In Contention

Tag: Imagine That

  • 6/15 Web Round-up

    Eddie Murphy in Delirious• In case it wasn’t obvious, Paradise Falls from Pixar’s “Up” was inspired by Venezuela’s Angel Falls. [Associated Press via Chicago Sun-Times]

    • Today’s superhero movies have artistic roots in the UK. [BBC]

    • Speaking of which, here’s a girl’s guide to Comic Con 2009. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Anyone else tired of non-news items like this regarding a potential “Arrested Development” movie?  Who cares? [Collider]

    • Martin Scorsese works hard to bring little-seen classics to the web. [CNN]

    • The potentially exciting web site in question. [The Auteurs]

    • Beat writers make their way to the big screen. [The Independent]

    • The Brit-Hitch love-fest (in light of the director’s BFI retrospective) continues. [The Guardian]

    • “Imagine That” might have tanked this weekend, but this Chris Lee remembrance of Eddie Murphy’s comedy turning point — “Delirious,” which celebrated a 25th anniversary last month — is still worth a look. [Los Angeles Times]

    • In honor of the limited reelase of Duncan Jones’s “Moon”: 10 unhappy movie astronauts? [Spout Blog]

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Bad ‘Hangover’ for new openers and holdovers

    The Taking of Pelham 123After denying “Up” the bragging rights of a repeat at the top of the box office at the last minute, “The Hangover” has accomplished that feat itself.

    The R-rated comedy dropped a minuscule 26% to add another $33.4 million to the bank and give it a very real shot at $200 million-plus. That’s a benchmark reserved for very few comedies and only the best of the best like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “Crocodile Dundee.”  Speaking of those two, it’s a pity Nia Vardalos didn’t look to Paul Hogan’s career for a glimpse at the dangers of repetitive ethnic-centric comedy. If there’s a bigger success story than “The Hangover” this summer, we are in for some big shockers.

    Speaking of shockers, I saw the movie this week and I didn’t like it at all. Aside from some fresh stuff from Zach Galifianakis, it was pretty stale to me. It’s no “Wedding Crashers,” that’s for sure.

    “Up” also held up extremely well, dropping only 31% and staying in the runner-up spot with $30.5 million. It now seems likely to pass “Cars” and wind up the sixth highest grossing Pixar film when all is said and done.* I’ve always said that miscarriages in cartoons equals big bucks and finally somebody listened.

    (more…)

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Dark clouds ‘Hangover’ Ferrell

    The Hangover(6/8 UPDATE: Variety is reporting this morning that, in a rare occurrence, “The Hangover” topped “Up” once actual numbers rolled in.  “Final figures will show that ‘Hangover’ grossed $45 million from 3,269 runs,” Pamela McClintock writes. “‘Up’ should finish at $44.3 million to $44.4 million from 3,818 theaters.)

    “Up” has now joined “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “Madea Goes to Jail” as the only 2009 releases to spend more than one week at the top of the box office. (EDITOR’S NOTE: Strike that.  See update above.) A slim drop of 35% led to a weekend gross of $44.2 million and kept Carl Fredrickson floating above the competition en route to what surely will be one of the highest grossing totals of the summer. With $137 million in the bank already, it is pacing ahead of the 10-day tallies of “WALL-E,” “Ratatouille” and “Cars.” Anybody willing to bet on “Toy Story 3” breaking Pixar’s hot streak next summer? Didn’t think so.

    Coming in a close second is “The Hangover.” Starring a bunch of nobodies (relatively speaking) and from a director five years removed from his last hit, there’s no reason this should have made $43.3 million this weekend. But it did and the only explanation is that audiences loved it. Test screenings started the word of mouth and it rolled all through the marketing campaign and what many of us saw coming as a possible sleeper hit of the summer has turned into something else entirely: a bona fide blockbuster. Even if it fails to double its debut (doubtful with word of mouth so good), it would still be a massive success for Warner Bros. No word yet on how much of the gross came from people so hungover that they forgot they already paid to see the movie the previous night as well.

    Third place went to “Land of the Lost,” an unmitigated disaster. $19.5 million is what Universal would have hoped for in one day when they greenlit this sucker with a budget north of $100 million. Will Ferrell and dinosaurs seem like a smart combo to me but the trailers and buzz for this one labeled it a stinker long ago and nobody could decipher whether it was for kids or young adults. Director Brad Silberling has now sunk two potential franchise starters in a row (with “Lemony Snicket” being the other) and has to be sweating his career right now. And Danny McBride deserves better.

    (more…)