The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies
The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies |
- ''Rum Diary'' one of Depp's bigger box office flops
- Pixar co-founder says shares Hollywood star with Jobs
- Amanda Seyfried to play porn star Linda Lovelace
| ''Rum Diary'' one of Depp's bigger box office flops Posted: 02 Nov 2011 04:32 AM PDT LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com): One of the biggest movie stars in the world suffered one of the biggest box-office flops of his career this weekend. Even with Johnny Depp, the Hunter S. Thompson-themed ''Rum Diary'' couldn't scrape up more than $5 million at 2,272 North American locations. Considering the movie had a budget of about $45 million, that's a tough opening for the FilmDistrict release. The movie was also poorly received by filmgoers who did pay to see it, garnering a soft ''C'' score in post-screening surveys conducted by Cinemascore. Certainly Depp, who has driven Disney's ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' franchise and its ''Alice in Wonderland'' to multi-billion-dollar heights, has had other disappointments. Last year's ''The Tourist,'' which also starred Angelina Jolie, grossed $67.3 million domestically and $278.3 million worldwide - an impressive number, except the movie cost an estimated $100 million to make. His 2009 film ''The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus'' opened to a shabby $1.6 million. It went on to gross $7.6 million domestically and $61.8 worldwide on a $30 million budget. And his 2006 ''The Libertine'' fared far worse. It opened to $2.2 million and grossed $4.8 million in North America and $10.8 million worldwide. The film was shot on a modest budget of around $20 million. And of course, Depp has played Thompson - who he counted as a close personal friend - before, in 1998's ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.'' That movie was made for an estimated $18.4 million and grossed only $10.6 million domestically. Going into the weekend, FilmDistrict had modest expectations for ''Rum Diary.'' The distributor figured that Depp's appeal and Thompson's cult status would help the movie gross between $9 million - $11 million. Depp, of course, is a huge international star, and the movie has fared well in the few territories it has premiered in abroad, grossing $2.8 million in the Ukraine and Russia. ''The Rum Diary'' also stars Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard and Giovanni Ribisi. Bruce Robinson wrote and directed and Depp co-produced. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Pixar co-founder says shares Hollywood star with Jobs Posted: 01 Nov 2011 11:10 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com): Pixar co-founder John Lasseter thanked lots of people when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday, from his wife to the directors, actors and composers who helped make Pixar the most successful and acclaimed animation studio of its era. But only once did Lasseter's voice break, and only once did he struggle to find words as he held back tears. That came when he ended his speech by paying tribute to the late Steve Jobs, who bought Pixar from ILM in 1986 and watched as it morphed from a tiny tech company to a creative powerhouse. ''There is one last person I want to share this with, and that is my partner Steve Jobs,'' said a choked-up Lasseter. ''... Without him, Pixar would not exist.'' At their first meeting in 1987, recalled Lasseter, the CalArts grad - who'd won student Academy Awards for short films in 1979 and 1980 - pitched the idea of a short that would demonstrate the capabilities of the computer-animation software that was the young company's specialty. ''I had this crazy idea that toys are alive when you're not around,'' said Lasseter, who outlined the concept that led to the Oscar-winning short ''Tin Toy'' and, later, to the three ''Toy Story'' movies. ''I pitched the whole story to Steve,'' he said. ''And after it was all over, the only thing Steve Jobs ever asked of me was, 'John, make it great.'' Two dozen years later, Pixar is known not for its technical innovations, but as the most creative and successful studio of its day, with Oscars for three shorts and eight features, including ''Up,'' ''The Incredibles'' and ''Finding Nemo.'' Curiously, while Lasseter won Academy Awards as a student, and was given a Special Achievement Oscar for ''Toy Story,'' the last Pixar release not to win the Best Animated Feature prize was the one he directed, ''Cars.'' And Lasseter's 2011 sequel, ''Cars 2,'' is far from the prohibitive favorite that Lee Unkrich's ''Toy Story 3,'' Pete Docter's ''Up'' and Andrew Stanton's ''Wall-E'' were. Lasseter's ceremony took place in front of the El Capitan theater and came, fittingly, on the day that animated-feature entry forms were due at the Academy. At a lunch following the ceremony - a private open-air event catered by Lasseter's friend, Food Network chef Guy Fieri - the consensus among category-watchers was that at least 16 films will qualify this year, leading to only the third slate of five nominees in the category's 10-year history. (Fewer than 16 eligible films means four nominees - or in previous years, three.) The caveat: There are enough entries for five nominees if the Academy's Short Films and Feature Animation Branch rules that three features made using the motion-capture technique - ''The Adventures of Tintin,'' ''Mars Needs Moms'' and ''Happy Feet Two'' - qualify as animated. Lasseter's film ''Cars 2'' is certainly in the running for the top Oscar, though it's expected to have a tough fight in an unsettled year for animation. Among its rivals: DreamWorks' ''Puss in Boots,'' Steven Spielberg's ''Tintin'' and Gore Verbinski's ''Rango.'' At the star ceremony, of course, nobody was working out Lasseter's Oscar chances. Instead, the man of the hour was lauded by a group that included Owen Wilson, Randy Newman, Don Rickles and the man who has been in more Pixar films than anybody else, John Ratzenberger. The reason he's been in all 12 Pixar features, insisted Ratzenberger, dates back to a kindergarten trip Lasseter took to a state fair at which Ratzenberger was making a living as a tap dancer. With a straight face, the actor best known for ''Cheers'' said that he saved the young Lasseter from being crushed by a toppling funnel-cake machine. ''He looked up at me and said, 'Mister, someday I'm gonna pay you back,''' claimed Ratzenberger. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Amanda Seyfried to play porn star Linda Lovelace Posted: 01 Nov 2011 10:44 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com): Amanda Seyfried is going from ''In Time'' to ''Deep Throat.'' The actress has been cast to play the lead role in the porn-star biopic ''Lovelace,'' TheWrap has confirmed. The deal, however, is not yet closed. Peter Sarsgaard is in talks to play Linda Lovelace's coercive husband, the pornographer Chuck Traynor. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (''The Celluloid Closet'') are directing a script by W. Merritt Johnson and Andy Bellin. The script is based on ''The Complete Linda Lovelace,'' a book by Eric Danville. Avi Lerner, Heidi Jo Markel and Laura Rister are producing the movie, which is scheduled to begin production in January. Kate Hudson was offered the ''Lovelace'' role before she became pregnant. James Franco, who starred in Epstein and Friedman's ''Howl,'' also had been attached. Lovelace is best known for the 1972 porn film ''Deep Throat.'' The Seyfried movie is one of two Lovelace projects now under way. The writer-director Matthew Wilder is developing ''Ordeal,'' based on Lovelace's autobiography. Malin Akerman is set to star in that movie. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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