The new film in the Harry Potter franchise had a huge opening day leading to a rather huge opening weekend ($77.8 m USD). After nearly a week in theaters it's managed to gross roughly $175 million at the North American box office and close to $250 million overseas for an estimated $425 million take worldwide. The film cost roughly $250 million to make and promote worldwide so it's already a breakaway hit for the studio. Since fans and critics both responded well to the series taking yet an even darker tone it's safe to say that nothing can deter the "Harry Potter" franchise from becoming one of the most profitable and widely respected in celluoid history though it just fell short of setting a few box office records.
The long awaited film adaptation of the greatest graphic novel ever written "Watchmen" finally hits store shelves today after more than four months following it's initial premiere. Since a great amount of movie goers were completely ignorant of the fact that "Watchmen" was an adaptation of a deep and complex piece of fiction rather than an action movie many fans expected to see "Iron Man" x "The Dark Night" and all of the darker noirish intellectual aspects of the film flew over their heads (not too mention they generally didn't understand what the hell was really going on) so it didn't fare that well at the box office. I didn't think it would but I throroughly enjoyed it and all of the supplemental releases on DVD ("The Tale Of The Black Freighter" & "Under The Hood" especially).The film cost between $125-$150 million to produce and it only generated $183 million worldwide in box office receipts so it's really important that the "Watchmen" DVD become huge on DVD sales so it can push past $250 million to potentially $300 million dolars in total gross or no one will dare try to make another deep film adaptation of a complex graphic novel ever again (*cough!* "Sandman" *cough!*). Here's to hope.
Writer/director Judd Apatow may succeed in making his career opus with "Funny People" loosely based on he & his friends early careers as up & coming stand up comedians and actors in Hollywood. This film has an actual compelling plot, dialogue of substance, a chance to have the lead Adam Sandler do some more dramatic acting (he was great in "Reign Over Me") and most impotantly it can legitimize Apatow & Rogen in the eyes of their detractors that think they can only pull off "frat boy humor". All of the early returns, behind the scenes specials & making of featurettes I've seen have raised my expectations for this film. I really hope it doesn't end up disappointing people (and by "people", I mean me).Also congratulations to Redbox for their new deal with Sony Pictures that streamlines their ability to acquire titles directly from the film studio itself while eliminating a wholesaler. I first wrote about Redbox back in 2007 and look at where they are now, thriving with more than 17, 000 locations nationwide. Bye Blockbuster!
Films I recommend in theaters (7.16.09-7.31.09) or to add to your queue early or for rental from either Netflix or Redbox:
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
(500) Days Of Summer
Funny People
The Answer Man
Shrink
In The Loop
Thirst
Watchmen (Director's Cut) (Two Disc Special Edition)
Coraline
The Great Buck Howard
Echelon Conspiracy
Visioneers
An Empress And The Warriors
Sherman's Way
Retribution Road
The Ring Finger
Don't Cry, Nanking
The Northern Kingdom
The Green Hornet
The Green Hornet Strikes Again
Eagles Over London
Streets Of Blood
Combat Shock
Angel Of Death
Bart Got A Room
Bad Lieutenant
Popskull
Prison Break: The Final Break (series)
Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season (series)
Psych: The Complete Third Season (series)
Robot Chicken: Star Wars-Episode II (series)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 (series)
Torchwood: Children Of Earth (series)
Dollhouse: Season One (series)
Early Edition: The Second Season (series)
Life On Mars: Series 1 (UK) (series)
Wolverine And The X-Men: Deadly Enemies (animated)
Green Lantern: First Flight (2 Disc Special Edition) (animated)
Spectacular Spider-Man: Complete First Season (animated)
Naruto Uncut Box Set, Vol. 15 (anime)
Eureka Seven: Complete Collection, Vol. 2 (anime)
Voltron Volume 8 (anime)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Season 1, Part 1 Special Edition (anime)
Rozen Maiden Traumend: Box Set (anime)
xxxHOLIC: The Complete Series Box Set (anime)
Voltron: Fleet Of Doom (anime)
MD Geist (anime)
The Astonishing Work Of Tezuka Osamu (anime/documentary)
The Human Rights Watch Box Set (documentary)
Shouting Fire: Stories From The Edge Of Free Speech (documentary)
Cowboys & Outlaws DVD Set (documentary)
The Mafia DVD Set (documentary)
Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' (comedy special)
300: The Complete Experience [Blu-Ray]
Midnight Express [Blu-Ray]
U2: Rattle And Hum [Blu-Ray]
The Manchurian Candidate [Blu-Ray]
The Truman Show [Blu-Ray]
Black Snake Moan [Blu-Ray]
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season [Blu-Ray]
This Is Spinal Tap [Blu-Ray]
12 Monkeys [Blu-Ray]
Inglorious Bastards [Blu-Ray]
Public Enemies
Blood: The Last Vampire
Soul Power
Knowing
Dead Snow
Death Trance
The Unborn
Night Train
Five Fingers
Resolved
The Haunting In Connecticut
Horsemen
12
[REC]
Explicit Ills
Waltz With Bashir
Sword Of The Stranger
Friday The 13th : Extended Killer Cut
Tokyo!
The Hangover
The Taking Of Pelham 123
Moon
Defiance
Revolutionary Road
Gran Torino
The International
Away We Go
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete [Blu-Ray]
Terminator: Salvation
The Girlfriend Experience
Angels & Demons
Drag Me To Hell
True Blood: The Complete First Season (series)
Valkyrie
Lions For Lambs
Bane
Killshot
Star Trek
The Brothers Bloom
Angels & Demons
The Limits Of Control
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Incendiary
Taken
State Of Play
Sleep Dealer
American Violet
The Soloist
Tyson
Lymelife
The Informers
Caprica
Martyrs (Unrated)
As The Technics Spin
Fast & Furious
Observe And Report
Adventureland
The Escapist
Gigantic
Duplicity
Watchmen: Tales Of The Black Freighter & Under The Hood
Elegy
Special
Timecrimes
Watchmen
The Horsemen
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic
Battle In Seattle
Cadillac Records
Rachel Getting Married
Sunshine Cleaning
50 Dead Men Walking
B13: Ultimatum
Let The Right One In
Choke
Body Of Lies
Protege
Gomorrah
Blindness
Chocolate
Baby
Gonzo: The Life & Work Of Hunter S. Thompson
DJ Dusk's Root Down Soundclash
DJ Spooky's Rebirth Of A Nation
Fear(s) Of The Dark
Hell Ride
Elite Squad
Ballast
Boy A
Dart's Movie Recommendations (I personally cosign all of these joints):
Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince
(500) Days Of Summer
Funny People
The Answer Man
Shrink
In The Loop
Thirst
Watchmen (Director's Cut) (Two Disc Special Edition)
Coraline
The Great Buck Howard
Visioneers
An Empress And The Warriors
Bart Got A Room
Bad Lieutenant
Robot Chicken: Star Wars-Episode II (series)
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 (series)
Torchwood: Children Of Earth (series)
Dollhouse: Season One (series)
MD Geist (anime)
The Astonishing Work Of Tezuka Osamu (anime/documentary)
The Human Rights Watch Box Set (documentary)
Shouting Fire: Stories From The Edge Of Free Speech (documentary)
Richard Pryor: Live & Smokin' (comedy special)
300: The Complete Experience [Blu-Ray]
Black Snake Moan [Blu-Ray]
Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series [Blu-Ray]
Torchwood: The Complete Second Season [Blu-Ray]
12 Monkeys [Blu-Ray]
Inglorious Bastards [Blu-Ray]
Rent/Watch these movies at your own risk:
The Mighty Boosh: Fuck no!
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry [Blu-Ray]: It's not worth it just to ogle at Jessica Biel in Blu-Ray
Sky Captain & The World Of Tomorrow [Blu-Ray]: Visually a gorgeous film, Blu-ray would make it so much better...too bad you'd essentially have to watch it on mute.
Bundy: So...this is what's become of Captain Rudeflow?
Nacho Libre [Blu-Ray]: No, no, no, no, no way Jose! © Nacho
Fast & Furious [Blu-Ray]: Dialogue? Plot? Acting? You think that matters in blockbusters? You think that's air you're breathing now? © Morpheus
Dragonball: Evolution: Wow..that crappy racist film that opened in Asia a month before here leaked then everyone saw it sucked & it flopped. Fuck this movie!
Miss March: Miss altogether
The Fifth Commandment: Rick Yune. Bokeem Woodbine. Dania Ramirez. You might just wanna rent it anyways...
G-Force: CGI kid's films? Not my thing
The Ugly Truth: Formulaic rom coms? Not my thing
Aliens In The Attic: CGI kid's films that steal from other older kid's films? Really not my thing
Coming (relatively) Soon To A Theater (or computer) Near You:
No comments:
Post a Comment