HotelForDogs Tagged Articles at Cinematical

How Kevin James managed to open a movie called Paul Blart: Mall Cop to the tune of $39 million in the middle of January may become one of those cosmic mysteries, like the origin of the universe and what the "Frost Glacier Freeze" flavor of Gatorade actually is. It's kind of astonishing, and a little disturbing. What drew people, exactly? Was it the part in the trailer where he tries a rolling maneuver but misses and has to painfully drag his fat self behind a mall billboard?

Two halfway-decent newcomers languished in third and fourth, though I would think that both My Bloody Valentine and Notorious are happy with their circa-$24 million 4-day bows. Notorious, in particular, opened on just over 1,600 screens, giving it the best per-screen average on the chart. Hotel for Dogs landed just below the two with $22.5 million -- also pretty good for a fairly anonymous little family film opening against a higher-profile family film.

As a footnote, $19.7 million of My Bloody Valentine's $24.24 million came from its pricier 3-D playdates, showing that 3-D is a considerable draw (and perhaps also that filmgoers are savvy to the fact that these films play in 3-D in some theaters and in 2-D in others).

Defiance expanded into wide release, ending up with a $10.7 million holiday weekend, which seems roughly commensurate with its failed Oscar hopes. Gran Torino and Slumdog Millionare both held up well, with the latter actually seeing a gain compared to last weekend, even if you don't count Monday (and even though its screen count dropped slightly).

The full 4-day top 10 after the jump.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that could (and would) magically leap off the screen and come to life if it weren't so lazy. Last week we asked you to put your best paw forward and bark out a caption for a photo from the new flick Hotel for Dogs. Congrats to the three hounds behind the following winning captions:


1. "Okay kid, they look pretty clean. You can pet me now." -- Herb S.

2. "In an attempt to take the Karate Kid series in a new direction, the studios decided to replace Mr. Miyagi with a Jack Russell Terrier." -- Rex P.

3. "An unfortunate early attempt at a Vulcan mind-meld left the young Mr. Spock with lingering confused feelings toward fire hydrants and the neighbor's poodle." -- Matt H.

See full image and call captions

This week we're taking a closer look long-awaited big-screen adaptation of Inkheart, about a father (Brendan Fraser) and daughter (Eliza Bennett) who share the ability to read characters out of their stories and into the real world. Wouldn't it be cool if we all had that power? And I wonder if it would also apply to recipes in our favorite cookbooks? The folks behind our three favorite captions this week will take home one Inkheart leather belt with pouch, one Inkheart sketchbook that includes pencils & case, one Inkheart tattoo sheet and one Inkheart shirt. Sound off below ...



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Clint Eastwood proved to one and all that he's still got it, with his Gran Torino earning the strongest opening of his career. Personally I had expected a stronger showing for Bedtime Stories in its second week, but it placed sixth. Here's the top five:

1. Gran Torino: $29.4 million
2. Bride Wars: $21 million
3. The Unborn: $19.8 million
4. Marley and Me: $11.3 million
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: $9.2 million

Four more new ones this week:

Hotel For Dogs
What's It All About: Two kids living in foster care have to find a new home for their dog. After they find an abandoned hotel they are soon housing scads of homeless canines.
Why It Might Do Well: Recent flicks like Marley and Me and Bolt show there's always room for a shaggy dog story.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Looks like a cute premise for kids, but lacks that cross-over appeal for grownups.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $14 million

My Bloody Valentine 3-D
What's It All About: Yes, it's another horror remake, and this time it's a slasher film from 1981 that's being recycled. A young man returns to his hometown on the tenth anniversary of a series of brutal killings and finds himself suspected of committing the atrocity.
Why It Might Do Well: Although it's not being used in all theaters, the 3-D effect should bring in a lot of folks who might have otherwise passed on this one.
Why It Might Not Do Well: One of the reasons remakes are so common is they allow a studio to capitalize on an existing brand. In this case, however, unless you're an old school horror fan the title won't be all that recognizable.
Number of Theaters: 2,300
Prediction: $26 million

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the online game that totally supports an actual hotel for dogs ... except we don't want to work there. Last week we asked you to churn out your best for a photo from the new flick Last Chance Harvey, and with only one winner to take home the prize, we searched hard and long for the caption that turned us off the most. (Or something like that). Congrats go out to Mark P.


1. "Dustin turned, and suddenly it struck him: "Jesus! From this angle, she looks like me with long hair..." -- Mark P.

See full image and all captions







This week we're checking in to Hotel for Dogs (in theaters January 16th), and checking out all your witty captions for a photo from this film about two kids who secretly take care of nine stray dogs in a vacant house ... and hilarity ensues. Once again we're looking for only one winner this week, which means you really have to be on your caption-ing game. But the prize is totally worth it -- the person behind our favorite caption will run away with one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS and one Hotel for Dogs Nintendo DS game. So bark out those fine captions and sound off below ...



Read the official rules for this contest

Another gaggle of fresh previews this week featuring wizards, robots, and French school teachers. Here we go:

Angels and Demons - Tom Hanks returns to the role of Robert Langdon in this prequel to The Da Vinci Code based on the novel by Dan Brown. This time he is on the trail of an ancient secret organization called The Illuminati in an attempt to prevent a terrorist act against The Vatican. This teaser trailer doesn't give much to go on, but I'm sure fans of the books are getting all tingly.

The Class - Francois Begaudeau, who wrote the screenplay and the novel on which this film is based, also stars in this French-language film as a teacher trying to reach a group of mult-ethnic students in a Parisian high school. Comparisons to To Sir With Love seem inevitable, but this looks like it could be worth a look.

The Day the Earth Stood Still - (extended international trailer) - More Keanu, more devastation and more Gort in this extended trailer. I'm torn here by the fact that this remake doesn't seem to get the idea of the 1951 original but still manages to look pretty cool on its own.

When Weinberg made clear his sentiment regarding the prospect of sitting through a film titled Beverly Hills Chihuahua in this or any other lifetime -- his words: "[it] looks to be an endless migraine composed of forced cuteness and bad effects" -- he drew the ire of chihuahua owners who said that it looks to be every bit as adorable as their fuzzy-wuzzy-kins and that we all might as well cram our cynicism and good sense (not to mention ethnic heritage) come this fall.

Look, just because you like an animal doesn't mean that you have to enjoy a film centered around them. My family may own six dogs, but you wouldn't see me eagerly lining up for and giving a pass to Kiss My Basset, simply because they constitute exactly one-half of above-mentioned population. The upcoming Hotel for Dogs may look silly, but it's nowhere near as downright stupid as BHC still appears to be as of this latest trailer. (The fact that actress Piper Perabo seems to be recycling what I suspect was her Coyote Ugly audition towards the end certainly doesn't help matters.)

Man, does anyone in Hollywood still think that Babe earned a Best Picture nod on adorable alone? Alas, Disney seems to be banking on that indeed -- that, and a parade of cringe-inducing Mexican and Hispanic stereotypes -- and I have little reason to think that the American moviegoing public won't go and prove them right. The Mayans may have believed that the world would end on December 21, 2012. My vote goes to October 3, 2008.

Moviefone has just debuted the first Hotel for Dogs trailer (watch it above or over on Moviefone in glorious HD), starring Emma Roberts, Don Cheadle, Lisa Kudrow and Johnny Simmons. Based on Lois Duncan's 1971 children's book of the same name, Hotel for Dogs tells of two mischievous orphans who hole up and attempt to hide dozens of stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. God bless these kids, because I currently have one dog and she's more than a handful. Imagine taking care of an entire hotel full of dogs ... and having to feed them, bathe them and, well, clean up the poop! Hate the poop! Hate picking up the poop! Why do dogs have to poop all the time? Who knows, but I do love the way the kids in this film deal with the poop issue and it's given me a few new ideas. The flick actually looks pretty cute and cuddly, especially if you're an animal lover or a young kid ... or a young kid who also happens to be an animal lover. Check it out above.

Hotel for Dogs barks into theaters on January 16, 2009.

Lolita Davidovich is heading for the web, and Chrissy Seaver is back on television, but here are some of the newest big-screen casting bites:

A funky, music-laced young adult book called Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist came out this year, and it's already becoming a movie -- one starring the completely irresistible Michael Cera and struggling 40-Year-Old-Virgin teen Kat Dennings. Now Variety reports that Breaking and Entering's Rafi Gavron is also on the cast as Dev, who looks to be one of Cera's bandmates. Taking place over the course of one night, the book deals with teens who meet a punk club and fall for each other while questioning their lives and roaming through Manhattan -- something that could be a very welcome change from the usual teen fare.

Emma Roberts finally has a kid co-star for her upcoming film, Hotel for Dogs. If you remember, the film is based on a Lois Duncan children's book, and it focuses on two orphans who keep stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. IMDb has the other orphan, Bruce, listed as Jake T. Austin (Wizards of Waverly Place). So now, at least, Roberts won't be talking to empty space. Also, Variety reports that Troy Gentile has booked a role, who you might remember from his stint as a Bad News Bear, or as the young Nacho Libre. Dogs is currently filming, but won't hit theaters until 2009.

Finally, Scott Michael Campbell, who co-starred as Liddle in Flight of the Phoenix, has nabbed himself a new role, according to Variety. He's been cast alongside Djimon Hounsou and Dakota Fanning in Push -- that sci-fi flick about telekinetics and clairvoyants running from a US government agency. He's playing Agent Holden -- obviously one of the dudes that these people with powers must run from. They're currently filming the project in Hong Kong, and plan to release it next year.

With production set to begin next month, the Hotel for Dogs is about to turn off its vacancy sign. In June, I alerted you to the project when Thor Freudenthal was tapped to direct Lois Duncan's children's book from the '70s, about two orphaned teens who hide stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. After getting a director, Eric Roberts' offspring, Emma Roberts, was tapped to star as one of the kids, and then Don Cheadle signed on to play the orphans' social worker. Now we've got much of the cast in place, although there's still no familial cohort for Roberts in sight.

Topping the recent additions is Friends alum Lisa Kudrow, fresh off the upcoming Butler/Swank romance, P.S., I Love You. She will play the foster parent of the two dog-loving kids, which will be a bit of a contrast to her other upcoming work -- she's going to produce and star in a black comedy called Intense Girl Scouts. The other new cast member is Johnny Simmons, who recently hit the screen in Evan Almighty, and who is already set to play the young Denny Colt in The Spirit. Since the brother spot is still open, Simmons will be playing Roberts' crush.

They don't have too much time left, so hopefully they pick a co-star soon. Otherwise, it'll be mighty weird to see Roberts act with an imaginary person, and it will be an entirely different story. Instead of a feel-good tale of two kids and some cute canines, she'd be talking to people who aren't there and surrounding herself with dogs -- first step, foster, second step, asylum!

Replace Rwandan refugees with dogs and what do you get? Don Cheadle's next film. The actor, who earned an Oscar nomination for Hotel Rwanda, has been cast in the similarly titled yet very differently themed movie Hotel for Dogs. It isn't just the title of the new project that reminds us of the earlier film; the synopsis provided by Variety tells us that Hotel for Dogs features a hotel that serves as a refuge and sanctuary for beings that would otherwise be dispose of. Of course, this time they are in fact dogs and not human victims of a civil war in Africa. Last month, when Monika brought you the story of Hotel for Dogs, it was said that Emma Roberts (I'll continue reminding you that she's Julia's niece) would star as one of two orphaned teens who hide stray dogs in an abandoned hotel. We had also learned that it was based on a 1971 children's book by Lois Duncan and that it would be effects artist Thor Freudenthal's directorial debut. The adaptation has been scripted by Jeff Lowell (John Tucker Must Die) and is being produced by Jon Gordon, Lauren Shuler Donner (Unaccompanied Minors) and Jack Leslie.

Cheadle apparently will not be a hotel manager this time. Instead, he will play a social worker who keeps the teens out of trouble. I can't find a plot description of the book, but I have a feeling that his role will not be too huge. Seeing as how he mostly appears in R-rated films (including his other 'Dog' title, The Dog Problem), Cheadle is probably just doing this for his preteen daughters. Despite coming from a book by Duncan, who also wrote the source of I Know What You Did Last Summer, this movie will likely be more family friendly. Hotel for Dogs begins shooting in early November, which is probably just after Cheadle finishes the espionage thriller Traitor and should fill some time while he continues to wait on start date announcements for the biopics about Toussaint L'Ouverture and Miles Davis.