GobletOfFire Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Well, it turns out that Superman Returns has broken a box office record, after all. It had the best opening week at IMAX theaters for a Hollywood new release, bringing in $6.83 million (it also scored the IMAX a record per screen average of $89,804 domestically and $67,888 internationally). I guess it isn't that hard to imagine since IMAX is showing some of the film's scenes exclusively in the new 3-D format. I've been curious about the scenes, myself, but every time I check on tickets, they appear to be sold out for days (okay, I haven't checked on the morning show because I have a day job, but still). So far, Warner Bros. has been having a great success with its simultaneously releasing its blockbusters on IMAX. Before Superman broke the record, previous holders of the slot were Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Batman Begins and The Matrix Reloaded.

What does this news tell us? That people are willing to flock to the movies for big screens and for 3-D. The first reason is a given since nobody wants to sit in an auditorium with a screen not much bigger than their TV. The second reason should be good news for George Lucas, James Cameron and any of the other filmmakers trying to usher in the 3-D technology as cinema's saving grace. The only thing is, other theaters besides IMAX are going to need to embrace it too, since there are still too few IMAX screens to handle a major release without a simultaneous multiplex opening.

J.K. Rowling is killing two characters off at the end of the seventh, and final, Harry Potter book. I know this news more directly relates to literature than movies, but it will certainly affect the film franchise, and since I stopped reading the series after #5 (I nearly even gave up on the films, but I finally just saw Goblet of Fire and was surprised to find it is the first great Harry Potter movie), and the fact that the books have been discussed here before, I find it appropriate.

Because I didn't read the sixth book, I couldn't tell you with logic who the two might be, although just about everyone thinks one of them will be Harry. Even Rowling hints at this: "I've never wanted to kill him off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books and that's where I want to go." Does that mean she did want to kill him at the end? She also told Britain's Channel 4 on Monday that she understands the desire to kill off the main characters in the end so that nobody else can resurrect them after she's done.

Then again, she says of her most recent draft of the final chapter, "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say that two die that I didn't intend to die." So that could mean that Harry is not one of these two. Perhaps he's the one who got a reprieve? The thing is, if you think about her comments, there is no certainty that only two will die. Heck, she could have killed off every character but the saved one.

The best way that I can relate to this is, what if George Lucas had killed off everyone at the end of Return of the Jedi, except Chewbacca? Okay, I'm sure many would have enjoyed seeing the Ewok village go up in flames.