Box Office: Hair-Raising Franchise Battles

One could argue, and some did, that we didn't need another Alien movie after four regular features and Alien vs. Predator mash-ups. One could argue, though no one bothered to, that we didn't need another Madagascar. Yet both films had robust attention from audiences for their opening weekend. When all the new entries are crowd-interest family films always win since they have better legs at the box office. Their target audience doesn't even require legs to get to them since they're carried to or wheeled to the movie theaters question via their parental units.

an unlikely franchise showdown: Aliens vs. Madagascar

THE DIRTY (BOX OFFICE) DOZEN 
01 MADAGASCAR 3 new $603
02 PROMETHEUS  new $50.0
03 SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN $23 (cum $98.5) Review & Sequel Plans
04 MIB 3 $13.5  (cum $135.5)
05 THE AVENGERS  $10.8 (cum $571.8) Review
06 THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL $3.2 (cum. $31) Review

07 WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING $2.7 (cum. $35.7)
08 BATTLESHIP $2.2 (cum $59.8)
09 THE DICTATOR $2.1  (cum $55.1)
10 MOONRISE KINGDOM $1.5 (cum $3.7) (Wes Anderson's Dark Side)
11 DARK SHADOWS $1.3 (cum. $73.7) Review
12 THE HUNGER GAMES $1.0 (cum. $400.2) Review

What did you see this week? I was busy taking in the musical Rock of Ages, the buzzy poetic Beast of the Southern Wild (ohmgod. Do not miss it when it opens... but lower those Oscar expectations. Not that kind of movie), the Italian coming out comedy Loose Cannons (2010), and Prometheus (more on that as soon as I can manage).

That's a Link Breaker, Ladies

Letters of Note "I feel every cut" an intimate glimpse back at Terry Gilliam's Brazil madness
Self Styled Siren a happy ending for For the Love of Film Blogathon III. The money raised towards film preservation (a digitial copy of a super early piece of the Hitchcock puzzle) will result in free streaming of the surviving reels this November. Well done, all!
24 Frames Broadway star Kelli O'Hara will star in not one but two new fillm drama to stage musical adaptations: Far From Heaven (previously discussed) and... The Bridges of Madison County?
The Daily Notebook 1948 was a good year for mermaids: Glynis Johns & Ann Blyth

Rope of Silicon new character photos from Anna Karenina including Keira Knightley, veiled
Pajiba says goodbye to sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury (RIP)
Antagony & Ecstacy "in space no one can hear you yawn"... on Alien Ressurection. Or is it Alien: Ressurection? 
Slate "Woman: The Other Alien in Alien" Tom Shone investigates Academia and the Alien franchise... with a Ripley focus of course
Ultra Culture "fixes" the teaser poster for Robert Zemeckis' Flight starring Denzel Washington 

Broadway Blog my friend Tom makes his educated Tony prediction guesses. Are you watching Sunday night? 
The New Yorker's this new true story article "The Yankee Comandante" about an American helping Cuban rebels overthrow their president in 1959 is already on its way to being a movie. George Clooney will direct.  
Vulture the scariest thing ever seen on television via Twin Peaks. I wholeheartedly agree. I remember actually attempting to move backwards. (Maybe I also whimpered / screamed. Shut up. You had to be there in 1991)  

Finally...
I giggled this morning when reading Stranger Than Most's "Jenna tells it like it is" a reminder of one of 30 Rock's most hilarious scenes. I'm linking because tonight I'll be at Town Hall enjoying Jane Krakowski in concert, a birthday gift from my besties. Yay. I loved Jane truly madly and deeply even before 30 Rock finally convinced everyone else that she was a comedy genius. Every drink I consume tonight will be (re)named in her honor: Jenna'sSide, The Krakowski, 'That'sADealBreakerLadies', Sexual Walkabout, CallFromTheVatican, and MuffinTop. Erm... not that I'm going to drink six drinks. No Lost Weekends for me!

Tell me how much you love Jane Krakowski and how much she deserves the Emmy for this season of 30 Rock after the jump. Don't be anything less than effusive, bitches.

Link to the Future

Past
The New Yorker a memoir about growing up with B Movies
Aint It Cool News looks back at Alien Ressurection. The Alien franchise is on everyone's brain now that Prometheus is (nearly) upon us. 
IndieWire the cooking channel's Baron Ambrosia names his five favorite food movies. Not the usual comfort food answers. The Cook The Thief His Wife and Her Lover? Well done, Baron. 

Present
Coming Soon The Avengers will come to home video as part of a 10 disc set of Marvel Universe movies. (Hey they gotta move those Incredible Hulk discs somehow.) Details forthcoming. One billion dollars at the box office clearly wasn't enough booty! 
World of Wonder Charlize Theron teaches us to walk like queens. "Just think MURDER..."
My New Plaid Pants today is my friend JA's seventh anniversary online. His blog is still great. 
In Contention Michael Mann will chair the Venice Film Festival this year 
Emerging Artist Contest Quentin Tarantino is hosting a contest for upcoming filmmakers although finding your own voice here means remixing and mashing film clips from Django Unchained and others... makes sense that Tarantino would want a new voice adept at mixing old voices (sound familiar?) but if you're a filmmaker this contest is definitely worth checking out. 

Future
TMZ Lindsay Lohan on "preproduction" set testing out her Liz Taylor biopic look.
Awards Daily has the first promotional photos for Only God Forgives the Refn/Gosling follow up to the great Drive. Including this one...

Rope of Silicon seems that the Andy and Lana Wachowski have finally shaken off the Speed Racer blues with Cloud Atlas arriving soon and Jupiter Ascending which will "reinvent action" in preproduction. Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis will star.
The Mary Sue realizes that Charlize Theron is the coolest girl in the movies while she talks Mad Max and, uh, Game of Thrones. It's weird to me that people are still unaware that Charlize Theron is most awesome when playing herself... but welcome to Charlize fandom one and all.
24 Frames Kristen Stewart wants to make a new East of Eden picture, the James Dean movie being one of those pesky adaptations that sacrifices huge swaths of a book in order to make itself into a great movie. How rude of it! 

Linkbender

Stale Popcorn awww. our friend Glenn held a Titanic Oscar.
Guardian fun old interview with Helena Bonham Carter from her first film The Lady Jane (1986)
The Mary Sue new Dr. Horrible Sing-Along films this summer? Maybe.
Prometheus the full second trailer. Not doing a "yes no maybe so" because we already covered this one.
Tom Shone is not looking forward to Prometheus and here's why.

ioncinema Laurence Anyways trailer (in French) and posters. I love Xavier Dolan so I'm excited for this on principle if not quite in actuality.
Telegraph Tim Robey on George Clooney's arrest.
Movie|Line takes a different approach with the 9 most handsomely stoic photos of Clooney from the Sudan event.
In Contention Christopher Plummer in Barrymore... his stage triumph is going big screen this fall.
Antagony & Ecstacy is doing a 1930s week with fine pieces on Leo McCarey (Make Way For Tomorrow) and early horror (Island of Lost Souls) with more to come.
Deadline Scorsese & DiCaprio committed to making The Wolf of Wall Street.
Immersed in Movies has a strange bit about Krypton mythology in the upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel... but since it's about costume design we're intrigued.

My New Plaid Pants (NSFW) has been having a ton of fun wrapping up 2011 cinema with the Golden Trouser awards including "ten great gratuities of 2011 cinema" ... Michael Fassbender keeps popping up and also wins Best Actor.
Hollywood Prospectus surveys the week in celebrity gossip. Minimal commentary pointing to the ridiculous.
The Broadway Blog interviews ubiquitous out actor Denis O'Hare of stage, film and television and grills him cheekily at the end about all the hot men he works with. Who is crush worthy?

Crush-worthy….hmmmmm. I’d have to go with Jamie Bell. Mysterious."

Good choice, O'Hare.

Finally...
Check out this Snow White and the Hunstmen featurette on Costume Design. We're campaigning for 2012 Oscars so soon?

Will the queen's costume's alone win Collen Atwood her 10th nomination -- even before those dual armies?

All in all she's quite the haute couture sort of queen but with an aged rotting edge to her."

We like the sound of those... especially with diva Charlize Theron inside of them.

Natty the Link Slayer

24 Frames Why is Harvey Weinstein the ultimate campaigner?
Art Info meet the sexy subway rider from Shame, actress Lucy Walters.
Mother Nature six things you probably didn't know about It's a Wonderful Life 
Super Punch Robot Chicken makes an Alien funny: the dangers of acid blood.  
Whedonesque Huh. Did not know this. Willow on Buffy was only a coincidental redhead. T'wasn't planned at all though it's impossible to think of Willow as anything but.
Alyson Hannigan is pregnant again. Congratulations to Mommy Willow! 

In Contention Kris Tapley's "superlatives" of the year. He's on #TeamMargaret and Team Tilda.
Sum Up Film the Desperate Women of the Best Actress Race
My New Plaid Pants Man crotch, the hot new movie poster trend
Empire Robert Redford back to work eh? He'll team with Margin Call's breakout writer/director J.C. Chandor on All is Lost, a man vs nature drama.
Cinema Blend Leonardo DiCaprio has two villain roles coming up and The Devil in the White City just hired its screenwriter Graham Moore
The Carpetbagger This is a "hearing about your nomination" story that isn't 100% generic. Angelina Jolie was at the dentist office. Hee. 
The Playlist Jessica Chastain to star in The Darling... which is about 4 or 5 movies from now on her schedule. At some point girlfriend's going to have to come up for air! Maybe she'll take a break in 2015?

For what its worth The Academy has disqualified The Smurfs from the Animated Feature race. No one expected it to be nominated but it's still important to note. 18 films were submitted and the category requires 16 qualifying entries for five-wise "Best" category. If more are disqualified before the nomination ballots go out, the shortlist may get, well, shorter. It's a curious and quite competitive category this year given the rarity of a Pixar fumble and a frontrunner (Rango) that is not quite beloved. That said, Pixar's Cars 2 could still well be nominated from force of habit. The Golden Globes went there despite several more acclaimed option and so did the Annies though they select ten nominees so it was practically a gimme. It's kind of a nail biter, isn't it? Do you think Pixar will manage a nod?