In Contention

Tag: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

  • Razzies aim typically low

    The Golden Raspberry (aka Razzie) Awards irritate me on an annual basis, largely because they’re such a joyless, unimaginative and, worst of all, cowardly execution of a neat idea: singling out the worst cinematic achievements of the year for a bit of a ribbing.

    Except they aren’t about genuinely failed artistry nearly as much as they are about piling on whichever easy celebrity targets happened to have a film out in the past 12 months. They’re intended as a bit of fun, obviously, but how fun is it really to beat up on tween idols like Miley Cyrus and the “Twilight” team? “The Expendables” isn’t that ineptly directed — but hey, it’s Sly, so it must be bad!

    Wouldn’t it be more subversive to aim at some higher targets who flubbed in 2010? (You’d think a “Worst Use of 3D” award would have been invented for “Alice in Wonderland,” but no — works from prestige directors are above the law here, apparently.)

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  • Listen to Cee Lo Green’s ‘What Part of Forever’ from ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’

    Can you tell I’m grasping at straws with this category yet?  I’m planning on writing up this year’s Best Original Song category in Thursday’s Tech Support column and I thought I’d squeeze a few more contenders in this week, but there’s not a lot to choose from.

    Cee-Lo Green’s “What Part of Forever” from “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” was nominated for a Satellite Award by the International Press Academy last week so I guess giving it some space here makes (a little) sense.  I haven’t seen the film so I can’t speak to its usage therein.  I watched the first two films of the series back-to-back last year and was stunned.  I never want to feel that way again so I avoid them like the plague.

    Also included on the soundtrack were tunes from Muse, Beck and Bat For Lashes and Muse (whose “Eclipse (All Yours)” was also nominated for a Satellite), all eligible (I think).

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  • Summit toasts ‘Ghost Writer,’ ‘Fair Game,’ ‘Red,’ ‘Twilight’

    Holiday parties sure are getting earlier, as the team at Summit Entertainment held theirs last night at BOA Steakhouse on Sunset.  The event was held to toast the efforts of cast and crew on the studio’s 2010 films — “Fair Game,” “The Ghost Writer,” “Red” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”

    I ended up chatting with Olivia Williams early in the evening about her experience on Roman Polanski’s film, which she clearly coveted.  She noted with candor how positive reinforcement isn’t exactly part of the process, not in any bad way, but just that hearing a “hey, nice job” isn’t the norm on a Polanski set, something she wasn’t expecting.  But she relished the experience and her handlers certainly think seeing her vibrant sense of humor on the circuit could make people realize how wonderful she is as a cold character in the film.

    Meanwhile, Jerry Zucker was there with his family as producer of “Fair Game.” While there was plenty to talk about regarding that political thriller, how do you engage in conversation with the guy who made “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” without going there?  We talked potential torch-bearers of the form today, and he made it a point of mentioning how right “The Hangover” got it, that it was a comedy constantly surprising you, and that is key.  He’s currently working on a send-up of Broadway musicals tentatively titled “You Are Here,” which should be a hoot.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: WTF?

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Forget everything I said about it being ballsy marketing your movie with a bunch of unknown, potentially scene-stealing creatures. I forget that if the creatures are at all adorable, then you automatically debut with $60 million at the box office.

    Seriously. What happened with “Despicable Me?” I’m not afraid to admit that three weeks ago I thought this would debut with $15 million. Instead, it’s the number one movie in America with $60.1 million in the bank. That already makes it the biggest computer animated film Universal has ever put out and rivals some of the better openings for non-franchise DreamWorks pictures. It should now have no problem becoming the fourth animated film of 2010 to pass $200 million. No words.

    Speaking of that threshold, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” raced past it with some conviction, dropping 49% to $33.4 million. It’s about $7 million the running total of “New Moon” by this point and will have a hard time reaching the same peak. Still, it’s more than enough to have provided more work for Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Has that not been deemed a war crime yet?

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: I ain’t got time to bleed

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Summer keeps puttering along and based on the reaction to Kris’s multiple posts on the subject, we’re all just biding our time until “Inception” comes out. I knew people wanted to see it, but I can’t remember the last time people were refreshing their browsers to see a couple of reviews.

    Nolan’s latest is still a week away though, and we have other business to cover. Mainly, some weird cartoon and the re-imagining of an 80’s action classic. Weeks ago I had this pegged as an easy weekend for “Predators” to win, but Fox has lowballed the screen count and skimped on the marketing for what should have been a no-brainer. So, let’s start with “Despicable Me.”

    Universal has released a grand total of two computer animated films before this week. The first was the $14.4 million grossing Veggie Tales movie, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything”, which I didn’t see because I think Christian vegetables are weird, but still think it’s one of the best titles of all time. Their second release was the $56.3 million wonder, “The Tale of Despereaux.”

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  • MONDAY CENTS: Rob bless America

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Happy Independence Day everyone! I trust you ate some grilled meat, camped out on a beach for the day and saw some fireworks. I know I did. Apparently, others also went to see a movie called “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse,” since it topped the four day weekend with $82.5 million. Why is it a four day weekend? Couldn’t tell you. Movie people just like the fourth of July so much that any Monday that falls directly adjacent to it automatically becomes a Holiday too.

    Breaking “Eclipse” down, it grossed $93 million on Wednesday and Thursday, $69 million for the traditional three day period, another $13.5 million on Monday, which all adds up to $175.3 million in six days. Catch all that? Technically, that $69 million is the weakest opening weekend figure of the series, but the film has already almost outgrossed the total of the first film, so let’s not get hung up on technicalities. Twihards came out in force and even though the film will drop precipitously from here, it will likely make its $68 million budget back just from t-shirts at Hot Topic so these grosses are almost irrelevant.

    The only thing I’ll say is that “New Moon” had $186.9 million after six days and so that film’s total of $309.3 million is already out of reach, indicating that we have seen the peak of Edward and Bella’s popularity. Unless Kristen Stewart does a nude scene in “Breaking Dawn.” Or Taylor Lautner too, for that matter.

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  • FRIDAY FORECAST: Vampires and Shyamalan suck

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Are you guys seeing this Uruguay-Ghana game? Unbelievable finish. But it’s Independence Day weekend and we are supposed to be talking about all things American. Like sissy vampires and casting obviously foreign parts movies with good old white actors!

    The weekend will go long with most people getting Monday off and it’s actually already begun with “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” opening on Wednesday and “The Last Airbender” debuting yesterday. Let’s start with the record breaker. The latest installment of Stephanie Meyer’s abstinence trilogy debuted on the largest number of screens ever, only nineteen months after the first film came out and shocked the industry. It earned $30 million in midnight screenings alone and chalked up a $68.5 million opening day.

    That’s the fourth biggest single day gross in history and a little behind the all-time champ and previous “Twilight” entry, “New Moon” and its $76.0 million. Taking away the midnight rush, we’re looking at a Wednesday gross of $38.5 million for “Eclipse” and then a Thursday of $24.2 million. Definitely starting a slow slide, but not disastrous. Almost $100 million in the bank already and we have a long weekend ahead of us where “Eclipse” could feasibly earn another $100 million.

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