Sep 14 2009 Madea More Popular Than Hot Young Sorority Girls

Movies remained a popular form of distraction last weekend. These were the five most popular:

1. I Can Do Bad All By Myself - $24 million. Tyler Perry was right: he did bad all by himself. But apparently the rest of the U.S. needed the counsel of Madea to do bad this weekend.

2. 9 - $10.9 million. See? Computer-animated films can be original and successful! They don't need to have constant pop culture jokes or a Shrek! Oh, Shrek the Third opened at $121.6 million? Never mind. Continue with Shreks.

3. Inglourious Basterds - $6.5 million. All those people who keep saying, "I know, I know--I'll see it next week," really are slowly doing it.

4. All About Steve - $5.8 million. As much as I'm glad that Sorority Row flopped, I'm not sure the universally-panned All About Steve having a decent second week is any better.

5. The Final Destination - $5.5 million. What ended up being the final destination, anyway?

Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]

Sep 11 2009 Coming To Theaters This Week's End

This weekend in theaters, you have your pick of goggle-eyed dolls, snowy murder, girls gone wild murder, or a Madea, you lucky dog.

Details:

9
Director: Shane Acker
Starring: Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover
Good if you want to see: Post-apocalyptic rag dolls; this short, but longer, and now one of the guys sounds like Elijah Wood.

I Can Do Bad All By Myself
Director: Tyler Perry
Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Tyler Perry, obviously.
Good if you want to see: thick, thick melodrama, and then, out of nowhere, Madea bein' all sassy; what everyone will be talking about at your Baptist church this Sunday; if someone can do bad unassisted.

Whiteout
Director: Dominic Sena
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, snow
Good if you want to see: MURDER! In ANTARCTICA!

Sorority Row
Director: Stewart Hendler
Starring: Briana Evigan, Rumer Willis, Old Leia
Good if you want to see: I Know What You Did Last Summer, now with more sorority girls and a tire iron.

Jun 10 2009 '9' Poster: Even Ragdolls Are Self-Conscious About Mom Butt

Even with lenses for eyes, you can still see the shame within. It's alright, 9; it takes all body types.

Also, why the Watchmen poster-inspired "visionary director" comment? I'm not sure drawing comparisons to Zack Snyder is necessarily the best marketing tactic.

Bigger version at Film School Rejects.

Jun 2 2009 '9' Poster: That's a Lot of Brooch, King Brooch!

Hello, Russians. Here's your poster for 9, the post-apocalyptic adventure that holds all hopes of a non-pandering animation future in its ragdoll hands. No pressure or anything, but if you're not good, 9, it means major studios will probably never take a chance on animation with a non-talking-animal premise for another decade. So be good.

9 Poster [IMPA]

May 20 2009 New '9' Trailer: It's the Ragdoll 'Terminator Salvation'

God, why do we keep trusting computoids when their only concern is the preservation of precious circuitry? There's a new trailer for 9, Shane Acker's animated, post-apocalyptic adventure, and this one goes into the film's backstory--what circumstances led to human extinction, leaving soul-infused ragdolls as the primary form of life. As expected, fucking robots were involved. And you just know this guy was leading the charge against us.

The trailer:

Continue Reading " New '9' Trailer: It's the Ragdoll 'Terminator Salvation' "

Apr 20 2009 Two Minutes of '9': The Ragdoll Resistance Just Got Real

Want to see some stylized, post-apocalyptic ragdolls fight an epic battle against a fabric-cocooned monster with a baby doll-terminator face? Sure you do. Otherwise, why are you here? And who are you, anyway? Don't worry about it right now. Just watch:

Continue Reading " Two Minutes of '9': The Ragdoll Resistance Just Got Real "

Dec 24 2008 '9' Feature Film Makes '9' Short So Much More Marketable to Key Demos

Shane Acker's dialogue-free 2005 film, 9, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short (hey, here it is). Hollywood couldn't help but notice how charming and marketable the post-apocalyptic ragdoll stars were, and was like, "Alright, Shane, how about you make this into a feature film? One thing though: maybe to 'punch it up' a bit, add dialogue, and have that dialogue be read by notable celebrities. And make the lead character a puppy that wears sunglasses."

Here's the trailer:

Continue Reading " '9' Feature Film Makes '9' Short So Much More Marketable to Key Demos "