We know what you are up to. Stop stealing small children from their families and forcing them to do somersaults all day. See this NBC News story for proof.
In other news, NBC has been dominating the ratings with its Olympics coverage. Thanks to Michael Phelps (Go Blue!) and strong interest in Chinese culture, the Peacock has been averaging 30 million viewers during its primetime coverage, keeping all the other networks under a 3 million viewership average. The large buyout the network paid in order to do the coverage seems to be paying off handsomely. The large viewership also gives them a great chance to market their new and returning show. NBC has struggled over the last few years to find marquee shows that pull in blockbuster ratings. Other than “Heroes,” the network has had no standout new programming since “Friends” and “Will and Grace” bowed out in the last four years. While “The Office” and “30 Rock” have both been critical darlings, their audiences remain relatively low, keeping NBC a distant 3rd or 4th in the primetime ratings. The plum viewership of the Olympics, and in turn NBC’s promotions, could potentially attract new audiences to their freshman programs such as comedy “Kath and Kim” or returning sitcoms like “Lipstick Jungle.” Of course, only time will tell.
Do you think the Olympics will help salvage NBC’s primetime schedule?
Does this trailer for Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” opening Friday August 15th, make you think “trashy Spanish soap opera” or “steamy menage-a-trois classic?” The film centers around two recent college grads, played by Scarlett Johansson and British stage star Rebecca Hall, who meet artist and don juan Javier Bardem while vacationing in Barcelona. The relationship between the three soon becomes intimate, and later is further complicated when Bardem’s unstable ex-wife (Penelope Cruz) re-enters the picture.
According to Kenneth Turran’s LA Times review, strong performances from Cruz and Bardem can’t save the film from shoddy direction and incomplete writing. Despite such a mixed review, I am still personally anticipating this film. Granted, the trailer is merely a random assortment of shots spliced together with a catchy song (which is “Barcelona” by Giulia y los Tellarini in case you’re interested). Even so, many of the scenes are quite eye catching: The upper halves of Johansson and Bardem screwing on the floor, Cruz firing a gun, and the array of innuendo-filled eye glances. And what about the irresistible Cruz-Johansson makeout session in a dark room? I guess that scene will be on Youtube soon enough. Even still, the low-budget bohemian feel of the trailer is refreshing in a market overrun with big-budget, overstuffed action films.
Director Woody Allen’s track record of late has been spotty at best, with his last decent film “Match Point” released over three years ago. Luckily for Allen, “Vicky Christina Barcelona” has been garnering steady buzz over the last few months thanks mostly to the aforementioned hot and heavy scenes. While nobody is expecting “Annie Hall” or “Manhattan,” this film does look like it could be a welcome two hour escape from the late-summer duldrums. The film is opening in 692 locations domestically, and is expected to draw in the $2 – $5 million range. The total budget is about $22 million U.S. dollars, about 10% of which was covered by Barcelona’s city hall and the Catalan government. The film has a strong chance of recouping and even exceeding its budget in its theatrical run, especially if word catches on. The film has a strong rating of 88% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes (looks like the LA Times is in the lonely 12%), so expect a slow burn for “Vicky Christina Barcelona.”
For a more complete understanding of the plot, check out the full length trailer.
Will you see the film? Does the sun-drenched exotic feel do it for you, or do you think its a load of crap? Leave your thoughts below.
Bottom: Red Band version of “Tropic Thunder” trailer
Seriously, how much funnier does “Tropic Thunder” look in the red band trailer? The mainstream trailer doesn’t contain a single laugh-out-loud crack, making the film look like a lame action parody that doesn’t know which genre it wants to be. The red band trailer, however, shows major potential — Stiller tossing the violent Asian boy at the end is racist gold. You can tell that Black, Downey Jr., and Stiller had a blast making this movie. All being established stars, its clear the producers gave the actors room to go off on some creative tangents that seem to have truly paid off.
The disparity between the two trailers reveals the difficulty in marketing R-rated comedies. In the last several years raunchy comedies like “The 40 Year Old Virgin” and “Superbad” have created a strong desire for in the market for similarily themed product. Usually, these kind of films rely on strong word-of-mouth buzz and underground marketing ploys to deliver steady week to week grosses. The difference, however, is that most of these films are low-risk ventures that generally cost under $40 million to make. “Tropic Thunder,” on the other hand, uses many of the same pyrotechnics and special effects of a summer action release, bringing its budget up to an estimated $70 million. Clearly, the marketing team was trying to cast a wide net to get the largest opening weekend audience by emphasizing the action-packed scenes rather than the gross-out humor or other insensitive material.
The problem with this approach is that is sucks the comedy life-blood out of the trailer, and ends up making the film appear far less appealing. “Tropic Thunder” seems to be an anomaly among movie marketing ploys: a trailer that displays none of the good parts rather than all of them. Conventional wisdom for the skeptical moviegoer is that trailers often feature the funniest/best parts of a film, manipulating clips to make the film seem far better than they really are. “Tropic Thunder” might be that rare film that pleasantly surprises.
In reality though, the marketing team had little other option as most of the content is far more egregious than any editor could possibly tame down for network television (think severed heads as sight gags). Luckily for “Tropic Thunder,” the three main stars shouldn’t have a problem bringing in large opening weekend fans
“The Dark Knight” reigns for the third week in a row, an impressive feat considering the strong competition from “The Mummy” threequel and a overall crowded summer market. Batman’s $43.8 million weekend total was just enough to inch past “The Mummy,” bringing film’s total to an impressive $395 million. The film should cross the $400 million dollar mark by the end of today. However, it seems unlikely that it will pass “Titanic’s” $600 million domestic take, which still stands as the highest grosser in box office history. Regardless, “The Dark Knight” has been a phenomenal success. Having easily blown past the $205 million of Christopher Nolan’s relaunch of the franchise, “Batman Begins,” the film will likely top out as the second highest domestic grosser of all time, beating out “Star Wars” $661 million.
“The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor” starring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li, performed below the $50 million that most predictors suspected. However, its $42.5 million take is still respectable, ecspecially considering the limited star wattage of the main actors and the long time lapse since the release of the second film. Not to mention the awful name. “The Mummy” was bolstered by boffo-business internationally, pulling in $59.5 million in 28 markets. The film should end up far north of $200 million internationally, more than covering the the $145 million budget for the film. As I wrote before, kudos to Fraser.
Further down the list, “Mamma Mia” contined to defy poor reviews from critics, dropping a very healthy 26% and bringing its domestic total to $88 million (on a $52 million budget). Like “Mummy,” “Mamma Mia” has also been making a killing abroad, already scoring $140 million. The film, along with other hits such as “Sex and the City” and “What Happens in Vegas,” has proven that pictures aimed squarely at female audiences can compete among the male-targeted blockbusters usually released in the summer.
Notably bad is the performance of “X-Files: I Want To Believe.” I wanted to believe this film would live up to the original film and series, but unfortunately it was as one reviewer described it: “baggy, draggy, and saggy.” The film fell apart this weekend, and has only mustered $17 million to date, on a heavily reduced budget of $30 million. The only hope seems to be in DVD sales.
Final notes: “Swing Vote” bombed with $6 million in its first week, but who’s surprised. Kevin Costner hasn’t carried a film since the early 90’s. On the brighter side, “Wall-E” crossed the $200 million mark, cementing Pixar’s flawless record.
I know you are completely sick of hearing about this show. You don’t care that it’s the most buzzed about program on TV this summer or that it “captures a moment in time” or that it recently snagged 16 Emmy noms. You feel you’ve already missed the boat so why jump in trying to swim after it.
I beg you, however, to suck up your pride and give “Mad Men” a try. The show centers around a group of ad-men in the early 1960’s who continue to tow the line of white male supremacy even as the shadows of progression begin to encroach on their world. The series is truly a gem amongst TV’s landfill of reality shows, dreary procedurals, and “The Closer.” John Hamm’s stoic ad-man Don Draper anchors a show that pays meticulous attention to period detail and even more to character development. Come for the 60’s imagery, cigarette smoke and boozy lunches. Stay for the taut storyline that, shocker, doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator.
“Mad Men’s” high-level of quality seems to be paying off. The debut of Season 2 debuted 2.1 million viewers, a boost from 1.6 million for last summer’s debut and double last season’s average.
You can check out Mad Men on the AMC channel (yeah, the one that only plays movies) Sundays at 10pm. The second episode of Season 2 airs this weekend.
To recap the three-way deal: Manny is headed to LA Dodgers, with the Red Sox paying out $7 million for the rest of his season contract. At the end of the season Ramirez will effectively be a free agent as club options were eliminated in the deal.
Tensions rose between Ramirez and the Red Sox club in recent years after a string of laziness and bad behavior, including a physical alteration with team traveling secretary Jack McCormic. Things turned worse in the final days when Ramirez told ESPN that “The Red Sox don’t deserve a player like me. During my years here I’ve seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn’t want them to try to turn the fans against them.”
Ramirez ranks third in RBIs (1,672), fifth in home runs (510), sixth in on-base percentage (.409) and seventh in batting average (.312) among active players. He also ranks eighth in baseball history, and second among active players behind only Albert Pujols (.620), with a .590 slugging percentage. His 2,318 hits rank 10th among active players and his 493 doubles are tied for fourth.
In return for Ramirez, The Red Sox will receive return Pittsburg’s 29-year-old Jason Bay, a two-time All-Star who was hitting .282 with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs for Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay pursued Bay before he wound up with the Red Sox, who trail the first-place Rays by three games in the AL East.
The last-place Pirates, looking for young talent, got reliever Craig Hansen and outfielder Brandon Moss from Boston and third baseman Andy LaRoche and pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers. LaRoche, Moss and Hansen will join Pittsburgh, while Morris will go to Class A Hickory.
UPDATE: Manny is holding a press conference at 7pm tonight on ESPN News. That should be interesting.
Here is the latest ad from the McCain campaign, clearly trying to cast Obama as a light-weight celebrity rather than a serious Commander-in-Chief. I have to admit, Obama’s global prancing last week was almost vomit-worthy, and his hubris seems to be catching up with him (ecspecially after his comments about the world waiting for him). But seriously, c’mon McCain. Obama has no grainy sex videos or sordid crotch shots. Obama has never made a vanity clothing line or lost custody of his children (although his parental involvement at this point must be seriously lacking). Straight Talk Express has taken the fast track straight to the gutter.
Unfortunately for McCain, this bold and trashy move might have been the only way he could gain a few minutes in the media coverage. Cable news (excluding FOX) and the Obama campaign have been in an incessant circle jerk of promotion and ratings for months on end, culminating in the sweaty climax that was Barack’s overseas trip. Maybe McCain needed the star wattage of Paris and Britney in order to shift attention and remind voters that, yes, there is someone else in the running for President.
Update: Hilton’s spokesperson released this comment on the McCain ad: “Miss Hilton was neither asked, nor did she give permission, for the use of her likeness in the ad, and has no further comment.” Britney’s people have remained mum on the subject.
What took so long for this franchise to come back? The first two “Mummy” movies came out in 1999 and 2001 to huge box office receipts and lively fanfare. Who can forget The Rock’s cheesy yet awesome role as the Scorpion King, laying the smack down prehistoric style? But does anyone still care about this franchise seven whole years after the second installment? The producers have smartly switched up the cast, adding hottie Maria Bello as the female lead and action-star Jet Li as the villian. They also switched up directors, replacing Stephen Sommers with Rob Cohen, auteur of millenial classics such as “The Skulls” and “The Fast and the Furious.”
Unfortunately, this trailer makes “Mummy 3″ look like CGI-hell. While an army of pixelated skeletons is somewhat intriguing, I don’t know if I want to sit through an hour of mind-numbing backstory before getting to the 30 minutes of action. This Entertainment Weekly review by Owen Gleiberman seems to echo my predictions for the film.
On another note: While everyone seems to be fawning over “The Dark Knight,” and “Iron Man” before it, shouldn’t a shout-out be given to Fraser? The man has returned from career oblivion to having two hit films in one summer (if “Mummy” box office predictions hold up, that is). “Journey to the Center of the Earth” has been a solid performer week-to-week, drawing in a wide swath of audiences and raking in strong business for the IMAX showings. To date, “Journey has grossed $64 million domestically and $12 million internationally, giving the film a solid total of $76 million worldwide on a $60 million budget. The film is likely to peak out around 95-100 million worldwide, and then do boffo-business on DVD. All in all, cheers to Fraser for sticking to his formula and persisting despite several years of flops.
The question is, will you see the new Mummy film? How well do you think it will do? Leave your thoughts, and for those who have seen it, tell me what you thought.
