Box office report for July 11, 2011: “Transformers 3″ tops the chart for second straight week
Michael Bays’ third bombastic outing with Shia LaBeouf and Hasbro’s “robots in disguise” continued to rule the box office for the second straight weekend.
According to IMDB, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” took in an additional $47 million over the weekend, raising its total to $261 million since its opening the week before Independence Day.
Two new films were in the second and third spots: The R-rated comedy “Horrible Bosses,” starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis, was No. 2 with $28.1 million, while the family-friendly comedy “Zookeeper,” starring Kevin James, was No. 3 with $21 million.
“Transformers 3″ will undoubtedly have to yield the top spot to another sequel this weekend: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” the final film in the wildly successful franchise based on J.K. Rowling’s beloved books, opens at midnight Friday.
1 Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) $47M $261M
2 Horrible Bosses (2011) $28.1M $28.1M
3 Zookeeper (2011) $21M $21M
4 Cars 2 (2011) $15.2M $149M
5 Bad Teacher (2011) $9M $78.8M
6 Larry Crowne (2011) $6.26M $26.5M
7 Super 8 (2011) $4.83M $118M
8 Monte Carlo (2011) $3.8M $16.1M
9 Green Lantern (2011) $3.12M $110M
10 Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011) $2.85M $57.7M
-BAM
Monday Catchy Quote No. 173
A catchy quote from a movie, TV show or other source to brighten the beginning of your week:
Ginny: He’s covered in blood again. Why is it he’s always covered in blood?
Ron: Well, it looks like it’s his own this time.
- Click here to learn the source.
-BAM
DVD review: “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Ultimate Edition Blu-ray”
Listed on wimgo Movies under Adventure
From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Ultimate Edition Blu-ray”
Fans of the Boy Who Lived are getting ready for another goodbye with the July 15 release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” the final film in the blockbuster franchise based on J.K. Rowling’s beloved books.
With its eighth and last Harry Potter theatrical opening drawing nigh, Warner Bros. has rushed to release more of its “Ultimate Edition” Blu-ray treatments, including the package for the dark and foreboding fifth film, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
It’s no coincidence that the 2007 installment was both the best of the series to date and the first directed by David Yates, who helmed the last four movies in the saga and made each one more captivating than the last, a streak that hopefully will extend to the finale. His Potter debut condensed Rowling’s longest book into the franchise’s shortest film, though it still clocked in at nearly two hours and 20 minutes.
“Order of the Phoenix” bubbles ominously with teenage angst, political intrigue and wand skirmishes. A couple of storylines are given short shrift or late introduction, but Yates and screenwriter Michael Goldenberg keep the tensions roiling as the magical world moves inexorably closer to war. An older and wiser Daniel Radcliffe ably conveys Harry’s inner turmoil, while Evanna Lynch and Imelda Staunton are perfectly cast as Harry’s strange but perceptive new friend Luna Lovegood and the prejudiced-in-pink bureaucrat-turned-teacher Dolores Umbridge, respectively.
The new two-disc treatment of the fifth film comes with pretty packaging, collectible character cards and a hardcover picture booklet, along with the latest hourlong installment of the eight-part making-of documentary “Creating the World of Harry Potter.” While extensive, most of the bonus features, including the In-Movie Experience, behind-the-scenes featurettes, extended and deleted scenes and TV specials, are recycled from previous DVD and Blu-ray releases.
Unlike the “Ultimate Editions” of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Chamber of Secrets,” “Order of the Phoenix” unfortunately doesn’t include an extended cut of the movie.
— BAM
Wednesday Video Spotlight: New “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II” clips
It’s hard to believe, but in just a week and a half, the end will be here.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II,” the eighth and final film based on J.K. Rowling’s beloved books, will be released next Friday, July 15. Several new clips from what promises to be the grand and emotional finale have been released and are featured in this Wednesday Video Spotlight.
-BAM
Box office report for June 27, 2011: “Cars 2″ races to the front of the box-office pack
Pixar Animation remains undefeated at the box-office races with the past weekend’s opening of “Cars 2,” even if the powerhouse’s previously pristine critical streak has sustained its first big dent.
The Disney unit’s animated sequel “Cars 2″ cruised to a No. 1 finish with a $68 million opening weekend, according to the Associated Press. That makes 12 victories in a row for Pixar since the company’s first feature film, 1995′s “Toy Story.”
“Cars 2″ added $42.9 million in 18 overseas markets, giving it a worldwide total of $110.9 million.
Domestically, “Cars 2″ nearly matched the $68.1 million debut of Disney-Pixar’s “Up” two years ago, but it was well below the company’s record of $110.3 million for last year’s “Toy Story 3.”
The original “Cars” had a $60.1 million debut in 2006, but factoring in today’s higher admission prices, it sold more tickets than “Cars 2.”
While Pixar’s box-office streak keeps zipping along, “Cars 2″ became the first to crash as far as the critical consensus is concerned.
While I gave “Cars 2″ a 3-star review and chose to evaluate it as a playful, deliberate detour from Pixar’s usually high-brown fare – c’mon, it stars the vocal talents of Larry the Cable Guy – I was apparently among the minority of critics.
“Cars 2″ earned a lemon-esque 33 percent positive or “fresh” on review aggregation site RottenTomatoes.com. It was the first Pixar film to score less than the 60 percent needed to be considered fresh.
Every other Pixar film has scored at least 90 percent fresh, with the exception of its predecessor, 2006′s “Cars,” which scored around 75 percent.
Interestingly, RottenTomatoes.com users have given “Cars 2″ a much fresher 66 percent fresh score.
Premiering in second place at the weekend box office, was Cameron Diaz’s classroom comedy “Bad Teacher” with $31 million. The Sony Pictures release added $12.9 million overseas in about 10 countries, according to the AP.
Both new wide releases came in ahead of industry projections, which had pegged “Cars 2″ at an opening of around $60 million and “Bad Teacher” at about $25 million, reported the AP.
“Cars 2″ features Owen Wilson and Larry the Cable Guy reprising their voice roles for race car Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater as the two are caught up in a spy adventure during an international racing tour.
The movie overcame unusually harsh reviews for Pixar, whose films include such critical darlings as “Ratatouille,” ”Finding Nemo,” ”The Incredibles” and “WALL-E.”
Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, reaffirmed what Rotten Tomatoes’ users scores indicated. Viane told AP that audiences gave “Cars 2″ top grades in exit surveys, a sign that the movie should have a long life at theaters, like previous Pixar flicks.
“I’m always concerned when it comes to dollars and cents. What does the paying public think?” Viane told the AP.
With global settings that include Japan, Italy, France and Great Britain, “Cars 2″ also has strong prospects as it continues to roll out overseas. According to the AP, the international haul for “Cars 2″ included $9.3 million in Russia, $8.1 million in Mexico and $7.6 million in Brazil.
While the G-rated “Cars 2″ cornered the family market, “Bad Teacher” was the weekend’s grown-up choice, starring Diaz as a foul-mouthed, boozy, gold-digging educator.
While women accounted for 63 percent of the audience for “Bad Teacher,” Sony executives hope word-of-mouth over Diaz’s brazen performance will draw more men to see it in the coming weeks, reports the AP.
The previous weekend’s No. 1 flick, Ryan Reynolds’ “Green Lantern,” fell to third-place with $18.4 million. That was off a steep 65 percent from its revenues over opening weekend, raising the domestic total for the Warner Bros. superhero tale to $89.3 million.
Overall domestic revenues totaled $176 million, up 6.7 percent from the same period last year, when “Toy Story 3″ remained No. 1 in its second weekend with $59.3 million, according to the AP.
For the year, revenues are down 7.6 percent compared to 2010′s, though a strong summer has helped Hollywood erase most of a big downturn in business from the sluggish winter and spring.
The upcoming Fourth of July weekend looks huge as Paramount’s sci-fi sequel “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” blows into IMAX theaters Tuesday night and general cinemas Wednesday. That will be followed in mid-July by the hopefully magical finale “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” based on J.K. Rowling’s novels and distributed by Warner Bros.
Here are the top 10 movies, from the AP. Where available, latest international numbers are also included.
1. “Cars 2,” $68 million ($42.9 million international).
2. “Bad Teacher,” $31 million ($12.9 million international).
3. “Green Lantern,” $18.4 million.
4. “Super 8,” $12.1 million ($10.5 million international).
5. “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” $10.3 million.
6. “X-Men: First Class,” $6.6 million.
7. “The Hangover Part II,” $5.9 million.
8. “Bridesmaids,” $5.4 million ($11.5 million international).
9. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” $4.7 million ($13.5 million international).
10. “Midnight in Paris,” $4.5 million.
-BAM
Video: J.K. Rowling launches Pottermore “online reading experience unlike any other”
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling recently created a furor when she launched Pottermore.com with nothing more than a “coming soon” message and a countdown clock on YouTube.
The countdown clock has finally wound down, and the writer has posted on Pottermore.com a YouTube video explaining what she has in mind for the new site: “an online reading experience unlike any other.” It’s still a mystery how it’s all going to work, but we have more information today.
“It’s the same story with a few crucial additions. The most important one is you,” she says in the video announcement.
“Pottermore will be built in part by you the reader,” she adds. “The digital generation will be able to enjoy a safe, unique online reading experience built around the Harry Potter books. Pottermore will be the place where fans of any age can share, participate in and rediscover the stories.”
This seems to indicate to me that user-generated content will be a part of the Pottermore experience, which could be a very exciting prospect.
Pottermore also will apparently have an exclusive online store where people will be able to buy digital audiobooks and, for the first time, ebooks of the Harry Potter series.
“I will be joining in too because I will be sharing additional information I’ve been hoarding for years about the world of Harry Potter,” she adds.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 13 years since the first Harry Potter book was released. She certainly have managed to change the world, hasn’t she?
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you,” Rowling says in the YouTube announcement. “Because no author could have asked for a more wonderful, diverse and loyal readership.”
Pottermore will open to the public in October, though Rowling notes that a lucky few will be given the chance to enter early and help shape the experience. According to the website, people can visit Pottermore.com on July 31 (which fans will know is Harry Potter’s birthday) for more information on early entry.
Visitors are given a chance to submit their email address to be notified when Pottermore.com registration opens.
Even better, a note on Pottermore.com says that the website will be free.
Of course, we have one more chance to see the Boy Who Lived’s adventures play out on the big screen, with “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final movie based on Rowling’s beloved book series, opening July 15 in theaters.
-BAM
Video: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ trailer
What a week for Harry Potter fans.
The second and reportedly final trailer for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ has debuted. Since this is the last movie in the series, this is probably the last Harry Potter trailer we’re ever going to get. Moment of silence …
… and I’m pleased to report that I have goosebumps from this preview. It all looks amazing, but I got a glimpse of my favorite moment from “Deathly Hallows”: Molly Weasley (Julie Walters) goes to war.
Look out Bellatrix. Once you go after her baby girl, Mrs. Weasley’s not a snuggly stay-at-home mom anymore; she’s a mama bear with mega wand skills.
In related news, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling this week launched a mysterious new website, Pottermore.com.
The site just promises it’s “coming soon,” and whatever it is, I can’t wait.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ is due in theaters on July 15.
-BAM
Video: New clips from “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “Super 8,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Help”
New clips from the movies “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “Super 8,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and “The Help” aired Sunday during the MTV Music Awards.
The first teaser trailer for “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1″ also debuted during the awards show. To watch it, click here.
-BAM
“Twilight: Eclipse,” Chloë Grace Moretz, Reese Witherspoon win big at MTV Movie Awards
Reese Witherspoon receives the MTV Generation Award Sunday at the MTV Movie Awards in Los Angeles. (AP photo)
“The Twilight Saga” again dominated the MTV Movie Awards Sunday night.
The franchise’s third film, “Eclipse,” won best movie, best female performance, best male performance, best kiss and best fight. The teaser trailer for the fourth film, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -Part 1,” also debuted during the awards show. Click here to view it.
Representing the Harry Potter saga was Tom Felton, who won best villain for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”
Chloë Grace Moretz won best breakout star and biggest bada– star for her role as Hit Girl in the subversive superhero film “Kick-A–.”
Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon received the MTV Generation Award, given annually to recognize the remarkable career of an iconic actor.
To read the rest of the MTV Movie Award winners, click here.
-BAM
Summer movie wrap 2011: Superheroic, sequel action on the slate
"Kung Fu Panda 2"
My excellent colleagues Matt Price and George Lang assisted with this story, which also appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Supersized summer
The blockbuster potential seems supersized for summer 2011, which may well go down as one of the biggest summers in cinematic history.
At movie theaters, summer always starts early and with the promise of outsized action, outlandish laughs and maybe even a serious drama or two.
But the blockbuster potential seems supersized for 2011, which may well go down as one of the biggest summers in cinematic history.
The Boy Who Lived will face off for the last time against the forces of evil in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” Captain Jack Sparrow with sail and stumble again in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” the wildly popular animated adventures “Cars” and “Kung Fu Panda” both will set out on the sequel path, and superheroes with a variety of powers and potential will vie for the chance to win movie-goers’ hearts and cash on the way to defeating evil.
If that weren’t enough action for any one season, Michael Bay’s third big-screen, big-robots adventure “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” will bring more bangs than a hundred fireworks displays to the Fourth of July holiday. But the three-quel also comes with promises from Bay and the cast to bring more humanity to the franchise than did 2009’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which did boffo box office despite a story critics felt was less than meets the eye.
Bay “was very mindful in this third one to make sure that it was really clear and concise and more human,” said star Josh Duhamel in a recent phone interview.
Duhamel returns for the third time as Lt. Col. William Lennox in “Dark of the Moon.”
“There’s real drama going on,” Duhamel said. “It’s not just a mishmash of robots fighting each other. This one actually has, there’s reasons for everything that happens. And I think it makes for a much more compelling story.”
As we lay out for the action-packed options for this cinematic summer, remember that studios love to shift release dates, so double-check local listings before heading to the theater.
"Thor"
Friday
Marvel Studios throws down the hammer with “Thor,” director Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the well-loved comic inspired by Norse mythology. Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the oft-arrogant son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins) is cast from Asgard to Earth to learn humility. Natalie Portman co-stars as love interest Jane Foster; Tom Hiddleston is the god of mischief, Loki, Thor’s half-brother.
Ginnifer Goodwin, Kate Hudson, John Krasinski and Colin Egglesfield provide the traditional start-of-summer blockbuster-counterprogramming in the romantic comedy “Something Borrowed.”
In “Jumping the Broom,” an engaged couple (Paula Patton and Laz Alonso) brings their divergent families to Martha’s Vineyard for their wedding and wraps plenty of culture-clash drama.
The zombie apocalypse reaches Berlin in the low-budget German horror film “Rammbock.”
"The 5th Quarter"
May 13
Choctaw-born and bred actor Ryan Merriman stars as Jon Abbate, a Wake Forest University football player who led his team to its most successful season in school history after the death of his teenage brother in the fact-based inspirational sports drama “The 5th Quarter.” Merriman will attend select screenings and sign autographs May 13-15 at AMC Quail Springs 24, 2501 W Memorial Blvd.
Producer Judd Apatow mines matrimonial pomp and circumstance for laughs with “Bridesmaids,” starring “Saturday Night Live” standouts Maya Rudolph as a bride-to-be and Kristen Wiig as her cash-strapped and lovelorn maid of honor leading a ragtag group of attendants (Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Ellie Kemper) through all manner of wedding-related wackiness.
With vampires are still white-hot (you know, for cold-hearted bloodsuckers), Paul Bettany plays a cleric who defies church law to track down the undead baddies who kidnapped his niece in “Priest.”
Set in a Dutch village occupied by the Nazis near the end of World War II, “Winter in Wartime” follows a rebellious teenager (Martijn Lakemeier) who gets involved with the Resistance when he aids a British pilot (Jamie Campbell Bower) who has crashed in the nearby woods.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"
May 20
Johnny Depp’s flamboyant Captain Jack Sparrow and Geoffrey Rush’s formidable Barbossa sail into a fourth high-seas adventure in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” but this time, Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) aren’t swashing buckles alongside them. Rather, Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane try out the pirate’s life with an expedition to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.
Set in a small Texas town in the early 1980s, the coming-of-age tale “Skateland” circles around a group of friends (Shiloh Fernandez, Heath Freeman, Ashley Greene, Taylor Handley) struggling to make the transition from high school to young adulthood.
"The Hangover Part II"
May 26
No lessons were learned in the making of this movie: Todd Phillips’ “The Hangover Part II” centers on Stu (Ed Helms) getting married in Thailand, which seems like a perfect place for things to go completely awry for Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha. Nick Cassavetes becomes the most unlikely third choice in recent cameo history in the bit part of an expatriate tattoo artist that was originally meant for Mel Gibson and then for Liam Neeson.
Prepare for paws of fury when “Kung Fu Panda 2” kicks down the doors of the cineplex. Joining Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Angelina Jolie and others from the 2008 original are Gary Oldman as the dastardly and particularly pale peacock Lord Shen, Victor Garber as Master Thundering Rhino and Jean-Claude Van Damme as Master Croc.
"The Beaver"
May 27
Embattled actor Mel Gibson returns to the big screen opposite Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster in the drama “The Beaver,” playing a troubled husband and executive who makes a beaver hand-puppet his sole means of communication. Foster also directs this oddball drama.
Flamboyant documentarian Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”) takes on branding, advertising and product placement with his latest project, “Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.”
