October 30th, 2006
This will make no sense unless you grew up in the Philadelphia area between 1980 and 1983. But if you did, it turns out that there’s a StarStuff fan site.
And also a MySpace page.
And also a Youtube gallery.
The Interweb may be lousy for all sorts of reasons, but it make indulging in childhood nostalgia deliciously easy.
0 commentsPS 3 Wins?
October 30th, 2006
GameDaily constructs what is probably the strongest case to be made for Sony’s PS3 prospects. I still don’t find it all that convincing.
Bonus: Here’s the new PS3 ad. Watch it and tell me if it makes any sense to you. Maybe the problem is that I’m not Japanese.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_893pvEFzE]
0 commentsTrailer City
October 30th, 2006
What are the two biggest surprises about Smokin’ Aces?
(1) That this thing is not directed by Tarantino, and
(2) How much Ben Affleck looks like Freddie Mercury. Why did we never see that before?
0 commentsSuperman Soars!
October 27th, 2006
Alert Gally Readers will recall that WB prexy Alan Horn said last summer that unless Superman Returns topped $200M domestically, there would be no sequel. We now have proof that where there’s a will, there’s a way:
Last weekend, on its 117th day of release, Superman Returns cracked the $200M mark.
Today, after 121 days in theaters, Superman Returns is sporting a titanic $200,028,903 in domestic box office.
Just how much corporate will did it take to accomplish this feat? For the last few weeks, Superman Returns has been playing in about 300 theaters and averaging–get this:
Between $16 and $277 per theater!
You don’t see corporate commitment like that every day.
0 commentsA Film by Emilio Estevez
October 27th, 2006
The set up to the joke is pretty great: Harry Belafonte, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, and Elijah Wood walk into a bar . . .
But the punchline seems so lame that it’s kind of depressing.
0 commentsThe Departed: Best Picture?
October 27th, 2006
I’ve been meaning to say something about The Departed for a while now, but I kept putting it off until I could see. I still haven’t seen it, but that isn’t going to stop me from pointing out its impressive box office run.
The Departed opened to relatively little fanfare–it got good reviews, but the ad push preceeded the release by only about two weeks. Certainly, it’s the lowest-profile Scorsese picture in a very, very long time; probably since The Color of Money (if you discount the artsy Kundun). Consequently, it opened to a relatively modest $26M. (Although that’s a career-best for Scorsese.)
But if you look at the numbers since then, Departed is showing fantastic legs, with weekend declines of 29.2 percent and 29.3 percent. It’s already got $80M in the bank domestically and I suspect it will chug along to at least the $100M mark–and that’s before it gets a nomination for Best Picture.
Again–I haven’t seen the movie yet–but just from the externalities, The Departed has all the makings of a BP nominee: an artistically ambitious, but popular, movie that succeeds over long period of time and is directed by a revered figure who’s been overlooked by the Academy. A movie with that pedigree is a lock for a nomination, even if it stinks.
Keep watching the daily grosses for The Departed. It’s been the #1 movie nearly every weekday since its release. That’s a sign that, even three weeks out, it’s prepared to keep running.
0 commentsGame Theory
October 26th, 2006
Ever wonder what the top-rated game system launch titles are? Sure you did.
Note the supremacy of Dreamcast. Damn you, Sony.
0 commentsOctober 26th, 2006
This video (thanks to Galley friend P.L.) has apparently been making the rounds. Laugh all you want, but I always knew those ballerinas were filthy.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKi5kv7MwPg]
0 comments
