The Playlist

Weekend Box Office: 'Oz' Continues To Rule, 'Burt Wonderstone' Far Less Than 'Incredible'

By Gabe Toro
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March 17, 2013 11:32 AM
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5 Comments

Box Office

While it should be more than clear that "Oz the Great and Powerful" won't match the billion dollar haul of Disney's "Alice In Wonderland" – tears of sadness, Disney – still, this remains prime real estate for a family film as kids celebrate their spaced-out spring breaks. As such, 'Oz' has performed strongly on the weekdays, news that offsets the decent-but-unspectacular overseas returns. The film is on pace to rack up somewhere between $600-$800 million (probably the low end of that), which doesn't blow the doors off compared to a $300 million plus investment by the studio. But this is Disney we're talking about: there are ancillary earnings up the wazoo here.

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What Are You Seeing This Weekend? 'Burt Wonderstone' May Be 'The Call' For 'Spring Breakers' Everywhere

By Emma Bernstein
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March 15, 2013 5:19 PM
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2 Comments

News

There's a certain sense of heightened and/or alternate reality pervading the theater releases this weekend. On the one hand, we have a film about magicians, professionals who create the illusion of having manipulated real world physics; plus, it takes place in Vegas, a city that, unto and of itself, is an entirely other universe. In the other corner is Harmony Korine's new picture, an exploitation flick where the Wizard of Oz leads the starlets of "High School Musical" in a coke-fueled game of Russian Roulette. And then, somewhere in the middle, "Little Miss Sunshine" gets kidnapped by a gasoline-hose-wielding sociopath.

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Video: Steve Carell Talks 'Burt Wonderstone,' Trying To Identify With Jerk Characters & The Egos Of Show Business

By Edward Davis
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March 14, 2013 6:49 PM
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0 Comments

Interviews

Last week we rolled out some of our interview with Steve Carell, the star of this weekend's upcoming magician comedy, "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone." Carell spoke to us about getting the band back together for "Anchorman 2" and his somewhat surprising dramatic turn as an eccentric millionaire schizophrenic for Bennett Miller's dark drama "Foxcatcher" coming later this year.

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SXSW Review: Dated, Deeply Unfunny 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' Can't Conjure Comedy Magic

By Drew Taylor
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March 8, 2013 9:25 PM
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9 Comments

Steve Carell and Olivia Wilde in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Reviews

There are some movies that seem hopelessly outdated, either because of their subject matter or filmmaking style (or both), and they're usually marked by having the unfortunate luck of cashing in on some zeitgeist-capturing craze or cultural moment slightly past its expiration date. But "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," a new "comedy" that stars Steve Carell, Steve Buscemi and Jim Carrey as bickering magicians, feels completely unmoored from societal trends and things that people are generally interested in. It seems to be trying to send up the Las Vegas showmen of the '60s and '70s while simultaneously trying to satirize the David Blaine and Criss Angel-style illusionists of the world, whose own mini-moment passed eons ago.

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Exclusive Video: Steve Carell Talks About His Dramatic Turn In 'Foxcatcher'; Says He's Glad 'Anchorman 2' Didn't Happen Sooner

By Edward Davis
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March 5, 2013 4:51 PM
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2 Comments

Exclusive: Steve Carell Talks The Dramatic Role Of 'Foxcatcher' & 'Anchorman 2'

Video

Who needs "The Office"? Steve Carell's going to have a big 2013. Coming later this year is the Sundance indie hit "The Way, Way Back," he's reprising his voice role in "Despicable Me 2" and landing in theaters very soon is "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," in which he stars as a magician in crisis alongside Jim Carrey and Steve Buscemi. 'Wonderstone' will premiere even sooner at the SXSW Film Festival, which kicks off this week.

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Watch: 10 Clips From 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' Try To Conjure Comedy Magic

By Ken Guidry
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March 5, 2013 9:16 AM
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1 Comment

News

On paper, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” sounds like a no-brainer. A magician send-up starring Steve Carell, Jim Carrey and Steve Buscemi? Where do I sign up, right? But when the first trailer for the movie dropped last December, it left a lot to be desired. Now, with its release date two weeks away, Warner Bros has premiered 10 new clips online, giving us more of a taste of what to expect from the magician comedy.

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SXSW 2013 Brings 'Burt Wonderstone,' Spring Breakers,' 'Evil Dead,' 'Drinking Buddies' & More To Austin

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 15, 2013 3:00 PM
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1 Comment

News

The Sundance Film Festival starts Thursday, a few short weeks later it's the Berlin International Film Festival and just as the weather starts getting warmer, film fans will flock to Austin for the SXSW Film Conference And Festival. In fact, it's less than two months away and now the slate is beginning to be unveiled.

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Watch: Trailer For 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone' Features Steve Carell, Jim Carrey & Lots Of Spray Tan

By Kevin Jagernauth
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December 21, 2012 8:56 AM
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2 Comments

News

While Steve Carell has been positioned as the next big comedy star, the projects he's chosen have been disappointments for the most part. For every "Crazy Stupid Love" there has been a "Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World," while an ambitious concept like "Dinner For Schmucks" (a remake of much better and excellent French film "The Dinner Game") may have done decently at the box office (barely) but wasn't exactly all that memorable. Now comes "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," another big idea comedy that unfortunately looks pretty tedious.

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'Prisoners,' 'Burt Wonderstone,' 'We're The Millers' & More Get Release Dates

By Cain Rodriguez
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October 11, 2012 11:00 AM
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1 Comment

News

It’s that time again, ladies and gentlemen. Next year’s releases are already being scheduled in an attempt to stake out some money-making territory, and Warner Bros. has some dates for you to mark down.

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Steve Carell & Jim Carrey Get Britta-d As 'Community' Star Gillian Jacobs Joins 'Burt Wonderstone'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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February 16, 2012 11:23 AM
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1 Comment

News

Whether or not NBC's outstanding "Community" makes it to a fourth season -- and we dearly hope that it does, but given that the show was yanked from the schedule late last year, and is yet to make its way back, things are looking a little grim -- we're going to be seeing a lot more from the cast in the near future. Nominal lead Joel McHale will next be seen in Seth MacFarlane's "Ted"; breakout star Donald Glover is mixing up movie roles like "The To-Do List" with his musical career as Childish Gambino; his on-screen partner Danny Pudi will be seen alongside Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand in "My Mother's Curse"; Ken Jeong is everywhere; Alison Brie has a major supporting turn in "The Five-Year Engagement"; and even the show's Dean, Jim Rash, is now an Oscar-nominee thanks to co-writing the script for Alexander Payne's "The Descendants."

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