Last week, Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol became the actor’s highest grossing movie. By the end of the week, it had passed the $600m mark worldwide. Released in December, it has now become the sixth highest grossing movie from 2011. This makes it a massive success, and when you think about all that has gone on in the lead up to it, it is pretty astonishing.
Posted in Articles, Box Office, News
Tagged 2011, box office, ghost protocol, gross, mission: impossible, mission: impossible 5, news, paramount, success, tom cruise
Since recapturing his enthusiasm for genre filmmaking during Prometheus, his Alien prequel/non-prequel, Ridley Scott has been talking up a new Blade Runner film. Not much has happened with it so far, but the last week has seen a flurry of news/rumours/speculation regarding Harrison Ford reprising his role as Deckard. The latest word, via EW.com, suggests that the project is still in its infancy, and it is not known yet whether the Deckard character would even be involved. Would Harrison Ford even be interested? Do fans want to see him back in the role?
Tagged blade runner, casting, harrison ford, news, prequel, prometheus, ridley scott, sequel, update
The Muppets is released in cinemas in the UK this week. Released in the US last November, it is the first theatrical outing for The Muppets since 1999’s Muppets from Space. The movie enjoyed reasonable success in the United States, and we’ll find out this weekend how it fares in the UK. It has not set the world box office alight so far, but has definitely found an audience. The question, then, is how to build on this momentum.
Tagged box office, critical, jason segel, kermit, muppet show, news, sequel, success, the muppets, tv
Last week, Heat magazine published an interview with Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe. In the article, Radcliffe confessed to being an alcoholic during his time filming some of the Harry Potter series, going as far as saying that on occasion he turned up to the set still drunk. A sad story, and if it’s true it raises questions about the ethics of propelling such a young man into superstardom. The timing of the revelation, however, leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Elmore Leonard is one of America’s best crime thriller writers, known for his snappy dialogue, quirky characters and gritty realism. His books seem the perfect foil for film adaptation, and subsequently many of his books have been made into movies. Unfortunately, a good percentage of them have been mishandled, with only a handful actually making the grade.
One that did do justice to its source was Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, based on the novel Rum Punch. Tarantino has been a Leonard fan since his teens, and has a similarly great ear for dialogue, so it was no great surprise that Jackie Brown turned out to be one of the best Leonard adaptations. Continue reading
Tagged adaptation, casting, elmore leonard, jackie brown, john hawkes, mos def, news, rum punch, switch
It’s being reported today on The Hollywood Reporter that the three stars of The Hangover movie series, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, are demanding a $15m day payday, each, to make a third Hangover movie. This reeks of greed, the stars in question appearing as mercenaries. The movie series has made the careers of all three. Cooper and Galifianakis had enjoyed some success before the first movie, granted. But it really was its huge success that brought them to a wide audience, and created their great demand. Do they not therefore owe it to everyone involved to just get on and make the movie at a reasonable rate? Continue reading Tagged Bradley cooper, budget, casting, news, part three, salary, the hangover, warner bros
The George Lucas produced WWII flick Red Tails is released in the US this weekend. Because of this, he has been doing the press rounds. As you might expect, those who have spoken to him are just as, if not more, keen to ask about the future of Star Wars, Indiana Jones etc. Several bits and pieces have come out of this, but the most significant revelation came in an interview Lucas did for the New York Times. Apparently, after the struggles Lucas has had getting Red Tails made over the past several years, as well as the fan backlash to his recent Star Wars activities, the beardy filmmaker has decided to retire from making blockbusters. Continue reading
Tagged blockbusters, filmmaking, george lucas, news, producer, red tails, retire, sci-fi, star wars
Amongst the soon to be retiring Director’s extensive to-do list, Steven Soderbergh is working on a reboot/adaptation/whatever they are calling it these days of the 60′s spy TV series, The Man From Uncle. Regular Soderbergh sympathiser George Clooney was set to play the lead, Napolean Solo (presumably), but pulled out a few weeks ago for reasons unknown. It may well be that old chestnut, scheduling conflicts, but seeing as the script was apparently finished around the same time, it could be that Clooney didn’t like the role.
It started out as such an innocuous day, then ended in absolutely bitter disappointment. OK, that may all sound a little bit drastic, but I am a bit upset at the news that Kevin Costner has reportedly had to pull out of Quentin Tarantino’s forthcoming Django Unchained. Slashfilm reported on a Tweet from Variety staffer Justin Kroll here. The reason is apparently scheduling conflicts, and whilst that doesn’t sound likely with regards to Costner of late, he does have a fair bit on his plate right now.
It’s Star Wars week here on Fluent in Film, mainly because the entire Star Wars movie series was released on Blu-ray this week here in the UK, partly because there seems to be very little else happening this week. I wanted to share with you some fun facts about the original Star Wars trilogy, but I really couldn’t be bothered to do the research required. So instead, I’ve made up some! Please feel free to share your own in the comments. Continue reading Tagged blu-ray, boba fett, death star, facts, george lucas, han solo, lando, luke skywalker, news, star wars, trivia
It was confirmed last week that faded comedian and actor Eddie Murphy will be the presenter of the Academy Awards in 2012. I’m a little bit late on this, but I found this appointment very interesting, so I didn’t want to let it pass without making comment.There has been much criticism aimed at recent Oscar hosts, particular this year towards Anne Hathaway and James Franco. It is a difficult job particularly as there is pressure to be funny whilst not really offending either the public or anyone in the industry. The Academy Awards are fully aimed at a family audience, meaning humour often ends up being pretty benign. When i heard that Eddie Murphy might be the next host, I felt quite excited about the idea of Murphy returning to live performance.Tagged academy awards, career, comedian, eddie murphy, news, oscars, presenter, saturday night live
When X-Men Origins: Wolverine was conceived, it seemed fairly obvious that there would be a high chance of at least one follow-up. Coming as a spin-off from a franchise with three movies already under its belt, there was not chance it was ever going to be a stand alone art project. When it was released to such poor critical reception, however, one could be forgiven for thinking it might be the end of the road. This was not the case however, and Fox pressed on with plans for a second Wolverine film regardless. Continue reading
This week, the first teaser trailer for The Muppets was released, under the fake name Green With Envy. The trailer starts off as a generic romantic comedy, with a ‘big reveal’ towards the end that it is, in fact, a Muppet movie. The trailer doesn’t really give away much of the plot of the film, and the fact that Amy Adams and Jason Segel are in it make it pretty obvious, to be honest, that it is the Muppet trailer before the first hint of green hits the screen. You can see the trailer here at www.heyuguys.co.uk. Continue reading
Tagged amy adams, kermit the frog, marketing, muppet movie, news, the muppets, trailer
As we enter the summer movie period with the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, the hype begins in earnest for the season’s biggest blockbusters. Possibly the biggest of them all is one that a couple of years ago I vowed I would never see. As I sat at the IMAX in Waterloo flabbergasted by the nonsense I saw before my, I made a decision. I would never watch another Michael Bay Transformers movie. I was completely serious. It was one of the few occasions I felt personally insulted by a movie. Continue reading Tagged 2011, autobots, blockbuster, casting, dark of the moon, decepticons, michael bay, movie, news, shia labeouf, transformers, transformers 3, updates
The film festival at Cannes has begun, a time when the movers and shakers in the industry get together, and much dealing is done. The first really interesting news, to me at least, is that a sequel to Gareth Edward’s Monsters, one of Fluent in Film’s top ten films of 2010, is on the horizon. The article is here at Total Film, but not a great deal of information is known a this time as the project is still in its infancy. Based on what little we do know, however, it sounds like it is going to be less of a sequel per se, and more of a separate story told in the same universe. Continue reading 
