Monthly Archives: March 2009
DVD Tuesday With Scotty G
Another Tuesday, another new batch of DVDs!
Slumdog Millionaire – The Best Picture winner makes it way onto DVD this week. The film deserved every bit of praise it received and tells the story of a poor boy competing on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It’s one of those films that has a little bit of everything in it. Some action, some comedy, drama, romance, musical numbers, and torture. You should come out smiling after you see it for all the right reasons [not like in the movie The Naked Gun, when Frank Drebin walks out of Platoon laughing, although I always find that part funny].
Marley and Me – I’ll admit that I knew nothing about this film when I saw it. Based on John Grogan’s book, the film is about the worst dog in the world – Marley. For anyone who has ever had a dog, or anyone who loves dogs, obviously Marley and Me is for you. I will say that I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed the film. Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston give solid performances, and I know that I’ll take some flack for saying this, but they gave a realistic portrayal of what it is like growing up middle class. Dealing with newlyweds, getting a dog, having many kids, struggling with bills, having fights, making up, this film is a lot better than the trailers would have you believe. I will say that you should have some Kleenex near by when you watch Marley and Me.
Seven Pounds – Will Smith’s latest misfired at the box office, but it’s still an intriguing film. The story is about Smith helping out seven strangers. None of them no each other, and none of them really know the real reason why he’s helping them out or has helped them out in the past. The film does drag at parts, but Will gives an understated performance which he took some undeserved flack for. Seven Pounds is a quieter film, and it should find an audience on DVD. It’s by no means his best work, but it’s still a nice addition to his resume. Rosario Dawson, Barry Pepper, and Woody Harrelson also star.
Ricky Gervais: Out of England – If you’re a fan of Gervais, then you’ll want to own his HBO Comedy Special. It is funny, but some of the jokes are from his appearances on talk shows. Still, he’s a funny guy, and it’s worth checking out for some laughs.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations – It’s not a misprint. This Direct-To-DVD sequel does not star Mr. Demi Moore, and is for fans only. I’ve never seen the original or the Direct-To-DVD sequel, so I’m not interested in the franchise, but if you are, it’s out on DVD.
Next week – you can look forward too Doubt, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Bedtime Stories, Yes Man, and The Tale of Desperaux
Quick Comic Hit – Andy B On G.I. Joe: Cobra
We’re different, but we’re often all the same. I firmly believe this. Especially when it comes to the pop culture world, where catch phrases and iconic images can burn themselves into our brains. For instance, say to someone in that 30-45 demo “now I know” and I guarantee you more people than not will respond “and knowing is half the battle”. That’s just the power of G.I. Joe.
On that note, you may have heard that Duke, Scarlett, Cobra Commander, Destro and others are making their way to the big screen for their first live action film this summer. At the same time, the rights to the G.I. Joe comic books have shifted to a new company, IDW, who have been releasing a plethora of series over the last few months. While I’m typically a hardcover collection or trade paperback purchaser, something about the new G.I. Joe endeavours had me intrigued. So I hit One Million Comics here in Toronto and scooped up a few single issues of G.I. Joe: Origins, G.I. Joe Movie Prequel: Duke, and G.I. Joe: Cobra to get the lay of the land. It was the latter that inspired me to write.
G.I. Joe: Cobra is the story of an undercover operative nicknamed Chuckles, a member of the G.I Joe team whose given an elite and delicate mission: infiltrate Cobra. It sounds like a simple concept, and it is, but as written by Christos Gage and Mike Costa, the first issue of the series moves quickly, and demonstrates a sense of humour missing (so far) from the other series out there at the moment (there’s a great Lost joke that our own Ian Rogers would appreciate). I can’t say I loved the artwork of Antonio Fuso, mind you. It feels a little too sparse for what I think should be a little more cartoony, but for that I can turn to G.I. Joe Origins (which is being written by longtime Joe scribe Larry Hama). There are cameos by the classic Joe crew, including Hawk and Duke, but the series is clearly going to be Chuckles’ story. The only problem is that Chuckles is so immediately compelling a character, I’ve been left eagerly anticipating the arrival of a new issue next month. Forget the trades – I’m going single issues on G.I. Joe:Cobra.
Check it out and you might feel the same way.
Scotty G’s Weekend Box Office Report
After weeks of being way off on the opening numbers at the box office, I hit a bulls-eye! At least on the number 1 movie. Monsters vs. Aliens opened with $58.2 million and a per screen average of over $14,000. It was a solid opening that was no doubt enhanced by the number of people who saw it in 3-D. It was well marketed, it’s got a strong cast that would draw in the adults, and reviews were positive. Monsters vs. Aliens should do well over the next month until the summer blockbusters start.
A surprising 2nd place finish for The Haunting in Connecticut. I was way off in my prediction, as the film grossed $23 million, and also had a strong per theatre average of $8,422. Reviews were not kind, but there seems to be an appetite for hour films in 2009. It exceeded most analysts’ predictions. We’ll see how it holds over the coming weeks, as most horror movies have big drop offs in the second weekend [See Friday the 13th as an example]. Still a $23 million opening is impressive/
Knowing dropped to 3rd with $14.7 million. Not a bad drop from its opening weekend, as it fell 40%. This seems to indicate that people have generally liked the film, as I expected it to have a bigger drop.
Suffering the smallest decline in the top 10 was the number 4 film I Love You, Man. Dropping only 29.3% from its opening weekend, I Love You, Man grossed $12.6 million. This is a good sign for the long term success of the film, as any time you have a hold of less than 30% you know the studio is going to be happy.
The number 5 film Duplicity dropped almost 46% from its opening weekend for a gross $7.5 million. The adult caper was hoping to have a better hold this weekend, as adult films usually do not have strong openings, but tend to hold up better over the long term. Unfortunately for Duplicity it looks like it will not have a long run in theatres.
John Cena’s 12 Rounds opened at #7 with $5.3 million which was a little more than my prediction of $5 million. The film should do better on DVD.
As a side note, Watchmen cracked the $100 million mark this week, but it goes to show how wrong analysts could be. If you were to ask people, what movie would make more – Watchmen or Taken – I’m sure the majority of people would say Watchmen by a landslide. After 4 weeks Watchmen, is the #8 film in the land grossing $2.75 million for a total of $103.2 million, and after 9 weeks, Taken is the #9 film grossing $2.7 million for a total of $137 million. It goes to show that audiences and analysts are not always in sync with one another.
Overall, not a bad week. I correctly predicted the 5 movies in the top 5, just not in the correct order. I was very close in my estimates with Monsters vs. Aliens and Duplicity, but not close at all with the other 3 films. The box office was stronger than expected this weekend up 58% from this time last year.
So here were my predictions for the week:
1) Monsters vs. Aliens – $58 million
2) I Love You, Man – $10.7 million
3) Knowing – $9.25 million
4) The Haunting in Connecticut – $8 million
5) Duplicity – $7 million
And here are the actual numbers:
1) Monsters vs. Aliens – $58.2 million
2) The Haunting in Connecticut – $23 million
3) Knowing – $14.7 million
4) I Love You, Man – $12 million
5) Duplicity – $7.5 million
Next week brings us Fast and Furious and Adventureland. Until next weekend!
Weekend Box Office Top 10
Box Office Estimates for weekend ending Sunday March 29th.
1 – Monsters Vs. Aliens $58,200,000 $58,200,000
2 – The Haunting in Connecticut $23,010,000 $23,010,000
3 1 Knowing Sum. $14,705,000 $46,220,000
4 2 I Love You, Man $12,600,000 $37,007,000
5 3 Duplicity $7,556,000 $25,639,000
6 4 Race to Witch Mountain $5,637,000 $53,295,000
7 – 12 Rounds $5,300,000 $5,300,000
8 5 Watchmen $2,755,000 $103,296,000
9 7 Taken $2,700,000 $137,074,000
10 6 The Last House on the Left (2009) $2,611,000 $28,459,000
The Buzz With Andy B: News on Spider-Man On Broadway
The New York Post got a sneak peak into the $40 million, Broadway bound Spider-Man extravaganza, titled Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Directed by Julie Taymor (Across The Universe) with music and lyrics by Bono and The Edge, the show is set to open at the Hilton Theater in January 2010. According the Post:
– “The Chrysler Building, the Brooklyn Bridge and The Daily Bugle Building all figure prominently, their perspective skewed to match Spider-Man’s shifting viewpoint as he soars through the city.”
- villains will include Electro, The Green Goblin, Carnage, Rhino, Swarm, the Lizard, along with a baddie created for the show named Swiss Miss, whose costume consists of rotating knives and swirling corkscrews.
- an actor named Reeve Carney is in the running for the role of Peter Parker.
According to an Rolling Stone article, Bono thinks the music composed for Spider-Man: Turn Out The Dark is the most accessible he and The Edge have ever composed and hopes to record it with U2 at some point a la The Who’s Tommy. Larry Mullen Junior is not as keen, though he has yet to hear any of the tunes.
You can read more from The New York Post here.
