Complete listings can be found in the
usual place.
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“Superman Returns” Sooner
Superman Returns, originally slated for
release on Friday, June 30, has had its release date
pushed up to Wednesday, June 28. This is a very good
sign; moving a release to a Wednesday implies that the
studio is confident word of mouth will drive up
weekend ticket sales.
Batwoman returns to the DCU
We’ve had a new Batgirl for awhile, but now DC reinvents Batwoman. She’s here; she’s queer.
Final “Joe Fridays” Posted
Those of us who read Newsarama have noticed
a weekly column by Joe Quesada, Marvel’s
Editor-in-Chief, that has run for a year. The final
installment went up yesterday, and includes not just
Quesada, but also Joss Whedon, Joe Straczynski, Brian
Michael Bendis, and Jeph Loeb. It’s very amusing, and
very informative. You can read it right here.
Doctor Who: The Idiot’s Lantern
London, 1953: the day before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II sees a record increase in television ownership, but there are strange things happening in houses with new televisions, and people are disappearing…
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Blade Runner: Final Cut
chad
writes, Blade Runner is turning into the
white album of movies. According to Scif
Fi Wire, there will be a remastered DVD release of
the director’s cut, followed by a new theatrical
release, followed by a comprehensive DVD release with
all four versions of the movie. It’ll be
interesting to see if the final cut has any
substantial differences from the director’s cut.
Scott says his goal with this cut is to make it more
obvious that Deckerd is a replicant. Personally, I
like the ambiguity, especially since the star and
screenwriter consider the character to be human.
Weekend Box Office Totals – “X-Men: The Last Stand” does well
The weekend box office estimates are in. The top
performers were:
- X-Men: The Last Stand – $107 million with
a $210 million estimated budget, opening on 3,690
screens. The per screen average is about $29
thousand, so this was the one that kept selling out
this weekend. (That’s the highest per screen in the
top ten.) - The Da Vinci Code – another $33.5 million
in week two, pushing it to $136 million total with an
estimate $125 million budget. Still, that’s a huge
drop for the second week, despite the addition of 19
more screens to bring it up to 3,754 total, which is
more than X-Men. - Over The Hedge – another $27 million in
week two, bringing it up to $76 million total, with no
budget estimate at Box Office Mojo. It had the
highest screen count of the weekend, at 4093. - Mission: Impossible III – brings in $6.6
million in week four, reaching a total of $114 million
with an estimated $150 million budget. I doubt this
will show a profit before the DVD release. Tom Cruise
just isn’t the sure thing he used to be. 3053
screens. - Poseidon – adds $5.9 million, for a total
of $45.5 million over three weeks, with an estimated
budget of $160 million. It’ll be a long time before
this shows a profit. 3,245 screens. - RV – another $3.9 million, $56 million
total, $50 million budget, 2,481 screens. - See No Evil – brought in a respectable
$2.5 million on only 1,270 screens, for a total of
$8.5 million with an $8 million budget. - Just My Luck – $1.8 million this week,
$13 million total, 1,604 screens - United 93 – $740 thousand, $30 million
total, $15 million budget, 781 screens - An American Haunting – $700 thousand, $15
million total, $14 million budget, 748 screens - Akeelah and the Bee – $670 thousand, $17
million total, no budget estimate, 487 screens - Keeping Up With The Steins – $579
thousand, $1.9 million total, no budget estimate, 146
screens - Ice Age 2: The Meltdown – $570 thousand,
$190 million total, $80 million budget estimate, 633
screens (down 523 from last week). This film was down
42.3% in revenue from last week, and down 45% in
available screens (with no knowledge of how many
screenings it was reduced by). Dreamworks is
excellent at predicting the demand and dropoff to
their films.
The highest per screen average this week wasn’t
X-Men: The Last Stand, but rather a movie
that didn’t even make this top list. An
Inconvenient Truth opened on 4 screens and
brought in $266 thousand, for a per screen average of
$66,500. Nicely done.
Next week’s big opening titles include:
- The Break-Up – directed by Peyton Reed,
starring Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn, and Jon
Favreau. Favreau is currently working on writing and
directing Iron Man, the first in-house Marvel
theatrical production, which will start shooting in
January and open in 2008. - Peaceful Warrior – A true story directed
by Victor Salva and starring Sam Mechlowicz, Nick
Nolte, and Amy Smart - 13th District – directed by Pierre Morel,
this is a sci-fi action flick that’s being imported
from France. Co-written by Luc Besson. - Typhoon – Dreamworks SKG imported this
action movie from South Korea. Directed by Kyung-Taek
Kwak.
Strangers in Paradise: Sanctuary
Hey! Why am I the only one here with no clothes on?
–Casey Femur
Sanctuary, the seventh Strangers in Paradise trade paperback, represents a series high point.
The System of the World
At long last, I offer a review of The System of the World, the final part of The Baroque Cycle, which also includes Quicksilver and The Confusion . All three form a prequel of sorts to Cryptonomicon. The Cycle runs nearly 3000 pages and represents a stunning achievement by a writer.
But is it worth the effort to the reader?
Civil War Comic Review – “She-Hulk 2 #8”
The Civil War is just getting started, and we’ve got a
glance at the fallout.
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