REVIEW: Not Much Dreamy In ‘Wonderland’

“Alice in Wonderland” director is Tim Burton a recognized genius of signature atmospheric animation and cinematic story and style. The story’s screenwriter, Linda Woolverton, who has penned Disney classics like “The Lion King,” is also a masterful story-teller. But their styles hardly mix, and the surreal atmosphere of “Alice in Wonderland” can’t hide this fact.

“Alice in Wonderland” borrows elements of both of author Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, telling the story of a grown Alice who is set to marry the oafish son of her deceased father’s business partner. But as her trophy wife future pans out before her, she gets cold feet and flees her engagement party, inadvertently chasing a rabbit in a waistcoat and falling down a hole into a strange world. Once there, she learns that it is her destiny to rescue “Wonderland” from a swollen-headed Red Queen, obsessed with beheading others. As a rebellion brews in preparation for the foretold day of victory, Alice must reconcile that to save Wonderland she must battle the terrifying dragon-like Jabberwocky. Despite the dreamy atmosphere of Wonderland, Alice slowly realizes that if she accepts the task of slaying the Jabberwocky, it might kill her. (more…)

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Tags: "Alice In Wonderland", "Mulan", Adventures in Wonderland, anne hathaway, Avril Lavigne
Posted Mar 11th 2010 at 1:14 pm in Reviews | 31624627 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dmiller/2010/03/11/review-not-much-dreamy-in-wonderland/REVIEW%3A+Not+Much+Dreamy+In+%E2%80%98Wonderland%E2%80%99+2010-03-11+21%3A14%3A36Darin++Miller

For Conservative Movie Lovers: Werner Herzog, Timothy Treadwell, and ‘Grizzly Man’ Part 4

“Have mercy on the souls in purgatory, and especially on those that are most forsaken. Do Thou deliver them from the dire torments they endure. Call them, and admit them to Thy most sweet embrace in paradise.”

Devout Catholics might recognize this as a prayer for those lost souls who, as penance for the sins committed in life, have not yet ascended to heaven. Others might view it as just another silly superstition in desperate need of squashing by the enlightened mythbusters of our time.

As stated earlier, in his teen years Herzog had a deeply affecting flirtation with Catholicism that has echoed down throughout his life. “I have always thought of my films as really being one big work that I have been concentrating on for forty years,” he says. “The characters in this story are all desperate and solitary rebels. . . They know their rebellion is doomed to failure, but they continue without respite, wounded, struggling on their own without assistance.” Herzog maintains, and I agree, that when the history of his career is written Grizzly Man “will be a centerpiece” of his canon. But it was only after many viewings that it occurred to me (a veteran of eight years of Catholic grade school) that one of Grizzly Man’s chief virtues is that it’s a supremely decent film, acting as a kind of extended novena for the lost soul of Timothy Treadwell. (more…)

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Tags: Alaska, Amie Huguenard, Catholicism, disney, Documentaries
Posted Mar 6th 2010 at 6:47 am in Classic Hollywood, Culture, Featured Story, Film | 31573840 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/03/06/for-conservative-movie-lovers-werner-herzog-timothy-treadwell-and-grizzly-man-part-4/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+Werner+Herzog%2C+Timothy+Treadwell%2C+and+%E2%80%98Grizzly+Man%E2%80%99+Part+42010-03-06+14%3A47%3A12Leo+Grin

For Conservative Movie Lovers: Werner Herzog, Timothy Treadwell, and ‘Grizzly Man’ Part 1

Timothy Treadwell loved bears. In the name of loving them, with a stalwart sense of the innate sanctity of his mission, he continuously abused them for thirteen years. Time and again from 1989 until 2003 he invaded their territory — startling them, scaring them, angering them. Interrupting their hunting, their mating, their sleep, their play, he would coo sweet nothings at them in a flamboyant, high-pitched whine. He gave the savage beasts silly names like Lulu, Cupcake, Daisy, Ginger, Booble, and Mr. Chocolate, robbing them of their natural dignity. He firmly believed he was their protector, and unleashed torrents of self-righteous hatred upon anyone who dared question his treating of one-thousand-pound predators as if they were cute cuddly teddy bears. Handsome and charismatic, yet narcissistic and naïve, filled with honest caring, yet a smooth liar thoroughly at home in delusion, he became a constant danger both to himself and to everything he loved, ever on the verge of instigating a sudden volcanic eruption of nightmarish unintended consequences.

In short, Timothy Treadwell was a perfect liberal. He loved bears, with all his heart.

And then one ate him.

The story of Treadwell (1957-2003) is told in Grizzly Man (2005), a film destined to be remembered long after the likes of Crash, Brokeback Mountain, Munich, Capote, and the rest of that cinematic annus horribilis are blessedly forgotten. Directed by the fearless and unflinching German filmmaker Werner Herzog, it’s also an intensely conservative film, in its conclusions if not in its subject. (more…)

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Tags: Alaska, Amie Huguenard, Among Grizzlies: Living With Wild Bears In Alaska (Treadwell book), bears, Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Posted Feb 13th 2010 at 7:08 am in Classic Hollywood, Featured Story, Film | 308562204 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lgrin/2010/02/13/for-conservative-movie-lovers-werner-herzog-timothy-treadwell-and-grizzly-man-part-1/For+Conservative+Movie+Lovers%3A+Werner+Herzog%2C+Timothy+Treadwell%2C+and+%E2%80%98Grizzly+Man%E2%80%99+Part+12010-02-13+15%3A08%3A43Leo+Grin

Clinton Supporter Robert Iger: DGA Honors Exec Who Banished ‘Path to 9/11′ Miniseries

Want to relive season five of Paris Hilton’s reality show The Simple Life? No problem, it’s on DVD. The complete first season of Jane Curtin’s sitcom Kate & Allie? It’s just a click away on Amazon.com. Oliver Stone’s surreal 1993 miniseries Wild Palms? Get it on Netflix. Virtually any miniseries or TV show you can think of, from any season, no matter how insipid, forgettable, or obscure, is readily available and continues to earn profits (often inexplicably). 

But you will look in vain for a DVD of the extraordinary and controversial Disney/ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11. 

Disney President and CEO Robert Iger

A $30+ million project that aired without sponsors on two September nights in 2006, The Path to 9/11 dramatized the historical thread that connected the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, Islamic attacks on American interests throughout the ‘90s, and the terrorism of that fateful morning in 2001. 

Prior to its premiere, the producers at ABC were so proud of the impending project that they had high hopes of airing Path every 9/11 anniversary and showing it in schools across this country as an engaging educational tool – until an accusation of “conservative bias” (horrors!) on the part of the filmmakers quickly spun into liberal hysteria that the project was actually a “well-honed propaganda operation” on the part of a secretive, right-wing network-within-a-network.  (more…)

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Tags: 62nd Annual DGA Awards, abc, Blocking the Path to 9/11, Clinton Wallace interview, conservative bias
Posted Jan 29th 2010 at 5:03 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics, Television | 30153867 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtapson/2010/01/29/clinton-supporter-robert-iger-dga-honors-exec-who-banished-path-to-911-miniseries/Clinton+Supporter+Robert+Iger%3A+DGA+Honors+Exec+Who+Banished+%27Path+to+9%2F11%27+Miniseries2010-01-29+13%3A03%3A41Mark+Tapson

How Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’ Became ‘Avatar’

Source.

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Tags: avatar, disney, james cameron, Pocahontas
Posted Jan 5th 2010 at 6:15 pm in Film | 28928261 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2010/01/05/how-disneys-pocahontas-became-avatar/How+Disney%27s+%27Pocahontas%27+Became+%27Avatar%272010-01-06+02%3A15%3A26Big+Hollywood

REVIEW: Watch Out For Leftist Sucker Punch in Jim Carrey’s Lifeless ‘Christmas Carol’

So Disney spends $200 million on the production of screenwriter/director Robert Zemeckis’ computer-animated adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” a story of redemption, reconciliation and forgiveness proven to have strong universal appeal. And what do they let Zemeckis go and do in their big-budgetted holiday tentpole aimed at families excited about celebrating this most holy of seasons…?

Add his own piece of dialogue trashing organized religion.

First off, I want Zemeckis to know he didn’t get me. Oh, hell yes I was ready for it. After a decade of watching this industry crap on its own art and box office in order to childishly get off on insulting their customers, you need not be a genius to understand that there was no way a story with a number of overt positive Christian moments could survive intact.

Oh, Zemeckis gave it everything he had to lull me into thinking this one was safe: A soundtrack loaded with classic carols about “Christ being born” and all that, but I’m not Charlie Brown with the football, and sure enough… (more…)

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Tags: 'A Christmas Carol', disney, Jim Carrey, organized religion, Robert Zemeckis
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 at 11:06 am in Film, Politics, Religion, Reviews | 284094197 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/12/23/review-watch-out-for-leftist-sucker-punch-in-jim-carreys-lifeless-christmas-carol/REVIEW%3A+Watch+Out+For+Leftist+Sucker+Punch+in+Jim+Carrey%27s+Lifeless+%27Christmas+Carol%272009-12-23+19%3A06%3A37John+Nolte

I Am Stage Right

It has been almost one year since I began writing here at the Big Blogs of Breitbart.com.  When it all began, I was motivated by the events that brought down Sacramento Music Theatre executive Scott Eckern.  Ironically, his story, which inspired this new avocation also served as a real-life lesson in the new political world we inhabit.  You see, Mr. Eckern was forced to resign his position because it was discovered that he donated money to the anti-same sex marriage Prop. 8 campaign.  Knowing that, I would have been a fool to put my name on the things I’ve written here.  So, “Stage Right” was born.

Since then, I have been fortunate enough to have free-reign on all things theatre at Big Hollywood (gently guided by the collective wisdom of Andrew Breitbart and John Nolte) and I’ve had a fantastic time writing about the industry, about the non-profit world… even about my favorite shows.  But now, things have changed just a bit.

It started with Patrick Courrielche’s now famous expose’ on the NEA Conference Call.  Just like the Scott Eckern story, what bothered me most at the time was the media and especially the left-leaning theatre writers’ attack on Patrick.   Instead of showing any level of skepticism over the appropriateness of staff members of the NEA and the White House coordinating discussions with artists about how they can help move the President’s agenda by creating works of art in favor of specific issues, Patrick was attacked and libeled for the sin of telling the truth and bringing the subject to light.

Next came the media’s reaction to James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles’ blockbuster series of videos exposing the corruption at ACORN offices from sea to shining sea.  Again, the venom and outrage is directed at the messenger while the message gets rationalized and obfuscated.  This story raised my ire to such a degree that I began posting at Big Government. (more…)

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Tags: ACORN, Adam Lambert, Andrew Breitbart, andrew lloyd webber, beauty and the beast
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 at 8:46 am in Art, Politics, Theatre | 283750138 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sright/2009/12/23/i-am-stage-right/I+Am+Stage+Right2009-12-23+16%3A46%3A05Larry++O%26%2339%3BConnor

Old Fashioned ‘Princess and the Frog’ Conservative at Heart

The new Disney feature “The Princess and the Frog” is old school in more ways than one.

The animated film, number one at the box office over the weekend, uses hand-drawn animation to tell its magical story. It’s a technique most audiences grew up watching, but one pushed to the boundaries of animation thanks primarily to the computer wizards over at Pixar (”Toy Story,” “Up.”)

The film also relies on a conservative message – one featuring hard work, perseverance and the reality of the American dream.

It’s a far cry from recent kid’s films with their slams against the U.S. military (”Monsters vs. Aliens”) and the decadence of humanity as a whole (”Battle for Terra”).

(more…)

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Tags: American Dream, American values, Anika Noni Rose, battle for terra, disney
Posted Dec 18th 2009 at 4:19 pm in Film, Reviews | 28025035 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/12/18/old-fashioned-princess-and-the-frog-conservative-at-heart/Old+Fashioned+%27Princess+and+the+Frog%27+Conservative+at+Heart2009-12-19+00%3A19%3A18Christian+Toto

I Try To Make a Good Christian Film

My first two posts at this site addressed the topic of so-called “Christian” films in Hollywood. In my first post, I opined that the increased interest in Christian films by Hollywood execs hasn’t necessarily been a good thing because films with a faith theme are being sent to the small, low-budget faith divisions of the studios and marketed nearly exclusively to Christians. In my second post, I gave what I consider the reasons that most Christian films are so bad. Even though I’m an evangelical Christian, I had to admit that the films made by my brethren, intended for audiences like me, were typically very poorly done.

–

So…I was faced with a few realities. Hollywood wanted more Christian films. As a Christian, I wanted more Christian films that were actually watchable. I’d publicly and condescendingly bemoaned the fact that Christian films usually weren’t good. I’m a Christian. I’m a filmmaker. (more…)

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Tags: angelina jolie, christian, Christian film, disney, john ratzenberger
Posted Dec 9th 2009 at 8:35 am in Film, Religion | 27270268 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/djenkins/2009/12/09/i-try-to-make-a-good-christian-film/I+Try+To+Make+a+Good+Christian+Film2009-12-09+16%3A35%3A09Dallas+Jenkins

The Future of Comics and Other Publishing

You can probably date yourself by remembering how much comic books cost when you were a kid. Was it a dime, a quarter, a dollar? Can you believe they cost $4 now?

As the greenies would say, that’s unsustainable. Comic books used to be common. If you went in any kids house in the 50s or early 60s you would probably find some. Not so much anymore. Comics once sold everywhere magazines were sold. You could buy them in drug stores, supermarkets, seven-elevens, newsstands, even some liquor stores. But the so called “newsstand market” was a hostile place to comics publishers, and a shrinking one.

These days, it’s hard to find comics anywhere outside of the comic book store. That means that comics have become a “destination product.” It’s something you need to know where it’s sold, you have to physically go there and if you’re lucky, they might have what you’re looking for. However, most comics retailers order to sell out. So the odds are, you may be unlucky if you don’t come on “comics day,” the day the books come in from the distributor.

And that’s another problem with comics these days. There is only one distributor. When I got in the business in the mid 80s, there were around ten distributors. But over the years they all went under leaving Diamond Comics as the sole place publishers can distribute through to the “Direct Market,” as we call it. It’s like government run health care, if there’s only one place to go for your needs, you have to like their terms. (more…)

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Tags: "Direct Market", Comic Books, comics, DC, Diamond Comics
Posted Nov 14th 2009 at 6:22 am in Art, Culture, Featured Story | 25654286 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jhudnall/2009/11/14/the-future-of-comics-and-other-publishing/The+Future+of+Comics+and+Other+Publishing2009-11-14+14%3A22%3A37James+Hudnall

Disney’s ‘Christmas Carol’ Disappoints at Box Office, Carrey Slams Capitalism

Robert Zemeckis’s motion-capture-animation version of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol had a fairly blah opening weekend at the North American box office, finishing first with an unexpectedly miserly total of $31 million in ticket sales. Industry insiders had figured the film to bring in up to $45 million.

Disney studio representatives predict that this latest adaptation of the Dickens classic will do well over time, like Zemeckis’s 2004 The Polar Express. My assessment is that the biggest element limiting the film’s appeal in the pre-release period was the annoyingly frenetic and superficial quality suggested by its promotional trailers and commercials.

Jim Carrey’s noisiness appears to be wearing quite thin, and a film that features him as not only the protagonist but also three other characters sounds like far too much of a no longer good thing. Carrey would do well to follow the path of the equally obnoxious Robin Williams and move on to more serious film roles, even if it kills his career. Yes, I’m well aware that Carrey’s occasional serious performances have been pretty awful, but he’s dead either way, and it would be best to die with honor instead of ignominy. (more…)

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Tags: capitalism, Christmas Carol, disney, Jim Carrey, Robert Zemeckis
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 3:08 pm in Entertainment, News, Politics | 261126168 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/11/10/disneys-christmas-carol-disappoints-at-box-office-carrey-slams-capitalism/Disney%27s+%27Christmas+Carol%27+Disappoints+at+Box+Office%2C+Carrey+Slams+Capitalism2009-11-10+23%3A08%3A56S.T.+Karnick

Disney’s ‘A Christmas Carol’: Charity Vs. Big Government

Generally after a story has been told as a book, play, musical, numerous animated, live, made-for-TV films, and Muppets movie, its content is completely exhausted. But Disney’s latest, “A Christmas Carol,” by writer-director Robert Zemeckis of “Forrest Gump” and animated films “Beowulf” and “The Polar Express,” resurrects the classic tale through vibrant visuals while sticking to the classic story.

Briefly, “A Christmas Carol” is the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey), a miser who hoards his money and pays his single employee, Bob Cratchit (Gary Oldman), the bare minimum. Scrooge lives alone in a huge, dark mansion, leading a lonely life. When his nephew Fred (Colin Firth) invites him to Christmas dinner, Scrooge berates him for being happy when he has so little money. When local charity representatives ask for support, Scrooge tells them that he supports the poor through paying taxes. “Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons?” Scrooge asks. To him, taxes are all the dues he owes to society. (more…)

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Tags: 'A Christmas Carol', big government, Dickens, disney, gary oldman
Posted Nov 6th 2009 at 10:48 am in Film, Politics, Reviews | 259146106 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dmiller/2009/11/06/disneys-a-christmas-carol-charity-vs-big-government/Disney%27s+%27A+Christmas+Carol%27%3A+Charity+Vs.+Big+Government2009-11-06+18%3A48%3A39Darin++Miller

Aren’t You A Little Old To Watch Cartoons?

…Why, yes. Yes I am!

But considering the plethora of culturally and politically “controversial”  (read: “contrived to be offensive for promotional notoriety”) ‘toons currently offered up for consumption like a plate of live centipedes in Interzone, the silly stuff is more than refreshing.  It’s soul food.

YouTube Complete Opening Theme by Bowling For Soup with Fan Credits

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Enjoyable as it is to see conservative and libertarian viewpoints deemed worthy of existence in “South Park,” and as side-splitting as the adult humor and pop cultural references, sans a blatant political agenda, may be in “The Venture Brothers,” there has long been a need in the human psyche for pure, unadulterated lunacy.  (more…)

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Tags: cartoons, disney, Entertainment, Phineas and Ferb
Posted Sep 16th 2009 at 6:48 am in Art, Entertainment, Reviews | 22404259 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/sgraves/2009/09/16/arent-you-a-little-old-to-watch-cartoons/Aren%27t+You+A+Little+Old+To+Watch+Cartoons%3F2009-09-16+13%3A48%3A42Scott+Graves

‘Goode Family’ Canceled, Too Left for ABC

Proving once again its claim to the hotly contested title of Stupidest Television Network, ABC has canceled “The Goode Family” and “Surviving Suburbia,” continuing their business strategy of desperately trying new things and failing to give them a chance to succeed.

No wonder the cab/sat USA Network actually beat ABC (and the CW network) in the national ratings last week. USA’s formula of original series with unusual but likable characters and sound values carries consistently impressive audience appeal.

Although the ABC cancellations were expected–given the fact that the network had brilliantly moved both series to Friday night, a network television Dead Zone, thus guaranteeing that the shows would not be able to generate an audience over time–they nonetheless prove that ABC hates anything with decent values and ideas and cannot appreciate good, solid entertainment with real sense (Castle being the rare exception). (more…)

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Tags: "American Dad", "The Goode Family", abc, Bob Saget, disney
Posted Aug 18th 2009 at 12:56 pm in Uncategorized | 207446111 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/stkarnick/2009/08/18/goode-family%e2%80%99-canceled-too-left-for-abc/%27Goode+Family%E2%80%99+Canceled%2C+Too+Left+for+ABC+2009-08-18+19%3A56%3A41S.T.+Karnick

‘Up’ Where We Belong

A young scout yearns to help an elderly widower in order to earn a merit badge.  A senior citizen unfurls hard-learned life lessons for the world.  Disney/Pixar’s Up is a lofty film that thrives off old fashioned values, and it is your new number-one 2009 summer blockbuster.  Complete with newsreel footage only a great grand-dad could recall, Up is a film which cherishes that very dated, old fashioned concept – great storytelling.  

In an age where Dreamworks’ feeds us a steady diet of kung-fu pandas and boogie-in-your-butt lemurs voiced by the guy that gave us Borat, three-to-thirteen year olds have a place to fill up on some traditional values – Disney/Pixar.  

My wife and I took our 6-year old boy to see Up on Saturday to a packed movie theater in Washington, DC’s Georgetown neighborhood.  All we heard in the theater was laughing, deep emotion and applause. And why not?  Up is film that, had it been produced with live actors decades ago, may have starred Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.  It is classic American storytelling – true love, big dreams, self-reliance and fierce determination. It doesn’t need gimmicks, politically correct characters or audience focus-group testing to determine its destination.  It relies on Russell, who misses his Dad, and Carl Fredricksen, a lost old curmudgeon grieving over the death of his wife – they get us where we’re going.  You know them – they’re the sort of folks we see and meet most everyday.   (more…)

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Tags: audrey hepburn, cary grant, disney, feminist critics, Finding Nemo
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 at 4:47 pm in Entertainment, Politics, Reviews | 14952233 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmeath/2009/06/02/up-where-we-belong-by-jason-killian-meath/%27Up%27+Where+We+Belong2009-06-02+23%3A47%3A37Jason+Killian+Meath

‘Up’ Hits Theatres May 29th

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Tags: Buena Vista, disney, ed asner, pixar, up
Posted May 15th 2009 at 2:32 pm in Entertainment, Video | 13615014 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/05/15/up-hits-theatres-may-29th/%27Up%27+Hits+Theatres+May+29th2009-05-15+21%3A32%3A50Big+Hollywood

What Would Walt Say?

“The picture got great reviews but let’s take a chance anyway.” That’s what I usually say to my wife when we’re planning a night out at the movies. Critics and I are not usually on the same page. But the Disney release called “Earth,” a compendium of brilliant nature footage cribbed from a BBC series, seemed irresistible, even though it got raves. True, there’d been quibbling about the corn-ball narration and the selection of stentorian-voiced James Earl Jones to deliver it, but the summation of the reviews was: don’t miss it.

Disney had taken miles of extraordinary footage from the long-running English nature series and condensed and shaped it into a story of sorts: mama polar bear and her cubs emerge out of hibernation in the arctic snow, with the adorable babies blinking at their first sight of the summer sun. She begins the task of teaching them to survive. Papa bear, meanwhile, or “dad” as he’s known in the narration, is off on the ice floe, trying to catch a seal for his dinner. But “global warming” is making this difficult to do as the ice is breaking up earlier than usual. Dad falls into the frigid water and begins swimming for his life. He swims and swims till he gets to Antarctica where there is an abundance of seals. But dad is too weak from all that swimming, can’t nab a seal, and lies down and dies. End of family. (more…)

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Tags: "The Story of Stuff", climate change, disney, earth, elephants
Posted May 13th 2009 at 12:48 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics, Reviews | 133542114 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/obean/2009/05/13/earth/What+Would+Walt+Say%3F+2009-05-13+19%3A48%3A34Orson+Bean

Abrams’ ‘Star Trek’ Goes Where No ‘Trek’ Has Gone Before! $33M in 29 Hours & Almost $77M Possible by Monday!

Rebooting Bond with Daniel Craig was Bold. Christopher Nolan’s Reinvention of Batman was genius. But some thought it was overly-ambitious, even audacious, to attempt to restart the Star Trek franchise. It has begun to pay off already for Paramount Pictures, and there will dividends for years to come.

A shiny new Enterprise is luring in a new generation of STAR TREK fans

J.J. Abrams is officially the Lazarus of movie directors as his all-new Star Trek has gone “Boldly Gone Where No Star Trek Movie has Gone Before.” With a cast of relative unknowns, the 42-year-old has resurrected a franchise that had been killed by insular “nerdyness” and timid imagination. The Gene Rodenberry creation didn’t so much bomb as it died slowly over a period of years. First, the 2002 movie Star Trek: Nemesis starring the Next Generation cast disappointed with a meager $43.3M domestic. Then, the final TV series Enterprise, which starred Scott Bakula, was not embraced by core fans or broader audiences and was canceled after four seasons, ending May 13, 2005.

(more…)

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Tags: 17 again, 3-d, academy award nominee, academy award winner, alastair fothergill
Posted May 8th 2009 at 10:40 pm in Entertainment, Featured Story, Steve Mason's Box Office | 13060687 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/05/08/star-trek-estimates/Abrams%27+%27Star+Trek%27+Goes+Where+No+%27Trek%27+Has+Gone+Before%21+%2433M+in+29+Hours+%26amp%3B+Almost+%2477M+Possible+by+Monday%212009-05-09+05%3A40%3A03Steve+Mason

Critics Love the All-New ‘Star Trek’ & Thursday Night Previews Deliver a Possible $6.5M-$7.5M!

Several sources at competing studios have told me that J.J. Abrams’ all-new reboot of Star Trek (Paramount), which debuted last night at 7pm at many of its 3,849 locations, may have grossed as much as $6.5M-$7.5M. Studio honchos are “locked down tight” about actual numbers, but that is in the same ballpark as Transformers (Dreamworks/Paramount), which grabbed $8.8M in its previews starting at 8pm on Monday, July 2 during the summer of 2007. (What portion of ticket sales fall into Thursday and what percentage fall into Friday will likely be an open question even after final numbers are in.)

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

Keep in mind that Paramount never changed its Star Trek marketing to promote the 7pm Thursday start, so the opening night audience was likely heavy on Trekkers or Trekkies (not sure which term is “politically correct” anymore). So this was a “soft” opening and what amounts to a night of word-of-mouth screenings. Keep in mind that Transformers premiered during the summer when kids are more available while Star Trek has made its premiere during the school year.

(more…)

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Tags: 17 again, 3-d, academy award nominee, academy award winner, alastair fothergill
Posted May 8th 2009 at 11:00 am in Entertainment, Steve Mason's Box Office | 12998615 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/05/08/early-star-trek/Critics+Love+the+All-New+%27Star+Trek%27+%26amp%3B+Thursday+Night+Previews+Deliver+a+Possible+%246.5M-%247.5M%212009-05-08+18%3A00%3A48Steve+Mason