The Flickcast

Box Office: Avatar’s Winning Weekend A Mixed Bag

Posted on December 21, 2009

As expected, James Cameron’s epic 3-D adventure Avatar easily won the weekend with over $73 Million. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it is hardly the type of money that studio dreams are made of. Take into account that the number is slightly inflated because IMAX tickets cost more than regular tickets, and you come out with a good, but not great, weekend. The movie didn’t break any records, and came in under many projections.

There is some conjecture that a winter storm that blanketed the East coast might have had a deleterious affect on ticket sales. Worldwide, the film fared better, and hauled in over $232 Million. The film is enjoying great word of mouth, and received a solid “A” cinemascore .

Other than that, the weekend before Christmas was silent. Disney’s holdover The Princess and the Frog dropped 50%, and managed an okay $12 Million, and yep, there was the ever reliable The Blind Side in the number three spot.

Audiences did not want to hear about the Morgans, so the Hugh Grant/Sarah Jessica vehicle Did You Hear About The Morgans? limped in at $7 Million. The Twilight Saga: New Moon rounded out the top five.

Extended ‘Toy Story 3’ Clip Hits The Web

Posted on December 21, 2009

Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 looks more and more amazing with each new footage we get to see. The film seems to be retaining everything we loved about the previous adventures, while feeling fresh enough to captivate both old and new fans. While this extended clip was supposed to air on ABC during a special airing of The Incredibles, it has now found it’s way onto the web for your repeat and/or enjoyment.

Without spoiling anything, it looks like the third film in the Toy Story franchise will center around Andy going away to college, and how Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), and the rest of the toy gang deal with a now uncertain future.

Toy Story 3 will be in theaters and IMAX 3D on June 18th. In the meantime, check out the new clip after the jump, thanks to our pals at ComingSoon.net, introduced by director Lee Unkrich.

First Poster For ‘Knight and Day’

Posted on December 21, 2009

Instead of getting a trailer for Piranha 3D, as reported to be attached with this week’s release of Avatar, most people got the trailer for Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise’s upcoming action-thriller, Knight and Day. Directed by James Mangold (Walk the Line, Cop Land) and written by Patrick O’Neill, in his first produced, feature screenplay, the film is centered around Diaz and Cruise’s characters being chased around the world where “no one and nothing is what it seems – even themselves.”

The trailer was pretty funny, and looked like the 20th Century Fox film is going to feature some fantastic action including Tom Cruise crash-landing a plane to jumping from a motorcycle onto the hood of Diaz’s car. The film also features Peter Sarsgaard (Orphan and An Education), Maggie Grace (LOST, Taken), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood) and Viola Davis (Law Abiding Citizen and Doubt). Unfortunately, here isn’t much more to go on until the trailer gets released online.

However, Slashfilm recently got a photo of the poster – which I hadn’t seen, and actually don’t even remember hearing anything about this movie before now – so now I’m sharing it with you. It’s all text and stylized people (assuming it’s the lead characters), but is interesting – and better than the soon to come, I’m sure, photoshopped heads version.

Check out the full-size image below. Knight And Day is scheduled for release in July, 2010.

Actress Brittany Murphy Dead At 32

Posted on December 21, 2009

Word first came in Sunday afternoon that actress Brittany Murphy was found dead after going into cardiac arrest. TMZ was the first to report that Murphy was delivered, D.O.A. to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in California.

Brittany Murphy appeared in several television roles, but she is most remembered for her breakout role as Cher’s nerdy friend Tai in the 1995 film Clueless. The movie also featured Paul Rudd, Alicia Silverstone, and Donald Faison.

Murphy went on to star in Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999), Girl, Interrupted (1999), Sidewalks of New York (2001), Riding in Cars With Boys (2001), Spun (2002), 8 Mile (2002), Sin City (2005), and Happy Feet (2006), in addition to other movies and shows.

She co-stars in the upcoming Sylvester Stallone movie The Expendables. She married screenwriter Simon Monjack in 2007. Murphy died of cardiac arrest on Dec 20, 2009 at the age of 32.

The Flickcast Presents: The Best TV Of 2009

Posted on December 18, 2009

2009 has been a great year for TV. Everyone’s favorite shows like The Office, Lost, Weeds, and True Blood continued with some killer seasons, new shows like Trauma, Castle, and Lie to Me caught audience’s interests. We’ve got a list for you of our favorite TV shows of this year, including some of the latest and greatest of 2009 as well as some old favorites.

Glee – Fox

Glee has stolen viewer’s hearts this season not just with its love triangles and intense drama, but also the song and dance that the students in William McKinley High School’s glee club perform. The mid-season finale just aired, and it surely made “gleeks” even more anxious for the rest of the season, which will air beginning April 13th.

Not only has Glee swept the nation’s TV sets, but also it’s iTunes playlists. The first soundtrack to the season has already gone gold, while the second soundtrack is climbing the charts in the top 5.

True Blood – HBO

Where the Twilight series fails to thrill audiences, True Blood succeeds. Just finishing its action packed and hair-raising second season, the show, based off Charlaine Harris’ vampire mystery series continues to confuse us, surprise us, and make our blood boil with such storylines as an anti-vampire cult, a love triangle, and flying Eric, all in this season alone!

Game Demo: ‘Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth’ For Nintendo DS

Posted on December 18, 2009

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth Main Screen Capcom has been proud to bring customers the Nintendo DS hit Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright in the past. Now, they intend on trying to capture lightning in a bottle once again by moving the investigation from the court room to the crime scene itself. Coming February 16th, Capcom is releasing Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS and DSi.

Remembered as the rival of Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth returns from a month long vacation to find out that his office has become a crime scene. This demo lets players go through the early part of the investigation as Miles tries to figure out who the victim is, contradictions in the crime scene that point to foul play and a rival prosecutor who is looking to muck up Miles’ investigation.

The game takes Miles through a series of episodes, the first of which can be played below in the included Flash Demo. The game itself will feature over 15 total hours of gameplay (a hefty amount for a hand-held game). Players will investigate scenes and logically try to piece together pieces of evidence. When confronting possible suspects, they will have to listen carefully to the logic being used in their testimony and find inconsistencies from what they are being told and what they know as fact.

Check out the first trailer for the game below, which will be available for the Nintendo DS on February 17, 2010.

First Trailer For ‘Piranha 3D’ Attached To ‘Avatar’ Prints

Posted on December 18, 2009

While most people will be rushing out to see Jim Cameron’s newest masterpiece, Avatar, for the spectacle, others may have a new reason to spend the extra money on seeing the film in 3-D. The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films have just announced that the very first trailer for next Spring’s Piranha 3D will debut exclusively before selected 3-D and 2-D showings of Avatar.

The film is the second trailer to the 1978 film Piranha, directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins 2: The New Batch), while the first two films were pretty cheap and a bit hokey, Dimension promises that the newest incarnation will be made to scare.

From acclaimed director Alexandre Aja (“The Hills Have Eyes”) comes the new action thriller PIRANHA 3D, in the latest eye-popping 3D technology. After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the area’s new razor-toothed residents.

Bruce Willis’ ‘Red’ Gets A Release Date

Posted on December 18, 2009

red_comic_book Summit Entertainment (The Twilight franchise) has announced the release date for the upcoming film Red. In case you’re not familiar, the film features Bruce Willis as Paul Moses, a former CIA assassin, who after years of retirement ends up hunted by the government for the things he knows. Red has been set for release on October 22, 2010.

The film, based off the mini-series by Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan) and illustrator Cully Hamner, has an A-list ensemble cast lined up including Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren, John C. Reilly, Mary-Louise Parker, Brian Cox, Richard Dreyfuss and just announced the other day, James Remar (Dexter).

The film is being directed by Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler’s Wife), from a script by Jon and Erich Hoeber, who gave us another recent comic-book adaptation, Whiteout.

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