Happy Monday! Did you have a good holiday weekend? Here's hoping it was better than what transpired over the last few days at the box office, where returns ranged from modest to sluggish as America's families holed up with God and the Masters and whatever else struck their fancies while multiplexes hummed along quietly with a shrinking blockbuster and a few decent runners-up. Your Weekend Receipts
more »
Ever since growling his way through 2008's gloriously B-movie-esque B-movie Taken, Liam Neeson's been enjoying his newfound status as the gruff hero with killer instincts and a particular set of skills that you want on your side in the event of a kidnapping/assassination attempt/jailbreak/wolf attack. So why fix something that ain't broke? Enter Non-Stop, Neeson's next actioner and an airplane-set excuse to see Neeson smash heads and deliver straightfaced epic one-liners.
more »
You had about as much chance of winning last Friday's lotto jackpot as either Wrath of the Titans or Mirror Mirror had of knocking off the blockbuster incumbent Hunger Games in the box-office sweepstakes, but at least the two new releases didn't have a totally losing ticket. Meanwhile, at least one aggressive holdovers is making its money the old-fashioned way. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
more »
The 10 years that we are told at the beginning of Wrath of the Titans have passed since Perseus (Sam Worthington) defeated the Kraken may not seem like long enough, especially when you consider that it’s only been two since the Clash of the Titans remake was released, Kraken-like, on an unsuspecting populace. It was sufficient time, anyway, for Worthington to grow out his hair, so that in Wrath of the Titans he sports a soft cap of curls to go with his peaceful life among the humans. He’s lost a wife but gained a son and another pretext to propel a franchise whose fate was sealed once Avatar’s numbers started rolling in. That it was going to happen was certain; how it happened was of secondary concern.
more »
Wrath of the Titans actor Toby Kebbell (Control, RocknRolla) was once up for the part of Tetsuo in Warner Bros.' live-action adaptation of Katsuhiro Otomo's cyberpunk manga and anime Akira -- but with the project stalled, he unleashed some real talk on the direction the studio intended on taking the big-budget franchise. Among WB's plans: They wanted to adapt the anime and not the richer source material of the mangas, and planned on taking certain liberties with key character relationships to boot. “I was like, ‘The point is that Tetsuo can’t comprehend how someone who isn’t his brother could love him so much — and that’s where his wrath and his rage come from. Do you not see that? Why have you made them brothers? What the fuck are you doing?’” [IFC via Collider]
Forget John Carter's controversial budget woes and terrible tracking for a minute; Wrath of the Titans has been threatening to be the first big biff of 2012 since it was announced, thanks largely to its poorly received predecessor, Clash of the Titans. The sequel's initial Marilyn Manson-themed trailer didn't help, either, but Warner Bros. have thankfully tightened things (and stopped lingering on Sam Worthington's Kenny Powers 'do) for a new trailer that actually promises some fantastic CG creature work. Bring on the lava monster thingy!
more »
The first trailer for the action sequel Wrath of the Titans just hit, and -- what's that? You forgot this movie existed entirely? And you're tired of replaying the new Dark Knight Rises trailer over and over again just to make out Bane's muffled dialogue? I'm pretty sure he's growling something along the lines of, "Geez, didja see the new Wrath of the Titans trailer? They really did a number on poor Sam Worthington's hair, amirite?" Holy Greek demigods, people -- he's like Kenny Powers in sandals. Curls will rise, and then some. Watch the CG spectacular after the jump.
more »