'Gravity's' record-setting haul flies past expectations

While many of us were expecting Gravity to achieve great financial heights over its opening weekend, the 3D thriller performed even better than predicted. The latest film from Alfonso Cuaron, his first since 2006’s Children of Men (don’t call it a comeback), earned a soaring $55.6 million this past Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It now holds the record for the largest opening in October, outpacing previous record-holder Paranormal Activity 3, which clocked in at $52.6 million back in 2011. Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Gravity’s impressive haul is its breakdown: 80% of the film’s revenue came from 3D showings, amounting to roughly $44 million in sales. With #Gravity blowing up social media, I think it’s safe to call the movie a cultural phenomenon, granting pop-culture enthusiasts a much-needed trend on which to expound following the end of last week’s hot topic, “Breaking Bad.” Both star Sandra Bullock and her chatty partner-in-space George Clooney can also thank the survival flick for giving them their best – biggest – domestic opening ever.

More in-line with last week’s expectations and predictions, Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck’s Runner Runner failed to drum up much foot traffic. The stars’ action/drama feature earned a disappointing $7.6 million in domestic box-office; its international gross has been tallied at $23.6 million. Luckily, the movie only cost roughly $30 million to make, so stars and studio alike can pretty much cut their losses on this one and, much like Gigli or JT’s blonde curls, move beyond it in the interest of making wiser choices. (Let’s hope Ben Affleck’s turn in the new Batman movie falls into the latter category!)

The charming Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 continues to hold strong sway with audiences. The animated sequel boasted the second-best weekend behind Gravity, earning $21.5 million and bringing its total domestic earnings up to $60.5 million.

Tom Hanks’ new, captivating thriller Captain Phillips, based on a true sequence of events involving modern-day pirates, also saw some enthusiastic responses when it opened for several preview showings this past weekend.  On average, theaters at most of the 800 screening locations were 75% full, with many playing to sold-out crowds. The movie opens wide this coming weekend.

Though we could write all day about box office grosses and who’s out-drawing whom, we’ll end today’s recap with an update on the late James Gandolfini’s final feature, Enough Said. The romantic comedy co-starring the woman with an infallible sense of comedic timing, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, finally cracked the top 10 over the weekend, earning $5.4 million.  It will expand to around 650 more theatres this Friday.

'Justice League' to answer 'The Avengers'

Comic book naïf that I am, I thought that The Avengers was the only time superheroes from separate comic universes joined together to fight evil. I was wrong. Turns out Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, the Green Lantern, the Flash (and the lesser-known Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl) have their own crime-fighting gang, dubbed the Justice League. The comic book was turned into an animated series that ran on the Cartoon Network in the early aughts. Now Warner Bros., the studio behind the The Dark Knight Rises, is working on a film treatment of the Justice League. Will Beall (upcoming The Gangster Squad) will write a script that will team together the DC Comics superheroes.

Just as Disney owns Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. owns DC Comics. Both studios have been aggressively working on giving the comic book heroes their own movies. Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and The Avengers have been Disney's biggest hits, while The Dark Knight was a huge success for Warner Bros. The latter studio has also had some bad misses--like Jonah Hex (which grossed just $10 million) or the lackluster Green Lantern (a "mere" $117 million).

This isn't the first time Warner Bros. has tried to put together a Justice League film. Back in 2008, a version that was already cast fell apart due to a lack of tax breaks and the WGA strike. A couple of years ago, ScreenRant catalogued the various stages of Warner Bros.' DC Comics projects. A lot of them still aren't off the ground. Besides Justice League, it seems that audiences will be most likely to see a version of Wonder Woman or The Flash in the near future. This summer holds both The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. Through 2014, Disney has Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 lined up, but Warner Bros. doesn't have any DC Comics productions--they're putting their muscle behind a little project known as The Hobbit. Given the long production cycle and extensive special effects that go into a superhero movie, along with Warner Bros. many other big-budget films, it may be a while before Batman joins forces with his DC Comics companions.

 

What we learned about Pixar's 2012 release 'Brave'

By Sarah Sluis

The past few years of Pixar movies have been a joy for adults. WALL-E, Up, and Toy Story 3 were visually stunning, emotionally resonant films that rekindled the taste for animation among those that had abandoned the format. This year's Cars 2 may be beautiful, but the story is more kid-focused and targeted at that machinery-obsessed demographic that includes many boys. For those that were let down by this year's Pixar movie, the trailer for Brave promises more of the brand of Pixar that adults love.

1. It may be fairy tale-inspired, but it's no Tangled. This actually made me sad. I loved the luminous look of Disney's Rapunzel tale, which was filled with color and light rendered in golden hues. Brave is going for a harsher, naturalistic look that matches its medieval setting. I'm holding out for the likelihood that there might be brighter scenes not included in the one-minute trailer.

2. Noticeable technical innovation. Hair is notoriously difficult to computer-animate, so it's always a good place to analyze the work of the animators. At :40, Princess Merida's hair bounces softly. The movement struck me as incredibly naturalistic. These are the kind of people who tap Ph.D.'s in fluid simulation to create waves, so I'm sure months of work went into creating the motion and look of Merida's prominent red curly mane.

3. The Stonehenge mystery. Some of the opening shots include rocks in a Stonehenge-like structure. The only problem is that the movie is set in Scotland while Stonehenge is in southern England. There might be a way around this: A 12th century Arthurian legend purports that Merlin remotely assembled the structure from Ireland. At least there's precedent for creative license in this manner. Now we just need to get to the bottom of what those floating blue orbs of light mean.

4. A female heroine. Princess Merida will be the first female Pixar heroine. In the trailer she's riding horses through bear-infested woods and shooting arrows. As a sidenote, what is it with young female action heroines and their graceful weapon, a bow and arrow? This year's Hanna used it to hunt, and next March's The Hunger Games will feature Katniss, whose weapon of choice is a bow and arrow. Merida appears to be no exception, perhaps following in the footsteps of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt.

5. A Scottish lead. Reese Witherspoon was originally supposed to voice Merida, but she's been replaced with Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald ("Boardwalk Empire"). Witherspoon may have been too expensive or busy, or perhaps Pixar just wanted a real Scottish brogue. Since we don't hear her voice in the trailer, it's too soon to tell what Macdonald will bring to the table.

Brave is set for a June 22, 2012, release. Disney's website offers just a cryptic description. Merida defies tradition, causing trouble. She then goes to a witch for help, unleashing a curse that she must then fix in order to save the kingdom. The original title, The Bear and the Bow, evoked more of a fairy-tale feel, but it was also more revealing in terms of plot. We see both a bear and a bow in the trailer. I suspect that Merida's showdown with the bear is either her initial act of defiance or seals the ill-conceived wish granted by the witch. The answer is just a year away.

Trailer Roundup: 'Love and Other Drugs' and 'How Do You Know'

By Sarah Sluis

As the summer winds down, I take a look at the two recently released trailers for the fall/winter movie season.

'Love and Other Drugs'

Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal (who were briefly paired together in Brokeback Mountain) star in Love and Other Drugs, which I had pegged as a romance with some dark comedy thrown in. Based on a memoir by a Viagra pharmaceutical rep, it led me to expect something with a little bit of The Insider in it. After all, pharma salespeople are rather morally ambiguous characters, since their job is to persuade doctors to prescribe more of their drug, regardless of what is the best medical decision for the patient

Enter the trailer:

Do I like Love and Other Drugs more or less after seeing the trailer? Less. Why? The trailer makes the movie sound too much like a typical romantic comedy. Worse, it gives away moments that must take place towards the end of the movie, including crying (presumably after a break-up) and Gyllenhaal's character trying to catch up with the Hathaway character on a bus (which is usually the scene right before they kiss and go to closing credits). It's possible that the movie's premise has just been sanitized for a public that's presumably skittish about anything out of the ordinary, and the strongest sign that this is true is one striking omission. Hathaway's character has Parkinson's Disease, a plot point that never makes its way into the trailer. Maybe audiences would find that too depressing? This movie is still on my to-see list when it comes out November 24th, but now it needs to redeem itself to fall in line with my initial expectations. Another good sign? It's releasing over Thanksgiving, a prime slot that implies the studio thinks it's got a good movie on its hands.

'How Do You Know'

The latest from James L. Brooks (who last directed Spanglish and As Good As It Gets), How Do You Know places Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson and Paul Rudd in a love triangle, and also features Jack Nicholson--a cast full of great actors. It centers on a female softball player (Witherspoon) torn between her baseball pitcher boyfriend (Wilson) and a down-on-his luck corporate guy (Rudd).

Enter the trailer:

Do I like How Do You Know more of less after seeing the trailer? More. Most of all, this trailer seems thoughtful, not gimmicky. The trailer brings to mind a Cameron Crowe movie (perhaps Jerry Maguire?) but that's not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned. We learn less about plot points, which are for the most part elided, and more about the characters' states of mind. In As Good As It Gets, so much of the movie was about Jack Nicholson's character, which enriched the relationship he had with Helen Hunt. I really feel that Brooks will be able to pull off a similarly meaningful character transformation here. I also can't decide if this line of Witherspoon's dialogue is interesting or trite: "Most girls' plan is to meet a guy, fall in love, have a baby. But I don't know if I have what it takes for everybody's regular plan." It's pretty common in romantic comedies for women to say they don't want the standard package only to end up with all of the above in the end. However, if Brooks and Witherspoon can make us believe this about Witherspoon's character, I'll be right on board for this movie. It's also eyeing a high-traffic release date on December 17th, where I'm sure it will attract large audiences.

Analysis of an awesome trailer: 'The Social Network'

By Sarah Sluis
So far there have only been posters and teaser trailers for The Social Network. While movie geeks like me are already sold by the combination of the screenwriter (Aaron Sorkin) and director (David Fincher), it's hard not to get a little tingle on your spine when you hear the tagline, "You Don't Get to 500 Million Friends Without Making a Few Enemies." Who would have thought the story of Facebook would sound more like Wall Street meets The Skulls and less like an underdog winning gold at the Olympics?

Here's the trailer:

The #1 reason this trailer is awesome is that it doesn't introduce any characters until 48 seconds into a 2 minute, 30 second trailer. Instead, the trailer reels the audience in by forcing us to reflect on how we, the viewers, use Facebook. Screenshots of parties, profile pictures, weddings, and babies are edited to the lyrics of Radiohead's "Creep," sung by women with high voices and a melancholy tone (the Vega Choir). The lyrics pretty much say it all: "Don't care if it hurts/Wanna have control/Wanna perfect body/Wanna perfect soul/I want you to notice/When I'm not around/You're so very special..."

The latter, story part of the trailer emphasizes Ivy League intrigue, decadence, and excess among the rich. I counted nine scenes of drinking/partying, including liquor swilled straight from the bottle, champagne spraying, puking during fraternity hazing, and post-success imbibing of appletinis. Will these kind of storylines ever go out of style? I give the trailer one point for an unconventional but oh-so-Ivy scene with an indoor erg rowing machine that uses actual water (never seen one of those, but where else but Harvard?). However, Fincher loses points for a shot of Jesse Eisenberg as the Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg writing a formula on a window. We've already seen A Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting, thankyouverymuch.

On a final note, Fincher's Citizen Kane-like epic is also worth seeing for its strong cast composed of rising stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Rashida Jones, and Andrew Garfield, the next Spider-Man. And if you're wondering, like I did, why Zuckerberg hasn't sued, it's because he's a public figure and therefore open to portrayal. Also, it might potentially be more embarassing to sue than to keep things quiet. As for suppression, it doesn't look like The Social Network will be advertised on Facebook due to their advertising rules, but everywhere else is fair game. Zuckerberg doesn't have quite the influence of William Randolph Hearst.

Director Zack Snyder gives sneak peak of 'Legend of the Guardians'

By Sarah Sluis

As I watched director Zack Snyder preview clips of the September release, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, at a press event at the Time Warner Center in New York, I was amazed at how far CG/3D animation has come. In 2010, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Toy Story 3 and Despicable Me have enchanted audiences, including me, with their complex CG worlds. The original Toy Story 15 years ago could only render rounded, plasticized figures, and favored harsher shadows. Toy Story 3 not only had 3D, it was bathed in a soft, diffused light and introduced a furry character (fur is notoriously difficult to computer-generate).

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole pays similar attention to the visual details. The owl's feathers look soft, textured, and ruffled, something Snyder revealed took a lot of work. The lighting is dark, shadowy, and moody, bringing to mind How to Train Your Dragon's focus on candlelit Viking settings. The owls are not anthromorphic caricatures. They have a level of photorealism that's unprecedented for an animated film. Therein lies the problem.

I had a very hard time seeing the characters' expressions, or even attaching a mouth to the dialogue. Perhaps it's the years of seeing artificially noticeable mouth movements in those live-action/CG hybrids with talking dogs, but the slight movements in the owls' beaks just weren't doing it for me, and they also seemed slightly out of sync at times. Several different breeds of owls share space on the screen. While the snow-white owl had contrasting features and easily readable expressions, the chameleon-like fur on other owls obfuscated their eyes and beaks, making it difficult to parse out meaning from their faces. Did I mention all the creatures speak in Australian accents? And are constantly referring to fantasy-fueled proper nouns, like Ga'Hoole, the Pure Ones, Soren, Kludd, Ezylryb, Noctus, and Grimble?

Zack Snyder favors a fast-paced cutting style, but leaves in confusing cuts. At times, I lost the spatial

relationship of the owls when he cut from one perspective to another. I had to remind myself that I don't hate action sequences, I hate action sequences when they channel chaos over clearly articulated action. The only way that Snyder seems to be able to clarify his action is through slow motion, which he uses with some frequency--a neat addition to a kids' movie, but unfortunate in that the slow motion provides basic information that he can't seem to do at a regular pace. Watchmen was similarly confusing to view, and it doesn't seem that Snyder has improved. I have a message for Snyder: Watch Avatar. James Cameron managed to offer clear spatial relations in the flying fight scenes, and watching an action scene has never been better.

With its complicated mythology and dark setting, Legend of the Guardian bears some comparison to Lord of the Rings. Among those that have read the book, as well as fans of fantasy, Guardians will surely offer appeal. But if the finished product is as incoherent as the collection of clips I viewed, I predict a more dire future, especially among casual viewers.

What's interesting about the footage I saw was the disconnect between the style and the narrative: What made the owls so striking visually detracted from readability as characters. I'd like to see a CG film that has photorealistic characters but still manages to make the animals readable and understandable to audiences. It's also possible that I'm wrong--that audiences simply need to get used to non-cartoon like animals. A carrot: As the clips wore on, I found it easier to read the characters' expressions, and one sequence with a particularly furry character managed to come across clearly thanks to movements not only in the eyes and beak, but also the eyebrows and body stance.

Snyder's "crazy owl movie," as he calls it, has promising visuals but a confusing narrative. Watch the (less impressive) 2D trailer and decide for yourself here.

Movies to look forward to: 'Never Let Me Go' & 'Somewhere'

By Sarah Sluis

Focus and Fox Searchlight, those dependable distributors of specialty fare, recently released trailers for Somewhere (trailer) and Never Let Me Go (trailer). Both of the trailers are moody and exciting and fabulous, and I can only hope the movies match up to the previews.

Never Let Me Go (Fox Searchlight) stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield (The

Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus) as '70s boarding school students with an unusual purpose. In a kind of parallel Britain, they are clones that are educated and then donate four organs before "completing." The movie is based on an acclaimed book (that I couldn't get through) by Kazuo Ishiguro, who was born in Nagasaki a decade after the A-bomb went off (read a great review of the book here).

What sets this world apart from other dystopias is the characters' belief in the system. They don't question what they've been instructed to do, even though they want to live longer than they've been told they will. In the trailer, they seem to be under the impression that if they find true love, they will be given a few more years to live. It's been said that the British love to form a queue, and this adherence to the rules even when the audience clearly sees evidence to the contrary is maddening, creepy, and sad. The director, Mark Romanek, last directed the dark movie One Hour Photo. The trailer offers a first look at the cinematography and costuming in the film. It's odd to see a futuristic movie set in '70s Britian, and the hairstyles sported by Knightley and Mulligan are priceless--who knows, maybe they'll even inspire a trend. The movie will be out October 1st.

The trailer for director Sofia Coppola's Somewhere (Focus) follows the formula of her trailer for Marie

Antoinette--great indie music, decadent locales, and people walking down halls while crazy things are happening. Coppola's movies make really good trailers, but they don't always match

up to the preview highlights. I still remember the excited feeling I got watching

the trailer for her Marie Antoinette (with the great New Order

song "Blue Monday"), but the movie didn't have the same effect on me.

This trailer starts out with music by Phoenix before shifting to the lower-key song "I'll Try Anything Once" by The Strokes. Elle Fanning looks great in the role of a movie star's abandoned daughter, enough to quiet my thoughts of sibling nepotism (she's the younger sister of Dakota). The movie star is played by Stephen Dorff, who has two decades of movie credits without a role that I remember him in. It's great casting--a suitable blank face with movie star looks, and not someone that the audience would have any recollection of from the tabloids. Coppola has been criticized for her lonely-people-in-glamorous-locales theme, but who cares? Audiences like seeing what it's like from a higher perch. The trailer also reveals her fantastic eye for details and looks. She can tell so much by showing father and daughter getting into a car together wearing matching sunglasses, or playing the swimming pool game tea party. Likely pursuing an awards campaign, Fox Searchlight has the movie aimed for a December 22nd release.

'Vamps' joins the herd of blood-sucking films

By Sarah Sluis

With two solid vampire hits, Twilight and "True Blood," dominating the entertainment industry, everyone's chasing the bandwagon. A promising addition to the slate is the forthcoming project being spearheaded by Amy Heckerling. The director of memorable movies like Clueless, Look Who's Talking and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Heckerling had largely disappeared from the credits section on IMDB. She's had only three directorial outings since 1995, none of them hits. Now she's reuniting with her Clueless star Alicia Silverstone for Vamps, the story of two female bloodsuckers who ponder losing their immortality for a shot at true love.

Sigourney Weaver will play the queen vampire, who turned the women into undead souls. Krysten Ritter, who's made something of a career as the quirky sidekick friend in romantic comedies (she was a nice light spot in Confessions of a Shopaholic and 27 Dresses), will be the second banana (I would welcome seeing her in a larger role).

The Twilight-esque vampire hook may attract both younger audiences, despite its older-skewing stars and writer/director. The fantasy component is also a draw. One of the biggest tasks for writers of comedy-romances is devising a plausible reason for the couple to stay apart until the closing credits. It's hard to keep one step ahead of ever-more sophisticated audiences. Instead of rooting for the couple to get together, the audience is often simply bored and waiting for their inevitable union. Fantasy is one way around this problem. Twilight's famously chaste characters are kept apart by external forces and internally imposed obligations--not light, predictable obstacles like "the best friend that I never thought of in that way." Vamps would be able to replicate this believable obstacle within a humorous context.

Instead of Twilight, I see this comedy taking inspiration from 1992's Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In that movie, the lead character, Buffy, has a disbelieving, almost jocular attitude toward her obligations. She only wises up to the reality of her situation late in the story, which gives her character a dynamic arc. Perhaps these "Vamps" blithely attempt to circumvent the vampire rules before finding out that true love is much more complicated. With financing in place and a production start date of April 2010 in place, Vamps should head into theatres by next year. Good or bad, I'm ready to see Amy Heckerling flex her writing and directing muscles again.

Scorsese assembles cast for 'The Invention of Hugo Cabret'

By Sarah Sluis

As a big Scorsese fan with high expectations of his work, I, like many others, was disappointed by Shutter Island. It did well enough at the box office, so at least he gets points for making a profitable picture, but the movie itself was smoke and mirrors followed by a fairly obvious revelation.

I'm more enthusiastic about his next venture, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which has assembled its lead cast, pending final deals. Twelve-year-old Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas) would play an orphan living in a French train station. He steals mechanical parts from different merchants in an

attempt to bring to life an automaton. The robot-like being intrigued his late father, a clockmaker who worked in a museum, and the boy wants to carry on his legacy. When he steals from a toy store, he ends up entangled

with the owner, Georges Mlis (Ben Kingsley), who in actuality was the pioneer of French cinema and special effects. Fellow kid Chloe Moretz (upcoming Kick-Ass, Let Me In) becomes Butterfield's sidekick, and Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat) plays a station inspector who must deal with the trouble-prone boy.

The Sony-distributed movie is based on a young adult book of the same name and winner of the Caldecott Medal in 2008. The award goes to illustrated books, but this one is unusual in that it is a 550 pages--great source material from which to craft a meaty plot and visual style.

Why would Scorsese be interested in a project like this? The most obvious reason is its tie to film history. Scorsese is a passionate lover of film and advocate for film preservation. He would jump at the chance to depict Mlis, who was famous for films like A Trip to the Moon, which employed what were at the time cutting-edge special effects. Hopefully, part of the movie involves recreating some of Mlis' trick photography.

From a character and plot perspective, Scorsese is attracted to morally ambiguous heroes. The boy, who resorts to stealing to fulfill his goal of re-creating this robot, is typical: a good person doing a bad thing. Expect the danger of his actions played up for the cameras.

Left unclear is whether this movie will be a PG-rated family film or something darker. I suspect the former. Tim Burton has had great success drawing a wide audience to his children's tales (Alice in Wonderland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) with very adult sensibilities. If The Invention of Hugo Cabret has a PG rating and a Scorsese feel, adults and kids alike will be interested in seeing the movie.

John Krasinski grabs a two-film part in 'Something Borrowed'

By Sarah Sluis

Perhaps you remember Taylor Lautner's tiny role in Twilight. Without much thought to how big the movie would be, Summit cast a relative unknown with questionable leading man looks. In the sequel, Lautner had a much bigger role, which led Summit to fret about recasting the part for the sequel. Lautner got a trainer, a six-pack, and maybe a nose job (I haven't been able to confirm, and neither has the Internet), and appears to have grown well into his role as Jacob Black.

To avoid that kind of situation, John Krasinski ("The Office," Away We Go) has been cast in a supporting role for Something Borrowed, with the idea that he'll take on a larger role in the sequel, Something Blue. Authored by Emily Giffin, both of the books have been pretty big hits in the chick lit realm. In the first, a well-behaved lawyer Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) stands by while her more attractive, selfish publicist friend, Darcy, plans a marriage to Dex, a friend of hers. Dex and Rachel end up sleeping with each other, leading to a web of lies and cheating. What's unusual is that the cheating tale is sympathetic to the cheaters, but that's what's made the book more successful, in my opinion--everyone loves a tale of sweet revenge.

What's even more different, from a casting perspective, is that the sequel centers on the enemy, Darcy, who everyone reading the story has grown to hate. She's pregnant (having cheated on her fianc while they were engaged) and goes to London to stay with her friend Ethan (could this be Krasinski?). He sets her straight and helps her have an epiphany of sorts about her bad behavior (i.e., no drinking during pregnancy). Hilary Swank is producing, so it seems like she would be a candidate to play Darcy, but that information has never been released. Filming will start this summer, however, making casting decisions imminent. Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) is directing.

Disney's got a date for 'Prom'

By Sarah Sluis

Yesterday, the blogosphere was circulating with the news that Disney had passed on The Proposal 2, despite the fact that the original movie made over $300 million worldwide while costing just $40 million. The supposed reason? Not enough merchandising.

Today, Disney announced that a project developed under previous production head Oren Aviv has been put back on track. Entitled Prom, the movie would follow around nine teenagers as they prepare for the big event. The ensemble focus makes it seem like a teen version of Valentine's Day, but the studio is hoping the young, high school focus will replicate the success of High School Musical. The financial hook for the movie includes a low, low budget, in the neighborhood of $5-10 million, and a cast of unknowns. As in High School Musical, the studio hopes to launch some new stars. Disney, along with Nickelodeon, is a clearinghouse for young stars that it likes to shepherd into fame. If Disney writes a clause in a contract that calls for a sequel or an option to appear in a subsequent film, it could lock in an actor that becomes a star through his/her appearance in Prom, most likely at a lower rate.

Although a teen romance may not seem like the biggest opportunity for merchandising, Google proved me wrong. The High School Musical franchise has fleece blankets, Barbie knock-offs, life-size photos/standees, logo wristbands, pens, hair products, Christmas stockings, hair ties, calendars, toothbrushes, a "four-piece study kit" (a.k.a. pencil pouch, sharpener, eraser and ruler), umbrellas, board games--a child could have an entire room full of High School Musical merchandise.

The one snag to this film in my mind is a theatrical release. The High School Musical movies were able to build a huge following because they were constantly played on the Disney Channel. Because it was a musical (which this movie will not be), it encouraged repeat viewings as kids interacted with the movie, trying to learn the songs and dances that went along with it. While Disney has incredible access and experience with the teen market, launching a movie without any stars will be challenging--but one that Disney is the most equipped to handle. And with a $5-10 million investment, there's not much to lose.

Ensemble films spread with 'Contagion, ' 'New Year's Eve'

By Sarah Sluis

From romantic comedies to action thrillers, ensemble films cast with prominent Hollywood stars have their own set of benefits and drawbacks. While the costs of the actors can add up, and a huge cast can confuse viewers, it's a fairly risk-averse strategy. Including names that appeal to a variety of demographics can expand the audience and multiply the star pull.

Ensemble romantic comedies have emerged as the latest Hollywood trend. Last year's He's Just Not That Into You spawned Valentine's Day, which releases this Friday, and even before this coming weekend's numbers come in, New Line has planned New Year's Eve, another holiday-themed romantic comedy. Some of the cast may return for the sequel, which would release during the holiday season of 2011. That's a tough time spot, since December releases are usually big-budget blockbusters and critics' choices, not run-of-the-mill romantic comedies. While having a strong ensemble cast can elevate a movie to a more "special" romantic comedy, I think the best strategy would be to include a pair of kids (pre-teens or grade school puppy love) to make the story more family-friendly--like Marley & Me, that dog/marriage movie that did so well during the holiday season of 2008.

In action/thriller ensemble news, director Steven Soderbergh has assembled an impressive cast for his upcoming film Contagion. Kate Winslet and Marion Cotillard (both Oscar winners) are in talks to join Matt Damon and Jude Law. Styled like Soderbergh's Traffic, the script contains interlocking stories about a disease threat. Participant Media, which chooses projects that have a social action component like the environment (The Cove, Furry Vengeance) or food politics (Food, Inc.) is in talks to co-finance and produce. The movie would shoot late this year, after Soderbergh's thriller Knockout, now filming, and presumably ahead of other Soderbergh projects like his biopic of Liberace that is (was?) in the works. So that makes, at the very least, two high-profile ensemble movies that will release somewhere in 2011.

An early look at 'How to Train Your Dragon,' 'Shrek Forever After' and 'Megamind'

By Sarah Sluis

In the world of animation, Pixar may be getting most of the press and awards, but DreamWorks Animation is sneaking up on them. While Pixar is releasing an average of one film a year, DreamWorks Animation has three movies lined up for 2010, all in 3D.

At a presentation in New York yesterday, I saw 10 minutes of Megamind (releasing November 5th), 30 minutes of Shrek Forever After (releasing May 21st) and a feature-length version of How to Train Your Dragon (releasing March 26th).

How to Train Your Dragon is the most Pixar-esque of the bunch, eschewing pop culture references and humor in favor of a universal story and an intricately conceived world. The cinematography is stunning, and represents a huge step forward in CG animation. As directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders explained to us, the animation and lighting teams are typically separate departments that do their work without even talking to each other. They brought in frequent Coen Brothers cinematographer Roger Deakins (who is also listed as a visual consultant for Pixar's Wall-E) to give a talk on linking the lighting and animation steps--he ended up staying to supervise the whole project.

The end product has a dynamic use of light that reflects the dim, candlelit world of the Vikings in the story. While CG animation started out with very flat lighting (think: Toy Story), How to Train Your Dragon at times looks like an animated version of Barry Lyndon. Because of the cinematography and story (and perhaps the fact I got to see the whole thing), this movie impressed me the most. Even in an unfinished version, with the score and certain scenes only roughly animated, it had the most epic, timeless feel. Later, we found out that Steven Spielberg was responsible for one cluster of scenes at the end that were only barely sketched out in animation. The ending had recently been tweaked based on Spielberg's comment after a viewing--a change the directors quickly incorporated.

Beyond the cinematography, little details like hair were rendered with incredible detail. The odd thing with animation is that the closer it approaches

reality, the more hyperreal it looks. Getting the kind of definition

you'd see on natural hair makes it stand out instead of blend in.

Storywise, producer Bonnie Arnold called Hiccup, the film's protagonist, a "teaching hero," an "Obama-type" character because of his emphasis on change--a rather timely comparison. Because the movie is based on a series of children's books by Cressida

Cowell, the team had a J.K. Rowling level of detail to work with. At the press lunch, everyone from Jay Baruchel (voice of the lead, Hiccup) to producer Bonnie Arnold showed an

expansive knowledge of the film's world beyond what appears in

the movie. If How to Train Your Dragon is a success--and it should be--expect a sequel or two in the works.

Shrek Forever After continues to do what the franchise does best: pleasing both children and the parents sitting with them in the theatre. The fourth installment takes its inspiration from It's a Wonderful Life. The filmmakers

even have gambling, corrupt townspeople and partying witches (the PG

allusion to the prostitutes populating Pottersville). But instead of intervention-by-angel, it's all motivated by an evil creator of magical contracts in fairy tales: Rumpelstiltskin. For those that have watched the first three Shrek movies, the "what if" scenario will be a huge payoff, rewarding viewers for their investment in Shrek's world.

Megamind takes the trio of superhero, villain, and damsel in distress and turns it on its head. In this version, the villain is the center of the story, and it was hinted that he, not the superhero, ends up with the damsel in distress. With its snappy dialogue and voice performances from Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, and Brad Pitt, this movie appears to be the next step forward after last year's superhero tale Monsters vs. Aliens, which also played with the genre.

With so many movies in the works, DreamWorks Animation is poised to take advantage of the rising sucess of 3D movies at the box office. With a final sequel and two original titles releasing this year, one with definite franchise potential, the studio will be one to watch.

Len Wiseman goes from �Underworld' to �Nocturne'

By Sarah Sluis

Len Wiseman, who has been floating around different projects for the past year or so, is in talks to direct a pitch for 20th Century Fox "based on an original idea about a group of people who survive the end of the world and the mystery surrounding how they got to that position," tentatively called Nocturne.

The idea doesn't sound original at all. In fairness, they may be withholding the secret sauce. Considering the project is looking for writers, it's also possible they haven't figured out exactly what will be in the secret sauce either. Because Wiseman's been attached to a number of projects that haven't come to fruition (out of proportion, I think, to the amount of films he's actually directed), I'm skeptical of this project. Last year, for example, he was attached to direct Motorcade with Tom Cruise starring, but now that project will star Ryan Reynolds with Jon Cassar directing. He was also supposed to direct a video game adaptation Gears of War and Atlantis Rising, in which the famed city of Atlantis declares war on the world. However, this announcement does provide a good opportunity to rehash all the movies/television shows/books that have used the same plot point as Nocturne.

"Flash Forward": This brand new ABC show centers on an event where almost every person in the world has a vision of themselves six months in the future. Everyone abandons all activity and tries to figure out what their clue meant. It borrows a little bit from "Lost" and sounds strongly apocalyptic. It also is a little too similar to the "mystery surrounding how they got to that position" part of Nocturne's plot description.

2012: It's coming out this Friday, and has a soft spot for those that enjoy the architectural demolition derbies that come along with the apocalypse.

"Left Behind" series: There's a reason The Passion of the Christ earned so much money. A religion angle is not only plausible, but profitable. This popular Christian series, which was made into a movie starring Kirk Cameron, follows a group of sinners who are left behind after the Rapture for being unbelievers. It takes them some time to figure out what happened, and then to identify and usurp the Antichrist.

The Road: Coming out this fall. The apocalypse, but with two people against man-hungry cannibals with a side of post-apocalyptic depression.

The most interesting part of this spare plot description is that the characters themselves seem to be flummoxed about their position. Were they knocked out and woke up in a nuclear bunker? Did they get unplugged like in The Matrix? If it weren't for the fact that the "mystery" part was just used in "Flash Forward," I would be more forgiving of this pickup, but it will be up to the assigned writers to prove me wrong.

Zhang Ziyi to star in book club hit 'Snow Flower and the Secret Fan'

By Sarah Sluis

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a novel about a secret language, nu shu, used by women in China. Often written on fans, the language provided a rare opportunity for women to interact with each other in 19th-century China, since the women's feet were bound, they remained cloistered in their homes, and were subject to their husband and sons. Written by Chinese-American writer Lisa See, the novel follows two such women who were chosen as laotong (old sames) by a matchmaker, a rare form of friendship that requires being born on the same day, in the same birth order, and having other complementary characteristics.

The novel's historic setting and theme of friendship made it a big hit on the book club circuit. So perhaps it's no surprise that two middle-aged wives, the book club stereotype, are producing a film based on the book, though they bring some unusually high-powered connections to the table. The producers behind it? Wendi Murdoch, wife of Rupert Murdoch (the president and CEO of Newscorp.), and Florence Sloan, wife of Harry Sloan (the chairman of MGM). They just added actress Zhang Ziyi to their list of producers. The star of Memoirs of a Geisha, another book club hit, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has a rare appeal that extends across cultural boundaries. Her role in production could also help the film get past China's film quota, which limits the amount of foreign films that are exhibited each year. Wendi Murdoch is Chinese-born, and Florence Sloan is Malaysian and Chinese. For a cross-cultural, Chinese-based production like this, their cultural fluency will be a prized asset.

The project is in search of a distributors and backers at the American Film Market, though the production has already set a start date for next year. While the project is commercial and has a global audience, it's worth noting that so far it is being produced outside the studio system. Certainly those currently on the project are uniquely suited to the task, but was Memoirs of a Geisha's $162 million gross on an $85 million budget just not good enough for the big studios? Or did the producers of the project snag the rights before anyone else?

Two Matt Damon trailers in one day

By Sarah Sluis

Two trailers of movies starring Matt Damon in one day? And just after I wrote about him yesterday? I guess there's a reason I consider Matt Damon one of my favorite actors. Oddly enough, his highly lauded Bourne movies leave me cold, but his memorable roles in the Ocean's series, Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and The Departed, among others, always make me eagerly anticipate his films, even more uneven ones like the recent The Informant!

The first trailer is for Invictus, which releases on December 11. It's a feel-good, based-on-a-true-story kind of tale that appeals to Oscar voters. Damon plays a rugby captain who is enlisted by South African President Nelson Mandela to win the 1995 World Cup. Mandela hopes the economic and racial divisions within the country can be mediated by national pride. The trailer has some heartbreaking looks at the Johannesburg slums, last seen in District 9 (albeit in a sci-fi context).

Next up is The Green Zone, which was pushed back and is now set for a March 12, 2010 release. Paul Greengrass, who helmed the Bourne movies, directs. It shows all signs of being your typical action thriller, but distinguishes itself with its hyperreal historical setting. Damon plays a CIA agent who has been tasked with finding the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. When they don't show up, he tries to find the misleading source and get to the bottom of the intrigue.

Currently, Damon's filming The Adjustment Bureau. They've been shooting in New York City's West Village, with trailers set up on Greenwich Avenue a couple weeks ago. From Darren Aronofsky, the movie centers on a politician (Damon) and the mysterious ballerina he falls in love with (Emily Blunt). I seriously hope there is an element of Vertigo or Ghost in here--who doesn't love a good romantic mystery?

Casting underway for Coen Bros.' 'True Grit'

By Sarah Sluis

The Coen Bros.' remake of True Grit, a classic Western follow-up to their modern Western hit, No Country for Old Men, has lined up two more actors. Matt Damon is in talks to take on the Texas Ranger role, and Josh Brolin is in talks to play the hunted man. In the movie, a fourteen-year-old girl (who has not been cast) enlists the ranger and a U.S. Marshal to help her track down her father's killer. The role of the marshal, an Oscar-winning role for John Wayne in the 1969 original, will be taken on by Jeff Bridges (The Dude in The Big Lebowski). With top producers Scott Rudin and Steven Spielberg behind the film, and a fast-track from Paramount, this movie is scheduled to head into production this spring, for a release the following year.

Why has the 40-year-old film, based on the novel by Charles Portis, interested the filmmaking duo? Let's consult the archives.

1. Weird, affected dialogue. In Roger Ebert's review of the original, he notes that "Portis wrote his dialog in a formal, enchantingly archaic style that has been retained in Marguerite Roberts' screenplay." The Coen Bros. are known for utilizing accents and unusual speech, which is already present in the original work.

2. The Eye Patch. George Clooney has his pomade in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men has his bowl cut hairstyle. The Dude has his bathrobe and his white Russian in The Big Lebowski. This irresistible bit of costuming (working in tandem with Wayne's star image) just amplifies the characterization of Wayne as an "unwashed, sandpapered, roughshod, fat old rascal with a heart of gold well-covered by a hide of leather" (from Ebert's review).

3. Cash, Crime, Cover-ups and Complications. The U.S. Marshal and the Texas Ranger are both in it for the money. According to Ebert's review, the ranger "claims he has a reward for the killer (who also, it appears, plugged a state senator in Texas)." Sounds like an ulterior motive could come in play--a complication--in Coens' treatment.

Many of the Coen Bros.' films include journeys to either find the booty or hide it (the baby in Raising Arizona, the buried treasure in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the kidnapping/money in Fargo, the money in No Country for Old Men). Inevitably, things do not go according to plan, and Coen Bros. take pleasure in piling on the complications and twists to make things interesting.

The Challenge: According to many reviews, John Wayne makes the movie. The absence of Wayne's star presence could be a problem. In fact, both Roger Ebert and the Variety review use the same word, "tower," to describe Wayne's presence. Ebert notes that "one of the glories of True Grit is that it recognizes Wayne's special presence...He is not playing the same Western role he always plays. Instead, he

can play Rooster because of all the Western roles he has played. " He also mentions a parodic scene that works because of Wayne's star image. Making this movie without Wayne will require screenwriting and directing magic.

Playing films across borders: 'Agora'

By Sarah Sluis

We live in a global village, where worldwide distribution of Hollywood blockbusters is standard practice. But many films don't play well overseas, and some never get picked up to play across borders.

One such example is Agora, a historical epic. It was passed over for domestic distribution at Cannes, where it appears price was one of the main issues--though concerns about length led to filmmakers chopping 21 minutes from the film, which previously ran almost two and a half hours.

While the movie was made in English, it had its box-office debut in Spain last weekend, where director Alejandro Amenbar (Abre los Ojos, The Others, The Sea Inside) is famous. It earned $7.9 million in three days, and $17 million through Tuesday, making it Spain's top opening of the year (It beat Ice Age 3!). U.S. distribution is back on the table, and other foreign buyers, who normally would wait for a U.S. pickup, are interested solely because of its performance in Spain.

As for the film itself? The trailer is sure to point out all the by-the-book elements of a historical epic: angry mobs, period costumes and sets, impassioned speeches made to leaders who will go on to make terrible decisions painfully apparent to the modern audience. The movie's epoch, the fall of the Roman Empire, includes a high-drama invasion of Alexandria. But most intriguing is the movie's heroine, Hypatia (Rachel Weisz), an astronomer, teacher, and mathematician who is killed by newly empowered Christians.

The movie was made for $70 million, a pricy sum when you're betting on foreign sales. And while the trailer didn't wow me, I think Amenbar is a talented director who seems quite capable of handling an historical epic. But until this film gets picked up, American audiences will have to wait to see for themselves.

Outside of the theatres, movies are produced and shown online

By Sarah Sluis

Since their inception, movies have always been shown in theatres. It's only everything else that has changed. Yesterday, CNET News published an ominously-titled piece entitled "End of the world as Hollywood knows it." DVDs and movie rentals, according to media reporter Greg Sandoval, are on the outs, depriving studios of a valuable revenue stream. What's more, downloading or streaming movies from illegal sources is socially acceptable, free and so easy it's hard for people to resist.

Of course, Netflix, iTunes and Hulu are examples of legitimate ways the internet movie business has been monetized, but, especially for ad-supported streaming sites, the revenue isn't yet substantial. While the internet appears poised to decimate the DVD and movie rental business, the new medium also shows potential for lowering the cost of film production. If production costs shrink, it may make decreasing revenue streams a bit less frightening.

Lionsgate announced that it will produce a film with Massify, an online movie-production networking site. The project will be a "high-concept, male-driven comedy short based on a script from our community," with plans to expand the premise to a feature film. Crew will be drawn from the ranks of the Massify community. The intermediary process (from short to feature) helps reduce risk by offering audience feedback before the movie goes into the more expensive production of a full-length movie. Plus, the viral potential of the internet will be at the filmmakers' fingertips. Even if this movie never gets off the ground or registers as more than a blip, its experimentation with production makes it part of the vanguard of internet production. Earlier this year, an animated short was created using collaboration via Facebook. The result was "Live Music," good enough that Sony Pictures picked it up and is now showing it in festivals. It's also worth noting that Intel, which creates a software used by the animators, sponsored the project--corporate tie-ins also appear to be part of the wave of the future.

Modern Love column heading into theatres

By Sarah Sluis

For those that read the New York Times, the "Modern Love" column is often one of their first stops in the Sunday Styles section. The stories can be contemplative, whimsical, bizarre, and cute--sometimes to a fault. A couple who adopts a dog, a daughter who searches for her birth mother on Facebook, and a woman who refuses to let her husband leave her are all fodder for the column. In fact, the last story sounds a lot like the forthcoming movie Serious Moonlight, in which a woman (Meg Ryan) holds their husband hostage in her house in an attempt to save their marriage.

Columbia Pictures now has a first-look deal with "Modern Love," with the idea that they can use the material for romantic comedies. As much as I like to mock the column, I think the stories, which are all based on the authors' real experiences, are more nuanced than typical romantic comedies. While the film genre tends toward the obvious or unbelievable, the unusual circumstances remain believable since they are, in fact, true. While some of the stories are small in scope, most seem condensed to fit into a column. The addition or a few details and subplots could easily fill up a 100-page screenplay.

Still, the series of columns may lend itself better to the second production deal it has in the works, which is an HBO show about a fictional male editor of the column, who has recently divorced, as well as the stories in the column. It sounds like a (slightly depressed) male version of the Carrie Bradshaw role from "Sex and the City." In television form, the show would be able to take advantage of the column's consistent tone, in my mind an asset.

These deals are but the latest New York Times articles to be acquired with an eye for adaptation. Since signing a contract with the paper, the ICM agency has successfully sold several of the paper's stories--but at least it's another revenue stream for the Old Grey Lady in a tough climate for journalism. Just don't let them make a movie about balloon boy.