Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 22, 2009
Remakes
There can only be one—again. Director Justin Lin (right) will reunite with his The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Fast and Furious producer Neal H. Moritz for Summit Entertainment’s Highlander remake, according to Variety. Showing how much Highlander means to the fledging studio behind the The Twilight Saga, Summit’s hired Iron Man screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to revive the franchise once anchored by Christopher Lambert’s immortal Connor MacLeod. A Highlander reboot couldn’t come at a better time: the last sequel, The Source, the first in a proposed trilogy featuring Adrian Paul’s Duncan MacLeod, bypassed theaters and debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel in September 2007.
Sequels
Boris Kodjoe can’t stop talking about Resident Evil: Afterlife. It’s not enough that he announced via Twitter that he’s costarring with Milla Jovovich in the Paul W.S. Anderson-directed sequel, due in 2010, but now he’s revealing more cast details. Kodjoe tells Black Film that Afterlife will see the return of Ali Larter, who played Claire Redfield in Extinction, and the addition of Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller as a fellow survivor of the zombie apocalypse.
Speculate all you want, but no one’s been cast in the next Batman sequel beyond the usual suspects. So forgot all those rumors about Megan Fox and—according to Michael Caine—Johnny Depp. The man who is Gotham City’s most invaluable butler tells MTV that “Johnny Depp is great in anything, but there is no Johnny Depp in this Batman. They tell me in no uncertain terms.” When will someone tell us who will be in the third Batman?
Hollywood Déjà Vu on DVD: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2 1/2 out of 4 stars)
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone, and Michael Douglas
Director: Mark Waters
Synopsis: Celebrity photographer Connor Mead loves freedom, fun and women…in that order. A committed bachelor, he thinks nothing of breaking up with multiple women on a conference call. On the eve of his brother Paul’s wedding, Connor’s mockery of romance proves a real buzz-kill for Paul and a houseful of well wishers, including Connor’s former flame Jenny. Just when it looks like Connor may single-handedly ruin the wedding, he is visited by the ghosts of his jilted girlfriends, who take him on a revealing and hilarious odyssey through a lifetime of failed relationships: past, present and future. Together they attempt to discover what turned Connor into such a player and whether he has a second chance to find—and this time keep—the love of his life.
The Verdict: It was bound to happen sooner or later that A Christmas Carol would get the rom-com treatment. Playboy photographer Matthew McConaughey must contend with the ghosts of his past, present and future girlfriends when they pop out of nowhere to warn him against continuing his swinging ways. The perpetual bachelor relives every one-night stand in the hours before his brother’s wedding to predictably come to the realization that he must act on his feelings for his ex (Jennifer Garner) or forever lose her. The charming McConaughey takes every humiliation his Casanova suffers at the hands of the ghosts in typically relaxed fashion, while Garner gives as good as she gets from the former object of her affection. Still, it takes the over-the-top Michael Douglas—channeling producer Robert Evans as McConaughey’s uncle and mentor—to enliven this hit-and-miss comedy. Despite its Dickens-borrowed premise, Ghosts of Girlfriends is no different than every other predictable McConaughey romantic comedy that we’ve had to sit through since 2001′s The Wedding Planner. There’s a lot of flirting, some resistance on McConaughey’s part, and finally the kiss that seals the deal. By the time McConaughey’s womanizer decides to settle down, you can’t help but hope the actor’s also ready to move on from playing the same charismatic, commitment-phobic ladies man he’s play for much of this decade.
Theatrical Release Date: May 1, 2009
DVD Release Date: Sept. 22, 2009
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Features: N/A
Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 21, 2009
Remakes
Sherlock Holmes will live to sleuth another day. Warner Bros. is so confident that audiences will adore Robert Downey Jr. as the world’s most famous detective that it is developing a sequel to the Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes (right), which opens Christmas Day, per The Hollywood Reporter. There’s also talk that Brad Pitt may take on the role of Holmes’ arch nemesis, Moriarty, but there’s no deal in place. So don’t get too excited—we all remember what happened with Nicholas Cage and The Green Hornet.
Sequels
Maybe we have not seen the last of Halle Berry as Storm. Producer Lauren Shuler Donner says she wants a fourth X-Men in addition to all the other spin-offs, such as a Wolverine sequel, Deadpool, and X-Men: First Class, according to I-Film. She’s also considering enrolling the New Mutants, featuring such teenage would-be superheroes as Cannonball and Wolfsbane, at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. That’s all well and good, but wouldn’t you rather see the long-mooted Magneto prequel?
Hollywood Déjà Vu Box Office Breakdown: Sept. 18-20, 2009
UPDATED MONDAY SEPT. 21
You can trust Madea to remain true to character.
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself (right) tumbled hard and fast in its second weekend. Its $9.8 million represents a 57.9 percent from its $23.4 million opening. Perry usually loses on average 55 percent of his audience the second weekend his preachy dramedies are in theaters.
With newcomers Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Informant! topping the box office, Perry’s fifth Madea misadventure fell from No. 1 to No. 3 this weekend.
With $37.7 million through Sunday, I Can Do Bad All By Myself still is on track to wrap up its business with $50 million.
Sorority Row continued to struggle, earning $2.4 million, down 50.6 percent from its awful $5 million opening. With its total at just $8.8 million, the remake will barely surpass the $10.6 million The House on Sorority Row earned—in 1983. Talk about a waste of time and money.
The poor performances of Sorority Row, Halloween—which plummeted 64.4 percent in its fourth weekend from $2.1 million to $751,894, for a $31.4 million total—and newcomer Jennifer’s Body is a sign that audiences are avoiding R-rated horror films unless they are in 3-D.
The arrival of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs means Death has come for The Final Destination. Theaters with only one 3-D screen dumped the fourth Final Destination in favor of the animated foodie farce. So it was only to be expected that The Final Destination would fall 56.7 percent in its fourth weekend, from $5.2 million to $2.3 million. With $62.4 million through Thursday, The Final Destination likely will end its run between $65 million and $70 million.
Michael Douglas’ Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, a remake of Fritz Lang’s 1956 thriller, fell 73.3 percent in its second weekend, from $17,177 to $4,927. Expect it to make its way sooner than later to your local DVD store near you, not a theater near you.
The following is a breakdown of how all sequels, remakes, and new/potential franchises fared this past weekend, based on estimated figures tracked by Box Office Mojo.
Sequels
3. (1) Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Weekend: $9.8 million
Last Weekend: $23.4 million (-57.9%)
Total: $37.7 million (2 weeks)
10. (5) The Final Destination
Weekend: $2.3 million
Last Weekend: $5.5 million (-56.7%)
Total: $62.4 million (4 weeks)
17. (14) Halloween II
Weekend: $751,894
Last Weekend: $2.1 million (-64.4%)
Total: $31.4 million (4 weeks)
22. (18) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (right)
Weekend: $426,987
Last Weekend: $908,482 (-53%)
Total: $299.5 million (10 weeks)
27. (24) Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Weekend: $279,016
Last Weekend: $375,176 (-25.6%)
Total: $195 million (12 weeks)
30. (26) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (right)
Weekend: $254,295
Last Weekend: $245,000 (-31.3%)
Total: $401.4 million (13 weeks)
39. (30) Star Trek
Weekend: $100,316
Last Weekend: $190,314 (-47.3%)
Total: $257.6 million (20 weeks)
41. (36) Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Weekend: $81,333
Last Weekend: $107,573 (-24.4%)
Total: $177 million (18 weeks)
74. (87) Soul Power
Weekend: $9,063
Last Weekend: $3,549 (+4%)
Total: $189,011 (11 weeks)
111. (94) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Weekend: $883
Last Weekend: $2,627 (-66.4%)
Total: $179.8 million (21 weeks)
REMAKES
9. (6) Sorority Row
Weekend: $2.4 million
Last Weekend: $5 million (-50.6%)
Total: $8.8 million (2 weeks)
47. (37) In the Loop
Weekend: $54,561
Last Weekend: $102,688 (-46.9%)
Total: $2.2 million (9 weeks)
88. (63) Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
Weekend: $4,927
Last Weekend: $17,177 (-71.3%)
Total: $29,009 (2 weeks)
101. (81) Easy Virtue
Weekend: $2,090
Last Weekend: $6,755 (-69.1%)
Total: $2.6 million (18 weeks)
NEW/POTENTIAL FRANCHISES
13. (8) District 9
Weekend: $1.9 million
Last Weekend: $3.5 million (-45.9%)
Total: $111.6 million (6 weeks)
15. (11) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Weekend: $1.3 million
Last Weekend: $2.4 million (-43.9%)
Total: $146.1 million (7 weeks)
21. (19) The Hangover
Weekend: $467,373
Last Weekend: $709,225 (-34.1%)
Total: $273.8 million (16 weeks)
25. (17) G-Force
Weekend: $311,976
Last Weekend: $1 million (-69.3%)
Total: $117.2 million (9 weeks)
Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 20, 2009
Sequels
Whatever you want to say about Rob Zombie’s Halloweens, you have to respect him for trying to impose his vision on the rebooted franchise. Lord knows what My Bloody Valentine’s Patrick Lussier will bring to the next Halloween other than the ability to direct a horror yarn in 3-D. Dread Central and Shock Till You Drop have confirmed that Lussier will direct Halloween 3D, which reportedly goes before the cameras in November for a summer 2010 release. Lussier will have his cake and eat it too: he won’t have to walked away from the Nicolas Cage 3-D action thriller Drive Angry, which won’t shoot until 2010 due to the actor’s busy schedule. Lussier is a known quantity to the Weinstein Co.: he directed Dracula 2000, Dracula II: Ascension, Dracula III: Legacy, and The Prophecy 3: The Ascent. He also edited Halloween: H20, as Dread Central reminds us, but that necessarily isn’t an advantage: the Michael Myers of the original franchise isn’t exactly the same serial killer that Zombie gave us. Sure, both are taciturn killing machines, but Zombie tried hard to make us understand why Myers slaughters at whim by strapping him to Dr. Loomis’ couch. But that may not matter if Halloween 3D puts the knife in the hands of Myers’ evidently disturbed sister, Laurie Strode (Scout Taylor-Compton). Still, there really isn’t much difference between Halloween and My Bloody Valentine. Both feature masked madmen with a thirst for blood. And, truth be told, My Bloody Valentine was vastly more entertaining than either Halloween. So I’m anticipating from Lussier more of an old-school Halloween—i.e. a greater emphasis on scares—than Zombie dared give us. Couple that with some gory 3-D effects and a third Halloween should perform better at the box office than Zombie’s recent sequel (above), which so far has made only $30.7 million (the original Halloween II made $25.3 million in 1981). But Halloween II only cost $15 million, so Halloween 3D was inevitable—with or without Zombie.
All’s quiet in regards to a My Bloody Valentine sequel, but Lionsgate is giving Saw VII the 3D treatment. OK, Saw VI isn’t in theaters until Oct. 23, but you figure it’s good to make at least $50 million. Director David Hackl—who cut his teeth with Saw V—confirmed on his Facebook page that pre-production has already begin on next year’s sequel, per Bloody Disgusting. Too bad Lionsgate is already considering Saw VIII—setting his deadly traps in 3D would have allowed Jigsaw to have gone out in bloody fashion.
What does the sudden departure of Walt Disney studio chief Dick Cook mean for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides? Well, Johnny Depp’s not too happy about Cook leaving the Mouse House. And, according to the L.A. Times, the loss of the “the sweetest man on the planet” has lessened his interest in portraying Capt. Jack Sparrow for a fourth time. Disney will no doubt work overtime to assure Depp that it’s business as usual, and not just to get him to sign on the dotted line for 2011’s On Stranger Tides. Depp’s also going to star as Tonto in Disney’s The Lone Ranger remake. Depp isn’t an actor who always looks to line his pockets, so if he feels that On Stranger Tides and The Lone Ranger aren’t worth his time and effort, he’s going to bolt no matter how much money Disney tries to throw at him. While you can make The Lone Ranger without Depp, On Stranger Tides would sink without him. So it wouldn’t come as a surprise if Disney does everything it can—including delaying On Stranger Tides by one summer if the script needs punching up—to appease Depp.
Remakes
B.A. Baracus, meet Nite Owl. Watchmen’s Patrick Wilson has joined The A-Team as a CIA operative, per Entertainment Weekly.
Hollywood Déjà Vu Box Office Report: Sept. 18, 2009
You can trust Madea to remain true to character.
Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself (right) tumbled hard and fast in its second weekend. It dropped 64 percent from its opening day debut of $8.6 million to $3.1 million on Friday.
Perry usually loses on average 55 percent of his audience the second weekend his preachy dramedies are in theaters. So this means I Can Do Bad All By Myself may fall from last weekend’s $23.4 million debut to around $9.5 million this weekend. With newcomers Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and The Informant! enjoying a better Friday, Perry’s fifth Madea misadventure will likely fall from No. 1 to No. 3 this weekend.
With $30.9 million through Friday, I Can Do Bad All By Myself still is on track to wrap up its business with $50 million.
Horror films usually lose 60 percent of their business in their second weekend, and Sorority Row looks set to follow that trend. As indicated by Friday’s $850,000, or 56.8% less than its opening day haul, Sorority Row will struggle to make more than $2.5 million after its awful $5 million opening. Having only made $7.2 million through Friday, this remake will barely surpass the $10.6 million The House on Sorority Row earned—in 1983. Talk about a waste of time and money.
The arrival of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs means Death has come for The Final Destination. Theaters with only one 3-D screen dumped the fourth Final Destination in favor of the animated foodie farce. So it was only to be expected that The Final Destination made $740,000 on Friday, or 55.9 percent less than last Friday’s $1.6 million. The Final Destination will follow last weekend’s $5.2 million with nothing more than $2 million this weekend. With $60.7 million through Thursday, The Final Destination likely will end its run between $65 million and $70 million.
Hollywood Déjà Vu Box Office Showdown: Sept. 18-20, 2009
If Madea remains true to character, Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself (right) will tumble hard and fast in its second weekend.
Perry usually loses on average 55 percent of his audience the second weekend his preachy dramedies are in theaters. That means I Can Do Bad All By Myself may drop from last weekend’s $23.4 million to between $9.5 million and $10.5 million this weekend. With newcomers Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Jennifer’s Body and The Informant! all expected to do good business, Perry’s fifth Madea misadventure will likely fall from No. 1 to No. 4 at best.
With $27.8 million through Thursday, I Can Do Bad All By Myself still is on track to wrap up its finish with $50 million.
With horror films falling 60 percent in their second weekend, Sorority Row will struggle to make more than $2 million after its awful $5 million opening. Having only made $6.3 million through Thursday, this remake will barely surpass the $10.6 million The House on Sorority Row earned—in 1983. Talk about a waste of time and money.
The arrival of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs means Death has come for The Final Destination. Theaters with only one 3-D screen dumped the fourth Final Destination in favor of the animated foodie farce. So expect The Final Destination to follow last weekend’s $5.2 million with nothing more than $2.5 million this weekend. With $60 million through Thursday, The Final Destination likely will end its run between $65 million and $70 million.
Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 17, 2009
Sequels
Does it make any sense that DC Entertainment isn’t currently deciding the fate of Superman? Diane Nelson, the head of Warner Bros.’ new company, tells MTV that, “We’ve obviously done a lot of great things behind the property in our history, and it’s a key part of the family, but we don’t have current plans behind Superman.” Why not? If I were running DC Entertainment, I would make a new Superman—be it a sequel to Bryan Singer’s 2006 Man of Steel adventure or a reboot—my No. 1 priority. After the underwhelming response to Superman Returns, the right approach needs to be taken if the franchise is to have any chance of survival at a time when we want our superheroes to brood as much as they fight for truth, justice and the American way. I would convene all necessary parties to start plotting our next move when it comes to Supes. If starting over à la The Incredible Hulk is the way to go, that’s fine—Brandon Routh’s (above) contract has expired, so Warner Bros. and DC can go out and find a new Superman that audience can connect with the way they did with Christopher Reeve. There really isn’t any time to lose: the heirs of Superman creator Jerry Siegel won a decisive court victory in July when a judge ruled that Warner Bros. and DC must start production on the next film by 2011 or the heirs can sue for damages. Given the circumstances, a new Superman is inevitable. And while DC Entertainment is obviously busy working on other films—including Jonah Hex, The Losers, Green Lantern, Lobo, and the next Batman saga—it’s foolish to sit on the property until the last minute and rush a Superman into theaters that no one wants to see.
The Xavier School for Gifted Children may one day open its doors, but not just yet. Aussie actor Tim Pocock, who stared as the fresh-faced Cyclops, is denying he Tweeted that X-Men: First Class could shoot as earlier as next year, per Superhero Hype! Based on the Marvel comic-book series, this in-the-works X-Men prequel will focus on how Professor Charles Xavier took the likes of Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Beast under his wings when they were young mutants learning how to harness their powers. Pocock first donned Cyclops’s protective glasses in X-Men: Origins: Wolverine, and makes it clear he would want to return for First Class. No kidding.
Disney continues to position Tron Legacy as the blockbuster to beat on Dec. 17, 2010 by announcing plans to screen the belated sequel at IMAX 3D theaters, per Heat Vision. Tron Legacy will open against The Green Hornet and Yogi Bear.
Remakes
So maybe Nicolas Cage isn’t all about the money. He reveals that he left The Green Hornet because there wasn’t enough time to humanize his cold-blooded villain. “The Green Hornet was something that I wanted to do, I think [director] Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think [star] Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character,” Cage said while promoting Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to the Canadian Press. Cage’s loss is Christop Waltz’s gain. After seeing Inglourious Basterds, it’s hard to imagine Waltz giving us a bad guy we have seen countless times before.
Hollywood Déjà Vu News: Sept. 16, 2009
Sequels
How sure is writer Mark Millar that Kick-Ass (right) will kick ass a second time? “The series ends on a teaser for the next one, and the movie ends on that teaser, too,” Millar tells MTV of director Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of his Kick-Ass comic book. The ongoing series features a high school kid—played in the film by British unknown Aaron Johnson—whose passion for comic books inspires to become the superhero Kick-Ass, albeit one without any powers. Nicolas Cage costars in Kick-Ass as a vigilante working to bring down a drug baron. Kick-Ass doesn’t open until April 16, but Millar’s happy to tell MTV that it could be “even bigger” than the Angelina Jolie shoot ‘em up inspired by his Wanted series. Bold words, so Kick-Ass had better live up to its name.
We’re going to be running up that Silent Hill again. Roger Avary will write the sequel to the 2006 horror film based on the video game, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Avary, who won an Oscar for co-writing Pulp Fiction, recently pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving for a January 2008 car crash that killed one of his passengers.
How much would you pay to stand in the presence of Scarlett Johansson at next year’s Iron Man 2 premiere? ScarJo, who slips into Black Widow’s catsuit for the superhero sequel, is auctioning off two tickets to the premiere to benefit Oxfam America, per People. Not only do you get to see watch Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man wrestle Mickey Rourke’s Crimson Dynamo, but Johansson will make time to say hello to you as part of her duties as an Oxfam Ambassador. The auction runs 10 p.m. Thursday through Sept. 24 on eBay.com. Let the bidding begin.
Will Optimus Prime return to protect Earth before Bad Boys Will Smith and Martin Lawrence can head back down to Miami for more fun in the sun? Perhaps we’ll know very soon which threequel Michael Bay will prioritize following this week’s chat with Steven Spielberg and writer Ehren Kruger about all things Transformers 3, per the director’s Web site. Not sure what Bay has to gain from doing Bad Boys 3, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he turns his attention to the steroids-fueled crime caper Pain & Gain if he’s sick of dealing with big robots and giant-sized egos.
In case you were worried, work is progressing very nicely on Mission Impossible: IV, according to J.J. Abrams. “Yeah, we have a really cool story. It’s being written right now by Andre Nemec and Josh Applebaum,” Abrams tells Sci Fi Wire. Forget cool—just let it be better than the Abrams-directed M:I:III.
No surprise, but Spider-Man IV will also debut in IMAX theaters when the Sam Raimi-directed sequel swings into action May 5, 2011, Coming Soon reports. That’s all well and good, but how about letting us know which villain will try to squash the Web-slinger. My money’s on the Lizard.
Remakes
So what if it was just three years ago that we had to endure a 3-D remake of Night of the Living Dead? Director Zebediah de Soto, though, at least has the good sense to try something new with his proposed 3-D Night of the Living Dead: Origins remake of George A. Romero’s (left) seminal zombie yarn. He will employ a new 3-D CG technique to explain how the dead come to life, according to Heat Vision. Romero, whose sixth zombie saga Survival of the Dead screens next week at Fantastic Fest 2009 in Austin, TX., won’t be involved. It would be nice to think that this will be the last Night of the Living Dead remake we’ll see, but as the rights to Romero’s film are in the public domain, we’ll most likely have to suffer many more such nights.
I was feeling good about the casting of The A-Team, but now there are reports that Jessica Biel’s ready to join Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Sharlto Copley. I would be fine if she were merely playing an old flame of Bradley Cooper’s Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck. But it just so happens that she’s also the army general on the trail of the mercenaries wanted for a crime they didn’t commit, per Variety. If director Joe Carnahan had seen Stealth and Home of the Brave, he would know a uniformed Biel will never be all she can be.
Tom Hanks immediately comes to mind when you think of a Harvey for the 21st century. Hanks is the Jimmy Stewart of our times. But perhaps casting Hanks as the man who hangs out with an invisible bunny struck Steven Spielberg as too obvious. Like every other director trying to cast a big-budget studio production, Spielberg’s got his eye on Robert Downey Jr., per Variety. But, as we all know, what Spielberg wants, Spielberg gets.
