1. "The Final Destination" ($10.925 million)
2. "Halloween II" ($7.625 million)
3. "Inglourious Basterds" ($5.9 million)
4. "District 9" ($3 million)
5. "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" ($2.3 million)
Over the past few weeks, the box office has been filled with shoot-'em-ups and all out war; this weekend introduces the gore with "The Final Destination" and "Halloween II," two movies that continue (and potentially finish, if you believe the premise of the former) their respective horror franchises. While the villain of the "Final Destination" series is less tangible than the hulking Michael Myers in the Rob Zombie-directed sequel, "Destination" is nonetheless the place to be in terms of the box office. The death-filled thriller enjoyed a Friday debut of $10.925 million and is looking at a weekend intake of $26 million. "Halloween II," on the other hand, only opened to $7.625 million on Friday and is expected to make $17 million by the weekend's conclusion. Read more...
Lots of movies vying for your attention this week, so let's get right to it. The big release of course is Rob Zombie's "Halloween II," a follow-up to his 2007 remake which continues the story in the rebooted universe. I'll be straight with you readers: Zombie scares the crap out of me. I wore out my White Zombie CDs back in high school and I loved his contribution to the movie "Beavis & Butthead Do America," but Zombie's particular vision what is scary falls right in line line with the worst of my nightmares.
Also new in horror this week is the third "Final Destination" movie, titled "The Final Destination," which I presume means it will be the last in the series. Until the inevitable reboot, of course. The flick comes to two flavors: regular and 3-D. For those who have no experience with the series, it's sort of a prototypical "Saw": a small group of people escape certain death after one has a premonition. The survivors then die one by one, in a series of increasingly elaborate set pieces. Good times. Read more...
Kubrick. Spielberg. Wilder. Ang Lee?
In my opinion, the greatest directors are the ones that always keep their fans guessing as they move effortlessly from genre to genre. It already boggles the mind to think that the same director oversaw “Sense and Sensibility,” “Hulk,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Brokeback Mountain,” so it’s even more impressive when you think about the fact that Ang Lee’s next flick is about Woodstock. And I have only one thing to say: Jake Gyllenhaal would make the perfect Wavy Gravy.
“Demetri Martin is the main character,” Lee’s longtime writing/producing partner James Schamus clarified, explaining the real breakout actor in the movie. “This is his ‘Hello world, this is Demetri Martin [moment].'”
In addition to the quirky, boy-faced comedian, the film also co-stars such heavy hitters as Paul Dano, Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton and MTV Movies team fave Dan Fogler. “It’s not the story of Woodstock,” Schamus said of the flick, which is currently being called “Taking Woodstock” as it’s being filmed. “It’s the story of a guy who happened to almost, by accident, help make it happen. Demetri plays this schnooky interior designer, a gay guy, who lives in Greenwich Village.” Read more...
