Movies

Star Trek Into Darkness weekend box office: Downright disappointing domestic debut (photo: Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness) J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, featuring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, took in an estimated $22 million at 3,668 North American venues on Friday, according to studio figures found at Box Office Mojo. Is that good or bad? Well, let’s just say that this weekend Star Trek Into Darkness should end up collecting approximately $20-28 million less at the domestic box office than early estimates indicated. (Check out comparisons between the Thursday opening of Star Trek Into Darkness and the more impressive debuts of other movie sequels.) Star Trek Into Darkness vs. Star Trek: Opening-weekend box office Star Trek Into Darkness will likely gross at most $83-85 million by Sunday evening, and $70-72 million over the three-day weekend. Paramount is, with fingers crossed, hoping for those figures. A more likely scenario, however, would be approximately $62-66 million over the weekend, for a four-day cume of $75-79 million. Last night, we were wondering if the Star Trek sequel would have a solid or a disappointing opening; considering the film’s inflated early estimates, "solid but hardly outstanding" seemed to be the right assessment. Now, if the current estimates are on target, a more accurate assessment of Star Trek Into Darkness‘ performance at the domestic box office would be "downright disappointing." For comparison’s sake: without the assistance of 3D surcharges, the opening-weekend gross of the 2009 Star Trek reboot was $79.2 million, or about $84 million today. In other words, even including late Wednesday and all-day Thursday screenings and extra IMAX locations and 3D, there’s a good chance Star Trek Into Darkness will trail the "original." It gets a tad more worrisome: The Star Trek reboot cost $150 million, whereas the sequel has a heftier $190 million price tag (not including marketing and distribution costs). And next weekend, Star Trek Into Darkness will have strong competition for box-office dollars from two newcomers: Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious 6 starring Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker, and Vin Diesel, and Todd Phillips’ The Hangover Part III, with Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, and Justin Bartha. Star Trek Into Darkness: International box office The Silver Lining for both Star Trek Into Darkness and Paramount is, as usual, the international market. This past week, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek sequel was reportedly running about 70% ahead of the original in seven territories: Mexico, Germany, New Zealand, the UK, Australia, Austria, and German-speaking Switzerland. According to Deadline.com, Star Trek Into Darkness is expected to bring in $9m in Russia this weekend, against $2m for the original film. This weekend’s international box-office total is expected to reach $35 million, with a number of key markets yet to be visited by the Enterprise. Those rosier figures help you to understand why the Star Trek sequel was post-converted to 3D. After all, unlike most other Hollywood blockbusters, the 2009 Star Trek earned less than half of its box-office gross outside North America: $257.73 million domestically vs. $127.95 million internationally. Why? The likely explanation is that Star Trek is a cult phenomenon in the United States, but way less so elsewhere. Paramount had to lure more — way more — international moviegoers for their $190 million-budgeted sci-fi extravaganza. If 3D was going to be the most effective bait, then the studio was right to add another dimension to Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Benedict Cumberbatch. The original Star Trek cumed at $385.68 million worldwide. Star Trek Into Darkness cast In addition to Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, the Star Trek Into Darkness cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch (as a less campy version of Ric

Favorite quotes from Olivier Assayas in Filmcomment magazine, March-April 2013, on the film THE DEVIL, PROBABLY (1977, Robert Bresson, A+30): “I had a difficult reaction to it, and it’s fairly obvious, because my situation was like yours. I had the utmost respect for Bresson, but this one, my God…I had no idea what it was about. It seemed wrong. Because it was 1977, and I was into punk rock, and the energy around me was so far away from anything this film depicted. It was all about stuff we were rejecting, which we did not want to deal with anymore, it was the old world. When I looked at the film again away from that context, five or 10 years later, I realized that it was the best depiction of what the Seventies were about. To anybody who was in France at that time it’s obvious, and it’s extraordinary that it was an old man who cracked it. When I saw the film again, it just struck me so cruelly that what I was rejecting was not the movie, it was myself, the person I had been at the time. Because the characters in the film, specifically the central character, are really the closest to whatever I was at that age that I’ve seen in a film. But at the time I did not want to see that! In the end, it must be one of my favorite films of all time.” Reading what Assayas said, I wonder which film best represents your personal youth in the 1980s. Is it included in the list below? 1.THE BREAKFAST CLUB (1985, John Hughes) 2.BU SU (1987, Jun Ichikawa, A+30) 3.CLASS ENEMY (1983, Peter Stein, West Germany, A+30) 4.DEADLY FRIEND (1986, Wes Craven, A+15) 5.HEATHERS (1988, Michael Lehmann, A+) 6.PRETTY IN PINK (1986, Howard Deutch, A+15) 7.THE SOUND AND THE FURY (1987, Jean-Claude Brisseau, A+30) 8.TWO OF US (1988, Roger Tonge, UK, A+15) 9.TYPHOON CLUB (1985, Shinji Sômai, A+30) 10.VICTIMS (1987, Chana Kraprayoon, A+30)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yl0_fiyI0mc As for my own personal youth in the 1980s, I think BU SU and THE SOUND AND THE FURY are the films that best represent it.

Cannes isn't the only place news is happening this weekend. Big things are going on at the Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters as a massive casting update has arrived that just about doubles its total enrollment thus far! Read on for the details. Per Deadline, Sarah Hyland ("Modern Family"), Joely Richardson (pictured; "Nip/Tuck," Event Horizon), and Gabriel Byrne ("In Treatment," Stigmata) will now also be sinking their teeth into the movie based on the books by Richelle Mead. Byrne will play Victor, one of the leaders of the Academy, while Hyland will play Natalie, Victor’s daughter and the best friend of the lead Rose and Lissa characters. Richardson will play Queen Tatiana, leader of the Moroi Vampires. Dominic Sherwood has also joined the film and will be playing Christian, Lissa’s love interest. These latest cast additions come on the heels of the announcement last week that Sami Gayle ("Blue Bloods"), Cameron Monaghan ("Shameless"), Ashley Charles (White Buffalo), and Claire Foy (Season of the Witch) had been added to the ensemble cast. Lucy Fry and Zoey Deutch were previously announced as Lissa and Rose. The film also stars Oblivion’s Olga Kurylenko and Danila Kozlovski. Filming is scheduled to start next week so expect lots more soon. Book Synopsis Set in the present day against a hidden universe of vampires, half-humans, alchemy, and magic. Richelle Mead shifts the focus from the brooding male vampires of Twilight, "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" to that of a strong, yet flawed 17-year-old female who confronts her world with grit, determination, and lots of moxie. Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, half human/half vampire, and guardian of the Moroi, a race of peaceful and magical mortal vampires who can walk in the daylight, survive by feeding off willing blood donors, grow old and die. Hidden deep in the forests of Montana is St. Vladimir's Academy, where Moroi and dhampirs learn to take their place in Moroi society. Rose must master her inherited abilities as a dhampir and earn the approval of the Royal Council, as guardian to Princess Lissa, her best friend and sole heir of one of the twelve Royal families of Moroi. Rose and Lissa share a mysterious psychic bond and sense of destiny, but first they must survive an intense social scene, politics, and the physical challenges of Moroi life at the Academy. Outside the sanctuary of St. Vladimir's waits their greatest threat of all, the Strigoi, a race of bloodthirsty immortal vampires and predators of the Moroi. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Enroll in the comments section below.

The S.H.Figuarts Toei hero lineup for September/October 2013. Photos courtesy of Bluefin. © Ishimori Pro ? Toei/ © Toei Articulated Bandai Figures to be Sold in Japan and America Source: Bluefin Corp. S.H.Figuarts Official Site: tamashii.jp/shfiguarts (Japan) Special Thanks to Xavier Lim Distributor Bluefin Corp. has provided product specs and high-res photos for three S.H.Figuarts releases coming from Bandai's Tamashii Nations in September and October 2013. Fans of Toei's Kamen Rider franchise will soon be able to purchase Masked Rider Blade and Masked Rider No. 1's Cyclone motorcycle, while Super Sentai fans can look forward to an exclusive Mighty Morphin White Ranger figure. All three items will be released both in Japan and North America. Fans and collectors can purchase S.H.Figuarts figures from authorized Bluefin dealers, including SciFi Japan's sponsors Anime Jungle and Toy Freakz. Continued...

The advertising industry in America has become so ridiculously homogenized it almost feels as if creativity itself has died a slow and painful death. Take the remake of Evil Dead for instance. We got your standard stuff. Elsewhere had some fun! Bloody Disgusting pointed us towards the website 9 the Creative Shop who recently scanned and published an ad which appeared in their newspaper's obituaries section? The kicker? Since the dead were returning to life the areas where the names of the recently deceased would appear was left blank. Pretty nifty! Take a look! Ghost House Pictures produced the much anticipated remake of The Evil Dead, the film that effectively launched the careers of Sam Raimi (Spider-Man franchise, Darkman, Drag Me to Hell), Rob Tapert (30 Days of Night), and Bruce Campbell, who played the Ash character and was co-producer of the original. They are now back to produce an Evil Dead for today's audience that's high on the horror, gore, plot twists, and more from a screenplay written by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues with Diablo Cody. Executive producers are J.R. Young, Nathan Kahane, Joseph Drake, and Peter Schlessel. Read our Evil Dead review here! Related News: Everything About the Evil Dead Remake Evil Dead has been rated R for “strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language. It opened in US theatres on April 5th, 2013. A core cast of young, fresh talent includes Jane Levy ("Suburgatory") as Mia; Shiloh Fernandez (Deadgirl, Red Riding Hood) as David; Lou Taylor Pucci (Carriers) as Eric; Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) as Olivia; and Elizabeth Blackmore (Legend of the Seeker) as Natalie. Synopsis In the much anticipated remake of the 1981 cult-hit horror film, five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival. Click these links to visit the Evil Dead on Facebook and follow the Evil Dead on Twitter. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Get possessed in the comments section below.

If you're a fan of possession flicks and/or foreign horror, read on for more details coming out of Cannes 2013 regarding Emili Pons' just launched Barcelona-based low-cost genre label Ms Entertainment, which announced its first project will be Asmodexia, the feature debut of Marc Carrete. Per Variety, Catalan Carrete's shorts — Mal cuerpo and slasher pic Castidermia (check out its trailer below) — bowed at Catalonia’s Sitges Festival in 2011 and 2012, respectively; and this new project doesn't stray far from home. The Spanish-language horror film takes place over five days in the lives of an exorcist and his granddaughter, who work in the Barcelona area. The screenplay is by Sitges fest deputy director Mike Hostench and Carrete from the director's original idea. Asmodexia goes into production August 26th, with Hostench taking an associate producer credit. Speaking at Cannes, Hostench described Asmodexia as a more realistic exorcism movie than most, where location is incredibly important. Pons' background is in commercials and marketing, and he and his fellow Ms shareholders will make films outside the state subsidy system by tapping private investment. They will also target new media, including VOD and subscription VOD, and the English-speaking market. Ms joins Barcelona’s vibrant horror scene, which includes Rodar y Rodar (The Orphanage), Nostromo Pictures (Grand Piano), Roxbury (Painless), and Filmax (REC). The Ms launch comes as young Spanish directors are increasingly turning to genre and thrillers for their feature debuts. “It always happens in economic downturns: Genre saves the day. Maybe not the whole of the day, but part of it,” Hostench said. For more info on the fest, which runs until May 26th, visit the official Festival de Cannes website. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Think global, act local in the comments section below.

Let's face it... we live in a far from perfect world, but thankfully there are a handful of quality filmmakers out there who make movies that get us through the rough patches in the most memorable, gruesome, and fun ways. Alexandre Aja fits that description perfectly. Screen Daily reports that French producer Charles Gillibert and Aja (pictured) have jointly acquired adaptation rights to American writer Laura Kasischke’s bestseller In a Perfect World. In A Perfect World revolves around newly-married former flight attendant Jiselle, who is surviving life as a new stepmother to three children. Their lives are altered forever when a deadly flu epidemic breaks out. “In a Perfect World is a suspense novel that holds all the emotional layers of a rich family drama, a world where terror, beauty and chaos walk hand in hand. A dystopian family drama, set in an environment of doom,” the pair said in a joint announcement. More on this one as it comes. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Get sick in the comments section below!

If you were one of the many who saw Star Trek Into Darkness this weekend, then you are well aware that Simon Pegg stole the entire friggin' show. So what's next up for the actor who also has At the World's End coming up? Read on for the latest! Screen Daily reports that Pegg has come on board the Australian thriller Kill Me Three Times from Red Dog director Kriv Stenders. Pegg joins the action set in a sun-drenched Australian town where a young woman is the link between murder, blackmail, and revenge. The flick formerly had director Greg McLean in the director's chair with Alice Braga (Repo Men), Abbie Cornish (Sucker Punch), Ben Mendelsohn (Killer Elite), and Sullivan Stapleton (Animal Kingdom) originally set to star. But things change... Cargo Entertainment is handling international pre-sales in Cannes. Tania Chambers, Laurence Malkin, and Share Stallings produce the project, which is set to commence shooting on September 16 in Western Australia. Hopscotch / eOne will distribute in Australia and New Zealand. More soon! VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Enjoy a multiple in the comment section below!

Fresh off its recent debut at Tribeca in NYC, Raze hit the French Riviera for Cannes and quickly landed North American distro with IFC Midnight. No release details are available yet, but we're sure to hear more once the dust settles. Per Deadline, the deal for the film was negotiated by Jeff Deutchman, Director of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films, with Nate Bolotin of XYZ Films on behalf of the filmmakers. Celluloid Dreams is currently selling the film’s international rights at Cannes. Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said: “Josh Waller has crafted the most intense and unique action film that we have seen in a long time. With the magnificent Zoe Bell leading a strong female cast, Raze delivers and then some. We can’t wait to unleash it upon audiences.” Raze (review here), directed by Josh C. Waller from a script by Robert Beaucage, stars Rachel Nichols (Star Trek, P2, The Amityville Horror), Zoe Bell (Kill Bill, Grindhouse), Tracie Thoms (Death Proof, Rent), Sherilyn Fenn ("Twin Peaks," Boxing Helena), Rebecca Marshall (Saw 3D, That’s My Boy), Doug Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth), Bruce Thomas (Babysitter Wanted, Kyle XY), Tara Macken (The Hunger Games), Adrienne Wilkinson ("Xena", Star Wars :The Force Unleashed), Nicole Steinwedell (The Unit), Bailey Borders, Allene Quincy, Jordan James Smith, Amy Johnston, Victoria Cruz and Brianna Gage. Synopsis: Raze focuses on two abducted women and 50 other women who are forced to fight each other using their bare hands, all for the sadistic enjoyment of an elite, voyeuristic society that follows one rule — “Fight or Die.” For more check out the official Raze website, and "like" Raze on Facebook. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Put up your dukes in the comments section below!

Steven Moffat has made a great number of promises throughout the seventh series of Doctor Who. I was unsure whether he'd really be able to write a satisfying answer to the mystery of Clara but "The Name of the Doctor" delivers answers to the most pressing questions while it establishes tantalising new mysteries for the upcoming 50th anniversary special and the next series. It's one of the most assured finales yet, an episode that looks back to the show's past as it prepares to step into a much more unpredictable future.Let's talk about Clara first. Improbable as it seems, the revelations about who she is feel like they make perfect sense. I'm sure people will be around to analyse it and rip apart these scenes... [Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]