In Contention

Tag: Jennifer’s Body

  • Megan Fox: “I don’t want to live that character.”

    Megan FoxAs someone who is neither a fan nor a detractor of Megan Fox, Lynn Hirschberg’s mammoth profile of the actress in yesterday’s New York Times made for fascinating, and rather upsetting, reading.

    Less a straightforward interview than a scientific deconstruction of her star persona, the picture it paints is of a savvy career woman who has invested so much time and effort in building her public image that her own personality has been obscured — even to herself.

    I have no real opinion of Fox as an actress, as we haven’t been given enough to judge her on: she is precisely as good (or bad, according to taste) as her roles demand in “Transformers” or “Jennifer’s Body.” Physically, she’s obviously attractive, but not sparky or distinctive enough to interest me personally.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Great ‘Balls’ on fire

    SurrogatesAmerica lined up for seconds as “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” topped the box office for the second weekend in a row, dropping only 19% to $24.6 million. That’s a fantastic hold for the only family film out in the market and makes $100 million a very real possibility, if not a formality.

    It was an otherwise slow and disappointing frame at the multiplex as audiences found some other way to entertain themselves. Did football season just start?

    Second place went to Disney’s “Surrogates,” which grossed $15 million. While that might sound a little soft, it’s actually better than Willis’s average for this type of film in recent years as “Perfect Stranger,” “Lucky Number Slevin,” “16 Blocks” and “Hostage” all did less than $13 million. The trailer was great but the posters featuring robot models were pretty weak and I think Disney missed an easy chance to take the top spot.

    MGM released its first film since “Valkyrie” amidst reports of possible bankruptcy and the $10 million pulled in by “Fame” is probably not going to help matters much. When dance films like “Stomp the Yard” and “Step Up” can pull in $22 million each, a remake of a well-known classic shouldn’t pull in less than half of that. Of course, I use the term “classic” as loosely as they use the term “remake.”

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Cloudy’ clears up box office

    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs(EDITOR’S NOTE: My fault on the belated nature of Chad’s column.  Back on track next week.)

    *All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    It had been almost two months since a PG-rated film hit the marketplace and parents were desperate for something to take their kids to. The result is “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” topping the chart with $30.1 million and the seventh-biggest September debut of all time.

    It also tops the $25.9 million of “Open Season” to become the biggest animated debut ever for Sony, which is not really considered a major player in that arena. The real money here should be in fast food tie-ins, though. Why haven’t I seen a correlative toy in my happy meal? Somebody dropped the (meat)ball there.

    A distant second place is where “The Informant!” landed with a $10.5 million gross. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 2009 is the year of the mustache and the proof is in the pudding. Anyway, this performance is more or less identical to the $10.8 million debut of “Michael Clayton” and I see no reason why this can’t perform with similar legs, reaching $40-$50 million total. That’s plenty enough to buy Matt Damon some Slim-Fast shakes and keep him on the lips of Oscar voters come January.

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  • OSCAR TALK: Ep. 3 — ‘A Serious Man,’ business in Toronto and unacquired hopefuls

    Oscar TalkThe third installment of Oscar Talk lands as Toronto winds down and, seemingly, the season’s biggest questions are being answered. Or are they?

    I’m joined by Anne Thompson of indieWIRE as always and we discussed the following:

    • The Coen brothers’ “A Serious Man,” Anne’s thoughts, my thoughts, the Coens doing Woody, etc.

    • The first sell of Toronto, “A Single Man” (not to be confused with “A Serious Man”), and the Oscar prospects of Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

    • Business at the fest and a shifting acquisition paradigm in the industry.

    • Anne gives her thoughts on Annette Bening and Samuel L. Jackson in Rodrigo Garcia’s “Mother and Child,” great performances, but will it be picked up?

    • Robert Duvall’s Oscar-worthy work in “Get Low,” a film that has yet to be picked up when it’s the sort of film that may have ignited a bidding war in years past.

    • Thoughts on other films that bowed at Toronto, including “Capitalism: A Love Story,” “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” and “Jennifer’s Body” (leading to a conversation about Megan Fox’s talents that will put each of us out on a limb).

    • Anne loved Edward Norton in Tim Blake Nelson’s “Leaves of Grass” but found the film on the whole to be a missed opportunity.

    But nothing seems to be decided even with a bulk of the season’s offerings having been screened in Venice, Telluride and Venice. Onward!

    As always you can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes here.  (If you have some audio issues with the levels, my apologies — with Anne in Toronto and me in North Carolina, we had some technical difficulties.)

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: ‘Do Bad’ does good!

    I Can Do Bad All By Myself*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    Another day, another dollar for Tyler Perry. The man has released two films a year since 2006 and can’t seem to be unsuccessful if he tried. “I Can Do Bad All By Myself” is an easy candidate for worst title of the year, but it opened to the tune of $24 million and first place by a mile.

    That ranks as Perry’s third-biggest debut as director and his best outside of February. If you are looking for one of the most unique and successful box office stories of the decade, look no further than the rise of the Perry Empire. He is the Pixar of religious cable-TV drama meets fat suit comedy.

    Second place goes to “9,” which earned $10.9 milion over the weekend and $15.3 million since opening on Wednesday. For a PG-13 rated animated flick with seemingly very little appeal outside of young males, that’s a great result. The best thing about this success is that all you need is a potato sack and a highlighter and you’ve got a recognizable Halloween costume. You’re welcome.

    “Inglourious Basterds” holds firm in the top three and passes the $100 million mark in the process. Tarantino was in very real danger of making a series of films that diminished his audience rather than expanded it, but he has turned it around here. Now all you need is a Clark Gable mustache and some prop scalps and you’ve got a recognizable Halloween costume.

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  • TORONTO: ‘The Informant!,’ ‘Jennifer’s Body,’ ‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Hugh Hefner’

    Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body(Please note, as opposed to Kris and Guy, I tend to grade films on a 5-star scale.)

    Day two of the festival is always among the busiest because the major studios are here and they want you to see their films. Movies with buzz coming out of Toronto quite often end up in the Oscar race.

    “Slumdog Millionaire” exploded out of this festival last year and went all the way to eight Academy Awards.  Who would have thought coming in to Toronto that Danny Boyle’s film would rock the fest? So which film will it be this year?

    If Venice and Telluride can tell us anything it is that Jason Reitman’s “Up in the Air” is winning critics over and should land George Clooney in the Oscar race once again for Best Actor.  Kris certainly loved the film when he saw it, and frankly, so did I.

    But Clooney will not be alone here in the race for Best Actor.  One of his good friends will be right there with him: Matt Damon for his amazing work in “The Informant!.” Today was one of those good days when I bounced from good film to great film back to good film, to great documentary. I may have seen the best of the fest on Friday.

    Let’s get into some reactions…

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  • 9/11 Web Round-up

    Meryl Streep• If you’re dismissing the Oscar potential of “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” Gregory Ellwood says, “Not so fast.” [Awards Campaign]

    • Meryl Streep on why Hollywood’s men don’t trust women. [The Times]

    • Betsy Sharkey sits down with “Precious” director Lee Daniels. [The Envelope]

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  • Jennifer’s Basterds

    What’s with all the poster action today? I can’t keep up. Anyway, in the interests of efficiency, I’ve paired up the new one-sheets for “Jennifer’s Body” and “Inglourious Basterds” (yes, another one) for your viewing pleasure. Why not? After all, they’re both advertising blood-spattered comedies from smart-aleck Oscar-winning writers, and they both seem destined to grace a lot of teenage boys’ walls, albeit for fairly different reasons.

    Jennifer's BodyInglourious Basterds

    [Source: Bloody Disgusting and Screen Rant]

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  • ‘Jennifer’s Body’ red-band trailer

    As someone who believes “Juno” largely succeeded despite its multi-garlanded screenplay, rather than because of it, I can’t say I’ve been looking forward to Diablo Cody’s follow-up with great anticipation. (Evidently hot soundtrack notwithstanding.) Still, while this cheerfully tacky trailer for “Jennifer’s Body” does little to change my mind in that regard, I do credit Cody for playfully running as far from Oscarland as she could with this effort — a canny way to keep the industry pressure at bay.

    To any Karyn Kusama fans waiting for another “Girlfight” … keep waiting. To any Megan Fox fans waiting for cleavage shots … voilà.

  • 9/22 Oscarweb Round-up

    Quantum of Solace• “Real” men of the screen are a dying breed, according to Peter Bart. [Peter Bart]

    • Journos keep beating a dead horse about the new “At the Movies” failure. [eFilmCritic]

    • And again. [The Hot Blog]

    • Anne Thompson salutes Telluride and New York for steering clear of high profile American cinema, but as she notes, was there really a choice this year? [Thompson on Hollywood]

    • Erik Davis talks Bond with Daniel Craig and Marc Forster. [Cinematical]

    • Speaking of Bond, apparently the character won’t be uttering a few of his infamous lines in the latest installment. [The Independent]

    • John Horn sits down with Diablo Cody on the set of “Jennifer’s Body.” [Los Angeles Times]

    • Dennis Lim, meanwhile, chats it up with “Class” director Laurent Canet in the wake of his film landing the official French foreign film selection for this year’s Academy Awards. [New York Times]

    • Giles Hattersly gets some quality time with “I’ve Loved You So Long” star Kristin Scott Thomas. [The Times]

    • Kevin Kelly talks to “Zack and Miri Make a Porno” director Kevin Smith at Fantastic Fest. [Spout Blog]