After what many say was an overheated and overhyped 2014 Tiff, Toronto this year looks to be a significantly more sober affair. With few major unsold titles available — Michael Moore’s Where to Invade Next serving as the primary exception — and a paucity of big presale packages in the offing, most buyers expect a quiet market. While deals will be done at Tiff, here’s why we shouldn’t expect a repeat of last year’s feeding frenzy. There’s Slim Pickings Only a handful of unsold titles are generating pre-festival buzz, including Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, which is being sold by
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- 9/10/2015
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Slim pickings this week, folks. Why? We'll its awards season so most stars are saving their big fashion moments for upcoming red carpets and after-parties (like this weekend's SAG Awards). Still, there were a few celebs—mainly those doing promotional rounds—who had a chic week. Exhibit A: The always stylish Jennifer Lopez. The Boy Next Door star showed off a very impressive coat collection this week and our favorite was an ultra-feminine petal pink Reem Acra number. Moving on to gowns, two leading ladies caught our eye at the Mortdecai premiere. Olivia Munn rocked a sheer Ralph Rucci gown while Gwyneth Paltrow went with a simple belted Lanvin sheath. Finally, Sophia...
- 1/23/2015
- E! Online
No Good Deed easily took first place ahead of Dolphin Tale 2 on another quiet weekend at the domestic box office.Playing at 2,175 locations, the Screen Gems thriller opened to an estimated $24.25 million. That's in the same general range as 2009's Obsessed ($28.6 million), which shared a producer (Will Packer) and star (Idris Elba) with No Good Deed. More impressively, it debuted significantly higher than last year's The Call ($17.1 million), which was also a Sony thriller featuring a female protagonist in a confined location.No Good Deed managed to successfully combine a few key ingredients. First, and most importantly, it was well-positioned within the perennially successful home invasion subgenre. These movies manage to tap in to one of our most common fears (harm to our home/family), while also promising an element of wish fulfillment (taking control and fighting back against these invaders). Another key element to its success was its...
- 9/14/2014
- by Ray Subers <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
Believe it or not, films and television programmes added to Netflix and Amazon do have a tendency to expire and no longer be there after a while; this isn’t as publicised as when the titles in question are added though. So by the time you read this there are around 50 titles disappearing from Netflix.
If you have ever wanted to watch the 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo then you have probably missed your chance by now. What this does mean however is that probably next week Netflix will have added a whole raft of new stuff, I say new but it will probably be a mixture of catalogue and stuff from the last year. I know that the underrated Enders Game and the superior Hunger Games: Catching Fire is due there in September, I just don’t know when.
In other Netflix news, they made industry headlines...
If you have ever wanted to watch the 2002 version of The Count of Monte Cristo then you have probably missed your chance by now. What this does mean however is that probably next week Netflix will have added a whole raft of new stuff, I say new but it will probably be a mixture of catalogue and stuff from the last year. I know that the underrated Enders Game and the superior Hunger Games: Catching Fire is due there in September, I just don’t know when.
In other Netflix news, they made industry headlines...
- 9/1/2014
- by Chris Holt
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
His new movie, Last Vegas, is a geriatric take on the party town stag weekend. He talks about why he'll never return, Hollywood's obsession with youth, and playing Falstaff in a fat suit
Last year, Kevin Kline spent a fortnight in Las Vegas shooting his latest movie. It was his first trip to that infamous mecca of sex and excess. "And my last," proclaims the 66-year-old, voice rolling, theatrical. "Everyone looked so miserable. I would see these couples pushing babies in strollers through the casinos like zombies. It was horrible." He shakes his head, sorrowful.
"And I just couldn't bear the constant noise. I would step outside the hotel to get some fresh air and it would be 'boom, boom, boom'" – he does an impressive impression of pounding bassline – "disco music blaring on the kerb, by the pool, everywhere. That is not my idea of tranquillity."
This, I suspect, is more like it.
Last year, Kevin Kline spent a fortnight in Las Vegas shooting his latest movie. It was his first trip to that infamous mecca of sex and excess. "And my last," proclaims the 66-year-old, voice rolling, theatrical. "Everyone looked so miserable. I would see these couples pushing babies in strollers through the casinos like zombies. It was horrible." He shakes his head, sorrowful.
"And I just couldn't bear the constant noise. I would step outside the hotel to get some fresh air and it would be 'boom, boom, boom'" – he does an impressive impression of pounding bassline – "disco music blaring on the kerb, by the pool, everywhere. That is not my idea of tranquillity."
This, I suspect, is more like it.
- 1/3/2014
- by Jane Mulkerrins
- The Guardian - Film News
I made my Slim Pickings joke last week and this week, I got nothing. Things are a bit better this week anyway with a nice mixture of the new, the old and the quirky independent that has gone straight to VOD.
I imagine things will pick up massively into December as Now TV adds Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful and then the other service providers try and compete.
For now though below are the films to look out for this week, Enjoy!
Mama (2013)
The latest horror film to borrow Guillermo Del Toro’s name in order to present itself, is this ghost story from director Andres Muschietti. Jessica Chastain plays a woman who reluctantly becomes foster-mother to her partners’ two nieces after they are recovered from living feral in the wilderness. The problem is the girls were looked after by something nasty in the woods and...
I imagine things will pick up massively into December as Now TV adds Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful and then the other service providers try and compete.
For now though below are the films to look out for this week, Enjoy!
Mama (2013)
The latest horror film to borrow Guillermo Del Toro’s name in order to present itself, is this ghost story from director Andres Muschietti. Jessica Chastain plays a woman who reluctantly becomes foster-mother to her partners’ two nieces after they are recovered from living feral in the wilderness. The problem is the girls were looked after by something nasty in the woods and...
- 11/25/2013
- by Chris Holt
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The spectre of Malcolm Merlyn has loomed large over season two of Arrow and while John Barrowman's wretched wrong 'un is yet to make his spectacular return, 'League of Assassins' introduces us to the man who trained him… and it's Homeland's Abu Nazir!
Navid Negahban stars as Al-Owal, a minion of Ra's al Ghul and former associate of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz). Sara, of course, has turned her back on the League, but as far as Ra's is concerned, there's only one way you leave their ranks and that's minus your head.
While Negahban's under-utilised, Al-Owal is an effective enough villain. But far more thrilling are the hints at a greater unseen menace - the League of Assassins, the "child of Ra's al Ghul" (Talia?) and the big man himself.
With her family also under threat from the League, Sara is forced to reveal herself to her father...
Navid Negahban stars as Al-Owal, a minion of Ra's al Ghul and former associate of Sara Lance (Caity Lotz). Sara, of course, has turned her back on the League, but as far as Ra's is concerned, there's only one way you leave their ranks and that's minus your head.
While Negahban's under-utilised, Al-Owal is an effective enough villain. But far more thrilling are the hints at a greater unseen menace - the League of Assassins, the "child of Ra's al Ghul" (Talia?) and the big man himself.
With her family also under threat from the League, Sara is forced to reveal herself to her father...
- 11/7/2013
- Digital Spy
Opening on Friday the 13th, horror sequel Insidious Chapter 2 scared up an excellent $40.3 million this weekend. Meanwhile, Luc Besson's The Family had a decent debut as well.The Top 12 earned $89.5 million this weekend, which is up a whopping 30 percent from the same period last year.Insidious 2's $40.3 million debut is over three times as high as its predecessor's $13.3 million opening, which is an incredible improvement for a sequel. It's also about on par with director James Wan's The Conjuring, which opened to $41.9 million in July. This is only the second time ever that a director has had two movies open over $40 million in the same year*the Wachowski siblings did it in 2003 with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.The month of September is typically a slow one at the box office, so Insidious 2's opening ranks second all-time behind last year's Hotel Transylvania ($42.5 million). Overall, it...
- 9/15/2013
- by Ray Subers <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
Summer's over, everyone! Especially at the box office. One of this weekend's wide releases, Getaway, currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating south of 5 percent. Five percent! Another one is a concert documentary about the boy band One Direction. Slim pickings. But it could be worse. It honestly could be so much worse. We've taken a look at every summer weekend from the past twenty years and picked eight that are strong contenders for rock bottom. (We're talking qualitatively here — box office wasn't really a factor in these choices.) Please offer up your own suggestions.July 1, 1994* The Shadow * Blown Away* I Love Trouble* Baby's Day Out* Little Big League These days, the Fourth of July weekend is sacrosanct for Hollywood. Though there were several prior examples of blockbuster early-July weekends (Terminator 2), 1996’s Independence Day, which established Will Smith as the king of that weekend for a time,...
- 8/29/2013
- by Adam K. Raymond
- Vulture
Welcome back, once again, to TV Fanatic's weekly Gossip Girl Round Table Q&A discussion! Below, our panelists break down all aspects of last night's Gossip Girl, "Portrait of a Lady Alexander."
In our Q&A session, Tvf editor Steve Marsi (Mister Meester) and staff members Christina Tran and Leigh Raines share their opinions. Weigh in with your take on the following topics after reading ours!
-------------------------------
1. Favorite quote from the episode?
Leigh: Lily to Serena: "It's probably my fault you have a father complex." Ya think Lily???
Christina: Blair: “Listen, Princess Jasmine, I’m sure every one of those horses went straight to the glue factory.” I’m always down for a perfectly-timed Disney reference.
Steve: Georgina matter-of-factly stating that she's "pimping out celebutantes for Dan to have sex with." All business, that G.
2. Favorite scene or storyline?
Leigh: Ummmm, this week was probably one of the worst episodes I've seen in years.
In our Q&A session, Tvf editor Steve Marsi (Mister Meester) and staff members Christina Tran and Leigh Raines share their opinions. Weigh in with your take on the following topics after reading ours!
-------------------------------
1. Favorite quote from the episode?
Leigh: Lily to Serena: "It's probably my fault you have a father complex." Ya think Lily???
Christina: Blair: “Listen, Princess Jasmine, I’m sure every one of those horses went straight to the glue factory.” I’m always down for a perfectly-timed Disney reference.
Steve: Georgina matter-of-factly stating that she's "pimping out celebutantes for Dan to have sex with." All business, that G.
2. Favorite scene or storyline?
Leigh: Ummmm, this week was probably one of the worst episodes I've seen in years.
- 11/6/2012
- by steve@iscribelimited.com (Steve Marsi)
- TVfanatic
Two major new releases had fine openings this weekend, though they weren't strong enough to resurrect a depressed domestic box office. The fifth Resident Evil movie took first place, though it was a bit disappointing by series standards, while Finding Nemo (3D) reinforced the notion that 3D re-releases have limited potential. The main bright spots this weekend came from the specialty market, with Arbitrage and The Master scoring impressive debuts in limited release. Overall, the Top 12 earned $69 million, which is the second-worst weekend of the year and is off 20 percent from the same frame last year.Resident Evil: Retribution opened to $21.05 million from 3,012 locations this weekend. That's noticeably lower than the last Resident Evil movie ($26.7 million), and also off from Extinction ($23.7 million) and Apocalypse ($23 million). It did at least open higher than the 2002 original ($17.7 million), though it sold many fewer tickets.While it's easy to say that Resident Evil's...
- 9/16/2012
- by Ray Subers <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
The overdone glut of horror film remakes in recent years can be deemed at best underwhelming, and at worst, a train wreck; attempts to reboot the Halloween and Friday the 13th franchises were tepid at best, while A Nightmare On Elm Street 2010 was a flat-out disaster. In remaking the late-70s exploitation flick I Spit On Your Grave, director Steven R. Monroe is essentially retooling a film that was never really that popular in the first place, a factor that helps more than hinders his efforts here, for there is no rabid fanbase to dismay. That said, while it is in almost all stakes a better film than its predecessor, it is also utterly pointless and much like the original, a fairly mawkish rape-revenge-fantasy.
Jennifer (Sarah Butler) is an author readying to take a break in a secluded cabin to write her second novel. However, it isn’t long before...
Jennifer (Sarah Butler) is an author readying to take a break in a secluded cabin to write her second novel. However, it isn’t long before...
- 2/7/2011
- by Shaun Munro
- Obsessed with Film
Slim pickings on TV tonight as most shows are on hiatus until sometime in January if you're lucky. I suppose this is because people going home for the holidays aren't going to be watching much television because of all that wonderful family time they'll be spending together, but have you met the average American family? Sitting down and watching TV together is probably the closest to "quality time" most families get these days. But I suppose that's what TiVo is for. Here's your Thursday night TV:
8:00pm: "Big Bang Theory" on CBS
"Brew Masters" on Discovery. First season finale.
"Gift of the Magi" on Hallmark. Original telefilm. In case you want to watch one of the most depressing Christmas stories ever to really get you in the mood for the last weekend you can spend combing the Target sales racks before the big day.
"The This Old House Hour...
8:00pm: "Big Bang Theory" on CBS
"Brew Masters" on Discovery. First season finale.
"Gift of the Magi" on Hallmark. Original telefilm. In case you want to watch one of the most depressing Christmas stories ever to really get you in the mood for the last weekend you can spend combing the Target sales racks before the big day.
"The This Old House Hour...
- 12/16/2010
- by Intern Rusty
There is no bigger fan of Parenthood than me. As a scribe myself, I can tell you that the writers for this show are top notch.
Each episode has themes, a strong character arc, beautiful and hilarious dialogue and well-rounded characters. Such a history leads me to believe the writers were on vacation this week... because "Put Yourself Out There" had to have been flattest episode of Parenthood I have ever seen.
This was a Camille, Zeek and Sarah centered-installment, which, did nothing for me. Nothing much happened, no plot was advanced, no drama was created or avoided, and it was just sort of boring. Let's go over what each character was up to:
Adam: Perhaps the reason the episode felt so empty was because Adam was only in one scene. He stopped by to convince Amber to meet with someone from Berkeley. I am a huge fan of Peter Krause,...
Each episode has themes, a strong character arc, beautiful and hilarious dialogue and well-rounded characters. Such a history leads me to believe the writers were on vacation this week... because "Put Yourself Out There" had to have been flattest episode of Parenthood I have ever seen.
This was a Camille, Zeek and Sarah centered-installment, which, did nothing for me. Nothing much happened, no plot was advanced, no drama was created or avoided, and it was just sort of boring. Let's go over what each character was up to:
Adam: Perhaps the reason the episode felt so empty was because Adam was only in one scene. He stopped by to convince Amber to meet with someone from Berkeley. I am a huge fan of Peter Krause,...
- 11/17/2010
- by amye@amyearcher.com (AmyeArcher)
- TVfanatic
The Town was the talk of the box office over the weekend, Easy A received a lot of attention, Devil wasn't elevated, and Alpha and Omega didn't hunt. Overall business was a bit lower than the same weekend last year when Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs led. Striking approximately 3,500 screens at 2,861 locations, The Town hauled in $23.8 million, earning the comparison its marketing made to The Departed. The latter blazed onto the scene with $26.9 million on around 4,200 screens at 3,017 locations nearly four years ago (though its attendance was about 37 percent greater than The Town's). Like Departed, The Town busted out of its genre norm, grossing more in one weekend than the final grosses of Gone Baby Gone, Reindeer Games and Pride & Glory and more than doubling the opening weekend of We Own the Night. Its estimated initial attendance was in the realm of Cop Land and Sleepers. Upon closer inspection,...
- 9/20/2010
- by Brandon Gray <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
This weekend, four movies of distinctly different genres debut. The broadest releases are The Town with approximately 3,500 screens at 2,861 locations and Easy A with around 3,500 screens at 2,856 locations, followed by Devil with over 3,200 screens at 2,809 locations and Alpha and Omega at 2,625 largely single-screen locations. Director Ben Affleck's follow-up to the $20.3 million-grossing Gone Baby Gone, The Town packs a nondescript title. Its marketing campaign has alternately sold a generic ensemble heist thriller, typified by the poster's nun-costumed robbers, list of actors and the tagline "Welcome to the Bank Robbery Capital of America," and Affleck's character wanting out of his life of crime. Ads have also stressed that The Town's from the "studio that brought you The Departed," a card that distributor Warner Bros. frequently plays, but The Departed was more specific and character-driven in its promotions. The Town's also the second movie in less than a month...
- 9/17/2010
- by Brandon Gray <mail@boxofficemojo.com>
- Box Office Mojo
Slim pickings for awards prospects when Jonah Hex is the best antidote for Sex and the City 2. But those are the cards we’re dealt today.
- 5/27/2010
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
Slim pickings in birthdays today…
Jasmine Guy is 48 years old today! Wow! A member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as a teen, the former A Different World star has continued to appear in TV shows mostly, but none quite as memorable as the pesky, snooty Whitley Marion Gilbert Wayne in A Different World, which ran on NBC from 1987 through 1993. In 2005, her book titled, Evolution of a Revolutionary, a biography of Afeni Shakur, mother of late actor/rapper Tupac Shakur, was published. I didn’t know she was an author as well. Apparently, she was very close with the Shakur family. She can currently be seen in The Vampire Diaries which airs on the CW channel.
And lastly Tim Mosley, aka Timbaland, is 39 years old today. The Grammy award-winning uber-producer/rapper has worked on the albums of a myriad of artists, including mega-stars like Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean and a few others.
Jasmine Guy is 48 years old today! Wow! A member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as a teen, the former A Different World star has continued to appear in TV shows mostly, but none quite as memorable as the pesky, snooty Whitley Marion Gilbert Wayne in A Different World, which ran on NBC from 1987 through 1993. In 2005, her book titled, Evolution of a Revolutionary, a biography of Afeni Shakur, mother of late actor/rapper Tupac Shakur, was published. I didn’t know she was an author as well. Apparently, she was very close with the Shakur family. She can currently be seen in The Vampire Diaries which airs on the CW channel.
And lastly Tim Mosley, aka Timbaland, is 39 years old today. The Grammy award-winning uber-producer/rapper has worked on the albums of a myriad of artists, including mega-stars like Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Wyclef Jean and a few others.
- 3/10/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
It's big, it's loud and now the bonafide monster film of the year is rolling out on store shelves. Michael Bay's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" made gobs of money at the box office and now it almost singled-handedly owns the release calendar this week. But a few other titles do manage to break through the shape-shifting pack, and we'll cover them all in this DVD Report for Tuesday, October 20, 2009.
There's not much purpose in rehashing the plot to "Revenge of the Fallen," the follow-up to the bombastic intergalactic war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Anyone interested in the DVD and Blu-ray has already seen the film, so the only thing really worth discussing are whether the presentation and special features make it a must-own. Well, if you count yourself a fan of the robot-friendly franchise, then it's a definite yes. Like the first film's home video release,...
There's not much purpose in rehashing the plot to "Revenge of the Fallen," the follow-up to the bombastic intergalactic war between the Autobots and the Decepticons. Anyone interested in the DVD and Blu-ray has already seen the film, so the only thing really worth discussing are whether the presentation and special features make it a must-own. Well, if you count yourself a fan of the robot-friendly franchise, then it's a definite yes. Like the first film's home video release,...
- 10/20/2009
- by Brian Jacks
- MTV Movies Blog
Weren't we seeking flashy, content-free teaser trailers for Fame, like, a year ago? Or nine months out at least? That's the sort of marketing generally reserved for event blockbusters, not movies that get dumped into theaters in late September en route to a $10 million opening and -- most likely -- a final gross in the vicinity of $25 -30 million. What happened? Given the bad reviews, perhaps MGM/Sony realized with a few months to go that they didn't have an awards contender or likely crowd favorite on their hands.
On the other hand, I don't know what excuse Disney has for Surrogates, a perfectly serviceable, extremely commercial sci-fi actioner starring Bruce Willis and directed by T3's Jonathan Mostow. Willis actionally doesn't have the greatest track record in opening non-franchise releases, but $15 million for a movie like this is awfully weak; here is an instance where hiding a movie from critics arguably hurt.
On the other hand, I don't know what excuse Disney has for Surrogates, a perfectly serviceable, extremely commercial sci-fi actioner starring Bruce Willis and directed by T3's Jonathan Mostow. Willis actionally doesn't have the greatest track record in opening non-franchise releases, but $15 million for a movie like this is awfully weak; here is an instance where hiding a movie from critics arguably hurt.
- 9/28/2009
- by Eugene Novikov
- Cinematical
Moviegoers came back for a second helping of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, but the new items on the menu, Surrogates and Fame, didn't fly. That led to a weekend that was off seven percent from the same timeframe last year when Eagle Eye landed. Standing as the only broadly appealing movie among recent releases, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs dissipated by a mere 19 percent, generating an estimated $24.6 million and lifting its total to a solid $60 million in ten days. Its drop was less than such comparable titles as Open Season, Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little, though it may have a steeper decline in its third weekend, when the Toy Story double feature will claim much of its 3D attention. Surrogates plugged in with an estimated $15 million on approximately 3,600 screens at 2,951 sites, or a fraction of what the similar I, Robot started at. The science fiction thriller...
- 9/27/2009
- by Brandon Gray
- Box Office Mojo
For previous installments of Dave’s Weekly Comic Book Recommendations, go here.
Slim pickings yet again this week. From DC Comics, we have the entire Blackest Night Tales from the Corps for $7.99, and the final issue of the exceptionally wonderful Wednesday Comics.
From Marvel we have the third issue of the exceptionally fun Immortal Weapons, and the first issue of Spider-Woman #1 comes out. If you haven’t been watching the “motion comic,” via the iTunes download, then get the series in this more traditional format. Its a lot better. Especially with the former Daredevil team Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev at the helm.
From last week, the softcover of Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel’s The Alcoholic came out from Vertigo. For those of you who caught the new HBO series Bored to Death and are interested in Jason Schwartzman’s character’s work in graphic novel form, you ought to pick that up.
Slim pickings yet again this week. From DC Comics, we have the entire Blackest Night Tales from the Corps for $7.99, and the final issue of the exceptionally wonderful Wednesday Comics.
From Marvel we have the third issue of the exceptionally fun Immortal Weapons, and the first issue of Spider-Woman #1 comes out. If you haven’t been watching the “motion comic,” via the iTunes download, then get the series in this more traditional format. Its a lot better. Especially with the former Daredevil team Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev at the helm.
From last week, the softcover of Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel’s The Alcoholic came out from Vertigo. For those of you who caught the new HBO series Bored to Death and are interested in Jason Schwartzman’s character’s work in graphic novel form, you ought to pick that up.
- 9/22/2009
- by David Press
- The Flickcast
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs landed with a sunny $30.3 million and led the weekend as a whole to a 14 percent bump over the same timeframe last year. The other new releases, however, weren't pretty, especially Jennifer's Body, which had an advertising campaign that made the mistake of going gaga for its hyped actress. Storming approximately 4,500 screens at 3,119 sites, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs served up the highest-grossing September animation debut on record, topping Sony Pictures stable mate Open Season. Nearly $18 million of Cloudy's opening was from 3D presentations at 1,828 sites. Of the 3D presentations, 127 were in IMAX and they accounted for $2.4 million of the gross. While Cloudy paled compared to recent 3D pictures like Up and Monsters Vs. Aliens, its debut was a bit higher than Bolt and Meet the Robinsons. Due to the higher ticket prices of 3D and IMAX, Cloudy had a smaller audience than regular movies that open to $30 million,...
- 9/21/2009
- by Brandon Gray
- Box Office Mojo
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