John Podhoretz: Movie Stars Strut Towards Extinction

John Podhoretz in the Weekly Standard:

“[T]he system around which the motion-picture business has oriented itself almost since its creation in the early years of the last century–the star system, which it largely invented–has finally reached its end.”

“The eight most successful movies over the course of the year’s first eight months have collectively grossed $2.7 billion, up from $2.3 billion for the entirety of 2008. And what is most striking about these eight films is that not a single one of them, not a single one, features an unmistakable star. Three of them are cartoons (Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Monsters vs. Aliens). Three are sequels whose top-line talents are incidental to their success (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sixth Harry Potter, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Two feature relative nobodies (Star Trek and The Hangover). The first traditional star appears in the ninth-place film, which is itself a high-concept sequel in which the star mostly stands around (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian with Ben Stiller). It’s not until tenth place that a classic vehicle hits the list, Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal. And after that you have to jump down to 15th place to find Tom Hanks in Angels and Demons. Will Ferrell’s movie tanked. Julia Roberts laid an egg. Adam Sandler couldn’t sell a ticket. Johnny Depp disappointed. Denzel Washington and John Travolta bombed together. Instead, the movies whose successes depended on their strong leading performances were the ones featuring the 57-year-old Irishman Liam Neeson (Taken, $145 million) and the out-of-work TV comedian Kevin James (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $146 million).
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Tags: 2009, adam sandler, ben stiller, Denzel Washington, Harry Potter
Posted Sep 18th 2009 at 1:55 pm in Celebrity News, News | 229038108 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/09/18/john-podhoretz-movie-stars-strut-towards-extinction/John+Podhoretz%3A+Movie+Stars+Strut+Towards+Extinction2009-09-18+20%3A55%3A45Big+Hollywood

The Stoning Of Team Hollywood

The crime is complete. Judgment has been passed. The killing stones are in hand. As per the harsh stoning penal code of Iran’s Islamist thugocracy (for however long that lasts) where the crime took place, my stones are not so big as to kill right away, not so small you can’t call them stones. And I’m winding up like Nolan Ryan. Feel free to pick up a stone of your own. But wait for it!

And let me make this perfectly clear, even if they do say Jehovah!

Sentence must be read before being carried out. And unlike Soraya M., the board members of the Asylum of Motion Picture Airheads and Stooges will deserve every rock that’s thrown their way. I also believe that, in light of events in Iran today, the following commentary will stand out in much starker prominence than it did when I first started reporting on them in early March, when Team Oscar first set off for the Unfriendly Skies of Islamist Iran. (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, Al Franken, Alireza Davudnejad, Ambush Bay
Posted Jun 19th 2009 at 5:45 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1641062 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/19/the-stoning-of-team-hollywood/The+Stoning+Of+Team+Hollywood2009-06-20+00%3A45%3A26John+T.+Simpson

Review: Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

If the first “Night at the Museum” was weighed down with a cookie-cutter plot involving the stale idea of a single dad desperate to redeem himself in his son’s eyes, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” has no weight whatsoever thanks to a flat story loaded with monstrous plot holes and a cast of dull, one-dimensional characters.

There’s also only one laugh — one — and all the special effects in the world simply can’t make up for a single chuckle over 105 very long minutes. The only good news is that Ben Stiller appeared to be even more bored than I was.

If you remember, Larry Daley (Stiller) was once a night guard at the Museum of Natural History in New York City where after the sun went down, thanks to ancient artifact, the exhibits all came to life. Mayhem ensued, adventure was had and lifelong friendships were formed.

A few years have passed (between films and for our characters) and today Larry has managed to tinker his way into fortune and some fame as a highly successful entrepreneur hawking inventions, like his glow-in-the-dark flashlight (so you can find it when the power goes out, duh), on infomercials.   (more…)

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Tags: Amy Adams, ben stiller, Hank Azaria, Night at the Museum, owen wilson
Posted May 22nd 2009 at 4:52 pm in Reviews | 141850One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/22/review-night-at-the-museum-battle-of-the-smithsonian/Review%3A+Night+at+the+Museum%3A+Battle+of+the+Smithsonian2009-05-22+23%3A52%3A32John+Nolte

‘Taken’: The World’s Oldest Profession is Father

He is a man with a gun. He is a killer, a slayer. Patient and gentle as he is, he is a slayer. Self-effacing, self-forgetting, still he is a killer. . . All the other stuff, the love, the democracy, the floundering into lust, is a sort of by-play. The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. — D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)

Every once in awhile an action film comes along that revives. That proves that — no matter how strong the political correctness of an age, no matter how pale and pathetic its notions of masculinity, no matter how much Ritalin is force-fed to little boys, no matter how many toy guns, xylophone mallets, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots get banned from stores and playgrounds — there are certain aspects of the male soul that are inviolate, and certain primal yearnings that are evergreen. Taken (2008) is one of those films, and its release last week on DVD and Blu-ray should be heralded by lovers of all things red-blooded, hairy-chested, and morally sound.

When this movie appeared in the doldrums of Hollywood’s off-season, it was expected to die a quick death in a marketplace filled with audiences either too sophisticated or too sophomoric to respond. Modern theatergoers, the theory goes, increasingly want their “heroes” to be either brooding Abercrombie & Fitch nymphets like Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon, feckless stumblebums like Ben Stiller and Paul Blart: Mall Cop’s Kevin James, quirky class cut-ups like Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp, or silly video-game tough guys like Jason Statham, Vin Diesel, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. When an actor does put some honest testosterone in his performance — Daniel Craig in Munich (2005), Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (2008) — it’s inevitably to make a much larger point about violence breeding only more violence, all of it equally reprehensible, a product of way too many pesky males wreaking havoc in primitive bursts of knuckle-dragging temper. (more…)

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Tags: ben stiller, Claudia Barlow, Clint Eastwood, D. H. Lawrence, daniel craig
Posted May 20th 2009 at 8:04 am in Entertainment, Featured Story | 138886One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2009/05/20/the-worlds-oldest-profession/%27Taken%27%3A+The+World%27s+Oldest+Profession+is+Father2009-05-20+15%3A04%3A02Leo+Grin

‘Wolverine’ claws to $34.75M Friday & Could Scratch Out $86.8M Opening! All-Time 4th-Best Performer for First-Weekend-of-May Summer Kickoff!

In my Final Weekend Tracking column posted on Wednesday, I predicted that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) would reach $92M on opening weekend, despite soft reviews (now only 38% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). My first fearless forecast of the 2009 summer blockbuster season appears to be close to dead-on (missed by only 5%).

Star-turned-producer Hugh Jackman has scored his second-biggest opening ever and, easily, his biggest as a solo star. Wolverine has mauled the competition with a massive $34.75M opening day (including $5M or so in Thursday midnight sales). That could translate to a 3-day of $86.8M, getting Hollywood’s most lucrative season off to a spectacular start.

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted May 2nd 2009 at 5:29 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 1244022 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/05/02/estimates51/%27Wolverine%27+claws+to+%2434.75M+Friday+%26amp%3B+Could+Scratch+Out+%2486.8M+Opening%21+All-Time+4th-Best+Performer+for+First-Weekend-of-May+Summer+Kickoff%212009-05-02+12%3A29%3A38Steve+Mason

The Summer Blockbuster Season is Set to Start Huge! Spin-Off ‘Wolverine’ could Claw to $92M Opening Weekend!

The great thing about a sequel is that it has a built-in audience. The problem with sequels is that, as the numbers after the title go up, so does the production budget. Very hard to know for sure, but sources have told me that the production budget for X-Men was in the $75M range. X-2: X-Men United may have had a budget of about $110M, while the cost of X-Men: The Last Stand was, in all likelihood, as much as $210M. Why doesn’t it make sense to just churn out X-Men 4?

Look at these numbers.

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Tags: 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee, academy award winner
Posted Apr 29th 2009 at 10:10 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 121806One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/04/29/finaltracking51/The+Summer+Blockbuster+Season+is+Set+to+Start+Huge%21+Spin-Off+%27Wolverine%27+could+Claw+to+%2492M+Opening+Weekend%212009-04-30+05%3A10%3A03Steve+Mason

America Loves a Girl-on-Girl Smackdown! Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ is the Biggest Last-Weekend-of-April Opener Ever with $11M Friday & a Possible $27.5M 3-Day!

Recording superstar Beyonce Knowles is building a bankable resume for herself as an actress with Sony Screen Gems’ Obsessed as the latest title burnishing her resume. Co-starring the excellent Idris Elba (The Wire), this low budget, PG-13 genre pic has scored a far-above-expectations $11M on Friday, and it will likely reach $27.5M for the weekend. That is the best opening yet for the former Destiny’s Child lead vocalist as an above-the-title star, topping 2003’s The Fighting Temptations and Cadillac Records from late 2008.

Beyonce does battle with the sexy Ali Larter (HEROES) in OBSESSED

OPENINGS FOR BEYONCE MOVIES
1. Austin Powers: Goldmember – $70.3M opening
2. Obsessed – $27.5M opening (projected)
3. Pink Panther (2006) – $20.2M opening
4. Dreamgirls – $14.1M wide break (after a platform start)
5. The Fighting Temptations – $11.7M opening
6. Cadillac Records – $3.4M opening

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted Apr 24th 2009 at 11:11 pm in Entertainment, Political Humor, Steve Mason's Box Office | 116742No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/04/24/estimates423/America+Loves+a+Girl-on-Girl+Smackdown%21+Beyonce%27s+%27Obsessed%27+is+the+Biggest+Last-Weekend-of-April+Opener+Ever+with+%2411M+Friday+%26amp%3B+a+Possible+%2427.5M+3-Day%212009-04-25+06%3A11%3A11Steve+Mason

Hollywood’s Worst Release Date: Beyonce’s ‘Obsessed’ Could Edge Disney’s Baby Polar Bears in ‘Earth!’

The final weekend of April has never been Hollywood’s favorite release date. In fact, it is generally considered to be among the worst release dates on the calendar. Whatever opens on the final weekend of April gets absolutely crushed by the official start of the summer blockbuster season on the first weekend of May.

The 4 new wide releases and 1 major specialty release set to debut this weekend will face an onslaught of mega-hits over the next month. How can Obsessed (Sony), Earth (Disney), The Soloist, (Dreamworks/Paramount), Fighting (Rogue) and The Informers (Senator) possibly find an audience with X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) arriving next weekend followed by, in successive weeks, Star Trek (Paramount), Angels & Demons (Sony), the combo of Night at the Museum 2 (Fox) and Terminator: Salvation (Fox) and Disney/Pixar’s Up?

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Tags: "Fast & Furious", 17 again, 2-d, 3-d, academy award nominee
Posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 5:47 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 1145145 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/04/23/finaltracking4-23/Hollywood%27s+Worst+Release+Date%3A+Beyonce%27s+%27Obsessed%27+Could+Edge+Disney%27s+Baby+Polar+Bears+in+%27Earth%21%272009-04-24+00%3A47%3A04Steve+Mason

Adventures in the Scream Trade, Take One

If you’re wondering if I was about to opine on the craft of gut-twisting horror stories, you’d only be half right. I’m actually talking about real life here. As many of you may know from my earlier posts, I first flame-throwered onto the scene here at Big Hollywood about a month ago, on the occasion of Team Oscar’s could-not-be-more-ill-advised taking off for the unfriendly skies of Islamist Iran.

I knew they were going to get punked! They were going to Punkedville! In fact, I was so sure of it, I was the one who broke the story in the US off the French wires to Drudge and Nikki Finke.  One Hollywood Jihadi PR roadside bomb detonated. War Is Hell.

Look at their trip from my POV. I remember the whole balls-to-the-wall anti-Apartheid campaign from the mid-eighties. ‘I Ain’t Gonna Play Sun City,’ remember? By the way, wasn’t Little Stevie great in that video? Love him! Point being, if the racist South African apartheid regime was unworthy of cultural exchange, why was the gay-hanging, women-stoning, child-executing, blogger-killing, hostage-taking fascist regime in Iran worthy of a gold-plated Academy PR kiss? (more…)

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Tags: AMPAS, Andrew Breitbart, angelina jolie, Annette Bening, ben stiller
Posted Apr 6th 2009 at 5:58 am in Celebrity News, Entertainment, News, Politics | 9749410 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/06/adventures-in-the-scream-trade-take-one/Adventures+in+the+Scream+Trade%2C+Take+One2009-04-06+12%3A58%3A54John+T.+Simpson

Oscar ratings up 11% and up over 14% with the coveted 18-49 demo!

Good news for the Motion Picture Academy. Despite the fact that the five Best Picture nominees had combined to gross less than $300M domestic by showtime, Oscar ratings were up considerably from last year’s all-time low. Early numbers show that the ABC telecast scored a 27 share, surging by 11% overall and by over 14% with TV’s “money demo” 18-49s. Compare that to last year when the show was down 25% in households from 2007 and down 30% among 18-49s.

The credit should go to producers Lawrence Mark and Bill Condon, although I can see why the streamlined show is a bit of a Rorschach test for viewers. If you love movies, and especially actors, last night’s show was respectful and enlightening. If you are inclined to dislike awards shows and actors, then the telecast would be pretty dreary.

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Tags: acadamy awards, anne hathaway, ben kindsley, ben stiller, bill condon
Posted Feb 23rd 2009 at 10:55 am in Entertainment, Media Criticism, News | 6465022 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/23/oscar-ratings/Oscar+ratings+up+11%25+and+up+over+14%25+with+the+coveted+18-49+demo%212009-02-23+18%3A55%3A10Steve+Mason

Oscar odds: SLUMDOG, Rourke, Winslet, Cruz are favorites, but Penn, Streep and Tomei are live underdogs!

On Sunday, the Academy Awards will be handed out at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, and there are some clear favorites. Slumdog Millionaire, the feel-good Danny Boyle Mumbai opus made for just $14M, is a heavy favorite to win Best Picture. It’s hard to imagine Slumdog missing out on Hollywood’s biggest prize, having won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA Award and just about everything in between.

But, in the world of gambling, you always want to look for value. What are the films and performances with longer odds that would be worth a wager on Sunday? My purpose here is to establish a betting line for each of the six major categories, and then find the value bet in each category.

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Tags: academy awards, alexandre desplat, Amy Adams, amy ryan, angelina jolie
Posted Feb 15th 2009 at 6:29 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 5191848 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/02/15/oscar-odds/Oscar+odds%3A+SLUMDOG%2C+Rourke%2C+Winslet%2C+Cruz+are+favorites%2C+but+Penn%2C+Streep+and+Tomei+are+live+underdogs%212009-02-16+02%3A29%3A27Steve+Mason