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Fearless Forecast - 'Hancock,' Will Smith Will Own The Fourth of July

Will Smith's box office power is well documented: His last eight movies have earned over $100 million each, and his last three - I Am Legend, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Hitch - have earned $1.25 billion worldwide. Right now, he's hotter than ever...and he has the whole weekend to himself.

Of course, Hancock was originally supposed to open on Wednesday, but they pushed back the release date within the past few days to allow for paid sneaks on Tuesday night. So...as of right now, Hancock has already made $24 million and change. That's not a bad number, but I don't get the move from an unopposed Friday to Tuesday night in the first place. All the move does is reward people who were really paying attention. Most people wouldn't go to a new movie on Tuesday anyway, because they're just not trained to. It's a weekend sport.

So now the question becomes how much will Hancock make not over three days but over...uh...hang on...5.3 days. The math gets a little fuzzy because he won't have a completely massive Friday, the kind we'd expect from a Will Smith summer movie. And at the end of the protracted weekend, the total number will reflect all of the box office and not just the Friday - Sunday numbers.

We'll assume Hancock will make about another $15 million today, bringing its pre-weekend total to about $40 million. Lock that number away until later. Ordinarily, I'd say this movie could make about $80 million in its debut weekend, but that number becomes harder to accept knowing that the real diehards will have seen it before Saturday. So, I'm betting that we'll see about a $27 million Friday, a $24 million Saturday, and a $17 million Sunday. Add that up and you, friend, have $68 million.

Remember that $40 million from earlier? Now Big Willie Style has made $108 million in six days. Not bad. No records, certainly, but it extends his streak of $100 million movies in less than a week.

The Top Five:

1 - Hancock ($68 million)

2 - Wall-E ($36 million)

3 - Wanted ($24 million)

4 - Get Smart ($12 million)

5 - Kit Kittredge ($9 million)

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 01:15PM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , , , | Comments2 Comments

'Dark Knight' Cast Members Weigh Ledger's Oscar Chances

Earlier this week, we shared with you the outpouring of support from critics for Heath Ledger's work in The Dark Knight. The consensus was that we're probably headed to a posthumous Oscar nomination, the eighth one of all time. A lot of writers already believe Ledger may have the Academy Award in the bag.

And now his castmates are joining the campaign, speaking eloquently and emotionally about Ledger, and also quite pedantically about his performance as The Joker.

Says Christian Bale, who, of course, shares significant screen time with Ledger in the film, "A lot of people talk about awards all the time, and it's early days. But if anybody deserves it, of course, it is Heath in this."

"I do think that Heath has created an iconic villain that will stand for the ages, and of course, I would love to see him get an award," Bale continued. "But you know, to me, you can witness his talent, celebrate his talent within this movie. Anything else is gravy."

Gary Oldman, who like Bale has mysteriously never earned an Oscar nomination himself, admits, "I think it's an incredible performance. I think it sets a new benchmark. It would surprise me if he didn't get a posthumous Oscar for it."

And from Maggie Gyllenhaal, who replaced Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes for The Dark Knight, we get this highly analytical review:

"He hit it in the entire performance. It's so difficult to do that in a huge movie like this and much easier to do in the tiny movies. That's why those are always the people who win Academy Awards. Heath was (amazing); it's so unusual, and it happens really rarely even for the best actors, that you just hit this stride in a role and you're totally free. And when that happens, you can do no wrong. It's incredible to be around, and that's what it was like with him."

If the performance really does live up to all the talk - and there's every reason to suspect that it does - then not only will Ledger get an Oscar nomination (and likely a win), but he will have earned it for what he did in the film and not for the fact that he can never do it again.

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 11:29AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , , , , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

Trailer - 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

You can see this trailer blown up real good like if you check out Hancock this holiday weekend, so we're either spoiling your fun or getting you in the know about the new teaser for The Day the Earth Stood Still.

Without rehashing the entire premise behind our theory, there are remakes that need to happen, remakes that can be good if handled properly, and movies that should never be touched. I think the original Day the Earth Stood Still needs to be remade, and I'll tell you why. It's been over half a century since the original, which is a great film, don't get me wrong. But part of its appeal now is purely camp. The staging and the effects are so magnificently cheesy that we respond more to that than we do the story.

Our level of sophistication for telling not just science fiction stories but specifically planetary invasion stories has advanced quite a bit since 1951. It would be a shame if we didn't remake this movie based on the things we know now and the way we're able to make more believable sci-fi.

Spare me the Keanu Reeves talk, incidentally. He's choosing better scripts these days and better movies are confident casting him. Once he figured out his limits, Reeves became pretty good at playing that part. It's what movie stars should do.

December 12th will be The Day Earth Stood Still. Or stands still, whatever.

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 09:48AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , , | Comments3 Comments

Movie Trailer - 'Blindness' from 'City of God' Director Fernando Meirelles

blindnessposter3.jpgI would put it to you, sir or madam, that 29 years from now, City of God will ascend to the upper ranks of the greatest films ever made. Its reputation will move it past quite a few international and American films alike for one reason: It's simply better than almost any other movie ever made.

So director Fernando Meirelles has that to live up to. His follow-up, The Constant Gardener, was not an instant smash and didn't create anything new and different. It was very good, though, and Meirelles' position as one of the better up-and-coming filmmakers was undeniable.

It makes sense, then, that his next film would open the competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival. But Blindness was not warmly received there. I wouldn't worry just because of that, though; they have made many bad choices over the years. (Fahrenheit 9/11 wins the Palme D'Or? Really? Go back and watch it again. It's not that good, even as a shrieking polemic.)

We will try to keep an open mind about it despite or admiration for the director and the less-than-overwhelming festival press it has recieved. As you can tell from the trailer, it's still a doozy of a plot:

We'll get an eyeful of Blindness on September 19th.

Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 08:55AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

I Was Thisclose to The Batpod

Earlier this week, The Dark Knight invaded the Valley of the Sun, wisely picking a 111 degree day to make people come out to see the new Batpod, as well as the hulking Batmobile from Batman Begins, called the Tumbler.

I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but there will be a new Batman movie in theaters in a couple of weeks. They've been running commercials and stuff...

Anyway, when I caught wind of this special event, I let our Big Picture readers know about it and I've heard back from several people who not only went down to Tempe Marketplace to check out the bad ass Bat-rides, but who also didn't hear much about it anywhere else. So, you're welcome. I guess it was on TV that morning, but television is such a dinosaur. And I can't blame you for not watching morning TV.

So, on with the good stuff. Of course, we weren't allowed to touch the Batpod or the Tumbler, but we got within a few feet of both of them. These are some pretty hellacious rides, although I'm not sure I'd want to drive that Tumbler around with $4 gallons of gas.

Take a look:

Download the jumbo Batphoto

Download the jumbo Batphoto

Download the jumbo Batphoto

Download the jumbo Batphoto

We'd like to thank Warner Bros. and Allied Advertising for the Batpublicity stunt, and in particular Patrick Brogan at Allied, who deserves a special commendation for wearing a black shirt in seven hours of sweltering Arizona heat.

Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2008 at 11:57PM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , | Comments1 Comment
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