Moviegoers in the U.K. continued to send Prometheus, Men in Black 3, and Snow White and the Huntsman into the top three spots of the box office, while '80s hair metal pic Rock of Ages, which landed at number four though its numbers actually suggested a softer opening than its U.S. equivalent, according to figures from The Guardian. Red Lights, which will not open in the U.S. until mid-July and starring Sigourney Weaver, Cillian Murphy and Robert De Niro, performed "landed limply."
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Those colorful wild animals sat atop the box office once again over the weekend. Madagascar 3 held onto the premiere position for the second consecutive week, while Warner Bros. Rock of Ages bit the dust despite its star-wattage. It wasn't a total surprise, however, though a disappointment all the same. The Tom Cruise starrer grossed just over $15 million in 3,470 theaters. Prometheus outshined Rock in its second weekend, holding onto the number two spot in the broader box office. The Fox feature took in $20.2 million in 3,442 theaters, averaging $5,869 - over $1,500 more than Rock of Ages - ouch.
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Many of us who were alive in the 1980s claimed not to listen to heavy metal or its almost indistinguishable twin, hard rock. But we did listen, or at least we heard it — it was unavoidable, an omnipresent aural beast slithering out of car radios, grungy bars and retail-establishment stereo systems. Even if you were more attuned to punk or jazz or just about anything else, it was part of the background noise of your life whether you liked it or not. If nothing else, Rock of Ages — adapted from the Broadway show of the same name, in which ’80s metal hits from the likes of Def Leppard, Foreigner and Night Ranger were woven into a rudimentary boy-meets-girl love story — reminds us just how good many of those songs we were pretending not to listen to really were. The picture has a good-natured, if self-conscious, spring to its step, at least until you-know-who shows up in a bejeweled devil’s head codpiece. The movie almost doesn’t survive his slurpy tongue bath.
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Fans of the Broadway musical Rock of Ages may throw tomatoes when they see the big screen version; director Adam Shankman, screenwriter Justin Theroux and even Tom Cruise himself made some major changes to the plot of the stage show. Some make the edgy musical more family friendly, but others sharpen the story. Will fans embrace their toned-down Rock of Ages movie?
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It's going on seven years since Brokeback Mountain brought cowboys and leading men out of the closet - even if they weren't exactly gay. But still, man on man snogging sessions still make some headlines as was the case recently with 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin and actor Russell Brand who share make-out time in the forthcoming Rock of Ages.
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Here's what I've been waiting for with all these pseudo-karaoke Rock of Ages glimpses we've endured: A look at Mary J. Blige — the realest singer in the cast, if you ask me — doing her thing. Watch as Mary J. as Justice Charlier drops the 411 on neophyte exotic dancer Julianne Hough to the sounds of Journey's "Any Way You Want It," which is apparently the rallying empowerment anthem of strippers everywhere circa 1987.
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The thing I love about the ramped-up new Rock of Ages trailer is how unapologetically it states what this movie is: A bombastic, cheeky, kitschy, bright-eyed and utterly slick tribute to the decadence of '80s rock culture, based on the even slicker Broadway hit of the same name. Which of course you already know — but now, with Tom Cruise's brief singing showcase and pretty much everyone else warbling adapted pop show tunes of their own, Warner Bros. and New Line's cards are on the table. There can be no ambiguity: You are either in or you are out. In this era of equivocation and overlapping quadrants and being everything to everyone, it's pretty ballsy when you think about it.
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Warner Bros. has shaken up its 2012-13 release slate a bit, with Bryan Singer's fantasy Jack the Giant Killer getting pushed from this June all the way to next March. Rock of Ages, meanwhile, has moved back two weeks to Jack's original June 15 release date, and Jack has displaced Arthur & Lancelot, which now owns a less-than-encouraging TBD 2013 opening. Should have been you, Gatsby. [Deadline]
Real talk: the new trailer for Adam Shankman's Rock of Ages musical embodies all that people who hate karaoke hate karaoke for. Namely, middle-aged folks blaring through cheesy renditions of their favorite '80s make-out/rock songs while the rest of us patiently wait for the plaintive strains of Journey to end, already. I say this as a person who likes -- nay, loves -- karaoke. Sigh. The Twisted Sister/Starship mash-up you really never asked for coming in 3, 2, 1.
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Hurrah for Tweet-happy directors! Thanks to Adam Shankman (@adammshankman), we've got our first look at Catherine Zeta-Jones in character as the mayor's wife in Shankman's now-filming musical Rock of Ages, along with a glimpse of two retro rocker cameos you can expect to see in the film.
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