The Mix : What are people talking about today?

Circulations drop at newspapers

Comic books aren’t the only media who are having bad times with circulation drops. Comic strips are feeling pinched too, perhaps even more, as many of the large metro newspapers across the country are experiencing significant circulation drops, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Circulation at The New York Times fell by 1.93%, at Tribune’s Newsday by 6.9% and at Belo’s Dallas Morning News by 14%. National dailies fared slightly better, remaining flat compared to last year.

Round up the usual suspects. Darn that Internet.

Who’s late?

e303gridlock-6292731There won’t be a new Doctor Who episode a week from this Saturday, also known as May 12th here on Earth. The hit show is leaving this time–space continuum to make room for the Eurovision Song Contest and if they didn’t bump it the BBC would have to move the Doctor’s starting time up and the earlier the starting time the lower the ratings so screw it, they’re taking the week off.

Of course, the BBC is ad-free, so why sweat the ratings? Whatever. We’ll live. Angry, but breathing through it.

At least Doctor Who‘s not being bounced for Dancing With The McCartneys.

Spider-Man 3 advance tickets set new records

Fandango, the phone and online advance movie ticket source, sent out a press release saying that as of 9 this morning, Pacific time, 94% of all weekly ticket sales online were for Spider-Man 3.  Most of the Thursday midnight shows around the country have sold out, and lots of theaters added 3 AM shows. 

As comparison, Fandango reports that SM3 is selling six times as many tickets as SM2, and two and a half times as many tickets as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at the same point in their sales cycles.

In an online poll, Fandango asked moviegoers their thoughts about possible Spider-Man movies in the future. In responding to the poll, 58% of fans said they would not consider buying a ticket to a fourth Spider-Man movie with someone other than Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker. Also, 52% of fans said they would not consider buying a ticket to a fourth Spider-Man movie if it were directed by someone other than Sam Raimi.

Shrek heading to The Great White Way

If you’ve ever wanted to make an ass of yourself on Broadway, now’s your chance.

The casting call for Shrek – The Broadway Musical, has gone out for the roles of Shrek and Donkey. All audition materials need to be submitted by May 18, 2007.  For specifics on what the creative team is looking for in each character, and how to submit audition materials, all would be ogres and asses should go to http://iwanttobeshrek.com/ . A two-week reading of the show is slated to take place this in NYC, July 23-August 3.

Shrek – The Broadway Musical is scheduled to premiere on Broadway sometime in 2008.

(Artwork copyright 2004 Dreamworks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. Watch your ass. Get it?)

At last: Frank Miller’s Ronin to big screen

  • Uncategorized
  • May 2, 2007

2721_4_4-3978534I guess the first question is, what took them so long?

Frank Miller’s 1983 mini-series Ronin has been optioned by Warner Bros., no doubt noticing the success of Miller’s recent movies Sin City and 300. Whereas there are only reports of an option deal, Variety reports director Sylvain White is going to direct the live-action project.

It will come as no shock that Ronin will be shot in the blue/green screen method used for Sin City and 300.

No word on any guest-shot from Samurai Jack, who would fit in like a glove.

 

Superhero patrols Phoenix

Via BoingBoing, we learn of a certain guy named Jim.  He lives in Tempe, AZ.  He drives a Nissan. 

And he is a crime-fighting hero.

Several nights a week, he patrols the streets of his town as Citizen Prime.  He wears a leather mask, a silk cape, and a steel-plated body shield on his upper body.  He drives through bad neighborhoods, armed with a cell phone to take photos and call the police.  If things get really tough (they haven’t yet), he has a stun gun and a bean bag stun gun.

When he isn’t driving, he walks the streets, distributing pamphlets to his fellow citizens urging them to get more involved in their community. 

If you want to learn more, check out his MySpace page.  Sorry, girls, he’s married!

Now if he can only do something about Tempe’s vampire outbreak…

Spider-Man 3 sets records in Asia

  • Uncategorized
  • May 2, 2007

Variety reports today that Spider-Man 3 set records in each of the eight Asian territories in which it debuted on Tuesday.  In Japan, it earned ¥415 million ($3.47 million).  In Korea, it took in 3.2 billion won ($3.44 million), and in Hong Kong the flick had the largest opening day ever, with $HK 7.5 million ($958,984).  Other records were set in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Phillippines and Taiwan.

The film also opened in France, German, and Italy.  Tomorrow, it distracts China, Australia and Russia, among others, before opening in the US, India and the UK on Friday.

Variety quotes a Sony distribution "honcho" saying, "This is a great way to start the summer. Box office for the past few weeks has been lackluster, and audiences seem very ready for summer."

(more…)

Mitt Romney favors L. Ron Hubbard

  • Uncategorized
  • May 2, 2007

battlefieldearth-3363928Quoting Patrick Nielsen Hayden at Making Light:

"The good news: Even unblinking, homunculus-like Republican presidential candidates, asked for their favorite novel, cite works of modern SF!

"The bad news: Mitt Romney’s professed “favorite novel” is Battlefield Earth."

(more…)

ELAYNE RIGGS: Forward into the past

elayne200-3491864The comics industry stands at an exciting crossroads. International acceptance of graphic literature is starting to have a positive effect on how Americans see non-superhero genres, as manga saturates teen audiences and award-winning autiobiographical novels like Fun Home and Persepolis enthrall adults. When you factor the geek contingent into that, as even the superhero genre (the one most non-comics readers associate and conflate with the medium itself) gains mainstream acceptance in blockbuster movies and hit TV shows, it would seem to be another Golden Age for the artform. The future of print and online comics looks healthier than ever.

So why is so much of the comics industry still mired in the past?

Take Previews, for instance. Now, Diamond Comics distribution and comic book retailers do many things right. Diamond’s comic store locator provides a valuable service, and Free Comic Book Day (this Saturday, don’t forget to peruse your local store with someone “new” to comics!) has become a much-anticipated event. And I suspect Previews isn’t as much a problem as a symptom of a wider dilemma facing brick-and-mortar specialty stores caught in the timeline between the demise of newsstand and mom-and-pop outlets (where many of today’s adult readers bought their first comics) and the promise of mainstream bookstores and targeted online purchasing.

Personally, I think the root of the problem is non-returnable product. (more…)

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