Monthly Archives: March 2013

For a movie that cost over $215 million (marketing, etc., all in) to have any prayer of breaking even, it’s got to open as close to half of that amount as possible. Projections for “Oz, the Great and Powerful” have … Continue reading →

The latest anime from Japan’s famed Studio Ghibli breaks one of the cardinal rules, at least in Hollywood, of animation. Can the story be told without animation? If so, why animate it? There is no mythical “My Neighbor Totoro,” no … Continue reading →

More character development, more humor, a better sense of the movie to come. Not bad.

Charlie Day is on board (Whew. He’s in such demand and all.). So naturally Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis are on board a sequel.

And those two studios are Warners and Paramount, splitting the risk and the distribution of the “Inception/Dark Knight” director’s next film. He’s been rewriting the “heroic space odyssey” script, which Steven Spielberg was originally to direct, and keeping mum about … Continue reading →

It cost some $215 million, and still didn’t land the cast necessary to guarantee success. Projections had been running in the $85 million range for the U.S. opening  of “Oz, the Great and Powerful.” Some had thought $90 million was … Continue reading →

“Oz, the Great and Powerful,” is opening in 3D, on almost 4,000 screens. And it has audience buzz, buzz quite separate from generally indifferent reviews (it’s better than the Rotten Tomatoes average suggests). That could add up to $80-85 million, … Continue reading →

With all that attention focused on the original Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” very little of it seemed to have spilled over onto the director. Was its success simply due to story and settings and Swedishness? Maybe. “Dead Man … Continue reading →