New Moon selling 10 tickets per second
Fandango reports that The Twilight Saga: New Moon is on pace to sell 10 tickets per second throughout today on the movie ticket-selling site.
Summit Entertainment has reported that “New Moon” set a new record for opening midnight shows with an estimated gross of $26.270 million playing at 3,514 theaters for a per theater average of $7,476.
Fandango also reports strong sales for “The Blind Side,” which makes up 8 percent of ticket sales on the site. Of course, nothing can stand against the onslaught of “New Moon” sales, which makes up 85 percent.
- Matt Price
Star Trek comes to DVD and Blu-ray today
J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise comes to DVD and Blu-ray today. If you’ve missed what was one of 2009’s best films, now’s a great time to get caught up on it.
As I wrote in my review of the film:
Director J.J. Abrams reinvents “Star Trek” in his new film that’s a reboot of the classic sci-fi series. For hardcore Trekkies, it doesn’t negate what’s gone before, but for the newbies – which make up most of the potential viewing audience – this “Star Trek” is brand new.
Feel free to click through for my full review. I look forward to checking out the DVD for extra features in the near future. Special features on the DVD set include a digital copy of the film, deleted scenes, audio commentary and making-of documentaries.
- Matt Price
New Moon leading online ticket sales
The Twilight Saga: New Moon is at the top of ticket pre-sales this week, making up 94% of daily sales at Fandango.com and 90% of ticket sales at MovieTickets.com, according to releases from the companies.
According to Fandango, the Thursday night re-release of “Twilight” is the No. 2 seller on the site, representing 2% of today’s sales.
MovieTickets.com reports more than 200 sellouts of the film in New York and Los Angeles, and 2,150 sellouts of the film overall.
A Fandango survey of New Moon ticket buyers indicates the following:
51% will scream as the theater lights go down at the first public showings of New Moon, while 18% of audience members plan to put their fingers in their ears until the screaming stops.
50% pick Breaking Dawn as The Twilight Saga sequel they’re most eager to see on the big screen; 47% would like to see the final story split into two movies.
46% are most excited to see Edward back on the big screen, while a 32% are most excited to see the return of Jacob (among all New Moon characters).
New Moon sets pre-sales record
Four days prior to release, “New Moon” is the biggest pre-sales title in the 10-year history of ticket-selling site Fandango. A release for the company indicates New Moon broke the record as of Saturday night.
The new Top 5 Advance Ticket-Sellers on Fandango (as of November 15, 2009) are as follows:
1. New Moon (2009)
2. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
4. The Dark Knight (2008)
5. Twilight (2008)
New Moon currently accounts for 86% of ticket sales at Fandango.com.
“For many fans, it’s clearly the year’s most anticipated film event,” said Fandango Chief Operating Officer Rick Butler in a release. “Ever since tickets went on sale on August 31, it’s been among our top five weekly ticket-sellers, as New Moon has a strong pull on audiences. We’re seeing a higher-than-usual number of tickets per transaction for this film, suggesting that moviegoers will show up en masse at theaters this weekend with their friends and family.”
A survey of Fandango users indicates that 10 percent of ticket buyers intend to show up to the film in costume.
Other information from the survey:
* 98% say the action in New Moon looks better than the action in Twilight.
* 72% plan to see the movie with a group of three friends or more.
* 52% of survey respondents say they dream about vampires.
* 22% are mothers and daughters planning to see New Moon together.
* 10% of fans plan to show up at the theater on Thursday night in costume, dressed as characters from the saga.
- Matt Price
Monday movie quote challenge #53
“So, yes, I am a dork, and a goofball, and a wingnut, and a Knucklehead McSpazatron!”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
Sgt. Rock film to be set in the future
According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Guy Ritchie left the “Sgt. Rock” project for another DC project, Lobo. This cleared the way for “I Am Legend” director Francis Lawrence. Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman are set to direct. The film, which has been in development for 20 years and at one time was to star Arnold Schwartzenegger, was to focus on the leader of Easy Company during World War II.
But scuttlebutt in the Reporter article is that WWII films don’t do big box-office, so the film will instead be set in the future.
I really can’t at this moment get excited about it. I mean, we’ve had some pretty good Sgt. Rock comics lately, like Billy Tucci’s “Sgt. Rock: The Last Battalion” and “Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy” and “Sgt. Rock: Between Hell and a Hard Place.”
So naturally what you want to do with DC’s most realistic war character is take him and send him to the future. Maybe they’ll come up with a great take, but at the moment my interest has waned.
- Matt Price
Monday movie quote challenge #52
“Dozens of them. Armed to the teeth. I’m outnumbered. Outgunned. But the alley is crooked, dark, and very narrow. They can’t surround me. Sometimes you can beat the odds with a careful choice of where to fight.”
Identify who said the above quote in what film in the comments!
Marvel Comics reveals Black Widow’s ‘Deadly Origin’
Marvel Comics’ Black Widow began as a Soviet spy, introduced as a foil for Iron Man in 1964’s “Tales of Suspense” No. 52. While her first few appearances saw her as an antagonist to Marvel heroes, she’s since joined with them, even leading the Avengers for a time.
The Black Widow, aka Natalia Romanova or Natasha Romanoff, will be played by Scarlett Johansson in next year’s film “Iron Man 2.” Marvel is doing its best to catch up readers on the character before the film, starting this week with the comic-book series “Black Widow: Deadly Origin.”
Maltese Falcon was at forefront of film noir
Thanks to everyone who came out today to Southern Oaks Library to hear me talk about “The Maltese Falcon,” the 1941 film starring Humphrey Bogart and the Dashiell Hammett novel from which it was adapted. For Nerdage readers who couldn’t make it, here’s what was said:
appears. Hammett also wrote about Spade in a handful of short stories, and while Spade the character appeared in a series of radio adventures and comic strips, Hammett had little to do with those stories besides, as he said, “cashing the checks.”
The Maltese Falcon was serialized in the pulp Black Mask in 1929. It followed Hammett’s popular “Continental Op” detective stories, but Sam Spade took things a step further.
About Spade, Hammett said:
“Spade had no original. He is a dream man in the same sense that he is what most of the private detectives I worked with would like to have been and what quite a few of them in their cockier moments thought they approached … a hard and shifty fellow, able to take care of himself in any situation.”
Dashiell Hammett’s own life inspired his writing. He worked as a detective for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency from 1915 to 1921, with time off to serve in World War I. During the war, Hammett contracted Spanish flu, which later led to tuberculosis. His health concerns led him to give up detective work, where he was considered one of the best “shadows” in the business, to concentrate on writing.
Film Noir literally means “black film,” and was born out of the popularity of the pulp writing style. Hollywood’s classic film noir period is went from the early 1940s to the late 1950s, though it was only 
assigned the title in retrospect. The heavy blacks in the visual style were influenced by German Expressionist cinematography.
In the 1941 “Maltese Falcon,” which will be shown today, Bogart plays Sam Spade, a hard-boiled detective who is hired by Miss Wonderly, played by Mary Astor, to, he believes, find her missing sister. But that’s just the first of many not-quite truthful things Spade will be told as he’s drawn into the hunt for the Maltese Falcon, a priceless relic of the Crusades.
Contrasting this “Maltese Falcon” with the 1931 version, Bogart’s Sam Spade has a sense of humor, but it’s a dark one. He’s a flawed, jaded hero who follows a moral code he’s not even sure he quite understands.
Directed by John Huston, the 1941 Maltese Falcon is a close adaptation of Hammett’s original, maintaining most of the scenes and much of the dialogue.
Joining Bogart are the hoods: Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet and Elisha Cook Jr. Each were successful actors of the time. Lorre and Greenstreet would again be seen with Bogart in the classic Casablanca, again playing characters of questionable morality. Cook would again join Bogart in film noir “The Big Sleep,” based on Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe.
The Maltese Falcon marked Huston’s first directorial work with Bogart, though Huston had written the script for High Sierra, a film which helped spur Bogart’s career. The two were friends and drinking buddies, and after The Maltese Falcon would work together several more times. Bogart’s roles in both High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon were turned down by George Raft. Bogart’s portrayal of these roles helped to cement him as a top star at Warner Bros.
- Matthew Price
Avatar trailer in HD
Avatar Trailer in HD
Trailer Park | MySpace Video
From MySpace, here’s the trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar in 3-D. For those trying to remain completely unspoiled, it does seem to give up quite a bit of the plot. But then, I don’t know if that’s likely to keep people away. Feel free to share your thoughts on the trailer in the comments!
