'Spider-Man 4' abandons one web for another

By Sarah Sluis

After preliminary reports that Spider-Man 4 was falling apart, Variety announced today that director Sam Raimi and star Tobey Maguire are exiting the project. The kicker? Columbia Pictures already has another script in place that will relaunch Spider-Man as a teenager, leaving them with little to do but find new cast and crew.

In a world where sequels are often dragged out past their due date, becoming more expensive to make even as interest in the original concept wanes, I was impressed by this business decision. Not only did Columbia walk away from a project that had millions of dollars of sunk development costs, the studio had already hedged their bets by developing a script that wouldn't require their expensive director or star. I suspect that this alternative script might have been used as a bargaining chip to keep the demands of the cast and crew down (or it might have come from plots for Spider-Man 5 or 6, since the screenwriter was tasked with those scripts), but then was recognized as a viable project in its own right. The choice also seemed to be a perfect example of a management style that is now becoming part of business school curricula that emphasizes critical thinking over following through on pre-planned strategies.

The key to management success may be "thinking through

clashing priorities and potential options, rather than hewing to any

pre-planned strategy." A college dean happened upon the success of this approach when he interviewed his son's retiring principal. The principal made effective use of this kind of critical thinking, one the dean supposed had its only natural environment in the occupation of "a hotshot, investment bank-oriented star lawyer."

In the case of Spider-Man, in one corner you have proven talent that is more expensive but can be trusted to bring in a quality project with large returns. The talent is also your problem, because they have a lot of power, which was delaying the project--in the last report before the talent's exit, the project was at a standstill because no one could agree on a villain. In the other corner with the teenage Spider-Man project, you move up a re-launch that probably would have happened anyway, have more control over the project than the talent, and a smaller budget that will be easier to recoup. There's more risk, but you're still dealing with a franchise. That's a lot of high-octane decision-making going on, and Columbia ultimately chose the second option. Though both sides claimed an amicable parting, I can only wish I knew what happened behind closed doors. I'll have to settle for a rewatching of Vince Chase's attempt to land the role of superhero Aquaman in "Entourage," a worthy dramatization of the deal-making process.

'Daybreakers,' 'Leap Year' finish behind holiday releases

By Sarah Sluis

Avatar led the pack for the fourth week in a row, posting a gross three times higher than its closest competitor, $48.5 million. Its week-over-week drop totaled just 29%, compared to drops in the in the 35-55% for the rest of the top ten. Its international gross, a few times that of its domestic gross, helped push the film to a wordwide $1.3 billion. It's the international market, not the domestic one, which will give this movie its best chance at beating the $1.8 billion worldwide record of Titanic--also directed by James Cameron.

The three films debuting this weekend cumulatively made less than Avatar. Vampire pic Daybreakers fared the best of the bunch, earning $15 million and the #4 spot.

Below Daybreakers, Amy Adams romance Leap Year finished sixth with $9.1 million. It failed to exceed the gross of its three-week-old competition, It's Complicated. The Nancy Meyers-directed romantic comedy earned another $11 million, bringing its three-week total to $76 million.

Youth in Revolt opened ninth with $7 million. With just 1,873 theatres in its release, the movie made efficient use of its screens, finishing with a per-screen average of $3,700, higher than half the movies in the top ten.

Many of the end-of-the-year specialty releases are expanding through January, posting significant increases in their grosses from week to week. The Young Victoria added 311 theatres for a 476-theatre release. The humanizing look at the budding monarch brought in $1 million, a 23% boost from the previous week. Fox Searchlight's Crazy Heart went from 12 to 33 theatres and earned $460,000.

After shedding theatres for the past two months, The Men Who Stare at Goats added back 120 theatres, boosting its gross 189% to $120,000. The week before, it jumped 30% unexpectedly--perhaps viewers are paying attention to those "For Your Consideration" ads?

The most successful of the films positioned as awards winners, Up in the Air, has grossed $54.7 million so far for Paramount. This week it enjoyed a $7.1 million gross and settled into its fourth week in the top ten. Its timely success at the box office could give it that extra push come awards season.

This Friday, The Spy Next Door (Jackie Chan + children) will compete with dystopic sci-fi tale The Book of Eli, as well as an expansion of The Lovely Bones.

'Leap Year' and 'Youth in Revolt' add laughs to the box-office lineup

By Sarah Sluis

This weekend gives us the first wide releases of 2010. Falling into the fairly recognizable genres of romantic comedy, teen comedy, and vampire (I'm counting that as a genre now), these films should open in the middle of the top ten. Christmastime releases like Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel still have enough steam to finish ahead of the new offerings.

"As fresh as a hunk of week-old

soda bread," Leap Year (2,511 theatres) is one of those predictable romantic comedies usually released during an off time of the year. Watching the trailer pretty much gives away the whole plot, including a twist that happens at least an hour in, so it would be a good choice for those who...well...like to talk during a movie? Like knowing that all of the fighting between Amy Adams and Matthew Goode is just an hour-long procrastination before their inevitable union? The romcom is predicted to finish below Daybreakers but above Youth in Revolt.

Daybreakers (2,523 theatres) brings viewers to a futuristic world where vampires feed off an ever-diminishing group of human survivors. While our critic Maitland McDonagh praises the movie for details like "coffee bars where cups of

java come with blood instead of milk, she finds "the story under this rich surface is simplistic and derivative." The most likely candidates to buy tickets for this vampire dystopia will be young, male frequent moviegoers who have already seen Avatar and Sherlock Holmes.

A fresh installment in the teen comedy genre, Youth in Revolt (1,873 theatres) will have particular hold among teens and twentysomethings. With plenty of laughs and an unrealistically adult level of dialogue, Michael Cera does what he does best: acting like a nerdy, preternaturally aware teen. Cera has been doing extensive web and viral promos, including one with the cast of breakout hit "Jersey Shore," which may give the movie an edge at the box office. It's currently tracking to finish the lowest out these new releases, so an upset could indicate an underestimation of these viral efforts.

On Monday we'll circle back to see Avatar inching toward Titanic's all-time record, the top returnees adding even more coin to their flush pockets, and if Daybreakers, Leap Year, and Youth in Revolt finish in their expected order.

Movie '127 Hours' will have no dialogue for one hour

By Sarah Sluis

In a flash of genius, I thought I had finally figured out how they are going to make a movie about the guy that was trapped under a boulder for five days and survived by cutting off his arm. Flashbacks. Slumdog Millionaire-style flashbacks.

Those of you who have seen that Oscar-winning smash Slumdog Millionaire last year may remember that the entire story is composed of flashbacks motivated by a police interrogation with the young male protagonist. Detained by inspectors after winning "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?," he summons a different memory with each question they ask. The screenwriters, Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle (the latter directing), will reprise these roles for their new movie, entitled 127 Hours. And flashbacks seem like a perfect strategy to dramatize a man who is literally trapped in one place for five days.

But it appears Beaufoy and Boyle are going in a different direction. There is apparently no dialogue for the first hour. Like Cast Away, without the volleyball. What!?

Well, if there's one person who can pull it off, it would have to be James Franco, who was just announced as the lead today. First off, he looks similar to Aron Ralston, the mountaineer who inspired the story. The actor has spent some time at Columbia and guest starring on "General Hospital," (which he called a "performance art" experiment), an unusual combination that gives him an aura of intellectualism which could work for such a role. Fear not, it will probably hit theatres later this year, with production starting in March.

'I'm with Cancer' casts Anna Kendrick and lands a new director

By Sarah Sluis

If you go to a film entitled I'm with Cancer, you have some idea of what to expect. Cancer = sad. The pun on "I'm with child" = funny. It also implies a kind of child/pet relationship, as if cancer is just this novel thing that pops out of you and starts going goo-goo-ga-ga.

The project also brings to mind a cautionary tale, Funny People. The rather generically titled Judd Apatow movie, which also involved serious illness, didn't live up to expectations this summer. It might have mixed up its tone too much, switching from comedy to drama and back, a strategy that left viewers with an odd, instead of cathartic, emotional experience.

Anna Kendrick just signed on to I'm with Cancer today, joining James McAvoy (the guy with cancer) and Seth Rogen (the guy's friend). Kendrick will play a psychologist who is supposed to help the cancer patient, but is a bit naive about the process. Jonathan Levine will now direct after the original director dropped out due to location difference--an odd-sounding, unusually neutral reason if I ever heard one.

But given the tricky subject of the comedy, how will people react? I found the best response in this script review, which was done by a woman with cancer. She ends up liking the script, though she notes that:

"I'm with Cancer approaches a serious disease with humor and light-heartedness. But to those who know people who have died from cancer, I fear the tone of the story may be off-putting and come across as flippant and disrespectful. It's not, but cancer evokes a lot of emotion in people and personal experiences will most definitely play into one's interpretation of this story."

Point taken. At this point, I'm thinking the tone is a touch more irreverent than Patch Adams, another story about finding humor in the face of death. What this project ultimately has in its favor is its real-life connection. The screenwriter, Will Reiser, based the story on his own experiences, and Rogen is a good friend both in real life and in the movie. While Funny People was purely fictional, Patch Adams (which, if I remember correctly, made me both laugh and cry) was also based on a true story. When you're dealing with a tonally complex story, real-life experiences may be the best way to anchor a film and prevent it from going all over the place.

Sandra Bullock, Redbox, and 'Avatar': signs of change in the movie business

By Sarah Sluis

A quick scan of today's top stories shows records falling, new material, genres and stars bringing in big dollars at the box office, and the rental business changing--all signs of an exciting, change-filled year ahead.

First off, Sandra Bullock became the first sole female headliner to bring a movie to $200 million domestically with The Blind Side. A couple caveats: "Sole headliner" is kind of an arbitrary distinction. In fact, it mattered little to me that both what's-their-names Nia Vardalos and John Corbett both received credit on My Big Fat Greek Wedding. And add in inflation, and Pretty Woman's $178.4 million gross twenty years ago doesn't look so shabby (though perhaps Richard Gere had something to do with it). So while I appreciate the record, it's not like a female has never brought a film to $200 million before, it's just that they had some prominent supporting actors or co-stars that also received billing. Now that I've said my piece, congratulations to Sandra Bullock! There's a reason your goofy films like Miss Congeniality always merit watching when they come up on cable, and why you're a part of so many people's DVD collections.

Next up, Redbox, which added $1 billion to the rental market. DVD sales are down a lot, Blockbuster is down a little, but Redbox and Netflix have come in with two models that make renting a movie easy and economical. Even illegal downloaders pay for the convenience of these products. As a Manhattanite, I've never seen a Redbox (though I've heard of sightings of them in Brooklyn), but rest assured, if I were driving to strip malls, I'd be using them for their convenience and pricing structure. I also love that while Netflix is working the market of "deep cuts," using a robust recommendation system to get people to discover unlikely movies, Redbox has been working only on the small percentage of new releases with hyperawareness. Who ever thought that rental markets could be divided in this way? It's pretty clever.

Finally, Avatar, which I'm sure I will be talking about on this blog for months to come. It's the first adult broad-appeal 3D movie of the era, and it's breaking records left and right. A few weeks into its run, my mother just got around to telling me she plans to see it. With this kind of slow build of awareness through the grapevine, this movie will be playing in theatres for months to come. What does James Cameron have up his sleeve that will give him the #1 and #2 movie of all time? In fact, it's that neglected Hollywood demographic: women. Both of these two films have paired action and romance against a background of special-effects and spectacle, making it a must-see for both men and women. Avatar doesn't have as much of a love story as Titanic, so it probably won't do as well. It's worth noting that Cameron'sTerminator films and Aliens also have some of the most memorable female action heroes of all time, minus the love stories that figure into Avatar and Titanic, so that just might be the difference.

'Avatar' continues its reign with the highest-grossing third weekend ever

By Sarah Sluis

Three weeks into Avatar's run, the movie has kept its altitude when most other movies would have dropped off by tens of millions by now. Cue box-office records falling. This weekend it grossed $68.3 million, and broke the records for top gross on New Year's Day, as well as the highest-grossing third weekend ever. It's now the #4 top-grossing movie worldwide, below Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. While James Cameron's Titanic ended up with $1.8 billion worldwide and won't be unseated anytime soon, his Avatar only has to earn another $100 million before it assumes the #2 spot worldwide: give it a week or so.

Will it be possible for Avatar to submerge Titanic? At this point, it's outpacing Titanic's first three weeks, but then again, so were the movies in the #2 and #3 spots for worldwide gross. All the buzz and projections have the movie placing behind Titanic when the dust settles, but the sci-fi spectacle could end up getting closer than predicted. It's also worth noting that although the movie has placed #4 worldwide, it's still #15 domestically, where stalwarts like Star Wars and E.T., released before foreign box office had as big of a share, remain.

The only new release of the week, Sony Picture Classics' awards contender The White Ribbon, grossed $20,000 per location in a three-theatre release. Another one of the distributor's releases, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, came away with the highest per-screen average of the weekend, $32,000.

Most of the returnees in the top ten posted minimal drops or modest gains. The worst-off was Sherlock Holmes, which fell 38% to $38 million. The biggest gain came from The Princess and the Frog, which added 11% to its total to finish with $10 million, followed closely by a 10.3% gain from The Blind Side, which finished two spots higher than Frog with $12.6 million.

Awards favorite Up in the Air also generated a healthy number of ticket sales, going up .7% from last week to make $11.3 million in ticket sales.

This Friday a romance, comedy, and vampire movie will debut in theatres, but don't expect any of them to grab the top spot from Avatar.