'Tron: Legacy' Tops Weak Weekend

Disney’sTron: Legacyfinished first, as expected, but dipped below expectations with a $44 million start on an otherwise slow weekend at the box office.

28 years after the neon-lit original, the sequel captured fanboy interest with its impressive digital imagery, but the story lacks broad appeal and the reviews were a mixed bag. The studio had hoped for $50 million or better for the expensive holiday tentpole after sinking a reported $170 million into its production budget and another $120 million on a 2-year marketing blitz that dazzled Comic-Con attendees (twice).

But it seems the Mouse House somehow hadn’t considered Tron would return as a niche property that only appeals to those cultish few fans of the first and a demographic that wasn’t even alive when the original was in theaters. Instead,Tron 2opened belowWatchmen’s numbers, which was considered a disappointment at the time in geek circles.

Though it isn’t the end of the (digital) world forTronas the slow weekend builds into a film frenzy during the Christmas holiday season. With the continued availability of 3D and IMAX theaters, Disney could definitely make its money back when everything is said and done.  But Disney may be putting the brakes on its plans for more lightcycles and ultimate frisbee battles until that happens.

Warner Bros’Yogi Bearmade $16.4 million, placing it on the low end of live-action talking animal flicks with the likes ofStuart Littleand its tiny sequel. Again, the Christmas season will determine its longevity, but families may turn up for other, newer wacky adventures, likeGulliver’s Travels, instead ofthisparticular dopey, paint-by-numbers movie.

The second weekend forThe Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treadercleaved its lowly opening take in half, granting $12.4 million on the third C.S. Lewis adaptation. The Fox film still hasn’t managed to meet the opening weekend numbers of the first two (when the series was housed at Disney), but international audiences adore these movies. Nearly 75% of its total has come from markets overseas thus far.

Paramount’s Oscar hopefulThe Fighterexpanded from 4 locations to 2,504 and played well to its adult demographic (87% over 25, according toDeadline). The David O. Russell-directed drama added $12.1 million and more exposure for Christian Bale’s much-talked-about supporting performance.

Rounding out the top five was Disney’sTangled, still holding strong, with $8.8 million.

James L. Brook’s inordinately expensive ($120M) How Do You Knowbombed with a meager $7.5 million debut, failing to reach even modest expectations. Jack Nicholson, Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd don’t come cheap, but there’s no reason that amount should have been dumped on a rom-com of any kind. Their combined price tag coupled with a forgettable title (inexplicably lacking a question mark) spelled certain failure weeks ago, but this is a financial disaster.

3-Day U.S. Weekend Actuals (December 17-19):
1. Tron: Legacy $44 million
2. Yogi Bear $16.4 million
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader $12.4 million
4. The Fighter $12.1 million
5. Tangled $8.8 million
6. The Tourist $8.5 million
7. Black Swan $8.4 million
8. How Do You Know $7.5 million
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 $5 million
10. Unstoppable $1.8 million

Source

Dan Brown to Rewrite 'Lost Symbol' Script

Dan Brown, author ofThe Da Vinci Code,Angels& Demons, and now the third installment,The Lost Symbol, is rewriting the adaptation of his best-selling novel.

Brown replaces Oscar-winning screenwriterSteven Knight, who was hired to draft a taketen months ago.

Symbolpicks up with the continuing adventures of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time his clash with the Freemasons of Washington D.C. and, naturally, their ancient codes. The book sold over a million copies of the hardcover and e-book in the first day of release in September 2009, making the sequel the fastest-selling adult novel in history.

However, the most intriguing bit of news fromTHR’s report is thatTom HanksandRon Howardare not officially on board the project yet as star and director, though Howard is producing the movie. Both are busy these days.  Hanks recently completed an edit on his sophomore directorial outing, titledLarry Crowneand Howard has beenliterally losing sleepover hisextremely ambitious adaptationof Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.

Source

'Toy Story' Short to be Paired with 'Cars 2?'

WhileToy Story 3may have closed the book on Pixar’s beloved film franchise, a short film may spin a few of the characters into their own brief, stand-alone story.

During the press rounds this year, Lee Unkrich, director of the $1 billion-grossing sequel, revealed there would be a Pixar short straight from the toy box and it would play in front of Pixar’s next feature release,Cars 2, in June 2011.

Thanks to a Tweet from Pixar story artist Floyd Norman (viaBleedingCool), we have an idea of what it could be. He said,“Saw the Pixar‘Hawaii’ short. Cute. Ken and Barbie want to go to Hawaii. I don’t know what it’s gonna be attached to. Fun stuff, however.”

The assumption is that Ken and Barbie’s dream vacation story is the same as theCars 2companion film Unkrich hinted at this summer, especially if the short is far enough along to be screened for colleagues not working directly on the project.  Disney is not confirming or denying the rumors.

What do you think? Are you happy we’ll be seeing another glimpse into the talking toy world? Or are you disappointed the short won’t focus on Woody and Buzz?

Source

Golden Globe Judges Bribed into Nominating 'Burlesque?'

Last week, thenominations for the 2011 Golden Globeswere instantly met with cries of derision and raised eyebrows. The Tourist? Really?  Even Angelina Jolie laughed when she heard the news.  Burlesque? How?  The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has been plagued by scandal over its lifetime, but a new report suggests the upcoming 68th Annual Globes are as tainted as ever.

An article inThe Independentalleges judges from the HFPA were recently flown to Las Vegas on Sony Pictures’ dime to attend a private meal at a luxury hotel. There, the studio behindBurlesquetreated the members to a concert performed by Cher. This just before the movie and its star picked up a surprise nomination for“Best Motion Picture– Comedy or Musical” and two nods in the“Original Song” category (one performed by Cher).

It’s a dubious coincidence, particularly given the critical drubbingBurlesquereceived from others members of the press, but is it bribery? Perhaps.  It’s certainly shady, but no different than the all-expenses-paid trips doled out to bloggers on a regular basis, which had some gushing about the qualities of Dwayne“The Rock” Johnson inFasterrecently.

One isolated event doesn’t indicate direct influence, necessarily, but their Vegas vacation connects with the HFPA’s already shady track record. The Independent piece cites 1981’s infamous Pia Zadora win for“Best Newcomer,” immediately after HFPA voters were flown to… you guessed it, Las Vegas. Or Sharon Stone’s gold watch giveway just before picking up an unexpected nomination in 1999. In short, this isn’t the only time the integrity of the organization’s 81 members have been called into question.

Ultimately, a Globe means next to nothing compared to the almighty Oscar. But when the Globes are being used as a marketing tool for financial flops or as a bellwether for future accolades, they tarnish a year-end process that, love it or leave it, actually recognizes creativity, talent, and originality in an industry that regularly ignores those qualities.

Source

Watch This: Two Great 2010 Movie Retrospectives

Every year, film fans/video editors piece together the most touching and memorable moments of the previous months, but nobody does it better than Matt Shapiro and Kees van Dijkhuizen. Here are their video retrospectives.

The first is the annual compilation by Matt Shapiro, titled“2010: The Cinescape” and set to the song“A Dustyland Fairytale” by The Killers. If you’re curious about a particular clip featured in the video,here is the linkto the included movies in chronological order.

Click here for“2009: The Cinescape.”

The second, and my personal favorite, is editor Kees van Dijkhuizen’s comprehensive creation“Cinema 2010,” which he says took him over 300 hours to complete. Here’s thedetailed listof films included (viaSlashfilm).

Dijkhuizen had this to say about the video:

We’ve reached the end of yet another unforgettable year of movies. Not only did this years movies push boundaries even further, they did so with impeccable risks. In a time of recession and playing-it-safe, films like Inception and The Social Network still found a great audience. But smaller films also, like Blue Valentine, Splice, Buried and Breaking Upwards found a loving audience. It’s crazy to think that all these films came out in one year, and so I tried my best do give them each a moment of glory in my latest film retrospective, Cinema 2010.

It’s the follow-up to the successful Cinema 2009, which obtained almost a million views on YouTube. 60,000 film fanatics used it to reflect on their year of film on New Years Eve. It was also screened in front of over 300 directors, producers and distributors in Amsterdam. Cinema 2010 perfects what2009 accomplished; a personal, stylish and extensive summary of a year in film. Hopefully it will surpass Cinema 2009′s success, but even if it doesn’t, it’s still something to look out for. It premiered during the Houston Film Critics Society’s annual Award Show on December 18th and was available on YouTube December 21st. The broadcast of the award show on national television will feature Cinema 2010 as well.

Source

Teaser Trailer for Kevin Smith’s ‘Red State’

The teaser trailer has arrived for Kevin Smith’s extreme fundamentalist horror movie,Red State, courtesy of the writer/director’s regularly recorded SModcast. The film features Michael Parks, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Michael Angarano, Kyle Gallner, Stephen Root, Ralph Garman and Nicholas Braun.

Red Statewill premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in late January with an eye on a March 2011 release. Here are some Red State character posters:

Source

Helena Bonham Carter collects false teeth

The eccentric actress

Source

Portia de Rossi admits hiding she was a lesbian contributed to her eating disorder

The model-turned-actress

Source

Olympic filmmaker Bud Greenspan dies at 84 in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) -- The trailblazing filmmaker who spent decades documenting thestories of Olympic athletes has died.Bud Greenspanwas 84.

Bing:More on Bud Greenspan's career

Greenspan's companion Nancy Beffa says he died Saturday from complications ofParkinson's disease at his home in New York City.

The award-winning filmmaker was known for documentaries chronicling athletesand their stories at both Winter and Summer Olympics. Beffa said his most recent work dealt with the rough cuts of films from the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.

The International Olympic Committee described Greenspan as"a true supporterof the Olympic Games and their values throughout his career."

A native New Yorker, Greenspan got his start in radio before turning tofilm.

Source

Holiday weekend box office: Ho-hum or ho-ho-ho?

By Daniel Frankel

TheWrap

It was the good, the not great ... and the ugly at the domestic boxoffice.

Bing:Best Christmas movies

We'llstart with the not great.

Also:More box-office news from TheWrap

With the overall North American market down more than 50 percent from thesame"Avatar"-led weekend last year, Universalcomedy-franchise installment"Little Fockers"led the box office, grossing $47.2million from Wednesday through Sunday and $32.9 million from Friday to Sunday, according to studio estimates.

TheBen Stiller/Robert De Nirofranchise undershottracking by more than $10 million, with pre-release expectations coming in at around $60 million. With Christmas Day grosses spiking to $14.6 million from $5.1 million on Friday, however, Universal officials are hopeful for solid play going forward, with moviegoers' Christmas-week distractions out of the way.

More:See which stars had a great year - andwho didn't

"We're optimistic that the jump from Christmas Eve toChristmas is a good indicator of how the coming week will play out,"saidUniversal marketing president Eddie Egan.

More:What did the criticssay?

Facing a much uglier reality, Fox saw itsJack Black-led comedy"Gulliver's Travels"debut to only $7.2 million afterdebuting at 2,546 theaters Saturday. The two-day gross was right around exceedingly dour expectations for the $115 million film, which came into the weekend with some Lilliputian-sized tracking numbers.

Related:2010's cinematic bummers

Thegood news, meanwhile, came out of Paramount, where Coenbrothers' Western"True Grit"grossed $36.8 million over its first fivedays, and $25.6 million over the three-day weekend, besting tracking by about $10 million.

Here's how the top 10 at the box office shaped up over thethree-day weekend:

"Little Fockers"$32.9 million

"True Grit"$25.6million

"Tron"$20.1 million

"Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader"$10.8 million

"Yogi Bear"$8.8 million

"The Fighter"$8.5 million

"Gulliver'sTravels"$7.2 million

"Tangled"$6.5 million

"Black Swan"$6.6 million

"The Tourist"$5.7 million

More from TheWrap:

'Little Fockers': May be lazy, but it'sstill fockin' funny

'Tron' Con: Comic convention buzz doesn'tdeliver hits

Coen Brothers' 'True Grit' is true,gritty ... and goofy

Source