2009 had an amazing Summer at the box office, and that was due in part to some amazing action flicks. Surprisingly, they weren't all blockbusters, and they weren't all about just blowing stuff up. What was your favorite action flick of the year?
Don't forget to vote on all of my Best of 2009 polls!
As nice as it is to root for heroes in movies, it's always devilish good fun to meet the villains (and sometimes root for them too). This year, we had the diabolical (Christopher Waltz), the demonic (Megan Fox), and the ridiculously funny (Ken Jeong). Vote for your favorite movie villain of 2009, and make sure you also vote on all my best of polls!
The film adaptation of Dan Brown's bestselling novel, Angels and Demons starring Tom Hanks, is a global sensation after earning an estimated $104.3 million at the international box office over the weekend.
Here in the US the holy thriller swiped the top spot from Star Trek, which still performed strongly, coming in at No. 2 with an estimated $43 million domestically. According to Variety, positive word-of-mouth thanks to stellar reviews is probably the reason Star Trek continues to be quite the box office powerhouse.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and Obsessed rounded out the rest of the box office top five coming in third, fourth, and fifth respectively.
Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures
J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek was a smash success this weekend with an estimated $76.5 million (including $4 million Thursday night), taking the top spot at the box office (though not surpassing X-Men Origins: Wolverine's opening weekend take of $85 million, as so many of you thought it would). This was "the biggest Trek opening yet, soaring past the previous high of Star Trek: First Contact, which started at $30.7 million or the equivalent of over $50 million adjusted for ticket price inflation."
Meanwhile Wolverine "wilted to an X-Men franchise low" in the wake of Star Trek, coming in at No. 2 with an estimated $27 million. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past took the third spot, followed by Obsessed and 17 Again in fourth and fifth place.
Sounds like good word of mouth quickly spread about Star Trek. Were you swayed by the stellar (ha, ha) reviews? Did you head out to see it?
Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Last weekend X-Men Origins: Wolverine opened to the sweet tune of $85 million, officially marking the beginning of the Summer blockbuster season. Do you think this weekend's newbie, Star Trek, will surpass $85 million at the box office?
Wolverine one-sheet courtesy of Fox and Star Trek one-sheet courtesy of Paramount
Summer movie season has officially arrived, folks, and it looks like American audiences were ready for it. Hugh Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine easily took the No. 1 spot over the weekend and grossed an estimated $87 million. This is good news for X-Men fans because the success of Wolverine is a "key victory for Fox, Marvel Entertainment and star Hugh Jackman, since it likely keeps the franchise alive." Woohoo!
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past also did solid business over the weekend and came in second place with an estimated $15.3 million. The top five was rounded out by Obsessed, 17 Again, and Monsters vs. Aliens in third, fourth, and fifth place respectively.
Were you one of the millions who saw Wolverine? Do you agree with the reviews?
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
I'm a big fan of the first couple of X-Men movies and of the comic in general. Maybe it's the ensemble cast full of cool mutant powers or the fact that the gang of superheroes includes lots of women, but I've always found this Marvel comic to be totally entertaining — not to mention great source material for movie adaptations.
Definitely one of the better parts of this franchise so far has been Hugh Jackman's take on the surly and brutishly funny Wolverine. This isn't sissy stuff — and the machismo action star gets even more extreme in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. With favorites like Storm and Rogue long gone, we zoom back in time (way back, actually: 1845) to learn how the hot-tempered Logan came to be a lot of things: a mutant with a skeletal system reinforced by adamantium, a very angry mutant, and, in the end, a hero. It's a lot of big, blockbuster fun, as long as you don't mind plot holes you could drive an 18-wheeler through. To see the rest of my thoughts, read more
For a movie like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, these brief little videos in which the characters speak directly to camera about themselves is way more intriguing to me than an ordinary old trailer. In the trailers we get glimpses of these guys, and of course there's more of an emphasis on Wolverine and Sabretooth, but with individual videos we can actually take a good look at Gambit, Wraith and Deadpool (speaking of whom, holy cow, Ryan Reynolds, all that working out seriously paid off).
I've included all five of the character videos after the jump, but I personally think the ones for Gambit, Deadpool and Wraith are by far the most interesting. To check 'em out, read more
Recently an unfinished version of the highly anticipated Hugh Jackman movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, leaked onto the Internet.
This security breach could be disastrous for the folks in charge of this movie because, as one blogger put it, it could have "a dramatic and negative impact on this film's opening and overall box office performance."
Ugh. Poor Hugh.
Big leaks like this don't happen too often, but when they do I try to resist the temptation to watch because I prefer my initial viewing of a movie to be on the big screen. On the other hand, knowing that a movie I really want to see is out there on the Internet, it can be so tempting to go searching for it.
So what do you think? Would you watch a leaked movie?
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox
As marketing ploys go, this one for the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie is pretty good. If you click here, you can enter a contest to bring the movie's world premiere to your town — and yes, the premiere includes Mr. Hugh Jackman himself! Cool, right? If you don't want to submit a specific town you can just vote for the town you want to win. The place with the biggest "X" (i.e. most votes) come April 17 will win, and the big winner will be announced April 20.
As much as I'd love to see the gorgeous Hugh Jackman here in San Francisco, I'm kind of rooting for a tiny town to win this big eventful night. Mr. Jackman himself explains the details of the contest after the jump and aside from being informative, I'm not gonna lie, I just like watching him talk. Sigh. Just read more
