Sony releases a two-second teaser for Battle: Los Angeles.

This is older news (last week), but it didn't catch my eye until this morning. Two seconds. Two whole seconds, with an extra two seconds for the fade-in and fade-out. We've seen a number of 'teaser for the trailer' releases in the last few years (Summit likes doing that for the Twilight Saga sequels), but this is a first. Two whole seconds. And the shocking thing? Those two seconds look pretty darn impressive.

Scott Mendelson

Inception three-peats as Dinner For Schmucks opens well, but Cats and Dogs 2 tanks. Weekend box office (08/01/10).

Inception was number one for the third straight weekend, as it fended off three challengers and neared the $200 million mark. Dropping just 35%, the Chris Nolan thriller grossed another $27.4 million for a new total of $193.3 million. It will likely cross the $200 million mark on Tuesday, its nineteenth day of release. By Wednesday, it will surpass the $205 million gross of Batman Begins to become Nolan's second-highest grossing domestic grosser, behind the $533 million earned by The Dark Knight. At this point, Inception is having a slightly leggier run than Star Trek, with smaller drops to compensate for a lower opening weekend (it too ended weekend three with $191 million). So it would appear that the audience-pleasing mind-bender should finished between $260-300 million, depending on how well it handles the direct demo competition in the next few weekends. Ironically, it will lose at least some of its IMAX screens a little earlier than expected, as Avatar has a planned re-release on August 27th in IMAX and 3-D theaters. There's not really much more to say aside from repeating the fact that the film has already recouped its budget in domestic numbers and is slowly expanding overseas (it's worldwide total is now $363 million). So of course, in order to cash in on this audience-pleasing original, Sony is now set to remake Total Recall. Brilliant.

2010 is the worst year for movies ever, just like every year before it.

Yes, yes, 2010 is the worst year for movies EVER, screams Joe Queenan of The Wall Street Journal. There have been plenty of years where I felt 'this is the worst year/summer ever', especially as, yes, I've gotten older. Part of it is nostalgia, as I remember the years past through rose-colored glasses. I remember the great moviegoing experiences (my dad taking me to a jampacked advance-night screening of Jurassic Park... best moviegoing experience of my life) more than the bad ones (my dad taking me to see an afternoon matinee of Airheads that had me feeling guilty that it turned out to be such a stinker). But looking back at years that I didn't care for, there are still more than a few movies that are so good that they all-but redeem the year. We forget about the bad movies and only remember the good ones. When people discuss 1972, they discuss The Godfather, Deliverance, Sleuth, and Sounder. They do not mention Horror at Snape Island, The Revengers, or The Last of the Red Hot Lovers. When we think of 1996, we remember (depending on our taste) Fargo, Independence Day, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills, Get on the Bus, Mission: Impossible, Big Night, or Star Trek: First Contact. But I'm betting most of us haven't given a second thought to Sargent Bilko, Eddie, or Striptease in fourteen years.

Does Hollywood really think that the world is going to end in 2012?

A friend and I were discussing the glut of major releases over the next two years, and he mentioned something a little disconcerting. There are almost no releases yet slated for 2013. In 2011 we have (among others) The Green Hornet, Thor, Captain America, Kung Fu Panda 2, Cars 2, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II, Transformers 3, Green Lantern, The Hangover 2, Mission: Impossible IV, Sherlock Holmes 2, The Smurfs, Rise of the Apes, X-Men: First Class, Winnie the Pooh, Cowboys Vs. Aliens, the new Muppet movie, and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part I. In 2012, we have The Avengers, Madagascar 3, Battleship, Men in Black 3, Star Trek 2, Spider-Man 2.0, Ice Age: Continental Drift, Batman 3, and Monsters Inc 2. What's already scheduled for 2013? In an era when studios lay claim to prime release dates years and years in advance, there is but a single release slotted for 2013: Disney's Reboot Ralph, slated for March 23rd, 2013. No official word for Jonathan Nolan's Superman, Iron Man 3, or David Goyer's Wonder Woman. No word on Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn part II. Does Hollywood know something we don't?

Scott Mendelson

Inception humor...

All three of these clips will be after the jump, as the last one basically spoils the end of the picture. The first two are trailer mash-ups, one using Toy Story 3 and the other one, well it's called Bill and Ted's Excellent Inception. As always, trailer mash-ups work best with animation, as you can almost make the lips match up, as this Toy Story 2/Requiem For a Dream is probably the best such mash-up ever created. What's amusing about these new fake trailers is that the music in the Inception trailer, the stuff that kicks in at 1:12, is so powerful that these joke trailers actually work as the real thing. The third is an 'extended ending', which I'll leave you to discover. Enjoy...

NY Rep Anthony Weiner says what we've all been thinking.

In case you're wondering, here is the specific issue which brought about the above fiery condemnation.

Scott Mendelson

Learning the wrong lesson: Columbia hires Len Wiseman to remake Total Recall.

Avatar made nearly $3 billion worldwide because it was a good movie, something that tapped into a worldwide cultural zeitgeist, engaged in true non-denominational spirituality, created a compelling romantic spectacle, and delivered incredible action sequences in breathtaking 3-D, right? No, apparently the only reason that Avatar made any money at all is because it was in 3-D. So, over the last year, studios everywhere have been rushing like mad to convert each and every single tent-pole picture into some form of 3-D. Because obviously Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3 would have been complete flops had they been presented in 2-D, right? Well, once again proving that Hollywood can always be counted on to learn the wrong lesson, the first major blowback from the success of Inception is a remake. Yep, Inception didn't become a word of mouth sensation because it was an original, intelligent, and thoughtful action picture in an era of remakes and reboots. No, Inception is a hit because it's about dreams. So the smartest way to cash in on its success is to remake Total Recall?

Like they never left: Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote still got it.

Yes, I laughed out loud, which is the biggest compliment I could pay. I couldn't care less about Cats and Dogs 2: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, but it may be worth checking out purely for "Coyote Falls": the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote short that proceeds it, the first of three to be released in theaters over the next few months. We may be taking Allison to a 2-D showing of said sequel, so hopefully the short will be available in 2-D as well as 3-D. Point being, if it's there and she doesn't laugh, it may be grounds for adoption.

Scott Mendelson

Thor Comic Con trailer is leaked online. Coming to the CW in Fall 2011...

This movie probably cost $200 million. This thing is five minutes of seemingly finished footage, much of it from major sequences, and with the intent to appease the core audience that will help build the 'buzz' for this very expensive adventure. The cast they've lined up is pretty impressive. And yet, the best thing I can say about the footage above is that Kat Dennings looks even hotter with nerd glasses. The action feels generic (ooh, exploding cars and black-suited men being beaten up!'), the acting is pretty bland (even Hopkins, who usually relishes scenery-chewing pulp fiction, appears asleep at the wheel), and the whole film still feels like a very expensive CW TV pilot. And let's face it, most of the Asgard stuff, with Thor in full suit and/or all the various gods and goddesses playing Shakespeare in space will probably just be in the first and last reels. This movie will likely play out like the 1990 Captain America movie and the 1987 Masters of the Universe picture: 10% Thor in costume kicking ass against the Loki and his goons, 90% Chris Hemsworth in plain clothes running around a city or small town trying to solve his own issues. It's a good thing Thor opens the summer next year, because that's the only reason it will open relatively well, unless of course Marvel is intentionally trying to make the movie look worse than it is. As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson

Saw VII 3D debuts a 3-D poster.