The Thought Pot will be a weekly news column bringing you the latest in tinseltown news. From more geeky news about the upcoming project The Expendables to the latest on our beloved Dark Knight, here it is!
The Dark Knight hits 1 Billion
Its All About The Billions
Just announced on Friday, The Dark Knight hit the prestigious billion dollar club. Re-entering theatres in late January with only $4 million left to catch up into the select circle, Warner Bros enters its more recent popular movie with other titles such as Titanic, LOTR: Return of the King and POTC: Dead Man’s Chest. With continual Oscar press on the nominations The Dark Knight has received following with the strong marketing campaign for the upcoming film Watchmen, Warner Bros has quite the showcase of popular films.
My Thought: It’s pretty neat to know that Americans overall weren’t the only ones who really enjoyed The Dark Knight, I sure did. Congratulations to Warner Bros on this little revenue accomplishment but at the same time I would be sweating bullets if I were Zack Snyder. With the anticipation for Watchmen building up even higher as early reviews and strong marketing campaigns come out, I’d be sweating bullets. Then again I would even more so because you helmed the adaptation for the most popular graphic novel under the same studio that made The Dark Knight. Yep, I’d be scared. Best of luck Snyder.
More Twilight fans .......
Eclipse During A New Moon
Summit Entertainment, still following high on the fire of the breakout franchise Twilight, have announced the release date for the third installation to the Stephanie Meyer series, Eclipse. Set for a June 30, 2010 release date, there is no particular directors set to helm the film other than the already confirmed actor names the likes of Robert Pattinson and Kirsten Stewart. Currently New Moon, the second of the four book series, is rounding out the end of pre-production as they get ready to start shooting in March.
My Thought: My goodness, Summit is really tumbling over themselves for this franchise. I do understand that it is one of their more recent big time franchises, but at the same time they are making rash decisions and are planning release dates that could possibly not be met. Technically they are giving the cast and crew of the Twilight movies an even lesser amount of time to film within less than a year compared to the gap between Twilight and New Moon. There were quite a few flaws in Twilight which, if I were still a fan of the books, would make me worry about the outcomes of the following stories.
Expanding The Expendables
During this past week there have been countless amounts of confirmations and denials flying about for the Sylvester Stallone helmed action pic, The Expendables. Danny Trejo joined the testosterone filled cast, possible whispers linger about now of the Machete star being one of the key villains. Other big names such as Sandra Bullock and Ben Kingsley have floated about in the rumor mill, but Bullock is crossed off the list. Towards the end of the week she bagged a role in Blindside. One of the most eye catching news tibits of them all came out earlier in the week when reports that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger would be making a cameo appearance. Unfortunately for action junkies everywhere, the rumors were quickly shot down.
My Thought: It really does make me wonder who they’ll possibly consider now as the female lead for this great chunk of awesome. The only God gorgeous woman I can think of though that could possibly fit the bill for this is Salma Hayek. Other than that, I was flipping around the television earlier and heard on TMZ (I know, I’m surprised myself) that our beloved California govern-nator already filmed his cameo earlier this week. I hope that’s true, because the movie would explode of awesome even more than before.
Rourke Not Suiting Up?
Throughout this past week Mickey Rourke became the flurry of talk among the news headlines. Other than the obvious finger crossings for the actor to bag an Oscar this Sunday, the rumor mill has been hard at work with the murmurs of Iron Man 2. Due to Marvel’s apparent money squeezing, the actor was offered $250,000 for his services playing a possible villain in the iron clad sequel. Unfortunately much to the dismay of fans, the word on the street claims that Rourke is turning down the deal. Currently signed on to play the lead of the Slyvester Stallone pic The Expendables, so it is possible that now The Wrestler star does not have the time to film the Marvel sequel.
My Thought: I’d rather see him in The Expendables to be quite honest. Don’t get me wrong, I really did like Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr is one of my favorite actors, but I’d prefer him in the ultimate action film of this decade (so it already seems to be).
SAG Chat: Should We Sign Or No?
Apparently the answer for the Screen Actors Guild would be no as they continue the ongoing stalemate with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Rejecting yet another offer from the AMPTP, the guild will continue on trying to concoct a way to reach a deal that will meet their demands. This will be SAG’s eighth month on the continuing feud with the studios. Possible talks can rekindle for strike authorization, but with the percentage agreeing to it from the guild having to be 75%, the odds of the vote even being put into effect are against them.
My Thought: Why this is still going on is beyond me. The fact that this still hasn’t been resolved is pretty surprising, but if the studios haven’t backed down at all and an actual strike won’t happen, shouldn’t they cave in at this point? I don’t know, that’s just me.
Box Office Time!: Madea Trumps Taken
The newest installment of the Tyler Perry plays turned to feature films, Madea Goes To Jail, reeked in an estimated 41 million for the weekend. Taken and Coraline respectively slink down to second and third. Another film that opened this Oscar weekend, Fired Up, barely made the top ten with 6 million. The rest of the top ten is followed below.
Box Office (Feb 20-22)
1. Madea Goes to Jail $41.1 Mil
2. Taken $11.4 Mil
3. Coraline $11 Mil
4. He’s Just Not That Into You $8.5 Mil
5. Slumdog Millionaire $8 Mil
6. Friday the 13th (2009) $7.8 Mil
7. Confessions of a Shopoholic $7 Mil
8. Paul Blart: Mall Cop $7 Mil
9. Fired Up $6 Mil
10. The International $4.4 Mil
My Thought: Not really surprised that people went to see Madea Goes To Jail, seeing that Tyler Perry has such a big fan base and that said film was one of two films opening this week. Also, to all who have not seen Coraline yet, make sure you go out this week and watch it before Friday in 3D. On Friday the Jonas Brothers concert movie in 3D will open in theaters and shove all of the Coraline showings to 2D, so check it out while you still can, its worth it!
Movies To Poison/Grace the Screen on 2/28:
- Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concern Experience
- Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
- Crossing Over
Stay tuned next week for the latest happenings in the movie industry. That’s it for this week’s Thought Pot, and keep on watching the big screen!
