The Playlist

The 'Prometheus' Viral Campaign Continues With More Clues & A New Video

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 11, 2012 9:02 AM
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5 Comments

News

Well, "Prometheus" is a success (at least financially), openingly strongly this weekend with the best R-rated numbers since "Paranormal Activity 3" last fall. But if you've now seen the movie and think that's all there is, guess again. The viral campaign for the movie continues with a new video, a book and a mysterious date to keep the chatter going.

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Weekend Box Office: 'Madagascar 3D' Bests 'Prometheus,' Solid Results For Both

By Gabe Toro
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June 10, 2012 11:31 AM
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6 Comments

Box Office

There’s always an audience out there. You just have to serve it. And so it goes with the past three days, the second straight strong weekend of this summer that suggests business is rebounding from a tepid 2011. “Madagascar 3D: Europe’s Most Wanted” took the crown in a fashion similar to the first two films in this series, because it is a CG-animated kids film with talking animals, and you have to purposely run a terrible ad campaign to not make money in that racket. It's been awhile since kids and parents have seen a CG-toon with a heavy marketing presence -- you probably could have released “Rio 5” in this atmosphere and it would have killed.

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In Theaters: 'Safety Not Guaranteed' For 'Prometheus;' 'Madagascar 3' May Be The Weekend's 'Dark Horse'

By Emma Bernstein
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June 8, 2012 4:20 PM
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0 Comments

News

Hello, and happy Friday! There is quite a presence of quieter subject matter this week, including an unassuming musician and Edward Cullen playing a human version of his lothario self. But of course, no shortage of big screen adventures in 3D either. And, amidst the hailstorm of big-budget summer flicks, I’ve been wondering the following: is Hollywood working toward an ultra version of the big-budget summer flick? Combining the hugest ideas into the über-Blockbuster, if you will. For example, what would happen if a bunch of animals and Snow White were shot into space with a team of androids, began to wreak mass pandemonium on the galaxy, and had to be put down by the ultimate intergalactic crimefighting team of the Men in Black and the Avengers? Well, maybe that’s the subject of the fourth installment of the “Madagascar” franchise. Or the plot to the "Snow White and the Huntsman" sequel that was just announced. Fingers crossed, but until then, here are the movies that are actually being released.

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Androids, Sex & Sequels: 15 Things Learned About Ridley Scott's 'Prometheus'

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 8, 2012 10:57 AM
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2 Comments

Features

Over thirty years after the 'space jockey' first appeared in "Alien," and after a couple of months of speculation and rumor, Ridley Scott's "Prometheus," his return to sci-fi for the first time since "Blade Runner", and his continuation/prequel/spin-off/whatever to his 1979 space horror classic, finally hits theaters today. It's one of the most eagerly anticipated films of the year, and is already inspiring fierce debate (The Playlist team are split down the middle on the project, with wildly divided reactions from those who've seen it).

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Discuss: Is Charlize Theron Back On The A-List? And Why Did She Ever Fall Off?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 7, 2012 12:57 PM
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14 Comments

Features

There's one person who's pretty much inescapable in movie theaters at the moment, and that's Charlize Theron. Last weekend, she was the evil queen Ravenna in "Snow White And The Huntsman," and this weekend, she's the biggest name (although not the biggest part) among the ensemble cast of "Prometheus" -- a film that she was originally pegged to play the lead in. And in a few weeks, she'll start filming on the long-gestating "Fury Road," George Miller's return to the "Mad Max" world. Between those three, she's become the queen of the blockbuster world, and with a performance in "Young Adult" that might have been her most widely acclaimed ever, Theron's as big a star as she's ever been.

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The Films Of Ridley Scott: A Retrospective

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 7, 2012 12:00 PM
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22 Comments

Features

Ridley Scott is, in some circles anyhow, a god. Practically treated as royalty with laudatory genuflection from certain film enthusiasts — generally genre fetishists — he has turned in two unimpeachable cinema touchstones, "Blade Runner" and "Alien," plus a few other arguable modern semi-classics including "Black Hawk Down" and "Gladiator." But his track record overall? Scott's batting average isn't exactly amazing across the board, and while he has major peaks, his work can be frustratingly uneven for someone who is clearly and masterfully talented. While a craftsman of technically marvelous and grand spectacle cinema, his films can also be inordinately soulless and have become increasingly so with each film (Sigourney Weaver famously said that Scott paid more attention to the props and extraterrestrials than the actors on "Alien," but somehow that picture still worked).

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Watch: Joel McHale Spoofs David Viral Video From 'Prometheus' On 'The Soup'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 6, 2012 3:56 PM
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1 Comment

News

Opinions are hugely divided on "Prometheus" and even here at the The Playlist, yelling and slammed doors have been the end result of discussions about the movie, which draw a line firmly in the sand of our office. No one is speaking to each other right now.

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Watch: 'Prometheus' Trailer Made Entirely Out Of Paper

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 4, 2012 2:08 PM
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0 Comments

News

For everyone who has had enough of the endless "Prometheus" chatter and marketing campaign and/or has been incessantly avoiding reading anything about it until this weekend when they can see it for themselves, here's something a bit different and fun.

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Uncut Scenes From Ang Lee's 'Life Of Pi' To Screen In Front Of 'Prometheus,' 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' & 'Ice Age: Continental Drift'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 4, 2012 10:18 AM
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1 Comment

News

The unexpected highlight of this year's CinemaCon was undoubtedly Ang Lee's "Life Of Pi." The industry convention (which is gaining a larger press presence year by year) found 20th Century Fox unveiling the first footage from Ang Lee's 3D project that the studio has had in development for years, with a variety of directors unable to crack it. Well, it seems Lee has not only found a way into the story based on the acclaimed novel by Yann Martel, but knocked it out of the park. Reactions were breathless, with many proclaiming after only seeing ten minutes of footage that is was going to be a major Oscar contender. And while that remains to be seen, Fox is clearly buoyed by the early word and want to start getting audiences excited too.

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Ridley Scott Admits He Cut 'Prometheus' For Ratings, But Says There Won't Be A Director's Cut On DVD

By Kevin Jagernauth
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June 4, 2012 9:23 AM
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5 Comments

News

"MPAA, get your house in order,” Ridley Scott said earlier this year as he was in the final stages of getting "Prometheus" ready. And while there was some concern that the highly anticipated film might be neuteured for a PG-13 rating, fans were relieved when it was officially confirmed that the film will be rolled out in theaters with an R-rating. But it seems Scott still had to make some sacrifices to get the movie out there.

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