Avatar wins weekend, reaches major milestone (again). Weekend box office (01/31/10).

Avatar won the box office derby for the seventh straight weekend, taking the record for the biggest seventh weekend gross ($30 million) from Titanic ($25 million). Dropping just 14%, the unstoppable monster has now grossed $594 million, meaning it will cross Titanic's $600 million gross in the next 2-3 days, perhaps on the very day (Tuesday the 2nd) that the Oscar nominations are announced. Early last week, it surpassed Titanic's worldwide box office gross to become the world's highest-grossing movie. This weekend it crossed the seemingly unfathomable $2 billion mark worldwide. You can babble all you want about inflation, 3D and IMAX ticket prices, and what have you to your hearts' content, but check out this little statistic: When Avatar reaches $2.239 billion, which it will in the next two or three weeks, it will have doubled the worldwide take of every other movie ever made except Titanic. It will also soon have an over $1 billion lead over any movie not directed by James Cameron. There's not much more to say at this point than 'wow' and don't make a sequel, so let's move on...

Second place went to the Mel Gibson comeback vehicle Edge of Darkness. The Martin Campbell suspense thriller (remade from the director's own 1985 BBC miniseries) pulled in $17 million. All eyes were focused on this one, as it was Gibson's first starring role since 2002's Signs. The opening isn't terrific but it's not terrible either. The film was advertised as a variation on Taken, but anyone paying attention to the preview could tell that it was more of a procedural investigation drama than a slam-bang thriller. The opening is right in line with Martin Campbell's non-blockbuster debuts, just above the $16.3 million opening for 2005's The Legend of Zorro and the $15.5 million debut of 2000's Vertical Limit. Considering this picture cost $80 million (or about what the other two Campbell films cost), I'm sure Warner is hoping for something closer to Vertical Limit's $69 million finish as opposed to The Legend of Zorro's $46 million end total. Pardon the pun, but this was neither his brightest day nor his blackest night.

For Gibson, this is his lowest opening since Braveheart back in May 1995, and it's actually a bit under the $17.4 million debut of Maverick back in May 1994. Of course, opening weekends have changed quite a bit even since Gibson semi-retired from acting back in 2002, and of course he's had some major PR problems in the last eight years. On the plus side, the film had a solid 3x multiplier, so solid word of mouth is likely. 70% of the audience came out for Gibson, meaning he still has a fan-base even when a film depends purely on him to sell it. The poster and trailer were flat at best, and, to be honest, I would have had absolutely no interest in this one if not for my love of all things Martin Campbell. We'll see how Gibson fares with a project that has more to offer than just his star power.

Third place went to When in Rome, which pulled in $12 million. While the number isn't spectacular, it's actually a pretty solid opening for the two very untested leads, Kristen Bell and Josh Duhmel (let's be honest, you probably never watched Veronica Mars). Considering how awful the marketing was for this one, Bell and Duhamel should get quite a bit of credit for this thing opening at all. After all, this apparent stinker easily topped the $9 million of Leap Year, which starred critical darling and Enchanted star Amy Adams. Kristen Bell is no Katherine Heigl, but this is a solid first step if she wants to climb higher in the rom-com genre. Fourth place went to The Tooth Fairy, which dipped just 28% for a $10 million second-weekend and a $26 million ten-day total. Not much more to say, but the film should reach its $48 million budget before home video. The Book of Eli dropped 44%, and its new total is just $6 million short of its $80 million budget. $100 million will be a struggle, but the Denzel Washington/Gary Oldman post-apocalyptic drama could still squeak in there.

Legion plunged 61% in its second weekend, but it has already exceeded its $26 million budget so no harm, no foul. Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones dropped another 43%, pulling in $4.7 million in its third weekend of wide release. Its new total is $38 million and Paramount can only hope for a slight uptick next weekend on account of Stanley Tucci's likely Oscar nomination. Sherlock Holmes still ended up $3 million short of the $200 million mark. Warner must be pretty sure that it'll get there, as they are advertising the film as a $200 million domestic grosser in the DVD/Blu Ray press release that went out this week. As of now, the domestic total is $197 million and the international numbers rest at $394 million. Also, for those who care, Joe Silver and Warner Bros are fast tracking a sequel to this one, having basically pulled director Guy Ritchie off of Lobo in order to get him back to work in the dark alleys of Victorian London. I suppose the only question is what big star gets to play Holmes's arch-nemesis. Oh, and pundits/critics, let's lay off the gay panic this time around OK?

Alvin and the Chipmunks is now at $209 million, which puts it in striking distance of the original's $217 million US total. It's Complicated passed the $100 million mark over the last week and now sits at $104 million. The Princess and the Frog finally crossed $100 million just today, so a firm mazel tov to Disney. Crazy Heart pulled in another $2.2 million in its last weekend of limited release, and its total is now $6.5 million. Ironically, while next weekend will coincide with the Jeff Bridges's Oscar nomination, it will also put the country music/heartland drama smack dab into Super Bowl weekend.  That may prove to be an issue for troubled Bad Blake's national debut, although Fox Searchlight would certainly do well to buy a national ad spot or two during the game. The Young Victoria has quietly approached the $8 million mark, so its prospects should only brighten if Emily Blunt pulls of a somewhat unexpected Best Actress nomination on Tuesday. Nearly surefire nominee A Single Man (Colin Firth) is at $5 million and fellow sure-thing An Education (Carey Mulligan) is at $8.8 million.

Up in the Air lost 277 screens and 30%, but its total now sits at $73 million. With the expected nominations in nearly every major category, the George Clooney vehicle could very well reach $100 million, especially if it wins one or two major awards. As for Best Director front-runner Kathryn Bigelow, you can rent The Hurt Locker on DVD and Blu Ray. We can all blame Summit Entertainment's non-existent marketing campaign and inability to mount a wide release for what should have been a mainstream pulse-racer over the summer, and to be fair I never wrote a full review of the picture. But it's for sale at every major store and available to rent at every major video store. No more excuses, go rent The Hurt Locker (and rent the equally under-seen Whip It while you're at it).

That's the major news for this weekend. Next weekend sees the wide release of the John Travolta action comedy From Paris With Love (directed by Pierre Morel the helmer of District 13 and Taken), as well as the Amanda Seyfried/Channing Tatum romantic drama Dear John. There are ten films opening in limited release, including the sequel to District 13, so expect a lot of puny totals and a few mighty per-screen averages.

Scott Mendelson

If you don't quit while you're ahead... Why we don't need an Avatar sequel.

We never got a sequel to ET: The Extra Terrestrial. We never had to sit through a strained next chapter to Titanic. We never suffered through a film adaptation of the alleged wretched Forrest Gump and Company. Sometimes, despite the best efforts of studios and unimaginative executives, we are spared unnecessary sequels, spin-offs, and prequels for films that made lots of money the first time around. So yes, it is possible for filmmakers to just walk away for the good of the property. With news that Avatar has crossed $2 billion in worldwide box office and has been nominated for nine Academy Awards, the people behind this monumental achievement are quickly putting their eggs in line for the next installment. I rather loved Avatar. I've defended it from charges that it was merely a 3D special effects exercise, and I've defended it from charges that its box office glory was somehow fraudulent. But I have absolutely no desire whatsoever to see a sequel.


Avatar SPOILER WARNING in place...

It would seem that one of James Cameron's motives was to create a world that he could play in to his hearts content, similar to what George Lucas created with the Star Wars franchise. Pandora was probably intended to be Cameron's 'galaxy far far away' sandbox. And after the coup he just pulled off, he should certainly be given the benefit of the doubt and the freedom to dabble in his newly created universe. But, sight unseen, I'm not terribly interested. Unlike Star Wars, The Matrix, or Pirates of the Caribbean, there aren't very many interesting characters left to revisit by the end of the first chapter. Aside from our two leads (Jake and Neytiri), pretty much every other worthwhile supporting character is dead by the time the credits roll. Stephen Lang's villainous general, Sigourney Weaver's virtuous scientist, Michelle Rodriguez's side-switching pilot, Neytiri's father, Tsu'Tey (Neytiri's intended and leader of the Na'vi army) all perished by the film's conclusion. Sure we could have Giovanni Ribisi's company man returning to Pandora in some capacity (perhaps reborn as a pacifist?), and Norm Spellman (Joel Moore) and Moat (Neytiri's mother) are still in Pandora, but that's a pretty thin returning supporting cast. While Avatar certainly had its share of interesting characters, most of them didn't make it to the end credits.

Comparatively, Star Wars ended with every single major character able to make some kind of reappearance, save for Peter Cushing's Tarkin. The Matrix had several casualties during the second act (plus a few characters lost to contract disputes), but the main trio of Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity were triumphant, with a resurrected Agent Smith waiting in the wings. Pirates of the Caribbean started its second chapter with its own anti-heroic trio of Jack, Will, and Elizabeth alive and well, plus several notable supporting characters (Jonathan Pryce, Jack Davenport, and several comic pirates) able to carry the load. Part of the fun of a sequel is to be reunited with the characters we loved the first time around. Save perhaps for Zoe Saldana's Neytiri, is there anyone left in the world of Avatar who merits a return trip?

But should a sequel come about, where exactly do you go? Due to the specific nature of the first film's narrative (it was an archtypical story about an indigenous people repelling foreign invaders), the options are somewhat limited. You either deconstruct the mythic template of the first film (The Matrix Reloaded), you challenge the moral compass of the first film (The Dark Knight, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), or you basically retell the same story on a bigger canvas (IE - the corporation returns to Pandora, with an even bigger army) and hope the audience doesn't notice (to be fair, Cameron basically played that trick with Terminator 2: Judgment Day).

The other option, one that Fox wouldn't be too crazy about, is to go smaller, with a more intimate story that is more closely focused on a few characters. The Empire Strikes Back pulled this off and became the most-loved film in the Star Wars franchise, but remember that it was actually somewhat disliked upon release for the very things (a darker tone, a more intimate narrative, an emphasis on character over spectacle) that it is praised for today. While most of the above examples were good if not great sequels, they all had a large cast of characters with which to paint the next chapter of their respective franchises. This is the advantage that Avatar lacks.

So, with that being said, perhaps James Cameron should leave the world of Pandora to other mediums (video games, comic books, etc) where the world can expand at a slower, episodic pace. James Cameron's gamble paid off in every way imaginable, so perhaps its best that he walk away from the table with a full bag of chips. Avatar was a staggeringly powerful work of cinema, but I have no desire to see another chapter of this stand-alone tale.

Scott Mendelson

"My name is Barack Obama and I AM the president."

This is pretty long, but it's well worth at least sampling. Where has this Barack Obama been for the last year? Enjoy and remember for a bit why you voted for him in the first place.

Scott Mendelson

Little Fockers switches release from July 30th to December 22nd.

Deciding that what worked so well last time will work again this time, Universal has moved Little Fockers from its July 30th release date smack dab into Christmas weekend, or December 22nd.  I'm assuming this might have something to do with better than expected in-house buzz for Edgar Wright's Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World, which will now open on August 13th.  It might also have something to do with the fact that Meet the Fockers parlayed a Christmas weekend release in 2004 into a mammoth $279 million domestic gross, which makes it the second highest-grossing comedy of all-time behind Home Alone ($285 million).

Perhaps after the uber-strong January/February 2009 slate, which crippled the Christmas 2008 releases (Bedtime Stories, Marley and Me, Valkyrie), scared off Universal and sent them towards a summer release for what arguably is their biggest franchise.  But after the sustained legs of not only Avatar, but Alvin and the Chipmunks, Sherlock Holmes, and It's Complicated, Universal must have realized/hoped that the blockbuster January 09 business (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, My Blood Valentine, Taken, Gran Torino, etc) was somewhat of a fluke.  On the other hand, the surefire hit will now surely dampen the reception of the Coen Brothers' True Grit  remake (which opens on Saturday the 25th) as well as Michale Gondry's The Green Hornet.  We'll see...

Scott Mendelson

Furry Vengence gets a trailer.

This looks pretty silly, but hopefully it will be closer in quality to George of the Jungle than Dudley Do-Right.  Fraser does this kind of thing better than anyone else, and the casting of other funny people (Ken Jeong, Brooke Shields, and Angela Kinsey) gives a token amount of hope.  Furry Vengeance just got moved from April 2nd to April 30th, so if you can drop off your kids while you go relieve your own childhood with the Nightmare On Elm Street remake.

Scott Mendelson

Review: District 13: Ultimatum (2010)

District 13: Ultimatum
2010
101 minutes
Rated R
Opens in limited theatrical release on February 5th.  Now available on participating On Demand services.

by Scott Mendelson

The original District 13 was not a particularly great movie, but it was a true original and had much to admire.  It contained doozy of a first act, style to spare, and a genuinely angry political subtext at its core.  Much of the film's appeal came from its use of 'parkour', a martial art form that stressed evasive action via adapting one's body to the environment.  In practice, it gave way to several scenes of stars David Belle (the creator of parkour) and Cyril Raffaelli hopping off walls, flying through open holes, and contorting themselves in any which way in order to save the proverbial day.  While the film inexplicably put its two major action scenes in the first act of the picture, the remainder of the film got by on slimy villains and its grimy depiction of a nearly apocalyptic French ghetto.  Unfortunately, this sequel coasts by on even less than that, as the villains are bland, quirky supporting characters are non-existent, and the action scenes are surprisingly lacking, both in quantity and quality.

A token amount of plot - Two years after the events of the first film, the government's promise to reform District 13 and retake it from the ruling drug gangs has been hollow at best.  Corrupt officials are attempting to use the unrest as an excuse to demolish the area and allow the private corporation Harriburton to rebuild, allowing both sides to profit handsomely.  When an apparent execution of several police officers by drug-lords is caught on film, riots break out between the police and the local residents.  Before hero cop Damien Tomosso (Cyril Raffaelli) can even become suspicious, he is framed on a bogus drug charge and forced to call in the aid of the vigilante Leito (David Belle).  Can the two enemies turned partners reunite and again save the district from complete demolition?

While the details are a little different, you'll notice that the core narrative of District 13: Ultimatum is basically the same as the first picture.  Once again runner Leito and fighter Tomasso must team up and prevent government forces from blowing up the crime-stricken projects.  Once again corrupt politicians decide to simply nuke the place and start over rather than attempt to bring reform to the blighted community.  The real-world politics at play are as front-and-center as the last film, and the Iraq occupation is even explicitly mentioned this time around.  There are certainly parallels to the destruction and attempted renovation of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina as well, but that particular parable is left unstated.  The only real twist in the story is the addition of a noble French president who caves in to his corrupt advisers at the first sign of trouble.  Intentional or not, Philippe Torreton's idealistic but seemingly weak French president will certainly strike a chord with progressives currently disappointed with the Bush/Cheney-like policies of US President Barack Obama.  "Always obey the rules," Tomasso utters in a climactic fight scene, "not just when it's convenient".

While the film's politics are certainly noteworthy, most audience members will not be viewing District 13: Ultimatum for a lesson in leftist disappointment at the state of world affairs.  Unfortunately, the action beats in this sequel are shockingly flat and mainly unexciting.  While the first film opened with a stunning foot chase that left audiences in awe (which was copied almost beat for beat in the pilot episode of Chuck), this sequel opens with a half-hearted jog.  While the first film ended its first act with an incredible fight scene/shoot-out in a casino, this film ends its first act with a bland retread where Tomasso again leads a sting that leads to a mass arrest that leads to a major fight scene.  But the pace is languid and the choreography is completely uninspired (the main gimmick, involving the protection of a priceless painting, has been done in several Jackie Chan pictures).  Unlike many sequels that copy the original but improves upon the set-pieces, the action scenes in this second chapter are actually less impressive and less exciting than the first film.  While individual stunts are occasionally impressive, a distressing majority of the action scenes are basically either Leito running in a straight line (on the ground) from villains or Tomasso walking around beating up nameless henchmen or fellow police officers. There is a bit more action overall in this chapter (the first film basically climaxed at the forty-five minute mark), the quality is below the original District 13. 

When a film that is built upon the promise of world-class stunt work and eye-popping action scenes fails to deliver on both counts, it's tough to recommend the picture on any real level.  Fans of the first film will certainly get some amusement out of seeing the two stars back in action (no one else from the first film returns) and the politically-inclined will enjoy seeing their frustrations played out in a somewhat mainstream entertainment, the movie is a disappointing in the core areas that justifies its existence.  Ironically, it opens in limited theatrical release on the same day as the wide release of From Paris With Love, which is directed by the original District 13's helmer, Pierre Morel.  We can only hope that the world of french action films do not disappoint twice in one day.

Grade: C

Surprise (not really)! Warner Bros to release Clash of the Titans in 3D.

As expected by everyone and their sister, Warner Bros. will push the release date of Clash of the Titans back to April 2nd, so as not to directly compete with Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon on March 26th.  As equally expected, Warner has decided to convert the 2D picture to 3D, which is the primary reason for the date change.  Also being more or less confirmed is the equally obvious choice that Warner Bros is going to convert Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts I and II into 3D as well.  The last two films each had about fifteen minutes worth of 3D footage (way before it was cool), so this seems like a pretty obvious next step.  Come what may, it looks like Avatar really did turn out to be a game changer after all.

I'd imagine that Avatar's success will make 3D conversion the 'new normal' for tent-pole films from here on out.  Don't be surprised if Iron Man 2 makes a last-minute 3D switch to compliment its IMAX release, as well as pretty much every action/adventure tent-pole you can think of for the next few years (The Avengers, Star Trek 2, Amazing Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Stranger Tides, etc).  The real question is when we'll start seeing non-action and non-animated pictures utilizing this technology.  Since Warner seems to be leading the way on this (they broke the 3D barrier with The Polar Express back in November 2004), it'll be interesting to see if they decide to convert Sex and the City 2 into 3D as a test case for non-spectacle films.  Of course, once everything is available in 3D, it won't be so special anymore.  And once Blu Ray and TV became able to replicate the 3D experience at home, will studios still bother to spend the extra money on something that won't be unique to the theatrical experience anymore?  We'll see...       

Scott Mendelson

Don't be stupid twice. Whip It on DVD/Blu Ray today.

There was no more heartbreaking box office failure this year than the flopping of Drew Barrymore's Whip It.  I'm not going to reiterate the hows and whys of its collapse, but I will again state that it's a wonderful piece of mainstream entertainment, with rock-solid acting, low-key writing, and a wonderful sense of time and place.  It's one of the year's best films and it's on DVD and Blu Ray today (alas the discs contain only deleted scenes).  You probably missed it theaters, so don't make the same mistake twice.

Scott Mendelson

Whaa? Lionsgate steals Kevin Greutert back for Saw VII.

PREVIOUSLY... on Saw Vs. Paranormal Activity:

Last week, I reported that Paramount had hired Kevin Gruetert, helmer of Saw VI, to direct Paranormal Activity 2. I remarked at the oddity of the situation, as Paranormal Activity has crushed Saw VI (available today on DVD and Blu Ray) at the box office and Lionsgate had instead brought back David Hackl for Saw VII, despite Hackl's Saw V being one of the worst films in the Saw franchise. So Gruetert, who had directed perhaps the best Saw film yet, was snapped up by Paramount to helm the sequel to their new competing horror franchise. Well last night, things got a whole lot weirder.

TODAY... on Saw Vs. Paranormal Activity:
It seems Lionsgate had a contract clause with Gruetert, basically allowing them the option of forcing him to direct another Saw entry if they so chose. Perhaps because they realized that Saw V was terrible, or perhaps because they wanted to get into a pissing match with Paramount, Lionsgate has forced Gruetert to honor his contract and direct Saw VII (in 3D) after all. This leaves Paranormal Activity 2 without a director and less than nine months to get the film into theaters. This also leaves Kevin Gruetert in the position of perhaps making a seventh Saw film that he didn't want to direct in the first place. As for poor, unloved David Hackl, he'll he put on a future Lionsgate project, although I'm not sure what considering how few horror movies Lionsgate makes anymore.

Oddly enough, this isn't the first time a Saw film was more or less directed at knife-point. Darren Lynn Bousman was brought back for Saw IV, somewhat unwillingly and partially in exchange for the chance to make Repo: A Genetic Opera. If you watch the supplemental materials on Saw IV, it's obvious that he's not happy to be there and we all know how Saw IV turned out (worst movie of the entire franchise, natch). I'm thrilled that Greutert is back in the director's chair, but I'd certainly be happier for him if it was purely his choice and not studio politics. I'm curious as to how Paramount will respond to this. In terms of high profile 'gets', I'm sure Wes Craven will be available. Perhaps they'll hire Tyler Perry for Paranormal Activity 2. In which case, the film will have a terrific cast, a Madea cameo, several inspirational tunes, and a ghost that struggles with the fact that her mother allowed her to be sexually molested by said mother's boyfriend.

Scott Mendelson

Review: Edge of Darkness (2010)

Edge of Darkness
2010
118 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

If Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness were released in the 1970s or even the early 1980s, it would have been accepted as a thriller. But, by today's standards, it qualifies a drama with occasional bursts of violence. Foolishly mis-marketed as a riff on Taken, this film is not a thrill-a-minute action picture but rather a slow and sobering story about crippling grief. Based on a 1985 BBC miniseries (also directed by Campbell and pretty terrific in its own specific way), this project was tailored made for Mel Gibson and he does the material proud. In a season where some of our best talents (Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese, Roman Polanski) have crashed and burned with critical disappointments, Martin Campbell delivered a genuinely compelling B-movie that emphasized character and story over visceral thrills.

A token amount of plot: The film basically concerns Boston cop Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson), who sets out to investigate why his adult daughter (Bojana Novakovic) was shotgunned to death on his doorstep in front of his eyes. While the initial working theory is that the murder represents payback for something Craven did in the line of duty, the emotionally-crippled detective soon realizes that his daughter may have been the target all along. Craven receives some unexpected assistance from Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a mysterious 'fix-it' man who is apparently having second thoughts about doing bosses' dirty work. Needless to say, the trail eventually leads to a shadowy corporation and its high-level misdeeds. Will Craven uncover just why his daughter was murdered, and what will it cost him in the process?

The film may not reinvent the wheel, but it is a deliberate and pleasing throwback that takes its plot seriously and allows everyone to act like adults at all times. The intermittent violence packs a wallop because it is taken very seriously and viewed in terms of human loss (even the bad guys complain about collateral damage). At the center of the somewhat run-of-the-mill conspiracy plot are two fantastic performances. Returning to onscreen acting after an eight-year absence, Mel Gibson obviously dominates the proceedings as low-key Boston cop Thomas Craven. The usually flashy Gibson internalizes Craven's mourning, letting you see his despair in his eyes rather than through overt monologue. Furthermore, Gibson remains one of the few male actors who can convincingly play a loving parent without laying on the schmaltz. Winstone has the slightly showier role (no one chews scenery here) as a seemingly decent man who has never really given enough thought to the indecent things he has done in his career. Veteran character actor Jay O. Sanders again plays a cop, but even he is given a heartbreaking moment where he must choose between helping his partner and protecting his family. And while Danny Huston threatens to become mustache-twirlingly devious as one of the heads of 'not-Haliburton', the invaluable Denis O'Hare grounds the backroom treachery and brings a welcome humanity to the 'bad guys'.

Martin Campbell again proves that he makes pictures for adults with adult sensibilities. The film is refreshingly R-rated, both for the occasional bits of blood-stained violence and for the fact that it is a genuine adult thriller. The action finale feels tacked-on, and there are signs of behind-the-scenes tinkering with just a few moments of gratuitous 'action', but the film works as an engaging and emotionally-compelling drama. In an age where every big-studio picture is either a tentpole fantasy epic or a low-budget Oscar bait project, Edge of Darkness is a refreshingly old-fashioned star-driven genre picture. In the end, it's just a damn good movie.

Grade: B+

Number 01 worldwide in 38 days. Avatar breaks Titanic's worldwide record.

I was sure it would never be done in my lifetime. I called in the 'Joe DiMaggio 56-game hitting streak' of box office records. But it has been done. In just 38 days, James Cameron's Avatar has surpassed the $1.843 billion that James Cameron's Titanic amassed in its 41 weeks of theatrical play. We can argue all we want about 3D prices and general ticket price inflation, but this is an incredible feat in any filmgoing era, let alone our splintered generation. Today's audiences have far more entertainment options to keep them out of the theaters. Back in Christmas 1997 and Winter 1998, the Internet was barely in its infancy, bootlegs of any kind were a non-factor, and DVDs barely on the radar. Just as no one expects the season finale of Lost to match the numbers for the finale of MASH, today's moviegoers are far more divided and have far more entertainment options that they did even twelve years ago. I don't think anyone thought Titanic's worldwide record would be topped within a generation. No one thought it would be done so quickly, and by the same filmmaker no less. This is absolutely astonishing, all the more so for the fact that it's not anywhere close to being finished. While the domestic numbers may be curbed by the inevitable loss of IMAX and 3D screens, the international numbers have no real ceiling at this point. Avatar has grossed $1.304 billion in overseas markets alone. There are only four other movies that have ever grossed even half that in overseas receipts. Avatar has today grossed $1.859 billion in global grosses. There are only eight other films that have grossed at least $929 million worldwide, or half that number. Who knows where this movie will stop? Amazing...

Scott Mendelson

Review: Legion (2010)

Legion
2010
100 minutes
Rated R

by Scott Mendelson

There's not very much wrong with Legion, except that it chooses to tell the wrong story and barely has the resources to tell the narrative that it chooses.  The idea of God finally becoming fed up with humanity and launching an extermination is an intriguing one, the kind of thing that brings to mind epic-scale apocalyptic carnage.  Yet the world of Legion primarily exists in a single roadside diner and it tells the tale of but a handful of victims of God's initial wrath.  This is certainly not the first film to tell of world-changing events from the point of view of a single group of isolated characters (Signs, Pontypool, Cloverfield, etc), but this is the first one of this sub-genre which seems to base its storytelling decisions on budgetary limitations. 

A token amount of plot: God has decided to wipe out humanity, having grown tired of watching mankind squander their resources and their lives.  The only hope for our world is a lone rogue angel (Paul Bettany), who still loves us and still has faith in the species that was created in God's image.  He immediately ventures to a rundown greasy spoon, which contains a handful of locals, a few accidental tourists, and a young pregnant waitress (Adrianne Palicki) whose child inexplicably holds the key to humanity's survival.  As the world is attacked by the very forces of God himself, a battle for the very survival of our species takes place in the most unlikely of places.

The film peaks in its moody and character-driven first act.  While the occupants of the doomed restaurant are barely fleshed out, the casting is so spot on that the actors fill in the blanks for us.  Dennis Quaid is grizzled and beaten down by life, Charles S. Dutton is noble and optimistic, and Lucas Black is a simple young man clutching onto his friendship with Palicki as the sole reason to wake up in the morning.  The rest of our main characters are given only a few token details, but the film lets them authentically live and breathe for the entire first third of the picture, so we at least have some emotional investment when the violence starts.  Plus, owing to its mere $26 million budget, there is actually a greater focus on character interaction and narrative than slam-bang supernatural action.

Having said that, the relatively low-budget is a genuine problem for this ambitious picture.  You can see the filmmakers struggling to achieve the bare-minimum visual quality for a theatrical supernatural horror picture, and the action beats are always shot in tight-closeups and edited in a way to best hide the lack of scale.  There's certainly no fault in not wanting to spend $80 million on this honest-to-goodness B-movie, but I've seen cheaper genre pictures that looked better when it counted.  Besides, the lack of funds detracts from the urgency of the picture.  We are told once or twice that the entire world is being overrun by God's minions, but we never once see it or even hear the carnage that surely must be taking place elsewhere.  Even as we are invested in the fates of our leads, we can't help but wonder about the story happening just off-frame.

Still, in the end, Legion is a cheap B-horror thriller with the requisite religious overtones.  Whatever it lacks in production values, it makes up for with solid acting by a better than expected cast.  The picture doesn't quite know when to end, climaxing a good fifteen-minutes after its natural finale, but the first two-thirds of the movie is pretty solid entertainment.  Come what may, Legion may be a victim of its own successes.  It desperately wants to be a real movie, and it's just good enough as an acting treat to make me genuinely mourn its lack of visual oomph.

Grade: C+                               

The 100 'cheesiest' movie lines of all time?

I'm not sure where this person found the time, but this is awfully fun to watch.  I'd argue that it concentrates too heavily on a few films (Batman & Robin, The Wicker Man, Revenge of the Sith), or that some of the clips (Fellowship of the Ring, Face/Off, Jerry Maguire) make perfect emotional sense in their proper context, but why nitpick?  My favorite excerpt comes at 6:46, which is one of the most inexplicable exchanges in cinema history.

Scott Mendelson

Avatar now #02 in US, with no signs of slow down. Weekend box office in review (01/24/10)

It was business as usual this weekend, with Avatar again leading the pack and a well-marketed newcomer fairing well in number two. There was a genuine Golden Globes bump this weekend, with all of the big winners showing much smaller drops than last weekend. Still, the story again is all about Avatar. The big engine that could crossed dropped just 16% in its sixth weekend, taking in $36 million for a record sixth weekend (Titanic had the previous sixth-weekend record with $25 million). Its new domestic total is $552 million. Yup, it crossed $533 million sometime yesterday afternoon, so it has now surpassed The Dark Knight as the second-highest grossing film in the US. And there's a pretty decent chance that it will close out the month of January by toppling Titanic's $600.7 million record. Internationally, at $1.836 billion, it's just a skip and a jump away from Titanic's seemingly insurmountable $1.842 billion worldwide record. Wow... just wow.

Where it goes from there is dependent on how well it's represented at the Oscars and how many 3D screens it can keep when Alice In Wonderland opens on March 5th, the very weekend that Avatar may be pulling an Oscar sweep. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland will take each and every IMAX screen and most of the 3D screens. How ironic that Avatar will finally take a massive box office hit on the very weekend it (most likely) sweeps the Oscars. The biggest film of all time is more or less a limited engagement as a result. Still, I'd be surprised to not see some IMAX screens holding midnight Avatar showings after the first weekend of the Burton quasi-sequel. On the plus side, if Alice In Wonderland under performs (not likely), then Fox may have some leveraging power to return Avatar to some of its 3D screens come March 12th. Of course, there is a steady stream of IMAX and/or 3D releases from March 5th on out, with How to Train Your Dragon, possibly Clash of the Titans (Warner is considering 3D and a date switch to April 2nd for the somewhat finished film), Hubble 3D and eventually Iron Man 2 for the next two months. It's a strange situation (a mega blockbuster being kneecapped by screen losses caused not by lack of grosses but by contractual obligation), but one that most studios would envy.

The big new opener of the weekend was another well-marketed Sony Screen Gems horror picture, Legion. With a saturation-level print campaign, a compelling trailer, and an easy-to-explain concept (fallen angel sides with humanity when God turns wrathful), this one pulled in $18 million for a solid number two finish. I'm sure the religious angle didn't hurt either, as religious horror films often pull in the kind of crowds who wouldn't otherwise be caught dead at a horror picture (IE - the $33 million opening of The Exorcism of Emily Rose). Ironically, this Paul Bettany God-power horror flick opened on the same weekend as his poorly-received Charles Darwin biopic, Creation. The latter opened on seven screens for a total gross of $52,000 (a poor $7,429 per screen average). Facing direct demo competition, the also somewhat spiritual Book of Eli tumbled a slightly higher-than-expected 48%, grossing $17 million and ending day ten with an otherwise solid $62 million. $100 million is still a possibility for the Denzel Washington end-of-the-world action flick, but it will easily reach its $80 million budget regardless.

The next opener was Dwayne Johnson's The Tooth Fairy. The $14.5 million opening wasn't a disaster, but it's tragically his second-lowest opening weekend, behind only The Gridiron Gang's $14.4 million. Whether boys were just turned off by posters showing off The Rock in fairy wings, or whether the trailers wrongly sold cheap gags instead of an actual story, this family comedy didn't play nearly as well as The Game Plan. Still, this one only cost $48 million so it'll be just fine in the long run. Oh well, maybe next time he has a movie to promote, he'll just do what he does best, which is host Saturday Night Live. Our country needs The Rock Obama now more than ever. Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones dropped 48% in its second weekend of wide-release, with a $8.8 million second-weekend and a $31.6 million domestic total. It's not a spectacular total, but Paramount should be commended for its successful teen-girl marketing campaign and for avoiding complete catastrophe from this very expensive Oscar-bait that wasn't. Hopefully it can get a decent boost from Stanley Tucci's (deserved) Oscar nomination in a couple weeks, which will likely be the film's only nomination.

The final major opener was Extraordinary Measures. The CBS Film's debut parlayed lousy reviews and a marketing campaign that made the picture look like a cheap made-for-TV movie into an opening weekend of just $7 million. Both actors (Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser) were coming off major hits (Ford's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Fraser's The Mummy: Curse of the Dragon Emperor and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D), so this has to be a come down even for a project that is well outside their comfort zone. Weep not for either of them. Harrison Ford has the buzzed-about comedy (something he should have been doing for ages) Morning Glory opening in July, which teams him with Rachel McAdams, Jeff Goldblum, Diane Keaton, and Patrick Wilson. Brendan Fraser has Furry Vengeance for April 2nd, which is an animals and kids fantasy comedy that is right in his safe zone. Weep instead for CBS Films, which inexplicably spent $50 million making and marketing something that should have cost under $20 million.

Next we once again discuss the Christmas Three. Sherlock Holmes was aided by Robert Downey Jr's inexplicable Golden Globes win (great speech though), as the film fell just 28% despite losing 500 screens for a new total of $191 million. It will cross $200 million next weekend, so best of luck on the sequel. Crossing $200 million this weekend was Alvin and the Chipmunks II, which ended the weekend with $204 million. Both are going ever-higher on the 'biggest films never to be number 01 list'. Crossing $100 million in the next couple days will be It's Complicated and The Princess and the Frog, which ended their weekends with $98 million and $99 million respectively. It's Complicated fell just 23%, implying that those who wanted to see Golden Globe winner Meryl Streep in theaters chose the available film over the actual winning movie (Julie and Julia) that's been on DVD for months.

Golden Globe, SAG winner, and now-presumptive Oscar front-runner Sandra Bullock saw The Blind Side drop just 20% in its tenth weekend, with a new total of $234 million. It will soon surpass My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($241 million) as the biggest-grossing film that is a female star-vehicle (the latter is the very highest-grossing film never to reach number one). Up in the Air (down 18%) will cross the $70 million mark in the next few days, and it has a decent shot at $100 million if it can score a major Oscar victory come March. As of now, it's already the seventh-highest grossing film to never reach the top-five on any given weekend, and it could reach number one for that milestone when it's finished. Crazy Heart capitalized on Jeff Bridges's Golden Globe and SAG win, expanding to 93 screens and earning over $15,000 per screen. The country music drama has now earned $3.9 million and should see a slow and steady upswing as Jeff Bridges marches toward his (at-long-last) Oscar win. As usual, the rest of the list is filled with Oscar contenders that are struggling to survive in limited release (An Education, A Single Man, Broken Embraces, The Young Victoria), and good luck to all of them.

That's it for this weekend. Next weekend has the high-profile return of Mel Gibson, as action-god Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, Mask of Zorro, Casino Royale, Green Lantern) remakes his 1980s BBC miniseries Edge of Darkness. Also opening wide is the Kristen Bell/Josh Duhamel romantic comedy, When In Rome, which boasts the least appealing marketing campaign in recent memory (crappy trailer + creepy poster = not promising). Thanks to my love for all things Campbell (the guy directed Homicide's "Three Men and Adena" for goodness sake), count me as one Jewish moviegoer who's excited to see Mel Gibson's acting comeback.

Scott Mendelson

Conan O'Brien says farewell to The Tonight Show and NBC.

Avatar featurette on motion-capture acting.

I still contend that Zoe Saldana deserves an Oscar nomination, as her emotionally powerful work as Netyri is a big reason why Avatar works as more than a special effects spectacle.  This terrific little featurette is probably too late to affect the Academy voting process, but it should do much to dispel the notion that motion-capture work isn't 'real acting'.

Scott Mendelson 

President Barack Obama and Senator Russ Feingold speak out on Supreme Court's Decision in Citizens United v. FEC.

On the plus side, the outrage from today's insane Supreme Court ruling seems to be pretty wide-spread.  Here's hoping they act on the words below:

From progressive champion Russ Feingold...

"It is important to note that the decision does not affect McCain-Feingold’s soft money ban, which will continue to prevent corporate contributions to the political parties from corrupting the political process. But this decision was a terrible mistake. Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president. Ignoring important principles of judicial restraint and respect for precedent, the Court has given corporate money a breathtaking new role in federal campaigns. Just six years ago, the Court said that the prohibition on corporations and unions dipping into their treasuries to influence campaigns was ‘firmly embedded in our law.’ Yet this Court has just upended that prohibition, and a century's worth of campaign finance law designed to stem corruption in government. The American people will pay dearly for this decision when, more than ever, their voices are drowned out by corporate spending in our federal elections. In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pass legislation restoring as many of the critical restraints on corporate control of our elections as possible.

From President Barack Obama...

With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics. It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans. This ruling gives the special interests and their lobbyists even more power in Washington--while undermining the influence of average Americans who make small contributions to support their preferred candidates. That's why I am instructing my Administration to get to work immediately with Congress on this issue. We are going to talk with bipartisan Congressional leaders to develop a forceful response to this decision. The public interest requires nothing less.

Get to it people. This is more important than re-election. Hell, this is more important than health care. Absolutely nothing can be accomplished if the corporate opposition has unlimited resources to push back the voice of the people and the will of the electorate. Today's decision is nothing less than giving corporate America the right to vote, in a manner which puts their vote far above yours. Fix this, or we'll find someone who will.

Scott Mendelson

Supreme Court opens floodgates for unlimited corporate political donations.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This isn't a left/right issue. If this decision stands, democracy is finished, period.  Not only will corporations be able to donate unlimited amounts of money for or against any candidate they choose (in the form of unlimited campaign ads at any time during the election season), but they can continue to enforce their will during the off-season via the threat of billions of dollars worth of issue ads or direct election ads directed at any particular politician. Imagine $10 billion worth of political ads bombing the airwaves just a week before the mid-term elections, all coming from a single corporation and advocating a specific viewpoint on a candidate or ballot initiative. When corporations control the outcome of the political process, that's called fascism. I wish I were exaggerating, but this is really, really bad

Scott Mendelson

NBC's Late-Night War II explained in computer animation.

As much as I'd love to know what's actually being said, the visuals speak for themselves. Enjoy...

Okay... here's the English version. Frankly, it's funnier when you just have the visuals.

Scott Mendelson

Macgruber gets a trailer.. and it's actually kinda funny?

If you're going to do a cheap cash-in, this is how you do it. You hire real actors (Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Ryan Phillippe), you set the film in something resembling the real world, and you make it look shiny and expensive. I must concede that I chuckled at least three times in this trailer, which was about three more than I was expecting. Kilmer has always been undervalued as a comedian, so it should be a blast to watch him ham it up as the heavy. Oddly enough, the film feels less like a riff on Macgyver and more like a spoof of 24, which is arguably a more topical reference template anyway. Still, while others may be hoping for a Richard Dean Anderson cameo (hopefully looking healthier than he did on his March 2009 SNL appearance), I'd personally flip for a climactic Michael Des Barres reveal. If you don't know who that is, you probably never watched Macgyver.

Scott Mendelson

Holy Sh^#@, Batman! Someone has way too much time on their hands.

Wow... just wow. Someone has far more time on their hands than I do, and I'm not sure that's a bad thing. The sad part is, I actually can pick out the episodes for many of these. I still contend that the original 1960s Batman series was a masterpiece of pop art, but this is pretty amusing regardless. Enjoy.

Scott Mendelson

Irony of the day - Saw VI director Kevin Greutert to direct Paranormal Activity 2

So let me get this straight... Kevin Greutert more or less saves the Saw series by making one of the, if not THE best installment in the long-running series and pulling the franchise out of a two-film artistic slump. But, the film more or less flops, taking in less overall ($27.5 million) than the previous sequels grossed in their opening weekends. Lionsgate, in their infinite wisdom, chooses not to bring back Greutert to direct the next chapter (Saw VII in 3D). No, instead they rehire David Hackl, the man responsible for Saw V, the least-liked film in the franchise (it was a better film than IV, but was slow and cheap-looking). But it gets better. Remember that other horror movie that went wide over Saw VI's opening weekend? That $15,000 glorified home movie that scared the pants off of unsuspecting teenagers and absolutely crushed Saw VI the weekend before Halloween? Yeah, well, guess who's being hired to direct Paranormal Activity 2?


Yup, Kevin Greutert is being hired to helm the franchise that defeated his own franchise (he also edited Saws 2, 3, 4, and 5) while David Heckl is being brought back to take over the long-running franchise that he more or less killed via a terrible fourth sequel. And the two competing horror franchises are once again being pitted head-to-head on October 22nd. My head is spinning just thinking about the sheer zaniness at play here. On the plus side, I'm now officially interested in Paranormal Activity 2. But then, I'm one of six people who actually preferred Joe Berlinger's Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 to the con-job that was the first film. Artisan's forced tinkering aside, at least the sequel was a real film with actual ideas. Anyway, it looks like horror fans will once again be forced to choose between the new and the old. But, oddity of oddities, the long running Tobin Bell franchise will now be in the inexplicable position of being the underdog once more. Good luck to both franchises.

Scott Mendelson

Avatar remains unstoppable, crossing $500 million, while The Book of Eli impresses. Weekend box office review for 01/18/10.

Wow, this is my 1000th post on Mendelson's Memos. Yay for me. Anyway, I've written a bit about Avatar's unstoppable run elsewhere, so I won't repeat myself too much here. For the record, the James Cameron Golden-Globe winner dropped just 15% in weekend five, for a $42.8 million three-day take and a $54.6 million four-day take. The previous record for a fifth weekend was Titanic's $30 million take. Each of Avatar's three January weekends ($68 million, $50 million, and now $41 million) have scored the top three January weekends of all time. The next biggest is Cloverfield's $40 million opening from 2008. Its new total is $505 million. The film has topped the $500 million mark in just 32 days, twelve days less than The Dark Knight's milestone. At this rate, it will sail past Titanic's $600 million domestic gross by either the end of January or beginning of February. At well over $1.6 billion in worldwide grosses, it is less than $200 million away from Titanic's unfathomable $1.8 billion total. Frankly, there are only so many different ways to say "holy f&^!ing sh$&!", so let's move on.


While it had to settle for number two, Denzel Washington's The Book of Eli was no slouch by any standard. It opened with $32.7 million over three days and $38 million over four days. Despite my misgivings about the somewhat goofy trailers, this was sold as a hard R-rated action flick that showcased Washington killing people in all kinds of merry ways, and that was exactly the right sell. This was Washington's second-biggest three-day debut of all time, behind American Gangster's $43.5 million take in November 2007. Still, you could argue that the latter was helped by costar Russell Crowe, so we can certainly count this as Washington's biggest opening for a stand-alone star vehicle. Regardless, this Hughes brothers picture (their first since From Hell in 2001) marks a strong commercial comeback as the rest of their pictures combined have grossed just over the $8o million that this picture cost to produce. With likely strong overseas numbers in store, this is likely a solid profit maker for Warner Bros and all else involved.

Next up is the at-long-last wide-release of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones. Delayed at the last minute from its intended December 12th release date, it has instead languished in a month-long, three-screen limited run where it has amassed just $444,000. Still, the subject matter and the popularity of the original novel was enough to get the critically-slammed fantasy to a $17 million three-day and $20.5 million four-day opening weekend. Paramount has quietly resold this movie as a teen-girl friendly drama about an obsessed father avenging his murdered daughter. Like Mel Gibson's upcoming Edge of Darkness, the marketing for The Lovely Bones was retooled to fit into the Taken mold. For now, the resale seems to have worked. Still, the picture cost $100 million so it still has some work to do. It will be interesting to see how fans of the original book react to this relatively unfaithful adaptation. None the less, my personal dislike of the film aside, Peter Jackson has more than earned a mulligan and I just hope that Stanley Tucci gets his much deserved Oscar nomination.

Next up are the three 'victims of Avatar'. While Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, Sherlock Holmes, and It's Complicated have performed superbly since their Christmas weekend release, they have been completely overshadowed by the stunning success of you-know-what. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel has now amassed $196 million, Sherlock Holmes has delivered $180 million, and It's Complicated has grossed $88 million. The Robert Downey Jr vehicle (no, he didn't deserve a Golden Globe but he gave a lovely speech) and the Chipmunk epic will both end up in the top-five list for 'biggest grossing movies never to be number one for a weekend' (Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 both temporarily knocked Avatar off the perch on their respective opening days). Expect sequels for both within the next two years or so. It's Complicated will likely cross $100 million just as the Oscar nominations are announced It's hoping for a screenplay nod and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Alec Baldwin.

Positioned in between the bigger Christmas releases and It's Complicated was the Jackie Chan family comedy, The Spy Next Door. Despite looking like a film that was made specifically to hurt longtime fans of the aging action star, this Pacifier rip-off opened with a $9.6 million three-day and $13 million four-day start. Come what may, low-intensity kid-friendly adventures may be the place where Jackie Chan plays out his career, and even his Karate Kid remake is getting something resembling good buzz. Amy Adams's Leap Year has now grossed $17 million on a $19 million budget. The Blind Side added another $6.5 million over four days, bringing up its domestic total to $227 million. Sandra Bullock's (deserved) Golden Globe win will only increase the film's cachet, as will Bullock's inevitable Oscar nomination (where she's neck and neck with Meryl Streep) and the film's possible Best Picture nomination. The other big Oscar bait movie that could, George Clooney's Up in the Air, brought its domestic cum to $64 million. That means that this film is now officially Clooney's fifth sixth-highest grosser and his biggest movie not involving Batman, all-star Vegas heists, or CGI waves.

There is not much else to report. Daybreakers plummeted 67% in its second three-day weekend, ending its eleventh day with $25 million (on a budget of $20 million). The Princess and the Frog is one or two weekends away from the $100 million mark, so let's make it happen people. A Single Man expanded to over 200 screens and crossed the $3 million mark. Any additional heat will depend on Colin Firth's likely Best Actor nomination. Golden Globe winner Jeff Bridges's Crazy Heart had a modest expansion to 74 screens and crossed $2.2 million in the bargain. Expect a slow and steady upswing as the beloved Bridges is now the popular favorite to finally win an Oscar this February. Finally, the last of the Oscar bait films went into limited release this weekend, as the Christopher Plummer/Helen Mirren biopic The Last Station opened on 3 screens and grossed $98,700 over four days.

Join us next Sunday for a relatively active weekend. The wide openers are Extraordinary Measures, the medical mystery/true-life drama with Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford, the supernatural horror pic Legion (about an angel who defends humanity against a wrathful God), and Dwayne the Rock Johnson debuts his latest family friendly vehicle, The Tooth Fairy (also starring Billy Crystal and Ashley Judd). Opening in limited release are The Paranoids and To Save A Life, two films I know absolutely nothing about.

Scott Mendelson