Author: Robert Greenberger

The Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading captured the box office crown this weekend, netting the duo a record setting opening of $19,404,000 according to estimates from Box Office Mojo.

The top five slots were a mixed bag with Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys in second place with $18,020,000; the Al Pacino/Robert DeNiro drama Righteous Kill took $16,500,000 despite tepid reviews; and The Women  nabbede $10,088,000 and mostly negative buzz  with the comedy The House Bunny banking $4,300,000 (totaling $42,154,000).

After that, returning films were all up and down the charts as people turn their attention to more serious fare, the new television season and the local and national elections.  As a result, holdovers such as Tropic Thunder, Death Race, Traitor, and the like were seeing 40-50% decreases in audience.

In the genre, The Dark Knight topped the list with an additional $4,015,000 boosting the total to $517,680,000 while the next top performers included Rogue’s Death Race lapped up another $2,017,000 and Vin Diesel’s  Babylon A.D. banked just $1,770,000.
 

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is a new kind of movie hero and he’ll be making his home video debut after playing to a limited number of screens in the coming weeks before its DVD release from Anchor Bay on October 7 retailing for a mild-mannered $26.97

Jack Brooks: was directed by Jon Knautz (Moment of Truth), and produced by Neil Bregman, Trevor Matthews and Patrick White. John Ainslie and Jon Knautz wrote the screenplay from a story by Ainslie, Knautz, Matthews and White.

Anchor Bay says, “Yesterday, he was a plumber. Today, he’s trying to save the world. Meet Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. The legendary Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger of A Nightmare on Elm Street) stars along with Trevor Matthews (who produced the film, in addition to playing the title role) and Rachel Skarsten (Birds of Prey).

“As a young boy, Jack saw his parents brutally murdered by monsters. Now he toils as a plumber, is saddled with an annoying girlfriend (Skarsten), attends therapy sessions that accomplish absolutely nothing, and is enrolled in night classes where he barely manages to stay awake.

“But when his professor (Englund) accidentally unleashes an ancient curse and begins to transform into a hideous monster, Jack must put down his plunger, prepare to do battle with the forces of evil, and confront his destiny. All Jack wants to do is put his past behind him, but some things just won’t stay buried …”

Robert Englund, at Comic-Con International, told ComicMix, “I’m here with the company Anchor Bay which really responds to the kind of horror-comedy kind of stuff that people like Sam Raimi with the Evil Dead films used to do. I don’t know if it’s a response to the number of big-budget horror failures of late or that there’s so much homemade stuff on YouTube now, but fans really seem able to watch something like a Hellboy 2 or a Dark Knight, which I love, but they also have room for movies like the ones I’ve been involved with lately such as Zombie Strippers, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer or Hatchet.

“It seems they can tune into a big $200 million blockbuster film one day and then also enjoy a little $2 million film we made mostly for fun. They’re what I like to call “cheap thrills.” I think there always has to be room for cheap thrills. I don’t know if it’s political or if there’s too much CGI or something but maybe that’s what movies like Saw or Hostel are tapping into — people’s need for something more simple and fun.”
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Coming to stores next month, BBC Video offers a 19-disc Michael Palin Collection – on October 7, 2008.

All of eight of Palin’s fascinating travelogues — Around the World in 80 Days, Pole to Pole, Himalaya, Sahara, New Europe, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure, and Great Railway Journeys – will be included, the last three new to DVD.  The box set contains 36 hours of content and over seven hours of bonus features, include interviews with Palin, behind-the-scenes featurettes, outtakes, deleted and extended scenes, as well as Polish and Russian subtitles on New Europe. The box set will retail for $249.92.

Michael Palin: Full Circle ($49.98) and Michael Palin: Hemingway Adventure with Great Railway Journeys ($34.98) will also be released individually.

Also being released on October 7 will be The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete First Season. This Doctor Who spin-off provides science fiction adventure for the whole family by melding the same mystique and wonder featured in the contemporary Doctor Who series with fun-filled hilarity. Elisabeth Sladen reprises her role as the investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith — one of the classic Doctor Who‘s most beloved companions. Accompanied by a fresh, young team including 13-year- old next door neighbor Maria Jackson (Yasmin Page, The Mysti Show), Sarah Jane sets out on a whole new round of escapades ranging from discovering mischievous alien plots to helping lost extraterrestrials return home. Boasting six hours of content, this four-disc set features all 10 episodes as well as cast and crew interviews, a Sarah Jane Smith video timeline, behind the scenes footage, and character and alien profiles. The box set will retail for $49.98. (more…)

Marc Guggenheim, Greg Berlanti and Michael Green are just about done with a rewrite to their Green Lantern feature film script and told Moviehole they anticipate turning it in this coming week.

One of the things that excited Warner Bros. about the proposed project were the production drawings from former comic book artist Brian Murray.  He based Hal Jordan on actor David Boreanez, known for Angel but also was Jordan’s voice on the New Frointier animated movie released earlier this year.  Carol Ferris was modeled after Sin City’s Carla Gugino.

Boreanez, currently starring on Fox’s Bones, has tested for super-heroes before, first as The Thing in Fantastic Four and later as Superman for Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.

Now word is bubbing that he may be considered for the live-action version as well.

For George Miller’s stalled Justice League film, GL was going to be John Stewart and played by the rapper Common.
 

The Seven Samurai remains one of the classic storytelling devices invented for movies and has been the template for many films beginning with The Magnificent Seven.  It has now also proven to be the inspiration for Doomsday Protocol, a science fiction thriller.  The original script by Shane Salerno was purchased by 20th Century Fox for development.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, “a group of aliens and humans with various abilities who are brought together to save Earth.”

Salerno’s previous writing credits Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, Ghost Rider, the remake of Shaft ,and Armageddon.

Fear(s) of the Dark, an animated horror film from France, will receive a limited US release in October through December.  The movie screened this past January at the 37th International Film Festival Rotterdam and garnered good reviews.

Coming to America via IFC Films, the movie is an anthology of six intertwined tales about phobias and nightmares from a variety of international creators including Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre Di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, and Richard McGuire.

The film will run between October and December at mostly independent theaters.  See IFC’s website for additional details.