Thompson on Hollywood

Daily Read: Storms Hit Cannes, Zoolander 2, Studio Revenues Rise, Machete Goes Arizona

Freak waves up to 18 feet high have damaged the Croissette just a week before the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival is due to begin. While cars were tossed about and more than a dozen beachfront cafes have been temporarily shuttered, local officials told the BBC the damage will be "put right" and claim the waterfront will be in "impeccable" condition when the world film community arrives for the fest, which runs May 12-23.

By Amy Dawes
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May 6, 2010 12:28 PM
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A Nightmare on Elm Street Remake Takes $32 Million, Furry Vengeance Flops

The Nightmare on Elm Street remake grabbed a hefty $32.2 million at the weekend box office. How to Train Your Dragon and Date Night still have legs, while The Back-Up Plan took a second-week dive and Brendan Fraser flopped in Furry Vengeance. Anthony D'Alessandro crunches the numbers:

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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May 2, 2010 3:55 AM
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Weinsteins Acquire Company Men, Return to Indie Basics

Signaling that they are still in the acquisition game, The Weinstein Co. closed its pick-up of U.S. rights to writer-director John Wells' directorial debut The Company Men, a timely film about corporate downsizing starring Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones. The movie played well at Sundance (trailer on jump).

By Anne Thompson
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March 24, 2010 4:25 AM
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Rick Baker is Star of Disappointing The Wolfman

You may think that Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving and Emily Blunt star in Universal's long-delayed reboot of the classic monster tale The Wolfman. While they all deliver enjoyable performances, del Toro is hopelessly miscast as Brit noble Hopkins' returned "prodigal son," who was sent away to be raised by an aunt in America. Del Toro looks uncomfortable in 19th century tweeds as he chases corseted beauty Blunt. If the guy can't pull off a British accent, then don't cast him. The star of the monster movie which opens Friday is make-up effects master Rick Baker. The movie is over-labored and may not make back its budget (it should open in the number two spot behind Valentine's Day) but the R-for-violence wolfman transformations and action scenes are superb. UPDATE: Reviews are not good. Tomatometer: 35%, Metascore: 44.

By Anne Thompson
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February 10, 2010 10:04 AM
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Halloween Watch: Scorsese's Top 11 Scariest Movies

The Daily Beast asked Martin Scorsese to list his scariest movies. He came up with 11 and his scariest is my scariest, and always has been: Robert Wise's 1963 The Haunting, based on Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Nice to be validated.

By Anne Thompson
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October 29, 2009 7:13 AM
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Weekend Winners: Where the Wild Things Are, Law Abiding Citizen, Paranormal Activity

Weekend Box Office WinnersSpike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are led the weekend box office. While an estimated $32.4 million was a studio record for October (the movie was on some 3700 screens), the number wasn't as big as some expected after its stellar Friday. The studio aimed the PG-rated film at a general, not family audience. But will the $90-million movie make its money back? Finally, Warners backed filmmakers working outside of the box, and that's a good thing.

By Anne Thompson
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October 19, 2009 6:05 AM
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With Paranormal Activity, Paramount Sets New Marketing Model

From the start, Paramount online marketing executive Amy Powell knew that she could sell micro-budget horror thriller Paranormal Activity on the Internet.

By Anne Thompson
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October 15, 2009 8:48 AM
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Buzz Boosts Zombieland, Moore, Paranormal Activity; Whip It Limps

Lessons learned from the weekend box office:

By Anne Thompson
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October 4, 2009 9:49 AM
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Zombieland Builds Buzz: Five Clips

Austin's Fantastic Fest is under way. The movie to fly out of there with the greatest buzz (besides Toy Story 3, which debuted a trailer) is Zombieland. Will this R-rated zombie parody starring Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson break the horror comedy curse?

By Anne Thompson
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September 27, 2009 5:39 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Jennifer's Body Horror Tweener

As predicted, Jennifer's Body opened soft at the boxoffice. Fox marketed a horror movie aimed at men, who like Megan Fox. Twentieth Century Fox hung the marketing on the Transformers star, but girls don't want to see her. The studio failed to get women to watch Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody's angry feminist movie. Thus Jennifer's Body is a classic tweener: neither a horror thriller for men, nor a coming-of-age horror-comedy for women. (It didn't earn strong reviews.) If Searchlight had marketed it, they might have been able to target the right smart crowd. (At a low-end cost of $16 million, the movie should come out ahead in any case.)