Monday, October 26, 2009

Mitchell Hurwitz Discusses His Plans For The Arrested Development Movie

Saturday saw not one but two separate special events with Mitchell Hurwitz take place in Austin, Texas and luckily I had remote ears attending both. The first was a panel discussion called “The Art of Storytelling,” also featuring Ron Howard and Steve Zaillian, and the second was the clearly-titled “Conversation With Mitchell Hurwitz.” Both saw some talk of the upcoming Arrested Development film.

Hurwitz explained the origins of the TV show’s style like this: Ron Howard approached him and asked for something in a verite style, but they soon curbed their enthusiasm for explicitly mockumentary language to avoid comparison with the BBC’s version of The Office, which was just taking off as Devlopment was in development.

For the film, Hurwitz is apparently tempted to change the style completely, but Howard wants it to remain the same. Even if that does end up being the case, Hurwitz did promise that the film would be more “polished”.

The major justification given for the camera and editing styles was that watching comedy isn’t about camera angles and fancy shots. That rationale doesn’t add up with me… why wouldn’t they use a more ‘invisible’ style, then? It’s impossible for me to forget the presence of the camera when watching Arrested Development.

Hurwitz said he is finding the writing of the film easier than with a 22 minute episode because he has a natural inclination and skill to delve deep into detail.

Over at the other event, Hurwitz confirmed that he would not only be writing but will also be directing the feature film himself. The only major plot information he could be pushed for was that the film would be set, to a large extent, in prison. Now, that confuses me a little (and bear in mind that I’m not a hardcore Arrested Development fan by any means) but I thought all of the prison plotlines were tied up at the end of the second season?

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Paranormal Activity Scares Its Way to #1!

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

With weeks of viral marketing and a promotional campaign driven by social networks like Twitter and Facebook behind it, Oren Eli's Paranormal Activity (Paramount) expanded into just under 2,000 theaters on Friday and successfully took the box office with an estimated $22 million and an astounding cumulative gross of $62.5 million after less than a month in theaters. It's surely going to be considered one of the memorable phenomena of 2009, having cost less than $15,000 to produce, the rights sold to Paramount for roughly $300,000 and then being distributed by one of the most unique and unconventional methods we've seen in some time. The L.A. Times is even reporting that Paramount has the option to make a sequel, which you can read about here.

Unfortunately, the success of Peli's surprise hit also signified the first major hurdle in the seemingly unstoppable success of the "Saw" franchise, as the sixth installment Saw VI (Lionsgate) finally fell victim to the laws of diminishing returns, opening with just $14.8 million, less than half the opening of the previous four installments. It was the lowest opening for the annual franchise which kicked off in 2004 with the original movie opening with $18.3 million, at the time a huge success considering the film only cost a million to make. Certainly the success of Saw, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that year, has paved the way for low-budget horror films like Paranormal Activity, which was first seen at the smaller Slamdance Film Festival in 2008.

As far as the rest of the box office, Spike Jonze's Where the Wild Things Are (Warner Bros.) tanked in its second weekend, dropping 56% to third place with $14.4 million and a ten-day total of $54 million, while The Gerard Butler-Jamie Foxx thriller Law Abiding Citizen (Overture Films) is starting to catch up in their respective second weekends, dropping just 40% to make $12.7 million in its second weekend and $40.3 million total.

The hit situational comedy Couples Retreat (Universal) took fifth place with $11.1 million and $78.2 million total.

As far as the two new movies for younger people, the animated adventure Astro Boy (Summit) opened in sixth place with $7 million, while Paul Weitz's young adult fantasy Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (Universal) settled for eighth place, grossing just $6.3 million in its first weekend, averaging roughly $2,300 per site in 2,754 theaters.

In between the two new movies, Screen Gems' remake of The Stepfather dropped to seventh place with $6.5 million, a modest 44% drop from its opening week, and $20.3 million total.

The Top 10 was rounded out by Sony's dual hit comedies, the animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with $5.6 million, bringing its total to $115.2 million, and the R-rated Zombieland, which added $4.3 million to its total take of $67.3 million.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $105 million down 9% from the same weekend last year when Disney's HIgh School Musical 3 topped the box office with over $40 million, followed by the previous "Saw" installment Saw V with $30 million.

Opening in 11th place, Mira Nair's biopic Amelia (Fox Searchlight) starring Hilary Swank as the legendary aviator, took in $4 million in 818 theaters, averaging nearly $5,000 per site, the second best average in the Top 12 after Paranormal Activity.

Lars von Trier's controversial Antichrist opened with $73.5 thousand in 6 theaters in New York and L.A., averaging $12.2k per site, while Katherine Dieckman's Motherhood, starring Uma Thurman, only grossed $58 thousand in 48 theaters.

Pre-Production Starting on Mad Max 4

Just a few days after it was reported that Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy are in the running to star in George Miller's fourth Mad Max movie, The Daily Telegraph says that work on the film will start immediately and that filming will take place in Sydney and Outback NSW.

The newspaper says that a lot of the work will be done at Redfern's CarriageWorks and there will also be 30 weeks of filming in Broken Hill. It is estimated the whole project will take two-and-a-half years to complete.

Miller said: "The production agreements have been a long time in the making and Premier Rees and his team have worked like Trojans to ensure this substantial investment comes into this country. Not only does it help fuel the local economy but it means many talented people get a chance to practice their craft and lift their skills."

CarriageWorks will be used for the development work for the film, as well as Miller's Happy Feet 2.

Filming is expected to start next year.

Sylvester Stallone Plans to Follow Rambo 5 With Rocky 7 in 2010

After Sylvester Stallone wraps his fifth Rambo, apparently a curious creature feature and now officially given the go ahead to start shooting in the spring, it looks like Stallone is looking to once again revive his other iconic turn/cash cow. It seemed like a minor miracle to me that Rocky 6 was so well received and so going for a seventh roll of the dice seems at first like a gamble too far, but Stallone’s feeling quite philosophical:

When I was 21 years old and at drama school. My teacher said to me, ‘If you ever put your head out there, thousands of people will try to cut it off, but that’s exactly what you need to do as an artist.’ “I know it’s ludicrous and everyone would laugh. I would laugh about it. But I also know that I’d be successful if I can make this a film about becoming older, not about boxing but about myself.

Do you know what, I think he’s right, actually. Rock on Rocky 7.

He was reportedly speaking to Tele 5 in Germany, since which quotes have spread like wild fire across the web. I sourced my quotes from Teen Say.

Here’s just a touch more of what he said:

Even my wife says, ‘Don’t do it. You’re embarrassing the kids’. But I told her, ‘If I don’t try I’ll be a really unhappy man.’ You have to do it. Artists like me have to go through the dark over and over again.

Perhaps a leap into the true darkness of a non-franchise film would be good. Actually, that could include The Expendables, which still seems to be set pretty safely in Stallone’s 80s-brewed comfort zone, so maybe dabbling in a new genre would be necessary. Okay, basically, I’m wanting Stallone to do his long promised Edgar Allan Poe film. Am I alone in that?

Friday, October 23, 2009

NBC Picks Up Community, Mercy and Parks and Recreation

NBC's Community, Parks and Recreation and Mercy have been picked up for full seasons, NBC announced on Friday.

The Dan Harmon-produced Community started off in the 9:30/8:30c timeslot before the return of 30 Rock with 7.88 million viewers. Though its ratings have slightly dropped in its new 8/7c time period, the series has increased 12 percent in the 18-49 demographic. The show now averages 5.7 million viewers.

Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones, averages 4.8 million viewers and hit a season high with Thursday's episode, adding another 100,000 viewers.

Mercy, starring Taylor Schilling and Michelle Trachtenberg, earns an average of 7.8 million viewers weekly. In its last three airings, the freshman drama has finished first in the 9/8c time period.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

$60m Deal Sends Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Nickelodeon; Paramount Will Make New Feature Film for 2012

When I was reading oversized black and white TMNT comics in the mid-’80s, I never would have guessed that one day the rights to those characters would be trading for sixty million dollars. But that’s what Nickelodeon just paid to pick up global TMNT rights from the Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment. The result of the deal? The rumored new film and a new CG-animated series will both arrive in 2012.

Variety reports the deal, which puts all intellectual property rights and all merchandising rights to the characters into the hands of Nickelodeon. The current animated series, produced by Mirage and 4Kids, will air through the end of October.

No indication is given as to what the new CGI series will look like, and there are few details about the upcoming feature other than the fact that Nickelodeon sister company Paramount and producer Scott Mednick will be behind it. (The previous live-action films and the most recent CGI film were distributed by New Line and Warner Brothers, respectively.) We’d previously heard that the next feature film, aimed for 2011, would be a Mirage Group production written by John Fusco and made with a hybrid live-action CGI style. Mednick was producing at that point as well, so it’s not unsafe to guess that the same approach and creative team will remain intact even after this deal.

The new film has been called a Batman Begins-style reboot which would re-tell the origin of the characters. Co-creator Peter Laird has suggested it might even include the two-legged robot ‘mousers’ which appeared in early issues of the black and white comic series. But a casting call announcement earlier this year, which was obviously premature, sought martial artists to appear as the Foot Clan, which suggests that the film will re-tell the Shredder / April / Foot Clan story seen in altered form in the original 1990 live-action movie.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Castle Picked Up for Full Second Season

ABC has picked up Castle for a full 22-episode season, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The procedural dramedy, which stars Nathan Fillion as an author who helps solve crimes to cure his writers block, debuted in March to 11.6 million viewers. Although the show's numbers have fallen off a bit this season (it's averaging between 9 and 10 million viewers), it has held a respectable chunk of its Dancing with the Stars lead-in.

ABC previously announced full-season orders of new comedies Modern Family, Cougar Town and The Middle as well as freshman drama FlashForward.

Fox Orders Three More Lie to Me Scripts

Fox has ordered three more episodes of Lie to Me, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The additional scripts bring the crime drama's second-season order to 16 episodes. A midseason replacement last January, piggybacking American Idol, Lie to Me has been off to a slow start this fall, losing nearly half of lead-in House's audience each week.

Wii Price Drop Spurs Sales

Nintendo anticipates a big holiday season.

The September NPD numbers are now available and it's no surprise that Nintendo is once again seeing great success with its breakthrough console and wildly popular handheld. Even though the PS3 took the top spot for hardware sales, it seems as though the price drop could push Nintendo back up top at the end of the year.

Wii sales increased by 185, 468 units in September, a 67% increase over August. This can mostly be attributed to the price drop that affected the last week of NPD's reported numbers for the month. Meanwhile the DS broke 500,000 units in the month of September, trouncing the PSP by over 300,000 units. We'll have to wait until next month to find out if the newly released PSPgo evens the playing field.

Nintendo shows little signs of slowing down. Nintendo of America remarked on the data: "We anticipate increased momentum through the holidays. Consumer sampling events are now underway, and we expect to interact with over a million people before year end."

We'll keep an eye on Nintendo's rate of success as we head towards the holiday season.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Wild Things Rumpus at the Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

What's turning out to be an October for the record books continues to thrive with the second movie to open over $30 million, as filmmaker Spike Jonze's take on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are opened with approximately $32.7 million in 3,735 theaters including IMAX screens, surpassing some expectations but not all. With a solid average of $8,693 per site, the film benefitted from a solid marketing campaign and praise from critics that made it apparent that it was far more than just a kiddie film, and in just three days, it is the auteur director's biggest theatrical take so far.

Opening solidly in second place, the Gerard Butler-Jamie Foxx thriller Law Abiding Citizen (Overture Films) grossed roughly $21.2 million in 2,890 theaters, also bringing in audiences with its strong marketing campaign. It marks the largest opening for the fledgling two year old distributor whose biggest hit previously was the Robert De Niro and Al Pacino crime-thriller Righteous Kill last year.

Oren Peli's low budget ghost movie Paranormal Activity (Paramount) expanded into nationwide release in 760 theaters where it grossed $20.16 million for third place, scoring an impressive $26.5k per site, which is the 13th highest average for a wide release. The movie, which reportedly cost less than $15,000, has grossed over $33 million since opening in select cities on September 25. On Friday, the movie will expand into roughly 2,000 theaters where it's likely to continue its strong run due to the positive word-of-mouth.

After a strong opening in first place, the Vince Vaughn tropical comedy Couples Retreat (Universal) dropped 48% to fourth place with a second weekend take of $17.9 million, bringing its total to $63.3 million.

Even with two other horror-thrillers in theaters, Screen Gems' remake of The Stepfather, starring Dylan Walsh and Amber Heard, was able to bring in $12.3 million to take fifth place.

Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Zombieland swapped places with the former taking sixth place with $8.1 million and the latter falling to seventh place with $7.8 million. "Cloudy" crossed the $100 million mark on Thursday and the $24 million budgeted zombie comedy has grossed $60.8 million in three weeks.

On the other hand, DIsney's two movies both tanked this weekend with the Toy Story 3D Double Feature dropping 61% and adding $3 million to its take of $28.6 million. (It was originally meant as a two-week limited release.) The action film Surrogates (Disney/Touchstone) took in less than $2 million in its fourth weekend having grossed $36.3 million.

The Ricky Gervais comedy The Invention of Lying (Warner Bros.) closed off the Top 10 with $1.9 million and $15.5 million total

The Top 10 grossed roughly $127 million, up an astounding 58% over the same weekend last year when Fox's Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg, topped the box office with $17.6 million. By comparison, this weekend saw four movies surpass that amount.

Some of the movies of note opening in limited release included the anthology film New York, I Love You (Vivendi), which took in $372 thousand in 119 theaters, and Scott Sanders' Blacksploitation spoof Black Dynamite (Apparition), starring Michael Jai White, which grossed $141 thousand in 70 theaters.