With the publicity for Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet picking up steam in the past monh or so, more news has come out on the casting of the main villain in he film, Mr. X. The role was originally set to go to Nicolas Cage, but for whatever reason (possibly the fact that he’s got another superhero film in the works with Kick-Ass), Cage has stepped down from his role.
“I’m told that ICM’s actor Christoph Waltz who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for playing a Nazi in Inglourious Basterds (and is a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination) has now been cast as villain Chudnofsky in Sony’s The Green Hornet opposite Seth Rogen and Cameron Diaz.
Since Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds came out — and crossed the $100M mark this weekend – Waltz has been offered a lot of big movies by a lot of big directors. And he’s getting big bucks now. How great he’s found success at age 52.”
This is the second news of an actor getting replaced from the film after Stephen Chow stepped down from both directing and the role of Kato. See Waltz, Rogen, and Cameron Diaz in theaters for Green Hornet on December 17, 2010.
There was a period in time when 3D horror was thought of as a failed gimmick to get butts into theater seats. Using cheap stereoscopic (blue-and-red) technology to make films like 1982′s Parasite or even as far back as the original House of Wax, the concept got people into theaters, but the initial excitement of it eventually wore off in the 50′s, then again in the 80′s.
It seems like the trend has come back once again, as The Final Destination in digital 3D popped up in the top of the box office this weekend, grossing roughly $28 million over the three days. This was bad news for Halloween II, the opposing horror film that opened this weekend, as it only grossed $17 million.
Though Halloween II, Rob Zombie’s sequel to his 2007 reboot, only came in at #3 on the chart, it still grossed $2 million more than their production budget on the film. Final Destination, however, made back nearly half of their budget of $40 million.
This weekend was a pretty big one for the box office, though only making just over $100 million with the top ten. This marked the biggest opening weekend for one of Hollywood’s most celebrated writer/directors in Quentin Tarantino, as his latest film Inglourious Basterds brought in an estimated $37 million in the domestic box office, while bringing in $27 million overseas.
This certainly goes down as the biggest opening weekend for Tarantino, with the runner ups being Kill BIll Volume 2 back in 2004 bringing in $25 million and 2003′s Kill BIllVolume 1 grossing $22 million in the opening weekend. While the former hit theaters over five years go, Tarantino’s 2007 film Grindhouse only brought in $11 million in the first weekend, and a total box office gross of $25 million.
Basterds not only marks Tarantino’s biggest opening weekend in the box office, but also the biggest production budget that he has worked with at $70 million. Grindhouse being his second biggest with $67 million, the film only grossed $25, which barely made a dent. Basterds, however, has already made an estimated $64 million, which means this film will be turning a profit in a matter of days.
Elsewhere in the box office, last week’s hit District 9 only had a 49% drop from $37 million to an estimated $19. G.I. Joe is still hanging on to the top three spot with $12.5 million, with The Time Traveler’s Wife and Julie and Julia following closely behind. Tarantino’s often-partner Robert Rodriguez’s film Shorts, did not–however–follow in his friend’s trend. The film opened with only $6.6 million.
With the casting and production of Machete being all the rage lately, another film based on a Grindhouse trailer seems to have fallen through the cracks: Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving. Roth has taken a break from directing for a little while during his role as the “Bear Jew” in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, but now that time has passed, it’s time for Roth to warm the director’s chair once again.
In an interview with Sci-Fi (Not SyFy) Wire, Roth explained how he would love to work on a franchise for Thanksgiving, but may first dabble in a PG-13 film.
“[I should] make a PG-13movie so that I’m like, ‘Aw, man, I wish I could kill more people,’” Roth said. “Then let Thanksgiving just be a bloodletting…. “Now I’m kind of thinking maybe I should make like 20 Thanksgivings in a row, just shoot them all and just release them out of order,” Roth continued. “Like, do Thanksgiving 7, then Thanksgiving 4, then 5 and 6 in the theater. People’d be like, ‘Why did 7 come out already?’ It’s like, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a bunch of people getting chopped up anyways. Who cares?’”
Sadly, these ramblings sound like Roth may have spent a little too much time with QT on the set. But either way, releasing a series of films out of order to confuse the audience does sound like a fun idea. Other films that Roth has in the hopper are supposedly Trailer Trash, which is a feature-length film made up of Grindhouse like trailers, and an adaptation of Stephen King’s Cell. You can currently see the “Bear Jew” in theaters now.
Also, check out the NSFW trailer for Thanksgiving that started it all below.
With Quentin Tarantino’s self-proclaimed “masterpiece” hitting theaters across the country today, we felt it was only necessary to bring you an appropriate fan film to celebrate it. Our pals over at GamerVision put this little film together, which is a shot-for-shot remake of the Inglourious Basterds trailer.
Only this time, it’s done with the cast of The Super Mario Brothers. It’s pretty funny, and clever.
Though Myspace has become mostly superfluous in the days of Facebook and Twitter, they still have some cool video projects such as Zach Galfiniaikis’ Between Two Ferns and their series Artist on Artist in which an artist in a particular field gets to jam with another. For the most part, the two artists are linked by their most recent project, like Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller, or Adam Sandler and Nick Swardson. With Inglourious Basterds, hitting theaters tomorrow, Director Quentin Tarantino got to sit down with his unofficial protègè Eli Roth.
They inevitably go back to their favorite subject of themselves after a few minutes and a few glasses of wine, but it’s still interesting to see the two gossip about the production of the film, Pitt’s super-stardom, and more. For all the fun, check out the video after the jump.
Also, be sure to check out our review of Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterdsright here, and then hit the theaters for Tarantino’s masterpiece tomorrow.
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is the WW II movie we’ve needed to see since the war ended. Some might consider it overlong or self-indulgent, but it showcases Tarantino’s filmmmaking skills at their finest and serves as an example of one filmmaker’s singular vision and immense storytelling craft. It is immensely entertaining, and at times brilliant, for its entire running time.
Those going into the film hoping to see lots of bloody action like some of the director’s other films are going to be somewhat disappointed. There is some violence and gore to be sure, but this is a war movie that barely features any of the war. Instead, Tarantino focuses on the people and a very personal story of revenge. This is what Inglourious Basterds is at its core: a revenge film.
From the first scene where we’re introduced to “Jew Hunter” Colonel Landa (brilliantly played by Christoph Waltz) and he lets young Shosanna Dreyfus go instead of killing her as he did with her family, the stage is set for Shoshana’s revenge on the man, and the Nazis, who took everything from her and so many others. This is not just Shoshanna’s personal tale of revenge, however, its the cathartic revenge for all Jews — and by extension all people — who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.
With Quinten Tarantino’s newest journey into the world of “instant cult classics” making it’s way to Cannes and getting some mixed reviews, the promotions machine for Basterds is kicking it into high gear. Their brand new website (with a very catchy background theme) went live earlier this week, and now three clips of the film have hit the net.
The first is a dialog between Colonel Hans Landa and Frederick Zoller (Christopher Waltz and Dan Brhl, respectively) in which Landa discusses his feeling on members of the Jewish faith.
With the publicity for Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry’s Green Hornet picking up steam in the past monh or so, more news has come out on the casting of the main villain in he film, Mr. X. The role was originally set to go to Nicolas Cage, but for whatever reason (possibly the fact that he’s got another superhero film in the works with Kick-Ass), Cage has stepped down from his role.
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