CInema Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Christmas came a little early allowing the animated 3D film A Christmas Carol to lead the box office, but not by as large a margin as many had expected. The Box was the only one of last week's wide releases to miss the top five, landing in sixth place. Here's the top five:

1. A Christmas Carol: $30 million
2. Michael Jackson's This Is It: $13 million
3. The Men Who Stare at Goats: $12.67 million
4. The Fourth Kind: $12.2 million
5. Paranormal Activity: $8.2 million

We've got two new flicks fighting for your dollars this week:

2012
What's It All About: They say the world will end with not a bang but a whimper, but director Roland Emmerich seems pretty sure it will happen with several kabooms and a motherload of digital effects. John Cusack stars as a man determined to keep his family alive during a global cataclysm predicted by the Mayan calendar.
Why It Might Do Well: Emmerich has already destroyed the world in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, so he must be getting pretty good at it by now.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Maybe Emmerich has played his apocalypse card once too often.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $54 million

Pirate Radio
What's It All About: In the 1960s eight DJ's set up shop on a ship off the coast of England and broadcast rock and roll to the masses, much to the chagrin of the British government.
Why It Might Do Well: Phillip Seymour Hoffman is joined by Nick Frost and Bill Nighy, and the classic rock soundtrack sounds amazing.
Why It Might Not Do Well: It's a smaller release, so it won't be breaking the bank.
Number of Theaters: 900
Prediction: $6 million

Here's how I think next weekend will go:
1. 2012
2. A Christmas Carol
3. Michael Jackson's This Is It
4. The Men Who Stare at Goats
5. The Fourth Kind

Despicable Me
Second trailer for this 3D animated comedy, and this time it's focusing on arch villain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) trying to break into the headquarters of a rival bad guy. This looks like fun and the bit with the shark had me howling. Check it out on July 9.

Sherlock Holmes
A second trailer for the new Holmes fllck with Robert Downey Jr. in the title role aided by Jude Law as Watson. Pretty sure this will have awesome written all over it. Plan a trip to Baker Street for Christmas day.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
There's some serious spectacle at work here. Jake Gyllenhaal stars in this adaptation of a video game I've never played, but I'm pretty sure that's not necessary. It seems tailor-made to be a summer blockbuster, which is good because it comes out on May 28.

Best Worst Movie
Speaking as someone who has watched and enjoyed some truly awful films in his time, this one really speaks to me. This documentary examines the phenomenon/train wreck that is Troll 2, a 1990 horror flick whose badness has become legendary. No release date yet and I suspect this will be hard to find in theaters.

How to Train Your Dragon
In this new animated comedy from Dreamworks, a viking teenager is trying to learn the ways of his people including hunting and killing those pesky dragons that are plaguing them. He soon learns, though, that everything his people know about dragons is wrong and sets out on his own path. Training begins on March 26.

New this week on AOL Moviefone:

• Splinterheads - A young slacker falls in love with a beautiful carnival worker.
  
• Invictus - Morgan Freeman stars as South African President Nelson Mandela who urges the captain of the national rugby team to strive for the World Cup for the sake of unifying their nation in the days following apartheid.
• Eichmann - Historical drama based on the confession of Adolf Eichmann.
• Mammoth - An intricately woven family drama starring Michelle Williams and Gael García Bernal as a married couple whose lives begin to spin out of control.
• Shake Hands With the Devil - Based on true events surrounding a 1994 U.N. peacekeeping mission to Rwanda that failed to prevent the slaughter of 800,000 Rwandans.
• Avatar - Second trailer for James Cameron's epic 3D science fiction extravaganza.
• Did You Hear About the Morgans - A couple on the verge of divorce can't escape each other after they witness a murder and must enter the witness relocation program.

Our brothers and sisters over at TV Squad have busted through the boob tube and brought with them the following juicy bits of must-see eye candy.

• Is it possible that Oprah Winfrey's long-running talk show may be coming to an end? Find out right here.
• I realize he's done some acting but I'm still scratching my head at the notion of Jon Bon Jovi appearing on the season premier of Inside the Actor's Studio.
• FX is taking a stab at the western genre with Reconstruction.
• Here's a sneak peak at the CGI Dr. Who adventure (featuring David Tennant) that will be airing on the BBC later this year.
• Turner Classic Movies will be hosting a classic film festival at three Hollywood locations.
• ...and finally our wait is over, America, Judge Wapner will be returning to The People's Court, at least for a day.

Avatar
A paraplegic marine from Earth has his consciousness transferred into an alien body so he can infiltrate the native people of a distant planet. More so than the teaser, this one gives a better idea of what the story is all about rather than just showing off the digital effects (which ARE pretty awesome). James Cameron's latest hits theaters on December 18.

Green Zone
Military action flick starring Matt Damon as a U.S. soldier searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The story is inspired by the book Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone by Rajiv Chandrasekaran. The bit about Damon's character wanting to know why things are happening seems kind of heavy handed and I half expected Jack Nicholson to pop up and tell him "you can't handle the truth." Still, this looks like it's got a lot going for it. Watch for this one on March 12.

Once again Paranormal Activity took everyone by surprise by not only taking top honors for the week, but by pushing Saw VI into second place where it experienced the weakest opening weekend in the history of the franchise. Last week's three other new flicks Astro Boy, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, and Amelia all failed to hit the top five, but here are the ones that did:

1. Paranormal Activity: $21.1 million
2. Saw VI: $14.1 million
3. Where the Wild Things Are: $14 million
4. Law Abiding Citizen: $12.4 million
5. Couples Retreat: $10.6 million

Just one new flick going into wide release this week.

Michael Jackson's This is it:
What's It All About: This documentary consists of rehearsal and interview footage shot in the months prior to the King of Pop's death.
Why It Might Do Well: Jackson's following was large and loyal and this is the only major release coming out this week.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Not enough scenes with Bubbles the Chimp? No, I don't think even that will keep this one from raking it in.
Number of Theaters: 3,400
Prediction: $42 million

The Wolfman
This is the second trailer for the remake of the Universal Monsters classic and it's got me hungry for more. Benicio Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, a man cursed to become half-man half-wolf during the full moon. Watch for this on February 10.

Season of the Witch
In this supernatural tale of medieval mayhem, Nicolas Cage plays a knight escorting a witch who is believed to be responsible for the black plague. There are some cool images here, but nothing is put into any context so it's hard to feel one way or the other about this one. The season begins on March 19.

Our brothers and sisters over at TV Squad have busted through the boob tube and brought with them the following juicy bits of must-see eye candy.

• The geeks over at The Big Bang Theory are going to get a guest appearance from Battlestar Galactica's Katee Sackhoff.
• Here's the first picture of that plane crash that will be happening on Desperate Housewives.
• Truly this is a dark day, because Hulu is about to start charging for content.
• Things don't look good for Joss Whedon's Dollhouse as Fox won't be showing the program during November sweeps.
• Folks who like their vampires angsty will be glad to hear that the CW Network has ordered a full season of The Vampire Diaries.
• ...and finally, big news for the heroes on the half-shell: Nickelodeon has purchased the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Things went wild this past weekend as Where the Wild Things Are took top honors. The action flick Law Abiding Citizen also premiered well and Paranormal Activity continues to astound, taking third place while only playing in 760 theaters. Here's the top five:

1. Where the Wild Things Are: $32.7 million
2. Law Abiding Citizen: $21 million
3. Paranormal Activity: $19.6 million
4. Couples Retreat: $17.2 million
5. The Stepfather: $11.6 million

Four new releases this week, three of which will be putting the Halloween spirit into people.

Amelia
What's It All About: Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in this biopic of aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared during an attempt to fly around the world.
Why It Might Do Well: A historical drama is a pretty good counter programmer to all the horror and fantasy movies currently in release.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Right now we're looking at 17% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $6 million

Astro Boy
What's It All About: Adaptation of the classic anime (that itself takes a page from Pinocchio) about a robot boy with incredible powers.
Why It Might Do Well: 73% at Rottentomatoes.com ain't too shabby.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Will this character that originated in the 1950s translate well in the twenty-first century?
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $16 million

Toy Story 3
Full length trailer for the Disney/Pixar sequel in which Andy goes off to college leaving Woody, Buzz and the gang to be donated to a daycare center. Looks like a worthy successor to the franchise. The toys start getting real again on June 18.

Serious Moonlight
In sort of a romantic comedy take on Misery, Meg Ryan plays a woman who duct tapes her cheating husband (Timothy Hutton) to the toilet and refuses to release him until he loves her again. Could be a cute idea but it's got a "wait for the DVD" feel. Watch for this one on December 4.

Dear John
Channing Tatum plays a soldier home on leave who falls in love with a college student (Amanda Seyfried) and carries on a long correspondence (hence the title) once he returns to duty. This is out on February 5.

The Missing Person
Filmnoir about a PI hired to tale a man who we eventually learn supposedly died on 9/11. I love the retro look and style of this one which will be out some time in 2009.

Broken Embraces
The synopsis for this one sounds intriguing -- a man chooses to ignore the life he lived before the accident that caused his blindness and killed his beloved -- but I don't see any of that in the trailer. On the plus side, Penelope Cruz is as stunning as ever. This will be playing New York on November 20 and Los Angeles on December 11.

New this week on AOL Moviefone:

• The Crazies - Remake of a George Romero film in which a small town is exposed to a chemical that drives the residents murderously insane.
• Disney's A Christmas Carol - Second trailer for the Disney holiday flick.
• Tooth Fairy - Dwayne Johnson stars as an unscrupulous hockey player who is forced to work as a tooth fairy.
• Shutter Island - Second trailer for Martin Scorsese's latest. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a Federal Marshall sent to investigate the disappearance of a dangerous inmate at a mental asylum.
  
• Alvin and the Chipmunks the Squeakquel - Second trailer for the second film starring Jason Lee and a trio of pop song singing CGI rodents.
  
• Red Cliff - Historical drama set in China in 208 A.D.
  
• The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - Terry Gilliam's latest about a man who dares to thwart the devil not once but twice.
  
• The Book of Eli - 31 years after global war has ravaged the planet a man seeks to protect a book that could save humanity.
  
• The Messenger - Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson star as U.S. soldiers with the unenviable task of informing people that their loved one has been killed in action.

Our brothers and sisters over at TV Squad have busted through the boob tube and brought with them the following juicy bits of must-see eye candy.

• Superbad and Knocked Up star Jonah Hill is going to co-write and perform in a new animated series for Fox.
• Speaking of animated shows, Fox's Family Guy spin-off The Cleveland Show has already been guaranteed two full seasons.
• An unusually tricky contestant fooled Alex Trebek and the producers of Jeopardy when he violated the show's rule about contestants only appearing once on the show.
• The season premiere of Lost is still a ways off but you can get a glimpse of Oceanic Airlines in an upcoming episode of Desperate Housewives.
• Speaking of Lost, ABC has released the new promotional poster for the upcoming final season.
• ...and finally, Glee fans will be disappointed to hear that a performance by the cast of the show has been cut from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.