'Dragonball' Evolves: There Will Be a Sequel

From the You've Got to Fucking Be Kidding Department comes the news of a Dragonball sequel. The first film in the...uh...series was Dragonball Evolution, a name that obviously hints at future installments. Apparently, American audiences didn't get that hint, since the movie made less than $10 million here in the states.

But James Marsters, who plays Lord Piccolo in the movie, told a fansite (via Cinema Blend) that a part two is imminent. "I’ve just heard that I can actually tell that there is going to be a sequel,” he said, apparently without a hint of shame. So how could Fox justify another outbreak of the plague? Simple: It was big in Japan.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - A Big Weekend for 'Hannah Montana'

Although Miley Cyrus says she wants to move on to other things, it's going to be difficult for her to find another project that rings the cash registers quite like Hannah Montana. Just look what happened to Hilary Duff after Lizzie Maguire.

The new Hannah movie zoomed to the top of the box office charts, beating most predictions with $34 million. It's the second $30 million debut for Hannah, who scored impressively with a 3-D concert film last year. Half of the business came on opening day, which isn't out of the norm, losing an average of 39% each day after that. The slide on Saturday and Sunday probably means a one-and-done scenario here, because it shows that there was early heat and then it cooled down. In fact, the movie was only number one on Friday, falling behind Fast & Furious the rest of the weekend. The Vin Diesel-Paul Walker sequel was competitive despite losing 60% of its opening weekend crowd, and with more movies on the way aimed at young men - Crank, Fighting, Wolverine, and everything else in May - this was probably the last major cash grab for Fast & Furious. But nobody at Universal is complaining about a movie that has already made $118 million.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - 'Hannah' on Pace for $40 Million

Hannah Montana > The Jonas Brothers. The Disney trio's recent film outing, a 3-D concert flick, only earned about $20 million and would be the lowest rated movie ever on IMDB if it had enough votes to qualify. The new Hannah Montana movie nearly made $19 million in one day.

For the second straight weekend, and for about the fifth or sixth time this year, a new release has started its run much stronger than anyalysts have predicted. The trick is whether Hannah Montana can keep the momentum going for the next couple of days like Fast & Furious did last weekend. It's off to a great start - $17 million - and that could mean a $38 - $44 million weekend, about $10 million more than the teen idol was given credit for. That would knock Fast & Furious into the silver medal position through no fault of its own; if it falls short of $30 million in its second weekend, it would be a little disappointing, but the ten day total is likely to be around $120 million.

Click to read more ...

Movie Review - 'Dragonball Evolution'

Dragonball Evolution Starring Justin Chatwin, Emmy Rossum, and Chow Yun-Fat Directed by James Wong Rated PG

At its best, Dragonball Evolution is mindless, mostly forgettable camp. At its worst - and this is actually kind of a compliment - it looks inexpensive and poorly edited. That may not sound like high praise, but Dragonball never makes a strong case either way: Should you take any of it seriously or should you recognize how silly this all is and go with it? My inclination is that the attempt was made to make this a more consequential movie somewhere in the middle of the production, because what was fun and mildly amusing for 30 minutes became boring and sullen after a while. For the uninitiated, Dragonball Evolution is an attempt to cash in on a very successful Japanese franchise that began with an animated television show and branched out in a million different directions. This isn't a summation of all of those stories, and that just goes with the territory when studios choose to go down this road, because there is so much to choose from and so little time to fit it all in. I think Dragonball created a fine origin story for its universe - a teenager named Goku (Justin Chatwin) is thrust into the unenviable position of saving the planet from the evil Lord Piccolo (James Marsters), who in addition to being an alien banished from Earth over 2,000 years ago also has the least intimidating name of any villain in years. In order to stop Piccolo, Goku enlists a ragtag group of confederates to track down the seven Dragonballs that, when joined together, allow their possessor to make one perfect wish. You can only imagine what a gray-green guy from space would do with those glowing orbs after being voted off the island two milennia ago. So from a nuts-and-bolts standpoint, the filmmakers have pared down Dragonball into an easily digestible narrative when it could have been a giant mess. I also believe that Justin Chatwin comes across as fairly believable, given the circumstances. It's not a great, towering performance, but he creates sympathy early on.

Click to read more ...

Fearless Forecast: Vin Diesel Outmuscles Hannah Montana

Last weekend was the biggest April weekend ever at the box office, and at the rate it's going, the entire month might be the biggest April in history, as well. That's because, in addition to three new releases, two of which have some decent to good business prospects, we've still got two movies sure to make at least another $100 million combined between now and May.

Even though we're seeing a lot of advertising for Observe and Report, I don't think there's any way that's the movie to beat this weekend. And just because Hannah Montana has a built-in crowd, don't expect that to rise to the top, either. No, it's going to be another win for Fast & Furious, and the reason I say that is not because it made $70 million last weekend, but because it will make about $15 million more during the week. People really want to see this, as evidenced by a ten-day total that will be near $125 million.

Click to read more ...