Apr 20 2009 '17 Again' Reestablishes Popularity of Age-Changing Fantasy Comedy
Many hard-earned money rectangles were spent this weekend, many of them going towards seeing these five films:
1. 17 Again - A respectable $24.1 million, proving Zac Efron can do more than play a singing, dancing high school basketball player. He can also play a high school basketball player who is secretly older.
2. State of Play - 14.1 million taut, thrilling dollars.
3. Monsters Vs. Aliens - $12.9 million, holding onto the third place position for the second straight week. Guess they didn't get the memo that third place is second place loser: NO FEAR.
4. Hannah Montana: The Movie - $12.7 million, giving it over $50 million in total. I'd think that would be enough profit to warrant a sequel, so here's what I'm thinking: Hannah Montana gets so popular that the character within the movie is offered her own movie. Meta! But there's a problem: the producers notice Miley on the street and demand she plays Hannah's sister! How is she going to work that out when they're the same person??? Ut-oh! Pretty good, right?
5. Fast and Furious - $12.3 million and FURIOUS.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Apr 13 2009 Either Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus Win Box Office
I know what you were watching at the theaters this weekend!
1. Hannah Montana The Movie - $34 million. I'm sort of proud I have such a vague understanding of the multiple personas of Miley Cyrus, but at the same time, it's so enormously popular that I also feel really out of touch. This is Tamagatchis all over again.
2. Fast and Furious - $28.8 million. Vin Diesel fans are legion.
3. Monsters Vs. Aliens - $22.6 million. Not every kid wanted to see Hannah Montana. That shit's for girls, dude.
4. Observe and Report - $11 million--now the second highest grossing mall security guard movie in America!
5. Knowing - $6.7 million, meaning, even in its fourth week, Nicolas Cage interpreting worrying numbers beat:
8. Dragonball Evolution - $4.7 million. Yikes!
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Apr 6 2009 Fast/Furious Combination Still Successful
1. Fast and Furious - $72.5 million? That's ridiculous. I swear, it's like no one's seen Vin Diesel drive a sweet car before.
2. Monsters vs. Aliens - $33.5 million, a 44% drop since last week, probably in response to the lackluster ending. The monsters using a laptop to upload a virus into the alien mothership was pretty far fetched. If Macs and PCs aren't even fully compatible, what are the chances we could plug in a Powerbook and upload a functioning virus?
3. The Haunting in Connecticut - $9.6 million. It's just so hard to take a haunting in Connecticut seriously when we now know Connecticut's greatest threat is its psychotic ape population.
4. Knowing - I am slightly disappointed that Adventureland only made $6 million but Nicolas Cage-predicts-disasters-with-numbers still pulled in $8.1 million in its third week. Such is Cage's power.
5. I Love You, Man - Male-on-male non-sexual affection earns another $7.9 million.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Feb 16 2009 'Fast & Furious' Poster, with: Michelle, Paul, Vin, Jordana, and ME--the Car!
This poster gives me a good idea for the next Fast/Furious adventure: the car should be a sentient character, and it helps the rest of the group solve mysteries. Basically, it would be Speed Buggy with Vin Diesel. Or, if you think that strays too far from the foundations of the Fast/Furious franchise, how about we just make Speed Buggy with Vin Diesel then? It would have to do at least as well as The Pacifier.
The New Fast & Furious One-Sheet! [Coming Soon]
Feb 3 2009 Inter-Football Movie Ads: The Rest of Them
So, I didn't get to all the Super Bowl ads yesterday. Sorry. But in the spirit of never fully betraying you, here are the rest of them, including spots for Year One, Up, Angels & Demons, Fast & Furious, and Duplicity. I suggest only watching the clips for Year One, which has some promise. Unless you're my dad--then clear off the edge of your seat and watch Angels & Demons. This promises to be as taut a thriller as "The Code"! Or if you're a car, watch Fast & Furious.
Continue Reading " Inter-Football Movie Ads: The Rest of Them "
Jan 16 2009 'Fast and Furious' Trailer Balances Speed and Fury
Watching Vin Diesel act makes me really wish I could cast him in a Disney comedy called The Most Petulant Buffoon. That said, this trailer is a good instructional for what to do if the flaming trailer of an oil truck is rolling towards you, and you're in this really awesome car:
Continue Reading " 'Fast and Furious' Trailer Balances Speed and Fury "
Dec 22 2008 'Fast & Furious' Poster is Reasonably Fast & Furious, I Guess
The way I see it, there are three ways to interpret this poster:
1. The cast of Fast & Furious are standing in the desert, in front of a car, and are being reflected in its hood.
2. Someone got overly excited after the original Fast and the Furious and ran to their local airbrush artist to regrettably de-value their car.
3. An anthropomorphic car is reminiscing about its times on the set of The Fast and the Furious, which is shown through a cartoon shorthand similar to when dollar signs appear in someone's eyes.
It's probably meant to be the first one, but I think the third would be good as a scene in Cars 2.
Check Out The New Teaser Poster From ‘Fast & Furious’! [MTV]
Aug 25 2008 '4ast 4 4ourious (Four)' Trailer
God, gas prices, am I right? Sometimes it's like you've got to get Vin Diesel and his crew, drive out to the Dominican Republic, and find some highly improbable way to steal a fully loaded gasoline land train, assuming such a thing exists. Right?
I hope Vin later tackles how airport security is so crazy. Like by driving a car through the metal detector.
Aug 21 2008 Vin Diesel is the Woody Allen of Car-Driving Movies
When a series is daring enough to document the lives of those who are both fast and furious, then amp it up to too (2) fast/(2) furious, take it to Tokyo, then make it conceptual by presenting "fast" and "furious" as non-specific ideas, changing characters and cars throughout the saga, the possibility exists that some viewers may get lost between chapters. Luckily, Vin Diesel is directing and starring in a 20-minute prequel to the upcoming Fast and Furious that will bridge the gaps:
Vin Diesel, who stars in next Friday's Babylon A.D., told ComingSoon.net today that he is directing a 20-minute prequel to Fast and Furious, the fourth installment in the Universal Pictures franchise.Diesel will star in the prequel along with Michelle Rodriguez reprising her role as Letty and Sung Kang returning as Han. Diesel didn't say how the prequel would premiere; it could be on a DVD, online, TV, etc.
The fourth movie is a sequel to the first installment, and though Diesel didn't elaborate, we assume this 20-minute prequel will tie-in some of the events from the second and third movies. Rodriguez appeared in the first movie, Sung Kang in the third, and Diesel in the first with a brief cameo in the third.
This sounds an awful lot like a Star Wars: The Clone Wars of the Fast/Furious series. Very bad, I mean. It won't be good. It will be bad.
Jun 24 2008 'Fast and Furious' Stars Attempt the Risky DRIVE FIVE
How much faster and furiouser is Fast and Furious compared to previous Fast and the Furiouses? So fast and furious as to attempt a DRIVE FIVE! (A high five while driving past someone.) So rad.
In addition to the above shot and a couple more, USA Today has some quotes from returning stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, such as Vin's explanation for returning to the tired franchise:
"I saw how people related to the characters' stories as much as the cars and action."
That's not true, but OK.
