The Comebacks Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It's winner MADNESS this week on Insert Caption. We're finally able to announce the grand prize winner for our Darjeeling Limited contest. Have fun in India, Alan T. (And no, he's not THE Alan T., a.k.a. fantasy dad Dr. Jason Seaver). We expect an exotic magnet or two (legal note: winners are in no way expected or obligated to purchase souvenirs, exotic magnets or otherwise, for trip providers). We'll also be sending a framed Planet Terror poster signed by Robert Rodriguez to Jordan M. (yes, THE Jordan M.) for last week's contest while our two runners up get DVDs and action figures.

1. "Look, don't hit me again but I really do think I have Bingo."
-- Alan T.

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1. "And they say there are no roles left for women in Hollywood..."
-- Jordan M.

2. "This party's dead, we're outta here!" -- Peter A.

3. "Easily flammable house, check. Crowd of lost souls wandering aimlessly, check. Unattainable cool chicks all over each other, check. Yep, it's freshman year of college all over again." -- Chris O.

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We're looking for a few more winners this week. And really, who needs India when you can win a tee-shirt, Frisbee, cup (the kind you drink out of, not protect the privates with), wristband and mini-poster from the new sports spoof The Comebacks? Just write one of our three captions for the pic below of David Koechner and Apollo Creed and sweet, victory could be yours, too. Good luck!

UPDATE: Winners Announced! Click Here

Once again, last week's number one movie eluded most of us who took part in our weekly prediction game. Only Bubba8193 and Ray successfully foresaw that Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married would take first place, and I was again surprised by how well The Game Plan held on to second place in its third week out. Here's the final tally:

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married: $21.3 million
The Game Plan: $11 million
We Own the Night: $10.8 million
Michael Clayton: $10.3 million
The Heartbreak Kid: $7.2 million

As for this week...

30 Days of Night
What's It All About: Vampires invade an Alaskan town during a month long stretch of arctic night.
Why It Might Do Well: Halloween's on the way, and I'm sure I'm not the only one looking to get my creep on at the multiplex. The film is based on an acclaimed graphic novel and produced by Sam "Evil Dead" Raimi. I see this taking the number one spot.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Ain't gonna happen.
Number of Theaters: 2,700
Prediction: $21 million

The Comebacks
What's It All About: A parody of inspirational sports movies.
Why It Might Do Well: Moviegoers looking for something familiar will probably recognize a similarity to the likes of Date Movie and the Scary Movie franchise, and its opening in more theaters than any other new film this week.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Director Tom Brady also gave us the Rob Schneider vehicle The Hot Chick. Need I say more?
Number of Theaters: 2,800
Prediction: $12 million

Gone Baby Gone
What's It All About: Ben Affleck directs and Casey Affleck stars in a film about two private investigators hired to look into the disappearance of a little girl.
Why It Might Do Well: There's some strong buzz for this one (91% at Rottentomatoes.com), and the film is based on a novel from the author of Mystic River.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Confusion may result if the public mistakes this for a sequel to Mario Bava's Kill Baby Kill.
Number of Theaters: 1,500
Prediction: $7 million

Rendition
What's It All About: Reese Witherspoon plays a woman searching for her husband who has been detained by the CIA on suspicion of terrorism. Jake Gyllenhaal also stars.
Why It Might Do Well: Topical storyline mixed with some appealing leads will probably sell tickets.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The story may be too topical, making some people uncomfortable.
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $11.5 million

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Welcome back to The Write Stuff! I'm thrilled that there is such a strong interest in screenwriting out there. Thank you all so much for your comments last week, both here and on my site. All of your questions and comments will be addressed in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and keep them coming!

The first interview for the column is with red-hot screenwriter Adam F. Goldberg. Adam is living the dream. He writes for both television and film, and his upcoming movie projects include Fanboys, the live-action Jetsons movie, and They Came from Upstairs. Cinematical spoke with the incredibly busy Goldberg about his scripts, his process, and Goonies: The Musical.

Cinematical: You said you were being "enslaved by a director," what are you working on? And should I call the authorities?

Adam F. Goldberg: Perhaps call them for my hacky writing! It's called They Came From Upstairs for Fox. It's a family movie, kinda like Gremlins -- but with aliens. The spec was written by Mark Burton and was sold for like $1.7 mil. I believe I am making about .0001212 of that. It's been a really cool project. The movie was in pre-production and the studio realized the script wasn't ready and shut it down pretty late in the game. I came aboard to get the train back on the tracks which is always high pressure and very difficult to do. I handed in 40 pages and they re-greenlit the movie and we're casting and location scouting now. I'm on draft two currently, working next to the director and bringing his vision into it.

Cinematical: Is that an awkward process at all -- being brought in to re-write a fellow writer? Do you ever run into hurt feelings or bruised egos? I guess the $1.7 million makes the pill easier to swallow.

AFG: Well, I come from the TV world, writing on sitcoms and that's very collaborative. You have to sit in the room and watch 10 other writers tear apart your script right in front of you. That bruises your ego. As for movies, more often than not a writer can only go so far and it's your job to bat clean up. It's never a great feeling to have your screenplay rewritten, but hopefully you've moved onto your next project, so it doesn't sting so much. And believe me, that $1.7 payday is like winning the lottery. I hope I can sell a spec one day. I've had little luck in that department.

Here's the new poster for The Comebacks, Fox Atomic's ragtag football comedy starring David Koechner (the sportscaster from Anchorman) and Carl Weathers (Rocky; Happy Gilmore), directed by Tom Brady (The Hot Chick) and written by sitcom vets Joey Gutierrez and Ed Yeager. To view the poster bigger, click on the image above. It reminds me of a few movies. One is Necessary Roughness. Like that movie, The Comebacks features a girl who plays football (Noureen DeWulf). That definitely isn't her in the poster, though. It looks more like Kathy Ireland, who appears in that forgettable football film from 1991.

The poster also reminds me of Committed. Back when I worked for a Manhattan art house, we were asked to take down the Committed poster from the wall of the managers' office because it could potentially cause a sexual harrassment suit. Nevermind that the poster had already been in public view inside and outside the theater. I have a feeling that this poster for The Comebacks would be even worse for the workplace. I can't even imagine it being displayed in most multiplexes. It isn't too lewd, but it's always good to play it safe these days.

Maybe I'm too cynical, and immediately calling Fox Atomic's just-announced slate of films bombs might be a bit harsh, but the new youth-centered specialty division of 20th Century Fox has such an unoriginal bunch of releases, I can't help but expect the worst. Besides, with a name like Atomic, how can one not make the connection? Martha already told you about Turistas, the studio's first, and only fresh, title. After that we'll be treated to two sequels, The Hills Have Eyes 2 and 28 Weeks Later, in the spring of next year and eventually we'll be permitted to suffer through the Revenge of the Nerds redo and The Comebacks, which is yet another movie about an awful sports team.

Even more disturbing than Atomic's horribly worthless crop is how most of the films don't even seem appropriate for the "young adult" demographic the studio is targeting. Maybe I'm unclear as to what "young adult" refers to these days, but I thought it meant adolescents. Maybe it means late teens, though, since the first installments of the two sequels (follow that?) were rated R, as was the first version of Nerds -- not that it makes economic sense for Fox to do the remake with as much nudity (though, come on, wasn't that the only reason you saw it?). So either all these movies are going to be watered down in addition to being totally lacking in creativity, or Fox has changed its mind as to what its new arm is all about. I'm guessing the former, because in addition to being a movie distributor, Fox Atomic will also be publishing comic books (yeah, I know, older people read comic books, I was one of them that did, but you know what I mean). The graphic novels The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning and 28 Days Later: The Aftermath (where is Revenge of the Nerds: Enough Already?) will be released next year.