Jaden Smith Will Have a Busy Puberty

Jaden Smith may only be, I dunno, six or seven years old, but he's already a bankable star. Maybe a lot of that has to do with his dad, but The Karate Kid made a lot more money than anybody thought it would. So now he's setting himself up for his next gigs, assuming he gets his chores done.

Ahmet Zappa and Michael Wilson worked on something called Monster Witness Relocation Program, Disney sniffed it out, and Jaden is set to star, according to Latino Review. We'll have to assume the title tells the story here, because details are scant at best as to exactly what this movie will be. We do not, however, have to assume that there might be another Ahmet Zappa in the world. Nope, this is the same dude. Frank's son, but not Dweezil.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - 'Toy Story 3' Biggest Pixar Opening Ever

The Sunday box office numbers are just estimates, so this could shift, but Toy Story 3 started the weekend with a heavy $41 million but couldn't keep that kind of momentum, even including Father's Day, which you'd think would be a boon for an excellent family film.

Box Office Mojo's figures read as follows: $41 million, $37 million, $31 million. So, $109 million total. That's a very strong start but not a record for an animated film. And those are decent holds on Saturday and especially Sunday, but both numbers are a lot lower than I would have expected, given Friday's start and the modus operandi for movie like this, which hit their peak on day two during a traditional three-day weekend. Not so here, and now I've got to do some cipherin'. I was operating under the assumption that $41 million in one day meant $115 million or more for three, and that would probably mean $200 million in ten days. That seems harder to accomplish now, but a $50 million second weekend would probably still sew that up. Also, if the film ages like it should - meaning better than Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon, and with a better first heat - it could still surpass Iron Man 2, which has stalled at just over $300 million.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - Massive Start for 'Toy Story 3'

Toy Story 3 might not get the top weekend of 2010, but it could be the top movie of the year. A $41 million opening day, which should indicate at least $50 million on Saturday and a weekend number north of $115 million, is the first step for a film that now seems destined to get to the summer movie milestone of $300 million in a hurry.

Pixar movies always hold up, a combination of their incredibly wide appeal and repeat viewing. In general, anything that does more than a multiplier of three - meaning it earns more than three times its opening weekend number over its theatrical run - is a pretty successful release. Every Pixar movie has done that, so we're comfortable assuming this movie should nearly triple this weekend's performance. I won't go all in and declare that it's making $345 million or more, just because this weekend is so much bigger than expectations, but the odds are in its favor. Being the best of the summer movies helps, too. Iron Man 2 got off to a similarly large start, but couldn't hold up (it won't hit a multiplier of three, for instance), and Shrek Forever After started soft but has held up over the last month. This movie should combine the best of both of those examples, hitting $200 million in about another week or so.

Click to read more ...

Fearless Forecast - Families Flock to 'Toy Story 3'

This summer has been a tough one to figure out. Almost nothing has performed as well as expected, and while it's easy to say the box office is down, we're still only three months removed from Alice in Wonderland, which has gone on to become the fifth-biggest movie ever worldwide, making a billion dollars faster than anything not named Avatar.

Will Toy Story 3 be like Shrek Forever After and kind of softball the opening weekend but hang around for a long time or will family audiences eat it up like The Karate Kid? I'm guessing the latter, and in huge numbers. Toy Story may emerge as the best reviewed film of the summer and maybe the year, which is slightly different from being the best movie all year; it just means there won't be many bad reviews. That always seems to be the case with Pixar, and it's one of the very few movie brands in the world that sells tickets based on its name. That's because Pixar doesn't falter, and even when they did, Cars wasn't that bad. Plus, the name Toy Story is about as good as it gets. Fans from 8 - 80. So I look for it to be pretty stout, especially with the 3-D ticket prices, which are actually justifiable here as opposed to last summer's Up.

Click to read more ...

Inevitable 'Karate Kid' Sequel Now More Inevitable

Hey, guess what: Jaden Smith's going to take off that jacket again. To no one's surprise, we're getting a Karate Kid sequel, which means we're only a couple movies away from learning the identity of this generation's Hilary Swank. I know you're excited about that prospect.

Anyway, Sony says the sequel will happen, and that the seed was planted a few weeks back. So there haven't been any real developments, like writers, plot, or that sort of thing, but director Harald Zwart tells Entertainment Weekly, “I would absolutely love to do a sequel. I think working with those guys was the best part of my career. So yeah, if they want me, I would love to do it again.” There's no word on Jackie Chan returning as Mr. Han, the Miyagi character he actually did rather well. But if he did Shanghai Knights...I'll let you finish that thought.

Click to read more ...