If you were one of the lucky ones who got to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in IMAX opening weekend, then you were treated to the IMAX sized Deadpool telling you all about how size really does matter. Here’s the IMAX trailer that was shown before TFA.
Continue reading Deadpool Releases New TV Spots and IMAX Trailer
There are many pundits out there that claim the age of cinema will soon be coming to a close. With the digital revolution giving viewers instant access to pretty much any audio-visual material they could want, and sites like Netflix offering a huge selection of movies at the touch of a button, it looks like the traditional theater industry is having a hard time competing.
Continue reading Smell-O-Vision, 4D And Beyond: Cinema’s Most Interesting Innovations
Imagine if you will a world like ours. A world where there is no pollution and no crowds. Sure it’s because most of the population has been killed off but that’s not a problem hey? Oh did I mention the massive mutated animals that roam the landscapes eating folk? Yeah probably not every ones holiday destination but it is the basis of the new graphic novel from Image.
The Avengers has been destroying records left right and center and I will be listing all of them below so bathe in the glory that is the Avengers.
The most impressive record they surpassed was the one for the biggest opening weekend of all time, that’s a big one. Disney estimates the film raked in $200.3 million at North American theaters over the weekend, compared to the previous largest opening of $169.2 million ($172M after inflation) for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (loser). It would have probably done even better if IMAX theater had enough seats to meet demand, apparently this was a problem in many places and raises the question would it have made even more money on its opening weekend? But I can live with it beating nearly every record.
They made an estimated $80.5 million on its first Friday, the second-largest one-day total of all time after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($91.1M). CinemaScore reported on the first Friday that moviegoers were giving the film an average grade of A+, which suggested there were great sales through the weekend from word of mouth. Sure enough, The Avengers did even better than the opening day numbers suggested it would do, and now analysts estimate it will take over Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 for 3rd highest grossing film of all time. The film hasn’t even opened yet in some profitable markets (like for example Japan on August 17th).
The movie also made an additional $151.5M overseas that weekend. The film’s worldwide gross now stands at $1.29 billion. It passed $600 million in sales in only 12 days. It only needs $34M more to be 3rd highest grossing films and will take that spot from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I doubt it will make it near avatar or titanic though you never know.Walt Disney Pictures announced this weekend that the global blockbuster has crossed the $500 million mark domestically in a record 23 days (the previous record of 32 days was held by Avatar).
It passed the global box office totals for Iron Man ($585M), Iron Man 2 ($624M), Thor ($449M), and Captain America ($364M) within its first 12 days. It also has the highest per-theater average for a nationwide release, $46,063 per theater which is a lot. Highest domestic Saturday gross of all time ($69.7M). And this lot fastest to $100M, fastest to $150M, and fastest to $200M. When will it end Avengers? When?
It accounted for 82.7% of grosses for the top 12 movies, which is the second-largest market share ever. It was the biggest superhero midnight show opening (8th highest-grossing midnight movie). Highest grossing IMAX opening weekend ever (one of them was me!). The biggest opening weekend of all time in North America, Central America, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the Philippines (wow).
I think they are imagining money raining over them:
Funny facts from GIZMODO about how it would actually cost the city of New York for the damage that happened in The Avengers final battle if it were to happen in real life. The damage to NYC in would cost $160 Billion to repair! Ouch! (Don’t think that it’s going to make that much at the cinema).
It was calculated that the physical damage alone would cost $60-70 billion, with economic and clean-up ramifications adding $90 billion. To put that in context Hurricane Katrina cost $90 billion, and the tsunami in Japan last year cost $122 billion.
This is an open thank you letter from Joss Whedon sent out for the people who went to see The Avengers and it’s a great read if you have really liked some of his previous work (Buffy the Vampire Slayer., Angel, Firefly) because he really deserved this win and I hope he only does better in his future projects.
Dear Friends,
Well, it’s been quite a weekend. Someday, long from now, I will even have an emotional reaction to it, like a person would. I can’t wait! But before I become blinded by this “emotion” experience, there’s a few things I’d like to say. Well, type.
People have told me that this matters, that my life is about to change. I am sure that is true. And change is good — change is exciting. I think — not to jinx it — that I may finally be recognized at Comiccon. Imagine! Also, with my percentage of “the Avengers” gross, I can afford to buy… [gets call from agent. Weeps manfully. Resumes typing.] …a fine meal. But REALLY fine, with truffles and s#!+. And I can get a studio to finance my dream project, the reboot of “Air Bud” that we all feel is so long overdue. (He could play Jai Alai! Think of the emotional ramifications of JAI ALAI!!!!)
What doesn’t change is anything that matters. What doesn’t change is that I’ve had the smartest, most loyal, most passionate, most articulate group of — I’m not even gonna say fans. I’m going with “peeps” — that any cult oddity such as my bad self could have dreamt of. When almost no one was watching, when people probably should have STOPPED watching, I’ve had three constants: my family and friends, my collaborators (often the same), and y’all. A lot of stories have come out about my “dark years”, and how I’m “unrecognized”… I love these stories, because they make me seem super-important, but I have never felt the darkness (and I’m ALL about my darkness) that they described. Because I have so much. I have people, in my life, on this site, in places I’ve yet to discover, that always made me feel the truth of success: an artist and an audience communicating. Communicating to the point of collaborating. I’ve thought, “maybe I’m over; maybe I’ve said my piece”. But never with fear. Never with rancor. Because of y’all. Because you knew me when. If you think topping a box office record compares with someone telling you your work helped them through a rough time, you’re probably new here. (For the record, and despite my inhuman distance from the joy-joy of it: topping a box office record is super-dope. I’m an alien, not a robot.)
So this is me, saying thank you. All of you. You’ve taken as much guff for loving my work as I have for over-writing it, and you deserve, in this our time of streaming into the main, to crow. To glow. To crow and go “I told you so”, to those Joe Blows not in the know. (LAST time I hire Dr. Seuss to punch my posts up. Yeesh!)
Mr. Joss Whedon participated in a Reddit AMA recently, touching on everything from a Dr. Horrible sequel to season two of Firefly, to Scarlett Johansson’s prevalence as a “sex object” in much of the marketing for The Avengers.
First off is his answer to a Dr. Horrible Sequel (yay there might be sequel):
“We’re not shooting right now; we’re still in the early stages of writing. But we hope to make a great deal of progress this summer. And you can expect the death of someone you love… Yes, the original cast will be back for Dr H 2, but Penny will be… um… I don’t want to say ‘decomposing…”
Secondly his answer to Scarlett Johansson’s prevalence as a “sex object” in much of the marketing for The Avengers which I thought was actually a good idea because it was a shock when she wasn’t just some hot girl but actually a good character.
“All I can say is that Scarlett gets to do a lot more than be hot in Avengers. It’s definitely dispiriting to have a woman play a heroic role and then be reduced to body parts by fan commentary, but that can only change slowly. And is.”
The one most people want to know about is will there be a second season of Firefly? You have to kind of agree with what he says as sad as it makes me. The first step is a Kickstarter project.
“Step 2: Cancel Castle. Step 3: Cancel Homeland. Step 4: Generally destroy everybody’s careers. Step 5: Avoid Step 2.”
Next, we have this low budget video which was actually really funny and well thought out… Nah it’s just some good YouTube fun which I would have loved to have seen at the cinema straight after The Avengers finished. The best parts from this video would definitely be the fat Captain America with a small shield and Nick Fury dropping the f-bombs everyone wanted Samuel. L Jackson to do in the film (might just be me).
Welcome to Dark Knight Station, the Hero Express‘s main stop for all the news on The Dark Knight Rises.We’ll keep you up to date on all the biggest bat-news coming straight from Gotham City.
In the wake of the DKR prologue, reports sprouted up claiming that Christopher Nolan was already working to clean up Bane’s muffled voice, and theaters would soon be getting the new, clearer audio versions to play for audiences. However, Collider recently went to Warner Bros. and IMAX for confirmation, and both have officially stated that no altered versions of the prologue have been sent.
In the trailer that quickly followed the 8-minute preview Bane was a lot easier to understand, with the majority of viewers issuing a pretty vocal sigh of relief. Personally, I’m still not entirely clear on what Bane is saying in the trailer but I’m not desperately worried. As I’ve mentioned earlier, this isn’t something the entire production team would have missed – dozens of people worked on Bane’s character, not to mention the time and energy spent on audio and editing. It would be impossible for this to be an oversight.
It’s difficult to do with a film as wildly anticipated as The Dark Knight Rises but we all have to sit back and resist judgment for now. We’re picking apart a minor piece of the puzzle that will likely be inconsequential by the time everything comes together. Have a little faith.
Here’s a little change of pace: Kevin Smith, of all people, recently sent out a tweet featuring several minutes of unused and alternate footage from everyone’s favorite Batman movie. It includes some clips of Heath Ledger‘s Joker that you might not have seen before.
The few seconds of Ledger that debut here are just as striking as the footage that made it into the final film. It’s a brief reminder of how memorable the character is, and how talented an actor Ledger was. It’s the long shot of The Joker exiting the hospital that does it for me, rekindling the chilling sensation I had when I first saw The Dark Knight‘s Clown Prince of Crime.
Continue reading Hero Express: Dark Knight Station – Rumors, Easter Eggs and Tickets Already On Sale
Welcome to Dark Knight Station, the Hero Express‘s main stop for all the news on The Dark Knight Rises.We’ll keep you up to date on all the biggest bat-news coming straight from Gotham City.
This edition of Dark Knight Station is going to be a little different than the others. Last night I went to the midnight show of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Like most of the audience in the theatre, I was really there for the 6-minute prologue of The Dark Knight Rises. I’ll drop some info on the latest news below, but first I want to talk about the 6 minutes of Rises I got to experience. I’ll try to spoil as little as possible about what actually happens in the clip. I’m going to get right into it, here is my spoiler-free reaction to my first glimpse of The Dark Knight Rises.
Like the bank heist that introduced us to The Joker in the preview for The Dark Knight, the prologue is a high-tension scene that introduces us to the main villain, Bane. We’re dropped in almost mid-conversation and immediately start asking questions. If you followed the movie’s viral marking campaign, you’ll have a little more to go on, but suffice it to say that things escalate very quickly before taking an unexpected turn. Then it all goes haywire. The focus of the clip is to give us a sense of Bane’s capabilities and methods – again, it’s very much like The Dark Knight‘s prologue in that sense – but while The Dark Knight showed us The Joker was calculating in his ruthlessness, Bane makes it very clear that he has no love for subtlety or theatrics.
That’s not to say that there’s no room for mind-bending action; the climax of the preview is a sequence that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen before. It’s guttural and physical, and the IMAX camera makes it look gorgeous. Think of the sequence in The Dark Knight when Batman flipped the semi, then go much bigger.
Continue reading Hero Express: Dark Knight Station – My Own Reaction to the ‘Rises’ Prologue
Grizzly Bomb 