Box office Rundown Vol. 2
By Paul Anthony
This weekend was a big box office weekend both in the terms of Money and Controversy because we saw the release of the film called Joker. Which serves as a some what of a origin story of the famous Batman villain the joker. The film came in at number 1 and had everyone talking about it both in a good way and bad way with security being heighten and people walking out yet more people stay and this film even has some Oscar talk being attached to it. So here are your numbers for this weekend farther by predictions for this week to come.
- Joker, 93 million
- Abominable, 12 million
- Downton Abby, 8 million
- Hustlers, 6.3 million
- It chapter 2, 5.355 million
- Ad Astra, 4.557 million
- Judy, 4.445 million
- Rambo, 3.550 million
- War, 1.581 million
- Good Boys, 900k.
This coming week is a very interesting because we got some big hits opening this week which include The Adams family, Gemini Man and Jexi. Here are the predictions
- Gemini Man
- The Adams Family
- Abominable
- Downton Abby
- Jexi
- Ad Astra
- It Chapter 2
- Hustlers
- Rambo
- War.
Friday the 13th part 2 (1981) Review
By Paul Anthony
In this blog, we are starting something new for Saturdays. This blog series is called Sequel Saturday, where we review a sequel that we haven’t reviewed yet, but the catch is the movie can only be a sequel. In other words no remakes or reboots, so without waiting any longer let’s get started.
In our other series Classic 13 Justin started the series off with none other then Friday the 13th which came out on May 9th 1980, kind of funny they didn’t find an actually Friday the 13th to release the film now obviously the movie was a hit, even more to think the movie was made from a half of million and grossed nearly 60 million dollars, so it was only normal to expect a sequel.
Part 2 came out only 11 months later on April 30th 1981 and on a budget of 1.2 million and grossed 21.7 million dollars. Though it made money it made far less then the previous film. One of the reasons behind this could be Slasher fatigue, better films around the release date and let’s not mention the previous film was only 11 months ago, in such a short time can hurt the film’s gross.
Part two was on par with the first film in my eyes at least, the only difference was the killer, in the first film it was his mother, however in this film it was in fact Jason who we were to believe to be dead in 1958 in which case we learn that wasn’t true. Changing the back story wasn’t a good idea this early in the series, it was clear that they did this as they went, it would be a trend that they would continue to do throughout the series. The film begins with a recap and we learn it was only two months ago and Alice the survivor was trying to recover mentally from the events, she becomes Jason first kill ever, ending her story and pretty much the only female character to go from one film to the next. The film then skips 5 years and and we meet Ginny who the film focuses on. Paul who is her apparent boyfriend is a lead counselor and training a group of older teens. There the killings begin one by one until it becomes just Ginny and Paul where they fight off Jason for good at least that we are left to believe until Jason grabs Ginny through the window, Though she wakes up and is being put in an ambulance.
Now two things that stood out to me from this film, one Ginny explain the loop hole with Jason being alive and growing up and it actually made sense and the second thing was Killing of Alice, I felt like there could have been more of a story there but to end it right there just ruined a story. In the end I do have to give this film a B minus, it wasn’t the best slasher sequel but it wasn’t the worse either.
Why Cancel The Hunt?
By Paul Anthony
When did we grow into a society that will blame stories for other people’s action? We recently found out the movie which is called The Hunt was not going to be released at least at the moment because of the recent mass shootings we had. Now I get it people can be sick and get ideas from movies. Now Some may never had heard of the movie before so the best description of the movie is this. Following a group of Elites who hunt the deplorable. Now I get we can have people so called hunting people without guns.
We are also stuck in the great gun debate and I am not here to get into that type of stuff. But why should a movie be canceled because of the shootings? There have been shootings before and there will be shootings after as well. There has also been debates about video games as well. Stop pointing the finger at fictional work because the people who commit these horrible acts are just that horrible people who just want to cause problems in the word. Seriously what is canceling the movie going to do? Okay you want to say it causes the victims trauma and what not, okay that is fine but guess what those people don’t have to go see it and it’s that simple.
If we cancel one movie then I guess we have to cancel every movie out there. Oh no here comes a romantic movie so now all the depress women out there who don’t get that fairly tale love story and will throw a fit? Or how about this a comedy comes out and the jokes offend someone let’s cancel the comedies as well. Look I am not making a joke about this situation but movies are apart of our normal lives and canceling them is just a sign of weakness. I could be going on and on about canceling a movie that may not be even good but that’s not the point.
Now if this movie truly stays canceled then so be it because to make this movie the budget was very small which was only around 15 million. Universal won’t take a big lost.
In the end what do we do from this point? I may not have an answer to that question well it’s an answer that I am sure people won’t like it. The mass shootings are and will always be horrible and it’s something we never forget but canceling stuff that has nothing to do with the shootings are just not the answer in my eyes, I am sure people will disagree and that’s their right to do so. There are rumors this film could still be released but in a limited factor rather then a wide one, so maybe one day we can see what all the commotion was.
30th Producers Guild of America Award Recap
By Paul Anthony
Here we are in award season and over the weekend, once again we had another award show this time it was the Producers Guild of America which reward those who produce good content so without wasting our time let’s see who won what.
- Darryl F.Zanuck Award for Producer of Theatrical Motion Picture goes to the producers of Green Book which are Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga
- Outstanding Producer of an Animated Theatrical Motion picture goes to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and the producers are Avi Arad, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Amy Pascal, Christina Steinberg
- Outstanding Producer of documentary theatrical motion picture goes to Won’t You Be My Neighbor, Morgan Neville, Nicholas Ma, Caryn Capotosto
- The Norman Felton Award for outstanding producer of a episodic television drama goes to The Americans, Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields, Chris Long, Graham Yost, Justin Falvery, Darryl Frank, Stephen Schiff, Mary rae Thewlis, Tracey Scott Wilson, Peter Ackerman, Joshua Brard.
- The Danny Thomas Award for outstanding producer of episodic television comedey goes to The Marvelous Mrs.Maisel, Amy SHerman-Palladino. Daniel Palladino, Dhana RIvera Gilbert, Sheila Lawerence.
- The David L. Wolper Award for outstanding producer of a Limited Series Televison goes to the producers of the show The Assassination of Giann Versae: American Crime Story, which jad 15 producers in all!
- The Outstanding Producer of a Streamed or Televised Motion Picture goes to Fahrenheit 451, Sarah Green, Ramin Bahran, Micheal B, Jordan, Alan Gasmer, Peter Jaysen, David Coatsworth
- The Outstanding producer of a non-fiction television goes to Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown, the producers include Anthony Bourdain, Christopher Collins, Lydia Tenaglia, Sandra Zweig
- The Award for producer of a game; competition goes to the producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
- The award for outstanding producer of a live entertainment and talk show goes to the producers of the show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
- The Award for an outstanding Sports program goes to the producers of Being Serena.
- The Award for outstanding Childrens Program goes to the producers of Sesame Street
- and finally the award for Outstanding Short-Form program goes to the producers of Comedians in cars getting Coffee.
Divergent series Failure
By Paul Anthony
Have we seen the last of the young adult book to film series end? Let’s go back a few years when Harry Potter the film series started back in 2001, it truly started a trend, midway through Harry Potter came The Twilight saga, which we found to be annoying but we watched them, then came one of my favorites the Hungry Games, which was epic especially part two. Which brings us to my blog topic which The Divergent series and what happen to it?
I will say from my point of view I did enjoy the first film and believed it was good start to this series, I believe of the film series before it, The Divergent series was the smallest of the bunch so it had an uphill battle. So, seeing this film I believed it would do great. The film had an 85-million-dollar budget and grossed nearly 290 million dollars. With a raising lead star in Shailene Woodley. The next film came out just a year later which was supposed to be the plan, a yearly plan which each film coming out a year later.
Insurgent made close to 300 million with a budget of 110 million, to the naked eye all you see is that the movie made more money than the last but the budget was higher, a 25 million dollar increase with a total gross only improving by 10 million. This isn’t good sign but still they decided to split the third book into two films which the idea has been hit and miss, Hollywood does this for the money, they use a budget for one film and make it into two films and basically double their profit, but fans realize the boring stuff will always be in the first film so why go see it?
The third film Allegiant was released and it had the biggest budget of 142 million and here’s the sad part, the filmed only grossed 179 million. Many blamed the failure on nothing more than the studio trying to stretch it out. The aftermath seems to have frozen this film series, the rumor has been that they want to cut the budget and make it into a TV movie which Woodley said if this is the case then she won’t return. The film was supposed to come this past March but now it’s under TBA and pretty much gone cold.
It’s sad to see a series that had such great promise just falter. Will the fourth film ever be made? I am guessing at this point if we don’t hear something soon, the studio just going to reboot it, which at this part may not be such a bad idea but of course they would need hold off a good while if they decide to take this route and at this point I do not know the film rights current state. If there is any update we will report it as soon as we find it!
IT Review
By Paul Anthony
Let’s face the summer over and it was a dud to be honest, the summer ended and the fall season opened with a bang, this past weekend, saw the release of the Stephen’s Kings IT. Many may call it a remake but honestly it is not since the first IT was a mini tv series that came out in 1990. It was later put together in a film.
We recently went to go see it and see if it truly lived up to the hype and it totally did live up to the hype. First the movie has made 179 million off a budget that was only 36 million once again proving that small budgets can work. And here is how it worked so well.
Character development such a big part of any film because the audience can grow with the characters as the movie progresses, here in this movie we generally have a decent cast who all gets plenty of screen time, even with Jaeden Lieberher getting the most screen time out of the bunch, this is only because his character Bill is the main character. The beauty is good each cast member took their time and ran with it, which gave a good scene after good scene. Bill Skarsgard took over the role as pennywise/it and now that his character, we are no longer putting it with Tim Curry and that’s not in a disrespectful way.
We know the book is being broken into two parts, we saw the first part now with them fighting IT as kids the second half of the book is with them fighting IT as adults, the film decided to do Chapter one and the chapter 2 which should be out in 2019. For once splitting a book up into two films wasn’t a bad idea because the movie stayed closed to the book as possible giving us details from the book, which had to please the fan base.
With giving us more details the movie told the story well and made you forget that the movie was two hours and 15 minutes, to be honest well I was in there, I couldn’t believe it really was that long. Another thing that was positive about the film was since the story was told right, they didn’t need jump scares to sell the movie sure there was jump scares but you were focused on the story, sitting wondering what is next, that is what truly scared you.
In the end, I am giving this film a good rating, 4 out of 5 stars, now what is a good sign is that Stephen King’s stories can be turned into good modern movies, there was a part of me that feared that for this film after The Dark Tower which is based on one of his book series was a complete flop at the box office. Sure, they were made by two different studios but it was nice to see this film not being hurt by the Dark Tower.
Bye Netflix
By Paul Anthony
Who doesn’t have Netflix these days, right? I know I love Netflix, their online content may be small compared to their DVD collection, now many have noticed that there are more Disney owned films showed up on Netflix. I remember when I saw Captain America: Civil War on there, little did I know, 2016 was the first year Disney and Netflix began an awesome partnership. However, we all know that all good things must end and sure enough this partnership might be ending as fast as it begun because last week Disney dropped a Bombshell and they announced they are pulling their films at the end of 2019.
When they announced that which was only the beginning, they announced from that point on that they would have their own streaming service, of course it comes with a monthly fee just like Netflix has. Now at this point we are to believe it’s just their movies but then it was reported that Netflix was trying to keep the Disney owned shows, now at this point we don’t know what will happen to the marvel Netflix shows, I assume those are safe since Netflix help co-produce them and has been a big hit for both parties.
If the shows go to this will be a big blow to Netflix, if you just think about all that Disney owns, the classic movies, the new movies, the hits from Pixar and Marvel and even Star Wars are just few things Disney owns and makes billions from. This could be the start of more film studios doing the same and that would pretty doom Netflix the same way they doomed video stores.
If Netflix manages to keeps Disney owned shows, the hit wouldn’t be such a death blow, for now that is. This partnership was short lived one, total of three years to be an exact.
I doubt there is anything Netflix can say or to do to bargain with Disney because they hold all the chips, they know that with starting their streaming service people will buy into and that is a fact, Netflix has nothing to change Disney’s mind about doing this.
We still have a few more years left to see all our favorite movies and T.V shows. Pricing has yet to be determined but my best guess is it will be around 9.99 for the basic package and more for the better plans, so for now enjoy your Disney stuff that is on Netflix.
Star Wars Movie Debate
By Paul Anthony
Last week Disney announced a new Star Wars film and much to my disappointment it wasn’t the film I was expecting. They announced Obi-Wan Kenobi story, yes let’s watch a movie about a jedi whose greatest battle and victory came when he defeated a young Darth Vader and basically put him in his black suit that he is now famous for.
Now it may seem like I am hating on this famous character but the truth is I am not, I adore the character but the truth is the character’s story ends basically after his battle with Darth Vader and he basically does nothing until the events of New Hope takes place, so why give him a full movie? I was asking myself that question and sure he’s a popular character but there are more popular characters that have better stories to tell, just look no further then Darth Vader himself.
Vader, not Anakin story begins with the lost to Obi-Wan, a good movie would be seeing how he had to learn to rebuild himself and he’s fighting and lightsaber styles and his missions that he was sent on. I do believe we will get this film or films one day, but instead they announced this film.
I can deal with a Han Solo film because we know there are stories to and adventures to go on, we know Han wasn’t a kid in New Hope. Obi-Wan a different case though, he’s adventures basically end once Luke is born.
I am sure they will give him something to do before the film comes out, to justify this film. If the story makes sense, no doubt I will support it, after all I am a big fan of Star Wars, I Just believe a Darth Vader film should come first.
The best part of Rogue One was the scenes where Darth Vader was in them. From him in his healing tank which is where he was at his weakest to him killing those rebels and showing us why people feared him.
We know the rumors are there about there being a Boba Fett film and even a Yoda film. I am okay with a Yoda movie but not a Boba fett film, he had what like twenty minutes of total screen time in all the films. I get it we all want spin-offs but the truth is not every character needs or deserves one, this does go for Obi-Wan.
I know this won’t change Disney’s mind, they are going to keep making films with all the properties they own. At this point we really don’t know much about this film except that it is coming, this film could be years away, we will just have to wait and see.
The Dangers of a Stuntman
By Paul Anthony
When you watch a movie, I am sure you enjoy scenes of action, but we all know for the most part the actors and actresses don’t do scenes that will cause harm so they have stuntmen and women do the scenes for them. Sadly, this is a dangerous job and many don’t realize that but sadly what happen last week proves how dangerous this job can be.
Last week a Walking Dead Stuntman died from his injuries when he fell thirty feet onto concrete when he was rehearsing fight scene, he was pronounced brain dead at the hospital and later in the week he was taken off life support and from there the rest is history.
John Bernecker has more than ninety stunts credited to him since 2009 and some of his stunts have come from hit movies like Logan and The Fate of the Furious and upcoming The Black Panther.
This is first death since 2000 in that field, even though its first death since then, that doesn’t change how dangerous the job really is. Many have said it is a lot safer now then it was twenty years ago nonetheless the goal should be zero deaths. The previous death came in 2000 when stuntman Brady Michaels was killed when he was doing a stunt for I Dare You, he fell and hit his head on a rock. Four years before that Paul Dallas also died from a head injury when he fell 57 feet and landed on an airbag that was supposed to catch his fall and it did not. Three years before that Sonja Davis was killed in a high fall during the film Vampire in Brooklyn. These were just a few deaths in the past thirty years. There were three deaths in a 15-year span from 1975 to 1990.
It’s a tough job no matter how safe they can make it. Head Injuries seem to be the main cause of the death in these stunts gone wrong, it’s just a sad reality. Sure, this was a first in 17 years but there always risk for something like these to happen. Equipment that they depend on can and will malfunction, they may not get a lot of recognition for the stunts they do until it’s too late. I don’t see much changing after this, I can’t blame them either because no many how safe you think it is, it only takes one mistake for a death to happen.
To the Family of John Bernecker our prayers go out to you and we are sorry for your loss.
Did you know: Bollywood edition
By Paul Anthony
I always thought about Bollywood, I have heard things about it but knew very little about. In fact, the only thing I knew about it was basically it was the Hollywood of India. Now I must admit I don’t know much about the culture of India but outright saying Bollywood doesn’t sound like it fits in, doesn’t it? So, I decided to take the time to look in to Bollywood. Now this blog might sound different than our previous blogs but either way I hope you enjoy learning something new. Or who knows you may know more about Bollywood than I do.
First let’s start with the name Bollywood, did you know that it’s not actually called that. In fact, Bollywood is nothing more than a Nickname that mostly used outside of India. When we say it, we believe it to be all of India cinema but the truth is that it is only a part of much larger cinema they have. So, what is it called then? Well the real name is Hindi Cinema and it is in the city Mumbai which was formally known as Bombay. Bollywood counts as 43 percent of the box office revenue in Indian Cinema beating the film producers by 7 percent. Bollywood also sold 3.5 billion tickets worldwide in 2011 beating Hollywood by 900,000 tickets. When it comes to the number of films in Indian Cinema Bollywood produced 252 films out of 1969 films. Bollywood got its name in the 1970s when it over took America as being the world largest film producer. Not everyone enjoys the name Bollywood many believe it makes Hindi Cinema a poor cousin to Hollywood.
Did you know that most of Bollywood films are musicals with different plots. However, most plots are Melodrama, which typically sensational and designed to appeal strongly to emotions. The earliest known films that happen in India dates back all the way to 1913 with silent films.
Bollywood has had its influence even on us, if you haven’t notice in the past decade there have been a resurgence in the musical genre and those films have been successful, these ideas all came from Bollywood. Like we have here there are families of actors and actresses that considered to be legends and carrying the load so Bollywood can shine as bright as it. They have some actors and actresses that are considered some of the best worldwide!
How cool is this information? To know there are tons of other great films out there that need to be watched, sure they may need subtitles but who cares a little reading won’t hurt. Heck I wouldn’t mind getting chance to watch a few films myself. I would encourage you to find a few films from Bollywood and let us know what you think of them.
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