As was expected, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver SUrfer was the number one movie in America over the past weekend. What wasn't expected however, was that it would open with even bigger numbers than the first Fantastic Four movie. And even though the increase wasn't that huge, $ 57.4 million to $ 56 million, it's still a sign that 20th Century Fox has done a good job promoting their new superhero movie. In a summer where people seemed to quickly grow bored with sequels, after several sequels disappointed, the fact that here is a sequel that improves on the original, wasn't lost on moviegoers. Now we will have to wait and see whether or not good word of mouth can give this movie a bit longer legs than all the other summer blockbusters. In second place, we find Ocean's 13. It dropped 47 percent, which is actually a pretty decent drop for a summer threequel. Most of the times, threequels lose about 55 percent or more, so Warner Bros can be pleased with the result. Knocked Up took third place this weekend, with a gross of $ 14.5 million, while Pirates fell to fourth place with $ 12 million. The Pirates total is now $ 273.8 million, which is up from the first movie, which had grossed 31 percent loss at this point in it's run, but 24 percent down from the second Pirates movie. Animated movie Surf's Up fell to fifth with $ 9.3 million. According to analysts, Surf' Up can consider itself lucky if it makes way with a final gross of about $ 60 million, which nowadays is not what you wish your animated blockbuster makes.
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Ocean's Thirteen winner of US weekend, Surf's Up opens in 4th
Ocean's Thirteen was the highest grosser of the weekend in the US box Office, but the opening gross was smaller than that of either Ocean's 11 or 12. The movie made $ 37.1 million, which is a perfectly fine amount of money, just not as high as analysts expected before the weekend. Word is now that people are getting a bit bored of all the threequels, after the first three threequels of the summer all disappointed in some measure. Good reviews for Thirteen couldn't help it to a franchise record, but if the movie is able to pick up some good word of mouth, things might still turn out alright for both this movie and the chances of another sequel.
Surf's up also didn;t reach the gross that was predicted, as the movie made only $ 18 million, while a gross of well over $ 20 million was pencilled in. Good reviews couldn't help the movie impress more, and it even landed in fourth position, behind Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and Knocked Up. Looks like people weren't ready for another penguin movie after all...
Pirates 3 is now at a total of $ 253.6 million, with the possibility being there that the movie is not going to reach the $ 300 million mark in the US, which would be a major disappointment. Of course, the immense gross of the movie outside the US more than makes up for that.
How well are Ocean's 13 and Surf's Up going to do?
After we have already seen three threequels come out and break records, here comes threequel number four. Contrary to the other three threequels, reviews for Ocean's 13 have been quite positive, stating that this movie is actually better than the second part, though the first part is still the best in the series, without any doubt. So, now that audiences have become a bit wary of threequels, how well is Ocean's 13 going to do? Analysts are predicting no record breaking. This is not unexpected, since neither of the previous two movies was a record breaker, and unlike Shrek, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean, the Ocean's movies don't have a huge fanbase that want to go see the movie on opening day. These are movies that people like a lot, but not love, and it's more a movie that you can go and take your spouse to see, rather than something you camp out for with your buddies. Plus, these are movies that have longer legs (and I don't mean Elen Barkin's), so that the gross doesn't just come from the opening ten days. Still, with the rising ticket prices, chances are high that Ocean's 13 will at least be the best opener in the series. Openings for the first two parts in the US were $ 38.1 and $ 39 million, I think we can expect this one to pass the $ 40 million.
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Animators and directors talk Surf's Up
Surf's Up is getting a lot of buzz, as reviews are showing this to be quite an original and entertaining animated flick. Which must be a huge load off the back of the makers of this movie, who can now sit back and watch the big bags of money being transported to their office. Well, okay, that's not exactly how it works, but at least the filmmakers had some fun, with everybody going on a surfing trip to Zuma Beach. Can Mag had someone on hand to ask the aspiring surfers everything about their upcoming movie right before they went surfing. The surfing trip was partly because the animators didn't get to do a lot of research: ""We were going to go to Tahiti," said one of the filmmakers, Chris Buck. "Thanks to the internet, we didn't get research trips." To read more, click the source.
54321: The 5 top Penguin movies
With the release of Surf's Up eminent, I thought it was time to have a look at some of the other penguin movies out there. Which are the ones you should watch if you want to get warmed up a bit before shuffling into the theater for Sony's animated comedy?
Jon Heder discusses Surf's Up, admits he would love to work in animation
Jon Heder, recently seen on the screen in the hit comedy Blades of Glory, does one of the voices in the new animated comedy Surf's Up. He's actually one of the few characters in the movie that is not a penguin, but a chicken, which probably won't stop him from doing some surfing anyway. He did an interview with CanMag, in which he tells the interviewer that he has always loved animation, and that he would love to make a career in animation. Heck, he even studied animation before he became an actor. "I’ve always been in love with animation. Getting involved with it this side, I never really expected it, but was definitely kind of jumping it like, ‘This is cool.’ I remember when they asked me to do this role, that’s one of the biggest reasons I took it, because I loved the character design and I loved how they were doing all the technology with the waves. The look of it looked really cool. And I was like, 'This looks like a really cool picture to get involved in,' but I’m still planning on getting involved with animation on the other spectrum, writing and directing and hopefully producing some day." To read the full interview, click the source.
Surf's Up also gets it's first reviews
While the gross for Surf's Up probably won't come near to that of Shrek the Third, at least the first reviews are a lot more positive than they were for the green ogre's third adventure. "Told in a surfer's laid-back style, Surf's Up is an easy to enjoy animated movie," concludes internet reviewer Steve Rhodes, while New York Magazine is also positive, mainly about the character voiced by Jeff Bridges. "Best of all is the washed-up champion surfer who tries to instruct Cody in Zen and the art of surfboard carving-his belligerence escalating with the younger penguin's every juvenile challenge. His scenes are to die for, but the death will be sweeter if you know that the irritable "Big Z" has the same inflections as Jeffrey "the Dude" Lebowski, and that this might be the closest we'll ever come to seeing Jeff Bridges again in his most celebrated performance. In short, the kids won't know how terrific Surf's Up is." Could Surf's Up be the first animated movie for adults, where kids are only being brought along as an excuse for the adults to watch an animated movie? According to CinemaBlend, no: They think Surf's Up is "a movie made for people who think dogs playing poker is funny." Oh well, you can't win them all. At Rotten Tomatoes the movie has a fresh score of 67% so far.
Jeff Bridges excited about starring in Surf's Up
In an interview with Movies Online, Jeff Bridges has admitted that it was a big thrill for him to voice a character in Surf's Up, and that this thrill came mainly from the fact that the surfing element of the movie was handled so well. "What really got me onboard was this whole surfing aspect of things and how well they pulled the water element of this film off. I said, 'They're going to do a surfing movie? How are the waves going to look? Is it going to look like a photograph type thing?' Then they started to show me some of the footage that they had worked on and being a surfer myself it was a thrill to be a part of bringing to the audience what that feels like, to be locked in a tube. That's kind of what got me onboard." Bridges was also excited about the fact that, contrary to other animated movies, the voice actors filmed their scenes together. "I had done animated films in the past and that was kind of a lonely experience where you sit in the booth where you've got your sides and you're reading this stuff and imagining what this other person is saying or doing the scene to their playback without them in the room, but in this instance the characters were often all there in the same room. I did a lot of work with Shia [LeBeouf] who is a wonderful improviser. We were really encouraged to do that by the directors as much as we cared to and we did a lot of it. There were also cameras set up in the room that were capturing our movements and our expressions and that was all going to help the animators. So it was a lot of fun. It didn't feel as lonesome as it has in the past and as clinical. It was really a fun experience and very loose."
To read the fun full interview, click the source.
Shia LaBeouf talks Surf's Up
Shia LaBeouf decided to take the lead role in animated comedy Surf's Up because he was looking for something different. "You never want to do the same thing twice", he told SciFi.com. "You want to work with amazing people, and you want it to be fun. You want to make things you'd want to watch." The idea of the movie being a mockumentary appealed greatly to him. "This is something that's never been done. It's new and it's fresh. It's an idea, and just the concept alone—this mockumentary in animation is [This is] Spinal Tap. The animation is like kick-ass. Of course you want to be in it."
To read the full interview, click the source.
Pics from the world premiere of Surf's Up
The buzz surrounding Surf's Up is getting better and better. What was once just another penguin animated movie, now has a lot more positive comments attached to it, with some people already dugging it one of the best original movies for summer 2007 (not so difficult, really, since its also one of the few original movies for summer 2007, but still). The world premiere for the movie was this weekend in LA, and all the stars who voice the movie came out to have a look. Amongst the people on hand were Shia LaBeouf and Zooey Deschanel, as well as some penguins who were probably more interested in the fishy snacks handed out after the movie. IESB.net has a big gallery of pics from the premiere, which you can check out by clicking here.
