We have an epidemic people. In the past few weeks BioShock: Infinite and Tomb Raider both were officially confirmed pushed to early 2013. One or two delays make sense, and at the end of the day wont really have a big impact on the season, but we now have two more to add to the list.

Last week THQ announced that Obsidian’s South Park: The Game would also be pushed to the early portion of 2013. This ambitious RPG might not have yet been on a lot of people’s radar, but the game has been written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Obsidian getting a lot of support from the folks at South Park Studios. So it is likely the game will be a big deal once it gets close to release.

In addition, Gearbox Software announced today via their blog that Aliens: Colonial Marines has also been delayed until the first quarter of 2013:

Our vision has been to create a video game sequel to the original Alien trilogy. Our vision is for the game to be fully featured with an exciting, suspenseful, thrilling and action packed narrative campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively combined with a robust competitive game where human players can take on the roles of Colonial Marines or Xenomorphs and do battle online. The game must be authentic.   

Hopefully the later release date will help Gearbox properly follow through on those visions. Alien: Colonial Marines isn’t just getting a nebulous delay though, an official release date of February 12th has also been announced.

These two new delays have started to make early 2013 seem a little crowded. The normally lack luster post holiday gaming season might just be pretty worthwhile next year.

Pixar has set into a pretty stead pattern of releasing one film a year. This summer we have Brave to look forward too, and next year brings us Monsters University. But what about 2014 and beyond? Worry not, Pixar is not letting up anytime soon.

Variety is reporting that Pixar has come clean on several projects targeted for 2014 and 2015:

Pixar has announced its latest project in development, setting a 2015 release target for a toon based on the Mexican holiday of Dio de los Muertos… Other Pixar news from Las Vegas: The studio has titled its dino pic “The Good Dinosaur,” set for May 30, 2014; and has dated its “Untitled Pixar Movie that Takes You Inside the Mind” for June 19, 2015.

So The Good Dinosaur for 2014 and a potential double dip in 2015. What is most exciting is the news of the newly announced film that is based on the Day of the Dead. There is a wealth of culture and history to be mined out of the Mexican holiday, and of all the studios willing to go down that hole, Pixar is by far the most capable of giving it the proper due.

We here at The Flickcast will keep a close eye on this future project, but in the mean time we can all brace for the potential awesomness that is Brave this summer.

Another WonderCon has come and gone. This year was slightly different than any year previous as this was the first time that WonderCon was held in Anaheim, CA and not its typical home of San Francisco.

Many people I spoke to enjoyed the change in venue, and liked the added space that the Anaheim Convention center seemed to provide.

One of the best things coming away from a comic book convention is the chance to look at pictures of the costumes, ruffle through your free swag, and watch fun videos captured around the convention. Enjoy them all after the jump.

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You may not know her name, but I bet you have seen one of her videos.

Jessica Mill is the star and creator of Awkward Embraces, a web series about three nerdy girls working their way though the dating world of Los Angeles. The series has become popular among the “nerd” culture. Jessica herself has become a “nerd” icon on Twitter and Tumblr due to her frequent posts and nerdy sense of humor.

It was at WonderCon 2012 in Anaheim that I talked to Jessica. She reveals the details about three new web series she is working on including Damsels and Dragons. A new web series about a girl LARP (live action role playing) group that she is creating with Greg Aronowitz, designer of The Guild.

Watch my full interview with Jessica Mills below.

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2012 is here, and yet we haven’t been evaporated just yet. Don’t tell that to the folks who have Willem Defoe dancing around and chewing up the scenery in the newest trailer for 4:44 Last Day on Earth.

The film takes the “end of days” premise to a new level of technology and immediate information. Here’s the quick premise for the flick.

In a large apartment high above the city lives our couple. They’re in love. She’s a painter, he’s a successful actor. Just a normal afternoon – except that this isn’t a normal afternoon, for them or anyone else. Because tomorrow, at 4:44 am, give or take a few seconds, the world will come to an end far more rapidly than even the worst doomsayer could have imagined.

The final meltdown will come not without warnings, but with no means of escape. There will be no survivors. As always, there are those who, as their last cigarette is being lit and the blindfold tightened, will still hope against hope for some kind of reprieve. For a miracle. Not our two lovers. They – like the majority of the Earth’s population – have accepted their fate: the world is going to end.

The flick hits theaters on March 23rd, but you can check out the trailer after the jump.

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The fan with knowledge of video editing is a marvelous creature. They are just like the rest of us, but they are able to show their love and geekdom off by producing some pretty high quality viral videos, thus creating an infitine loop of fans and enjoyment.

The Monocular Group, who also brought us the famed 2012 retro trailer last year are at it again, and this time they are sending out a call to arms for men everywhere to go see The Expendables on August 13th.

The trailer takes a pretty strong stand against the state of Hollywood lately, and points out that Expendables, which can easily be considered the quintessential “guy movie”, will be opening against the film adaptation of Eat Pray Live starring Julia Roberts. Basically (according to the message of the trailer) if you are a “real man”, you’ll go see The Expendables that weekend, and help it beat out the alleged “chick flick”.

Check out the fun fan trailer after the jump, and be sure to live up to it’s directions and catch Stallone’s The Expendables on August 13th.

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This week sees more new film and TV releases on Blu-ray and DVD. Among the ones we’re more interested in this week are The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Ponyo, The Neverending Story, the Syfy miniseries Alice , Kurt Russell in Elvis, and the original Clash of the Titans (with Sir Laurence Olivier, pictured above).

Check out all the new releases below.

Film

Bitch Slap (Unrated) ~ Debbie Lee Carrington, Michael Hurst, Kevin Sorbo (DVD)

Clash of the Titans ~ Laurence Olivier, Harry Hamlin, Maggie Smith (Blu-ray and DVD)

Cold Souls ~ Paul Giamatti, Boris Leskin (Blu-ray and DVD)

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey ~ Curious George (DVD)

Gentlemen Broncos ~ Jermaine Clement, Sam Rockwell (Blu-ray and DVD)

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I have a real appreciation for natural disaster flicks. Volcano, Dante’s Peak, 2012, I love them all and it doesn’t matter how absurd they may be.  One personal favorite is Twister. This film came with a whole bunch of destruction with a baked in love story between Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt.  Because nothing says I love you better then sharing the moment of running scared from a category five tornado.

Even with the success of his show Big Love, Paxton wants another Twister film.  Some may scoff at the idea but I’d love to see a sequel. Paxton said the inspiration for the the film came to him while retracing the path of the 1925 Tri-State Tornado. This massive tornado left a path of destruction 219 miles wide and killed 700 people. Paxton said:

“There’s actually footage that I found in Murphysboro at their historical society. They had footage from a biplane that the government sent down, just to do aerial footage of all of the destruction and the damage. So we just did that to kind of get some ideas, and from that I kind of extrapolated an idea for a sequel. And I kind of put that together into a format, and now we’re kind of waiting to see if that’s going to move forward.”

One thing to consider about doing a film like this is how it would be accepted by audiences. Until 2012, the disaster film genre kind of disappeared (Cloverfield doesn’t count, it was a monster after all). In that time the real world has suffered some major disasters of its own (e.g. Hurricane Katrina). This is not to say we didn’t have major disasters when Twister was originally released, but I feel there’s a higher social awareness surrounding the tragedy of the events rather than the sensational nature of them.

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It’s going to be a very green (as in $) for Roland Emmerich. For a long time Michael Bay seemed to be the go-to mega director in Hollywood. Well, it seems Emmerich, director of the recent disaster movie 2012, is set to change all that. At least in the sense of enormous paydays that is.

2012, which has gone onto make nearly $700 million worldwide (much of that coming from international audiences) since its November release is reported to pay out $100 million to Emmerich alone:

“According to several executives who saw the deal as it was being shopped and signed last year, Emmerich got a traditional $20 million advance against 20 percent of the first-dollar gross profits.

Based on where the box office stands today and the first-dollar gross deal, Emmerich will take home $100 million, all the executives agreed.”

While the dollar figure seems enormous it should be noted that Emmerich is well known for micro-producing his own projects. By the time he brings something to a studio everything is set to go (e.g. budget, storyboards, etc.). Add to this the fact he owned the script, produced and directed 2012 and it becomes pretty clear the man deserved his share, regardless of how grossly inflated it may seem.

Regardless, way to go Emmerich!  I’m sure you’ll put some of that money toward the ID4 sequels you talked about.  Fingers crossed.

This week we will be looking at the weekend box office as well as the 5-day holiday, which includes totals for Wednesday through Sunday. There were some interesting developments regarding the international box office scene as well, so this will be a jumbo sized report. New releases barely made a blip, it was the holdovers that led this weekend to the highest grossing Thanksgiving weekend ever.

The Twilight Saga:  New Moon continued to dominate on the domestic and international side. Playing on over 4,000 screens, it grossed $42.5 Million domestically. Over the five day stretch, it grossed $66 Million. No matter your thoughts on the movie, you have to admit we are witnessing a cultural phenomenon unfold in real-time.  Its domestic cumulative take for 10 days now stands at $230.7 Million.

Nipping at the heels of New Moon was The Blind Side. The movie grossed $40.1 Million for the weekend, and $57.5 Million for the five day, with that weekend total being higher than its opening weekend total of $34 Million. Wide releases rarely see an increase in ticket sales from one weekend to the next so this is unusual. This movie is getting exceptionally positive word of mouth, which is bringing more people into the theaters — a topic we discussed on the most recent edition of The Flickcast podcast.

The Blind Side drove over the $100 Million mark as well. Not too shabby for a family friendly film made for around $30 Million. I’m also starting to hear the “O” word casually mentioned regarding this film, as in Oscar. Sandra Bullock seems to be edging her way into consideration for best actress.

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Last week I mentally predicted that New Moon would come in around the $80 Million mark. Obviously, there is a reason that I am not in the business of box office predictions. New Moon grossed over $140 Million during its opening weekend, and broke a few records along the way. Fangirls (and a few fanboys) showed that they are an emerging force to be reckoned with, as New Moon ($72.7 Million) broke the opening day record previously held by The Dark Knight ($67.2 Million.)

According to Entertainment Weekly, over 80% of the ticket sales were from women, a truly rare occurrence. Although the film was critically drummed, (currently 29% on Rotten Tomatoes) audiences gave it an A- cinemascore, indicating that they were very happy with the film. The film opened on a massive 4,000+ screens, and averaged over $34,900 per screen. There was a drop off from Friday to Saturday of about 40%.

Also of note: New Moon now has the 3rd biggest opening weekend ever behind The Dark Knight and Spiderman 3. Its midnight screening averages on Friday morning garnered over $26M, setting a new record for that. The world box office take was over $258 Million. Director Chris Weitz must feel vindicated after the disastrous box office performance of The Golden Compass, his last directorial effort.

Early estimates show that The Blind Side had an opening weekend gross of $34.5 Million, which is nothing to sneeze at. This marks the best opening ever for Sandra Bullock, just behind last summer’s The Proposal. The film also got a remarkable A+ cinemascore, which means it will start getting some seriously good word of mouth. Expect it to remain in the top ten for a long time.

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Roland Emmerich’s epic disaster flick 2012 easily destroyed the competition this weekend. Since there were no other wide new releases, 2012 handily made over $65 Million, which isn’t really all that impressive, but factor in the international box office take ($160 Million) and you get an opening weekend gross of $225 Million. Looks like the film will make back its budget (upwards of $200 Million) and then some. Playing on over 3,400 screens, the per-screen was just over $19,000.

Crowds are beginning to warm up to Disney’s A Christmas Carol, which took in $22.3 Million, and only dropped off  25% from opening weekend. This is a very good sign for the movie, indicating it will stick around a bit, particularly with Christmas coming up.

The Men Who Stared At Goats dropped an even 50%, for $6.2 Million and third place. Precious continues to be a big story. A small expansion put it in 174 theaters, for $6 Million. What’s astonishing is that the per-screen average was $35,000. Compare that to The Men Who Stare at Goats, which only had a per-screen average of $2,500. Precious will roll out a wider opening next weekend.

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