Record-breaking 'Fast Five' has high-octane finish

By Sarah Sluis

Universal celebrated its highest opening gross, ever, with a release that didn't even occur during the "peak" summer and holiday weekends. Fast Five sped to first with $83.6 million, the highest opening weekend of the year. Theatre owners have been suffering through a terrible slump in recent months, so this influx of ticket buyers should help assuage concerns. The action sequel played well across all audiences, and its positive reviews should give the Vin Diesel/Paul Walker vehicle mileage in coming weeks.

Prom opened below expectations, finishing with just $5 million. Disney invested just $9 million in the movie's production, however, and it's sure to be a successful staple of Disney Channel programming in coming years. The audience was young and over 80% female, so it's possible some families opted for the more universally appealing Rio.

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil also disappointed in the blockbuster-dominated weekend, earning just $4.1 million. With two better-known CG toons in the top ten, Rio and Hop, it's no wonder this movie failed to spark to audiences. Rio enjoyed its perch at number two with a sub-50% drop and another $14.4 million. In its first post-Easter weekend, Hop fell precipitously, losing 79% of its audience to finish with $2.5 million.

Director Werner Herzog's latest documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, had an impressive $25,000 per-screen average on five screens. As one of the first in the indie/documentary genre to be filmed in 3D, the film should inspire curiosity and drive viewers to see the movie in theatres, not on Netflix.

Horror comedy Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, which had a fairly aggressive 875-screen release, failed to attract viewers. It averaged just $1,000 per screen for a total of $885,000.

This Friday, rich-poor wedding comedy Jumping the Broom will hit theatres, along with rom-com Something Borrowed. The real behemoth will be Thor, the Greek god/comic book action extravaganza. It may be spring, but summer movie season has begun.

'Fast Five' revving up for a blockbuster weekend

By Sarah Sluis

It's not even May yet, but this weekend should bring the first summer-size blockbuster hit, Fast Five, which will saturate the market with 3,643 theatres. Pundits are predicting the film could haul in up to $70 million, tens of millions more than anything that's hit the box office this year. What's more, despite being both the fourth sequel and a car chase action movie, critics are singing their praises, giving it an overall 78% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. FJI critic Daniel Eagan singled out the movie's "delirious action sequences" and concluded that it "condenses everything good about the series into a state-of-the-art thrill ride."

Many high schoolers are just weeks away from their own proms, so what better way to prepare than to catch Disney's Prom (2,730 theatres)? In fairness, the scrubbed-clean Disney version of Prom (no lose-your-virginity pacts la American Pie) will probably attract an audience more tween than teen. According to critic Kirk Honeycutt, the movie has "a cheerful good nature and a solid cast of youngsters," and will probably please the intended audience, but not adults. Disney estimates the movie will open just under $10 million.

Five years after Hoodwinked, the Red Riding Hood redux film Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil will hit 2,505 theatres, 72% of them 3D. Hayden Panettiere voices the lead role, taking over for Anne Hathaway. Critic Frank Lovece acknowledges that the first film was a hit according to independent animation standards, but he's not so kind to the sequel, faulting the "primordial" CG animation and "hackneyed pop-culture references," which date back to the last couple of decades. Like Prom, this animated sequel should debut under $10 million, a relic of when the Weinstein Co. lost its momentum.

Finally, the horror-comedy spoof Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (862 theatres) will target itself toward horror buffs. Based on a comic book, the movie centers on a detective that specializes in the undead (zombies, vampires, etc.). His business card reads "No pulse? No problem."

Those that like a splash more blood can check out director Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins (3 theatres). Technically a samurai pic (jidaigeki), Miike's latest effort "bathe[s the genre] in a steady downpour of blood, mud and filth," according to critic Maitland McDonagh.

After receiving a warm reception on the festival circuit, Werner Herzog's documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams will start its release with 5 theatres. Shot in "terrific" 3D, critic Doris Toumarkine enjoyed his footage of the Chauvet Caves, and found Herzog's "enthusiasm and awe...contagious."

On Monday, we'll see if Fast Five can get up to that 70 MPH box-office figure, if tweens show an iota of their High School Musical devotion for Prom, and if Hoodwinked Too! is able to steal some thunder from Rio.

DOC NYC Fest: Werner Herzog's 3D doc 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams'

By Sarah Sluis

Werner Herzog returns to the documentary format in Cave of Forgotten Dreams, a 3D look at the recently discovered caves in Chauvet, France, which is open only to researchers. The film will be one of the gala presentations at the DOC NYC Fest. The Nov. 3, 7pm screening has already sold out--not surprising since it will include a Q&A with Herzog--but persistent viewers can always try standby.

First off: The 3D. Herzog's crew filmed in 3D, and the results are mixed. For the scenes within the cave, the 3D works effectively, adding a sense of hyper-reality and contours to the drawings. In other spots, it looks terrible--3D and shaky camera movements do not mix.

In his narration, Herzog lets us know what his crew was up against: just four of his crew could enter at one time, and cold panel lights were all that could be used to illuminate the paintings. The crew was restricted to a metal walkway, so as not to disturb the cave bear prints, bones, and other artifacts lying on the ground. While the limited access can be frustrating, in one case it works in the movie's favor. On a stalactite, a drawing of a woman's legs and pubic area is married with that of a buffalo, revealing a primordial sense of mythology that lingers today: the half animal, half person. However, the crew can barely access the area, giving us just a glimpse. Later, they return to get a better view with a camera attached to a pole, although it captures just slightly more detail. The sequence recreates the same feeling of unlocking a puzzle that the researchers themselves must feel. As we look with Herzog about the rest of the vast and remote chamber, which cannot be extensively explored because of the high levels of carbon dioxide, the audience senses the possibility of the unknown. It's not a "Cave of Forgotten Dreams," but of fleeting ones, with understanding and access just beyond our grasp.

Herzog seizes on these mystical aspects. At one point, he asks everyone in the cave to be quiet, leaving us with the sound of dripping water, echoes, and a heartbeat. This Herzog touch elevates the movie a step above documentaries of its type, but at times it can feel forced, as when he asks an interviewee rather contrived questions about his dreams concerning the cave.

Herzog's ambitious look at the Chauvet caves does not entirely deliver, but it's a worthy diversion that offers a peek into a little-seen artifact of human history.

Is a documentary about caves the next 'Avatar'?

By Sarah Sluis

Werner Herzog is a director like no other, switching between narrative films and documentaries and always

keeping the unexpected in focus. His latest work, the 3D documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, was picked up by IFC at the Toronto International Film Festival. I can only imagine how stunning it would be to conceptualize the depth and spacing of caves on the big screen. What's more, Herzog had access to the freshly discovered Chauvet cave in south France and its ancient paintings. Kudos to IFC for picking this one up.

Interestingly, reactions on the use of 3D in the film were totally mixed:

Cinematical had this to say about the 3D:

"Apparently the resurgent 3-D gimmick has now infected the realm of low-budget documentary filmmaking -- and the gimmick does this film no favors. Even using the finest cameras in the world, 3-D has proven itself to be an inconsistent film companion at best, but given the cameras that Herzog's crew are using ... it just doesn't work. When the camera holds still and simply focuses on one of the concave walls on which are emblazoned massive horses, the 3-D gives us a little extra depth and detail -- but when the camera starts moving the 3-D becomes a consistent annoyance."

Screen Daily was more kind:

"Herzog's decision to shoot in 3-D is the film's greatest asset. When

one expert decides to demonstrate the use of hunting spears they come

hurtling from the screen into the lap of the viewer.This is a rare

instance of the 3-D appearing gimmicky. Most of the time it enhances

the depth of perspective as we glimpse the art and travel through the

claustrophobic caves. Crystals sparkle and it feels like being back

among the fireflies on Pandora in Avatar as you truly feel you could

reach out and touch the stalactites or brush your hand across a

painting."

My verdict? I'll have to see the film to decide.

Elsewhere in the 3D world, Jeffrey Katzenberg bemoaned shoddy 2D to 3D conversions and prescription 3d glasses are in the works. Another indie director (at least to American audiences), Takashi Miike (known for his truly horrifying movie Audition) announced that he will film his next movie in 3D. The 1962 Japanese film Harakiri (Seppuku), which centers on a man who seeks revenge after his son-in-law is forced into performing harakiri, will get the remake treatment. The ritual suicide can be meted down as punishment for a crime or act of dishonor, with the offender executing himself by inserting a knife into his abdomen in a left-to-right motion (read more than you ever wanted to know about the ritual here).

With 3D films being produced in so many corners of the marketplace, and theatres equipped to show them, I don't think 3D will be leaving anytime soon.