Showbiz History: The Help, Madame Butterfly, and the first superhero comic?

7 random things that happened on this day, February 17th, in showbiz history...

1904 Puccini's beloved opera Madame Butterfly premieres in Italy in what was essentially rough draft form. After audiences booed, he revamped it for four months and the streamlined version became a global success. The opera was based on the play by David Belasco. The story has made it to the big screen six times beginning with the silent film era. Two of the subsequent films were versions of the opera itself, one a Japanese film in 1954 and the other a French film in 1995. Have you seen any film version of this or the opera itself?

1936 The daily newspaper comic strip The Phantom launches (and is still running if you can believe it) essentially giving rise to the superhero genre...

Click to read more ...

Posterized: Zhang Yimou returns with his best film in many years

by Nathaniel R

One of Asia's finest auteurs, Zhang Yimou, returns to arthouse theaters today with his new film Shadow, which is a true return to form for a director whose use of color in movies has few contemporary equals. The new films is shot in color but the costumes and sets are black and white making for numerous startling images. The 69 year old Chinese director's films have been up for multiple BAFTAs, Globes, and Oscars over the years and he also co-directed the very famous Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics so you might not even realize how familiar you are with his work. 

How many of his movies have you seen? Here are the posters for all 21 of his narrative features with some awards trivia, too...

Click to read more ...

What did you see this weekend?

The odd proposition of The Great Wall didn't excite moviegoers in the States -- Matt Damon leading historical fantasy fiction about China's great wall and monstersWhaaa?-- but its huge price tag (150 million budget) doesn't mean it will lose big since it's already made over 200 million overseas. Generally speaking director Zhang Yimou knows how to wondrous spectacle movies but this movies reviews leave something to be desired. Nevertheless it was a relatively quiet weekend with not much changing as the maintream titles played steadily and the Oscar titles are beginning to decline as the conversation around the Oscars nears its end point.

But did anyone see I Am Not Your Negro's huge box office gross coming? You never can tell with documentaries which ones will convince people to buy tickets en masse. In specialty theaters the Mexican rom-com Everybody Loves Somebody also opened to strong numbers.

the great Zhang Yimou directing... Matt Damon in The Great Wall?

TOP WIDE 
01 Lego Batman Movie $34.2 (cum. $98.7)
02 Fifty Shades Darker $20.9 (cum. $89.6)
03 The Great Wall $18 NEW 
04 John Wick Chapter Two $16.5 (cum. $58.6) 
05 Fist Fight $12 NEW

TOP LIMITED 
01 Everybody Loves Somebody $1 NEW 
02 I Am Not Your Negro $975K (cum. $3.2) Review, the nominated docs
03 Oscar Nominated Shorts $600K (cum. $1.6) Doc Shorts Ranked
04 Jolly Lib 2 $330K (cum. $1.3)
05 A United Kingdom $270K (cum. $360K)

Trailers: 'The Handmaiden', 'Split' & 'The Great Wall'

Chris here, with some creepy trailers from auteurs for better (Chan-Wook Park and Zhang Yimou) or worse (M. Night Shyamalan). Let's take a look at the coming chills, from the kinky to the twisty to the digitally enhanced:

The Handmaiden

• We've been getting fall festival lineup announcements and hopefully this will pop up somewhere. After a well-reviewed debut in Cannes, we're betting at least on NYFF.
• "... And Stoker" is the most "And Peggy" response to director Chan-Wook Park's filmography.
• Too bad that Oscar is often afraid to get naughty - the design elements look immaculate, especially the cinematography from Park's frequent collaborator Chung-hoon Chung.
• The Handmaiden reenvisions Sarah Waters's novel Fingersmith across the globe and time periods. If only other literary adaptations could be so bold in their interpretations.

Check out what creepiness Shyamalan and Yimou have coming with their more famous stars after the jump...

Click to read more ...