to live with the next best thing: being big enough.
Other tidbits:
- Among its lesser records, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is now the No. 1 movie of the year to star a senior citizen (age 65 or older), topping The Bucket List, a 2007 release which made most of its $93.3 million after Jan. 1.
- This weekend’s box office was actually down from last year’s. For one thing, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a bit smaller than Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End ($114.7 million, Friday-Sunday). Secondly, second-place finisher The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($23 million) was far smaller than its 2007 counterpart, Shrek the Third ($53 million).
- And for a third thing, two Top 10 movies failed to clear $1 million from Friday to Sunday.
- With $96.7 million in the bank as of today, Prince Caspian will easily break $100 million, but it won’t easily, if ever, top The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’s $291.7 million.
- Caspian business was down 58 percent from its disappointing opening weekend.
- Far from winded after four weekends, Iron Man (third place, $20.1 million, Friday-Sunday; $25.7 million, Friday-Monday; $257.8 million overall) is living up to its title.
- The comedies Baby Mama (seventh place, $3.3 million, Friday-Sunday; $4.2 million, Friday-Monday; $53 million overall) and Forgetting Sarah Marshall (eighth place, $1.7 million, Friday-Sunday; $2.2 million, Friday-Monday; $58.7 million overall) have put together nice little runs.
- What Happens in Vegas (fourth place, $9 million, Friday-Sunday; $11.2 million, Friday-Monday; $56.4 million overall) has, too, but it has too much star power to truly qualify as nice ’n’ little.
- The Forbidden Kingdom ($375,000, Friday-Sunday; $489,000, Friday-Monday; $51.2 million overall) fell out of the Top 10, but comes up as Jackie Chan’s biggest hit outside of the Rush Hour and Shanghai Noon franchises. For Jet Li, the movie will probably fall just short of topping Hero and Romeo Must Die as his biggest hit outside of Lethal Weapon IV.
- In limited release, the John Cusack satire War, Inc. came up big with $35,336 from Friday to Sunday ($50,714, Friday-Monday) at two theaters.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $101 million
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $23 million
- Iron Man, $20.1 million
- What Happens in Vegas, $9 million
- Speed Racer, $4 million
- Made of Honor, $3.4 million
- Baby Mama, $3.3 million
- Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $1.7 million
- Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $940,000
- The Visitor, $723,000
Indy Opens, But How Will It Close?
If it’s treasure Indiana Jones wants, he’ll have to wait for the weekend to collect the lion’s share of it.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opened Thursday with an estimated $25 million, per Exhibitor Relations Co.
The number puts the movie, the fourth in the adventure franchise, at fourth on the list for biggest Thursday debuts, per the stats at Box Office Mojo.
But it puts it at no better than 28th for all-time opening days (regardless of the day of the week), and falls short of expectations that, at their most expectant, pegged a $50 million start.
By comparison, Iron Man last month collected $35.2 million on its opening day (a Friday), good for 13th all-time.
Still, box office experts were not ready to count out, or against, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s savvy archaeologist.
“I’ll think we’ll know more from Friday,” Exhibitor Relations Jeff Bock said today. “This’ll play more like a family film.”
Family films tend to do their biggest business on the weekend.
The PG-13-rated Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is viewed as the summer family film to beat, especially with Speed Racer crashing and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian losing at its own expectations game.
“It should do better on the weekend,” Box Office Mojo’s Brandon Gray said today.
The one potential booby trap awaiting Dr. Jones: Young moviegoers.
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring the 65-year-old Harrison Ford, is the first Indiana Jones movie in a generation, since 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Because it also debuted after a lengthy gap between new movies, Lucas’ own Star Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace might be the best guidepost for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That franchise restarter opened with $28.5 million en route to a $431.1 million domestic gross, per Box Office Mojo.
The booby trap in that argument: The Phantom Menace opened nearly 10 years ago, when the average ticket was nearly $2 cheaper than it is today. Its $28.5 million represented a lot more tickets sold than the new Indiana Jones’ $25 million.
Still, Bock, who was calling for a five-day, Memorial Day weekend gross of as much as $175 million for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, was not ready to call off the projection.
Gray essentially agreed. “Chances are now it’ll end up below expectations,” he said, “but the verdict is still out.”
Not that Indiana Jones has ever had to deal with tough odds before…