Another crowded weekend that is likely to leave most of the new films wishing for more. Money, that is.

Daddy Day Camp

The Players: Cuba Gooding Jr. once again shows that he has no dignity left. Fred Savage (yes, that one) directs.
The Story: A sequel to Daddy Day Care (why?) in which instead of a day care center the clueless men run a summer camp.
Rotten Tomatoes: 2%. Out of 47 reviews only one was positive. On related news, Fred Topel is a very nice and forgiving guy.
Trailer

Really, why?

Rush Hour 3

The Players: Jackie Chan returns to his only truly successful role in an American movie. Chris Tucker return to his only role in the last ten years.
The Story: Chan and Tucker go to … Paris! Stuff happens.
Rotten Tomatoes: 26%
Trailer

Probably neither fish nor foul. Just the same old thing, once again.

Skinwalkers

The Players: Rhone Mitra, who you might remember from Nip/Tuck, and Jason Behr, who you might remember from Roswell.
The Story: Two warring werewolf packs war with each other. WAR!
Rotten Tomatoes: Not enough reviews yet.
Trailer

There really haven’t been that many good werewolf films, have there? I guessing this one won’t break the trend.

Stardust

The Players: Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) directs. Sienna Miller, Peter O’Toole, Rupert Everett, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Robert De Niro all have supporting parts. Based on the book by Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Good Omens)
The Story: A young man promises to his beloved that he will retrieve a fallen star. In order to do that he has to enter a magical realm. Really, it’s probably much less lame than that makes it sound.
Rotten Tomatoes: 70%
Trailer

Probably the only new movie this weekend really worth seeing. However, it’s unlikely to be the one that the most people go to see. I’m just hoping it out grosses Daddy Day Care.

I think that every single respectable actor has to sign some sort o secret contract which states that he/she has to take at least one part during their career which embarrasses them completely. That would certainly explain why Ian McShane and Joan Allen have decided to participate in the Death Race remake, which is being directed by Paul “the really bad one” Anderson. Either that or Paul has some very provocative photos of the two hidden somewhere.

Paul W. S. Anderson is just one of those directors that I have given up on. The guy has been giving chance after chance to make a good movie, and failed utterly every time. A remake of Death Race 2000 on the hands of another director could make for some campy fun. On his hands it will probably be about as fun as being kicked in the balls.

Johnny Quest is mostly known as the cartoon which aired for just one season back in 1964, but which has been in constant rerun ever since and has become a bit of a cult classic. So, obviously, it’s going to be made into a movie by Warner Bros. Honestly, I think that every single cartoon I ever watched as a kid is eventually going to receive a big screen adaptation.

I am a little bit afraid of saying that this is a bad idea, since one year ago I also thought that the Tranformers movie was a bad idea and that turned out to be both a decent film and a big moneymaker. But really, Johnny Quest is oooold, and completely outdated. As a matter of fact it’s probably most relevant nowadays for the parodies it inspired, including the awesome Venture Bros. It could turn out to be a good movie, but I would say odds aren’t exactly in it’s favor.

Over the last few years South Korea has seen a boom in it’s movie production, with many new directors entering that market and producing films that were critically acclaimed and that made a lot of money, not only in Korea but also in other Asian markets. That boom came to a cume last year, which saw, among others, the release of The Host (reviewed here) which become the highest grossing South Korean movie of all time.

And then this year things went kaboom. Film after film underperformed and exportation to key countries such as Japan fell off precipitously. Up until very recently the year had no home grown bona fide hit to speak of.

Things starting to look a little better last week, when historical drama “May 18″ opened to good numbers. And they took a definite turn for the better this week with monster movie D-War opening to an outstanding $20.3 million, which amounts to 2.95 million admissions. This is only slightly worst than what the record breaking opening of The Host from one year ago. And “May 18″ continues to post some solid numbers.

Now for the bad news. D-War was really expensive to produce by South Korean standards. At least $35 million dollars, and possibly as much as $70 million. So it’s still not clear that the movie will even be profitable. A lot is riding on the upcoming U.S. release. After all the movie was shot in English, and a large part of it takes place in L.A., and both of these things were meant to give the pic a better chance of competing in the American market, where it will open in September under the name Dragon Wars.

I’m not sure that was such a smart idea tough. Getting a foreign film to make some real money here, even one in English, is very hard, especially if you don’t have the money to do the sort of carpet bombing marketing that most blockbusters engage in. But I wish the pic well. And a hope that the South Korean movie industry finds its footing again, specially if that means they get to make more truly good movies like The Host.

(source:boxofficemojo.com)

Another weekend, another impressive opening. This time we have The Bourne Ultimatum opening with close $70 million, significantly better than what the last Bourne movie did on it’s opening weekend ($52 million). Of course, as the threequels so thoroughly proved, opening bigger doesn’t mean that the movie will finish up with a bigger total gross than it’s predecessor. Still, $70 million is more than enough to guarantee that the movie will do very well and I’m sure that everyone involved is very happy.

The other weekend openers didn’t do nearly as well. Underdog was underwhelming with $11 million, Hot Rod only mustered $5 million and the $4 million opening of Bratz proved that yes, making a movie based on a doll collection was a very bad idea. I’m a little sad for Hot Rod. Although I haven’t seen the movie myself, it definitely seems like the most interesting one out of the trio, and I was hoping it would attract a few more people. But I guess it will do very well in the DVD if it’s actually any good.

Last weekends champ, The Simpsons, fell hard. In the old days a 66% drop would mean that people thought that the movie was crap. Nowadays it mostly means that pretty much everybody who was interested in the movie went to see it on the first weekend. The Simpsons movie probably won’t reach much beyond the already established Simpsons fan base, by that base is obviously large enough for the movie to be a commercial success.

The Simpsons movie is also doing very well internationally. It earned another $47.3 million this weekend for a foreign cume of $187 million and a worlwide total of $315.5 million. $400 million is well within reach, but it will be interesting to see if it can make it to $500 million.

All of the other holdovers had modest holds, falling between 42% and 48%. The best hold was by Hairspray, but only by a small margin. That movie is well on it’s way to crossing the $100 million mark, but it shouldn’t go much beyond that. Transformers, on the other hand, should reach $300 million this week, and it will keep on trying to reach Spider-Man 3, which is the number one movie of the summer right now with close to $337 million. That mark is probably unreachable tough.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Players: Matt Damon as the title character and Paul Greengrass (United 93, the last Bourne movie) in the director’s chair.
The Story: Bourne is trying to discover more about his past. A trillion people try to get him, but h is so badass he beats them all. And still has time to go out for ice cream. Because he is THAT badass.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Trailer

I’m not exactly the biggest fan of the Bourne movies. But it has been a solid and reasonably entertaining series, and every indication is that the third is just as good as the second.

BRATZ

The Players: No one you would be interested in.
The Story: Once upon I time, there was a a big corporation who sold dolls. They wanted to make even more money, so they made a movie about said dolls. The movie itself was one big commercial, only it had less story than most commercials.
Rotten Tomatoes: 5% (ouch)
Trailer

Most anticipated movie of the summer, right?

Hot Rod

The Players: SNL’s Andy Samberg, together with many of the people responsible for the recent SNL’s digital shorts.
The Story: Rod Kimble thinks he is a capable stunt man. Turns out he isn’t. Hilarity ensues.
Rotten Tomatoes: 32%
Trailer

The reviews haven’t been that good, but the trailer is hilarious and Andy Samberg is a true talent. So I’m still hopeful.

Underdog

The Players: A dog. Who can fly.
The Story: There is this dog. He can fly.
Rotten Tomatoes: No reviews so far
Trailer

I’m really glad I never actually watched Underdog, so I don’t have to see my beloved childhood memories spoiled by a lame movie.

Becoming Jane

The Players: Anne Hathaway as Jane Austen.
The Story: It’s about Jane Austen and a romance she had before becoming famous. Although it’s been tagged as biographical the general consensus seems to be that it’s mostly fiction.
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%, which is better than I was expecting.
Trailer

It’s funny. I enjoy Austen’s works and have liked several of the movie adaptations of said works. And yet, this one doesn’t interest me at all.

El Cantante

The Players: Jennifer Lopez and Mr. Lopez (Marc Anthony)
The Story: The life story of famous Salsa singer Hector Lavoe.
Rotten Tomatoes: 27%
Trailer

I just don’t think Anthony has what it takes to pull this off.

So, after six long years Rush Hour 3 premiered in L.A. And what does the Variety article talking about this premier focus on? The possibility of fourth Rush Hour.

Meanwhile, Shrek 4 has an opening date: May 21, 2010. And Jeffrey Katzenberg, the top dude over at Dreamworks Animation, has already announced that there will also be a Shrek 5. But that is IT. The series will end after the fifth. I’m guessing that his thinking on the subject will change if Shrek 5 turn out to be a mega blockbuster.

In other news, Mark Protosevich, the screenwriter for I Am Legend, is talking about a possible second movie. The first one will open in about five months.

So, is there any possibility we could stop talking about the sequels before the movies even open? I guess not, but a boy sure can dream.

As you might or might not have heard, the current hot rumor is that Warner Bros. is considering George Miller as a director for the JLA movie. Here is why I think he would be a good choice:

4. He directed Happy Feet
3. He directed Babe: Pig in the City
2. He directed Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 1)
1. He directed Mad Max II

It’s true that his recent output has been geared toward a lighter and more family friendly fare. Do I worry that this could translate into a lack of edge in the JLA movie? Sure. But even Happy Feet and Babe are throughly entertaining for adults also. And the guy directed Mad Max for heaven’s sake, so we know he can bring the action, or at the very least he could, once.

On the other hand, IESB is reporting that WB is also considering another possible director for JLA. Who might that be, you ask? McG, of Charlie’s Angels infamy. My reaction to that possibility? F**k no. While it’s possible that Miller has lost his action chops, McG never had them in the first place.

Ever since it was announced that Batman and Superman were going to be in the JLA movie I have been eagerly anticipating it. In fact, out of all the announced comic book movies this is probably my second most anticipated one, the first being The Dark Knight. Which is funny, considering how much Marvel has been kicking DC’s butt in the movie department over the last few years. I think George Miller can make this work as well as it should. I could be proven wrong, but right now I’m very excited.

Beginning tomorrow www.atthemoviestv.com, the official site for the Ebert & Roeper tv show, will make available, for free, all of the clips for the television reviews of Roger Ebert. This includes all of the reviews done in the old Siskel and Ebert show. Which is truly cool.

I guess.

The truth is, I never watched Siskel & Ebert. It was before my movie obsession time. However, I have been reading Ebert’s reviews for years. And although his reviews of so-so fare can be a little bland and soft, his reviews of good movies tend to be excellent. And his series of reviews of the greatest movies of all time is a real treat. So I do appreciate the man’s talents.

And the Siskel & Ebert show is talked about with such reverence by so many movie buffs that I have for years wanted to check it out for myself. And tomorrow I will get the chance, finally. Hopefully it will be lots of fun.

(via)

The Simpsons Movie

The Players: Several well known yellow people.
The Story: Ahmmm, something to do with Schwarzenegger being President and Homer having a pig?
Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (lots of reviews will come out tomorrow tough)
Trailer

Here is what you have been waiting for. After 18 years they finally got around to making a full length movie. It better be good or I will be very disappointed.

No Reservations

The Players: Catherina Zeta-Jones as a problematic head Chef.
The Story: The life of a workaholic Chef gets turned upside down when her sister dies leaving her to care for her young nice. Based on the German Mostly Martha.
Rotten Tomatoes: 37%
Trailer

The German original was a lovely movie. Sweet, but not sugary. I get the feeling that the remake ups the cliches and sweetness significantly, so I don’t have much hope for it. But it’s the kind of film that is unlikely to be truly painful to watch.

I Know Who Killed Me

The Players: Lyndsay Lohan, playing a stripper.
The Story: Lyndsay Lohan plays a stripper. There is also some sort of plot involving murders which doesn’t really matter because everybody went to the movie in order to see Lyndasy Lohan, playing a stripper.
Rotten Tomatoes: No reviews right now.
Trailer

This always had train wreck written all over it. But the recent developments make this a painful train wreck. Instead of, you know, a fun and happy train wreck.

Who’ Your Caddy?

The Players: Finesse Mitchell?
The Story: Rapper tries to get onto conservative country club. Conservative country club is not happy.
Rotten Tomatoes: No reviews yet.
Trailer

It’s Caddyshack for the new generation!

Sunshine (Expanding)

The Players: Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later, Trainspotting) and actor Cillian Murphy (Breakfast in Pluto, Red Eye)
The Story: A small crew embarks in the dangerous mission of taking a bomb to the sun. The bomb is supposed to stop the sun from dying and if they are not successful earth is essentially doomed. Needless to say, things don’t go smoothly.
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Trailer

I really should write a proper review of this. It’s an amazing film, one of the best I have seen this year. But it does have some very clear and glaring flaws. Still worth a trip to the theater, and it is the kind of movie that is much better when experienced in a big screen.

Rescue Dawn (Expanding)

The Players: Director Werner Herzog (Grizzly Man, ), actor Christian Bale (Batman baby!)
The Story: An U.S. pilot struggles to survive after being shot down in the middle of a mission over Laos during the Vietnam war. Based on a true story and in the documentary Little Dieter Needs to Fly, which was directed by Herzog himself.
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Trailer

It’s Werner Herzog, so it should at the very least be interesting. The reviews point to it being perhaps even more than that.