'J. Edgar': Is this the trailer of an Oscar contender?

By Sarah Sluis

I love early fall. As the weather changes, all the trailers for the hotly anticipated holiday releases drop, hinting at what's in store for audiences. I've already been disappointed by We Bought a Zoo's maudlin sell and shocked by The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn's racy content. Now comes the trailer for director Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar, a biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime head of the FBI. This is the kind of movie that has "Oscar" written all over it, but execution is everything. The trailer raised expectations for me, with plenty of surprises and interesting facts to pique my interest and make me want to learn more about this man's political impact.

Here are some of the surprises and highlights from the trailer:

1. The biopic will cover his childhood. Judi Dench plays Hoover's mother, and their close relationship is definitely going to be used to explain his hunger for power. Say hello to Freudian mother issues.

2. Star spotting. Shirley Temple pops up in the trailer, as does another starlet with a platinum perm. When it comes to the D.C. elite, I'm pretty sure all the major leaders and power players will be represented.

3. Hoover goes to the front lines! I pictured the movie being more of an office drama, but Hoover appears to be present during certain raids. Explosions, machine guns, wiretapping and mob arrests will help amp up the drama of the picture.

4. Corruption! Hoover's known for abusing his power throughout his decades-long reign, so what to focus on? The trailer includes some illegal peeking at the file of Eleanor Roosevelt (suspected of having trysts with other women), and second, there's implications of blackmailing of the Kennedy clan. Newsreel footage of Martin Luther King Jr.'s and JFK's assassination also figured into the trailer, so Hoover's response to those events should also show up.

5. Homoeroticism? Hoover was suspected of being gay, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) isn't the type of person to be shy about exploring that aspect of his life. In the trailer, there's a look and an emotional exchange between his "number two" Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer from The Social Network) and Hoover, but it appears to be more on Tolson's side than Hoover's. Based on the trailer alone, it appears that Hoover's too tightly wound to come out of the closet.

Before watching the preview, I was thinking to myself "Another biopic?" Didn't Leonardo DiCaprio already do the aging thing with The Aviator? And hasn't Clint Eastwood done enough serious historical dramas? Now that I've watched the trailer, I'm sold, and excited to learn more about Hoover beyond what's on his already juicy Wikipedia page.

Friday Halloween scares off moviegoers

By Sarah Sluis

Halloween decimated the box office this weekend.  Returning films showed huge drops on Friday, and
new releases opened to disappointing numbers that they were unable to recoup on Saturday and Sunday.  #1 release High School Musical 3, for example, dropped 90% on Friday, earning around $1 million, but then dropped only around 40% from last week for both Saturday and Sunday, earning $14 million for those two days to bring its weekend total to $15 million.  With a Halloween-free weekend, the film would have been on track to make over $20 million.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno opened at #2 with a less-than-stellar take of $10.6 million.  As with other teen-oriented flicks that receive advance buzz for their lewdness (i.e. American Pie), web comments suggest that exhibitors took extra steps to prevent underage patrons from viewing the film, including checking IDs at point of entry, that might have affected the film's gross.  Zack and Miri will have competition next week with R-rated, less objectionably titled Role Models, which might cut into the film's ability to rebound next week.

Horror picture The Haunting of Molly Hartley earned $6 million at #5 (coming in below Saw V's $10 million take at #3).  Both films did comparatively well on Halloween, earning more than #1 release HSM3, but even the scare pictures earned less on Halloween than they did on Saturday and Sunday.

Changeling pulled in $9.4 million, earning $5k per theatre; however, in terms of a Clint Eastwood or Angelina Jolie vehicle, the results are underwhelming.  The film still has room to grow, both from
increasing the scale of its release and by rebounding from the Halloween weekend.  THR's Risky Business blog, however, attributes the film's relatively weak opening to the tepid critical response of the film, noting a correlation between the RottenTomatoes scores of Eastwood's films and their box-office revenues.

Other films in the top ten included Beverly Hills Chihuahua (#6, $4.7 million), now only $8 million under Eagle Eye's total of $94 million and inching towards $100 million.  The Secret Life of Bees dropped only 33% to finish at #7 with $4 million.  Action/crime pictures Max Payne (#8, $3.7 million),  Eagle Eye (#9, $3.4 million), and Pride & Glory (#10, $3.2 million) rounded out the bottom five.  Unlike the films in the top five, these films had below-average box-office drops, averaging 30-40% less than the previous week.

This week Madagascar 2 will release, competing for the G-rated audience, along with R-rated Role Models, specialty picture and European sensation The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Soul Men, and Repo: The Genetic Opera.  Check back on Friday for a further rundown of the week's releases.

Full box office results viewable here.

'Gran Torino' revs up for December release

By Sarah Sluis

Clint Eastwood's Changeling releases this Friday, and Warner Bros. has confirmed that his second
2008 film, Gran Torino, will release December 17th.  While the week (and month) is crowded with A-list stars and action pictures, as well as the studios' Oscar contenders, mediocre reviews and last-minute juggling of release dates (i.e. The Reader) may thin the ranks and give Gran Torino a better chance at the gold statue.  However, studios are also cutting back on their Oscar promotional budgets this year, as mentioned by Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart in his blog.  He faults the economy, as well as a lack of enthusiasm for projects (doubtful), as the reason for his presumable poor Oscar-related ad sales to date.

In development news, Warner Bros. has enlisted McG to direct spy thriller Dead Spy Running.  The Charlie's Angels director is currently finishing up action sequel Terminator Salvation.  The material comes from an as-yet unpublished book by Jon Stock, a British author and journalist who spent time as a foreign correspondent.  I see two positive forces at work here:  Stock's experience reporting abroad will certainly enhance the book's authenticity, and with Terminator Salvation McG will accumulate another action credential, presumably one that will take the over-the-top, humorous action of the Charlie's Angels films in another direction.

On a bit of a roll, Warner Bros. also bought an action pitch for a film version of last year's rescue of fifteen hostages from the Colombian jungle.   The rescue was the culmination of five years of effort after three Americans were captured in 2003.  Their employer, defense and aerospace company Northrup Grumman, (who knows why they were in Colombia in the first place...) hired McLarty Associates to consult on the rescue.  Interestingly, this same consulting firm will actually produce the film through their spin-off company, McLarty Media.  I find this an odd mix.  While no more biased than an autobiography, what company would want to hire a consulting firm knowing that any juicy story might be considered for a movie pitch?  Moreover, will the company consider the film a chance to airbrush less attractive parts of the story?  New York Times foreign correspondent Peter Landesman, who recently wrote an adaptation of a Deep Throat biography, will script the project, so perhaps those questions will fall to him instead of the producers.