BuzzSugar

A Mamma Mia Sequel: Brilliant or Baffling?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:30:49 -0700

Could Meryl Streep, Coiln Firth, and Pierce Brosnan be warming up their vocal cords for a Mamma Mia sequel? That's what recent quotes from stars of last Summer's hit makes it sound like. Amanda Seyfried said the very nebulous, "I've been talking to some insiders and it's not something that they haven't been working on."

It's not a huge shocker that sequel-happy Hollywood would want a follow-up to the massively successful musical, and I'd certainly be in line for a ticket if it came to theaters. I know in general some fans will be crying foul anyway over a sequel, but what's your opinion on it?

What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday

BuzzSugar — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:36:22 -0800

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue.

Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia is a lot of things: fun, sparkly, full of handsome middle-aged men, kind of a hilarious hot mess, etc. It's also now a Golden Globe nominee, which is not something I would have imagined possible for this movie but there you have it! Still, a lot of people will be excited to add this one to their Netflix queues (or to receive it as a gift) to sing along and dance to in the privacy of their own homes (I'm looking at you, Mom).

The special features are totally what you would expect to accompany this musical on DVD. They include - what else? - a sing-along that includes onscreen lyrics for 22 musical numbers, as well as a deleted musical number titled "The Name of the Game." There's also commentary from director Phyllida Lloyd, a featurette on the making of the movie, and some deleted scenes and outtakes.

Two more releases up next so read more.

The House Bunny
Anna Faris is one of the most endearing young comedic actresses these days which is why I was more or less on board for The House Bunny. The movie follows Playboy bunny Shelley (Faris) who has been kicked out of the Playboy mansion after her 27th birthday and finds herself moving in as house mother for the "misfit girls" at the Zeta Alpha Zeta sorority house. The girls need to recruit more ladies to their house and they turn to Shelley to help them improve their reputation. The whole thing is super formulaic and nothing to write home about but there are moments that made me giggle and Faris is really entertaining in this role.

Special features include deleted scenes, a featurette about the love interest in the film (played by Colin Hanks) and another one titled "From Song to Set: Katherine McPhee."

Generation Kill
If you didn't catch this HBO gem when it aired this year, I highly recommend making the time to do so now that it's out on DVD (in fact, it may be easier to watch back-to-back rather than waiting a whole week to see what happens next). The seven-episode miniseries from The Wire's David Simon and Ed Burns delivers everything you'd expect from a Simon/Burns project. Based on a book by journalist Evan Wright, the series is a gritty and realistic portrayal of the Iraq War. The cast is also awesome and includes Alexander Skarsgård (currently starring on True Blood), James Ransone, Stark Sands and Jon Huertas.

Special features include a featurette titled "Generation Kill: A Conversation With the 1st Recon Marines," and deleted dialogues.

Buzz Gift Guide: Yo Mamma!

BuzzSugar — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:30:00 -0800

Is it November already? Yup! And that means it's time to get going on holiday shopping. So, welcome to this year's round of Buzz Gift Guides for all the entertainment lovers in your life. Starting us off: Gift ideas for your mom.

I've often had a tough time shopping for mom, usually because her stuff tends be nicer than mine in general. But if your mom has a weak spot for entertainment, today's holiday gift guide might provide you with some fun suggestions.

OK, my mother loved Mamma Mia! when it came out in theaters. The gift of Meryl will keep on giving come Dec. 16 when the DVD hits stores. If your mom boogied down to this with friends in the theater, I bet she'd love it if you were thoughtful enough to pre-order it just in time for the holidays.

I stumbled upon Cinematherapy Goes to the Oscars recently and for moms that consider themselves movie buffs, this little book is a great companion, full of thought-provoking insights into Academy Award-winning movies. Many of the women in my life are fans of author Jodi Picoult and her latest book, Change of Heart, will be released in paperback on Dec. 2 (or you can get it now in hardcover).

One of my mom's absolute can't-miss TV shows is Brothers and Sisters (especially because of "that Sally Field character"), and just this Fall the second season of the show was released on DVD. And finally, for the lady who loves a little romance in her life, check out A&E's Literary Classics: Romance DVD Collection Two. The movies star folks like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Paul Rudd in movies like The Great Gatsby and Vanity Fair.

Brothers and Sisters: The Complete Second Season ($36.99)	Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult ($10.88)
Mamma Mia! ($24.49)	Cinematherapy Goes to the Oscars ($15.95)	A&E Literary Classics: Romance Collection 2 ($89.99)

Check out HolidaySugar for all of our holiday coverage and gift guides.

Have You Ever Gone to a Sing-Along Screening?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:30:13 -0700

One of the most interesting pieces of box office news this past weekend was the Labor Day sales bump for Mamma Mia!. The movie was in its seventh week in theaters, but it actually saw its sales go up after several weeks of drops. Getting most of the credit: special sing-along screenings in almost 300 theaters, which alone brought in $1.2 million over the long weekend. Hey, I can understand - who hasn't belted a cheesy ABBA tune or two in their day?

Of course, Mamma Mia! is just the latest in a tradition of sing-along screenings. Hairspray held some sing-along events, there was a popular Buffy the Vampire Slayer sing-along (until it got itself in trouble with Fox), and of course there's the king of all sing-alongs, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Heck, even R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet got some sing-alongs earlier this year. So I'm wondering: Have you ever been to one of these events? Tell me your stories in the comments!

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures

Buzz News Roundup, 8/20

BuzzSugar — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 13:30:14 -0700

Sadly, Dave Matthews Band saxophonist LeRoi Moore died Tuesday at age 46 from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in June. - AP
Universal wants to increase Labor Day weekend grosses for Mamma Mia! by presenting Mamma Mia! The Sing-Along Edition in select theaters. - Billboard
ABC is actually going to move forward this Fall with that male-oriented spinoff of Supernanny, titled Supermanny. - Hollywood Reporter
Peter Jackson will collaborate with director Guillermo del Toro to write The Hobbit and its sequel. - Variety
The Coen brothers have hired Michael Stuhlbarg and Richard Kind to star as brothers in their 1960s period black comedy, The Serious Man. - ComingSoon
Grey's Anatomy and ER are receiving criticism by a leading Italian medical group for "teaching viewers inaccurate views on medicine" and "spreading misinformation." - The Hollywood Reporter
Neil Young has nabbed Death Cab for Cutie and Wilco as the opening acts for his tour. - Reuters
There's going to be a remake of the 1982 horror movie Poltergeist. - ComingSoon

Source

Buzz News Roundup, 8/13

BuzzSugar — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:31:17 -0700

The soundtrack to the movie Mamma Mia! is now No. 1 on the Billboard 200. - Billboard
George Clooney has bought the rights to Jonathan Mahler's legal thriller The Challenge. - Variety
Seth Green and Breckin Meyer are in talks to guest-star on Heroes. - Entertainment Weekly
ABC is developing a TV version of The Witches of Eastwick. - TV Guide
Orlando Bloom will star in a movie about life in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo during the 1992-95 siege. - Reuters
J.J. Abrams will produce a disaster film about an earthquake. - ComingSoon
NBC is developing a half-hour comedy about 20-something female tycoons, called Mogulettes. - Variety
Jeremy Sumpter, who played the lead role in 2003's Peter Pan, has been cast as the new quarterback challenger on Friday Night Lights. - Entertainment Weekly

Source

Box Office: The Batman Still On Top

BuzzSugar — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 09:30:28 -0700

For the third weekend in a row, The Dark Knight was No. 1 at the box office, narrowly beating The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for the top spot. The Mummy earned about $42.5 million while The Dark Knight earned $43.8 million. Thanks to this win, The Dark Knight has just about crossed the $400 million line in domestic ticket sales.

Variety notes that most box office watchers had predicted this would be the weekend Batman would lose his crown, but I'm not all that surprised. The third addition to the silly action-adventure Mummy franchise failed to meet even the lowest critical expectations earning far worse reviews than the two before it.

Somewhat hilariously, Brendan Fraser now has two movies in the top five box office earners this week, as the 3-D adventure Journey to the Center of the Earth is holding strong at No. 5. So that would make him. . . a fairly hot box office commodity. Wow.

Elsewhere in the top five, Step Brothers came in third place and Mamma Mia! took fourth.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Buzz In: Has a Movie Ever Inspired You to Travel?

BuzzSugar — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:30:10 -0700

The other day I found myself saying, "You know where I really want to visit? Greece." Why? Because of that lovable hot mess Mamma Mia! and the upcoming Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. Both are set (or, partially set, in Pants's case) on beautiful Greek islands with many sumptuous shots of white sands and sparkling azure oceans. It's like the ultimate product placement: I want to go where that movie is. Now.

Now Baz Luhrmann is fully embracing this idea of movie-as-travel-ad, and will help create a tourism ad campaign to go along with the release of his film Australia.

I've already shared a few movies that have inspired me to travel, so now it's your turn. Which movies have made you antsy to get out and see the world?

Source

Box Office: The Dark Knight Continues to Reign

BuzzSugar — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:30:00 -0700

In its second week in theaters, The Dark Knight continued to trample both the competition and box office records. According to Variety, it brought in $75.6 million from the 4,300 theaters screening it. This means that the Batman sequel brought in $300 million in less than 10 days, and grossed more than any other film has in its second weekend, a record previously held by Shrek 2.

Batman's competition mostly came from Step Brothers. The R-rated comedy took in $30 million which secured it the no. 2 spot. It seems that much of America did not have Will Ferrell fatigue after all.

Mamma Mia! grabbed the third spot with $17.2 million, bringing its total to $62.7 million.

The rest of the top five included The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which brought in $10.2 million, a very small number for what was expected to be a Summer blockbuster. To put that into perspective, the first X-Files film earned just over $30 million its first weekend during June of 1998. Journey to the Center of the Earth took fifth place, earning $9.4 million.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

The Dark Knight Smashes Box Office Records

BuzzSugar — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:15:23 -0700

Many thought that breaking Spider-Man 3's record for the biggest opening weekend ever would be difficult, even for The Dark Knight. But the much-hyped and critically adored sequel to Batman Begins shattered many records over the weekend - including Spidey's.

Earning an estimated $155.4 million, Bruce Wayne and gang smashed box office records for the biggest single-day gross in history and the biggest opening weekend for an IMAX release.

According to Variety, Mamma Mia! also broke records by "narrowly beating Hairspray to become the top opener for a musical," earning $27.5 million over the weekend.

That is a lot of money that people spent at the movies this weekend. What did you see? And how many times?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.