The Playlist

The obsessives' guide to contemporary cinema via film discussion, news, reviews, features, nostalgia, movie music, soundtracks, DVDs and more.

Interviews

Who Were The Winners And Losers Of The Summer Of 2011?

By Oliver Lyttelton
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August 30, 2011 4:08 AM
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24 Comments

As the summer winds die down with a flat and uninspired whimper, the realization sets in: the summer of 2011 was for the birds. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" was the last major tent-pole to open, followed by sleeper hits like "The Help" and the not-so-successful R-rated action comedy, "30 Minutes or Less." Many had forecast that the overstuffed summer would prove disastrous, with Jon Favreau predicting that, "There’s not a weekend where there won’t be teeth on the floor," but ironically it's Favreau's film that proved to be one of the biggest box-office disappointments. Financially, films did very well with three billion-dollar blockbusters – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”-- helping the industry set a summer box-office record and nearly rebound from a horrible start to 2011 (Currently, 2011 revenue is running only 4 percent behind 2010, but in March, things were looking grim – 19% lower than the year previous).

By Oliver Lyttelton
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June 2, 2011 1:02 AM
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7 Comments

Chris Weitz, Alfonso Cuaron Also Allegedly In The Running"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" might have made the much-mocked second and third Gore Verbinski-helmed entries in the series look like masterpieces in comparison, but audiences don't seem to care much -- especially internationally, moviegoers love them some Johnny Depp and it's already raked in a staggering $650 million in less than two weeks in release. Inevitably, this means that talk is turning to a fifth installment, a script for which has already been commissioned by Disney from Terry Rossio, who with partner Ted Elliott wrote all four installments to date.

By Drew Taylor
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May 13, 2011 11:48 AM
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19 Comments

Executive producers of television series talk about needing to do a "bottle episode," usually about a third of the way through the season when they've unnecessarily overspent on the earlier episodes and need to save up so that the finale can go out with a bang. In a lot of ways "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" (yes, that's the actual title) feels like a "bottle episode" in the franchise, one in which the scale is cut back tremendously, extraneous mythology shaved away, with the lavish direction of the original trilogy (by Gore Verbinski, who helmed one of this year's very best movies, "Rango") replaced with someone whose vision is, if not entirely lacking, somewhat more made-for-TV.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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May 9, 2011 7:17 AM
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2 Comments

Considering that these days Johnny Depp rarely strays too far from his comfort zone and seems content to keep working with the same folks over and over, this news is hardly that surprising.

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 22, 2011 8:04 AM
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5 Comments

Rob Marshall Still Attached To DirectWhen news first cropped up around a remake of "The Thin Man" with Johnny Depp attached to star, we figured it was one of many projects that would be linked with the actor that would eventually fall to the wayside. Guess we were wrong. Following the first rumblings last fall, there is fresh movement on the project.

By Drew Taylor
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January 14, 2011 3:30 AM
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1 Comment

Apparently Johnny Depp isn't the only one down for another swashbuckling go-around in the enchanted waters of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Deadline is reporting that screenwriter Terry Rossio, who has co-scripted all of the previous films (including this summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"), has officially signed on to pen the fifth installment. Deadline notes that this will be the first 'Pirates' adventure he's written without his longtime writing partner Ted Elliott, which indeed is intriguing.