Monday, November 23, 2009 7:00 PM | From Cinematical
Our good friend and EIC Erik Davis (that's me!) had a very thoughtful idea for the holiday season: Why not scan the early flyers for the Black Friday sales, and report back to you -- the ravenous movie junkie -- to let you know where to find the best treats on the day after Thanksgiving? We'll be bringing you deals for a variety of stores and online retailers all week long. Here's what we've posted so far so you can keep track:
Walmart opens at 5am on Friday, November 27th. I've highlighted the most notable (for being awesome) deals in bold.
DVD/Blu-ray
17 Again (DVD) $9.00
Aliens In The Attic (DVD) $9.00 Blazing Saddles (DVD) $2.00
Blood Diamond (DVD) $2.00 Braveheart (Blu-ray) $10.00
Casino Royale (DVD) $2.00
Facing Giants (DVD) $2.00
Fast & Furious (Blu-ray) $10.00
Fireproof (DVD) $9.00
GI Joe (DVD) $9.00 Gladiator (Blu-ray) $10.00
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (Blu-ray) $10.00 HellBoy II (DVD) $2.00
Horton Hears A Who (DVD) $5.00
Hotel For Dogs (DVD) $5.00
I Am Legend (DVD) $2.00
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (Blu-ray) $10.00
Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs (DVD) $9.00 Iron Man (DVD) $5.00
Kung Fu Panda (DVD) $5.00
Little Black Book (DVD) $2.00
Madagascar 2 (DVD) $5.00
Mall Cop (DVD) $5.00
Marley & Me (DVD) $9.00
Monsters Vs Aliens 2 Pack (DVD) $9.00
Nim's Island (DVD) $5.00
More after the jump
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief - International Trailer
Thursday, November 19, 2009 11:48 AM | From MovieJungle
Thanks to the guys over at ComingSoon.net for this international trailer for 20th Century Fox's "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief." The film is directed by Chris Columbus ("Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone," "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"). Craig Titley adapts the screenplay based on the novel written by Rick Riordan.
PLOT: It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the pages of high school student Percy Jackson’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. And they’re not happy: Zeus’ lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Even more troubling is the sudden disappearance of Percy’s mother. As Percy finds himself caught between angry and battling gods, he and his friends embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true lightning thief, save Percy’s mom, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.
Big Surprise: Top Grossing Movies of the Decade Are Basically All Franchise Films
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 4:40 AM | From Film Junk
Here's another list for you to digest as we approach the end of the decade. Jason Kottke [1] recently took a look at the list of highest-grossing films from 2000-2009 courtesy of Wikipedia [2], and makes the observation that only one movie in the top 20 is based on an original screenplay. The rest of the movies are all adaptations of books or sequels to existing franchises.
Now, it's pretty easy to jump on this list and whine and moan about how it means there is nothing original in Hollywood anymore. While I agree that there is a problem with studios valuing brand over concept, don't forget, we are talking about the movies that made the most money here. OF COURSE familiar characters and titles are going to attract more viewers than strange and unfamiliar ones... doesn't that make sense? A lot of people don't even see movies at the theatre, so they don't discover something until it hits TV or DVD. The first installment is the one that introduces the concept, attracts a following and then builds the franchise. Even the first movie from an existing property needs to build an audience -- notice that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Spider-Man are the only movies on this list that are the first in their series?
Anyway, I'm not saying it's good, but it's certainly not surprising. Unfortunately it's this trend that has also resulted in the whole toy and board game movie debacle. Maybe we need a few brand-based movies to fail so that people realize that good stories are also important. Check out the top 20 grossing movies of the decade after the jump. What do you think, is it depressing or deserving?
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. The Dark Knight
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Shrek 2
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
11. Spider-Man 3
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. Finding Nemo
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
18. Spider-Man
19. Shrek the Third
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
[1] http://kottke.org/09/11/the-2000s-according-to-wikipedia
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_in_film
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Villains We Love: Lucius Malfoy
Monday, October 5, 2009 12:21 PM | From Cinematical
I love the Harry Potter series (books and movies), and I care about every teacher and child within Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix. I shed tears whenever J.K. Rowling killed off another one of the good guys. But when inevitably my attention constantly strays back to the Death Eaters and while this post centers on Lucius Malfoy, I'm rather entranced by them all: Lucius' wife Narcissa, her sister Bellatrix, Severus Snape, and Igor Karkaroff. They have the best costumes, the nastiest lines, and some of the finest special effects. (The way they operate in black smoke makes even broomsticks seem dull.)
But my favorite Death Eater remains Lucius Malfoy. Chris Columbus' installments have been harshly dismissed by cinephiles, but I think it's time to back down from the cries of "Alfonso Cuaron saved the series!", because Columbus accomplished a very weighty task: He set the stage. Every director following Columbus has been able to dispense with "The Boy Who Lived" origin stories, details, and explanations (something even Rowling could never quite bring herself to do until #7) and plunge right into the best parts of the story. But most importantly, Columbus set the stage for the bad guys. His installments may have erred on the juvenile, but by Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets even the smallest kid in the audience knew that Voldemort meant serious business. That's entirely due to the appearance of one Lucius Malfoy.
The good folks over at Empire [1] managed to score some new stills last week from the upcoming remake of Clash of the Titans, which is being directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Transporter 2). As you can see in the pictures, they're really going all out with the costume design courtesy of Lindy Hemming (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Dark Knight, Casino Royale).
Most of the pics feature Sam Worthington as Perseus, but we've also got our first look at Liam Neeson as Zeus thanks to an on-set snapshot from Entertainment Weekly [2]. Now that's what I call armor! What do you say, is this shaping up to be the epic blockbuster that you were expecting? Clash of the Titans hits theatres on March 26th, 2010.
[1] http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=25974
[2] http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20308587_20309399,00.html
FOR MORE DAILY MOVIE GOODNESS, VISIT FILMJUNK.COM!
HARRY POTTER Ultimate Editions Announced - Watch the Trailer for Sorcerers Stone and Chamber of Secrets Ultimate Editions
Friday, September 18, 2009 9:49 PM | From Collider
Last month, rumors began to surface that Warner Bros. was going to release ultimate editions of the first two “Harry Potter” movies. While no one was sure if it would be theatrical or on home video, today WB officially announced the titles and they are home video releases.
So to help promote the December 8th release, [...]
Geek Deal: Harry Potter 1-5 DVD or Blu-Ray for $57
Amazon's Gold Box week of DVD and Blu-Ray deals continues with a box set of Harry Potter 1-5 on sale for only $56.99. This is 52% off the normal Limited Edition DVD set $120msrp or 56% off the Blu-Ray bundle $130 msrp. Both sets include: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix. The Harry Potter Limited Edition DVDGiftset includes Harry Potters Years 1-5, a Harry Potter DVD game Hogwarts Challenge, along with a bonus disc containing over 2 hours of enhanced content, an exclusive "Harry Potter's Bookmark Collection", and collectible trading cards.
Like any of the Gold Box Deal of the Day's, this deal will disappear at midnight.
Harry Potter Through Fresh Eyes: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
[This article is part 2 of a 4-part series. You can also read part 1.]
Another year, another Harry Potter film directed by Chris Columbus. My hopes were a bit higher going into this one. With one massively successful Potter film under his belt, would Columbus better refine his craft to deliver us a more compelling sequel?
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
This time around, our adventurers find themselves entangled with the mystery of the chamber of secrets, a hidden area of the school housing a secret that threatens to destroy all the mudbloods (those who arent descended purely from wizards) at Hogwarts. When compared with the Sorcerers Stone, this film feels a lot less like its trying to say Wow, look around at how cool everything is! The world has already been established, and Columbus leans a little bit more on his existing creation, leaving room for a little ...
Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief Teaser Trailer
You can see the first Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief teaser trailer embedded after the break. There isn't any wonder that it features title cards announcing that it is from Chris Columbus, director of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone/Chamber of Secrets. The entire enterprise is standing on the shoulders of Potter, irrespective of any help it might or might not actually need from the boy wizard, or indeed the relative quality of the books and films.
The premise in the Percy Jackson series is not entirely dissimilar to that of the Potter saga either, with a troubled schoolchild finding out his secret magical heritage and, eventually, stepping into a more wondrous life. Whereas Potter went off to Hogwarts, Jackson can be seen in this very trailer taking an elevator to Mount Olympus. Wizards, gods... all the same mumbo jumbo, right? Of course, this paradigm was nesting grandma ...
What is your favorite Harry Potter film? Which of the movies in the series do you think is the best reviewed? Highest rated by the mainstream public? Largest grossing. I can tell you that my favorite is Alfanso Cuaron's Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and it seems like I'm not alone. Azkaban is the best reviewed and highest publicly rated of the bunch, yet it made the least amount of money of the series ($83 million less than the next lowest release). How sad. Lets take a look at the Harry Potter film series (so far) by the numbers.
The graph below shows the series in Worldwide Box Office Earnings:
Sorcerers Stone -- $976,457,891
Chamber of Secrets -- $878,987,880
Prisoner of Azkaban -- $795,538,952
Goblet of Fire -- $896,013,036
Order of the Phoenix -- $938,468,864
In the graph below we ...
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Our good friend and EIC Erik Davis (that's me!) had a very thoughtful idea for the holiday season: Why not scan the early flyers for the Black Friday sales, and report back to you -- the ravenous movie junkie -- to let you know where to find the best treats on the day after Thanksgiving? We'll be bringing you deals for a variety of stores and online retailers all week long. Here's what we've posted so far so you can keep track:
