Actress a Day: Jayne Mansfield

For the month of August I'm drawing an Actress a Day to finally get over my fear of drawing on the computer -- That's what's holding up "Actressland", a webcomic series that's been evolving in my head for ages. Today inspired by Illustration Friday's word of the week "bounce" I went with Jayne Mansfield on a whim ...and with a jiggle

Confession: I've never seen a Jayne Mansfield movie. Have you? "The Working Man's Marilyn Monroe*" made a lot of them but she remained more famous for her breasts than her acting. (Like Shelby, Pink was her signature color.)

*This designation kind of stuck to her 50s pinup legacy but how was Marilyn Monroe not the working man's Marilyn Monroe herself? She belonged to everyone.

Catwoman and Marie Antoinette Would Just HATE Each Other

Shortly after writing about The Dark Knight Rises I got all frustrated remembering how audiences are ignoring the bracing terrific French drama Farewell My Queen so I couldn't resist doodling about them together. Enjoy!

That arthouse drama about The Terror would make for an eye opening double feature for fanboys, an educational footnote if you will, for Chris Nolan's awkward political metaphors about the unruly 99% and how hard they are on those put upon benevolent 1%ers!

Speaking of bags upon bags of money and who's got it... this weekend's box office charts.

Box Office Fifteen
01 THE DARK KNIGHT RISES $64 (Cum. $289) Review
02 ICE AGE 4 $13.3 (cum. $114.8)
03 THE WATCH $13 *new*
04 STEP UP REVOLUTION $11.8 *new*
05 TED $7.3 (cum $193.6)
06 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN $6.8 (cum $242) Review
07 BRAVE $4.2 (cum. $217.2)
08 MAGIC MIKE $2.5 (cum. $107.5) Review
09 SAVAGES $1.7 (cum. $43.8) 
10 MOONRISE KINGDOM $1.3 (cum. $38.3) 

11 MADEA'S WITNESS PROTECTION $2.5 (cum. $62.7) 
12 TO ROME WITH LOVE $4.2 (cum. $12.9) Review
13 BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD $2.5 (cum. $4.1) 
14 MADAGASCAR 3 $4.2 (cum. $209.5)
15 THE AVENGERS $2.5 (cum. $616) Review

Just outside the top 15, French import and international feel good hit The Intouchables is really rising. It's about to hit $5 million in the US and still expanding. Outside of TDKR, the most crowded theaters (i.e. per screen average) were for two indies in very limited theatrical release: NC-17 rated Killer Joe (with Matthew McConaughey and Gina Gershon based on the Tracy Letts play) and Ruby Sparks with Paul Dano as a writer and Zoe Kazan as his creation. 

What did you watch this weekend? Besides The Olympics of course. 

Box Office Special. A Sticky Cartoon Strip-a-Thon !

I didn't cover the box office last weekend in one of it's most interesting episodes. What's wrong with me? So today in honor of Channing Tatum's third consecutive $35 million plus opening last weekend (expect him to be offered every part for a 25-40 year old man in the next year, even the ones he's totally wrong for) a Magic Mike themed box office countdown to kick off Stripper Week. I'm pretending that the nation's #1 movie featured a musical stripping sequences a la Magic Mike. Just go with it. (File under: Anything to keep the commerce part of movie-going interesting. Cuz that's so notthe interesting part!)

Inappropriate Spider-Man cartoon (I made it*!) 

Box office chart after the jump...

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Box Office: Princess Merida, Bear Hunter

Princess Merida's aim was true, hitting the Pixar bullseye this weekend. $60 million plus means BRAVE can stand proudly with the studio's most successful opening weekends. Some worried that Pixar's first female lead might not prove nearly as big of an immediate draw as cars, toys and boy robots... forgetting that Princesses have never exactly hurt parent co's Disney's box office tallies. Abraham Lincoln's box office aim was messier but then axes can miss their mark and still do bloody damage.

TOP TEN PRIDE WEEKEND
01 BRAVE new $66.7
02 MADAGASCAR 3  $20.2 (cum. $157.5)
03 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER  new $16.5 
04 PROMETHEUS  $10 (cum. $108.5) Oscar Chances?
05 ROCK OF AGES $8 (cum. $28.7) Review
06 SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN $8 (cum $137.1) Review 
07 THAT'S MY BOY $7.9  (cum $28.1)
08 THE AVENGERS  $7 (cum $598.3) Review
09 MIB 3 $5.6 (cum. $163.3)
10 SEEKING A FRIEND AT THE END OF THE WORLD  new $3.8 

Talking Points: To Rome With Love was strangely timid about its opening weekend given the renewed Woody Allen love post Midnight in Paris but had a strong per screen average anyway. Had it opened wider it surely would have outperformed Seeking a Friend... which couldn't find an audience; Moonrise Kingdom continues to be a strong performer in limited release just outside the top ten; Two months into its run The Avengers is finally losing screens but should cross the astounding $600 million mark by Tuesday, only the third film in history to do so (when not adjusted for inflation). 

Regarding The Avengers. Given the screen loss it'll be tough to pass Titanic to claim the all time #2 spot -- another $60 million is required. I was just at brunch at Harlem's Red Rooster and a little tiny barely verbal boy at the next table was veritably surrounded by superheroes -- Thor lunch box to the left of him, Spider-Man backpack to the right of him, as he excitedly pointed at an ancient comic book in glass behind him in the restaurant's wall of historic memorabilia. They indoctrinate them young into Marvel Mania. When he's a teenager he'll be buying opening weekend tickets to The Avengers holographic reboot (2025)

What did you see this weekend?

Or is your weekend still raging? If so, Happy Pride!

Twins: Luke & Leia

twins daily at 2:22 pm (while we're in Gemini)

Like most people of my generation I grew up with the Star Wars franchise (1977-1983. It ends there, right?) as the single most defining pop culture event of youth. I did not, however, feel any particular need to have it as a continuing Force (heh) in my life, afterwards. By the time I was a teenager I had already moved on to the collected works of dramatic actresses as The Single Most Satisfying Form of Entertainment. So I'm kind of amazed still that in any given month on the internet you can find dozens of new articles or tumblr items or deviant art sketches or nsfw riffs or ANYTHING at all about the franchise. It just doesn't stop... even after George Lucas tried to kill it cluttering up the beautifully sparse frames of the originals with merciless revisionism and CGI accessorizing.

Yet despite my lack of continued love for the franchise to end all franchises (or, more accurately, the franchise to start all franchises -- that's all we get now!) I will admit that Luke & Leia still have a very special place in my adult heart. 

More on Padmé & Darth's twins after the jump...

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