Update - Weekend 007 numbers- Bond does a Bourne/Pirates sequel bounce

Various people are tossing around the Batman Begins/Dark Knight comparison for the Quantum Of Solace's $27 million opening day and $71 million opening weekend. But the real point of comparison, as I predicted two years ago, is that of the Bourne series (I'm not saying I'm a genius, I just did the math right). The Batman comparison only works if you factor in the whole 5-day opening of Batman Begins (and by that rationale, the uptick between Pirates 1 and Pirates 2 fits like a glove too). Both of those respective sequels basically tripled the three-day opening weekend grosses of their respective originals.

If you deal with Casino Royale as a 'first in the series', then the comparison fits perfectly and James Bond and Jason Bourne are now identical in box office performance, as well as (allegedly) thematic presentation. I say allegedly, since a family emergency has prevented me from Quantum Of Solace yet (and also explains the lack of a box office bingo column yesterday). The Bourne Identity opened to a solid $27 million back in June, 2002. It played all summer long, eventually taking in $122 million and becoming one of the most rented titles of the year on video and DVD. So we have a solid but not spectacular opening, which buoyed good word of mouth and solid reviews into an extended play period. So, two years later, The Bourne Supremacy capitalized on that exceptional audience goodwill, also helped by superior reviews, to open to a colossal $52 million in July of 2004. That was a stunning 1.9x increase in opening weekends, almost doubled.

So let's apply that number to Casino Royale. Casino Royale rode a wave of free publicity ('come see the bad-ass new James Bond!) and exceptionally positive reviews to a $40.8 million opening weekend. Of course, not only was that not the biggest Bond opening of all time (Die Another Day did $47 million back in November 2002), but it wasn't even number 01 for the weekend. If we recall, the dancing penguins/acid trip environmental fable Happy Feet was number one that weekend with $41.5 million. Fun fact - Casino Royale ended with $167 million - which is the 7th highest grossing film never to be number 01 at the weekend box office.

Although it opened smaller than Die Another Day, it rode incredible word of mouth to a leggy theatrical performance, also capitalizing on a less than mighty holiday season (only Night At The Museum had any firepower after Thanksgiving weekend) and slightly out grossed Die Another Day domestically (globally, it was a massacre, as it made $426 million overseas). And, yet again, the film became incredibly popular on DVD and the brand-new BluRay technology. It was the biggest selling BluRay disc at the time (and came packaged with many a bundle promotion). So, two years later, history repeats itself. Since Quantum Of Solace pulled in $71 million, the sequel uptick is 1.775x. It's not exact, but it's certainly a closer comparison than Pirates' sequel 3.14x uptick and Batman's 3.23x jump between films.

As for long term prospects, I can only say that, once again, the box office will be a near tent-pole dead zone after Thanksgiving weekend (the three big November films remaining are Bolt, Twilight, and Australia). Only The Day The Earth Stood Still qualifies as an adult December 'big event picture', and that's still a month away. Once again, the only major films around Christmas is a star vehicle family film involving fantasy come to life (Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories), and a Will Smith drama (Seven Pounds - same director as The Pursuit Of Happyness). Everything else is either mid-range genre films (The Spirit, Four Christmases), or Oscar bait (Doubt, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). Valkyrie is allegedly pretty good, so it could target the same audience, but it doesn't open until Christmas Day.

So unless Quantum Of Solace turns off audiences with its hyper editing and alleged lack of plot and character, it will likely become the first 007 film to cross the $200 million mark domestically. And yes, it also has an outside chance of out grossing The Dark Knight in overseas box office. The Dark Knight is about to cross $1billion worldwide, but that's pretty much a 50/50 split. Considering Quantum Of Solace has already made $160 million overseas in the first 10 days, beating The Dark Knight's $469 million overseas take should be almost easy.

We'll see. If anything shocking happens tomorrow, I'll update accordingly. And I'll be sure to fill you in when I actually see the bloody picture!

Scott Mendelson

MAD TV - 1995-2008 - RIP

The Defamer is reporting that Mad TV has been canceled in the middle of its 14th season. I will miss it for two reasons.

1) Unlike its more popular rival, Saturday Night Live, Mad TV usually knew when to end a skit, rather than dragging it out to the point of tedium. And, frankly, their sketches without a built-in high concept were often sharper and funnier than the free-form sketches on Saturday Night Live.

2) Mad TV did TV satire better than any other medium on the block, including the example below, one of my all-time favorite sketches anywhere.

Rest in peace, old friend. You will be slightly missed.

Scott Mendelson

Their best political sketch: I Rack


Their best movie spoof: Terminator 4: The Greatest Action Story Ever Told


Their best TV spoof: Suddenly Millenium

'And I thought my jokes were bad' (the sad truth behind the ridiculous Turkish Batman lawsuit)

It was arguably yesterday's biggest laugh-out-loud article in showbiz. The Mayor of Batman, Turkey is suing Warner Bros and Chris Nolan personally for not getting permission to use the name 'Batman' in the film The Dark Knight.

The biggest question, of course, was why Mayor Huseyin Kalkan was only suing Chris Nolan and Warner Bros, and not the eight-billion or so people over 69 years who have profited from the character of Batman. Why not sue DC Comics, Tim Burton, Bruce Timm, Adam West, or I dunno, the heirs of Batman creator Bob Kane (but not Bill Finger, nope, cause he of course had NOTHING to do with creating Batman)?

Everyone's favorite paragraph was the one towards the end, in which the Mayor explained the very real harm done by The Dark Knight and the stealing of the name Batman:

"The mayor is prepping a series of charges against Nolan and Warner Bros., which owns the right to the Batman character, including placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the film's success has had on the city's inhabitants."

Absurd, insane, ridiculous, right? Well of course, but the truth is far more disturbing. Apparently the town of Batman, Turkey does have a high rate of female suicides, and Batman is to blame. Not the caped crusader, but the town itself. As the New York Times reported two years ago, the city of Batman, Turkey has an inordinate number of so-called 'Honor Suicides'. What's an honor suicide? Well, it's like an honor killing, but better! Instead of a young girl or woman being murdered by her own family for some random sexual offense (adultery, sex before marriage, getting raped, glancing at a boy, etc), the 'shamed' family makes the girl kill herself.

Immediately after 9/11, Bill Maher had a handful of discussions on Politically Incorrect about how we on the left could still be our lefty tolerant selves and still admit that our western culture was better in some ways. In our bid to be uber-sensitive and uber-tolerant, we sometimes have a problem coming out and saying that someone else's culture is wrong. That, in this day in age, we still have literally half the human race who is disenfranchised and/or subject to the most base forms of cruelty and suppression for no particular reason... it's something that doesn't get talked about nearly enough. Oh, we cry on and on about racism or bigotry, or the occasional ethnic genocide, but the systematic cultural destruction of literally half the planet is completely taken for granted.

Joss Whedon had an essay about this last year. Although equating honor killings with distasteful ads for Captivity is a bit much, it's worth a read. Just as we invented racism to justify slavery as a Christian practice, our entire globe has constantly invented reasons to hold unnatural power over the female race. But unlike racism or antisemitism, many of these myths universally agreed upon and accepted as at least partially true, even by allegedly progressive thinkers and alleged liberal minds.

We liberals do it when we obsess about Sarah Palin's outfits instead of her ideas. We do it when we don't complain when a razor sharp and powerful attorney can only be accepted as an electable first lady if she all but promises to only be a housewife for the next four years (and remember the outrage when Dr. Howard Dean's wife refused to stop her own medical practice and campaign with him back in 2004?). We do it when we don't wonder why talk show hosts always introduce their female guests as 'the lovely, the talented...' (first off, why is their beauty more important than their talent, and why does their beauty matter?). We do it when we aren't outraged that in 2008, women still make, on average, 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes. Oh we don't like it, but it's accepted as 'just the way things are'. Obviously, it's a far cry from murder and enslavement, but when we accept the notions of the 'traditional' female roles, when we do not question why those roles became accepted as the norm, we are playing a small role in condoning the extremist societies that would punish breaches of said traditional roles with violence and banishment.

But our culture, as flawed as it is when it comes to gender, is still better than theirs. Yes, some cultural warriors on the right may want us to regress a bit in the name of 'traditional families', and they may even be joined from time to time by certain feminist factions on the left, in the name of 'protecting women', but our culture is still better. I hope that this Batman lawsuit gets national play, and that the media (mainstream or otherwise) is willing to shine the light on the absurdity of the situation. The violent subjugation of the female race cannot be pardoned as a by-product of religion, any religion. Any culture that allows it or condones it should never be treated with the same respect on the world stage as those who do not. And any God that would approve of it is not worthy of worship.

Scott Mendelson

Just desserts - Isaiah Washington blasts ABC for homophobia double-standard

So, as word spread last week that noted character actress Brooke Adams had been suddenly and inexplicably fired from Grey's Anatomy, the conventional wisdom seemed to indicate that she had been let go because the execs at ABC were uncomfortable with her character conducting a lesbian relationship with another doctor. I completely failed to do the math on this story last week, but I got a huge, hearty laugh when I finally put two and two together. If I were Isaiah Washington, I would be furious too, and I wouldn't be shy about saying as much. It's also smart of him to not come right out and say what is so hypocritical about the situation - let the readers remember for themselves.

Aside from the unintentional hilarity of this update (and the strong possibility that Isiah Washington may have some kind of wrongful termination suit on his hands), this brings up a disturbing question. Washington was fired a couple of seasons ago for allegedly using a homophobic slur while in heated exchanges with fellow actor TR Knight (who then came out of the closet). Now the studio has stepped in and axed Adams allegedly because they were uncomfortable with the lesbian romantic subplot that had just developed. So, aside from the hypocrisy of firing an actor for expressing homophobia, then firing another actor as a result of apparent homophobia, why exactly do the execs at ABC insist on meddling with the show that, by itself, has become a huge smash hit and reaps tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars of profit for the company?

Can you imagine if the ABC execs decided, for whatever reason, that Michael Emerson or Terry O'Quinn just weren't working for them and canned them from Lost? The fans would have a conniption, and rightly so. As far as I know, there has been no tinkering on this level with Lost or Desperate Housewives, so why does Grey's Anatomy constantly have its story lines altered at the whim of studio executives? It would be one thing if the show were in a creative and ratings tailspin (cough-Heroes-cough), but the show is still pulling strong ratings and seems to be doing okay artistically.

Almost as troubling as the homophobia and hypocrisy at work is the apparent lack of creative control that Shonda Rhimes seems to have over her own show. As a viewer, why would I bother investing my time in a show when the character arcs and story lines can be altered or nullified without the consent of the creative leaders?

Scott Mendelson

Joe Johnston to direct Captain America (Yay, Marvel!)

I know I give Marvel all kinds of crap (the recutting of Incredible Hulk and Daredevil, forcing Sam Raimi to use Venom in Spider-Man 3, playing chicken with money issues on Iron Man 2), but I consider it tough love. It's not because I hate Marvel, but because I'm a fan of their properties and their comic lore.

Oh, and now that the truth about the Don Cheadle/Terrence Howard Iron Man 2 situation has come out... wow. Marvel looks a little better and Howard looks really bad. Regardless, I still mourn for the loss of continuity.

But, I digress, I come here today not to bash Marvel but to praise them. Entertainment Weekly seems to confirm this, so I'm treating it as fact. Marvel has just signed Joe Johnston to direct Captain America, which is still on track to be released on May 6th, 2011 (by the way, I refuse to use the 'The First Avenger' prefix as it's stupid). This is a wonderful, surprising, and creative choice. It gives me hope that I'll spend more time in the near future praising Marvel than criticizing them. For those who don't know, Joe Johnston is the man behind such gee-wiz period adventure films as The Rocketeer and Hildalgo. He also directedHoney I Shrunk The Kids, the solid drama October Sky, and the much better than it had any right to be Jurassic Park 3. He is currently in post-production on The Wolfman. I can only hope that there is some correlation between the hiring for the Cap gig and the quality of the updated werewolf thriller (like most Johnston pictures, it certainly has a great cast).

I know I wrote a couple months ago that The Rocketeer hasn't aged well, but the big problem with the film is that Johnston and company didn't have enough money to include all that much rocket-action. The film remains wonderfully cast, impeccably acted, and evokes a nice sense of period. I'm assume money for action set-pieces won't be an issue this time around. And Johnston is one of those directors who knows how to stage an action scene so it is coherent, easy to follow, and contains a clear sense of geography. Now Marvel needs to finalize the Thor deal with Kenneth Branagh and cast Jon Hamm as Steve Rogers. And, of course, the big question is who are they going to use to directed the big one? Who do they recruit to directThe Avengers? Assuming they don't use someone already in their employ, and assuming they don't go for a pie-in-the-sky choice (James Cameron, Peter Jackson, or Terrance Malick), my vote goes for Martin Campbell (yeah, I know, Mendelson just praised Campbell, it must be Monday). Who do you think should get the 'big job'?

Scott Mendelson

The War Room meets Les Miserables

This is a couple days out of date, but this is even more fun to watch knowing how it came out. One of my favorite songs and it works hilariously here. Enjoy.

DVD Review - Batman: The Complete Animated Series

Batman: The Complete Animated Series

2008
originally aired September 1992 - September 1999
17 discs 109 episodes TV-Y7
1.33:1, English 2.0

For many Batman fans, there is no comparison. More than the live-action movies, more than the 1960s TV series, more even than the original comic books, Batman: The Animated Series was and remains the definitive presentation of The Dark Knight. Taking bits and pieces from the best that had come beforehand, creators Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski (later aided by Alan Burnett and Paul Dini among others) ushered in a whole new era of childrens' animation and created frankly one of the finest television programs ever aired.

The Vote has officially been Rocked.

Obviously the big news is fantastic. Barack Obama won 52% of the popular vote (62 million voters) and swamped the electoral college (as of now - 338 to 162). The Senate is now 56 Dems to 40 Repubs, with four undecided and the House is now 252 to 172, with 11 still undecided.

And the much-fabled Youth Vote finally stood up, showing up in truly record numbers as part of the record 136 million people who voted (66% - the biggest since 1908). Of course, the entire population of voters increased so much that the actual percentage of youth vote only increased by 2%, but that was still the largest growth of any group.

This means far more than this single election. What this also means is that, assuming Obama doesn't blow it, he can count on a landslide re-election, fueled by all the younger supporters who will be 18 or older by the time 2012 rolls around. As this younger generation stays motivated in politics and then encourages their children to do the same, I think we can expect voter turnout to only grow higher and higher for the next few elections.

Speaking of which, there's a great bit in this article, dealing with the 'Barney Generation'. "We're now seeing the first votes cast by the "Barney" generation. Countless afternoons during their childhood, millions of Millennials sat down to watch a big purple dinosaur teach problem-solving to a diverse cast. “They all solved their problems by the end of the half hour, and they all accept one another,” Hais says." I guess TV really is good for kids.

Mazel tov to everyone who did their part. And thank you so much to those who did more than just vote. To those who did so much more than I had time to do, to those who did more than vote, give money and sign petitions, you have my undying gratitude.

Scott Mendelson

Rain On The Parade - Why it's not all good and why it's only just begun.

But, the news is not all good, especially in the House and Senate.

Third party candidates screwed the pooch in two key senate races.
It's still within 600 votes, but Al Franken is currently losing to Norm Coleman in the race for national senate in Minnesota. But third party candidate Dean Barkley picked up a whopping 15% of the vote.

The inexplicable re-election of Saxby Chambless (the guy who won election in 2002 by calling triple war-amputee Max Cleland a traitor and/or unpatriotic because he disagreed with Bush on the details of the Homeland Security Agency) over James Martin was aided by the 3% given to Independent/Libertarian candidate Alan Buckley.

Speaking of bad news in Minnesota, somehow the deeply unpopular Michelle Bachman barely won re-election. This is impressive considering that the GOP pretty much abandoned her after she told Chris Matthews that senators should be investigated to determine how patriotic they are.

Go to jail, but first to the Senate: Despite his conviction on multiple counts of violating federal ethics laws, Alaska senator Ted Stevens appears on the way to re-election. This is worse than you think. Should he go to jail, his replacement will be named by... ta-da! Governor Sarah Palin. How much you wanna bet she appoints herself in this cushy Senate seat as step one to her 2012 presidential bid?

The Ballot Initiatives:

Who were these people in California who voted for Barack Obama? They voted for banning same-sex marriage, they voted against both alternative energy proposals, they voted against treatment and alternative punishment for low-level drug offenders, and they barely passed an initiative for a new mass transit system and funds for a childrens' hospital. They do realize they just elected a Democrat to the White House right? They did, however, pass an initiative against animal cruelty to farm animals and they did vote No on a bill regarding parental notification for minors seeking an abortion.

Florida and Arizona also banned same-sex marriage, but the kicker was the overwhelming victory in Arkansas for a bill that would prohibit any unmarried couple for adopting children and/or becoming foster parents. Let's hope the courts strike that one down right quick. So much for 'putting children first'.

The good news is that Michigan passed initiatives allowing stem cell research and medical marijuana. And Washington approved doctor-assisted suicides.

And of course, the very worst news of all. George W. Bush still has 76 days to go before he leaves office. And it looks like he's going to take advantage of every one of them. Obama and the Democratic Congress needs to make it perfectly clear that if the Bush Administration engages in reckless, spiteful geopolitical moves, like bombing Iran, taunting Russia, or inflaming Pakistan, that they will be held accountable.

This is not the end of anything. This is merely the beginning. We have to put pressure on the Democrats to actually behave like Democrats. Obama won a sweeping electoral victory and needs to act as such. The Democrats have a nearly filibuster-proof lead in the Senate, and they have to remember that voters voted FOR Democrats, not purely AGAINST Republicans. Harry Reid needs to stand up and let the Republicans filibuster popular legislation, rather than knuckling under and taking the bills off the floor. The congress needs to thoroughly investigate the deeds of the last administration, so that the whole story can finally be heard. Timidity and complacency have no place in Democratic politics today. Inexplicable homophobia aside, we are a center-left nation and we need to make sure they remember that. To paraphrase Tom Hartmann, Tag, we're it.

Scott Mendelson

Ebert's Little Rule Book (plus one of my own)

Roger Ebert has posted twenty iron clad rules for being a film critic. Many of them are obvious (don't talk, text, or be obnoxious in a theater), but several are genuinely insightful. And, little did I know, but many of them are aimed directly at Ben Lyons, who has been defiling 'the balcony' on a weekly basis as co-host of the new, not-improved At The Movies. Oh, and I was right. He looks far more like his normal self with the trademark glasses.

My favorite entry:

“Do the math. If one week you state, “‘Mr. Untouchable’ makes ‘American Gangster’ look like a fairy tale,” and the next week you say, “American Gangster” was “Goodfellas” for “the next generation,” then you must conclude that “Mr. Untouchable” is better than “Goodfellas.”

I constantly notice the opposite problem. I can’t count the number of critics that pan a movie that becomes a surprise hit. Then, when the star or director’s followup movie arrives, they pan it too. Fair enough, but they also compare it negatively to the original film, forgetting that they panned that one as well. If you give There’s Something About Mary 1 star, you can’t then give My, Myself, and Irene 2 stars and then claim that it didn’t measure up to There’s Something About Mary. Oh, and Ebert has did a variation on this back in 2003. If you give The Matrix Reloaded 3.5 stars while giving The Matrix 3 stars, you can't then claim in your Matrix Revolutions review that The Matrix was the best in the trilogy. Of course, Ebert hates the star system so we shouldn't be too hard on him for that.

This brings up a rule of mine, that applies more to general film writing than with criticism.

"Do your homework!!"
I jumped over Dennis Harvey of Variety back in September for lazily assuming that Changing Lanes was a box office disappointment while Crash was a mega-smash (they both made about $95 million worldwide). It's a common phenomenon, especially when dealing with alleged financial success or disaster. But don't just make blanket statements that aren't backed up by the facts. And don't call a movie a critical failure when its failure was merely financial. And don't brand a movie as a financial disaster without actually checking the numbers. This happens most often when writers want to appear snarky and cool by trashing a film or actor. It's amazing how rarely writers make mistakes that prop up a film or filmmaker.

Some common falsehoods corrected-
- Waterworld was not a gigantic flop. It cost $175 million and made $264 million worldwide, plus whatever it made on video. Not a mega-hit, but a solid break-even movie.

- The television show Birds Of Prey was not canceled due to lack of interest. The premiere was the most watched premiere in WB history. Alas, the show was terrible, and the viewers fled in terror.

- King Kong was not a flop and did not fail with critics. It made $218 million in the US and $551 million worldwide on a $207 million budget. As for reviews, it sits with a whopping 84%. In fact, it was the initial wave of 'holy crap, this is great!' reviews that led idiot prognosticators to exclaim that it had a chance at out grossing Titanic, which led to the narrative that it was a financial under performer.

- Ang Lee's The Hulk did not 'fail to entice moviegoers upon release'. It broke the June opening weekend record with $62 million in three days. Alas, it did fail to appeal to said moviegoers and the word of mouth sunk the film in its second weekend.

- While I loathed the picture and its reputation has plummeted since 2002, Die Another Day was warmly received by critics and was the highest grossing James Bond picture of all time. Why they decided to scrap the present continuity and reboot afterward, we can only speculate on the many reasons offered, but it was NOT because of the poor reception to Die Another Day.

- Batman & Robin and Star Trek Nemesis, respectively, did not fail because moviegoers were tired of the franchises. They failed because the marketing made the movies look terrible, the reviews confirmed that fact, and word of mouth crushed them after respectively solid opening weekends (remember, Batman & Robin still opened to $43 million and Star Trek Nemesis still did $18 million).

And, as far as Star Trek 10, it also failed for the same reason Hellboy II and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein underperformed. All three opened within a week of a hugely anticipated and acclaimed movie that targeted the identical demographic (respectively, The Two Towers, The Dark Knight, and Interview With The Vampire). All three of these films posted solid if not fantastic, openings, only to get slaughtered the next weekend. Whether the poorly recieved film would have made it to the customary $70 million Star Trek gross with a different release date is open to debate.
If you want to say that Jim Carrey 'needs a comeback' with Yes Man, best to check and make sure that his last five mainstream comedies didn't all gross over $110 million domestically (whoops).

If you want to criticize Tom Cruise's offscreen antics for the financial performance of War Of The Worlds, make sure that the film isn't his highest grossing film ever (whoops).

And if you want to rag on the general reception of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull (as opposed to your own feelings on the film), maybe it's best to remember that A) the film got solid reviews, albeit many of the B or B- variety and B) the film is Steven Spielberg's third highest grossing film of all time, behind only Jurassic Park and ET.

If you're a film writer, Box Office Mojo and Rotten Tomatoes should be your constant proofreading pit-stops. Don't get caught selling the lazy company line.

Scott Mendelson