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25 Aug 2010 14:30

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Culture: Vanity Fair really thinks you should see “Scott Pilgrim” NOW

  • So, if the movies have been so bad—if, as we complain, there’s nothing good playing—why is a good movie having such a hard time finding an audience?
  • Vanity Fair writer John Lopez • Making an over-the-top plea for people to go see “Scott Pilgrim” in the theater. And he’s absolutely right. It’s a great movie that got the budget it deserved and a and it’s doing miserable at the box office. “Scott Pilgrim was a risk, a gamble, a leap of faith,” Lopez writes. “The sad-but-true fact is that studios and their corporate parents just don’t know how to do that, and when they do, you need to smack them upside the head with box-office success for them to understand the lesson.” source

15 Aug 2010 22:40

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Culture: “Expendables” success: When did Stallone last have a #1 hit?

  • $35 million, “The Expendables'” first weekend take source
  • 2003 the last time Stallone topped the box office, that time with (we kid you not) “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
  • 2001 the last Stallone starring role to top the box office, that time with the long-forgotten “Driven
  • » Other notes: First of all, “The Expendables” is the biggest opening in Sylvester Stallone’s long career, not counting for inflation; “Spy Kids 3-D” is easily the second-biggest. And despite his many movies and A-list status, only five of them have made more than $100 million, with “Rambo: First Blood Part II” being his biggest moneymaker. Oh yeah, remember “Cop Land,” that fat cop movie he did? That opened at No. 1, too.

07 Aug 2010 22:53

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Culture: Will Ferrell: Meet a guy really desperate for another hit

His last movie, the huge-budgeted “Land of the Lost,” got completely upstaged by “The Hangover.” So, he needs “The Other Guys” to kill it at the box office. source

01 Aug 2010 21:30

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Culture: “Inception” coasting its way into August atop box office

  • $27.5M the amount “Inception” made this weekend alone
  • three the number of new movies that tried to topple it this weekend
  • $193M the amount “Inception” has made in three weekends source

30 Jul 2010 12:58

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Culture: Disney sells Miramax to someone other than the Weinsteins

  • $660 million to the Weinsteins’ least favorite people source

24 Jul 2010 12:04

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Culture: The Yes Men say “Yes, man!” to Bittorrent distribution of their film

  • The Yes Men are being sued over this action, and see P2P as the best and only way this material will get seen. They’re calling for it to be copied as far and wide as possible …
  • A note from VODO • Regarding The Yes Men’s use of their Bittorrent distribution service to get their latest movie, “The Yes Men Fix the World,” out to the rest of the world. Why the need for Bittorrent? Because they pretended to be members of the Chamber of Commerce, as per their status as well-known culture jammers. And the lawsuit is creating legal headaches for them – which VODO will help them get around. source

23 Jul 2010 22:37

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Culture: “Machete” never meant to be immigration statement, but kinda is

  • It’s kind of funny because it’s not really what the movie is about, and I didn’t want people to think that it was. I just felt like I had to say something about it so I cut that trailer. There’s so much grandstanding and those of us who live near a border know how unsolvable the issue really is.
  • Director Robert Rodriguez • On how his upcoming “Machete,” which he premiered at Comic-Con, somehow ended up in the middle in the immigration debate. That’s because he cut a version of the self-described Mexploitation film’s trailer that tackled the immigration debate. The film, which has stacked its cast since the days of the original “Grindhouse” fake trailer, has drawn some political blowback for the trailer, but considering the attention it’s drawn, it only makes us want to see the Danny Trejo career summation even more. source
 

22 Jul 2010 10:53

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Culture: Disney: We need good ideas, so let borrow some from Pixar

  • If you want to get good ideas, why not talk to the Brain Trust?
  • Disney President of Production Sean Bailey • Regarding the company’s increasing desire to work with Pixar on their own projects. Most recently, Disney brought Jason Segel and the rest of the cast of the upcoming Muppet movie reboot to Pixar headquarters for a table read. Disney also did something similar with “Tron: Legacy” a few months ago. Our question: Why didn’t they do this like twelve years ago, when it was already blindingly clear that Pixar had better ideas than Disney? (On a side note: A live-action Muppets reboot starring Jason Segel sounds like the smartest idea Disney has had in years.) source

16 Jul 2010 11:22

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Culture: “The Social Network” trailer (in full this time) is looking pretty rad

  • It makes Harvard feel like a country club. We were hoping that this project would be pretty awesome, and the trailer thus far is suggesting that it might in fact live up to the hype. Our fingers are crossed. Don’t screw this up, Fincher and Sorkin!

01 Jul 2010 10:43

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Culture: “Eclipse” eclipsed the last “Twilight” movie’s midnight showings

  • $30 million in early box office for the latest vampire tale source