SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER

No matter how much you deny participating in the summer blockbuster phenomenon, or how fervently you support the art-house theater 20 miles from your house, admit it; your going to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

I get it: it's hard to get creative about what we see when blockbusters pour $25 million (at least) into prints and advertising, but there is a secret, guilty pleasure in seeing Ryan Reynolds half naked in Green Lantern, or witnessing Rosie Huntington Whitely attempt acting for the first time. Whether you like it or not, the season of the summer blockbuster is upon us...get your wallets ready.

Here's what you can expect to see this summer:

May 26: Kung Fu Panda 2 & Hangover Part II

June 3: X-Men: First Class
June 10: Super 8
June 17: Green Lantern
June 24: Bad Teacher & Cars 2

July 1: Transformers: Dark of the Moon & Larry Crowne
July 8: Horrible Bosses
July 15: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II
July 22: Captain America & Friends with Benefits
July 29: The Smurfs & Cowboys and Aliens & Crazy Stupid Love

August 5: The Change Up & Rise of the Planet of the Apes
August 12: The Help & 30 Minutes or Less
August 19: Conan the Barbarian & Spy Kids 4
August 26: Our Idiot Brother & Final Destination 5

For more information on any of these films, click HERE

RIO DE DINERO

Film industry financials are said to be contra-cyclical to the economy (and there's no greater example than the Great Depression), but this weekend's box office gross is up 12% compared to the same time last year.
Rio raked up $40M this weekend, with only the remote competition of Scream 4, coming in at just under $20M. With yet another animated kid's film coming in at number one, it's officially time to stop underestimating the genre...not that we ever did.

NO HOP

This weekend, Hop opened first at the box office, grossing $38,188,140. The film, in which the Easter Bunny’s teenage son avoids his familial responsibilities, moving to LA to become a rock star- recovered half of its $63M budget. Not that there was high competition, but the success of Hop proves how much power children have as an audience. Here’s an excerpt from A.O Scott’s New York Times review:

Connoisseurs of the school of cinema in which fuzzy animated creatures interact with hard-working, slightly desperate-looking human actors may find themselves, if not exactly delighted, then at least pleasantly tickled. The rest of us, who endure such movies in the name of family harmony, masochism or lack of leisure-time imagination, may be happily surprised to emerge from the theater in something other than a state of murderous rage.

The success of Hop got me thinking about the great animated films of my childhood. A friend of mine calls the 1990’s the “cartoon renaissance” and although he was most likely referring to television, he’s got a point. The first film I ever saw in a theater was The Lion King, to which Hop doesn’t hold a candle, but my favorite animated feature of all-time has to be Fantasia. 

 

The original Fantasia, released in 1940, is a series of animated interpretations of western classical music...BRILLIANT. 

WEEKEND REVIEW

This weekend at the box office:

Bradley Cooper proves he carry a movie, raking up $19 million this weekend for Limitless. The film, about a writer whose luck changes - for the better - after taking a "smart pill", recovered most of its $27 million budget in its debut weekend. Profit potentials are - dare I say - limitless.

Second this weekend was the animated feature, Rango, whose grossing dropped 32% to $15 million. The film has earned an estimated $92.6 million in only three weeks. Is this Johnny Depp's pull?

Third comes the gratuitous Battle Los Angeles, which plummeted 59% this week, making $14.6 million.

Fourth is the debut of Matthew McConaughy's The Lincoln Lawyer, making $13.4 million. The film didn't quite reach McConaughy's usual standard, but he does take a departure from his usual roles; wearing a shirt for the entirety of the film.

Fifth came Paul, the R rated comic book movie, making a respectable $13.2 million.

CNN

BATTLE AT THE BOX OFFICE

There are certain filmmakers who continue to make the same bleak, violent, CGI heavy movies over and over again. While these films are continually met with scathing reviews, they are - ironically - usually high grossing. Seems Johnathan Liebesman is laughing all the way to the bank.

Over the weekend, Battle Los Angeles grossed $36 million. READ MORE. 

NOT A JOKE

This weekend, “Just Go With It” recovered some of its $80 million budget, opening number one at the box offices.  The film, starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, even out-sold Justin Bieber’s highly anticipated 3D concert-movie. While this box-office showdown has me confused, no doubt, it proves how lastingly bankable certain celebrities can be. Certainly the film itself is not the draw, but its talent. As A.O. Scott states in his New York Times review of the film:

I should start by confessing that I spent a lot of time before the screening of “Just Go With It” — and a few stretches while it was actually going on — trying to remember what the darn thing was called. I may have to look up the title a few more times before this review is done, and the movie is likely to live on in my memory (to the extent that it will) as “that one with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston in Hawaii.” Which pretty much sums up both the appeal and the limitations of this passive-aggressive, naughty but nice, sometimes obnoxious and occasionally quite funny late-winter romantic comedy.

Not a rave, to say the least. But the success of this movie got me thinking about the original funny-men. Before Seth Rogan or Will Ferrell or Adam Sandler, the original funny-man, Buster Keaton, was building the foundation for slapstick.

“The Great Stone Face,” as Keaton (1895-1966) was affectionately known, created a comedic style before the advent of talkies. Born into a vaudeville family, he spent his youth on stage. Skeptical of motion pictures (as most theater-people were), Keaton took it upon himself to dissemble and reassemble a camera. With a newfound understanding and respect for the medium, Keaton began his career as a screen-actor and filmmaker.  Without dialogue, Keaton’s comedies required a highly exaggerated physicality. Through creative editing and – what was essentially – mime, the comedic genre was born. Buster Keaton will forever be regarded as the father of comedic acting and has been recognized innumerably for his achievements.  

That Just Go With It (2011) is the 11^th consecutive Adam Sandler movie to open first at the box office proves, most certainly, that audiences haven’t tired of the funny-man.