Superman Getting a Revamp?
The Hulk franchise has just had a revamp and now it could be Superman’s turn. Mark Millar, the writer behind Wanted told The Daily Record some interesting info:
“I’ve been planning this my entire life. I’ve got my director and producer set up, and it’ll be 2011. This is how far ahead you have to think. The Superman brand is toxic after that last movie lost 200 million, but in 2011 we’re hoping to restart it. Sadly I can’t say who the director is, but we may make it official by Christmas. But fingers crossed it could work out, that would be my lifetime’s dream.”
It was only a few months ago that Bryan Singer told us he had intentions to direct Superman: Man of Steel, so something may be going on at Warner Bros.
Superman Returns only just made $200 million in America, and less than that worldwide. If they were going for the ‘three years between sequels’ thing they would have started by now, or we would have heard something at least.
However, keep in mind that Mark Millar got himself into some hot water after generating a story that Eminem was “begging” to star in Wanted. Eminem’s agent and Universal issued strong denials about the story and it was revealed to be a publicity stunt to get Millar some free press. Could Millar be saying this just to generate some buzz so that he can fulfil his life long dream?
War Of Gods vs. Clash Of The Titans!
As well as discussing 300, producers Mark Canton, Gianni Nunnari and Bernie Goldmann spoke to Collider about another upcoming project of theirs, War of Gods. The movie (not to be confused with the game God of War) is another Greek epic about a war between Gods and humans. They are aiming to start filming at the beginning of 2009, and it will be filmed in a similar style to 300.
Yesterday Variety reported that Warner Bros. have signed The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier to direct their remake of Clash of the Titans. While both War of Gods and Clash of the Titans will have different plots, storylines and subject matter, they both evolve around Greek mythology. This has inevitably caused a battle of epic proportions, with both movies wanting to be released first. If the general public see two trailers for two different movies about similar things, they usually go to see the movie released first. Everyone saw Madagascar over The Wild, and Finding Nemo over Shark Tale. There were also two movies released within a year of each other about Truman Capote. Which one got all the attention and Oscars? The one released first staring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Obviously other factors contribute, such as the actors and marketing. However, if two movies both include Zeus, Gods and monsters then the one with the earliest release date will have the advantage. At the moment it seems War of Gods has the advantage, as a filming start date is in place, while Clash of the Titans has only just been greenlight with the arrival of Hulk director Louis Leterrier.
May the battle commence!
Get Smart a Hit; Love Guru a Nude Bomb
The Incredible Hulk wasn’t exactly Hulk, which was good. The Love Guru was vaguely Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which wasn’t.
And Get Smart, which was absolutely not The Nude Bomb, was No. 1.
The weekend box office did not lack for storylines or dollars, with the Steve Carell spy comedy leading the way with $39.2 million, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
Get Smart’s three-day take was nearly three times what the first big-screen crack at the sitcom classic grossed during its entire run. Not that taking out the bomb that was the 1980s The Nude Bomb, which starred original Agent 86 Don Adams, was either the plan or an accomplishment.
More to the point, Get Smart goes down as the biggest opener of Carell’s still fledgling leading-man career, and helps mitigate the disappointment of his last live-action comedy, Evan Almighty.
Elsewhere, The Incredible Hulk, last weekend’s No. 1, fell to third with $21.6 million. But it retained bragging rights over Ang Lee’s Hulk by falling “only” 61 percent in its second weekend, rather than the 70 percent plunge suffered by the 2003 film.
As for The Love Guru: It settled for fourth place and $14 million, two stats unbecoming a film that was promoted far and wideand uncomfortably on the season finale of American Idol.
For star Mike Myers, the debut wasn’t far off from the modest $9 million that his first Austin Powers grossed in its opening weekend. Eleven years ago. Before the spoof franchise took off on home video. Before Myers took off as a comedy brand name.
On the upside of a disappointing weekend, The Love Guru did outgross Get Smart, Again! Which was actually a TV movie. And therefore didn’t gross anything.
In any case, it should definitely surpass The Nude Bomb any day now. Which really wasn’t the plan. And honestly won’t be an accomplishment.
Drilling down through the standings:
- Fact No. 1: In The Incredible Hulk’s first weekend, 82 percent of the audience was comprised of people who’d seen Ang Lee’s Hulk. Fact No. 2: After two weekends, the two films have nearly identical cumulative grosses, with Lee’s holding the slight edge, $100.6 million to $96.5 million. Possible conclusion: There are only so many Hulk fans to go around. For all the drubbing that Lee’s Hulk took over its box office performance, The Incredible Hulk is doing almost exactly the same, except it’s doing it slightly smaller.
- Kung Fu Panda has strong, stubby legs. In its third weekend, the CGI comedy was only down 35 percent from the previous weekend. It held on to second place with $21.7 million, bringing its overall take to $155.6 million.
- In its second weekend, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening (fifth place, $10 million; $50.3 million overall) suffered a Hulk-like fall, with ticket sales down 67 percent.
- Iron Man (ninth place, $4 million), indeed. The comic book movie passed the $300 million mark overall. It currently stands at $304.8 million.
- Tween girls do not live by Camp Rock alone. Those with access to Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the new Abigail Breslin movie based on the popular doll line, helped it to a huge little opening weekend. Debuting at five theaters, the film grossed $222,697 for a per-screen average of $44,539. (Get Smart, by comparison, made $10,012 off each of its screens.)
- Prince Caspian ought to write Speed Racer a thank-you note for serving as the pre-Love Guru poster man for summer disappointments. Were it not for Speed Racer’s spectacular crash at the box office, more attention might be paid to the washout that has been the Chronicles of Narnia sequel. In its sixth weekend, the $200 million movie grossed $1.7 million, fell out of the Top 10 and stood at $135.5 million overall.
- In its sixth weekend, per Box Office Mojo stats, the first Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, finished fourth, grossed $10.1 million and stood at $261.3 million overall.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films, based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Get Smart, $39.2 million
- Kung Fu Panda, $21.7 million
- The Incredible Hulk, $21.6 million
- The Love Guru, $14 million
- The Happening, $10 million
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $8.4 million
- You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $7.2 million
- Sex and the City, $6.5 million
- Iron Man, $4 million
- The Strangers, $1.9 million
Movie Reviews: Get Smart vs. The Love Guru
This was supposed to be a big weekend for comedy, with both Mike Myers and Steve Carell cranking it up to 11 for your pleasurewith a little Timberlake thrown in. But we’ve seen the results, and your choice is between bad and really bad. Or The Incredible Hulk.
Get Smart: A mediocre spoof, with two bickering spies (Carell vs. Anne Hathaway) trying to thwart a plan to nuke L.A. But the gags fall flat, and those two have no chemistry, maknig this another big summer movie that should have heeded its title’s advice. Grade: C
The Love Guru: Myers does the same character he always does, just with a new accent. So you’re in for frozen grins, urination scenes, midget jokes, blatant product placement and that annoying “promised myself I wouldn’t cry!” thing he does. Grade: D