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Entries in Wachowski (8)

Plastic Man? Really?

plasticman.jpgOne day, we're going to get around to writing this long article about what comic book characters should and should not be adapted into movies. Clearly, The Incredible Hulk isn't everybody's favorite; both films have been outperformed by Fantastic Four movies. On the flip side, Iron Man was a huge hit, and you would think the bigger the comic book star would also be the bigger the movie star, so Hulk should do better. Not the case.

Why?

That's a really good question. We can't say it's star power, because Tobey Maguire and Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman aren't bigger stars than Edward Norton, at least, not clearly bigger stars. It isn't as if they've cast Tom Hanks in one of these movies yet. The Hulk should appeal to audiences because of its tortured character, so one of the only rational explanations I can come up with is they think the effects look cheesy. There's no other explanation for why the new Hulk movie is struggling so much while Iron Man does nearly three times the business. Beyond that, they probably felt duped by the first Hulk film and weren't ready to dip their toe in the water again so soon.

But what if Hulk is just wrong for movies? What if, because the effects are so unrealistic, people just don't buy it? I think that could be a problem down the road for movies like Thor and Ant-Man, and if this latest rumor is true, there's no question that people would have a hard time accepting the effects.

CHUD, which it should be noted is skeptical about this bit of information, says that Keanu Reeves and the Wachowski Brothers will team up to make Plastic Man. A reader e-mailed Devin Faraci at CHUD saying that Joel Silver was on a German radio station talking about the upcoming Ninja Assassin, and he announced that Plastic Man was a go.

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Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 09:58AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , | Comments11 Comments

Box Office - 'Iron Man' Earns $50 Million More

Adhering to conventional wisdom, Iron Man repeated as the number one film in the country this weekend, adding a cool $50 million to its stack of money, according to estimates published at Box Office Mojo. The big weekend puts Iron Man less than a week away from $200 million, and makes it the top grossing film of 2008, a title that probably won't last but another month.

What about Speed Racer? We chronicled its Friday doldrums, but the high-speed Wachowski movie rebounded nicely on Saturday and Sunday, at least by its own standard. It still didn't make anywhere near what Warner Bros. would be comfortable with, but it only lost 10% of its audience Saturday to Sunday, where most films will see at least a 20% dropoff on day three. The still-sluggish Speed Racer did manage a second place finish, overcoming What Happens in Vegas... with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

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Posted on Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 11:32AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , , | Comments4 Comments

Box Office - 'Speed Racer' Stalls

Speed Racer, which earlier in the week was reported to be projecting soft, is playing even softer. Based on Friday's estimates from Box Office Mojo, the second big summer movie won't finish in first place this weekend...or second place.

The new Wachowski Brothers adaptation of the cult cartoon classic opened the weekend in third place, nowhere near Iron Man and a full million bucks behind What Happens in Vegas. You can't predict the future based on one day, certainly (hell, even Spider-Man 3 underperformed its own projections after shattering previous records on opening day), but it does not look good for the $100 million flick. Failing to even hit $6 million in ticket sales on Friday, Speed Racer will most likely finish the weekend around $20 million.

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Posted on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at 02:45PM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , , | Comments1 Comment

Watch the First Seven Minutes of 'Speed Racer'

Perhaps you're on the fence vis a vis this whole Speed Racer business. Oh, I get it. I was a fan of the idea to remake the Japanese 'toon, but over time, my excitement was replaced with thoughts like, "The Wachoswkis are making a kid's movie?" and "Isn't there, like, a monkey to be accounted for?"

So I'm with you if you're a little hesitant. Perhaps, however, the first seven minutes of the movie might help sway you. Enjoy the crazy (and exceptionally crafted) opening of this weekend's big movie:

Look at it this way: I either saved you ten bucks or confirmed what you already wanted to know. You don't get that offer everyday.

Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008 at 09:31AM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , | CommentsPost a Comment

Will 'Speed Racer' Idle?

speedracer4.jpgThree or four months ago, I think the consensus was that Speed Racer would probably be a substantial hit. Maybe it wouldn't finish in the top five at the box office for 2008, but it is a big summer flick opening mostly unopposed (come on, What Happens in Vegas...?), so the hopes had to be that Speed would race easily to a number one position on its opening weekend.

Now, however, The Hollywood Reporter says the family-friendly Wachowski film, scheduled for release in 3,600 theaters, "has been tracking unimpressively in prerelease surveys." What's that mean? Well, according to The Reporter, it means that Iron Man can probably repeat as the number one film in the land if it gets to about half of this past weekend's gross, or somewhere in the $50 million range.

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Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008 at 08:10PM by Registered CommenterColin Boyd in , , , | CommentsPost a Comment
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