Movies Daily by Zach Cannon

Hellboy cleaned up at the box office this weekend. It took in almost $36 million, about $13 million more than its predecessor. The first only made $66 million domestically, but despite the more positive reception of the new movie, it probably won’t be too much more successful. Why? Because by Thursday people will be saying “Whoboy?” when The Dark Knight owns cineplexes (I’ve heard it’s sold out midnight and 3 a.m. showings across the country and 6 a.m. showings are now filling up).

Anyways, Hancock bumped down to number 2, but lost 50% of its audience from last weekend (no surprise, really, considering the last-weekend numbers don’t take into account midnight Wednesday through midnight Friday).

P.S. No one care about Meet Dave this weekend. Eddie Murphy, please retire.

Here’s the full list:

1. Hellboy II: The Golden Army: $35.8 million
2. Hancock: $33 million
3. Journey to the Center of the Earth: $20.6 million
4. Wall-E: $18.5 million
5. Wanted: $11.5 million
6. Get Smart: $7 million
7. Meet Dave: $5.3 million
8. Kung Fu Panda: $4.3 million
9. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl: $2.4 million
10. Indiana Jones: $2.25 million

I have about six minutes to post if I want to make any money today, so here’s a lame excuse for a post.

Hellboy II is the big release today. Is it good? 88% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a positive rating while the general consensus reads “Del Toro crafts a stellar comic book sequel, boasting visuals that are as imaginative as the characters are endearing.”

The other big release, Journey to the Center of the Earth, is a test for the future of 3-D. It’s Brendan Frasier’s first movie of the summer (the second, the third Mummy film, will be out in August). It only got a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and its consensus reads: “Modern visuals and an old fasioned storyline make this family adventure/comedy a fast-paced, kitschy ride.”

Finally, the film nobody cares about, Meet Dave, another bore from Eddy Murphy. It got a 21% on Rotten Tomatoes and its consensus is pretty predictable: Easy gags and slack direction drag this occasionally clever alien-out-of-planet comedy down to unimaginative lows.

Early tomorrow morning, I’ll be headed to New York City for a five-day vacation, so till Monday I’ll have truncated posts. So here’s a quick run down of today’s news.

Robert Downey, Jr., who will apparently star in every movie between now and 2010, has been cast in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes as the titular detective. There could end up being a pair of competing Holmes movies if the Ferrell-Cohen version gets production started soon enough.

The ’80s Commie-fest Red Dawn is getting a new day in cineplexes. It’s being remade with second-unit extraordinaire Dan Bradley at the helm and Carl Ellsworth at the pen (that particular phrase to describe when someone writes a script doesn’t exactly work). In the same article that covers the remake, it also mentions that a number of directors, including Darren Aronofsky, have been spoken with about a new RoboCop film.

I misspoke a bit yesterday when I said that Quentin Tarantino was stepping out of his comfort zone and letting someone other than the Weinstein Brothers produce his Inglorious Bastards. In reality, The Weinstein Company is co-financing, distributing and marketing the film , which means that when QT sent out his script to four studios yesterday, he was probably seeking more co-financing.

SAG has said they’ll address AMPTP’s offer to them tomorrow, but the producers made it harder for them to turn it down today. In short, the producers said the pay increases in their new offer will be retroactive to July 1 if the deal is ratified by August 15. You can read more about it here.

Despite a quiet day in Hollywood, there were a few big news items. For Quentin Tarantino aficionados, the script for his long-gestating WWII project Inglorious Bastards went out to studios today, and rumor has it he’s looking to cast Brad Pitt. To me, Tarantino is a bit indulgent, and, despite all the fanboy drooling over this project, Inglorious Bastards seems no different. Perhaps one sign though that the movie isn’t going to be a repeat of Kill Bill or, worse, Death Proof: Tarantino seems to be stepping out of his safe zone and getting his film produced by someone other than the Brothers Weinstein.

The bigger, more important news is that of the AFTRA vote. The guild ratified AMPTP’s offer for a primetime deal. (Read a press release on Deadline Hollywood here.) The producers put out their “final offer” to SAG this week and that guild will respond to AMPTP on Thursday. Considering the growing support and opposition of the AFTRA contract by various actors, this could either be an ordeal that ends rather quickly, or could lead to a strike and might end up being dragged out for some time.

Slightly less important news: DreamWorks Animation and Intel have struck a deal to help develop 3-D technology and techniques. DreamWorks has said in the past that they want to release all of their future animated films in 3-D and both companies will use this opportunity to test out their new toys until they can make that a reality.

Finally, here’s an interesting article about how The Incredible Hulk probably won’t do much better than the 2003 Hulk at the box office, but will be considered a far greater success.

Whoever owns The Weather Channel is LOADED. NBC Universal just bought the network for $3.5 billion in cash. Of course, buying The Weather Channel is a package deal; not only do you get one of the most watched cable nets, but you also get one of the most visited Web sites, Weather.com. Think of how many people you know that check it before leaving the house, or going on a trip. It’s enough to rank it the 15th most visited site on the ‘net.

Speaking of popular Web sites, YouTube has been ordered by a court to release who watches their videos and when. The ruling comes out of a suit Viacom brought against the Web site for the copyright infringement that occurs when its programs are shown on YouTube. This article explains that the information could be as detailed as giving the IP address of who watched which video, which essentially gives the Viacom the ability to knock on your door and suing you personally, just like what happened a few years ago during the Napster/Music downloading hoopla. As everyone should know by now, nothing is private in the information age.

Aint It Cool News has some new photos up from the new Harry Potter movie, my favorite, left, depicts a very sinister-looking Malfoy.

As if the upcoming Watchmen adaptation didn’t already look cool enough, the comic’s artist Dave Gibbons chimes in on the film’s art design and how it translates in this video . Plus, you get a small glimpse at what Rorschach looks like in the film.

Also in the Cool Video department is this one, which puts you in the shoes of Stanley Kubrick on the set of The Shining. One take + lots of moving parts + Kubrick = advertising genius.

There seems to be an American Gangster sequel in the works. A salsa singer in Puerto Rico has claimed that he’s been cast as a Mexican Cop in the sequel to last year’s mob epic. As the original article points out, it’s probably a DTV sequel about another gangster that has nothing to do with Frank Lucas or Richie Roberts.

If you thought the rescue mission in Colombia last week sounded like something out of a Hollywood action movie, well, it’s about to be. Vertigo Entertainment and a Colombian TV network won the rights to the story of Ingrid Betancourt and the 14 other hostages that were rescued in an undercover operation that involved Colombian officials taking acting classes, pretending to be FARC rebels and eventually confusing the real rebels and walking away with their hostages.

This summer the box office has already been immensely successful and Hancock has only furthered that success. After WALL-E last week, the box office was 4% ahead of last year’s, which was the most successful ever. Though it didn’t make as much as Transformers did this weekend last year, Hancock still took in a pretty penny, earning $66 million Friday-Sunday and $107 million since it started showing previews Tuesday night. That might somewhat slow this summer’s ability to top last summer’s, but with more big hits on the way (Hellboy, Step Brothers, X-Files, The Mummy 3, Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder and, of course, The Dark Knight, to name a few) and barring any more increases in gas/box office prices, this will be the most successful summer ever.

This weekend’s other release, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, placed eighth and took in $6 million. Also noteworthy: Indiana Jones is still in the top ten (seven) and has surpassed $300 million, while Kung Fu Panda (five) has nearly taken in $200 million, a decent gross for an animated film, which will only be topped by WALL-E (second this week with $33 million for a total of $128 million) this summer.

Here’s the complete list:

1. Hancock: $66 million
2. WALL-E: $33 million
3. Wanted: $20.6 million
4. Get Smart: $ 11 million
5. Kung Fu Panda: $7.5 million
6. The Incredible Hulk: $4.9 million
7. Indiana Jones … Crystal Skull: $3.9 million
8. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl: $3.6 million
9. Sex and the City: $2.3 million
10. You Don’t Mess with the Zohan: $2 million

Seeing as it’s the Fourth of July and all, I’m celebrating by doing as little work as possible. So I’ll take the easy way out for a Friday and sum up this weekend’s big releases.

First up is Hancock. As far as I understand, Hancock is one of the best cases of false advertisement this summer. It looks like a post-modern, hilarious take on the superhero genre. What I’ve read is that it’s actually about a fallen god who doesn’t remember his past and acts like a crappy superhero, until he meets a PR agent who tries to turn around his reputation, right around the god has sex with an underage girl and goes to jail. Strange? Yup, made even stranger by the fact that the PR agents wife is also a fallen god and is also Hancock’s true soul mate, or something along those lines. I haven’t seen the movie and I won’t this weekend based on everything I’ve heard so far: the movie is supposed to be uneven and bland. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, it got just a 38% Tomatometer ranking, not very good for recent Will Smith movies.

The other movie, which I also won’t see because I’m not a 12-year-old girl, is Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, which is based on the American Girl series. It has a 78% on Rotten Tomatoes and the general critical consensus says “Refreshingly sweet and sincere, Kit’s doll-and-book-inspired do-good mystery may be geared towards the tween girl but will please audiences of all ages.” May be a good choice if your kids haven’t already seen Wall-E.

Anyways, that’s all from me for today. Enjoy your BBQs and fireworks and happy 232nd birthday to the U.S.A.

Yesterday I posted a link to an article about a long-lost print of Metropolis being discovered in its entirety. Apparently, the new print was shown at a press event today in Buenos Aires and images from the film have hit the ‘net. You can see one to the left, but for an article that’s already been updated a few times with new photos, click here .

I wonder what long-lost films will be found in the future. Richard Donner’s version of Superman 2 was restored not too long ago using reshot footage and old material that never screened. There’s always the famous missing nine-hour long Greed, which has long been thought gone forever. This all reminds me of this funny Scorsese movie/commercial.

I usually try to save all the trailers till Trailer Park Saturdays so I have something to post over the weekend, but this teaser for the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still is available here (it’s already been taken down from two other places, so it might not be around for long). Other than Jon Hamm’s involvement (I’m rewatching season 1 of Mad Men on On Demand and as much as I love him in that show, he deserves some big-screen success), nothing in it looks all that exciting — certainly not anything worth remaking the original for, at least.

Mike Judge is getting back behind the camera behind his ignored Idiocracy. Unlike his last film and the cult-classic Office Space before it, he’s getting some big name comedy actors this time around. Jason Bateman is attached to star in Extract, a comedy about a flower-extract plant owner with bad luck, and now SNL’s current MVP Kristen Wiig is in talks to join the cast. Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s Mila Kunis is also in negotiations.

Here’s some news on Huey Lewis (ha-ha — “news” — get it?). The ’80s icon has recorded the title track/theme song for the new Seth Rogen comedy The Pineapple Express. You can listen to it here.

If you’re jonesing for some Harry Potter and can’t wait till it comes out, USA Today and Empire Magazine both have news about the latest flick in which Team Potter talks about the challenges with making a new Potter film after the book series ended and the darker direction in which the movies are heading. Find those pieces here and here.

Finally, Will Smith will be even more rich than he already is this weekend. Hancock made $24.2 million Wednesday, just the start of a $100+ million weekend.

Two weeks ago, NPR’s Fresh Air ran a few interviews from their archives to celebrate the newest AFI list of the top 10 films from 10 different genres. Now they’ve followed that show with another half-dozen interviews with Martin Scorsese, Michael Imperioli, Mario Puzo, John Lassetter and film history Rudy Behlmer. You can find it here.

If you’ve ever watched Metropolis on DVD, some versions included title cards explaining missing scenes. Back when the film debuted to a poor response, Ufa recut the film and released one of the most celebrated — and somewhat odd thanks to the missing sections — science fiction films in history. Now, the missing parts have shown up in Argentine museum. You can read all about it here.

Thanks to RealD and Dolby you’ll always be able to find a 3-D screen somewhere near you before too long. RealD and Cinemark struck a deal to outfit 1,500 screens with 3-D technology. The change won’t be instantaneous, unfortunately; screens have to be converted and “financial arrangements” must be arranged.

I posted a link the other day to a story on the Latino Review about the potential rating of Beverly Hills Cop 4. Now, Eddie Murphy apparently wants to retire from filmmaking and only a lot of money may bring him back. Because all of the related articles would be too time consuming, I’ll cheat and send you here, where Aint It Cool News already did it for me.

What is destined to become one of strangest versions of Sherlock Holmes, Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell will star as the famous detective and his sidekick Watson, respectively. Tropic Thunder scribe Etan Cohen is writing the script.

Werner Herzog has cast two more actors in his Bad Lieutenant remake. Xzibit and Val Kilmer (the strangest actor ever — I mean, did you see him in Comanche Moon?) will appear alongside Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes in the film.

Hancock took in $6.8 million last night, besting Iron Man’s $5.5 million pull during it’s midnight preview showings. Industry estimates have the film making more than $100 million by Sunday.

Due to a busy day, I’ll have to keep today’s update short. Here’s some quick bullets of today’s news.

To strike, or not to strike. That is the question. At 12:01 tomorrow morning (Tuesday at midnight), the SAG contract with AMPTP will expire. As of yet, no strike has been authorized. SAG’s president doesn’t want it, others do. Read all about it here and here.

After he’s done with Watchmen, director Zak Snyder already has an animated feature lined up, as well as an adventure/drama set in Afghanistan, but it looks like he could be sticking around in the Middle East after that and leading the Spartans against the Persians again in a sequel to 300. Frank Miller, the author of the original graphic novel, is writing a new one upon which the film sequel will be based.

Terminator 4 (I know I never refer to it by its real name, but that name is just too stupid to type out) has gotten itself a new actress. Helena Bonham Carter will join Christian Bale in a “small but pivotal” role.

Brett Ratner has tried to dispel the rumors online that Beverly Hills Cop 4 will be PG or PG-13 so that younger audiences can rediscover the franchise. He told Latino Review: “Dont believe everything you read on the internet. Believe me, this is going to be a hard core ‘R’ Beverly Hills Cop. I start shooting next year.”

And two interesting stories about trends in entertainment came from Variety today. The average TV viewer is getting older, probably in large part because of the growing number of baby boomers, and, despite the record summer last year, rising tickets, gas and popcorn prices, this year’s box office is doing 4% better than 2007’s.