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Psychotic Reactions
-- John Shea
7 June, 2003
Another weekend, another colossal battle for the box office crown. Okay, so far the big battles haven't exactly materialized. X2 opens big, only to get shoved aside by The Matrix Reloaded, which gets promptly slapped down by Bruce Almighty, which is easily bested a week later by Finding Nemo. Sensing a trend? Despite that, I think we'll see a close fight for first between Nemo and 2 Fast 2 Furious. Figure both films come in somewhere around $50 million with Furious edging out Nemo. The films target almost mutually audiences so for this week, they should have little difficulty sharing the spotlight. The victory will be short lived though. I don't think that Furious has legs while Nemo should hover near the top for some time. Long term I expect Nemo to approach $300 million while Furious probably just clears $100 million. Furious is basically just eye candy. Does anyone really think people will come back week after week for more Paul Walker?
Back to the FCC thing once again, the Senate is considering a bill that would repeal the new rules allowing a company to own up to 45% of the national audience. This bill would roll it back to the previous 35%. Assuming it passes the Senate and heads ove to the House, odds are it will stall there as Commerce Committe chair Bill Tauzin favors the new changes. The important thing though is that the issue isn't getting a free pass. A fierce debate might actually cause some good ideas to appear. Or not. This is Congress we're talking about here.
Random Observation
I keep seeing ads for Pirates of the Caribbean and they make me wonder if this might actually be good. When the project was first announced I groaned. Disney making a movie based on one of its theme rides seemed to be the final scraping of the creative barrel. But then they cast Johhny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, two actors more likely to take roles based on art than money. Could it be the script actually intrigued them? Or did Disney just dump big buckets of cash in their lap? Who knows. I do know that the trailer actually looks pretty good. Not run right out to the theater good, but far better than I expected.
News
Rampart Scandal: Topping the news that I really just don't get is word that Sylvester Stallone will write, star and direct a film about corruption in the LAPD and the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Stallone would play real life officer Russell Poole. Expect a Rashomon treatment, where the story is retold several times from different viewpoints. The story would follow Poole's investigation into the murders and his promise to Smalls' mother to find who killed her son. Record producer Suge Knightabout may play himself in the film. Stallone will be rewriting an earlier script by Mikko Allane. Now I know absolutely nothing about these events or the rap world in general but it certainly seems like Stallone is an odd guy to tackle it. He tells Variety that "the project scared off a lot of people." Perhaps Stallone, desperate for a hit, latched on to the material figuring it can't miss. Debate has raged for a long time over these murders and thus a movie on the subject could get a lot of attention.
Fun with Dick and Jane: Jim Carrey wasted no time cashing in on the success of Bruce Almighty. He's already lined up his next project, a remake of the heist flick Fun With Dick and Jane. The orginal starred George Segal and Jane Fonda as a wealthy couple who start robbing places to pay their bills. Peter Tolan (Analyse This, America's Sweethearts) wrote the script for the remake. Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black, Get Shorty) will direct. (Variety)
The Life Aquatic: Writer/director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) is ready for his next project, The Life Aquatic. He has rounded up his usual suspects in terms of actors such as Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Anjelica Huston. Also set to appear are Jeff Goldblum, Peter Stormare and Bud Cort. Anderson wrote the script with Noah Baumbach. It tells the story of oceanographer Steve Zissou and his problems dealing with deep sea exploration. It sounds strange but call me interested anyway. Anderson belongs on a short list of people whose movies I make a point to check out. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Luke Cage: Columbia Pictures has snapped up the rights to the Marvel comic book character Luke Cage. Ben Ramsey, who wrote the under-rated The Big Hit has been hired to write the script. Avi Arad, as with all Marvel projects, will produce. The comic is about a gang member wrongly sent to prison. While there he takes part in a medical experiment that goes wrong but leaves him with superhuman strength and skin impervious to damage. Cage then busts out of prison and goes to work as a hero for hire. Cage has been known by the nickname Power Man, from a time when he teamed with another superhero, Iron Fist, who incidently is in development at Artisan. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Casting Couch
The Aviator: Cate Blanchett, Kate Beckinsale, Adam Scott, Keli Garner and singer Gwen Stefani have all been signed to join the cast of Martin Scorsese's next film The Aviator. Blanchett will play Katherine Hepburn. Beckinsale will play Ava Gardner. Scott plays Howard Hughes' press agent Johnny Meyer. Garner will play young actres Faith Domergue and Stefani will play Jean Harlow. Shooting starts next month. (Variety)
Trailers
Gigli: Desperate for yet more Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez footage. Me either. But none the less, here is the trailer for their movie Gigli, which actually wasn't a bad script.
Reviews
E!'s Andy Jones gets the first look at Hulk
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