The Morning Roundup: Box Office Report, Release Date Changes, JLA Dead, Early Watchmen “Review”
Written by: Big Ross, CC2K Staff Writer
This morning we have the weekend box office report, release date changes for movies about wizards and vampires, official reports that a JLA movie is dead, PSH wants to direct, and Eidos has found a new Lara Croft, and more!
We’ve got the weekend box-office report, and finally, a movie has come along doing more business than The Dark Knight, or maybe TDK loses something after the 4th or 5th viewing. Either way, Tropic Thunder came out on top this past weekend.
| 1. Tropic Thunder | $26,000,000 |
| 2. The Dark Knight | $16,790,000 |
| 3. Star Wars: The Clone Wars | $15,505,000 |
| 4. Mirrors | $11,125,000 |
| 5. Pineapple Express | $10,000,000 |
But in another milestone for the Batman Begins sequel, TDK has edged past the original Star Wars on the all-time list (not counting for inflation).
| 1. Titanic | $600,788,188 |
| 2. The Dark Knight | $471,493,000 |
| 3. Star Wars | $460,998,007 |
| 4. Shrek 2 | $441,226,247 |
| 5. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial | $435,110,554 |
Two films that have been quickly rescheduled to fill the void left by the delay of Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince are Disney’s animated feature Bolt and the feature-film adaptation of Twilight.
In casting news, Simon Pegg has put an end to rumors of his involvement in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards saying:
"Much to our mutual disappointment, I won't be appearing in QT's forthcoming 'Inglorious Bastards' due to insurmountable scheduling difficulties…We really tried to make it work but in the end, it just was not possible without severe ramifications elsewhere."
In the Big Fat Rumor category, CHUD is reporting that according to a source James Franco is wanted by Sam Raimi for a new Jack Ryan movie, but that Sony execs don’t think Franco is bankable enough, and that Raimi and Sony are up in such arms about it that Raimi might be leaving the Jack Ryan project all together. Again, this one gets a major RUMOR WARNING!
PSH AKA Phillip Seymour Hoffman AKA The Greatest Actor of Our Generation may be moving behind the camera to direct his first feature film, an adaptation of the acclaimed off-Broadway play Jack Goes Boating. If he’s half as good at directing as he is at acting, this should be pretty damn good.
Looks like the JLA film (as it currently exists) is dead. George Miller is officially off the project and reportedly working on a Green Lantern film, and a Justice League of America film, while it is still very much desired by the higher-ups at DC is (thankfully) being held off until they can “…know it's right.”
Speaking of abandoned projects, while it seems a Spy Hunter film has been on life support for well over a year or more now, Paul W.S. Anderson has stated that if the movie ever does get made, it will be without him as director telling LatinoReview:
“I had some what fun making this movie and I firmly believe this is the best, most spectacular car action I've ever seen in a film, I don’t know if I’ll ever do another car movie after this, because I really feel like we pushed it to the max and the only other car movie I’ll do is maybe a sequel to this, knock on wood, if this movie does well enough to deserve that, I really think we’ve kind of raised the bar when it comes to car action….”
So the first review (of sorts) is out for Watchmen. Kevin Smith was lucky enough to see a rough cut of the film and had this to say:
“I saw Watchmen. It’s fucking astounding. The Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed prevents me from saying much, but I can spout the following with complete joygasmic enthusiasm: Snyder and Co. have pulled it off. Remember that feeling of watching Sin City on the big screen and being blown away by what a faithful translation of the source material it was, in terms of both content and visuals? Triple that, and you’ll come close to watching Watchmen. Even Alan Moore might be surprised at how close the movie is to the book. March can’t come soon enough.”
Hey! Did you know there’s a new Lara Croft? Well, there are no plans for another film, but every time Eidos develops a new Tomb Raider video game a flesh-and-blood woman is found to portray the fictional archaeologist/adventurer/hottie to help promote the game. For Tomb Raider: Underworld, developers have turned to an actual gymnast Alison Carroll to fill the short shorts and shades. You can check out images of Carroll as Croft in our gallery. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge.
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