OPEN CONCERT: DAVI SING SINATRA TONIGHT IN LOS ANGELES

A message from our friend Robert Davi to the Big Hollywood Community:

My Dear Friends: I invite all of you to attend  my record release party and free concert at The Grove in Los Angeles, tonight at 8pm.

Tell your friends and… get ready to SWING.

–Robert Davi

Should be a real treat. Don’t miss it. More here.

STUDIOS MAY EXTEND KIOSK EMBARGO TO 60 DAYS

Smaller, independent kiosk operators plan to work around this by purchasing new movies at Walmart the same day they’re released in order to offer them up for rental — which begs a question. How do the studios stop Redbox from doing this?

Anyway, I can wait 60 days for crap. If they made it 90 days that would be even better.

And why isn’t the government looking into how ALL the studios make these decisions together? If Big Oil decided to get together and do something that would force us to pay more for a gallon of gas, you can bet the FTC would be involved.

How is this any different?

WHEN HOLLYWOOD WILL USE THE WORD ‘EVIL’

Hollywood has never quite been able to declare evil evil — you know, terrorism, attacks on Israel, Roman Polanski drugging and anally raping a 13 year-old girl. But buy a copy of “Avatar” off an illegal alien for five bucks and according to the L.A. –we read it so you don’t have to — Times:

A broad coalition of film studios, TV networks and entertainment industry labor groups has launched an education campaign to teach the public about the evils of piracy and prod their employees and union members to support an anti-piracy bill in Washington.

When does Occupy Hollywood begin anyway? Those 90210 welfare queens get more tax breaks than the George Soros-funded Media Matters.

EXCLUSIVE: ZACHARY QUINTO STILL GAY

Using the same anonymous source the corrupt MSM uses to tell them what they want to hear, Big Hollywood has been forwarded this completely false quote from Zachary Quinto:

The reaction to my coming out as a gay man has been overwhelming. When everyone thought I was heterosexual, the things I said weren’t treated as profound pearls of eternal wisdom and the things I did weren’t interpreted as the works of a holy man. But now when I say and do the exact same things, they are! People are even telling me the last two seasons of ‘Heroes’ didn’t suck! And so in order to keep this momentum growing, I’m here to announce that next week I’ll be coming out as “very gay” while I go into training to become “extremely gay.” But I want to assure everyone that once this happens, I will be a benevolent god — a merciful and charitable god. Unless, of course, you don’t do as I say. Then there will be thunderbolts.

Precious.

‘PIRANHA 3DD’ TRAILER FEATURES BIKINI-CLAD BABES & SHOTGUN LEGS

‘Piranha 3D’ was one of the best films of 2010 and might be the only attempt ever made at making a cult film that actually succeeded. Just last week I saw it again on Blu-ray and loved it just as much. It really is a grinder masterpiece and an example of aiming for a target in tone and presentation and hitting the bullseye.

Can lightning strike twice? The trailer linked in the headline rates a good, strong maybe. Note the voice of the trailer narrator. Good stuff, though the special effects do look a little cheaper.

And I’m sure that by “double the D’s” they mean D-D-D-David Hasselhoff.

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SCOTTDS’ EPIC LINK-TACULAR

GUY RITCHIE WANTS TO REMAKE ‘CANNONBALL RUN’

NEW ‘SHERLOCK HOLMES 2′ TRAILER

ACTRESS SUES IMDB FOR $1M FOR REVEALING HER AGE

THAT DREAMY JUSTIN BIEBER RELEASES CLIP OF HOLIDAY SONG

NBC: ‘PRIME SUSPECT’ IS PRIMED FOR CANCELLATION

FOX: ‘TERRA NOVA’ DISAPPOINTING? SO WHAT?

CRAIG BREWER SAYS ‘TARZAN’ SCRIPT IS ‘THE BEST THING I’VE EVER WRITTEN’

BRUCKHEIMER BREAKS SILENCE ON DISNEY’S $215 MILLION ‘LONE RANGER’ COMPROMISE

ROCK BAND QUEEN TO COLLECT GLOBAL ICON AWARD AT 2011 MTV EUROPEAN MUSIC AWARDS

APPLE TO TEMPORARILY CLOSE STORES WEDNESDAY FOR STEVE JOBS MEMORIAL

‘FILMS EDGAR WRIGHT HAS NEVER SEEN’

LASSETER DEFENDS WORST-REVIEWED PIXAR FLICK

DEMI DISAPPEARS

JAMES CAMERON TALKS ECOLOGY AND LOCALES OF ‘AVATAR 2‘

MICKEY ROURKE DECIDES HE’S EXPENDABLE, WON’T BE BACK FOR SEQUEL

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LAST NIGHT’S SCREENING

“The Bickersons” starring Mitt and Rick.

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CLASSIC PICK FOR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20

TCM:

9:45 PM EST: Southerner, The (1945) —  A sharecropper fights the elements to start his own farm. Dir: Jean Renoir Cast:  Zachary Scott, Betty Field, J. Carrol Naish.  BW-91 mins, TV-G, CC.

Had this gentle, affecting story starred Henry Fonda or Gary Cooper instead of  Zachary Scott (best known his role as the heel in “Mildred Pierce), it wouldn’t have improved this perfect film but it might garnered more of the respect it deserves as a classic.

A real gem you’ll be glad you found.

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--Please send tips/suggestions/requests/complaints to jnolte@breitbart.com

Leonard Nimoy has called for a two state solution for which, in deference, several notables (amongst them Israelis), have called.  Nimoy does make a telling statement about the whole idea of two separate states.

“In fact, there is an end in sight. It’s known as the two-state solution – a secure, democratic Israel as the Jewish State alongside an independent Palestinian state.”

He does deserve some credit for seeing Israel as a Jewish state but, if you notice, there is only one democratic state mentioned here. It isn’t expected that another Muslim Arab state will be democratic. As a matter of fact, as always, Israel is expected to remain multicultural andrespect the rights of all its inhabitants, yet the proposed Arab state would, like all the other Arab states, not be open to Jews. Not that many Jews would like to live in an Arab state, considering the centuries of slaughter and pillage that have been the lot of Dhimmi Jews in Arab lands.

This is pretty par for the course, but what is even more egregious is his call for the division of Jerusalem.

“Their plan includes a Palestinian state alongside Israel with agreed-upon land swaps. The Palestinian-populated areas of Jerusalem would become the capital of Palestine; the Jewish-populated areas the capital of Israel.”

Anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of the demographics of Jerusalem would see this as being very “Pie in the Sky.” Without discussing the merits of the argument, the city is a patchwork of neighborhoods, with communities which are impossible to separate without a mass transfer of population. In the eyes of the world, this means kicking Jews out of their homes. There is also the historical precedent set by the last time parts of Jerusalem were under Arab control, between 1948 and 1967, when Jewish holy sites were used as places to corral animal and the headstones from Jewish graves as flooring in bathrooms. Lest one think this is a relic of a bygone era, recall what happened to the Synagogues left behind following the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif in the Gaza strip.

“Peace Now’s activities and programs… keep peace on the world’s agenda… Like those Israelis who issued the peace plan, the members of Peace Now have their boots on the ground. “

Peace Now keeps one thing on its agenda, and that is the expulsion of Jews from their ancestral homes in Judea and Samaria. They have no other platform except returning Israel to its 1949 borders, otherwise known as the Auschwitz borders. The group has never called for any change to the maximalist demands of the Arabs, nor acknowledged the plain facts that the entire Arab-Israeli conflict is based on the desire of the Arabs to return the Jews to the degraded state they were in when they were under Muslim rule, where they could be beaten, robbed or killed with impunity.

Bringing his extensive resume to the forefront, Nimoy then compares the situation to an episode of Star Trek. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” in which the two remaining survivors of a planet continue their battle fifty thousand years after every other inhabitant on the world has died in the war. This would be a strong political statement, were it not hopelessly naïve.

Israel and the Jewish nation have two options: fight for survival or return to the time when they were at the never tender mercies of the nations that lorded over them. The Muslim Arabs, following the precepts laid down by the Koran, were historically amongst the worst oppressors of the Jews. This is something worth fighting to prevent, even if it lasts for fifty thousand years. Giving in to evil does not bring peace, it only brings more evil.

The bottom line is there is no solution to the conflict in Israel as long as the Arabs demand everything and still see themselves as the rightful rulers, not so much of the land, but of the infidels who reside upon it.

Then I saw one of my childhood idols, Bill Shatner goofing on Sarah Palin.  At last, my geeked out political observation had new relevance!  Apple “C.” Apple “V.” Send to Big Hollywood.

We were treated to some really lame comparisons between Obama and Mr. Spock a few months back. Let’s ignore the obvious fact; that Mr. Spock is and always was the #2 guy. The Captain’s chair rightfully belonged to Kirk. Spock lacks the passion and empathy to be a leader. Trying to make a flattering comparison between the leader of the free world and a legendary sidekick seems like a non-starter.

No, let’s focus on the fact that Obama does not follow the Vulcan path. The path of logic. His demeanor may be calm, cool, and unemotional, but his thought process is driven by raw emotion. He represents decades of grievance education, America bashing, and misplaced empathy. There is nothing logical about the man. Exhibit A is the “stimulus plan.”

So with the whole Obama is Spock meme D.O.A. I went searching for another apt Sci-Fi/Politics metaphor.  Let’s see, George W. Bush is Luke Skywalker?  Cheney is Paul Atredies?  Donald Rumsfeld is Optimus Prime?  Joe Biden is a Tribble?

Then, as Sarah Palin announced her resignation, it hit me. Sarah Palin is Captain Kirk. Why? Because she just passed the Kobayashi Maru.

For those of you who don’t know what the Kobayashi Maru is, let me explain. In the Star Trek universe it is an unwinnable test. It’s creator, Mr. Spock, designed it to test how Starfleet captains deal with failure and death. There is no right way to successfully navigate through it.

But cadet James Tiberius Kirk found a way to beat it. He rigged the computer simulation to allow him to complete the mission without killing his crew. Starfleet accused him of cheating, but Kirk’s response was simple, eloquent, and very revealing. “I don’t believe in the no-win scenario. I don’t like to lose.” Kirk didn’t change the strategy. He changed the rules.

Since Sarah Palin burst onto the national scene she has been savaged. The media, the Left, the Right, the Middle, you name it. People either love her or hate her. In the media it seems people love to hate her. The “elites” on both sides of the aisle hate the populism she represents. Traditional feminists hate the fact that she has both a family and a career; something that their paradigm teaches is impossible. Her future rivals hate her because she isn’t a typical politician. Her authenticity makes Mike Huckabee look about as real as the Guinea Pigs in “G-Force”.

Palin was faced with her own Kobayashi Maru. How could she effectively govern the state of Alaska while facing ridiculous ethics charges and the scrutiny of the national media? How could she increase her exposure in the lower 48 while staying true to the people in Alaska who elected her? Perhaps if the wingnuts in Alaska didn’t stalk her with silly lawsuits she would have simply put her larger ambitions on the back burner and continued to do her job as governor. But it wasn’t meant to be. She was perfectly set up to fail.  Her popularity in Alaska would decline. The national media would point to it as an indicator of her overall effectiveness. The Klingons…I mean the left, would have won.

But Palin defied them. She changed not her strategy, but the very rules. She resigned her position, turning the state over to her loyal Lieutenant Governor to continue the plans and policies she put into motion. Like any good story, it was an unexpected twist, yet when viewed in retrospect it was the only way it could play out.

The notion that a candidate with scant command of policy, who either lacks experience or didn’t complete the duties of their elected position, is doomed to failure doesn’t take into account a little thing I call history. In 2008 this nation elected a President who spent the majority of his Senate term campaigning for his next gig. I only wish he had the class, respect, and decency for and towards his constituents to resign.  And while Palin may lack the depth of foreign policy knowledge, that say a Joe Biden has (yes, I just did that cough/laugh thing), she has a damned good grasp of energy policy. According to a lot of folks that energy thing is a big deal. Sarah Palin understands that people should have more freedoms. Government should be small.  Taxes should be low. I understand that too. Neither of us has a Doctorate in Economics. I think that’s a good thing.

For all his talk of being different, representing “hope,” and bringing “change” Obama has turned out to be quite the bore.  He is the consummate insider, a recycler of old ideas and failed policies. People wanted to beam up to the starship and explore strange new worlds. We wanted to boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before. Obama is in the wrong franchise. He and crazy Doc Brown, I mean Joe Biden, gassed up the DeLorean and took us back in time.  To 1976.

Palin passed the Kobayashi Maru. She is qualified to command the ship. She has all the qualities we want in a captain; valor, principals, vision and most of all, the ability to change the rules.

Will Palin be a candidate in 2012? Will she run for Senate? Will she be a third party spoiler? Who knows?  Maybe she should just enjoy the spoils that are the dividends of her hard work. People get paid millions of bucks because their coffee at McDonald’s is too hot, I think she’s entitled to a book deal and a TV show after having her entire family slandered by a bunch of elitist vampires. But something tells me she won’t just become the “White Oprah.” People like Kirk and Palin don’t retreat. They have an innate craving for responsibility and adventure as well as a desire to help their fellow man.

Go ahead.  Write her off. Make a joke out of her.  Be my guest. But that would be about as smart as marooning Captain Kirk on Seti Alpha V.

We all know how well that worked out for Khan don’t we?

Now I haven’t opened an issue of Newsweek in years, although I have to admit that Evan Thomas is a valuable – actually, essential – addition to society. He forgets to speak his true mind only among his friends, you see, and that gives us a little insight into what these media elites actually believe. He recently said that Barack Obama looked to him like a god, a man above petty things like “America.” 

Click to play

It was Evan Thomas who in 2004 admitted that liberal media bias was good for fifteen points at the polls. (That was for John Kerry. If you take away Obama’s 15 points of bias – I suspect is was much more — he would have won Vermont and the District of Columbia and that’s all he would have won – but I digress.) 

Anyway, the Newsweek cover showed the outline of the Enterprise – without the nacelle caps. Whoever made the model for the cover forgot to put them on. It was obvious to me from across the room, but then, that’s the kind of accuracy I have come to expect from Newsweek. And I digress yet again. 

Inside was a “Star Trek” / Obama administration comparison chart, written by Maureen Dowd. Obama was Spock. Rush Limbaugh was a Klingon commander. Rahm Immanuel – RAHM IMMANUEL! – was Captain Kirk. The Un-American. Bastards. 

This got me angry enough to do some poking around. All around the web, we are seeing comparisons of Barack Obama to Mr. Spock. Maureen Dowd, who is without question the dimmest bulb in the burned-out chandelier of the once-glorious New York Times, wrote a piece in the Times comparing Spock to Obama and ended the piece with the line, “Kirk out.” 

When I regained consciousness I was in the ambulance. 

So here is the result. It examines the terrible danger of putting intellectuals in charge. Not that I think Barack Obama is an intellectual. He, like Larry Fine, simply looks like one standing next to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Joe Biden. But I granted the premise and tried to show why intellectuals are so dangerous and so spectacularly and consistently wrong when they try their hand at politics. 

Not my deepest work ever, but it was a blast to make. Two desires in life hold monumental power over me: 

1) to wear a custom-fitted gold velour jersey.

2) to work with my friend Maurice LaMarche. He was the voice of The Brain in Pinky and the Brain, plays Morbo, Calculon and Kip on Futurama, and who is the go-to guy for William Shatner impressions. As a matter of fact, he can teach you – yes, YOU! – to Talk Like William Shatner by going here.  

So without further ado, here’s “The Dowd Conundrum.” I hope you like watching it as much as I enjoyed making it.

I read through all of the comments on this site and on others that linked to the article, and rather than jump in, I thought I would address some of the consistent themes here.

To clarify, the overall idea is that Conservatism needs to be packaged and sold on an overriding concept:  freedom and personal liberty.  The secondary attribute of this concept is the natural extension that government should be small, unobtrusive, and focused on state leadership opposed to the consolidation of federal power. 

You know, that wacky concept that guys like Thomas Jefferson thought was a good idea.

From that premise, we can create solutions to the secondary issues that are important to Conservatives of all shapes and sizes:  abortion, women’s rights, gun ownership, gay marriage, public education, tax law etc.  These arguments all feed from and are serviced by the limited government concept. Liberty is the ultimate “big tent” idea that everyone can get behind.

I don’t advocate ditching any principals.  I’m not one of those people who think that we can win by watering down what we are about or believe in.

Let me give you a real world example.  When we develop scripts, especially ones destined for TV and DVD release, we know exactly what the buyers want.  As filmmakers, we slip in neat character idiosyncrasies, our political voice, and interesting situations.  We never, however, lose site of the fact that the film we are making is about, for example, giant, futuristic robots bent on destroying human civilization.

I had one producer who would simply write “blah, blah, blah” in red ink on the margins of my script when the character moments or other elements that I as a filmmaker wanted to convey got in the way of the main story line.  I wouldn’t simply throw these ideas away, but would rework them so that they didn’t distract from the main plot, and potentially turn off audiences who paid to see a specific thing.  Sure, as an artist I would curse the heathen producer who was trying to diminish my beloved characters in an attempt to simplify and cheese out my giant robot film.  But you know what, it only made me a better writer and made the scripts better and more focused.

We also need to face up to the fact that we, by nature, are not predisposed for this fight.  We should not be surprised that they are better at organizing themselves and giving the impression of a unified front.  They are statists who thrive off groupthink and the desire to “out victim” each other by classifying people into small sub-groups.  We are a bunch of individuals.  How do you get a bunch of people, whose ideology runs close to anarchy, to sit down and come up with a cohesive strategy?  I, as a Libertarian type, just want to be left alone.  I don’t crave a label.  I don’t desire to be part of some monolithic group.

That’s why this is so important.  Look at the identity polling.  The largest voter bloc now call themselves “Independent.” What does that mean?  Does that mean that they crave to be part of a society run by a big government?   No, it means that they want to be Republicans but the Republican party is so bogged down in “blah, blah, blah” that they don’t feel that they have a home.  Right now, the Democrats are riding high.  They control the government.  They control the media.  Every major celebrity, from actors to musicians, proudly refer to themselves as Democrats.  By all indicators, worshipping at the alter of the State and Lord Obama is the “cool” thing to do.  Yet, 62% of the country rejects them outright, choosing to identify with either the opposition or neither group at all.

I saw “Star Trek” on opening night.  I have tickets to see it in IMAX this weekend.  While the mouth breathers in the liberal media are blabbing on about comparisons between Spock and Obama  (the only connection I perceive is the ears maybe?) I saw  a different analogy.  Over 40 years ago Gene Roddenberry created his own mythical world.  It spawned generations of loyal, rabid fans as well as tons of copycats (my beloved “Star Wars” and “Battlestar Galactica” included).  But for decades the franchise suffered a slow death.  Stifled by ego-maniacal actors, self-important producers, and a fanbase married to the original “canon,” “Star Trek” became, well, lame.  Now, thanks to some aggressive studio bosses and a talented new group of people, “Star Trek” is back.  Yes, the new guys changed some things, but they managed to maintain the original concepts and ideas that made the original series and films so popular.  They just sexed up the presentation and in the process have created a new generation of Trekkers as well as allowed us old school Trekkies to Vulcan salute each other without fear of ridicule. 

Face it, “Star Trek” is cool again.  With the right marketing, we will be too

The most notable achievement here is the extraction of the franchise from fanboy fever swamps into mega-mainstream entertainment. The first three or four Star Trek movies were events with fanfare and media pomp, but after that they diminished into little more than baubled-up TV episodes for fans. You had to know not only the characters but also the Star Trek “universe” to really care about what was going on and why. But this picture works for anybody who even stumbles into it: Kirk is a tough guy, Spock is a smart guy, the rest are identifiably quirky in a Syd Field kind of way, and everybody who aspires to be above the title in their next movie is sexy.

The visual effects are impressive, and evoke those from the earlier pictures while still being gussied up with the latest computer-driven miracles. The costumes are closer to those of the original series than the movies—another nice touch. In fact, the whole thing is wonderfully clever in acknowledging the series and even the movies while still updating the characters and setting with the possibilities of 21st century movie-making.

If there’s a big failure here, it’s the screenplay. After the first hour, the story is almost impossible to follow–something about time travel and alternate universes (with utter disregard not only for basic physical laws like the conservation of energy but also vital pensées such as Are you now liable twice for your outstanding credit card balance? and Can you collect double social security?).

But this Star Trek still thrives, and for one reason:  It drops familiar characters and backdrops into the 21st Century Action Movie Machine. That means certain inherently attractive things are guaranteed: a furious pace, lots of explosions and close calls, eye-popping visual effects, a few futuristic characters created with computer animation, and a nostalgic cameo. Every year, the machine gains a new and faster-spinning gear. The old Star Trek movies look dated and, in a few years, this one will, too. But not today. The “rebooted” Star Trek is, as Elvis Costello put it, just “this year’s model.” It’s simple, ephemeral fun. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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.

Director J.J. Abrams will definitely "Live long and prosper"

Now riding a staggering 96% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes – that’s 96% of America’s movie critics issuing positive reviews – The Enterprise is riding high again thanks to the creator of TV hits Alias and Lost. Try getting 96% of any group to agree on anything. It’s no small feat. Compare Star Trek’s RT score against the ratings for the last 5 Best Picture winners.

STAR TREK has better reviews than Oscars darling SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORES FOR THE LAST 5 OSCAR WINNERS
2004 – Million Dollar Baby – 91% Fresh
2005 – Crash – 75% Fresh
2006 – The Departed – 92% Fresh
2007 – No Country For Old Men – 94% Fresh
2008 – Slumdog Millionaire – 94% Fresh

The original STAR TREK cast (above) with the next generation of franchise stars

With the ringing endorsement of tough-to-please critics, Star Trek hit warp speed at the box office last night with lightly-promoted preview screenings starting at 7pm. The impeccably-reviewed feature film seized an estimated $7M or so in Thursday night ticket sales. The idea may have been to get some of the hardcore Trekkies and Trekkers out of the way, clearing multiplexes for mainstream movie audiences today, and they have showed up in massive numbers.

William Shatner (left) with Captain Kirk 2.0 Chris Pine

With Chris Pine (Bottle Shock) in the legendary role of Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto (NBC’s Heroes) wearing the pointy ears made famous by Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek has soared to a history-making $26M on its official opening day according to multiple studio execs, double the previous-best opening day for any movie in the franchise. That means in the first 29 hours of general release, the re-imagined sci-fi blockbuster has delivered an estimated $33M.

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT had the previous-best opening day in franchise history

ALL-TIME TOP 5 OPENING DAYS FOR STAR TREK MOVIES
1. Star Trek (2009) – $26M [$33M in its first 29 hours]
2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $13M
3. Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $9.7M
4. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $9.5M
5. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $7.7M

How will the weekend play out? The Thursday night preview screenings will probably make Star Trek a bit less front-loaded. In fact, I’m guessing that, based on word-of-mouth and its family-friendly PG-13 rating, my sources believe that the movie could get a 5% boost on Saturday to a possible $27.3M, followed by an aggressive Mother’s Day drop of 40% on Sunday. That would mean a 4-day gross of almost $77M or so.

The great news for Paramount and Abrams and Pine and Quinto and the rest of the cast is that Star Trek will almost certainly have the best legs of any of this summer’s major tent-pole movies. Rank-and-file moviegoers are likely to discover Star Trek for the first time in coming weeks or, now that Trek is cool again, it may rekindle interest with core fans who rejected the most recent incarnations.

STAR TREK could have "legs" like BATMAN BEGINS

It will not be a surprise to see Star Trek sail past $200M. After all, 2005’s Batman Begins performed that way. The Christopher Nolan Batman reboot opened on a Wednesday with $15M and had banked $72.9M in 5 days. Based on that movie’s Friday-thru-Sunday of $48.7M, the first Batman movie in 8 years reached its $205M domestic total at a 4.2 multiple (4.2 X $48.7 got Nolan’s original to $205M). Anticipating a 4.2 multiple for Star Trek is probably overreaching, but a 3.4-3.5 multiple is possible. That would propel Abrams and company to well past $200M.

Competing studio execs  tell me that X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) took a big tumble as expected. The Hugh Jackman X-Men spin-off only mustered $9.15M or so on its second Friday, but it will still likely top $27.95M for the weekend, down about 67%. Meanwhile, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) coaxed about $3M to start the frame, and it will likely be helped by Mother’s Day, grabbing a possible $10M, down a mere 35% from last weekend.

Beyonce continues to sell tickets in OBSESSED

Obsessed, the low budget sizzler from Sony Screen Gems, continues to outperform its low expectations with $2M on Friday, which pushes the Beyonce catfight flick past $50M. The thriller should finish the 3-day with about $6.25M and a spectacular $55.89M by Monday.

The urban-geared comedy Next Day Air (Summit) got off to a disappointing start with just $1.25M (likely #5 for the day), and it will drift down the top ten to #6 for the weekend with a meager $4.1M or so from its thousand or so playdates.

The Zac Efron comedy 17 Again (Warner Bros) will likely spend another weekend in the top five with about $1.15M on Friday and about $4.5M for 3 days. That will give the Efron vehicle a new domestic cume of about $54.26M.

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $26M, $6,755 PTA, $33M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $9.15M, $2,231 PTA, $111.77M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $3.05M, $961 PTA, $22.84M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $2M, $769 PTA, $51.64M cume
5. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $1.25M, $1,098 PTA, $1.25M  cume
6. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $1.15M, $396 PTA, $50.91M cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $1M, $478 PTA, $20.89M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $847,000, $388 PTA, $184.36M cume
9. Earth (Disney) – $697,000, $389 PTA, $24.29M cume
10. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $690,000, $300 PTA, $72.35M cume

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY 3-DAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $69.68M, $18,103 PTA, $76.68M
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $27.95M, $6,814 PTA, $130.57M cume
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $10.06M, $3,170 PTA, $29.86M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $6.25M, $2,402 PTA, $55.89M cume
5. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $4.5M, $1,550 PTA, $54.26M cume
6. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $4.1M, $3,603 PTA, $4.1M  cume
7. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.6M, $1,722 PTA, $23.49M cume
8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.55M, $1,625 PTA, $187.06M cume
9. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) – $2.62M, $1,140 PTA, $74.29M cume
10. Earth (Disney) – $2.44M, $1,361 PTA, $26.03M cume

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

“Trek” opens with what turns out to be its best scene and one of the best in the franchise; the circumstances around the birth of James Tiberius Kirk. Our hero is well-served here with an imaginative and exciting mythology that shows the filmmakers understand the unique importance of the character. This sequence is also effective in setting up our villain, the Romulan Nero (an almost unrecognizable Eric Bana), who’s leaping about in time hell-bent on the worst kind of revenge against the Federation for something yet to happen.

The narrative then efficiently moves to Iowa and one of the worst scenes, an unimaginative sequence that has wild child Kirk looking for thrills in a stolen Corvette. Set to a blistering heavy metal score that screams “demographic bait,” young Kirk, who can barely see over the steering wheel, expertly outruns police and drives off a cliff leaving you to wonder why the writers resorted to a show-don’t-tell used so many times before to inform us we have a reckless, adrenaline junkie on our hands.

The contrast between young Kirk and Spock couldn’t be stronger.  Whereas Kirk grows into an aimless young man with little interest beyond beer and girls, on the planet Vulcan, Spock is a serious, studious and ambitious individual who knows what he wants and where he intends to go. Or does he?

Though they’ve yet to meet, Kirk and Spock do share an unresolved conflict, a pull towards a destiny neither is quite sure they want. Spock’s half human and never allowed to forget it. The prejudice he faces builds both resentment and the bitter knowledge that he’ll never really belong on Vulcan. Starfleet not only offers him a place, but in a fine character moment, the satisfaction of thumbing his nose at those who have marginalized him.

The uniformity of an organization like Starfleet, however, doesn’t fit well with Kirk’s rebellious streak and reactionary distrust of authority, but the legacy of his father hangs over the young man, as does the unspoken acknowledgement of his own potential for greatness. A chance run-in with Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) turns into a “Top Gun-ish” motorcycle moment and so we’re off and running.

Here the narrative hits a strong stride, smartly and quickly bringing our crew together, offering fans fast but welcome character touchstones and establishing the familiar relationship dynamics. But the heavy plot demands of putting Kirk in the captain’s chair for his first saving of the universe slowly overwhelm what was working so well and it isn’t long before an engrossing story breeds indifference as the narrative goes through unspectacular motions.

Abrams not only reboots the franchise but almost completely frees himself from what came before in the opening scene when Nero emerges from the future and in both big and small ways alters everyone’s destiny. Using the classic “Trek” questions of time travel and destiny to throw off a burdensome mythology built up over 70-plus television episodes, 7 feature films and a library of books, is clever and very well executed. Not only do you buy it, but because who the characters are and how they interact doesn’t change, the rest feels unimportant. One major misstep, though, is a very odd and out of place love affair between two crewmembers. There’s no universe alternate enough to make these moments work. This relationship is wildly out of character, especially the lack of discretion.

As Kirk, Chris Pine has big shoes to fill and only rises to the level of promising in his debut. He’s got the swagger but lacks the simmering passion that so defined Shatner’s immortal creation.  Zoe Saldana’s Uhura brings the smarts, but why replace the voluptuous Nichelle Nichols with just another skinny supermodel? But if that’s the worst physical replacement, in the personality department Simon Pegg’s Scotty misses by a country mile reducing the competent and dutiful Starship Engineer into a mouthy, exasperated Disney cartoon sidekick.

Johnny Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov both have their moments to shine but Zachary Quinto’s Spock and Karl Urban’s Dr. McCoy are as perfect a fit as any fan could hope for.  

Ultimately, what brings the film down is the emotional disconnect between Nero and our protagonists. There’s no personal engagement between them. Nero’s driven by hatred for Spock but he might as well be angry at a houseplant. When “this time it’s personal” is a one-way street the impression given is that like an angry spouse smashing increasingly valuable things, a rise out of Spock would be enough to satisfy Nero and make him go away.

Sure, the stakes are high enough with billions of lives in the balance, but they always are. With little doubt our heroes will survive, something bigger has to be added to the action stew above and beyond get-to-the-thing-before-the-thing-explodes, but there isn’t. Pike’s unfortunate circumstance in all this could have been exploited to great effect, but we never come to care about his character much and are allowed to forget his predicament.

For the most the part, the action scenes are a mess of jittery camera work, quick cuts, and pointless close ups. Some of the space sequences are spectacular but again and again I wanted to yell at the filmmakers to get out of the stylized-way so I could see what the hell was going on. This gets progressively worse as the film rolls on until you just sit there numbed by the frenzy.

In the plus column is a refreshing lack of moralizing and politics and a new cast with some life in them. This bodes well for the already greenlit sequel, but make no mistake, there’s still that lingering “Bugsy Malone” feel of it all to overcome.

“Star Trek” qualifies as a promising start. Not a disappointment, but not exactly memorable.

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.

The reviews are through-the-roof at 96% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, and, as a topic, Star Trek is trending at #1 on Twitter. The reviews in the Twitterverse are just as positive.

just got back from seeing Star Trek. I am not typically a fan of sci-fi, but I really liked this movie.

Star Trek was surprisingly good, and even Star Trek newbies like myself could enjoy it.

I saw the new Star Trek last night with my son, who just turned 7. It was great; we both loved it. Next gen of Trekies/SciFi buffs is born.

I’m still pumped up from having seen Star Trek. Looking forward to seeing it tomorrow and Sunday [diff. grps].

still thinkin’ of how f*****’ awesome Star Trek was. now wanting a phaser to set from “stun” to “kill”

Go see star trek immediately. Incredible!

The new Star Trek movie was great when I went in with low expectations. It is what Nemesis was trying to accomplish and succeeded much …

for those of you who were curious. Star Trek rocked my FACE OFF. It was Shamazing! <3 Spok…*droooool*

Star Trek is fresh, funny, exciting and – biggest surprise of all – emotionally engaging.

Now the question is, “How high will The Enterprise fly on its opening day?” Seems like $20M is a lock, but it could be bigger. If the movie does $20M today, the 4-day should be $63M-$65M. $22M or better should send this spectacularly-reviewed blockbuster past $70M. If the day is $25M or better, the number for the opening 4 days could start with an 8.

I’ll be online with my Exclusive Early Friday & 3-Day Estimates as early as humanly possible tonight (Friday).

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.

As of Wednesday night, Star Trek is cruising with 94% Fresh (positive) reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics are slinging some seriously glowing hyperbole.

“Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable, the film gives Paramount Pictures a new lease of life on its franchise.”
– Ray Bennett, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

“It’s an exciting, stellar-yet-earthy blast that successfully blends the hip and the classic.”
– Joe Neumaier, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

“Trading on affections sustained over 40 years of popular culture, STAR TREK does what a franchise reboot rarely does. It reminds us why we loved these characters in the first place.”
– Ty Burr, BOSTON GLOBE

“Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved STAR TREK will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana.”
– Todd McCarthy, VARIETY

LOST and ALIAS creator J.J. Abrams has successfully rebooted STAR TREK

Let’s be honest. Prior to what, by all accounts, is Abrams’ full-on Lazarus-style resurrection of Kirk, Spock and The Enterprise, Star Trek was dead. Worse than dead, it has been considered “uncool.” That’s what Paramount is fighting in the marketplace, and realistically, even in its peak as a movie franchise, it wasn’t a powerhouse.

The biggest opening weekend for a Star Trek movie was 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact with $30.7M and the top grossing title ever was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (with that ridiculous humpback whale storyline), which surpassed $109M. Consider this. Here are the top five opening days for movies in the Star Trek franchise.

ALL-TIME TOP 5 OPENING DAYS FOR STAR TREK MOVIES
1. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) – $13M
2. Star Trek: Generations (1994) – $9.7M
3. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) – $9.5M
4. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) – $7.7M
5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) – $7M

Erik Estrada as Ponch & Larry Wilcox as Jon Baker with Chris Pine's dad Robert, who played Sgt. Joe Getraer

When journeyman actor Robert Pine, best known for playing Sgt. Joe Getraer on the late 70’s TV hit ChiPs, appeared as an Akritirian Ambassador named Liria on the series Star Trek Voyager (the TV series with Kate Mulgrew as Captain), he could have never imagined that his son Chris would someday play Captain Kirk, but the 28-year-old is now in the Trek’s most pivotal role. He was excellent in a little movie called Bottle Shock last year, but aside from that, and roles in The Princess Diaries 2 and Smokin’ Aces, he is basically an unknown.

Original Gene Rodenberry STAR TREK television cast above and Abrams' 2009 casting choices below

In fact, the new Star Trek is filled with actors who are more-or-less unknown. Simon Pegg, the brilliant UK star of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and cast as the colorful Scotty here, is probably the biggest name in the cast along with John Cho from the Harold & Kumar movies, playing Sulu. But these are all talented actors who will wear well as the franchise turns into a steady hit machine for Paramount. Fans of NBC’s Heroes already know Zachary Quinto who gets to don Spock’s pointy ears and Chekov is being portrayed by one of my favorite young actors, 20-year-old Anton Yelchin, who was heartbreaking in the gritty Alpha Dog and showed a lighter touch in Charlie Bartlett. Trekkers are also likely to take to the sexy Zoe Saldana (Drumline, Guess Who?) who steps into Nichelle Nichols’ shoes as Uhura and will appear in James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar at the end of the year.

The appropriate movie to look to for box office guidance is 2005’s Batman Begins. Great filmmaker (Christopher Nolan), spectacular reviews, but the franchise was dead and uncool after 1997’s ridiculous Batman & Robin. The reboot 8 years later opened on a Wednesday with $15M and had banked $72.9M in 5 days (the Friday-thru-Sunday was $48.7M). That lays the groundwork for an accurate prediction for Star Trek.

My bet is on a possible $65M for 4 days. With Thursday preview screenings starting at 7pm, Star Trek could snag as much as $8M on Thursday night (the Trekkers will be out in full force). Then Friday could be something in the $20.5M range with a slight uptick of 5% on Saturday to a possible $21.6M followed by a standard 30% Sunday drop to about $15M.

Once audiences realize that Star Trek is light year better than previous movies in the franchise (and last weekend’s Wolverine), the picture will play and play and play. I think that, of all of the major studio releases this summer, Star Trek may have the “longest legs.” If the movie opens within 5% of my number or bigger, the multiple (the number by which you multiply the opening weekend in order to arrive at the final domestic gross) could be 3.4-3.5, which would push J.J. Abrams reinvented Rodenberry opus to something in the $220M-$230M range.

I am anticipating a steep drop of 65%-70% for X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and producer/star Hugh Jackman will be forced to settle for a second weekend of $27M-$30M. That would still be a nifty 10-day gross of $130M or so.

Finally, Next Day Air (Summit), a low budget, R-rated urban comedy starring Donald Faison (Scrubs), Mike Epps (Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins), Wood Harris (The Wire) and Mos Def (Cadillac Records), will open in the shadow of the retooled U.S.S. Enterprise and is unlikely to wrap up the weekend with any more than $6M.

FINAL PREDICTIONS FOR THE WEEKEND OF MAY 8-10
1. NEW – Star Trek (Paramount) – $65M (includes Thursday previews)
2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Fox) – $30.6M
3. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (Warner Bros) – $8.8M
4. Obsessed (Sony) – $6.7M
5. NEW – Next Day Air (Summit) – $6M
6. 17 Again (Warner Bros) – $3.8M
7. Monsters vs. Aliens (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.7M
8. The Soloist (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $3.3M
9. Hannah Montana The Movie (Disney) – $2.6M
10. Earth (Disney) – $2.4M

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter@LAMase.