2010 Razzie Nominations Revealed

With the 2010 Oscar Nominations only a day away, the annual Hollywood backlash that is the Razzie Awards announced their nominees today.  In case you didn't know, the Golden Raspberry Foundation's Razzies recognize the "worst" Hollywood had to offer this past year.  I put the word worst in quotes because it seems as these awards go on that they have shifted from poking fun at the truly terrible to the films and those in them that have the most stigma attached (hello Twilight saga).

Regardless, it's all good fun so hit the jump to check out this year's lucky nominees.

Click to read more ...

Horse Joke: 'Sex and the City' Put Out to Pasture

Good news: It looks like we won. Kristin Davis tells E! that we might have seen the last of Sex and the City. No word on whether or not Sarah Jessica Parker ordered another bag of oats to help her drown her sorrows.

The reason is money. Or at least that's it's reason that's on the surface. "I wish it was so that we were continuing but I don't know. We made [about] $300 million internationally," Davis said of the slightly disappointing box office number. "There was so much hype, not coming from us, but the media hyped it up and then they tore it down." I will definitely cop to that last part. I tore it down like a flophouse in a rezoned district. But then, I was never hyping it up because the first movie took full advantage of its captive audience and delivered a half-baked movie spin-off. So the writing was on the wall for the sequel as soon as they announced it. And we weren't wrong about it.

Click to read more ...

Fearless Forecast - 'Greek' Won't Topple 'Shrek'

I look for the sluggish summer to continue at the box office this week. If you read our recent article about the weak Memorial Day weekend returns, then this shouldn't come as a big shock to you. The numbers are down and unless there's something on the horizon between now and Twilight that exceeds expectations, this summer will probably one produce a handful of hits by the usual summer definition of the word.

Any prospective surprise is probably a week or two away - The A-Team, The Karate Kid, or Knight and Day later in the month - and Toy Story 3 was already going to do great business, so that's not really part of the equation. This week's crop only has the potential for one break-out, Get Him to the Greek, but I'm unconvinced that Russell Brand and Jonah Hill can carry a movie to great heights, financially speaking. True, The Hangover did it, but we don't get comedies like that very often. I've seen estimates around $20 million for Greek, but there are three reasons I'm shortening the reach on it a little bit. 1) What I mentioned above, namely that, as a pitch, it's not an out-of-the-box smash. 2) The box office in general is favoring established, safer movies at the moment. 3) It's Universal, and even if audiences aren't aware of the connection, for some reason, Universal can't even accidentally score a hit. The last time the studio made money was Fast and Furious 14 months ago.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - 'Sex and the City 2' Falling Fast

There will be a lot of Tuesday morning quarterbacking over the relative failure of Sex and the City 2. The Monday estimates, when added to the weekend numbers, only amount to $51 million and change. Remember, two years ago, this series had a $57 million three-day weekend, toppling Indiana Jones on its way to $150-something million. But that won't happen a second time.

Instead, the film has dropped behind Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, not just on Monday, where estimates indicate it trails the poorly performing video game movie by almost $2 million, but since Friday (by nearly a million bucks). The Thursday start was big - $14 million - but ever since, the sequel has lost its footing, and by the time next weekend is through, Sex 2 will probably be looking up at $80 million, about 20% less than its predecessor. Another bad sign is that the first Sex and the City fell off the rails in its second weekend, dropping nearly 63% to only earn $21 million in early June. If the sequel mirrors that performance relative to its earlier cooling trend, it might only make about $15 million next weekend, since so much of its current $51 million arrived on opening day.

Click to read more ...

Box Office - Shrek Screws Carrie Bradshaw

Because it didn't get off to a huge start, Sex and the City 2 didn't win the Memorial Day weekend, and actually, there's a really good chance that it won't even be the top movie when you roll Thursday's numbers into it. The sequel started out with $14 million on its early opening day, then added another $13 million on Friday, but as we mentioned in yesterday's update, that was likely to be the end of the good times for Sex and the City, which fell back to third place on Saturday and Sunday.

Now, looking at a five-day jaunt from Thursday to Monday, if Shrek Forever After can eclipse Sex by about $3 million on Memorial Day, it will not only win the holiday weekend, but the extended frame, too. The key is consistency, and while Sex has lost money every successive day, Shrek built on Thursday and Friday with a $17 million Saturday. Even its Sunday estimate - around $15 million - is pretty healthy, especially in comparison to what's around it. With the exception of Thursday - which counts, of course; it's just not an A/B comparison - Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time has played Sex and the City fairly even, too. It got beat on Friday, but won the battle on Saturday and Sunday, and based on its daily holds, ought to win Monday, as well. Still, it's on pace for maybe a $35 million weekend, which is not very good.

Click to read more ...