“Act of Valor” storms the Box Office

Leave it to the marines to invade the box office… Yes, active duty marines are arguably the biggest stars at movie theaters this weekend as Act of Valor, the new critically maligned action pic starring the aforementioned active duty marines, easily hit # 1 with a bigger than expected $24.7 million. That was far more than Tyler Perry’s latest film, the dramedy Good Deeds, which opened to a decent $16 million. Both low-cost films are on their way to nice profits. The same can’t be said of the other two new pictures debuting this week as Wanderlust and Gone out right bombed. Wanderlust, the new comedy with Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston from the Universal stink factory, took in a paltry $6.6 million while the Amanda Seyfried thriller Gone barely made out with $5 million. For more on all these numbers, head to Box Office Mojo here and check out the new top ten below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Act of Valor Rela. $24,700,000 – 3,039 – $8,128 $24,700,000 $12 1
2 N Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds LGF $16,000,000 – 2,132 – $7,505 $16,000,000 – 1
3 4 Journey 2: The Mysterious Island WB $13,475,000 -32.1% 3,350 -150 $4,022 $76,731,000 $79 3
4 1 Safe House Uni. $11,400,000 -51.8% 3,052 -69 $3,735 $98,100,000 $85 3
5 2 The Vow SGem $10,000,000 -56.6% 3,038 +80 $3,292 $103,007,000 $30 3
6 3 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance Sony $8,800,000 -60.2% 3,174 – $2,773 $37,832,000 $57 2
7 5 This Means War Fox $8,500,000 -51.2% 3,189 – $2,665 $33,571,000 $65 2
8 N Wanderlust Uni. $6,600,000 – 2,002 – $3,297 $6,600,000 – 1
9 N Gone Sum. $5,000,000 – 2,186 – $2,287 $5,000,000 – 1
10 9 The Secret World of Arrietty BV $4,503,000 -30.1% 1,522 – $2,959 $14,660,000 – 2

Five Reasons to Watch “Five”

There aren’t too many amazing original films on basic cable these days. For every great picture like Prayers for Bobby, you get a ton of bunch of woman in jeopardy junk, but Lifetime is offering up another worthy picture for you tonight with Five. Featuring a star-studded cast, lauded directors and a wonderful message, the movie is fantastic and should put Lifetime back in the Emmy race much like it did for Sigourney Weaver and the wonderful Bobby… With that said, here are five reasons you should watch Five tonight on Lifetime.

1. Five has a great, heartwarming, heartbreaking and inspiring story. It chronicles five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people’s lives.
2. It features a brilliant award-winning cast including Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson, Emmy winner Tony Shalboub, Emmy nominees Jeffrey Tambor, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Annie Potts, plus  Rosario Dawson, Lindsey Fonseca, Josh Holloway, Kathy Najimy and Ginnifer Goodwin.
3. It is directed by five distinct and accomplished women~ Emmy winner Jennifer Aniston, Golden Globe nominee Demi Moore, Emmy nominee Patty Jenkins (The Killing, Monster), Penelope Spheeris (Wayne’s World) and Grammy winner Alicia Keyes.
4. It brings awareness to an important cause: breast cancer. And since this is Pinktober, breast cancer awareness month, it’s timely and a wonderful gift to those who fight this terrible disease every day.
5. It’s simply a tremendous film.

So, check it out tonight and here’s a behind the scenes video for you and a trailer for this important film.

Five trailer

Behind the scenes of Five

Will Jason Bateman ever have a hit Comedy Movie again?

What happened to Jason Bateman? His film career was flourishing with hits like the fantastic Oscar nominees  Juno  and Up in the Air and even the dreadful but high grossing Couples Retreat… Then all of a sudden, he’s like the comedy kiss of death. He’s had three big bombs in a row: Extract, The Switch and the absolutely horrendous and offensive Paul from earlier this year. So, the question is… will he ever have a hit comedy film again? Well, this summer he has two more films coming to theatres that could help his cause. The first and I think more promising film is called Horrible Bosses and stars Bateman alongside Jason Sudekis (Saturday Night Live) and Charlie Day (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) as three guys who hate their horrific bosses so much they decide to kill them. Sounds pretty interesting so far. And it only gets better when you find out actors playing the bosses: Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Color me intrigued. Unfortunately, no trailer is yet available for this film which hits theatres on July 8th, but I’ll post one as soon as I see it… Bateman’s second film due August 5th is called The Change Up and features Bateman and Ryan Reynolds as a frustrated married guy and a swinging bachelor who end up switching bodies. It’s like Big except with adults, hehe… Kinda lame. However, it’s an R rated comedy from the kids who brought us The Hangover and costars Olivia Wilde (Tron Legacy, Cowboys and Aliens), Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) and Oscar winner Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine). So that bodes well. What doesn’t bode well is the fact that it’s a Universal picture and practically all of their films for the past few years have been terrible films and big failures and the new totally unfunny trailer. Check it out below.

The Change Up

Now, don’t fret Bateman fans. If both of these films strike out, he still has the highly anticipated Arrested Development movie in the works. At least we know that one will be funny…

Adam Sandler to Justin Bieber~ You Got Served!

Well, apparently, Bibermania was just not strong enough to stop the Sandler this weekend. Despite many predictions that Justin Bieber’s concert/documentary/3D film Never Say Never would win the weekend at the box office, it actually landed in second with a strong $30 million. However, that wasn’t good enough to beat Adam Sandler whose latest comedy, Just Go With It, co-starring Jennifer Aniston opened to $31 million. They led 4 new films for the frame which saw the best numbers of 2011 so far. Opening way ahead of expectations was the new tune, Gnomeo & Juliet, produced and featuring music by Grammy legend Elton John took in a surprisingly good $25 million for third. Following in fourth was Channing Tatum’s historical action epic, The Eagle, with a mild $8.5 million. Take a look at the new top ten below which also saw another fantastic hold for Oscar favorite The King’s Speech below and head to Box Office Mojo for more weekend numbers.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Just Go With It Sony $31,000,000 – 3,548 – $8,737 $31,000,000 – 1
2 N Justin Bieber: Never Say Never Par. $30,260,000 – 3,105 – $9,746 $30,260,000 $13 1
3 N Gnomeo and Juliet BV $25,500,000 – 2,994 – $8,517 $25,500,000 – 1
4 N The Eagle Focus $8,589,000 – 2,296 – $3,741 $8,589,000 – 1
5 1 The Roommate SGem $8,400,000 -44.0% 2,534 – $3,315 $26,053,000 $16 2
6 4 The King’s Speech Wein. $7,412,000 -3.9% 2,263 -321 $3,275 $93,857,000 $15 12
7 3 No Strings Attached Par. $5,645,000 -29.5% 2,756 -294 $2,048 $59,866,000 $25 4
8 2 Sanctum Uni. $5,132,000 -45.7% 2,789 +2 $1,840 $17,505,000 $30 2
9 8 True Grit Par. $3,770,000 -18.8% 2,072 -830 $1,819 $160,340,000 $38 8
10 5 The Green Hornet Sony $3,600,000 -39.7% 2,090 -943 $1,722 $92,332,000 $120 5

The Expendables defeats the Vampires, Piranhas and Jennifer Aniston!

Sly Stallone knocked out Julia Roberts last weekend. This weekend he defeated several more foes as his comeback movie The Expendables topped the box office for a second week in a row knocking down vampires, piranhas, a nanny, Bow Wow and Jennifer Aniston, oh my! In a rather lackluster frame, Sly & co. took in another $16.5 million brining their total to a strong $ $64.8 million. Performing the best of the 5 new releases was the spoof comedy Vampires Suck which landed in second with $12.2 mill. Julia Roberts’ Eat Pray Love fell to third with while Bow Wow’s Lottery Ticket opened in fourth with a ho-hum $11.1 mill. Also grabbing middling grosses were the new horrorfest Piranha 3D with $10 mill and Jennifer Aniston’s latest bomb The Switch with $8.1 mill. The final new entry was Emma Thompson’s Nanny McPhee Returns which opened to a soft $8.3 million (just ahead of The Switch), but the film has already taken in over $65 million outside of the states. So, Universal doesn’t have to worry about that one too much. For all your box office need, head to BoxOfficeMojo.com and check out the top 10 below.

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 1 The Expendables LGF $16,500,000 -52.6% 3,270 – $5,046 $64,890,000 $80 2
2 N Vampires Suck Fox $12,200,000 – 3,233 – $3,774 $18,564,000 $20 1
3 2 Eat Pray Love Sony $12,000,000 -48.1% 3,082 – $3,894 $47,100,000 $60 2
4 N Lottery Ticket WB $11,125,000 – 1,973 – $5,639 $11,125,000 $17 1
5 3 The Other Guys Sony $10,100,000 -42.0% 3,472 -179 $2,909 $88,190,000 $100 3
6 N Piranha 3D W/Dim. $10,035,000 – 2,470 – $4,063 $10,035,000 $24 1
7 N Nanny McPhee Returns Uni. $8,310,000 – 2,784 – $2,985 $8,310,000 $35 1
8 N The Switch Mira. $8,100,000 – 2,012 – $4,026 $8,100,000 – 1
9 4 Inception WB $7,655,000 -32.2% 2,401 -719 $3,188 $261,848,000 $160 6
10 5 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Uni. $5,034,000 -52.6% 2,820 +2 $1,785 $20,730,000 $60 2

Jennifer Aniston wants a baby reaaaaaaal bad…

While the tabloids continue to speculate on Emmy winner Jennifer Aniston’s obsession with having a baby, we can watch a variation of that in her new comedic film The Switch. In it she plays a neurotic woman (does she play any other kind?) who decides to have a baby via a sperm donor. However, unbeknownst to her, her best friend played by Jason Bateman switches the sperm donation with his own swimmers in a night of drunken tomfoolery. The high jinks pick up later with a precocious 7-year-old and the possible romantic sparks between Bateman and Aniston. This looks like the same ole stuff we’ve seen from Jen, but whether she can make it a hit ala The Breakup as opposed to a bomb ala Love Happens remains to be seen. Check out the trailer for The Switch which hits theatres on August 20th, and for more information on the film, click here.

The Switch

Robin, Channing and Julia named among People’s 50 Most Beautiful!

It’s that time of year again… yes, the time when People Magazine names its list of the 50 most beautiful people in the world! Or more accurately, the 50 most beautiful people in the entertainment world! There are several of the usual suspects on the list again like Julia Roberts (the cover girl), Jake Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Aniston and J Lo, but there are also several new folks riding hot buzz that land in the issue. Among the first timers are Amanda Seyfried, Zoe Saldana, Robert Pattinson, Channing Tatum, Sofia Vergara, Zoe Saldana and Bradley Cooper. Tween singing sensation Justin Bieber also merited a mention somehow. I’m most excited that my favorite actress (after the glorious Meryl Streep) is included on the list, Miss Robin Wright. I’ve been a fan of this brilliant and stunningly never Oscar nominated actress going all the way back to her Emmy nominated role on the best soap in history, Santa Barbara. She’s been giving great and critically acclaimed performances for years in films like Forrest Gump (SAG & Golden Globe noms), The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, State of Play and She’s So Lovely (SAG nom). She may finally get in the Oscar race with this fall’s The Conspirator co-starring James MacAvoy and directed by Robert Redford. It tells the tale of Mary Surrat the only woman charged in the conspiracy to kill President Lincoln. Sounds like Awards bait to me… Check out the first set picture below and click here for more info on the film.

For more on People’s Most Beautiful and the full list, click here.

Robin Wright and James MacAvoy on set in The Conspirator

A Little Advice for Hollywood…

With news that Hollywood is amping up remakes of Conan the Barbarian starring a random from Baywatch, a 5th Fast & Furious movie, a new Hawaii Five-O series and another go round with Alvin and the Chipmunks, it’s become abundantly clear that the entertainment world is in need of some serious new ideas. Now, for every reboot that works like Star Trek, there’s a massive failure like Land of the Lost. So, I think La La Land needs to be a little more selective in its projects and the stars they throw together hoping for a hit. With that said, here’s a couple tidbits of advice that might help you out, Hollywood…

~Stop trying to make these people movie stars: Jessica Biel, Dane Cook, and sad as I am to say it Jennifer Aniston. Jen, I love ya, but it’s time to return to the small screen like your other best friends. I don’t think any of us will be able to suffer through The Bounty Hunter…

~ Don’t let the success of one Jersey Shore lead to mass production of more reality spinoffs with its “stars”. It’s hard enough to handle Snookie, The Situation, etc. once a week…  Seriously, MTV, you are to blame for Speidi, Lauren Conrad and Audrina Patridge. ‘Nuff Said.

~Speaking of spinoffs, stop with all the crime procedurals spinoffs. We have 3 CSI’s, 3 Law & Orders, 2 NCIS‘s and now a second Criminal Minds is on the way… enough is enough.

~Don’t re-release Avatar in the summer. Hasn’t this cash cow Pocahontas in space rip off sucked the public’s bank account dry already? Is the 12 minutes of extra footage really gonna be that amazing?

~Stop with the corporate cookie cutter committee movie making already. It only produces results like The Wolfman, The Ugly Truth and Cop Out.

~Don’t go forward with the proposed Gilligan’s Island movie? I mean really? How on Earth can that work?

~Cast Betty White in everything. She rescued The Proposal, is a national treasure and will be the oldest host of SNL in May! The kids even love her.

~ Find the original and daring ideas for new TV shows that push the envelope like Glee, Damages, Nurse Jackie, and Lost.

~ Enough with Kristen Stewart. Not only is she a bad actress (have you seen the god awful Twilight films?), but she is a just a pill on talk shows and the red carpet. She seems ungrateful for her success and I just don’t get the appeal. Also, she clearly has no box office weight outside of the Twilight series (witness her box office duds The Yellow Hankerchief and Adventureland, etc.)

And there you have it, just a few suggestions for the future of Hollywood. Do you agree? What else would you recommend? Sound off below.