You couldn’t ask for a more obvious set-up for a sequel than the end of Kick-Ass. Yet director Matthew Vaughn—who cannily set out to make a $50-million commercial hit—won’t count his chickens until the movie opens on 3000 screens April 16. Lionsgate wants to talk sequel—they have first-look rights. But Vaughn, who has plenty of ideas for how to go about reforming his pint-size killer Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz)—think Terminator 2, with Schwarzenegger’s cyborg assassin shooting folks in the knees—isn’t ready to sit down and make a deal. (See two-part flip-cam interview below.)
Why? Remember the guy’s a producer-turned-director. If your movie opens big, you have more leverage.
And believe me, Vaughn’s entertaining comic-book action spoof—which Lionsgate acquired after footage played well at Comic-Con—will do great box office. Nic Cage, Chloe Moretz, Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Platz and a surprisingly comedic Mark Strong all carry the movie. But while the SXSW male demo and fanboys love it, critics will be mixed. Lionsgate wants to encourage women to see the film—they say that it tests well for them—but there’s a difference between showing someone a movie and getting them to show up.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Festivals, SXSW, Headliners, Nic Cage, Independents, Lionsgate/Roadside, Reviews, Video, Interviews, Writers, Screenwriters on March 16, 2010 at 9:22pm PDT | Permalink | Comments (0)
Monday night I squeezed into the last seat at Fantastic Fest’s midnight surprise screening of Neil “The Descent” Marshall’s Romans vs. Picts epic Centurion at the Alamo Draft House.
The good news: the movie kept me awake and Michael Fassbender and Dominic West are strong leads as the titular centurion and the general of the ninth legion, respectively. The bad news: the movie is a slightly cheesy period B actioner, rife with bloody, gory slo-mo fighting with squibs of gushing red blood and lopping off of heads. Think Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Only straight.
The men are far stronger than the ancillary action babes in fur and anachronistic hair and make-up. Think Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. Fassbender’s girl-interest sub-plot is plain silly.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Festivals, SXSW, Genres, Action, Independents, Magnolia, Reviews on March 16, 2010 at 10:28am PDT | Permalink | Comments (1)
The week after winning two Oscars for directing and producing The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow was standing in line at L.A.‘s Superior Court. Fulfilling her duty as a citizen, she turned up for jury duty and was placed in the jury pool for a drunk driving case.
According to another jury pool member, as the bailif called out the juror names, Bigelow was number 50. During interrogation, Bigelow said that she couldn’t find a defendant guilty unless rehabilitation was attached to the sentence. The jury and alternates were picked before they got to Bigelow, and she was sent home.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Directors, Kathryn Bigelow, Genres, Independents, Independents, The Hurt Locker on March 16, 2010 at 9:32am PDT | Permalink | Comments (0)
Finally, the ink has dried on the pact with Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group and distributor Apparition (as reported here) to release Sundance Kristen Stewart-starrer Welcome to the Rileys. They’re planning a fall release. Directed by Ridley Scott sprig Jake, the movie was executive produced by Steve Zaillian and boasts a strong script by Ken Hixon.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Genres, Independents, Independents, Apparition on March 14, 2010 at 10:22pm PDT | Permalink | Comments (0)
SXSW has a casual young, male vibe. At the Kick-Ass opener, the fest’s Janet Pierson and director Matthew Vaughn were both wearing jeans and sneakers. So it makes sense SXSW was perfect venue for Kick-Ass, which has a primarily young male—and less female—appeal. It’s a nasty hard-R super-hero spoof designed to outrage and delight. And it will destroy at the b.o. when Liongsate opens it April. (It opens first in the U.K. in two weeks.)
Stars Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Platz were in attendance; Chloe Moretz’s plane was delayed, while Nic Cage was filming Drive Angry in Shreveport. (A full report later after I talk to Vaughn Saturday.)
Note to SXSW: casual doesn’t mean that the opening night bash (comme toujours, at Buffalo Billiards) has to be utterly inedible!
by Anne Thompson, posted to Festivals, SXSW, Headliners, Nic Cage, Independents, Lionsgate/Roadside on March 13, 2010 at 6:10am PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
Heading into its second weekend, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland will continue to score big numbers. According to Flixster, the Tim Burton fantasy (which has a Tomatoscore of 52%) is pacing about five times ahead of this week’s new releases. That’s not hard, because none of the newcomers are crossing over from their target demo. (Trailers are on the jump.) UPDATE: Box office watchers can now place bets on their predictions.
Universal’s long-delayed Iraq-war thriller Green Zone, which reunites the director-star Bourne team of Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon, will appeal to men. Unimpressive marketing materials have stressed the film’s relationship to the Bourne movies; it’s more like Michael Mann’s angry Big Tobacco expose The Insider, which earned rave reviews but tiny box office. Green Zone isn’t tracking well, but will likely earn a range of rave to mixed reviews as it opens on 2999 screens.
Written by Brian Helgeland, inspired and shaped by Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone,” the material will be familiar to anyone who saw the Iraq documentary No End in Sight. The villain of the piece is the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Paul Bremer-figure (Greg Kinnear), who allowed the disbanded Iraqi army to transform into deadly armed insurgents. Damon plays a warrant officer searching for WMDs who rather unbelievably allies himself with a rogue CIA officer (Brendan Gleeson) to track down an Iraqi general. Amy Ryan’s WSJ reporter resembles the NYT’s Judith Miller.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Box Office, Spring, Franchises, Twilight, Genres, Comedy, Drama, Headliners, Matt Damon, Rob Pattinson, Independents, Summit, Marketing, Reviews, Studios, Paramount, Fox Searchlight, Universal/Focus Features, Video, Trailers on March 11, 2010 at 6:21am PST | Permalink | Comments (7)
TOH box office analyst Anthony D’Alessandro lays out which films—if any—got a bump from this year’s expanded Oscar derby.
Read MoreIn theory, ten best picture Oscar nominations should have spurred business.
Unfortunately, similar to previous summer films that won best picture (Gladiator and Crash), The Hurt Locker ($14.7 million domestic B.O.) won’t benefit from the Oscar halo effect at the box office. Rather it will see a surge in its DVD/download sales which currently stand at 710,000 units sold.
Last year between noms and Oscar night (what distribs call Oscar alley), the five best picture nominees reaped a 95% jump in their domestic totals. Over the same frame this year, the six best picture nominees that were still in release jumped their totals by 16%; with the remaining four having finished their theatrical runs at the onset of Oscar alley.
However, this doesn’t mean that Oscar doesn’t impact a contender’s box office anymore. Nor that the Academy’s grand design of ten best picture noms failed as a business model. The opportunity is there and the calendar elements (i.e. Golden Globes, Oscar noms) are in place for a contender to boom its biz during award season.
It simply boils down to timing.
by Anthony D'Alessandro , posted to Awards, Oscars, Box Office, Directors, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Quentin Tarantino, Franchises, Avatar, Headliners, George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Independents on March 8, 2010 at 11:46am PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
The Hurt Locker finally ended the long, difficult Oscar campaign trail winning six awards, while Avatar won only three technical categories, for visual effects, art direction and cinematography. “I hope I’m the first of many,” Kathryn Bigelow said backstage, of being the first woman to win the best director Oscar for The Hurt Locker, which is also the first best picture winner to be directed by a woman. “I long for day when that modifier is a moot point. I am grateful if I can inspire some young intrepid tenacious male or female filmmaker, make them feel the impossible is possible.”
Notably, Bigelow and producer Gregory Shapiro both thanked barred producer Nicolas Chartier who was celebrating in Malibu—Eugene Hernandez reports. Chartier raised the funding for the movie from foreign territories and advanced money to start production when a bank loan didn’t come through in time. Boal, who does not get along with Chartier, said, “I think Nic Chartier is very happy tonight.”
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Directors, Kathryn Bigelow, Independents, The Hurt Locker on March 7, 2010 at 9:31pm PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Independents, Lionsgate/Roadside, Weinsteins, Studios, Sony/Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Classics, TV, HBO on March 7, 2010 at 1:09pm PST | Permalink | Comments (1)
The Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier insists that he is enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. Late Wednesday night, drink in hand, pool side at Andaz above Sunset at a pre-Oscar party for The Cove, Chartier wasn’t acting like a Hollywood pariah.
Far from it. If The Hurt Locker wins on Sunday night, Chartier cares less about not being able to go up on stage —the Academy rescinded his invite to the ceremony after he broke their campaign ethics rules—than being an Oscar winner with a statue to prove it.
Chartier has never gotten so many e-mails, mostly supportive. His multiple Voltage Entertainment projects are moving forward with speed and alacrity. He’s now known all over the world. Amazon DVD sales of The Hurt Locker jumped in the last week (the DVD is currently ranked at 22), Chartier believes, not due to Oscar nominations, critical acclaim and multiple awards—but to Chartier’s viral global notoriety. Chartier can get into any Oscar party he wants now, and is delighted to be having one thrown for him on Oscar night (by WME’s Graham Taylor and producer Lynette Howell).
Read More
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Directors, Kathryn Bigelow, DVDs, Independents, Summit, Writers, Screenwriters on March 4, 2010 at 10:23am PST | Permalink | Comments (3)
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