Cadillac Records Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Holdovers ruled the box office as no one much cared about any of the movies that opened in wide release this weekend. Lexi Alexander's Punisher reboot turned out to be a huge mistake, opening to a fraction of what the original Jonathan Hensleigh/Thomas Jane version did four and a half years ago. $4 million is painful, though not terribly surprising -- the film was marketed as a totally generic action movie, with no stars and no draw except the Punisher trademark. (The most recognizable name in the cast is probably Wayne Knight.)

Even worse off was the Alan Rickman-starring caper comedy Nobel Son. Tossed into 900 screens by indie Freestyle Releasing, the movie grossed all of $371,000, or $415 per screen -- a foregone conclusion. I'm not sure why Freestyle shelled out the money for such a relatively wide release, or what they were hoping for. Maybe a pre-Christmas miracle.

The "winner" among the weekend's new wide releases would have to be Cadillac Records, which managed a respectable $3.5 million on under 700 screens. That was enough for 9th place, just behind Punisher (on 2500 screens).

Leading the holdovers was Four Christmases, which took first place for a second straight weekend; it will have a tough time breaking $100 million, but should squeak to around $95. Twilight bummed around second place, and should be at $150 million by next week. Bolt finally took a hit after its excellent second weekend over Thanksgiving, and should top out around $95 million as well.

The full chart after the jump.

Etta James blasts her way through a sad song, but it's not good enough. Leonard Chess taunts her and claims she's not "woman enough" for such a song. Didn't anyone ever walk out on her and leave her heartbroken? Take that and put it in the song, he suggests. She steps up for another take, and -- although she has tears in her eyes now -- it sounds pretty much the same. The main trouble with Cadillac Records is that no one took aside writer/director Darnell Martin with the same advice. Scene after scene, Cadillac Records is thin, flat and rote.

Like all biopics, the new film skims over years and years of history in a brief fling. All the moments are historical; they describe what happened, but not who they happened to. Sometime in the 1940s -- the movie is rarely very clear as to what year it is -- Leonard Chess (Adrien Brody) runs a junkyard and decides to get into "race music." He moves from a club to a record label and signs Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright), a blues guitarist straight off the plantation. There are a few nice, early scenes showing these two men touring together, sharing meals and getting the stink-eye from local rednecks, but the movie shies away from developing this friendship.

Holiday humor proved to be what the public was looking for over Thanksgiving weekend as Four Christmases led the pack. Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman's historical epic Australia took fifth, while last week's third newbie Transporter 3 finished way down in seventh place. Here's the top five:

1. Four Christmases: $31 million
2. Bolt: $26.5 million
3. Twilight: $26.3 million
4. Quantum of Solace: $18.8 million
5. Australia: $14.8 million

We've got three new releases this week:

Cadillac Records
What's It All About: Set in the 1950s, Cadillac Records follows the lives of several music legends including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley.
Why It Might Do Well: A 60% fresh rating at Rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The relatively small release will keep it out of the top five.
Number of Theaters: 600
Prediction: $5 million


Punisher: War Zone
What's It All About: Ray Stevenson takes over the title role of the skull-wearing, gun-toting anti-hero and this time he's taking on a mobster called Jigsaw.
Why It Might Do Well: Who doesn't like to watch things blow up?
Why It Might Not Do Well: The Punisher is kind of the ugly stepchild of Marvel Superheroes. Despite two previous films he's not particularly well known outside of comic book circles and this film lacks the star power of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.
Number of Theaters: 2,400
Prediction: $9 million

We've got another bushel or so of trailers for films just over the horizon. How promising are they? You tell us.

Monsters Vs. Aliens
Dreamworks latest animated feature has a group of terrestrial monsters (a blob, a fish man, a giant bug, a human-sized cockroach/mad scientist and a very tall woman named Susan) fighting off an alien attack. This homage to 1950s sci fi features the voices of Seth Rogen, Will Arnet, Paul Rudd, Hugh Laurie, Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson, Stephen Colbert and looks flat out awesome. It opens on March 27 but I really want to see it NOW.

Pink Panther 2
While it's hard for me to work up much enthusiasm for a sequel to a remake I didn't see which was based on a series that had pretty much run out of steam by the end, Steve Martin's Inspector Clouseau does have an endearing charm and I found myself hoping the damn fool doesn't get himself killed falling down stairs, impersonating the pope and brawling with eight year old karate students. Also, this time Inspector Dreyfus is played by John Cleese who I think is one of the funniest guys on the planet. Pink Panther 2 hits theaters on February 6.

Cadillac Records
Set in 1950s Chicago, this one follows the lives of musical legends such as Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf and Elvis Presley, with a cast that includes Beyonce Knowles, Adrien Brody and Mos Def. Cadillac Records comes out on December 5.

-- A bunch of early reviews for Quantum of Solace have arrived online, and the consensus seems to be that while exciting and fast-paced, it's not as good as Casino Royale. The Guardian adds, "I was disappointed there was so little dialogue, flirtation and characterization in this Bond: Forster and his writers Paul Haggis, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade clearly thought this sort of sissy nonsense has to be cut out in favor of explosions. Well, perhaps that is what Bond fans want (not this Bond fan, though). But I was also baffled that relatively little was made of the deliciously villainous Amalric." [More reviews: Empire, BBC]

-- Black Film snagged a whole bunch of new images from the film Cadillac Records, starring Beyonce Knowles (in the blonde wig above), Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright and Columbus Short, among others.

-- Anne Pressley, a TV news reporter who also played Anne Coulter in Oliver Stone's W., was attacked in her home over the weekend -- beaten and stabbed several times -- and is suffering injuries that police say are "life-threatening". There are no suspects right now, however seeing as her purse was missing, police suggest a robbery.

-- Page Six claims Steve Carell is interested in remaking The Bobo (1967), which originally starred Peter Sellers and Britt Ekland. Story tells of an unsuccessful singing matador who's offered a prime gig, but only if he's able to convince a beautiful woman to spend the night with him. Word has it Eva Mendes is on the wish list to play that beautiful woman.

-- Several outlets threw a number of Nick Fury questions at Samuel L. Jackson during the Soul Men press junket, and the actor told IESB that, according to Jon Favreau, Fury will have a much more prominent role in the Iron Man sequel. Also on IESB: Daniel Craig talks about turning down the role Thor in Marvel's upcoming movie.

Girlfriends and wives usually get the short shrift in music biopics. In most cases, they end up as background (with maybe the exception being Walk the Line). Hopefully, this will not be the case for Gabrielle Union's latest role. BlackFilm reports that Union has signed to star in Darnell Martin's music biopic Cadillac Records as Geneva Wade. Wade was blues legend Muddy Waters' long-time girlfriend and was the inspiration for the classic song, Little Geneva.

Cadillac is the story of Chess Records, founded by Leonard Chess. The famed label was responsible for launching the careers of some of the greatest names in R&B. Casting has been the order of the day since news first hit that Adrien Brody would be playing Chess. Since then, it's been a flood of news, with the debate over Beyonce being cast as jazz legend Etta James at the top of the list. It should probably not come as a shock that other casting news has garnered fewer headlines. So just to bring you up to speed: Jeffrey Wright signed to play the great Muddy Waters, Cedric the Entertainer will appear as Willie Dixon, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, and Columbus Short as Little Walter. There is also my favorite piece of casting -- Mos Def as Chuck Berry. Because, frankly, Def is just 'eccentric' enough to pull it off.

The bunny is almost here, giving me a reason to overindulge in hardboiled eggs, but right now, it's still the work week, and here are some casting nibblets from Variety:

• Chinese singer and actress Josie Ho has nabbed herself her Hollywood debut in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Unfortunately, although production has begun in Thailand, there is no word on who she's playing. (She also discusses her casting on her blog, but doesn't mention her role.) You might have caught the actress in Johnny To's Exiled back in 2006, or more recently, as Sina in last year's drama, The Drummer. She's also one of the top 20 Most Intriguing Heiresses, being the daughter of Stanley Ho and all.
• Emily Rios wowed audiences with Quiñceanera back in 2006 (Kim had reviewed it from Sundance). After a handful of roles since, she's picked up a gig in the upcoming Helen Mirren-starring prostitution story, Love Ranch. She will, of course, play a young call girl in the film. Other than casting announcements, not much is coming from set. However, in a discussion over at IMDb, they've linked to Bai Ling's blog, where she posts self portraits of her character.
  
• Lastly, we've got a little testosterone to throw into the mix. Norman Reedus, who recently played detective Norman Reilly in American Gangster, is about to get musical. He's joined the cast of the Adrien Brody-starring Cadillac Records. Will he be a music great, or just some passerby? Hopefully we'll see who is filling the roles of the other classic musicians soon.

Due to my appreciation of Adrien Brody and Jeffrey Wright, I've really been trying to get behind the idea of Beyonce Knowles as Etta James, so that I can fully appreciate everything Cadillac Records can offer. So far, it's not happening, and with the first look at Beyonce's Etta, courtesy of Just Jared, I'm really not convinced. You can check out the full picture, plus a peek at a blue-suited Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess over at the site, and above I have given you a side-by-side comparison.

Putting a blonde wig on Beyonce doesn't make her Etta. It makes her look like she's getting ready for Halloween. They just don't look alike. They look different. They have different body types. And they certainly don't sound alike. It just looks like a caricature, which is really a shame, considering the solid cast along for the ride. And heck, as JJ pointed out, Etta doesn't think so either, although she's remaining positive: "It's a privilege and an honor to have somebody like that girl. I don't think she looks like me, but that's all right. They can fix that up."

Etta is going to work with Beyonce on both the acting and singing, so hopefully the pointers can make this all come together.

With the spring start date moving ever-closer, we're continuing to get reports of who will play all the famous, epic music legends in the upcoming film, Cadillac Records. Just last week, I told you about the wonderful additions of Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess, and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters. Now it seems that we've got some estrogen to add to the mix. While talking with Cedric the Entertainer (who is also attached), BlackFilm.com found out that Beyonce has been cast as Etta James.

James had found some success with Johnny Otis and Little Richard before finding her way to Chess in 1960 -- a move that put her name on the map. After starting with blues, Chess saw a future for her in the pop world, which led her to her first pop-oriented hit, "At Last." (You know the one.. Listen to it here.) From there, she dipped into musical worlds from blues to rock. (Well, "rock" as it was years ago.) Now, she's one of the big names from her era, so the question is: Is Beyonce the right woman for the job? She's a solid singer, but from all I've heard, their voices are quite different, as are their looks. I just can't see a surprising Val Kilmer/Jim Morrison sort of morph happening -- both physically and aurally. Maybe Cedric is wrong. We'll have to wait and see, but in the meantime: What do you think?

[via Empire]

Goodbye, Matt Dillon! Hellloooo Adrien Brody! I don't know what happened since October, when Matt Dillon was in final negotiations to star, but Cadillac Records has found itself a new leading man. Variety reports that The Pianist, Adrien Brody, has signed on to star along with Jeffrey Wright, the insanely wonderful actor from Basquiat, in the upcoming film. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind Matt Dillon, but this project just went from good to great in my books. Brody would've been enough, but with Wright? No one could keep me away.

Adrien has taken on the role of Leonard Chess, and Wright will be Muddy Waters in the feature, which starts filming in March. They will be joined by Columbus Short (Stomp the Yard), Emmanuelle Chriqui (Entourage), Cedric the Entertainer (Code Name: The Cleaner), and Tammy Blanchard (Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows). I'm neither here nor there on the supporting cast, but I'm sort of hoping Joe Morton pops up in a role. Should he, I think I will pass out from movie fan heaven. But anyway...

Coming from writer/director Darnell Martin, Cadillac Records dips into the Chicago music scene of the 1950s -- "charting the colorful lives of American musical legends like Waters, Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, and Elvis Presley." There's no word on who will play the rest of the greats yet, but we should find out soon, before production begins in New Jersey and Mississippi this spring.