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Weekend Box Office: 'The Dark Knight Rises' Sticks At No. 1, But With A Big 2nd Week Drop; No One Watches 'The Watch'

  • By Gabe Toro
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  • July 29, 2012 11:46 AM
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  • 10 Comments
Box Office
Though Hollywood would like to think all of summer is the Silly Season in regards to box office, the truth is, every four years, July takes a slight hit. The Olympics seemed to catch the attention of casual moviegoers this weekend, as prospective smash "The Dark Knight Rises" took a strong second week nosedive of 60%, ruling the roost over a sea of uninspiring options with a still-formidable $64 million. While "The Dark Knight" ruled over summer 2008, only four more '08 releases in that frame sputtered over the $100 million mark.
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More: Weekend Box-Office, The Dark Knight Rises, The Watch, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Step Up Revolution, Ice Age: Continental Drift

In Theaters: 'Killer Joe' & 'Ruby Sparks' Will 'Step Up' To The Plate, But 'The Watch' May Prove To Be A 'Klown'

  • By Emma Bernstein
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  • July 27, 2012 12:03 PM
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  • 0 Comments
News
Bonjour à nos amis! Here is yet another Friday, and we hope you’re all ready to ring in the next two days of free time. You can dance, you can sing, you can create artwork, you can fight aliens or go canoeing or put a bounty on someone’s head. Or perhaps it’s a quiet night: you can stay home, write about your dream boyfriend or girlfriend and hope he or she comes to life! Fingers crossed. Whatever the case, bienvenue to the weekend!
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More: Step Up Revolution, The Watch, Killer Joe, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Searching For Sugar Man, Ruby Sparks

Review: ‘The Watch’ Is A Lifeless Sci-Fi Comedy With Moments Of Spirited Improv

  • By Rodrigo Perez
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  • July 26, 2012 5:43 PM
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  • 4 Comments
Reviews
From the outside, 20th Century Fox's comedy "The Watch" seems to have its cup runneth over with the talent at its disposal. The film stars the quartet of Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and celebrated British director/writer/comedian Richard Ayoade (director of “Submarine”). It's directed by Akiva Schaffer, the talented young filmmaker behind SNL's Digital Shorts -- arguably the only thing keeping the show relevant for the last five years -- and the screenwriters are "Superbad" and "Pineapple Express" scribes Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. And with appearances by Will Forte, Billy Crudup, a quick Lonely Island group cameo and more, everything seems to be stacked in this comedy’s favor. But try as they might, this collective wattage of talented funny people are lost within a lifeless, tepid and uninspired comedy.
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More: The Watch, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Akiva Schaffer, Richard Ayoade, Review

'The Watch' Director Akiva Schaffer Talks The Influence Of 'Alien' & 'Ghostbusters', Working With Doug Jones & More

  • By Drew Taylor
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  • July 25, 2012 12:03 PM
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  • 0 Comments
News
As one-third of The Lonely Island, the comedy collective behind the SNL Digital Shorts, Akiva Schaffer (along with confederates Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone) efficiently optimized "Saturday Night Live," a flagging late night mainstay, into something vital and immediate. With the Digital Shorts format, placing an emphasis on music video rhythms and absurdity that bordered on the surreal, they re-contextualized the show into bite-size nuggets you could swap with friends or post on Facebook. But there's more to Schaffer than "Jizz in My Pants" (although, honestly, if that was the only thing he directed that'd still be pretty awesome).
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More: The Watch, Akiva Schaffer, Interviews, Film Trailers

The Top 10 Films To See In July

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • July 2, 2012 10:59 AM
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  • 4 Comments
Features
There are people, we're told, who just rock up to the theater on Friday night and see whatever is coming on next. We, and we suspect you, have never been those people. We scan the release calendar weeks, even months in advance, in order to check out what's coming to theaters, so we know what we're queueing up for, and when we'll be seeing it.
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More: Top 10 Films Of The Month, The Dark Knight Rises, Alps, Ruby Sparks, The Imposter, Searching For Sugar Man, Shut Up And Play The Hits, The Watch, Savages, Easy Money, Killer Joe

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet: New Trailer For 'The Watch' With Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn & Jonah Hill

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 20, 2012 10:21 AM
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  • 0 Comments
News
It was just yesterday that we were wondering when 20th Century Fox was going to get the marketing ball rolling on "The Watch," the comedy starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade. The tragic killing of Trayvon Martin made selling a movie about a rogue neighborhood watch crew a bit difficult for the studio, but this healthy, lengthy international trailer for the movie shows they could have a comic hit on their hands.
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More: The Watch, Film Trailers, Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, Vince Vaughn, Richard Ayoade

Posters For 'Taken 2,' 'Expendables 2' & 'The Watch' Arrive

  • By Edward Davis
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  • June 19, 2012 3:51 PM
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  • 2 Comments
News
Poster time. First up, it's "The Expendables 2," wherein Sylvester Stallone brings back his geriatric action team, including Jet Li, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren, along with Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme. We're generally against it, but thank god for Photoshop touchups, as this is a ghastly looking sausage party. The original film started out slow at the box office, but eventually crawled to a very respectable $274 million worldwide. Presumably the sequel can at least duplicate those numbers, otherwise, what’s the point? “The Expendables 2” is set for an August 17th release.
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More: Taken 2, The Expendables 2, The Watch

Watch: Interactive Promo For 'Snow White & The Huntsman,' New Green-Band Trailer For 'The Watch'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • May 23, 2012 2:30 PM
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  • 0 Comments
News
Once upon a time, you could just release a trailer and people were happy with it: a rare glimpse into a movie that was still weeks or months off. Nowadays, you can't just have one trailer, you have to several, some before the movie's even been made, plus endless TV spots and featurettes and clips and whatnot.
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More: Snow White And The Huntsman, Brave, Total Recall, The Watch

There Goes The 'Neighborhood Watch' In New Red Band Trailer With Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill & More

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • May 4, 2012 2:46 PM
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  • 7 Comments
News
Partly due to the Trayvon Martin case and also because their hands are already full with "Prometheus," which comes out a month before, Fox has been kind of quiet on "Neighborhood Watch." Until now. They've dropped a foul-mouthed and pretty fucking hilarious red band trailer for the movie that suddenly has put this one on our radar. And oh, by the way, it's now called "The Watch."
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More: The Watch, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade

The Playlist's 10 Most Anticipated Blockbusters Of The Summer Season

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • April 30, 2012 10:58 AM
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  • 17 Comments
Features
It feels like the summer movie season has been underway for some time already, given that last month saw the arrival of huge blockbuster "The Hunger Games," as well as "21 Jump Street," an R-rated comedy that's taken an enormously impressive $130 million. And that's even without mentioning those that hoped to be big box office stuff, but fell at the first: "John Carter," already taking its place among the annals of the great flops, and "Wrath Of The Titans," which has taken less than half what its predecessor made domestically.
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More: Features, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers, Brave, The Bourne Legacy, The Campaign, Dark Shadows, The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, Snow White And The Huntsman, The Watch

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