Dark Knight is about to pass Star Wars — which had two independent releases of what were arguably two different movies — to become the number two grossing movie of all time. It still has a ways to go, though, to pass Titanic:
To be sure, “unadjusted gross” is a rather silly metric. After all, ticket prices have skyrocketed in recent years. That’s offset somewhat, however, by the fact that new movies are released to DVD within months (or available for download from various Torrent sites much sooner) and many of us chose to wait to watch them in the comfort of our own homes.
Hat tip to Jonathan Last, who has some other interesting movie ranking trivia.
18 year old Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, was photographed in a bikini and flirting with a man believed to be Jay Barrymore, her 27 year old boyfriend.
The pair were caught canoodling while vacationing in Ibiza for the summer with Bee Shaffer who is the daughter of Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief for American Vogue.
These images were allegedly taken off of Bee’s Personal Facebook account.
JJ Abrams brings a monster movie to theaters. A monster of epic porportions attacks New York City in Godzilla style. What the monster is a mystery. Below is a supposed photo of the monster that appears to be some sort of mutated whale that breathes fire. I am guessing it is a hoax, but how awesome would I be for finding this one for. That’s right, bask in the blogger glory.
The Upside- The hype alone may be worth the price of a movie ticket. The Downside- The entire film is shot from the perspective of a video camera. All I can think of is the awful camera work of The Blair Witch Project.
Rambo-January 25th
Stallone shoots up the screen again in yet another Rambo. The plot is set in Thailand where a group of mercenaries and John Rambo try to infiltrate a Burmese village. The war filled trailer promises a fill of theatrical gore.
The Upside- It’s freaking Rambo people. The Downside- If there is such a thing as too much violence, this would be it. Then again…some might see that as an upside.
21- March 21st
Kevin Spacey brings us a hot way to appreciate math. It is based on a true story that involves some MIT college kids counting cards in Vegas. This is the math club I missed out on. The six students took several Vegas casinos for millions of dollars. If you are into books it came from the novel “Bringing Down the House.”
The Upside- Kevin Spacey, a plot that should fuel a great movie and a moral lesson. The Downside- It could really be overdone and corny depending on the talent.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian- May 16th
The Pevensie children return to Narnia to help out ol’ Aslan. What has only been one year to the kids has been 1300 years in Narnia. Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy help out a prettied up Prince Caspian regain the throne. It follows the film The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The 2004 wasn’t bad, but leaving things open to interpretation can hinder your views.
The Upside- The trailer was able to capture my attention and the books are a staple in many households. It looks to be a darker and intense view that echoes the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. The Downside- That interpretation factor could ruin a movie. When you create film from something that holds a legendary quality it is easy to screw up.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull- May 22nd
Harrison Ford teams up with up and coming Shia LaBeouf in the latest installment of the Indiana Jones films. The film is set in the Cold War of 1957 and Shia is rocking a pompadour. No trailers out there yet.
The Upside- Harrison Ford returns to the character of Jones after an 18 year hiatus. The Jones film hype speaks for itself. The Downside- That is a lot of hype to live up to. Sequels are hard to impress an audience with. Especially when 18 years of anticipation is behind it.
Sex and the City- May 30th
Sarah Jessica Parker brings sexy back in the film version on the HBO series. The series strayed into new realms that women have no fear to talk about in real life. Beyond love, relationships and men the four women became heroes to the modern day bored housewife. They freely talked about sex and cranked out some quotes that will not leave you.
“I will wear whatever and blow whomever I want as long as I can breathe and kneel.”
The Upside- The series was fearless, if the movie is the same way we are in for a treat. The Downside- Oh let me count the possible factors that could doom the film. So much has been leaked online it will be beyond predictable. The second factor….I fear it will be one of those things that ended on a high note, but they tried to squeeze one last dime from a concept that is stale.
The Happening- June 13th
Yes that is a Friday the 13th release date. M. Night Shyamalan strikes again with another thriller. While the past few Night films have failed to impress the masses, this one is rumored to be a redemption. Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo and Spencer Breslin star in the film that is already rated “R.”
The Upside- I would love to see M. Night get back into the swing of twisted thrillers that rival The Sixth Sense. The Downside- It could be a further disappointment that could be the final blow.
Batman: The Dark Knight- July 18th
The Dark Knight is probably the most anticipated films. Heath Ledger and Christian Bale star in the latest installment of the Batman films. The sequel features the ultimate villain, the Joker. When I heard Ledger was cast in the role I was disappointed. I kept picture this pretty boy in the Joker’s shoes giggling as he tried to thwart Bale. The trailer has redeemed my faith in the film. This version of the Joker is darker, better, more intense and believable as a psycho. Kudos to Heath for proving me wrong.
The Upside- Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes’ dumbass damsel in distress. The Downside- Let me get back to you on that.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince- November 21st
Harry Potter is one of those films that directors can easily screw up. (Ahem…Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.) The last film of the series wasn’t bad and the director who was at the helm for returns again for the Half Blood Prince. My fingers are crossed for those Harry Potter fans who are so very dedicated to the books. Either way you can bet that this film will not fly under the radar.
The Upside- Harry Potter has become the new aged superhero that has started a following that is appealing to all ages. The books are beyond detailed, here’s hoping for some cinema magic. The Downside- If you haven’t read the books by the end of the this film you will be lost. So much has already been left out of the films that, personally, I feel are vital to understand the plot.
The Lovely Bones- Currently Rumored Release in Summer 2008
Peter Jackson won my heart by not completely killing the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Here we have another novel based film that has a big budget. Ryan Gosling had the leading male role before age became a factor and Mark Wahlberg reportedly took his place. The story is from the perspective of a 14 year old girl who was raped and murdered by a neighbor. She tells the tale from heaven and shows the lives of those affected by her death.
The Upside- Great cast, great director and the material is of substance. The Downside- How freakin’ sad!
Sources: Yahoo Top 10 Movies [Yahoo] and 55 Movies Not to Miss of 2008 [Slash Films]
At 23 LeBron James is giving Kobe Bryant a run for his money. Literally. The basketball player is about to become the NBA’s high paid player. A 4 year contract worth $60 million is in the works to keep him happy with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Currently he is banking about half of that. With endorsement deals from Nike and Coca-Cola he is set to break the $100 million marker combined with his 4 year contract. Reggie Bush came in second on the payroll with $24 million followed by Maria Sharapova with a million dollar difference. Michelle Wie took 4th with a $19 mill paycheck for golfing.
Media moguls Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen bring home a around $17 million per twin. Not bad being that their last film was in 2004. The bulk of their income stems from their Wal-Mart line that caters to the boho loving Olsen tween crowd. Hollywood rehab queen, Lindsay Lohan, earned around $3.5 mill before heading to several strings of rehab sessions. Odd being that just about everything she touches turns into a flop.
Younger still is Dakota Fanning. She has almost half a million for every year she has been alive. At 13 her starting rate is at Least $3 million per film. Fellow youngster Miley Cyrus is only 15 and could buy a boat, a million dollar home, her weight in shoes and a baby elephant with money left over to purchase hair extensions made from flying ponies. One album banked $3.5 million dollars, which will be a meager sum compared to her latest tour that kicked off last month. In order to score tickets to her alter ego concert you have to sell your first born on the black market.
Harry Potter himself is a rich bitch. Daniel Radcliffe just broke 18 years on this earth and has $15 million dollars at his command. Co-stars Emma Watson, who has become a Chanel queen, and Rupert Grint are also not hurting for cash. They each could write a $4 million dollar check that wouldn’t bounce. The threesome have more money coming their way with two more Harry Potter films on their way.
Avril Lavigne crooned out about $12 million in crappy songs this year . Her album “The Best Damn Thing” became an international hit. Meanwhile the country/pop queen Carrie Underwood cashed in around $7 million. Paid to party Paris Hilton “earned” $6.5 million just for being a pelvis princess.
Source: 20 Under 25: The Top-Earning Young Superstars [Forbes]
It’s official: Drew Carey will replace Bob Barker as the host of “The Price is Right.”
Genial comic Drew Carey was tapped Monday to replace silver-haired legend Bob Barker on the CBS daytime game show “The Price is Right.” The deal was set Monday afternoon shortly before a taping of CBS’ “Late Show” with David Letterman, where he confirmed it.
“I realize what a big responsibility this is,” he said. “It’s only a game show, but it’s the longest-running game show in American television and I plan to keep it that way.”
The selection attracted more attention than usual for a daytime show because of the prospect of replacing Barker, 83. Barker retired after 35 years in the job last month following taping of his 6,586th episode. The opening attracted widespread interest, including from comic Rosie O’Donnell after she left “The View.”
Carey, 49, spent a decade on his own ABC sitcom and also was host of the improvisational game show “Whose Line is It Anyway?” He will also be host of a new CBS prime-time game show, “The Power of 10,” that will air first next month. He told The Associated Press on Monday that CBS officials first contacted him about “The Price is Right” immediately after he completed a pilot of the other game show this spring. “My agent called me and said `I was talking to CBS casting today’ and in my head I was thinking, `Oh, `CSI’ guest star?’ And he said what would you think about replacing Bob Barker on `The Price is Right?’”
Asked if he found the prospect of replacing such a TV legend daunting, Carey recalled talking to a friend who knows the game show business who told him, “as long as Bob Barker is cool with it, the fans will be cool with it.” While he doesn’t know Barker, Carey said he’s comfortable that his predecessor will be accepting.
The negotiation process was nerve-racking. While he was talking with CBS about the job, Carey said he got a call from another lawyer in Hollywood who told him one of his clients was offered “The Price is Right” job. He figured CBS had lined up back-ups if the first choice did not come through. “If I was going after a second baseman, I wouldn’t just talk to one second baseman,” the Cleveland Indians fan said. “If I were the general manager, I would be talking to a few second basemen.”
Carey is a great choice. I must admit, it’s surprising that he’s 49, since I still think of him from the early days of his sitcom. Certainly, he’s a much safer choice than the obnoxious O’Donnell.
UPDATE: CBS just sent a press release touting the fact that Carey made the announcement on the Letterman show:
Drew Carey announced that he will become the new host of the Emmy Award-winning CBS game show “The Price is Right” during tonight’s taping of the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN. Carey’s LATE SHOW interview will be broadcast tonight, Monday, July 23 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.
“I actually had lunch with an AP reporter today, we had a big, long lunch,” Carey said. “I couldn’t tell him anything because we were negotiating the deal. And they approached me right after the pilot for ‘Power of 10,’ and they called me, I said, ‘No.’ Then they called me a month later, they said, ‘What if we really’ — they called my agent: ‘What if we really go after Drew.’ This is like a month later after I did the pilot for ‘Power of 10’ and I said, ‘Well, what does that mean?’ and he said, ‘Well, you know, I mean, maybe this kind of money.’ I go, ‘What kind of schedule?’ He said, ‘I don’t know,’ so I met with them and stuff and we’ve been negotiating ever since. Couldn’t say anything, but during your ‘Harry Potter’ bit — honestly it was like 15 minutes ago — they called me. It’s a done deal. I’m the new host of ‘The Price Is Right.’”
With the audience wildly applauding, Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra played the theme to “The Price Is Right” in honor of Carey’s announcement. Letterman offered Carey his congratulations. Carey said that he’s not sure when he’s going to start working on “The Price Is Right,” but did say that already “my girlfriend was on the phone with a personal shopper from Bergdorf’s.”
DREW CAREY ANNOUNCES THAT HE WILL BE THE NEW HOST OF CBS’S ‘THE PRICE IS RIGHT’ DURING HIS APPEARANCE ON THE “LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN,” MONDAY, JULY 23 (emailed press release)
Sure, Harry Potter can make kids line up at night waiting for a book and get translated into 63 languages, including Klingon, but there are lots of tougher wizards out there. Here’s just a few of them:
Mr. Wizard
Who is he? The charming old geezer otherwise known as Don Herbert spent the vast majority of his life on TV showing kids how to do science experiments with household crap. Then he died.
Why he could beat up Harry Potter: In the time it would take Harry to check the latest Quidditch scores, the crafty ol’ Mr. Wizard could turn some icy hot, half a bottle of mouthwash and a single cough drop into a whole bathtub full of napalm. Let’s see Harry’s little cape protect him from that.
The Grand Wizard of the KKK
Who is he? We didn’t look up his name because we don’t need to be on any more government lists, but the Grand Wizard is the head of the KKK.
Why he could beat up Harry Potter: Harry’s robes have more magic powers and less grease stains, but that’s not enough to make up for the fiery ball of misguided hatred the leader of the KKK has burning in his beer gut. Make it an IQ test, though, and it’s a whole different story.
Washington Wizards
It’s not really fair to make a single nerdy teen fight an entire team of finely tuned professional athletes, but we thought it would be nice if the Wizards got a chance to beat something for once. The only way we can see the Wizards losing is if they end up meeting in the second round of the Playoffs.
Nobody Beats The Wiz
What is it? A New York–based electronics store that was mentioned on “Seinfeld.”
Why it could beat up Harry Potter: The evidence is right there in the name of the store: Nobody Beats The Wiz. Nobody! Well, as long as you don’t count Best Buy, Circuit City, and the rest of the big-box electronics stores that almost ran them out of business. But unless Harry finds a way to offer name-brand gadgets for rock-bottom prices, they should be fine.
Gandalf
Who is he? Gandalf helped Sam and Frodo haul their hairy asses across Middle Earth in
“The Lord of the Rings.” But you already knew that.
Why he could beat up Harry Potter: Watch the beginning of “The Two Towers,” where Gandalf tears up a huge flaming Balrog and then try to tell us that Harry Potter is more of a tough guy.
Merlin from “Gauntlet”
Who is he? Clad in yellow robes, Merlin plows his way through level after mind-numbing level in one of the least fun arcade games of all time.
Why he could beat up Harry Potter: First of all, Merlin is two-dimensional, so all he’d have to do is turn sideways and he’d be almost unhittable. Plus, if Harry actually managed to do some damage, Merlin could bust out a huge health-restoring chicken and save his own ass.
Ozzie “The Wizard of Oz” Smith
Who is he? Ozzy’s 18-year career as an MLB shortstop was enough to land his backflippin’ ass a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Why he could beat up Harry Potter: Have you ever tried to do a backflip? We did once in gym class and ended up a full two-inches shorter than we were before. Ozzie used to do them for fun on the field, which should indicate the kind of shape he was in from playing a real sport. Quidditch, on the other hand, is just above fishing and just below bowling on the sports hierarchy.
Microsoft Internet Connection Wizard
What is it? A series of dialog boxes intended to help n00bz make their way onto the Internet, where they’ll fall for Nigerian banking scams and fake eBay e-mails.
Why it could beat up Harry Potter: Since it doesn’t have arms, legs, a body, or any of that other stuff used in traditional fights, Bill Gates’ tricky Wizard will have to use the same psychologically crushing technique it has been using to make new PC buyers crazy for years. Six hours of looking at this thing without being able to figure out how to get onto the Web and he’ll be begging for mercy.
The Wizard from Deadliest Catch
What is it? Captain Keith Colburn and his crew spend the long, brutal crab fishing seasons aboard this mighty vessel, which can stand up to huge waves, frigid temperatures, and a whole pile of stinky bearded dudes.
Why it could beat up Harry Potter: It all comes down to one simple fact: British people can’t swim.
Okay, so some of those aren’t very funny. But you trying coming up with ten.
Source: Wizards That Could Kick Harry Potter’s Ass (Maxim)
The new book by J K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is under some serious surveillance.
A £10 million security operation featuring an army of guards, satellite tracking systems and draconian legal contracts has swung into action to prevent any leak of details of the seventh and final book about the boy wizard.
Only its author J K Rowling and some 20 other people, including the book’s editors, illustrators and the “Potterologists” who ensure continuity, know Harry’s fate. In fact, when a lawyer for Scholastic hand delivered it from London to New York, he sat on it during the entire flight.
It seems almost ridiculous the measures being taken for this book:
London-based Bloomsbury, which publishes the Potter books in Britain, has hired secure sites across the country to house the book prior to distribution early this week. It is understood that several dozen security teams will protect the sites round the clock. Experts say security staff will earn up to £30 an hour with a guard dog, up to £20 without.
Print factory workers in Britain have been threatened with the sack if they leak any details, while German publishers banned mobile phones and even packed lunches in the printing plant. Some employees reportedly had to work in near-darkness to prevent them reading the book.
It is from Tuesday, however, when copies begin to be sent out to retailers, that the most crucial part of the security operation will come into effect. The trucks Bloomsbury will use are fitted with satellite tracking systems costing up to £1,000 each, which will reveal whether any of the vehicles deviates from its intended route. The books are on sealed pallets fitted with alarms to prevent tampering.
A spokesman for Bloomsbury said: “We have a litigation specialist poised 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deal with any breaches. It is our intention to enforce the embargo vigorously and seek an immediate injunction if required.”
While experts put the cost of all this at £10 million, the lengths to which publishers have gone are not surprising.
Four years ago, Donald Parfitt, a forklift driver from Suffolk, was ordered to do 180 hours community service after he admitted stealing pages from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix from the printing plant where he worked. Last year, Aaron Lambert was jailed for 4½ years for stealing copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and trying to sell them.
In recent weeks, Rowling has reportedly received letters from people asking her to reveal the ending of the seventh book because their terminally-ill relative may not live until Saturday.
A flurry of bets on Harry killing himself has seen bookmaker William Hill cut the odds of that happening from 33-1 to 10-11 on. Some Potter websites have suggested that fans wear headphones when they go to buy the book so that those who skip to the end can’t ruin it for them by telling them how the saga closes, while Wikipedia is blocking new contributions to its Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows page until after the book’s release.
Booksellers expect record sales for a number of days. Jon Howells, a spokesman for the Waterstones chain, said: “Everyone wants to find out the ending for themselves. They don’t want to hear it -second-hand. Putting The Da Vinci Code against this book is like putting a bungalow next to the Great Pyramids.”
Genial comic Drew Carey was tapped Monday to replace silver-haired legend Bob Barker on the CBS daytime game show “The Price is Right.” The deal was set Monday afternoon shortly before a taping of CBS’ “Late Show” with David Letterman, where he confirmed it.
London-based Bloomsbury, which publishes the Potter books in Britain, has hired secure sites across the country to house the book prior to distribution early this week. It is understood that several dozen security teams will protect the sites round the clock. Experts say security staff will earn up to £30 an hour with a guard dog, up to £20 without.
