Despite an intense marketing push, Will Ferrell's latest sports comedy just couldn't hold up to his previous two efforts. Semi-Pro did take the number one spot at the box office this weekend, but it did so with a measly $15 million. Compared to last year's Blades of Glory (opened with $33 million) and Talladega Nights (opened with $47 million), that $15 million doesn't look so great -- and it's certainly not the way New Line wanted to go out (even though they are, technically, going out on top).

So why didn't anyone go see this film? Granted, people did go see it (enough for $15 million), but it played in over 3,000 theaters. Did the R rating actually hurt the film? Keep in mind, both Blades and Talladega Nights were PG-13 -- so did a raunchy, foul-mouthed Ferrell keep audiences away? Or was it the supporting cast? Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin aren't Jon 'Napoleon Dynamite" Heder and Sacha "Borat" Baron Cohen. Did Ferrell need a little more juice around him in order to score bigger buckets? Maybe the whole '70s basketball thing wasn't so appealing? I guess the bigger question should be: Does this $15 million opening signal the beginning of the end of Ferrell's reign over the box office?

Why did you stay away from Semi-Pro, which I heard was actually pretty damn funny?

Wow, it's been almost nine whole months since a Will Ferrell movie was released. Fortunately, Access Hollywood has just given us the first look (not counting this one) at his next comedy, Semi-Pro, and the trailer should be enough to tide us over until the movie actually hits theaters at the end of February (just in time to get some kind of promotion at the Oscars, I'm sure). Semi-Pro is another sports comedy, completing a nice quartet following Kicking & Screaming (soccer) Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (NASCAR) and this year's Blades of Glory (figure skating). This one is about a basketball player named Jackie Moon, who also coaches and owns the Flint Tropics, an American Basketball Association team hoping to be brought into the NBA. Like way too many comedies, it takes place in the '70s, giving it a sort of recycled feel if you've ever seen Ferrell's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy or enjoyed an afro-ed Chevy Chase in Fletch (which I know was from the '80s).

But some of the trailer shows promise, and there's no doubt that Ferrell will make you laugh with this movie, at least if you typically find him funny. Many of the lines uttered in the promo even sound made up on the spot, rather than scripted by the movie's writer, Scot Armstrong (Old School). So, if you like that weird, random humor stuff, you'll probably enjoy this. Oh, and fans of bear wrestling, parodies of Evel Knievel (r.i.p.) stunts, jokes about using your child as a shield, long-tired disco gags and funny hairdos -- in addition to Ferrell's afro, Woody Harrelson has a 'do that gives his No Country for Old Men co-star Javier Bardem a run for his money -- will certainly enjoy the movie, too.

[via Slashfilm]

I worry sometimes about Will Ferrell. His newest film, Blades of Glory (242 screens) was another critical and financial hit, so that's not the problem. He has also managed to concretely establish his own comic persona, one that seems remarkably adaptable to different kinds of movies, so that's not the problem either. The main problem is that he has made so many movies in so little time; since Old School and Elf in 2003, he has appeared in thirteen movies. To the public eye, he's refining his craft and expanding his repertoire, but in private I suspect he's panicking, or perhaps obsessively searching for something.

I met Ferrell once, and we had a very revealing talk. I'm not claiming to know him, but he told me something that I suspect most movie stars go through; they wonder if they really deserve this kind of treatment and success. They suspect that, at any moment, they'll be discovered and exposed. He could be afraid, if he stops working for even a short time, that someone will fire him from his job. But in just a few years, Ferrell's unique, irreplaceable comic persona has fully emerged. In our interview, he told me that he used to be a field goal kicker for his school football team, which required him to do one task extremely well; it took a serious amount of concentration. He said that he discovered a private place wherein he could retreat during his kicks that he more or less still uses today for his performances.

Just when you thought you had seen the last of casting announcements for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Batman-on-Film (The Dark Knight fan site) has reported that William Fichtner has officially joined the cast. Fresh off Will Ferrell's Blades of Glory, Fichtner is best known as a mainstay in the Bruckheimer universe -- he played the antsy astronaut who squares off against Bruce Willis in Armageddon, and had roles in Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down as well. His face might also ring a bell as the slightly psychotic government agent on Fox's Prison Break. So far there aren't many details about his role in The Dark Knight; other than the vague title of "bank manager," which may or may not even be accurate, considering the unofficial nature of the source. If that is his role, it's not exactly the most dynamic sounding part, but you never know.

The film is currently shooting in Chicago, and Erik gave us the heads up for the first set photographs online (most of the photos were related to an opening action sequence in a bank, so that is probably where Fichtner's character comes in) and just today we got our first, if somewhat blurry look at Heath Ledger as The Joker. There hasn't exactly been a shortage of fan scrutiny over every casting choice in the film, and while it seems like some of the choices have been met with universal approval, there has been plenty of debate on other roles, proving yet again that you can't please all of the Batman fans all of the time. Considering that Fichtner's role, if it is what it is, seems pretty "controversy-free," I doubt there is going to be that kind of attention this time around.

With what's basically an extension of his Ricky Bobby character from Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell once again arrives in theaters doing what he does best -- playing a complete ass. This time, however, he's traded in his spiffy race car for a pair of ice skates and a role opposite Napoleon Dynamite (if he swapped his sketch pad for a part as the fourth Hanson brother). Blades of Glory is everything you'd expect from the trailers -- silly, dumb and predictable. It's far from inspiring, and it won't make you cry, but the film does provide enough stupid humor (thanks to Ferrell's familiar shtick) to make it worth the price of an admission ticket. That's if you don't mind your IQ dropping down a few notches in exchange for a brief chuckle or three.

Not only are Chad Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) considered two of the top men's solo figure skaters, but they're also bitter rivals from different sides of the tracks. Michaels is a sex addict with a love for hard liquor and fast women, while MacElroy is a conservative prodigy raised from a very young age to live, eat and breathe The Ice. When both men tie for the gold medal at the Olympics in Stockholm, their trash talking on the podium leads to an all-out brawl in front of a packed house -- an embarrassing ordeal that ultimately ends with both men being banned from competitive figure skating. What them, their coaches, their team of attorneys, and the entire world fail to notice is that they're banned from solo skating, yes, but not pairs skating. So guess what happens?

If you're one of the teeming masses eagerly awaiting the moment when you get to see Will Ferrell and John Heder on ice in the upcoming comedy Blades of Glory, your patience will be rewarded sooner than expected. No, you won't get the full movie experience until the film's actual release date. But you will, according to The Hollywood Reporter, get to view exclusive video clips and pics from the film on your mobile phone and PC right now.

According to the article, Dreamworks and Paramount have teemed up with Tiny Pictures and their Radar video and picture sharing service to offer fans exclusive real-time content from the film such as outtakes, clips, in-character interviews, production stills and more. Viewers of the content will also be able to comment on it and then share the pics and videos with their network of friends. New content will be released daily until the film opens.

"The reason we're excited to do this promotion for Blades of Glory is that we have so much great viral video for this film," said Amy Powell, senior VP at Paramount. "For us, the ability to extend our viral videos beyond just the Internet to cell phones and other downloadable devices is really important." Yeah, maybe. But do you really want to take the time to watch content from a film like Blades of Glory, comment on it and then share it with your friends? To me, the film isn't "event" enough to need that kind of "viral" marketing push. Maybe if they had some cool Spider-Man or Iron Man clips I could get excited about the idea. Until then, thanks but no thanks.

Oh, for the love of God. Perhaps the best part of the new Blades of Glory trailer occurs when Will Ferrell turns to Jon Heder and says, "I see you still look like a 15 year-old girl, but not hot." Because it's so true! Apart from that, picture The Cutting Edge, except with two men and a host of bad physical comedy ... and really bad gay jokes.

Yes, Will Ferrell and Jon Heder (in what has to be one of his last roles as leading man -- when will Hollywood wake up and realize the Heder phenomena was up a long time ago?) star as two male figure skaters who are banned from the sport after they get into a fight at the Olympics. They soon discover that the only way back onto the ice is if these two bitter rivals join together to form the fiercest pair of male figure skaters ever. Part of me can't decide whether the film would be funnier without Jon Heder, or if nothing (apart from its disappearance off the planet) could help this ticking time-bomb. But, if you're a sucker for stupid, sports-related Ferrell shtick, then I suppose Blades of Glory might be right up your alley.

It took four writers (two of which penned episodes of King of the Hill) to finally churn this sucker out, and it's directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck. (Don't worry, I don't know who they are either. Apparently, this is either their first or second feature film.) I'm sure the pic will wind up with a small fanbase -- a few of the scenes have the potential to be almost funny -- but when a trailer for a comedy makes you want to cry, that can't be a good sign of things to come. Blades of Glory skates its way into theaters on March 30.

Since no official announcement has been made, we're going to chuck this one into the rumor pile. According to a story in The Pioneer Press, Will Ferrell will begin filming a movie in February that revolves around the American Basketball Association. Say what? Basketball? Will Ferrell?

If the rumor turns out to be true, this would mark Ferrell's fourth sports-related comedy, after previously starring in Kicking and Screaming, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and the upcoming Blades of Glory. Now, I have no idea where this information is coming from -- nothing on IMDB or in the trades -- though, perhaps, this is the third film in Ferrell and Adam Mckay's every man trilogy (Anchorman, Talladega Nights)? Seeing as the two men recently signed a two-year, first-look deal with Paramount Vantage, it all seems to fit together quite nicely. Stay tuned for more information as it's dished out.

[via Rope of Silicon]

Just when you hoped Hollywood had figured out that there was nothing even remotely funny about Jon Heder, the goofy actor has signed on to star in Universal Pictures' Loudermilk. The studio preemptively picked up the high-concept comedy pitch by Chris Bowman with Heder and his two brothers, Dan and Doug, attached to produce through their newly formed Greasy Entrainment shingle. Talk about two guys who stepped into gold. I wonder if Jon would mind taking me on as a long lost brother? Heck, I'll go by Erik Heder if it means I get my own shingle too.

The film's plot is being kept under wraps right now, but one can only imagine what a flick called Loudermilk would be about? Perhaps, through a weird scientific experiment, Heder trades places with a carton of milk? Yeah, and when the milk starts talking, everyone around it is like, "Hey, did that milk just get louder?" While, so far, all of Heder's roles have been Dynamite-esque, something tells me this summer's School for Scoundrels will give him a chance to finally prove he can hang with the big boys.

Though I haven't seen it yet, there's obviously something appealing about this kid that has everyone itching for him to star in their film. Currently, Heder is filming Blades of Glory (Wasn't there an old school Nintendo game that went by that name?) alongside Will Ferrell, however production has been delayed after good old Napoleon fractured his ankle while ice skating. Aww, I sure hope that doesn't hinder him from performing in the other gazillion films he's attached to.

Monday's odds and ends:

• Nick Nolte's knees (or one of them, anyway) are apparently so bad that he can't even act on them. According to Variety, due to an old knee injury he's been replaced in the cast of Pride and Glory by the much scarier - and, it would appear, more ambulatory - Jon Voigt. The movie is the story of a multi-generational family of cops; Nolte is no longer their patriarch.

• Also injured is Jon Heder, who fractured an ankle trying to ice skate on the set of Blades of Glory. Yeah, it's dangerous! That'll teach you people to make fun of Johnny Weir. It's hoped, however, that Heder won't have to be replaced. This is good because, while it's pretty hilarious to think about Will Farrell on ice skates by himself, it's even funnier when you picture Heder skating past him.

• Penetration, David Ignatius' thriller about spying in the Middle East, was acquired by Warner Brothers earlier this year. It was hoped that Ridley Scott would direct (he will), but until recently, the film had no writer and therefore was a very low priority for the director. The studio revealed last night, though, that they have hired William Monahan, who previously worked with Scott on both Kingdom of Heaven and the forthcoming Tripoli, to pen the screenplay. Also, since it's going to be hard for the target teenage boy audience to say the title of this movie without giggling, I think it needs to be changed to something safely un-suggestive. Like, say, Mmm...Spies.