Superman makes $21M opening day

chart from BoxOfficeMojo.

It's not an amazing opening...but it's super. I'm guessing WB was hoping for $30M+, but this is a better start than they had for Batman...and this movie's got a lot more exposure than that one did, so it could pass up Batman's $200M run. One thing's for certain, with the good buzz on Pirates, I'm sure WB is pleased with their decision to move the opening up to a Wednesday.

In 24 hours I'll be able to give a more educated guess.

BTW, can you believe that nearly 20% of X3's run will have been made on it's first day? That's crazy!

Pirates in 2008

Sure, Pirates 3 comes out in summer of 2007, but Big Idea just inked a deal with Universal Studios to release the next VeggieTales movie, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" in 2008.

Also, Phil Vischer has a story of Big Idea's collapse on his personal site. It's 22 pages long and I haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's certainly something I want to finish.

Opening Weekends

HSX has

Superman's 3-day at $70M.

Pirate's 3-day at $105M

Is there money to be had here?

The call stock for Superman is selling like hotcakes (currently trading at over $9/share!

Seeing films with Tim

Well, in a "let's get psyched up for Friday" I've been reflecting on films I've seen with Tim in the theater.
It's not a long list...and maybe Tim can remind me of films that are supposed to be on there that I overlooked in my quick glace of my IMDB list. But here are the films I've seen with Tim in the theater. It's a pretty good list...with some nasty clunkers on the bottom.

1. King Kong
2. Harry Potter 4
3. V for Vendetta
4. Beautiful Mind
5. Prince of Egypt
6. United 93
7. Lord of the Rings 2
8. Titanic
9. Island
10. U-571
11. Lost in Space

Summer 2007...the preview

With the release of the Spider-Man 3 trailer, next summer is now beginning to get noticed...and well it should. If you thought this summer was packed, it's got nothing on the Summer of 2007.

During a 14-week span there will be seven movies which are sequels to films that opened to over $50M. Add to that Bard Bird's next Pixar film, Oceans 13, the Simpsons movie, and Michael Bay's Transformers, all which have $50M plus potential, you got one tight summer.

Here's what you have in store for next summer (number in parenthesis is the average domestic gross of the sequel's predecessors). I've included Simpsons and Transformers because of their strong brand names...I've excluded Fantastic Four 2 because I couldn't bring myself to put it on this list, even if it would be listed between two of the weakest entries:

May 4 - Spider-Man 3 ($388M)

May 18 - Shrek 3 ($355M)

May 25 - Pirates 3 ($305M)

June 8 - Ocean's 13 ($154M)

June 22 - Evan Almighty ($243M)

June 29 - Pixar's Ratotouille ($240M)

July 4 - Transformers

July 13 - Harry Potter 5 ($278M)

July 27 - Simpsons

Aug 3 - Bourne 3 ($150M)

Aug 10 - Rush Hour 3 ($183M)

FYI: Ocean's 13 and Spidey 3 are the only two franchise entries on that list whose predecessor did not make as much money as the entry before it, i.e., Shrek, Bourne, Rush Hour, Potter, and possibly Pirates have been improving (in terms of box-office) with age.

Obviously, given my feelings on Spider-Man 2 and the fact that it has the same creative team working on the next film, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that I'm looking forward to Spidey 3 more than any film since LOTR...maybe even more!

So, I guess we won't have to worry about running out of material to write about here on the Apocalypse.

This is me at my last birthday party

I don't take shots well.

A Parallel

Austin Powers=Superman
Dr. Evil = Lex Luthor (bald head and both want to take over the world)
Foxy Cleopatra = Lois Lane
Losing Mojo = Losing Powers Due To Kryptonite


P.S. This is a post by Nicole writing under Tim's name.

Christianity and the Environment

I know I normally don't blog about this stuff...but yesterday I stumbled across an interview on public radio with Richard Cizik, the spokesperson for the National Association of Evangelicals. I had heard about the leadership of the Christian Conservative movement branching it's social concerns from abortion and marriage issues to also include fighting AIDS, third world debt relief, and environmental issues, but I hadn't looked into it very much.

I must say, after listening to this guy and reading the stuff on the NAE's website, I'm very impressed. They're really working to make this world a better place for all people, and they're doing it by crossing boundaries and forging unusual alliances while maintaining an exclusively Christian viewpoint.

Check out these things they've been working on

• Stopping sex trafficking (partnered with a coalition of feminists)
• Preventing and aiding AIDS/HIV victims in Africa (partnered with gay rights groups)
• Enacting prison abuse reform (partnered with American Civil Liberties Union)
• Stopping emission of green house gases (partnered with environmentalist groups)

This is really exciting stuff, because not only is this group refusing to be held hostage to the GOP (or any party), it seems to me that they're keeping the focus on true religion, i.e., care for the poorest among us (James 1:27).

According to Cizik, all morality starts with people honoring the sanctity of life...and everything else follows from that. So abortion is still seen as probably the biggest moral problem of our time...but these other issues are also seen as very important and must be addressed by those who call themselves followers of Christ. If we don't, the poor will continue to suffer the consequences of our actions (or inaction). And especially on environmental issues, where if we don't do something now to stop of rampant world-wide consumerism, the world of our children and grandchildren may be torn apart by war as people fight for resources to survive.

Check out the podcast of the interview. It's really good. And here's a link to Bono's keynote address at this year's National Prayer Breakfast...it's pretty inspiring.

Latest Supes Trailer

Well, a lot can happen in 50 days.

On May 1 we were trying to figure out why WB was waiting so long release a full trailer; and when it came the next day, I don't think anyone was overly impressed. But then in the next month they released two more trailers, each getting better and better....not to mention at least 10 different tv commercials and a ton of clips.

Then last night they released what will probably be the last trailer...and it is awesome. I guess when you have $100M to spend on marketing, WB believes that it's best to save it up and spend it all in the seven weeks before the movie opens. I would have thought that you need to build hype earlier, but given that Supe's HSX price is at its all-time high today, shows what I know.

HSX has set it's opening at $70M and looks for $250M by Labor Day...and with only five reviews in, it's metacritic score is 89. Should be interesting to see how this all pans out.

Brick

Tim's Favorite Movies This Year:
Brick
MI:3
United 93
X-Men 3
Friends With Money
V For Vendetta
Lucky Number Slevin
Inside Man
Da Vinci Code
The Hills Have Eyes
Dave Chappell's Block Party
Posideon
Scary Movie 4
Hostel

That's all of them. Can you believe we're halfway through the year and I've only seen fourteen movies! Yeah, it seems to me like I see a movie every other day too! Now you're probably asking yourself, what the hell is Brick and why is it #1 on his list? Brick is the kookiest movie I've ever seen. That's the best way to describe it. The acting is over the top and the script is confusing but totally intreging. Let me try to explain. There are characters in this movie that seem to be caricatures of themselves. The way they talk, how they talk, and what they say are all cliche but somehow completely original. I don't know how to explain it. When you watch it, either you'll let it grow on you (which it does) or you let it annoy the hell out of you. Also, there is a language to this movie that is completely unique. Have you ever seen Clockwork Orange. Yeah, it's like listening to that all over again, totally confusing, but somehow you're able to understand just enough to follow along, then by the end of the movie you've picked up on the language and wish there would have been more of it. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so cool in this movie. You don't know what he's doing half the time or understand his motivation for it, but once it gets explained you're left there thinking, "Ohhhhh, now I get it. This guy is awesome!" So much of this movie is like that. It does something and explains later. This is exactly the reason why I have to see it again asap. If I hadn't gone to the last showing of the night, I would have stayed there and seen it again. Seriously. This (like Memento) is not a movie where everything can be sorted out on the first viewing, which is fine by me. It gives me another excuse to check it out again.

Here's the trailer:

You've got to see it. Maybe even better than the MI:3 previews. You know that's saying a lot coming from me, but this trailer sums up the movie to a tee.

Ann's Top 10: Movies I Would Enjoy Even Muted, Maybe even more so that way...

This list may not address important issues like which movie will make the most this summer or whether or not I think Tom Cruise is dreamy (which I don't because he seems so full of him self- but still a great actor), but who knows... no one on this blog seems to be short on opinions; a good thing I might add. Tell me what you think. What movies did you enjoy watching. Disclaimer: The movies I am about to list do not necessarily qualify as good stories in my book- just good to watch. I also did not list them in order from best to worst or anything. I wasn't able to really rank them that way. The styles are very different from one another and couldn't really be fairly compared, or so I thought.
1. Moulin Rouge
2. Batman- the Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher releases
3. What Dreams May Come
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
5. House of Flying Daggers
6. LOTR trilogy
7. Star Wars episodes 1-3 (for me it was mainly Amidala's costumes)
8. Man in the Iron Mask
9. Tomb Raider
10.Finding Nemo (I really can't get into this movie, but I do think the animation is great)

Eric, Why Don't You Help Us?

Oh wise ole' Eric. Why don't you show the rest of us how to post OUR picture? That way we can put up movie posters and pictures of Tom Cruise too. Thank you!

New 3 Burials Of Melquiades Estrada

Okay, I just got back from the movie. Loved it! I almost did what I thought I was going to do, which is walk out. I thought I was going to get really bored and then the movie would do something stupid and I would leave right then. I was so close. (If only Eric and Ann have seen this, I'm sorry but...) You know the one scene where Barry Pepper is laying on the bed and that lady throws the hot coffee on him and bashes the pot across his nose and then goes, "Now we're even." Yeah, I thought that was terrible. Right then I was thinking, okay I know exactly how this movie is going to end. Everything the evil border patrol man did earlier is going to come back and get him, he'll be all changed, repent and life will be beautiful. I thought for sure that this was going to happen. Then I thought, well, I wonder how they are going to deal with Tommy Lee Jones character, Pete. Are they going to have him be arrested, killed, or glorified? I thought, well there is like a half hour/forty five minutes left, I might as well just see how it ends. So I'm watching it and something happened. I don't know if I've ever seen something so profound about a character, yet so simple. Okay here it is...Tommy Lee Jones is sitting at the bar waiting for that waitress to call him.
Rachael: Where are you?
Pete: I'm in Mexico. I want you to come down here with me.
Rachael: What?
Pete: I want you to come down here. We can get married and grow old together.
Rachael: No I won't come to Mexico with you. Are you crazy?
Pete: Why not?
Rachael: Because I'm married that's why?
Pete: But you said that you loved me.

BAM! Right there I saw Pete in a whole new light. He's not the cliched, quiet, old but rough ranch hand. He's just a guy who doesn't understand people. He didn't get that this is something she just says to people to be affable. He doesn't get people, but he got Melquiades and in the end of the movie we find out that Melquiades probably was the same way. Nobody even knew who this guy was. He too was a lonely guy who just wants to live life the best way he can.

On another note Barry Pepper really impressed me in this movie. I haven't seen him since 25th Hour. He did a great job of getting the shit beaten out of him. Oh my GOD! He got pistol whipped, slapped, bitten by a snake, his foot cut open, dragged through a lake by his neck, burnt his feet, had hot coffee dumped on him and got hit in the face with a pot. Not to mention he had to dig a bunch of graves and had to deal with the smell of a rotting corpse for like five days. Poor guy.

Now, I didn't think Tommy Lee Jones did such a good job directing. This movie would have been in my top ten had a better director been on it. There were some scenes that should have been cut, some acting that should have been improved and one scene where I wasn't sure what the hell to think (the one where the old man asks them to shoot him).

Overall, really really liked it. The more I think about it the better it is. Should it have gotten a scene play nomination? I agree with Eric, I don't think so, but I don't agree with most of the nominations they give out.

When the Big Screen Matters

That Superman review got me thinking. Of course, it's always more fun to see a movie in the theater than to watch it at home, but these are the only films I pointedly remember thinking to myself that not only was it better on the big screen, but watching it in the theater was a completely different (and qualitatively better) experience than even the best home theater experience can be...in fact, with all these movies, watching them later on the small screen was a let down.

1. King Kong (best theater experience ever...T-Rex fight isn't nearly as intense on the small screen)
2. Matrix / Episode 1 (action sequences were so cool on the big screen...the combination of the Matrix's visuals and philosophy so overwhelmed me the first time I saw it that I didn't get the basics of the narrative.)
3. Saving Private Ryan (saw it at a theater with excellent sound...felt like the bullets whizzed past me)
4. Moulin Rouge (beautiful film, great crowd)
5. Passion of the Christ/Fight Club (you totally get absorbed in the horror of it all)
6. America's Heart and Soul/Open Range (beautifully shot)

I'm not sure if the Lord of the Rings movies or Jurassic Park should make that list. They were awesome on the big screen...but I don't remember them being particularly better than watching them at home in the same way these other movies did. Interestingly enough, none of Shyamalan's movies made my list, even though he's a particular nazi when it comes to developing his projects with a "small screen be damned" approach.

How about you? What movies would you say were remarkable big screen events?

Early Superman Review

Superman screened last night. Here's the only non-review I've found on it and it sounds pretty exciting...exactly what I hoped for, in fact. And with Madison's 3D IMAX showing, I'm very much looking forward to my birthday! I know I shouldn't any stock into a reviewer I've never read before, but hey, this summer's stunk so far so I need something to look forward to.

"...it seems highly unlikely (I almost wrote "inconceivable") that Pirates will surpass Superman Returns in terms of emotionality and embodying a resonant, fully developed theme. I was watching an interview yesterday with the late Don Simpson on the new Crimson Tide DVD, and at one point he repeated the old maxim that a good movie "can't just deliver action or theme-park pizazz or laughs or big stars....it's gotta be about something." No critic is going to argue that Superman Returns doesn't fulfill that demand, and if I owned a house I would bet it on the expectation that Pirates will be about two things and two things only -- good pizazzy fun (action, humor, attitude, production values) and a total lack of regard for Simpson's Law.

Superman Returns is opening simultaneously in IMAX theatres on 6.28, and about 20 minutes worth (i.e., "selected scenes") will be show in IMAX 3D. The press was shown a preview of how the 3D footage will look last night after the main screening, and it's mindblowing. There's an airborne action sequence in particular that delivered, for me, the greatest sensory thrill I've ever experienced from a mainstream movie in my life. There's no question that anyone within reach of an IMAX presentation of this film HAS TO SEE IT THIS WAY. (Singer has worked out a green light-red light system that will tell moviegoers when to put on the glasses just before a 3D section begins.) Trust me, catching it this way will be an absolute knockout."

[Edit 6-12-06]

More reviews. Very positive

• Latino Review
• Hollywood Elsewhere
• Aint it Cool
• BlueTights
• Boston Herald
  

Cars Reviews Positive

They're not great, but they're certainly better than any other wide release so far this summer. Metacritic currently has a 81, but that will change tomorrow as all the reviews go live. No matter what, the critics aren't nearly bad enough to keep anyone away who was already planning on seeing it this weekend. I'm thinking it might break the single day record on Saturday (currently $50M by SW3); certainly poised to break Shrek 2's $44M Saturday.

Also, today's the day they start screening Superman for critics...should have word (good or bad) by this time tomorrow. Here's to hoping that Singer has another solid hit...I'm expecting at least a double...probably a triple.

Best Taglines 2005

Key Art Awards have their nominees for 2005. There's some pretty good marketing here. Anything else they missed? I think all five of these taglines are excellent...though Virgin has to be the best.

* The 40 Year-Old Virgin: "The longer you wait, the harder it gets."

* Crash: "Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other."

* Saw II: "Oh yes, there will be blood."

* Tim Burton's Corpse Bride: "There's been a grave misunderstanding."

* Wedding Crashers: "Life's a party. Crash it."

Nativity Story

Christianity Today reported a set visit on New Line's holiday 2006 release: Nativity (aka The Nativity Story). I've heard of it, but didn't realize the talent associated with it nor that it was on the fast track and going to be released so soon.

Sounds promising.

[The script is] faithful and reverent to the Gospel accounts, but also brings Joseph and Mary's characters alive in a very human way. They wrestle with fears and doubts and anxieties, all within the framework of unshakeable faith.

We meet their parents and families, even before they're betrothed to one another. We're there for the awkward moment when Mary's father tells his daughter that she will be Joseph's wife. We're there for Gabriel's visit, for Joseph's dream, for the journey to Bethlehem—and the gamut of emotions that each experiences, every step of the way.

We get to know Elizabeth and Zechariah. We hit the road with the three wise men—Balthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior. We meet shepherds, tending their flocks by night. We go into Herod's palace and see what a despicable, paranoid man he really is.

Filming Mary and Joseph on the journey to Bethlehem

There are playful, humorous moments. There are tension-filled scenes. And there is love, especially as shown on the arduous trek to Bethlehem, in which Joseph's tender care for his betrothed begins to shine as brightly as a certain star that has appeared on the horizon.

It's a Bible story. But it's a human story too.

"When you grow up in church, it becomes an objectified story," says Godfrey, the co-producer. "It's never told from Joseph and Mary's perspective; it's a story told without much conflict.

"But what would it be like to be 14 years old and go through what she went through? What would it be like to be a man and have your betrothed come to you and say she's pregnant—not by another man, but as an act of God?"

Three Burials

Don't bother. It wasn't a horrible movie...but it wasn't at all gripping. Ann didn't like it at all (she typically only gets into character studies if the script pulls you in).

I found elements of the story interesting and at times compelling...but I didn't find it engaging enough to really merit my time. It was almost too realistic for its own good (remember, reality is boring...movies are supposed to bend reality just enough to make it interesting).

I think they could have done something with this story to grab you...but this wasn't it.

Did Ryan's Campaign Pick this Guy?

Check this out. Can you believe there's a party willing to attempt to have this man represent Wisconsin at our nation's capital?

LAKE GENEVA-Even though Lake Geneva City Attorney Michael Rielly is sitting in the Walworth County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond, authorities say Rielly still found a way to add to his legal trouble.

District Attorney Phil Koss said that between 7:44 and 8:54 p.m. Friday, Rielly made 11 collect calls to the Lake Geneva Police Department, identifying himself as, among others, Mayor Sheldon Shepstone, City Administrator Dennis Jordan, Municipal Judge Henry Sibbing, City Clerk Diana Dykstra and even "Prince Albert in a can."

None of the over-the-phone aliases worked, however, and Rielly, 44, was arrested in jail on a new charge of unlawful use of a telephone.

Michael Rielly

Koss said Rielly will appear before Judge James Carlson at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, June 6. The new case, like an earlier arrest for disorderly conduct, will be transferred to the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Koss said.

Rielly was arrested Thursday at a Lake Geneva bar on charges of disorderly conduct and trespassing.