It’s Sunday again and that can mean only one thing – it’s Wrap Up time!
This week:
Sex and The City sells tickets at the box office but Shrek sees green; Nina Dobrev and James Remar play Deathgames; ABC is set to bring back Alias; get ready forThe Fight Before Christmas; Dilbert comes to the big screen, Warner Brothers has a Grudge and will Kurt Russell and Sylvester Stallone reunite for Tango and Cash 2? Oh, and there’s more!
Box Office
Shrek 4 should finish the four day weekend with another $50 million – edging out debutant Sex and The City for the top spot. This would give the ogre comedy around $150 million worth of green.
Sex and The City 2 captured $53 million from its Thursday debut to Monday morning. Throw in the extended weekend and the Sarah Jessica Parker led film should bank an impressive $67 million by the time Tuesday rolls in. Sex really does sell! The film hasn’t had great reviews, but there’s a built in fanbase who would watch the series even if Carrie and company went to the moon. Now there’s an idea, Sex and the City 3: The Search For Manolo Blahnik! I can see the tagline already: “Shoes, Sex and Space –get ready to be carried away into a shopping adventure that is out of this world!” It would get the men into the theater at least.
The Prince of Persia was third after a disappointing debut. Jake Gyllenhaal’s big budget adventure should grab around $42 million over the four days, but it’ll need pretty strong legs if it wants to see a sequel. That’s doubtful as the film has received mixed reviews. Maybe it wasn’t the Pirates of the Caribbean style franchise starter that was hoped for. Is Jerry Bruckheimer losing his magic touch?
Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man sequel was in fourth place with another $18.5 million. The comic book adventure has now blasted up $277 million.
The Russell Crowe/ Ridley Scott team-up Robin Hood was fifth with another $12.5 million. The film should shoot over $100 million, but it won’t get much further. It’s big on the international circuit, so it’ll turn a profit.
Letters to Juliet upped its total to $38 million after grossing another $7.5 million, while Just Wright managed $2.7 million.
MacGruber banked $2 million this weekend giving it a total of $7. 5 million. That’s gotta hurt!
Date Night brought in just under $2 million, its total now stands at $93 million. It’s so close to the century mark. So close.
A Nightmare on Elm Street rounded out the top ten after banking another $1 million. With $62 million in the cash register already a sequel is a sure thing.
On the international front Alice In Wonderland has now become the sixth film in history to gross a billion dollars at the worldwide box office. Kerching!
Movie News
1. Vampire Diaries star Nina Dobrev and Dexter’s James Remar will join Kellan Lutz and Samuel L. Jackson in Deathgames.
“The story centers on a young man (Lutz) who is kidnapped and forced into the savage world of a modern gladiator arena, where men fight to the death for entertainment of the online masses in games orchestrated by Jackson.”
Dobrev will play Lutz’s wife, while Remar plays “a mysterious character named Tall Man”.
Deathgames is directed by former visual effects supervisor Jonah Loop.
2. According to E Online ABC is toying with the idea of rebooting J.J Abrams’ Alias.
It’s in the early stages, but ABC wants to hold on to some of that Abrams audience love now that Flashforward and Lost are gone. One idea which is being bandied about in order to achieve this goal is to introduce a new version of the spy show that starred Jennifer Garner.
This is far from a sure thing – but if it does go ahead then expect a more streamlined version of the show which ditches some of the more complex pieces of plot and mythology. There will also be a new cast.
3. 20th Century Fox has bought The Fight Before Christmas from Due Date writer Adam Sztykiel.
Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy will produce the family comedy. The plot is being kept secret, so it must be good (right?)!
I’d imagine that the studio will be calling the usual suspects to star in the film: Black, Carell, Carrey, Ferrell, Stiller and Vaughn. Who will get it?
4. Phoenix Entertainment has snapped up the rights to Dilbert in the hopes of bringing him to the big screen.
Ken Kwapis has been signed to direct the office based comedy. It’s not surprising since the director has helmed many episodes of The Office for NBC.
Do we really need this after The Office and Office Space? You tell me.
5. Warner Brothers is setting up a Grudge Match, with Billy Gerber and Mark Steven Johnson producing.
According to THR:
“Grudge, which seeks to evoke the tone of the 2000 Warners movie Space Cowboys, revolves around retired boxers Billy “The Kid” McGuigan and Henry “Razor” Sharp, lifelong bitter rivals who are coaxed out of retirement and into the ring for one final grudge match — 50 years after their last title fight.”
It should be a good way of teaming up a couple of aging action heroes!
I’ll just throw a few names out there – Kurt Russell, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Carl Weathers, Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford.
6. Speaking of Stallone and Russell, there are rumblings that the duo may be re-teaming for a Tango and Cash sequel.
Music Rooms has a “source” who states that Stallone is trying to get a sequel to the 1989 original up and running. Stallone had tried to get Russell onboard The Expendables, but apparently the Big Trouble in Little China star wasn’t interested in “ensemble acting”.
In the original film Stallone and Russell played mismatched cops Lieutenant Raymond Tango and Lieutenant Gabriel Cash, who are framed for a crime they didn’t commit.
The source said:
“Sly thinks there is still a story to be told with Tango and Cash and the chemistry between the two characters would be even more interesting now they are older. Sly is still good friends with Kurt and, like Sly, he is interested in making an old-fashioned detective/buddy movie. There’s a very good chance it will happen.”
I hope there’s at least some truth to this as the original is one of my all time guilty pleasures.
If there’s more news, then we’ll keep you posted
Also this week:
George Romero can’t get enough of zombies. The director has two more Dead movies planned – read about them here
Focus Features has a whole host of new releases on the way. Find out about them here
