Weekend Box Office #84

So I'm still in my combination of being swamped with work/spring funk.

I did finish a polish of my thriller this week, so there's that. Next week I'm determined to get back to the screenwriting-an-hour-a-day thing. Alogn with everything else I have to do.

Otherwise, if anyone has any topics of conversation for future blog entries, feel free to bring them up.

This weekend there's just one movie opening wide:

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN (3929 theaters). It's getting good reviews, and there's not much competition until INDY opens next week. Let's call it a whopping $79 million, but I'm probably low.

Weekend Box Office #83

So I feel badly about ignoring this blog so much, but I'm still getting slammed with work, and I'm struggling with juggling everything.

Unfortunately, what's really suffering is my writing -- where it was once an hour-a-day thing, now I haven't written a word in over three weeks. Ugh. I've got writing stuff that needs to be done, too.

I don't feel like myself these days.

The good news (I guess) is that I'm not going to be tempted to see any of this weekend's releases:

SPEED RACER (3606 theaters). I didn't have high hopes for this, and the LA Times review today put a stake in this movie for me, with their comment "Vast swaths of dialogue take the place of dramatic action in which things happen, once called scenes". In other words, it's just like the last Matrix movie. Feh. This will make some money this weekend, but I don't see it being huge huge. $34.6 million.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS (3215 theaters). I've seen the commercials, and I feel like I've seen the whole movie, and I want my money back already. $13.7 million.

REDBELT (expanding from 6 to 1301 theaters). There's just not anything here that really grabs me. $4.4 million.

Weekend Box Office #82

So last night I'm reading a mediocre writing sample that was made into a dumb dance movie, and I put it down to take a break and watch the end of Survivor, to see who got stabbed in the back this week.

I turn on the TV, which is on whatever channel why wife had been watching last (Encore?) and what is on? The exact same dumb dance movie, which I'm then able to watch chunks of, and marvel at how much they changed from the script I'm reading for the better and for the worse.

If a coincidence like that happened in a movie, we'd boo at the screen.

IRON MAN (4105 theaters). The game this week is really guess how much money this movie will make this weekend, because there's really not much else out there. I'm going to take a wild stab and say $62.3 million. Closest gets bragging rights; deadline midnight tonight.

MADE OF HONOR (2729 theaters). Basically My Best Friend's Wedding with a sex change, and I feel like I've seen the movie from the commercials. $9.6 million.

The 22 Most Interesting Movies of the Next 4 Months

Not necessarily good, mind you, just interesting. On my radar.

IRON MAN (May 2). They've cast the hell out of it with Oscar nominees, but word is that it's a little uneven. A "maybe".

SON OF RAMBOW (May 2). This is supposed to be funny, and moves that rise out of the festival circuit to get decent releases are usually pretty solid.

SPEED RACER (May 9). On this list because it'll probably be huge, but the commercials make it look like a video game for hyperactive 9-year-olds, so unless it gets great reviews I'm gonna skip it.

WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS (May 9). Oh, hell no.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN (May 16). I read the books as a kid, and liked the first movie well enough, so I might check this out if the reviews are solid enough.

INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (May 22). Hell yeah. Though I'm not enough of a geek to actually wait on long opening-weekend lines to see it; I hate lines.

SEX AND THE CITY (May 30). I watched a couple of episodes when it first come on, and then tuned out. Ladies, you're on your own.

THE FOOT FIST WAY (May 30). A weird little low-budget movie, but the buzz is good.

THE INCREDIBLE HULK (June 13). They are trying to reboot after messing up the first one, and Ed Norton's presence should be interesting. Another movie that is going to depend on the reviews and word-of-mouth for me, though.

THE HAPPENING (June 13). Hopefully this is the movie in which M. Night reverses his downward trend. It's hard to see how it can be any worse than LADY IN THE WATER.

GET SMART (June 20). I like Steve Carell, so I'll see it, unless word comes that they screwed it up.

WALL-E (June 27). It's Pixar, so I'll see it.

HANCOCK (July 2). The screenplay (originally called "Tonight, He Comes") was supposed to be great, while Will Smith has taken few missteps. One of the more likely films I'll check out.

THE WACKNESS (July 3). Though I've never smoked pot, I can enjoy a good funny pot movie.

JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH 3D (July 11). Because it's the next generation of 3D technology. And it'll be the first time that Brendan Fraser was ever three-dimensional in anything.

HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY (July 11). Interesting because Guillermo Del Toro is directing it.

THE DARK KNIGHT (July 18). It's a shame that Heath Ledger's death is going to cast such a pall over this film, which no one will be able to watch the same way.

THE X-FILES: I WANT TO BELIEVE (July 25). Apparently it's a stand-alone movie that isn't going to deal with all of the weird ongoing stuff that the first movie tried to wrestle with. Which is good.

CHOKE (August 1). Sam Rockwell starring in a script based on a Chuck Palahniuk novel.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS (August 8). Because it looks funny, and because Seth Rogen hasn't done me wrong yet.

TROPIC THUNDER (August 15). This is supposed to be good dumb fun, and with a cast including Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Tom Cruise in a fat suit, there's certainly potential.

HAMLET 2 (August 22). Another apparently-very-funny movie that has sprung from the festivals.

Notes From The Swamp, and Weekend Box Office #81

This is the longest I've ever gone without posting. I've just been beyond-swamped with work this week, and certain areas suffer because of that.

Not that I'm complaining, because I need the money.

Still, hopefully in the next few days I'll put up a nice big post about the summer movies coming out.

Until then, new releases:

BABY MAMA (2543 theaters). Early reviews for this have been good, while they've done a smart thing by having a bunch of different trailers with a bunch of different jokes, leaving the impression that there's a big well of funniness to draw from. Will lose a lot of young males to HAROLD AND KUMAR, but should do a solid $14.6 million.

HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUATANAMO BAY (2510 theaters). I think the plot was a major misstep here; I think any other storyline would have drawn a bigger audience than tossing them into Guatanamo Bay, which isn't inherently funny. At all. Still, it'll do okay. $12.7 million.

DECEPTION (2001 theaters). Generic title, no real story hook, and a cast (Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams) that doesn't have much drawing power isn't going to add up to much of an audience. $3.9 million.

Weekend Box Office #80

Another weekend, another bunch of stuff that'll be on DVD in a few months anyway.

THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM (3151 theaters). I guess this is a serious film, though every time I see the commercial, for some reason it seems like it is about to spin into a comedy but doesn't. Jackie Chan and Jet Li both have a lot of fans, so maybe this will make a little something. $11.7 million.

FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL (2798 theaters). The reviews I've seen have all been pretty good, so this might click. $15.2 million.

88 MINUTES (2168 theaters). The hook is interesting, but this has been on the shelf for a while, and apparently has already been released on DVD overseas for almost a year. And word is that it isn't good Pacino. It'll be interesting to see if Pacino's name is enough to bring people in; he's made a lot of crap over the last 5 years, though the upcoming thing with DeNiro looks interesting. $7.7 million.

EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED (1052 theaters). This is a Ben Stein documentary about how intelligent design theories are being crushed by those nasty science people. It's not supposed to be vary good, though it may play well in the middle of the country. $2.8 million.

This Blog Post Is Rated R For Graphic Nudity

So I watched WALK HARD the other night, which was funny in spots, but should've been a lot funnier. What really intrigued me going in, though, was the fact that it was partly rated R for its "graphic nudity".

Even as a married man, the promise of "graphic nudity" in a Hollywood film just sounds fun.

Unfortunately, what should have occurred to me is that actual female nudity is no longer considered "graphic", unless they are doing something that they never do in Hollywood movies.

No, in today's world, beware (or be intrigued, depending on your predilictions), "graphic nudity" pretty much just means one thing:

Penis.

Not even strong, erect penis. Just penis.

I was amused the next day (yesterday) to find an article in the LA Times, about Judd Apatow and his determination to make penis mainstream.

Apparently there's a long, long scene in FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL in which lead actor Jason Segel has his junk hanging out throughout.

You might not want to bring the kids.

*******

Last week's blog post soliciting scripts for my friend got me almost 50 responses asking for his e-mail address. Plus he posted other places on the Internet as well.

So he's deluged. If you sent him something, be patient. I'm helping him out with some reads, but I'm getting swamped too.

*******

I brought the first 25 pages of my new comedy into group this past Monday, and people were laughing throughout, telling me that it's the best thing I ever brought in.

So there's that. Though then I learn there's a movie currently filming with a similar premise. Hopefully different enough so that it won't be a problem, but still, hell.

*******

At the box office last weekend, PROM NIGHT made a solid $20.8 million. STREET KINGS made a semi-surprising $12.4 million. SMART PEOPLE eked out $4.1 million.

STOP-LOSS has only made $10 million in its first 17 days, despite a lot of good reviews. So put your Iraq War drama back in the drawer; doesn't look like they'll be making many more, at least until it's over and we get some distance.