Forecast: Six Movies Set to Battle on Chaotic Weekend

With no fewer than six movies fighting for the top spot, it's shaping up to be a hectic weekend at the box office. Anna Faris comedy What's Your Number? reaches around 3,100 screens at 3,002 theaters, while Daniel Craig thrillerDream House opens at roughly 2,850 screens at 2,660 locations and cancer comedy 50/50 debuts on around 2,600 screens at 2,458 theaters. Also, Christian flickCourageous hits approximately 1,400 screens at 1,161 locations, though it's unlikely to be in contention for the lead. Last week's top movies The Lion King (in 3D),Moneyball and Dolphin Tale have all generated solid word-of-mouth and should still be in the hunt. With most of these movies poised for low-teen millions (with the likely exception of Courageous), any one that reaches $15 million should be in line for a win.

What's Your Number? is the first Anna Faris vehicle since 2008's The House Bunny, which opened to $14.5 million on its way to $48.2 million. The movie's marketing is attempting to reach women with its interesting, relatable premise and the use of Pink's "Raise Your Glass" in most of the advertisements. This Summer's Bridesmaids and Bad Teacher reaffirmed there's an appetite for female-driven R-rated comedies, and while What's Your Number will surely open lower, it will benefit from being the only significant movie out right now specifically targeting adult women.

While 50/50's marketing does point out that the main character (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has cancer, the movie is mostly being framed as an upbeat, heartwarming comedy with the clever tagline "Beat the Odds." While Gordon-Levitt's star has been on the rise following (500) Days of Summer and Inception, the bigger name on50/50 is Seth Rogen. This is actually Rogen's second cancer comedy after 2009's Funny People, which only opened to $22.7 million despite the presence of Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow. Even with great reviews and strong word-of-mouth from advanced screenings, 50/50won't match Funny People's debut, though it doesn't need to in order to be in contention this weekend.

Surprisingly, Dream House has had a fairly quiet marketing effort considering the star power of Daniel Craig,Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts (though none have a ton of box office strength). Advertisements have toed the line between supernatural and psychological thriller, and many appear to spoil the central mystery regarding what happened to Craig's character's family. The genre ambiguity and potential spoiler should hold the movie back, and its results will likely err closer to movies in the less-successful psychological thriller genre. Universal Pictures is serving as the domestic distributor, and production company Morgan Creek is currently forecasting between $8 and $10 million for the weekend.

Family drama Courageous is from the writers and director of Fireproof, and it's looking to target the same Christian audience that drove that movie to a $6.8 million opening at the same time in 2008. Courageous is hitting significantly more theaters, though (1,161 vs. 839), and was the top-selling new release on Fandango as of Wednesday. That tends to be indicative of a lot of demand within a concentrated subset (in this case Christians), and the movie probably won't have a huge impact on the box office this weekend. Sony is distributing through their TriStar label, and they are shooting for a $5 to $6 million debut.

As of Thursday afternoon, 50/50 was leading in Box Office Mojo's "when will you see" polling with over 18 percent of users opting to see it on opening weekend. That's off from Funny People's 27.2 percent but almost double last year's disease comedy/drama Love and Other Drugs (9.5 percent). Dream House was second with 11 percent, followed by What's Your Number? at 8.3 percent (slightly up from The House Bunny's 7.8 percent) andCourageous at a fairly strong 6.3 percent.

Forecast (Sept. 30-Oct. 2)
1. What's Your Number? - $14.2
2. The Lion King - $14.1
3. 50/50 - $13.9
4. Dolphin Tale - $13.7
5. Moneyball - $13.1
6. Dream House - $10.5
7. Courageous - $7.5

Bar for Success
What's Your Number? needs to end up around The House Bunny's $14.5 million, while low-teen millions seems fair for 50/50 and Dream House. With a wider release than Fireproof, Courageous needs to at least match that movie's $6.8 million. 

New ‘Dark Shadows’ Image Casts Light on Cast

Entertainment Weekly has the first official image from Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, featuring the entire cast of recognizable faces (albeit stoic or smug here).  Until now, much of the talk has been about how we are getting yet another collaboration between the inseparable duo of Burton and Johnny Depp (their 8th), and a ghastly snapshot of the latter in full make-up on set looking like a vampiric Michael Jackson (image below, via Celebuzz).

But EW’s portrait should, hopefully, shift the conversation to what a stellar cast Burton has assembled to adapt the ’60s supernatural soap opera into another of his gothic stories.

Depp stands creepily in the center as Barnabas Collins, a 175-year-old vampire freed from his tomb to return to Collinwood Manor two centuries later. A blonde Eva Green lurks in the background as Barnabas’ witchy betrayer, Angelique Brouchard. Burton’s fantastic domestic partner, Helena Bonham Carter, will play the family’s live-in psychiatrist Dr. Julia Hoffman. Michelle Pfieffer plays matriarch Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, flanked by her rebellious daughter Carolyn (Chloe Moretz of Kick-Ass fame), a precocious son named David (Gulliver McGrath), and her brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), plus groundskeeper Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) and David’s nanny, Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote).

Click to enlarge:

(Left to right) Helena Bonham Carter, Chloe Moretz, Eva Green, Gulliver McGrath, Bella Heathcote, Johnny Depp, Ray Shirley, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Michelle Pfieffer

Dark Shadows is scheduled for May 11, 2012.

New Line to Remake ‘Mortal Kombat’ Movie

With a few recent hires, New Line Cinema is showing it is serious about rebooting Mortal Kombat on the big screen.

The studio has signed a deal with Kevin Tancharoen, who directed both the Fame remake and Glee: The 3D Concert Movie. But before you can say “he directed what?” Tancharoen also directed an eye-catching eight-minute short film titled Mortal Kombat: Rebirth (embedded below) that starred Michael Jai White as Jax and, Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade, among others as Johnny Cage, Scorpion, and Baraka.

It was intended as a “proof of concept” pitch to New Line, owned by Warner Bros (which bought Midway Games in May 2009 after the company filed for bankruptcy). While WB didn’t greenlight to a feature film from the short — in fact, they were upset by it until they saw the buzz the unauthorized spec generated — the studio did slide the idea over to WB Digital Distribution, who locked him in for a 10-episode web series based in the video game world of mortals in brutal “kombat.”

Oren Uziel, who wrote “Rebirth,” is returning to pen the feature-length script, according toDeadline. I was rather disappointed in his Black List script The Kitchen Sink (thoughts here), which Jonah Hill may make his directorial debut, but Uziel seems to have won fans with his gritty interpretation of the classic fighting games, so maybe this won’t be a disaster.

WB’s Mortal Kombat movie in 1995 was, though, and 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilationonly made it worse. While the proposed reboot will have nothing to do with the previous two, or the web series, can Tancharoen overcome the stigma surrounding the movie series and video game movies in general? Or will this be another campy fighting flick like its predecessors and other laughable attempts at adaptation, like Street Fighter?

Another Earth (2011) - Movie Synopsis & Plot

Release Date:	July 22, 2011 (Limited)
On DVD:	November 29, 2011
Genre:	Drama, Sci-Fi
Director:	Mike Cahill
Writer:	Mike Cahill, Brit Marling
Cast:	William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, Flint Beverage
Studio:	Fox Searchlight Pictures
Running Time:	92 minutes
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, some sexuality, nudity and brief drug use.

In "Another Earth," Rhoda Williams (Marling), a bright young woman accepted into MIT's astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. A brilliant composer, John Burroughs (Mapother), has just reached the pinnacle of his profession and is about to have a second child. On the eve of the discovery of a duplicate Earth, tragedy strikes and the lives of these strangers become irrevocably intertwined.

‘The Deep Blue Sea’ Trailer – Rachel Weisz Self-Destructs with Tom Hiddleston

Posted on Friday, September 23rd, 2011 by Angie Han

2011′s been pretty hit or miss with regard to dramatic romances. The year got off to a pretty strong start with Jane Eyrein the first quarter, but the more recent Water for Elephants and One Day both fell flat. I’m waiting to be swept off my feet by something beautiful and tragic, and I’ve got hopes that Terence Davies‘ The Deep Blue Seawill be just the film to do that.

Based on a 1952 play by Terence Rattigan, the story revoles around Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz), wife of judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). When she strikes up a passionate affair with alcoholic former Royal Air Force pilot Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), she starts down a path that may lead to her ultimate destruction. Watch the trailer after the jump.

[via First Showing]

I can’t say I care for the trailer. I don’t know whether it’s the swelling music or just a poor choice of clips, but it struck me as overly sappy. Still, there are signs The Deep Blue Seawill prove to be just the downer love story I’m looking for. Incredibly attractive leads, check. Gorgeous period costumes, check. Lovely cinematography, check. Profound emotional suffering cracking through the veneer of stereotypically British restraint, check.

The early reviews I’ve been able to find have been mostly, if not overwhelmingly, positive. While some outlets, like The Hollywood Reporter, complained that it was ultimately “bloodless,” The Playlist praised it as “beautiful, woozy, and heartbreaking,” and Variety wrote that Davies was “in fine form.”

The new adaptation marks the second time that Rattigan’s play has made the leap from stage to screen. In 1955, Anatole Litvak directed a film adaptation starring Vivian Leigh and Kenneth More as Hester and Freddie. In the theater, Hester has also been played by Peggy Ashcroft and Blythe Danner.

The Deep Blue Sea is set to open November 25in the U.K. No U.S. release date has been set, but it’s expected that Music Box Films will put the movie in theaters sometime this year.

Synopsis:

Hester Collyer (Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz) leads a privileged life in 1950s London as the beautiful wife of high court judge Sir William Collyer (Simon Russell Beale). To the shock of those around her, she walks out on her marriage to move in with young ex-RAF pilot, Freddie Page (Tom Hiddleston), with whom she has fallen passionately in love.

Superhero Bits: Iron Man 3, The Flash, Dark Knight Rises, Captain America, The Avengers, Green Hornet

Posted on Monday, September 26th, 2011 by Germain Lussier

Where and when will Iron Man 3 begin shooting? What does the Captain America: The First Avenger alternate Blu-ray cover look like? Which superheroes have really wimpy weaknesses? Besides the James Cameron one, how many Spider-Man movies never got made? Does Seth Rogen think a Green Hornet sequel is possible? And why does Doc Ock have Jonas Brothers pictures on his wall? Read about all this and more in today’s Superhero Bits.

Comic Book Movie found a series of cool concept art that was created for Captain America: The First Avenger by artist Nathan Schroeder. Click on either link to learn more.

Look what was spotted in LA recently! It’s the Tumbler from The Dark Knight Rises. Thanks to Curbed.

According to Latino Review, Iron Man 3 will most likely be shooting in Wilmington, North Carolina with shooting commencing in June.

Everyone knows about the famous superhero weaknesses: Superman and Kryptonite, Spider-Man and pretty girls, but what about the worst, most ridiculous ones? Cracked has great list including the photo above of Venom, who can’t deal with fire. (From Russ: well, fire’s not that wimpy. If it’ll scare off xenomorphs, it has to be worthy of respect.)

To that end, we all can list every superhero’s power but what power does Nick Fury have? How about The Punisher? Tintin? Jonah Hex? io9 answers it all in a list of the 10 superheroes you didn’t know had powers.

Is this game really not out yet? MTV Multiplayer has a new, exclusive Batman Arkham City trailer featuring The Joker.

Cobie Smulders was on the How I Met Your Mother Podcast recently (via CBM) and spoke at length about her experiences on The Avengers. Nothing earth-shattering, as usual, but there’s a ton of good stuff here, such as:

I had no idea what it was gonna be like at all. I was so happy to see a friendly face in Joss Whedon because I know him socially. – But [the film] was huge; the magnitude of it. I mean, just the amount of people it takes to make a film like this and move out to Albuquerque, New Mexico; People were working on the movie almost seven months before I arrived there.

io9 has a very well-researched article about the seedy side of Spider-Man movies, mainly a bunch that never got made including a Cannon version in the 1980s that considered a stuntman named Scott Lava to play the lead.

Photographer Ian Pool did a really clever series of photos that show what superheros do on their day off. Filmmaker James Gunn (via Blastr) turned us on to these, including Doc Ock jonesing over the Jonas Brothers.

Shawn Levy, director of Real Steel, spoke to Collider about his work on The Flash movie. Head there for more, but here’s a quote:

I oversaw a draft for about three-and-a-half months. And, at that time, I learned two things. One, if you’re going to take on a character like that… I was still the family comedy guy. And I just felt like, I gotta get a few more under my belt before I can claim the legitimacy of making a movie like that. And that’s what I’m doing, to be very honest. I’m not saying I have a master plan to go back to The Flash. In the end, The Flash went away because Justice League was gonna happen. And then it didn’t happen. To my great dismay, because I would have been first in line for that, too.

Anne Hathaway In Full Catwoman Suit On ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Set

Posted on Sunday, September 25th, 2011 by Germain Lussier

After a grueling, spy photo filled shoot in Pittsburgh, PA, Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises has been semi-quietly shooting in Los Angeles, CA for the past few weeks. And while several set photos and videos have leaked of various vehicles, stunts and more, nothing has been particularly exciting. Until now.

A new set of spy photos have surfaced that show Anne Hathaway in what we can only assume in her full Catwoman costume as it’s slightly different from the official photo above. In addition, a video has come online revealing a potentially major spoiler with her character. Check it all out after the jump.

Images removed at request of Splash News.

Notice that, as stated in previous reports, it looks as if the costume is basically just the goggles from the top shot, flipped up into ears.

And then there’s this video from Nolan Fans (via Comic Book Movie). It’s very small but there’s a potentially a major spoiler in it about Catwoman. I’ll reveal it after the video.

At about 25 seconds, you’ll see Batman hug someone before loading into the Batwing. That is Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I guess she’s not as big a villain as one might have thought.

What do you think about this?

http://www.slashfilm.com/anne-hathaway-full-catwoman-suit-the-dark-knight-rises-set/#more-112618