district 9 Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Those of you wondering whether you'll be able to toss a District 9 DVD or Blu-ray onto your Christmas Wish List are in luck, as the film is set to debut in stores on December 22 (up from the previous release date of December 29th). Makes sense to release it BEFORE Christmas rather than four days AFTER Christmas since it was one of the biggest movies of the summer. We're looking at a two-disc set that will feature 1.85:1 1080p AVC video accompanied by a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. As far as extra features go on the Blu-ray release, check it:

-- movieIQ
-- cinechat
-- Joburg From Above: Satellite and Schematics of the World of District 9 - Interactive Map
-- Director's Commentary
-- Koobus Big Gun
-- The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log Three-Part Documentary
-- The Alien Agenda: A Filmmaker's Log - Chapter 3: Refining District 9
-- Metamorphosis: The Transformation of Wikus
-- Innovation: Acting and Improvisation
-- Conception and Design: Creating the World of District 9
-- Alien Generation: Visual Effects

Read the rest and find out why it's set to make Blu-ray history over at SciFi Squad

Feelings are mixed about The A-Team movie, and Entertainment Tonight's on-set visit doesn't shed a whole lot of light on the plot. Naturally, one of the team members (Bradley Cooper as the old Faceman) and the one lady in the movie (Jessica Biel as Amy Allen) used to date, and there's some undercurrent of drama between them. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson, who is taking over Mr. T's star-making role as Bosco Baracus, does sport the Mr. T hairdo (I pity the fool who calls it a hairdon't) but claims there will be "more muscle, less gold." And Bradley Cooper gives us some diet tips.

"No salt or sugar. That's been greeaaat. I just eat what they put in front of me, but it's a lot of, like, boiled chicken and brown rice and broccoli."

I'm going to go eat a hamburger in his honor.

Two stand-out people they didn't talk to include Liam Neeson and District 9's breakout star Sharlto Copley. I'm very curious to see if Copley can parlay his first role in a big-budget US movie into stardom. I hope so, because I thought he rocked in District 9, as anyone who has ever heard me screech "PRAWNS!!!" in a restaurant can attest.

Did this video make you any more or less excited about the movie? Personally, I'm going with no.

Watch ET's set visit after the jump along with an inspirational YouTube video of Mr. T's song "Treat Your Mother Right." Just because.

In what could be read as a big "nyah, told you so" press release, The Weinstein Company would like you all to know that Inglourious Basterds has not only grossed over $108M* in North America but has now out-earned Pulp Fiction, which was previously Tarantino's biggest money-maker to date.

But what's strange is that TWC is giving some of the credit to "an innovative marketing plan. The film was the first to make use of Twitter and other social networking sites in such a direct fashion, even involving Twitter in the film's LA premiere," according to the press release.

Harvey Weinstein is even quoted as saying, "It was great working with Biz Stone at Twitter on Inglourious. It took the campaign to another level."

Okay, what have I missed? How was the Inglourious campaign different from any other of the studios' use of Twitter or Facebook to promote movies through links, contests, and meet-ups? I don't even recall seeing anything on Twitter about it, other than the normal studios using Twitter to cross-pollinate coverage.

Charges that Neill Blomkamp's science fiction blockbuster District 9 was racist began popping up almost immediately upon the film's release back in August. Considering the film features an in-over-their-head South African government that allows a mega-corporation to quarantine and exploit an entire alien race, one may assume the obvious core parable for apartheid was at the heart of the racism charges, but aliens-in-a-concentration-camp was not the bullseye of most accusations. The actual problem some people had was with the portrayal of a Nigerian gang that illegally traded alien technology when not mutilating and devouring unsuspecting aliens in crude shaman-led rituals intended to imbue them with extraterrestrial powers, so to speak.

Nothing much came of the hullabaloo until recently, when the film found its way into Nigerian movie theaters. According to a BBC report on the matter, "The information minister said she had ordered the Nigerian film and video censors' board to ask all cinemas to stop showing the film and to confiscate it. "I have also formally written to Sony Pictures Entertainment, the company that produced this film, demanding an unconditional apology for this unwarranted attack on Nigeria's image," she added."

I realize that different movies receive different marketing campaigns to emphasize different elements for different audiences in different territories, but these two Thai posters for District 9 (courtesy of IMP Awards) are selling something different from what's in the actual movie.

If Exhibit A on the left is to be believed, the film features one city-destroying robot and multiple motherships. It's like Transformers meets Independence Day, and if it were actually the case, it'd guarantee beaucoup baht at the box office. The other poster, our Exhibit B, adhere to the one mothership present in the film, but then suggest that there are multiple man-sized robots running amok -- again, selling the idea of a robot rampage that is simply not in the film.

(Hell, that robot suit doesn't even factor in much before the last twenty minutes; how disappointing might that fact be?)

This is simply the most misleading piece of marketing I've seen in quite some time. The worst thing going on Stateside at the moment is a trailer for Whiteout that implies a monster movie is in the cards for anyone going to see their serial killer thriller. Now, I ask you guys and girls to share: what are some of the most egregious trailer and poster deceptions that you've experienced at the movies?

If the unofficial end of summer arrives with Labor Day Weekend, then all we've got left are a few more days to discuss the summer that was before she rides off into the sunset with her billions in box office dollars and a few more sequels already green-lit. But how does she compare to the summers of the past? A quick glance shows us that, unlike 2008, this summer we didn't get a Dark Knight or an Iron Man ... though we did get a Star Trek and a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. We didn't get a Wanted, a Hellboy 2 or an Incredible Hulk, but we did get some smaller, smarter sci-fi films like Moon and District 9.

Pixar came through yet again, but the rest of this summer's animation slate seemed pretty weak. Same goes for comedies, with the exception of The Hangover, which kinda made up for the disappointing Land of the Lost, Funny People, I Love You, Beth Cooper, I Hate Valentine's Day, The Ugly Truth and The Goods. Sam Raimi returned with a pretty awesome horror flick in Drag Me to Hell, though, and Harry Potter rolled in with what was perhaps his most entertaining installment of the franchise. G.I.: The Rise of Cobra surprised some with its fun, cheesy vibe, and Wolverine did just enough to score himself another go-round in Japan.

Is it as easy as 'men love action, women love romance'? Sci-fi thriller District 9 was the big winner at the box office, as Eugene Novikov reported earlier, taking in nearly twice as much as romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife. Variety said District 9 drew "largely on the strength of males," while our reviewer Jeffrey M. Anderson said "no guy is going to want to sit through [The Time Traveler's Wife]. However, if you're a chick, the movie mostly works." Did couples head to multiplexes together, blow an air kiss, and then head their separate ways to different movies?

I saw both movies at advance press screenings, and so I didn't get a feel for how audiences in general might have been divided. Personally, I loved, loved, loved District 9 ("hellaciously entertaining," I wrote in part.) On the other hand, I mostly agree with Jeff Anderson's assessment that The Time Traveler's Wife is dripped in "soft, gooey gauze." Oh, and since I didn't feel the movie was particularly new or fresh, I didn't think Rachel McAdams' comments on The Daily Show really "spoiled" the plot twists, which, in any event, are telegraphed well in advance.

But I'm curious now about how all you movie-going couples handled the decision-making process. Did the ladies get together and leave the dudes behind to indulge in the gooey romance of The Time Traveler's Wife? Did the men go "woof, woof" and race off to see things go boom (with unexpected intelligence) in District 9? Take our poll and let us know! Feel free to elaborate in the comments section on how you decided what to watch. And a more general query: are you tired of being defined by your sex when it comes to movie-watching?

Sometimes you need neither big-name actors nor a ginormous budget -- just a cool high concept and some nifty advertising that knows how to get the pitch across. The sci-fi-action-allegory District 9 knocked G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra off its short-lived perch with a $37 million weekend. Word-of-mouth appears to be strong, so this one has a chance to make something of itself in a market that will grow less crowded over the next few weeks. G.I. Joe fell just under 60%, which was as expected; it's roughly at $100 million after two weeks.

The weekend's other high-profile newcomer was The Time Traveler's Wife, which grossed $19 million, beating out the last time-traveling romance to hit theaters, the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock weepie The Lake House. (That one opened to $13 million but held up well thereafter). Then there were a few relative dumps: Jeremy Piven's The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard landed in 6th place with $5.4 million; Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo wound up in 9th place with $3.5 million (about par for the course for a US Miyazaki release); and the pretty damn good Bandslam turned into one of the year's biggest flops, grossing $2.3 million on over $2000 screens. Figures that the rare attempt to appeal to the Disney Channel demographic without force-feeding it Disney Channel garbage does absolutely no business.

Among non-G.I. Joe holdovers, Julie & Julia did reasonably well, which makes sense given the extent to which it's targeting older audiences not likely to run out to the theater on opening weekend. And Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, creeping toward $300 million domestic, is now assured second place in the franchise.

The full top 13 (!) after the jump.