Last-ever Heath Ledger movie’s distribution woes

It’s safe to say that, after “The Dark Knight’s” ridiculous month-long run, $460 million draw, that Heath Ledger’s passing and the subsequent buzz about this amazing performance as The Joker was one of the major reasons the general public clamored over this movie so much, especially in its first record-setting weekend. Terry Gilliam, the director of such quirky films as “Brazil,” “Twelve Monkeys” and “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” attacked Warner Brothers for taking advantage of Ledger’s death during the marketing and viral campaigns — a stance that I adamantly disagree with.

Well, distribution companies around the U.S. are trying to figure out how they can use Ledger’s involvement in Gilliam’s newest flick, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” to their advantage in much the same way that Gilliam accused “The Dark Knight” of doing. But Hollywood execs are grappling with one dilemma — no, not the moral dilemma of using Ledger’s death to their advantage. The dilemma of having Ledger’s very bankable name attached to a Gilliam film, a steadfastly un-bankable director.

Gilliam hasn’t seen any financial success since 1995, when his time traveling sci-fi  adventure, “Twelve Monkeys” played well despite its odd storyline. Studio execs know this, and they are iffy about picking up a Gilliam film to distribute — especially one that comes with a $20 million production receipt — even if they have the option to use Ledger’s last performance as a viable marketing tool. This coming from The Hollywood Reporter:

“In this market, unless I have a reason to think a movie like this is going to be a slam dunk I’m not going to take a flyer on it, even with Heath Ledger,” one distribution executive said. One specialty exec added few execs at his company had been tracking it.”

Right now, several companies have yet to even see clips from the film, let alone consider distributing it. But Lionsgate, the company responsible for international distribution, is seriously considering picking it up in the U.S. as well.

Even with Gilliam at the helm and the weird plot about “parallel worlds, a theater troupe and a devil-dealing 1,000-year-old doctor,” I think this movie has a lot of marketing potential. Not only do they have Ledger’s last-ever acting performance, but in the wake of his death, three hugely popular actors, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, stepped up to fill in the scenes he had yet to shoot after a rewrite to allow the character to shape-shift.

Someone will eventually take a chance on this off-the-wall movie, and I’d be willing to bet that that company will not regret the decision. If they market it tastefully and correctly, people will go to see Ledger and the performances of the three actors that replaced him. But, even facing these marketing opportunities, industry wizards will continue to be skeptical of Gilliam — but all it takes is one comapany to bite:

Said one longtime distribution guru: “For all the elements in this film, it is a Terry Gilliam picture, and as much as you want a movie of his to be good, you have to be careful.”

The Dark Knight finally falls from box office top spot

“The Dark Knight”  finally loosened its iron fist on the domestic box office this weekend. After crushing all opening weekend, the subsequently beating “Step Brothers,” “The Mummy 3″ and “Pineapple Express” in their respective opening weekends, the latest and hands-down greatest bat-flick has finally slowed its ridiculous money grabbing — well, slowed it to the tune of a $16.8 million haul, a good total box office draw for some smaller flicks.

But alas, “Tropic Thunder,” the second R-rated, action-based comedy to draw well at the box office in as many weeks, picked up another $26 million this weekend after opening on Wednesday to finally strip “The Dark Knight” of that No. 1 spot. “Thunder” has taken in $37 million in its five days so far. It’s a great draw for not only an R-rated comedy (which generally don’t do well in theaters), but one that faced boycotts and protests from pretty much every special needs awareness groups in America. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I haven’t heard anything but good things. To be honest, I’m really glad “The Dark Knight” fell to a — from the sound of things — good movie as opposed to “Mummy 3″ or “Step Brothers” or, God forbid, “The Rocker” next weekend.

Christoper Nolan’s epic crime drama with spandex didn’t go away empty handed, though. It toppled the original “Star Wars” to take the No. 2 spot on best domestic box office draw ever. Pretty good deal when it’s only been out a month.

Sex Drive red band trailer is freaking hilarious

It’s not everyday that a movie trailer actually makes my laugh out loud. And I definitely didn’t think today would be one of those days when I read that the red-band to a movie called “Sex Drive” had hit the interwebs. I hadn’t heard of the movie up until that point, and everything about the title screams bad teenage sex romp. But I was more than pleasantly surprised by the sneak peak. Enough of my talking it up. Just watch below:

Clark Duke, who plays that goofy sidekick in “Sex Drive,” totally steals the spotlight for the entire 30 seconds or so of screen time he gets. Duke is quickly becoming one of my favorite young comedic actors in Hollywood. I first saw him in “Clark and Michael,” and by the end of the 10-webisode season, I like him and his fiction Clark character than Michael Cera and his awkward antics.

His delivery is so spot-on, and I would be lying if I said one of the main reasons I am now pumped to see “Sex Drive” is so that I can see if Duke is up for carrying his first major movie role (he was in “Superbad” for all of five seconds, and he hasn’t been in any other flicks to my knowledge).

The Amish scene is hilarious — I love Amish humor, because let’s face it: they’re never going to know (Get it? The joke being that there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that an Amish person ever sees “Sex Drive,” what with the no technology rule n’ shit).

The jock older brother is hilarious. I thought one of the best lines in the whole trailer was “You ever watch Dateline? It’s probably a guy!” And then of course, there’s the donut mascot. I, for one, find mascots (especially ridiculous ones, like huge donuts with real-working mouths) to be hilarious. This is one of the best comedy trailers I’ve seen in a while, and I really hope the movie lives up to it. There’s definitely a lot of potential for hilarity here.

“Sex Drive” comes to a theater near you Oct. 10, 2008.

Anchorman in Space?

For better or worse, it looks like the ball of “Anchorman 2″ has really started to roll. I remember a time when Will Ferrell said sequels weren’t his thing, but I guess when you’ve pumped out a couple of subpar movies the last couple tries, going back to the well that put you on the map sounds pretty good. I think “Anchorman” was really great for what it was — an absolutely ridiculous movie about and absolutely ridiculous person. But since Ferrell has beaten that format to death on several occasions since then, I’m very interested to see whether or not he and the rest of the “Anchorman” crew can find a way to make the sequel as fresh, quirky and hilarious as the first mustachioed flick.

But the latest news from “Anchorman 2″ doesn’t exactly sounds, uhh, promising. This coming from MTV:

“Last I heard they were starting to write it and they were thinking about setting it in the eighties,” Rudd said. “[But] I know when we were shooting it [director] Adam [McKay] said if they ever did something it would have to be really weird like we were on the moon or something. I think it has to go even further if it was to work.”

“I don’t know if it’s a throwaway comment Adam McKay had made at some premiere or something. I think [he’s]’s interested in the idea. I think Will [Ferrell] is too,” Rudd told MTV News. “Certainly it was so fun to make that if they were to do another one I think we’d all be really interested in it.”

Space? Really? Part of the fun of “Anchorman” was the throwback feel of it. The clothes, the furniture, the cars, the mustaches, the technology, the phrases (“I believe it’s pronounced ‘yawgging,’ with a soft ‘J’) — everything about it was so retro. That’s what made it funny. To forget that and put the characters in a completely unfeasible situation — you know, like space, for example — would be moving beyond the ridiculous and into the absurd, and I don’t think that would be a good step for this film to take. Putting the movie in space is the equivalent of forgetting everything that made the first film so funny.

I like the idea of bringing these characters ahead a decade in the reboot. Show them in the styles and whatnot of the ’80s. That could be just as funny, and probably even more ridiculous (Can you imagine Brian Fanatana with a Flock of Seagulls haircut?). But I doubt they’ll go with this minimalist approach. The first one was so popular, and it sounds like Adam Mackay feels like he needs to top it by turning in the most ridiculous script possible.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved back to July

So, it looks like that teaser for the upcoming sixth installment of the “Harry Potter” movie that was attached to “The Dark Knight” came a little earlier than anyone thought. According to a report over at Variety, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” originally slated for a Nov. 21, 2008 release, has been pushed back all the way to July 17, 2009. This will obviously piss off a lot of Harry Potter fans, young and old, because they’ll have to wait another nine months for their latest HP fix, but here’s the part that will really make people mad — the move has nothing to do with the film’s production, filming, editing or anything like that.

It’s squarely to do with economics.

The move comes as Warner Bros. is looking for ways to beef up its summer schedule, which had been light on major tentpoles – a result attributed mostly to the writers strike, which kept the studio from developing big-budget pics.

A studio exec. had this to say:

“Like every other studio, we are still feeling the repercussions of the writers strike, which impacted the readiness of scripts for other films – changing the competitive landscape for 2009 and offering new windows of opportunity that we wanted to take advantage of,” said Alan Horn, prexy and chief operating officer of Warner Bros.

So, because Warner Bros. has to scramble to put together a solid summer 2009 schedule (even though there’s no way they can top their summer ‘08 schedule, which was dominated by “The Dark Knight”), we, the ticket-paying general public who was promised a new “Harry Potter” flick in November, has to sit and twiddle our collective thumb for nine freakin’ months until this thing is finally released. You gotta be joking me.

But here’s the thing — no matter how excited you might be to see the newest H.P., there’s no way you’re as pissed off about the move as the editors over at Entertainment Weekly. Trust me, they’re livid right about now:

The last-minute move comes as Daniel Radcliffe appears this week on the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s fall movie preview.

…Ouch. That’s, like, the worst timing ever. And it’s not like Entertainment Weekly just threw a 50-word blurb about the newest “Harry Potter” into the fall movie preview — they put all their eggs in the HP basic, placing Danny Radcliffe on the cover. That really sucks.

Alas, there is some good news about the franchise. According to the Variety article, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which will be broken up into two movies, will keep its two original release dates, even after the sixth picture is pushed back. Those films will be released Fall 2010 and Summer 2011, respectively.

There will be no bitch-ass sidekick in Evil Dead 4

Douche

So, there’s been a pretty awful trend in Hollywood these days — bringing back 20-year-old movie franchises and giving the lead protagonist a shitty, young, marketable sidekicks. That douchebag with the very douchebagish haircut, Mutt Williams, in “Indiana Jones 4,” that little asshole they threw in “Live Free or Die Hard.”

Long story short, I think the trend is ridiculous. If they want to bring back an action-adventure franchise that has been dormant for as long as “Indiana Jones,” then the writers should at least be held to a higher creative standard than solving Harrison Ford’s age-induced limitations by regurgitating every angst-ridden-teen stereotype into a stale, forgettable character like Shia Lebouf’s Mutt friggin’ Williams.

Well, I think that officially constitutes as a rant on my part, so the following news is music to my ears — Bruce Campbell recently debunked any talk that Sam Raimi would add a crappy little idiot to the upcoming fourth installment of the “Evil Dead” series in an interview with the MTV Movie Blog:

“I think the audience would be insulted if you did, because then you feel this obvious pressure to appeal,” he said. “The beauty of the ‘Evil Dead’ movies is that you’re only appealing to one demographic and that’s people who like horror movies. And you just have to please them. You don’t have to appeal to the studio. You’re already pleasing them by giving them part 4.”

I can’t say it better myself — Campbell knows the basis of the “Evil Dead” series. It’s not supposed to appeal to a wide, bankable audience. It’s for those select movie fans who love the horror genre, a shout-out to those who love glood, guts, mayhem and the terror of the undead.

It’s a great sign that “Evil Dead 4″ will stick to its roots and not fall in line with the rest of the recycled crap coming out of Hollywood. Hopefully that will translate to another “Evil Dead” film with the quirky, outside-the-box humor and grotesque horror scenes of the first three (well, more the first two, for you true “Evil Dead” enthusiasts out there). I was a little skeptical when I heard about this, because I was worried that the “Spider-Man” franchise would have negatively effected Sam Raimi’s ability to create another “Evil Dead” in the original’s anti-Hollywood likeness. But, this is good news.

Of course, after 16 years of not playing the ass-kicking, chainsaw-wielding Ash, Campbell will have inevitable difficulties during the shoot, especially considering his age. It won’t be as easy for him to throw around that chainsaw or to drop kick some deadite into submission, but he knows that. He addressed the problem in the MTV interview, too:

“Sam (Raimi) gets to hide behind the camera. I can’t. But I think he’s planning on factoring that in,” Campbell revealed. “As like a major factor. It’d be a major liability, you know Ash runs out of breath or his back goes out and [stuff] like that. I mean I just blew my hamstring fighting a stunt guy for ‘Burn Notice,’ the show that I’m doing now. So there’s a little bit of truth to all of that!”

I’m excited for this movie. I like all the news I’m hearing from it so far. As long as Bruce Campbell brings his badassery and witty one-liners and Raimi brings the gore and quirky camera work, we’re in for another great flick.

The Dark Knight dvd update: BatPod gift set

By now, every Batman enthusiast has heard that the suits at Warner Brothers Studios are pushing for a holiday-season release of the highly anticipated “The Dark Knight” dvd. The quickly approaching release date is the main reason why internet wizards and box office pundits are saying the film won’t topple “Star Wars” as the highest box office draw ever (over $600 million).

Honestly, I could care less whether or not it beats “Star Wars.” Being a huge fan of the movie, I love to see it smash all these records and whatnot, but this is a sign of the times — we want the DVD as quickly as possible (including me. I want to be able to see it everyday, if I feel like it), and there’s not reason that the flick should stay in theaters for 44 months, like “Star Wars” did

Well, let the speclation begin. Over at slashfilm, they have pictures of, what looks like, mockups for the various forms in which the DVD will be release, including some pretty sweet gift set ideas which involved the crowd-favorite BatPod and a BatMask. Of course, we have to be skeptical, with every teenager with a bad case of acne and nothing to do on a Saturday night stirring up crazy internet rumors with a few hours spent on Photoshop, but if these are real, they’re pretty freakin’ cool. Check ‘em out below.

First things first, here’s the coolest one. The one that garnered the post’s title, the BatPod gift set:

And now the inside specs, which reveal that the two discs are, very creatively, hidden in the stand of the BatPod figurine:

Yes, this display is incredibly geeky, but I like the idea behind it. When I went to the midnight showing, one of the loudest cheers mid-movie came when Batman rocketed out of the broken tumbler, first introducing the audience to the odd-looking BatPod. No one expected it, and everyone loved it, so it makes sense that Warner Bros. would try to capitalize on the popularity of this suped-up motorcycle.

Next up is a much lamer gift set, with a small BatMask included:

It looks as though the mask is about the size of a DVD case, and, with no stand or anything like that visible, it leaves the question of how to display this open. I can only see the most diehard Batman fans going for this useless piece of memorabilia, where I can see many casual fans and those who just like “The Dark Knight” being much more apt to pick up the BatPod set.

And finally, we have the regular releases, including a two-disc set, a two-disc set in a “limited Steelbook case,” and a blu-ray release:

I’ll most likely pick up the regular two-disc set. I don’t have blu-ray yet, leaving that option out, and I don’t have much need for a geeked-out gift set. Although — and I hope I don’t sound like a total nerd — that BatPod set is pretty badass. I really like the design on it, and if it’s a real option, I’ll have some serious thinking to do: should I just go regular dvd, or totally nerd myself out and get the collector’s edition toy? Hmmm, decisions, decision.

Here’s my only beef with these mockups — The Joker is, far and away, the highlight of the movie, both in Heath Ledger’s execution and the viewers’ eyes. I would love to see a gift set that highlights him, in some way. It would be much harder to do, seeing as how he doesn’t really have any cool gadgets like the BatPod, but I’m sure the Warner Bros bigwigs could figure something out. And there’s no doubt in my mind that a Joker gift set would get eaten up by the hardcore “The Dark Knight” enthusiasts and the general public alike. I would be really surprised if there’s nothing like that offered by the time the DVD is released.

Watchmen update: Rorschach unmasked!

Let me take you through a brief timeline of my history with Zack Snyder’s adaptation of “Watchmen,” one of the most critically acclaimed comic books of all time:

• I hear all sorts of excitement once news breaks that a “Watchmen” trailer is attached to “The Dark Knight.” I have no idea what all the hype is about, because I’ve never heard of it in my life. I don’t like comic books, thus “Watchmen” has never been on To Read list.
• I see “The Dark Knight.” The “WTF, Mate?” factor is high, but even though I have no idea what’s going on in the “Watchmen” trailer, the visuals mixed with that haunting Smashing Pumpkins song make me look up the book as soon as I get over how awesome “The Dark Knight” was.
• Upon further inspection, I figure “Watchmen” might be worthy of reading, if for no other reason than I’ll be able to keep up with the huge amounts of internet buzz around the movie now that the trailer’s out. And since I’ve decided to spend my free time pretending to be an Internet Wizard in the world of cinema, I figure that might be a good idea.
• I go to Barnes and Noble. The book is sold out.
• I go to Border’s. Sold out.
• I go to another Border’s. They have some ordered, so the dude behind the counter puts my name on the waiting list. I guess I’m not the only one that was intrigued after the trailer.
• I finally get my copy, and even though I’m skeptical because I just don’t really like comic books, “Watchmen” is unbelievable.
• All of a sudden, I’m super excited for the movie.

I feel like a lot of people had this same series of events happened to them — they hadn’t heard of “Watchmen” until “The Dark Knight,” but after reading the book, they get what all the hype is about. They get why people are calling this “The ‘Citizen Kane’ of comic book movies.

And now, that I’m fully excited for “Watchmen,” I’m fully excited to see that Snyder’s Rorschach is true to the original source material. I think it’s important to the story that, once Rorschach is unmasked, that the viewer has this revelation that he’s not a super hero — he’s just some normal, albeit ugly, dude who smells funky.

For comparison, I’ll show you comic book Rorschach/Walter Kovacs first:

And, here’s the movie version of the character:

This should just reassure any “Watchmen” fan that Zack Snyder is really sticking to his promise that the flick will follow the source material as closely as possible. From the frame-by-frame comparisons of book to flick that hit the web after the trailer dropped, to this picture of Jackie Earle Haley (who happens to be bald in real life) in makeup as Walter Kovacs, everything that has leaked from “Watchmen” so far has screamed authenticity and a massive amount of respect for the comic book.

Good stuff.

Robert Downey Jr: “Fuck D.C. Comics”

Do you remember a time when the only people that cared about the never-ending battle of comic book supremacy between Marvel and D.C. were portly virgins in under-sized “Star Trek” t-shirts, spouting most of their arguments during the fourth hour of a highly competitive Dungeons and Dragons game or on an online forum from the basement of his parents house?

Yeah, those were better times.

But this might be funnier. At least it’s a little bit less sad. Robert Downey Jr., star of Marvel’s biggest summer 2008 blockbuster “Iron Man” recently thrashed not only D.C. comics, but also the arguably biggest comic book movie ever made, “The Dark Knight.” Maybe it’s jealousy because the Gotham’s Caped Crusader completely stole the spotlight from “Iron Man,” which, back in May, set the bar pretty high for this summer’s comic book movies. Maybe he’s just trying to stir up some talk about “Iron Man,” because it’s never too soon to get the hype started about the sequel. Or maybe he really just didn’t understand it (Via Moviehole):

“My whole thing is that that I saw ‘The Dark Knight’. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved ‘The Prestige’ but didn’t understand ‘The Dark Knight’. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so fucking smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? Fuck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”

So, you’re telling me Downey Jr. is out of consideration for any D.C. upcoming gigs?

I would love for this to start a everyone-takes-sides Hollywood comic-off, where all of the industry’s big shots put in their two cents. I think it would be hilarious and equally idiotic if Christian Bale fires back, Edward Norton throws down some ugly words, Tobey Maguire gets really nasty — is it just me or would it be, like, the greatest thing ever if all these guys really, really took Downey Jr.’s words personally?

Fingers crossed.

New Religulous clip

For those of you who have yet to hear about Bill Maher’s “Religuous,” think “Borat” sans Sacha Baron Cohen, naked dudes and made-up characters, but add a super-controversial topic and a lot of pissed off Bible Belters. In this pseudo-documentary — some scenes are stages and interviews are directed in such a way that he gets the results he wants — Maher takes on all sects of organized religion, which is bound to stir up a lot of crazed debates, and, if past films that have been critical of organized religion are any indication, maybe some death threats.

I may be the only person in America that hated “Borat,” but even though “Religulous” has the same director as that terrible flick, I’m still excited to see it  — I really think the topic is interesting and a necessity in today’s America, where more and more people seem to shy away from an open forum on the strengths and weaknesses of organized religion. So, the fact that a feel like this that will get people talking is something this country sorely needs and Bill Maher’s dry wit should make this a worthy watch. If it ends up being stupid, I’ll blame this guerilla-style pseudo-documentary that “Borat” made popular.

Watch the clip below. This film is going to turn a lot of Evangelical heads: