Every year, the time between May and August is always considered a heavy season for big blockbuster-style films. But this year has been like that on steroids. Normally, there are a handful of big films that carry fanboys and fangirls throughout the summer season, but this year we had one just about every week consistently from the beginning of May.

That fact alone has got to be why when two large, previously established franchises hit theaters, neither open in the box office’s top 3. That’s what happened this weekend, as the independent comedy The Help came in at the number 1 spot with just over $20 million.

Just after that, Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes managed to stay strong at #2 with $16 million. Of the 3 big releases this weekend, we didn’t expect Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids: All the Time in the World to open as big as the #3 spot with an estimated $12 million, but it did.

Lionsgate’s hope at revitalizing the Conan the Barbarian franchise to a younger, edgier audience seemed to have failed, sadly, as the film had a soft opening of $10 million at the #4 spot. Even sadder is the fact that Buena Vista’s Fright Night barely missed the top 5 as it opened at #6 with just under $8 million.

Continue Reading →

It’s always nice when a smaller, lesser known film that has the same release date as a comedy, horror, and a Live 3D concert ends up pulling in the most money for the weekend. Things like this need to happen more.

That’s exactly what happened this weekend as The Help beat out its competitors 30 Minutes or Less, Final Desintation 5, and Glee The 3D Concert Movie for the prized 2nd place spot in the domestic box office.

Of course, given the stunning word of mouth, Rise of the Planet of the Apes pulled through to be #1 again for the second week with an estimated $27.5 million here in the states. That rounds the film out at about $180 million worldwide since it first hit theaters last week.

Meanwhile, Buena Vista’s The Help ended up sliding in at #2 with $25 million. That beat out the other films opening this weekend, including Final Destination 5 which came in at #3 with $18.5 million, 30 Minutes or Less, which came in at number 5 with $13 million and Glee 3D which completely flopped at #11 with $5.7 million.

Next weekend, another barn burner as Conan the Barbarian and Fright Night open to 3,000 screens, while Robert Ridriguez makes his return to the family action flick with Spy Kids: All the Time in the World. Should be fun!

We can admit that the very first teaser trailer of Lionsgate’s upcoming Conan The Barbarian remake hit the web, we were far from impressed. It looked much like if Clash of the Titans and The Scorpion King had a baby, and that baby was not very pretty. Now, months later, we’re getting some killer action and things are finally starting to look awesome.

The film couldn’t come at a better time for star Jason Momoa, as he’s on top of the pop culture world after playing Khal Drogo on the first season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Now he’s really stretching outside his comfort zone and playing a barbarian that screws and kills…everything. Here’s the synopsis.

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

Sure, Kevin Sorbo went on this same adventure one too many times, but with a hard rock song playing in the background, and loads of blood, we can finally get behind this movie. Check out the trailer after the jump and see Conan in theaters and 3D on August 19th.

Continue Reading →

We’ve been following HBO’s new fantasy series Game of Thrones since before it aired the first episode. The potent mix of action, drama, intrigue, sex and several nice looking females has made the show a must-watch.

As we’ve been doing for a few weeks now, we’ve got a preview for Sunday’s new episode to share with you today. In this new episode, entitled “A Golden Crown,” Ned is back in action as the Hand.

While sitting in for the King while Robert is on a hunt, he issues a decree that could have long-term consequences throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Meanwhile, at the Eyrie, Tyrion confesses to his “crimes,” and demands that Lysa give him a trial by combat.

Also in the episode Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) apologizes to Sansa, Viserys receives his final payment for Daenerys from Drogo (Jason Mamoa) and other equally visual and visceral goings on. Should be fun.

Check out both preview videos after the jump. Games of Thrones airs on Sunday at 9/8C on HBO.

Continue Reading →

We’re still on the fence about the upcoming Conan the Barbarian. Sure, it could be cool and star Jason Momoa might just become the “next big thing” and take Arnold’s place as our new favorite Cimmerian warrior.

Or, the film could just as easily go down as yet another in a string of bad ideas that die a quick death at the box office. That’s what makes this business so interesting. Pretty much anything can, and does, happen.

Regardless of what will happen in the future, right now we’ve got the new poster for the film to share with you today. It gives us a good look at the character in action and if the movie ends up looking, and being, this cool, we’re hooked.

Here’s some more info about the film direct from the studio:

A quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds, as Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.

In addition to Momoa as Conan, the film features Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Rose McGowan, Saïd Taghmaoui and Ron Perlman.  It’s directed by Marcus Nispel and written by Thomas Dean Donnelly & Joshua Oppenheimer and Sean Hood.

Check out the full poster after the jump. Conan the Barbarian hits theaters on August 19th.

Continue Reading →

Yesterday was a pretty big day for blockbuster trailers. We got a brand new feature trailer for Warner’s Green Lantern, which gave us some awesome moments like Kilowog speaking, the first shot of a Watcher, and loads of action. On the flip side of that, we got the first full trailer for Conan The Barbarian.

The first teaser that hit had a few fans up in arms about how low-quality it looked, and how cartooney the trailer as a whole felt. This one doesn’t get much better.

Sure, we get lots more Jason Momoa as Conan, a few shots of Rachel Nichols, and some shirtless Stephen Lang, but to be honest, the film has a bit of a “Syfy original movie” feel to it.

Be the judge for yourself, check out the trailer after the jump and if you don’t think it looks like the illegitimate lovechild of Clash of the Titans and The Scorpion King, then sound off! Conan The Barbarian is set to hit theaters on August 19th.

Continue Reading →

We’ve been following this one for quite some time and have been bringing you all the news, including that the film will be in 3D and who would play the legendary character. Now, we’ve got even more in the form of the brand new teaser trailer for the film.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, it concerns “the most legendary barbarian of all time on a quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the fierce Cimmerian warrior but soon turns into an epic battle against hulking rivals, horrific monsters, and impossible odds. During the course of the film Conan realizes he is the only hope of saving the great nations of Hyboria from an encroaching reign of supernatural evil.”

Adapted from the original works of Robert E. Howard and “faithful to the mythology and psychology of his iconic character,” Conan the Barbarian stars Jason Momoa, Rachel Nichols, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman and Rose McGowan. It is directed by Marcus Nispel.

Check out the teaser after the jump. Conan the Barbarian arrives in theaters on August 19th.

Continue Reading →

The world of great artists lost an icon today as Frank Frazetta, a man whose art most often depicted fantastic worlds full of larger than life heroes fighting with swords and battle axes to defend busty, helpless women from horrible beasts, died today in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82.

According to reports, his death was the result of a stroke and was confirmed by Rob Pistella and Steve Ferzoco, his business managers. Frazetta, who had a history of strokes, had returned from a Mother’s Day dinner with his family on Sunday night and complained of feeling ill. Frazetta was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

Frazetta’s work began many years ago on daily comic strips like Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Li’l Abner. He then moved on to comic books in the 1950s. In the mid 1960′s Frazetta became even more popular and began illustrating pulp heroes like Conan the Barbarian and John Carter of Mars for their comics and books.

Because of his style and penchant for scantly clad women, he also illustrated album covers for various heavy metal bands such as Molly Hatchet and Nazareth. His work was also an inspiration to many artists working in comics and graphic novels and the scope of that influence can only be hinted at by the amount of activity on Twitter today at the news of his death.

Obviously, he will be missed.

Between Avatar raking in more money than any other film in the history of Hollywood, and other studios jumping around to upgrade their films for that extra 3D bump, such as Warner pushing back Clash of the Titans so they can go back and convert the film to a more 3D-happy stock, it looks like even more films will be getting this treatment.

IESB recently reported that Lionsgate’s upcoming reboot of Conan the Barbarian (now just titled Conan) will be going 3D, hoping that the film will bring in some of those fans that made Pandora a cash cow. Many other studios have fallen in line with this method, such as MGM changing the release date more than a year so that Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods can get the 3D changeover.

Conan, based on the pulp series by writer Robert E. Howard, will begin filming next month, with Stargate Atlantis actor Jason Momoa stepping in as the sword-swinging barbarian. Mickey Rourke is also rumored to be joining the cast.

This week on The Flickcast, Matt and Chris fly solo again as they take on Conan’s last episode and the classy way he handles it as well as the casting of a different Conan in a reboot of Conan the Barbarian. In addition they also talk about the upcoming Powers TV series, The Goon going digital and the amazing success of Avatar. They also discuss some other topics including the new Fox show Human Target, Jackie Earle Haley’s career, Spactacus: Blood and Sand, the nature of modern movies and the greatness of Die Hard.

Chris and Matt also made more picks this week. Matt went with Swimming with Sharks, and Chris picked the cult classic Coogan’s Bluff starring Clint Easwood as a cowboy in the big city who teaches those city slickers a thing or two about justice.

As usual, if you have any comments, questions, critiques or offers of sponsorship, feel free to hit us up in the comments, on Twitterand at Facebook, MySpace or via email.

This week more than one thing involving Conan seems to be getting settled. Yesterday, we told you about Conan O’Brien making a deal with NBC to step away from The Tonight Show. Now, word comes from Deadline Hollywood that Millennium Films, Lionsgate and Paradox Entertainment have chosen an actor to take on the role of Conan the Barbarian in their brand new Conan movie — and that actor is Jason Momoa.

Momoa, who has appeared in Stargate Atlantis and also stars in HBO’s Game of Thrones, reportedly beat Kellan Lutz of Twilight fame for chance to play the titular hero. Apparently, Conan director Marcus Nispel was sold on Momoa, and won over the filmmakers by shooting some test scenes that allowed Momoa to wield a sword and behave very “Schwarzenegger-like.”

The film, which re-boots the Conan franchise and tells the origin of Robert E. Howard’s famous character, is now on course for a March 15 production start in Bulgaria. No word yet on additional casting or a release date but we have heard that producers have reached out to Mickey Rourke to play Conan’s father in the film. More on that as it develops.