Upon reading “Would Sam Kinison Have Survived in Today’s Brave New PC World?”, as a stand-up comedian myself, I felt the need to opine on what was a very insightful question. Sam Kinison was a genius for his time and theoretically still is. The Pentecostal preacher-turned-comedian took a would-be sermon and used his thunderous delivery, vendi-quadruple espresso shot-energy and viewpoint of the obvious to pontificate some of the funniest bits that the 80’s and very early 90’s had ever heard. While his peers, comprised of Jerry Seinfeld, Paul Reiser, and Rosanne Barr, were humorously talking about not pulling the tag off the mattress, catching tuna and not dolphins, and refusing to vacuum until Sears made one you could ride, Sam’s mind worked on other angles that today would have put him on a Hate List somewhere between Sarah Palin and Pat Boone. 

His great bit about world hunger, that there would be no world hunger if starving Africans “lived where the food is and not in the desert where nothing grows,” in 2010 would have been construed as anti-Muslim, since Muslims live in the desert. Sam likely would’ve been exiled like Jyllands-Posten, the Danish cartoonists. Then there’s Kinison’s rapper bit which would have no doubt caused Kayne West to tweet “Sam Kinison hates black people” and then bag out on some a previous commitment ala the Today Show. Kinison’s bit on Rock Hudson was spewed not with malice but with a mix of commentary about a screen idol keeping one of Hollywood’s biggest secrets and how heterosexual men may view a gay sexual experience. That bit today would have created blogs upon websites blaring on how Sam is a homophobe and one of the causes of bullying. 

Clearly Sam was not without his well-documented personal problems and had many demons he struggled with, but his comedy was straightforward, poignant and his subject matter was that of what many people where thinking about with their inside voice, all of which are the elements of being one of the greatest comics of your time. (more…)

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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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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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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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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If present-day Hollywood had their way here are five things you’d never know…

1. That JFK had way more in common with Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush than most of today’s Democrats: By modern standards, Kennedy was a fairly conservative Republican; forward-leaning on national defense and a tax cutter who may not have called it trickle-down but to improve the economy and grow the treasury he cut taxes across the board (yes, including the evil rich). Kennedy’s “tax cuts for the wealthy” not only worked but would become the starter blueprint for both the Reagan and Bush II tax cuts. (more…)