Thompson on Hollywood

Weekend Box Office: Paranormal Activity 2 Scares Up $41.5 million, Hereafter Delivers Decent Bow

Paranormal Activity 2 outperformed expectations with a jaw-dropping $41.5 million estimated opening weekend, thanks to Paramount's innovative interactive marketing campaign (see spot below). The studio held the top two spots with the horror sequel and Jackass 3D, Anthony D'Alessandro reports. In fact, with less product clogging multiplexes, films with strong WOM are holding better than ever, from Secretariat to The Social Network. (Here's IW's indie b.o. report.)Paranormal Activity 2 conjured up masses of moviegoers this weekend: the Paramount horror-thriller howled a hearty $41.5 million at 3,216 sites, a marvelous opening that outstrips the $30-million bows of several Saw chapters and marks a record for a horror film, outstripping the $40.6 million minted by 2009’sFriday the 13th reboot. Overseas, the sequel also pulled in $22 million in 21 territories. As anticipated heading into the weekend, Paramount delivered a double whammy, as it grabbed the No. 2 spot with holdover Jackass 3D, firing up a solid $21.6 million, off 57% -- a typical drop for guy fare.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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October 24, 2010 4:20 AM
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Paranormal Activity 2 Spoof: Scarier Than A Demon? A Damon!

Thank Funny or Die for providing more entertainment (for free) in under three minutes than Paranormal Activity 2 will slow-drip into your system in over an hour. The first of their two trailers (below, here's the official trailer) warns of something worse than a demon - a Damon! Complete with complex math skills! The second just tries to tell the truth.

By Sophia Savage
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October 20, 2010 4:55 AM
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Recycling at the Cinema: True Grit, The Great Gatsby and RED

We all know recycling is good for the planet, but is it good for cinema? Consider three old-is-new retreads: a western remake, a 1920s period piece and a contemporary action flick. True Grit is a remake of a 1969 John Wayne film which was adapted from a novelization of a Charles Portis 1968 serial which first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post. The Great Gatsby started as a lauded 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel which became a film in 1926 and again in 1949 and 1974. Even comedy hit RED, although it is not based on a book or an old movie, still exists--argues Movie City News--due to recycling of the DC graphic novel's plot and characters. There's nothing new here: movies have been adapting popular fiction for as long as they've been around. What's horrifying is Hollywood's current aversion to anything original.

By Sophia Savage
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October 19, 2010 6:12 AM
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Weekend Box Office Goes to Record-Breaking Jackass 3D; Red Ensemble Scores in Second

Two escapist comedies launched at Comic-Con surged to unexpected box office heights for October as Jackass 3D and ensemble action comedy Red grossed an estimated $50 million and $22.5 million, respectively, reports Anthony D'Alessandro:

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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October 17, 2010 3:49 AM
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Production News: Bourne Without Bourne, Mad Max Stalls, Eastern Promises 2

- Writer-director Tony Gilroy is trying to have it both ways. He confirms that The Bourne Legacy will be made without Matt Damon - but he contradicts himself. "This is not a reboot or a recast or a prequel. No one's replacing Matt Damon," Gilroy says. "There will be a whole new hero, a whole new chapter…this is a stand-alone project" that happens to be using the title of Robert Ludlum's book, "but will not use the story":"The easiest way to think of it is an expansion or a reveal…Jason Bourne will not be in this film, but he's very much alive. What happened in the first three films is the trigger for what happens. I'm building a legend and an environment and a wider conspiracy...the world we're making enhances and advances and invites Jason Bourne's return [down the road]…Everything you saw in the first three films actually happened, and everyone who got into them will be rewarded for paying attention. We're going to show you the bigger picture, the bigger canvas. When you see where we're going and see what we're doing it'll be pretty obvious."

By Sophia Savage
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October 11, 2010 12:36 PM
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Oscar Talk: Diane Lane vs. Annette Bening vs. Julianne Moore, Inception, Hereafter, The Way Back

There's still a long way to go in the Oscar race. Kris Tapley and I debate whether Secretariat is this year's mainstream Blind Side, Diane Lane is this year's Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore and Annette Bening will both make it for The Kids Are All Right, and if Chris Nolan's Inception, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, Pixar's Toy Story 3, Peter Weir's The Way Back, and Clint Eastwood's Hereafter have a shot at the top ten.

By Anne Thompson
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October 9, 2010 1:39 AM
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Director Watch: Snyder Takes Superman, Gilroy on Bourne 4, Hobbit Inches Closer, Luhrmann Goes Glee

- Superman has a new daddy: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) will direct Warner Bros' franchise revival, with Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas producing--the dynamic duo that rebooted Batman. Nolan came up with the story; Batman Begins scribe David S. Goyer wrote the screenplay, which brings back villain General Zod. “I feel super awesome,” Snyder told the LAT, while admitting that he lies awake at night thinking of how his Superman - who "has to be a man" - will be recreated. No boys need apply for the job; this is a the "biggest and baddest of them all," Snyder says, "The greatest of them all, right? We all want to know how the next chapter takes shape. I want to know how it will take shape.”

By Sophia Savage
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October 5, 2010 4:45 AM
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The Great Gatsby: Pitt vs. Pitt, Mulligan vs. Portman, Casting Poll

- The rumored Great Gatsby remake isn't that far along, it seems. While Deadline sets the record straight on the project's future--the remake might be Baz Luhrmann's next picture, but so might an original musical at Media Rights Capital--the movie does inspire juicy casting ideas.

By Sophia Savage
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October 4, 2010 8:20 AM
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Trailer Watch: Coens Western True Grit Stars Bridges, Brolin, Damon

True Grit is the 2010 movie I cannot wait to see--and the big unknown for Oscar watchers. We'll all have to wait until Joel and Ethan Coen finish the movie in time for a December 25 release. But the trailer hit today (below).

By Anne Thompson
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September 27, 2010 11:33 AM
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TIFF: Eastwood's Hereafter Debuts in Toronto to Mixed Reaction

One of the things that happens at a fest like Toronto is bad timing: I went to see Barney's Version at Roy Thomson Hall Sunday night with a ticket in my pocket for the later public screening of Clint Eastwood's Hereafter at the Elgin/Visa, a brisk fifteen-minute walk away. But producer Robert Lantos and his team made such a long intro, and the movie was significant enough to stay through to the end, so I missed the Eastwood. I'll see it later. The movie has gotten a "good not great" response here.