International "Toy Story 3" Poster and Viral Campaign

I think this is my new favorite Toy Story poster.  As reported on Comingsoon.net, Disney-Pixar has unveiled the new international poster for Toy Story 3, due to hit theaters on June 18th: 

In even more interesting Toy Story 3 news, it looks like Disney-Pixar is starting a viral campaign as well, releasing a 1980s-style toy commercial for one of the film's new characters, Lotso:

That completely looks like a toy commercial from the 80s.  What's really clever about this is that the YouTube user who uploaded this Lotso ad also uploaded a whole collection of real toy commercials from the 70s and 80s on the same channel, making it harder for anyone to realize there's actually a Toy Story 3 ad buried in there. 

So I guess we'll have to keep tuning in to see if the other Toy Story characters have any 'old' commercials we haven't seen yet.

"Twilight Saga: Eclipse" Trailer

I've read all of the Twilight books and for the life of me I couldn't remember a thing that happened in Eclipse.  That's how good that book was, or at least, that's how good a job I did trying to block out all memory of reading it.

But watching the trailer for the newest film in this annoying popular vampire series brought the story back to me a little bit  - the 'real' vampire Victoria, still furious over the death of her lover at the hands of Edward, creates a vampire army set to invade the town of Forks, and most importantly, to kill Bella. 

The best part about this isn't that the town's vampires and werewolves have to join forces to fight them, it's the sense that we might all get a break from Edward and Jacob's endless squabbling over who loves Bella more.  Although in the book, that's what they spend that entire battle scene doing anyway.  Sigh.

The new trailer, which premiered on Oprah Winfrey's show, looks to be correcting at least that issue from the books with promise of some decent fight sequences. Unfortunately some of the same endless bad dialogue still remains.

So, judge for yourself - will you go with Team Edward, Team Jacob, or Team Just-Let-It-End-Already?

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is set to open at regular theaters and IMAX on June 30th.

"Avatar" Sets DVD Sales Records

James Cameron continued his quest for world domination on Earth Day by shattering one-day sales records with the release of Avatar on DVD and blu-ray yesterday.

The film, which still ranks #12 on the regular box office charts (thanks to a mini re-release last weekend) was released in a bare-bones format which includes the movie and nothing else. 

Now one would assume with an extended edition of the film coming to theaters in August, and the inevitable double-dip release of that version coming to DVD/blu-ray in November that will actually include some special features (not to mention the eventual 3D blu-ray release), savvy consumers would hold off for a better edition of the DVD.

Nope, people seem to like their versions of Avatar any way they can get them.  According to Business Insider, The movie sold an impressive 4 million copies yesterday, just on its first day of release, making it already the year's top-selling DVD.

Of those 4 million copies, 1.5 million were sold on blu-ray, which breaks the The Dark Knight's first-day sales record of 600,000 in 2008. 

Fox is also reporting that retailers have sold out of 50% of their Avatar DVDs already. 

The reviews on the blu-ray version have been nothing short of spectacular (check out this one on BluRay.com, which said this edition of the film "raises the bar" for blu-ray quality), and Avatar has a huge fanbase, so it's not surprising that even this movie-only release is shattering records.  I've sworn not to get it until the special edition in the fall, but even I'm starting to get a little tempted it pick it up through one of the sales going on this week. (but then again, once November comes, what am I going to do with two Avatar blu-rays?!)

Has anyone else gotten their Avatar dvd/blu-ray yet?  Or are you waiting for the next release in November?

Helen Mirren Joins "Arthur" Remake

As much as it pains me to even type the words "Arthur" and "remake" in the same sentence, since I think the original 1981 film starring Dudley Moore is still one of the funniest movies of all time and needs a remake starring Russell Brand about as much as we need another Duece Bigelow film, this is actually some inspired casting:  Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Oscar-winner Helen Mirren is in talks to star in the butler role that Sir John Gielgud won an Oscar for in the original film.

Arthur is the story of a drunken billionaire playboy who is danger of being disinherited from his family's fortune if he doesn't dump the waitress he's dating and marries a socialite he doesn't love.  Gielgud played Hobson, Arthur's lifelong butler and the tough-love father figure he never had.  Should Mirren join the cast, her role will be as Arthur's lifelong nanny, instead of a butler.

This sounds like a good choice for the role...but will they be able to pull off classic scenes like this?  It's hard to tell, I'm still not totally sold on having this movie remade at all.

End Date for "Mad Men"?

Well, the world might not be ending in 2012, but it looks like Mad Men might. 

As reported by The Weekly Blend, series creator Matthew Weiner told attendees at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas this week that he does not plan for the award-winning series to extend past its sixth season.  The show just began production on its fourth season, which is scheduled to premiere on AMC on July 25th.

Apparently this came as news to AMC, who is not confirming a 6th season end date.  “No one wants to see Don Draper wearing a leisure suit," says the network, "We trust Matthew’s vision and that he knows where to take the show. But with that said, M*A*S*H figured how to stretch the Korean War for more than a decade, so stay tuned!”

This is not the first time that Weiner has given an end date for the series, which centers around the enigmatic Don Draper and the Madison Avenue ad agency where he works in the early 1960s.  A few years back he told The Hollywood Reporter that the show would end after five seasons.  So don't go climbing out onto the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce ledge just yet.

Although as much as I'd hate to see Mad Men end, I'd hate it more if the show went on further than it needed to just because the network wanted it to keep going.  A series that chronicles a decade in history should not last further than an actual decade.  But I'm confident they'll bring the show to a conclusion that works for all involved.   

Green Goblin Quits!

Does anyone want to start taking bets that this show just isn't going to happen?  It's bad enough that that the marquee still reads "OPENS FEB 25TH 2010" over the Hilton Theater on 43rd St, where the big-budget musical Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark still hasn't opened.  Reports have run wild for months that the production is so over-budget that even if it does open, it will have to play at capacity for five years before it recoups (and that theater is huge, so good luck with that).  Evan Rachel-Wood, who was set to play Mary Jane, dropped out a few weeks ago due to scheduling conflicts.

But now even the villian has quit.  Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Alan Cumming, who was to play the Green Goblin, has officially left the production, also due to scheduling conflicts.  His character on the hit TV series The Good Wife has been promoted to a series regular, so he will not be available to terrorize Spidey while presumably belting showtunes written by Bono and The Edge.  (and we're still wondering why this show is having so many problems?)

However, Cumming will still get the chance to work with Spiderman's director, Julie Taymor.  He's set to star in her film version of The Tempest, which will be released at the end of the year. 

Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark is still tentatively scheduled to open in September.  Maybe.

Box Office Report - April 16-18

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. How to Train Your Dragon - $20 million

2. Kick-Ass - $19.7 million

3. Date Night - $17.3 million

4. Death at a Funeral - $17 million

5. Clash of the Titans - $15.7 million

6. The Last Song - $5.8 million

7. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? - $4.1 million

8. Hot Tub Time Machine - $3.5 million

9. Alice in Wonderland - $3.5 million

10. The Bounty Hunter - $3.2 million

Oh boy, it looks like another too-close-to-call weekend at the box office.  Actuals will come in tomorrow, but for the moment, it looks like Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon, in its fourth weekend, astonishingly managed to fly past this weekend's new releases and land back at the #1 spot, dropping only 19% from last weekend with a total of $20 million.  With a domestic total so far of $158.6 million (and a worldwide total of $320 million), this looks to be riding its great reviews and strong word-of-mouth straight into the summer movie season.

But even if it does climb back into the #1 spot tomorrow, Lionsgate's Kick-Ass seems to have gotten, well, its ass kicked.  The Matthew Vaughn superhero film opened with a disapointing $19.7 million, which was well below estimates for the weekend.   However, Kick-Ass has shown strong box office momentum after less-than-stellar openings overseas, so it's likely that will be the case here as well.  With an estimated budget of around $30 million, the movie is ultimately going to be a hit, even if it doesn't break box office records.

Date Night, last weekend's almost-winner for the #1 spot, dropped just 31%, making $17.3 mllion and bringing its total to $49.2 million.  It's in the #3 spot for now, however...

Death at a Funeral, this weekend's other new release, finished the weekend with an estimated $17 million.  So it's possible that it could switch places with Date Night once the actuals come in.  Like Kick-Ass, Death at a Funeral also came in below expectations, but it did have the highest per-screen average ($6933) out of any other movie in the top 10.

All of the new releases proved to be too much for Clash of the Titans, which dropped 41% to fifth place with $15.7 million.  It's now at a domestic total of $133 million. 

Not too many surprises in the rest of the top 10.  Alice in Wonderland is now at a worldwide total of $827 million, making it the biggest film of the year so far (well, at least until Iron Man 2 hits theaters).

Avatar, which for some reason got a re-release at select AMC theaters this weekend, added another $1.1 million to the gazillions it already made the first time around (which was what, last week?).  

So will Kick-Ass fight its way into first place?  Stay tuned...

How to Succeed After "Harry"?

So anyone wondering what kind of careers the Harry Potter kids will have once the final film in the series wraps up this year has at least one answer:  Playbill is reporting that Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe, will be returning to the New York stage in a revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2011.

Radcliffe made his Broadway debut two years ago in Equus (a role he also played in London), and unlike that play, which required his character to get naked and blind horses on stage, he will be tackling something possibly even scarier this time:  singing and dancing.

How to Succeed is the story of a window washer, J. Pierrepont Finch, who with the help of the book "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," learns to sneak his way up the corporate ladder of the World Wide Wickets Corporation in New York City.  

The show has a pretty impressive background - it opened on Broadway in 1961, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.  It was revived on Broadway in 1995 starring Matthew Broderick, who won a Tony for his performance.

A private reading of the show was held at Playrights Horizons in New York back in December, starring Radcliffe, David Hyde-Pierce and Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), and according to this report from someone in attendance - Radcliffe's singing & dancing skills are just fine.   He even got a hug from Jo Loesser, the widow of How to Succeed's composer, Frank Loesser, when the reading was over. 

The only production I've ever seen of this show was a high school production.  At the time, I thought it seemed a bit dated.  But the 1995 revival was supposed to be really good, and the show definitely has a Mad Men-type feel to it (in fact, the show's original J. Pierrepont Finch, Robert Morse, is currently one of the stars of Mad Men) - so it shouldn't have much of a problem connecting with an audience now, especially with Harry Potter in the lead role. 

Since I'm still kicking myself for missing Radcliffe's performance in Equus, which I heard was fantastic, I will definitely be checking this out.   As a theater geek, I always find that a lot of actors are at their most awesome when performing on stage, so I can't miss it. 

In The Heights to Start in August?

Variety is reporting that Universal is moving forward with the film adaptation of In The Heights, with plans to start shooting in New York in August.  The film, based on the hit Broadway musical that won four Tony Awards (including Best Musical) in 2008, centers around the vibrant neighborhood of Washington Heights over a scorching July 4th weekend.

Heights creator Lin-Manuel Miranda will reprise his role from the stage production as Usnavi, the bodega owner whose life may change forever after his store sells a winning lottery ticket.  Universal has picked TMI writer Marc Klein to adapt the script.

Kenny Ortega, of High School Musical fame and countless other musical projects, including Michael Jackson's This Is It, is set to direct.  Coincidentally, HSM's Corbin Bleu is currently playing Usnavi in the Broadway production of In The Heights, and has been getting rave reviews.

I'm very excited for this film.  I saw the show on Broadway last year, and it's one of my favorite musicals of the last few years.  The music is fantastic (it's a mix of hip-hop, salsa, and soul music) and the cast album is still in constant rotation on my iPod.  In fact, I was just listening to it this morning.

I'm also psyched that Lin-Manuel Miranda will get to reprise his role in the film version.  That doesn't always get to happen when a Broadway show makes it to the big screen, but as the creator of the show who originated the role onstage, it's only fair and he deserves it.  I did get to see him in the show just a week before he left the cast, and he was terrific.  

Besides, you gotta love a guy who celebrates his Best Original Score Tony win by rapping his acceptance speech.

Yes, it's a musical...but it's a really good musical.  And I think it's in capable enough hands to make a great film. 

Razzies Coming to TV Next Year?

 Everyone's favorite 'bad' awards show might be headed to TV for the first time next year.

Boosted by the online response to Sandra Bullock's hilarious Razzie acceptance speech for her Worst Actress win in last year's All About Steve (the night before winning her Oscar, no less), the official Golden Raspberry Award Foundation is now looking for a way to get the entire ceremony honoring the worst in film televised.

According to a press release on their official website, the plan is to air the show when the awards are given out - which is usually the night before the Oscar telecast.  They are also developing several other "Razzie-branded properties," although they did not reveal what those properties would be.

I'm not so sure about this plan.  Sure, they've gotten stars like Sandra Bullock, Halle Berry, Ben Affleck and Bill Cosby to actually show up and accept the award, but can they guarantee that anyone else in Hollywood is willing to be a good sport about accepting a 'worst'-anything award?  That might make it a tough sell to advertisers if they can't get too many celebrities to play along. 

Also, in the last few years the Razzies have seemed to be less about honoring the worst and more about just giving an excuse to call out current tabloid fodder or stars just that annoy them.  And we already have TMZ doing that job on a nightly basis.

But if they can find a way to make a really funny show that 'honors' some truly bad films that doesn't scare away the people they're trying to honor, it might work.