What Now for the Terminator Franchise?

Despite the inclusion of Christian Bale (star of the insanely-popular Batman films), a PG-13 rating and a prime Memorial Day release-date, Terminator Salvation failed to meet its projections this past weekend at the box-offce.

The fourth installment of the franchise (the first in a proposed trilogy) churned out $65 million in its 5 day opening. Compare that to its main competitor that weekend Fox's Night at the Museum sequel which grossed $70 million in 4 days(!) not to mention Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines which earned $73 million back in 2003.

The question arises: "What now for the Terminator franchise?"

Long story short, it's done. Now comes spin-control from the key principals. As of a few weeks back, MGM has a "first right to refusal" deal where the producers will present a "packaged deal" for a fifth Terminator film. In fact, said project was already officially announced last December with a Summer 2011 date set as well as the return of Bale as John Connor and its director McG back at the helm.

There's no doubt the meeting will still take place. And you can bet your ass the producers will spend the next few months (if not the rest of 2009) talking up a storm about how Terminator 5 is "definitely" going to happen. But it will ultimately amount to just that - talk.

Warner Brothers and Sony (who are distributing Salvation in the US and foreign territories and paid a fortune to do so) had been previously fighting tooth-and-nail to pertain the rights for the next film. It's safe to assume said fights will quickly cease.

Now comes the fall-back defense of "Well, DVD sales will save it!" Uh, no. Salvation will certainly do solid business on DVD/Blu-Ray. But this isn't a situation like Batman Begins and Austin Powers where the first film does respectable box-office, but trully soars in home-video sales thus causing said studio to invest in a sequel. There have now been two films in this franchise that were box-office under-performers (and expensive as Hell to produce, no less) and one television in the form of The Sarah Connor Chronicles that was a flop.

As for the foreign box-office, it'll do well. But I seriously doubt it's going to be a repeat of T3 where the international grosses save it. Rise of the Machines had one major factor in its corner that Salvation lacked - Arnold Schwarzenegger whose still a mega-star overseas. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the TV spots cut for the foreign markets showcase the Arnold "cameo."

If anything, we'll be spending the next couple years hearing rumors about "how so and so is talking about maybe possibly doing another Terminator film" not unlike how we've constantly heard rumors of Alien 5 ever since the release of Alien: Resurrection back in 1997.

Fan-Made Green Lantern Trailer Earning Praise

A fan-made Green Lantern trailer -- created by You Tube user Jaron Pitts -- has been causing a stir on the Web.

Here is the clip, which casts Nathan Fillion in the title role as Hal Jordan:

Pitts told me he got the idea back in March and has been "tinkering ever since."

"After seeing WormyT's 'Thundercats' trailer, I was inspired to get back into that game," Pitts said. "WormyT and I had both done 'Spider-Man 3' trailers back in '06, so I thought I'd give it another shot."

Pitts said the trailer took a great deal of effort to create.

"It was definitely a lot of late night hours," he said, "so we should all be thanking my wife for not killing me."

Update on Fri, May 29, 2009 by Sean Gerski

Nathan Fillion saw the trailer and was duly impressed. He posted the following message on his Twitter page:

"I LOVE THIS! this guy rocks! Thanks for that."

Fillion followed that message up with this one:

"Green Lantern fan trailer goes from 5000 views to 157000 since Twittering. I'm loving this Twitter."

Of course, all 152,000 of those extra hits didn't come from Fillion's 60,000+ followers (the trailer ended up being posted at a lot of superhero forums and Web sites -- such as this one), but I'm sure it didn't hurt.

'Last Days of Disco' Headed Back To DVD (Finally!)

Kate Beckinsale in "The Last Days of Disco"As I pointed out before, I am a big Chris Eigeman fan. A major reason for that is the work of Whit Stillman. As a writer-director, Stillman can be called a great many things. Prolific, however, would not be one of those things.

During his nearly 20-year career, Stillman has created a total of three movies: "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco." Stillman has a small, but devout, fan base -- with each of the three movies having their defenders as being his best.

"Metropolitan" (my favorite) came out in 1990. The well-received film introduced the world to a world rarely seen and, of course, to the debutante season. Of the movie, Roger Ebert said: "[Whitman] has made a film Scott Fitzgerald might have been comfortable with, a film about people covering their own insecurities with a facade of social ease. And he has written wonderful dialogue, words in which the characters discuss ideas and feelings instead of simply marching through plot points as most Hollywood characters do."

Four years later, "Barcelona" arrived and it was equally well-received. Ebert: "It appears at first to be about the casual lives of young men trying to launch their careers, but eventually (again, like an Allen movie) it reveals darker depths and meanings. What it also does is give voice to a generation. If there is one part of American society that American movies are usually not interested in, it is the wage-earning, 9-to-5, ambitious, competitive, white collar society of business and management. Watching this movie, I realized that although I'd seen a lot of amazing things on the screen before, I'd hardly ever seen young WASPs earning a living."

Another four-year wait revealed "The Last Days of Disco," a movie about, well, the title kind of gives it away. The movie also served to introduce a lot of people to Kate Beckinsale (for which I remain grateful). For synchronicity's sake, here's Ebert once more: "The movie is the latest sociological romance by Whit Stillman, who nails his characters with perfectly heard dialogue and laconic satire. His characters went to good schools, have good jobs and think they're smarter than they are."

Four more years came by and no picture from Stillman was on the horizon. Now, 11 years after "The Last Days of Disco," Stillman still hasn't produced another picture. There have been rumors here and there, but nothing has come of them.

To make matters worse, "The Last Days of Disco" has been a veritable no show on DVD. A brief release came out, but it was so hard to find that the title regularly fetched in excess of $100 on eBay. Now, at last, the movie is returning to DVD on Aug. 25 and -- even better -- it is getting the Criterion treatment.

Of course, those who currently own the out-of-print DVD are putting the title up for sale on eBay before it loses its full value. Woe be to those that buy it without knowing about the forthcoming Criterion collection version.

That "DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION" will include the following:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Whit Stillman
• Audio commentary featuring Stillman and actors Chloë Sevigny and Chris Eigeman
• Four deleted scenes with commentary by Stillman, Eigeman, and Sevigny
• Stills gallery with production notes by Stillman
• Stillman reading a chapter from The Last Days of Disco, with Cocktails at Petrossian Afterwards, his novelization of the movie
• Behind-the-scenes featurette
• Original theatrical trailer
• PLUS: An essay by novelist David Schickler

Of course, if you are one of those people who no longer believe in DVDs and like to watch your movies online, well, there's good news for you, too. The movie is showing for free on Hulu (and since the movie is intended for mature audiences, a Hulu account is needed -- it's a short, painless process).

In the meantime, I'll be busy waiting for Stillman's next movie. Should be any decade now ...

Movie Moan - The Best Kind of Cancer

Even though it's Memorial Day weekend, Phil, Jamie and Ed return for another edition of Movie Moan. It's true, folks. They just didn't have anything else better to do...

On this week's show, our heroes give their thoughts on Coraline, Wall-E, their thoughts on the cinematic future of 3-D and the lack of Billy Zane in Back to the Future Part III.

Also Phil and Ed pick Jamie's brain a part and ask him every question known to man about Terminator: Salvation (which he was able catch on the opening night and they didn't...yet!) in addition to trailer reactions to The Gamer, Surrogates and Sherlock Holmes.

All of that, and yet another edition of "Memo to the Executives" where the X-Men franchise is discussed.

Movie Moan - The Best Kind of Cancer

Cannes '09 Winners Announced

The winners at the Cannes Film Festival have been announced, and, as usual, the winners' list is filled with movies you likely will never see in your life (apart from “Inglorious Basterds” and maybe "Antichrist").

If anyone sees any movie on this list outside of those two, I would honestly be interested in your take on the movie.

Palme d’Or: “The White Ribbon” (Das Weisse Band), directed by Michael Haneke

Grand Prix (runner-up): “A Prophet” (Un Prophete), directed by Jacques Audiard

Prix Exceptional du Jury (Special Jury Prize): Alain Resnais, director of “Wild Grass”

Prix de la Mise en Scene (best director): Brillante Mendoza, director of “Kinatay”

Prix du Scenario (best screenplay): Feng Mei for “Spring Fever” (Chun Feng Chen Zui De Ye Wan), directed by Lou Ye

Camera d’Or (best first feature): “Samson and Delilah,” directed by Warwick Thornton

Camera d’Or Special Mention: “Ajami”

Prix du Jury (jury prize) - TIED: “Fish Tank,” directed by Andrea Arnold and “Thirst,” directed by Park Chan-wook

Prix d’interpretation feminine (best actress): Charlotte Gainsbourg for “Antichrist” (directed by Lars von Trier)

Prix d’interpretation masculine (best actor): Christoph Waltz for “Inglorious Basterds” (directed by Quentin Tarantino)

Palme d’Or (short film): “Arena,” directed by Joao Salaviza

For those interested, IndieWire has a listing of the winners of various other awards and prizes. Those can be viewed here.

Deadpool Villainess or Daredevil Reboot?

Katee Sackhoff, better known as Starbuck on the fan favorite television series Battlestar Galactica, was recently spotted in the trendy Golden Apple Comics shop in Los Angeles.  What was she doing there you ask?  Well, she wasn't picking up her weekly stockpile, that's for sure.  According to Golden Apple's blog, she bought every comic she could featuring Typhoid Mary "in hopes of getting a part in a Marvel movie."  You can read their blog here.

Typhoid Mary started as a villain and lover of Matt Murdock, known better as Daredevil, protector of Hells' Kitchen.  However, she also featured rather prominently in early Deadpool comics.  While I'd absolutely LOVE a reboot of Daredevil, as, for my money, done right, it could be every bit as good as The Dark Knight, if not better, I'd guess the latter ,as the Deadpool film is already confirmed.

Katee is a talented actress, and drop dead gorgeous. I'd like to see what she could do with the role, though, my hopes for the Deadpool movie are nil.

Summer Blockbusters On a Budget

For those who can't afford to go out to the theater this summer, "The Tonight Show" recreated a few of the blockbusters on the cheap.

It's worth a few smiles and it's always good to see an old friend return.

New 'Harry Potter' Poster Enchants Internet

This new poster for "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" has just made its debut:

If you head over to MSN, they have collected 37 images associated with "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which is scheduled to hit theaters July 15.

And for those who like their pictures to move, here is the movie's trailer:

Is This 'The End' for Smallville?

Contrary to what some morons think, I don't hate Smallville nor do I have any "bias" against its Man of Steel (to be) Tom Welling. He's fine in the role, but what episodes I caught were very "Meh!" That, and I think a character as iconic as Superman belongs on the silver screen. But maybe that's just me.

With last week's season finale being quiet un-popular amongst the fanbase (two friends of mine who regularly watch the series hated it), all eyes are on the forthcoming ninth season to see if the damage can be repaired. And it's become increasingly apparent that it's now or never to do so.

The Hollywood Reporter previously heard rumors that the CW was planning on placing Kevin Williamson's Vampire Diaries in their prime Thursday night slot next to Supernatural. That would result in Smallville being dumped on Friday nights - aka "where shows go to die."

And now they have confirmed (along with Entertainment Weekly's TV-Insider Guru Michael Aussiello via his Twitter account and Deadline Hollywood Daily's Nikki Finke here) that Smallville is indeed headed in that direction.

There's flat out no way of (effectively) spinning this. If this schedule sticks (and to be fair, the network won't officially make announcements until tomorrow), it's done after this season. No network in their right-mind would dump a consistently-performing series on Friday nights if they knew there was a realistic chance it could survive.

Let's hope the current executive producers/show-runners will give Smallville the proper finale (and final season overall) its fans are hoping for...

More Ghostbusters III Non-News from Aykroyd

I'm sure Dan Aykroyd is a very kind-hearted and sweet person in real life. But God.dammit! am I sick of him talking about the "status" of Ghostbusters III.

No offense to him personally. But every answer he gives to the press is a variation of the following:

1. "Right now, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky are writing the script as we speak. Of course, they write for 'The Office' and already worked with Harold [Ramis] on his new film ['Year One']. So I'm curious to see what these kids have cooked up."

2. "Yeah, everyone is coming back."

3. "This one will involve the old group, but also a younger set of characters that we train to 'pass the torch.' As you can imagine, we have a quiet a handful of fresh talent for us to sort through to see who will be joining us in this new go-around."

4. "Hopefully, we'll be filming within a year or so."

The LA Times recently caught up with the Man Who Was Elwood Blues where upon he basically reiterated examples 1-4. But also added that production could move forward as soon as winter and his desire for "several female members" this time out. Again where haven't we heard this before?

Am I being a dick? Probably. But until we hear something genuinely new regarding the film (which I have no doubt will get made - especially with the current batch of 80s nostalgia projects in development), I won't waste my time covering it.