The Top Ten Pirated Films of 2009

The most illegally downloaded film of the year was Star Trek, according to TorrentFreak (and reported by TrekMovie). The film was downloaded 11 million times, while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was pirated 10.6 million times. Wolverine, which was leaked online well in advance of its release in May, was number nine on the list. Recently, an arrest was made in that case.

Here's the top ten: 1 - Star Trek
2 - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
3 - RocknRolla
4 - The Hangover
5 - Twilight
6 - District 9
7 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8 - State of Play
9 - X-Men Origins: Wolverine
10- Knowing

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Update on Guy Ritchie's Possible Next Moves

I'm not wholly committed to this Guy Ritchie Revival thing. I loved Rocknrolla, true, but I think giving him the keys to Sherlock Holmes is kind of like letting the tram driver at Universal Studios race a Formula One car, or vice versa. Big question mark there for me.

And I had forgotten that mega-producer Joel Silver and Mrs. Robert Downey Jr., producer Susan Downey (whose name is on both Rocknrolla and Sherlock Holmes) were already working with Ritchie on a couple movies before Sherlock that might even make less sense to you.Thankfully, Downey reminded us all what those projects were in a conversation with Coming Soon:

"Joel and I had done RocknRolla with Guy and he really wanted to get behind the camera again, which is how RocknRolla came about because prior to that, we had been developing these bigger, sort of tentpole event movies for Warner Bros. that he was wanting to do, but those take time, especially if you're going to do something that is a known title, whether it is Dirty Dozen or Sgt. Rock.

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Box Office - 'Musical' Takes 'Zack and Miri' to School

The Halloween weekend finally got on track at the box office, but for the new releases, it was too little too late. High School Musical won again, and was the comeback kid, recovering from a fifth-place finish on Friday to zoom to the top spot on Saturday, according to Box Office Mojo. The Disney flick has now earned over $60 million in ten days and might have one more really good week left.The big loser actually finished in second place: Zack and Miri Make a Porno only made about half of what it was expected to, so you could argue that it suffered the most from the industry-wide aberration on Friday in which the top five films combined for less than $10 million. The Kevin Smith comedy starring Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks will still make money, especially once it hits DVD, but there was a lot more marketing for this than we're used to seeing for a Kevin Smith movie, and the audience that didn't show up Friday also didn't make its presence felt on Saturday and Sunday. Even if had made another $6 million on Friday night, which seems like a stretch, Zack and Miri still wouldn't have hit its estimate of about $20 million.In the long run, we're looking at another sub-$40 million earner from Smith, which again, is perfectly fine. It's just not what they hoped for. Saw V finished in third place and Clint Eastwood's Changeling and The Haunting of Molly Hartley rounded out the top five. Guy Ritchie's Rocknrolla, which expanded to about 850 theaters, didn't do very well by any stretch of the imagination, and its per-screen average indicates that even where it's playing, it's not a must-see movie.The Top Five:1 - High School Musical ($15 million)
2 - Zack and Miri ($10.7 million)
3 - Saw V ($10.1 million)
4 - Changeling ($9.4 million)
5 - The Haunting of Molly Hartley ($6.7 million)

Movie Review - 'Rocknrolla'

Rocknrolla Starring Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, and Mark Strong Directed by Guy Ritchie Rated R

It has been a long time since Guy Ritchie made a film worth talking about, or at least, one worth talking about positively. His career began with a sonic boom: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. are two of the great crime comedies of their generation. But it was all downhill after that, with a tragic re-reading of Swept Away with his now-estranged wife, Madonna, which was until earlier this year, the worst film I'd seen as a critic. That was followed three years later by a confused flick called Revolver, which had more people in its cast than in its audience. Neither one of those films followed the director's tried and true formula, and whether or not the decision to return to what he knows best was conscious or not, RocknRolla is a return to form for Ritchie, in more ways than one. Yes, it’s a very cool movie, loaded with strange and hilarious characters. Ritchie’s writing has found its mark again and Rocknrolla definitely looks, sounds, and feels like one of his. The downside is that Rocknrolla looks, sounds, and feels just like both of his. It’s Snatch 2.0 or Lock, Stock III, with an assortment of dumb criminals being consumed by greed. There’s quick editing, quicker dialogue, and the quickest trigger fingers of the year.

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Gerard Butler Can Count To '300'...But Only Once

The Toronto Film Festival has begun, and that means big stars in huge press conferences. Among them is Gerard Butler, who was fielding questions about his new flick, the Guy Ritchie caper RocknRolla. Of course, he wasn't just answering questions about that film. Superhero Hype! asked if Butler has been updated on the rumors of a 300 follow-up. The talk is that the movie will get another chapter, although Zack Snyder hasn't specifically said whether it will be a prequel or a sequel. Both options have their merits, to be sure. Butler, however, doesn't seem to be making reservations for another night dining in hell. "I've heard some backroom chatter, but nothing more, so I don't know if it would be a sequel or a prequel," Butler responded. "I don't want say anymore than that, because I really don't know. I haven't read anything. I can't see it myself--sequel for me absolutely not, but I just mean the idea generally, I'm really not sure which way they would go with that." He sounds skeptical, and as a guy with his marquee appeal and ability, I can understand not wanting to be The Spartan Guy for another half decade of his career, which will arguably be the prime of his career. As he said, a sequel wouldn't work for him, although I think in terms of the story it's probably more interesting than a prequel - where do they go from that battle forward? Obviously, because 300 was such a success, it's naturally a prime target for the franchise tag, but with Zack Snyder's growing clout, he may be able to avoid a bad sequel (or prequel) if it's not coming together and move forward with other things.