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Red Tails (DVD)

October 29, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Cuba Gooding Jr., Gerald McRaney, David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, Ne-Yo
Director: Anthony Hemingway
Running Time: 120 mins
Certificate: 12
Release Date: October 29th 2012

George Lucas first wanted to make a movie about the Tuskegee Airmen in 1988, but it’s taken until now to get it to the screen. That’s partly due to the fact that every studio turned him down, feeling a big, historical war movie with a largely African American cast wasn’t commercial enough. They were wrong, but unfortunately Red Tails isn’t the film to prove it.

After Lucas stumped up the budget himself the film was finally made with Anthony Hemingway directing, but it was plagued by delays and reshoots, and finally got released over two years after it was first shot. The result isn’t a bad film, but it’s one that’s so clichéd it never rises above the passable. [Read more…]

Chronicle Tops The US Box Office

February 6, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Despite competition from the Super Bowl, Chronicle has got off to a good start at the box office, with a $22 million opening weekend. It’s certainly not bad for a movie that only cost $12 million to make, and seems to have been helped by a strong buzz and good word of mouth.

In second place with $21 million was The Woman In Black. It was no Harry Potter style opening, but bodes well for Daniel Radcliffe’s post-Hogwarts career. In fact it’s the first time ever that two movies have opened north of $20 million against the Super Bowl, and the fact both are somewhat male-skewing is perhaps surprising.

The only other new entry on the chart was Big Miracle with $8.5 million. While relatively in line with expectations, the whale tale is now unlikely to become a breakout hit.

Rank	Title	Weekend Gross (millions)	Total Gross to date (millions)
1	Chronicle	$22.0	$22.0
2	The Woman In Black	$21.0	$21.0
3	The Grey	$9.5	$34.7
4	Big Miracle	$8.5	$8.5
5	Underworld Awakening	$5.6	$54.3
6	One For The Money	$5.2	$19.6
7	Red Tails	$5.0	$41.3
8	The Descendants	$4.6	$65.5
9	Man On A Ledge	$4.5	$14.7
10	Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close	$3.9	$26.7

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FILMS: Chronicle, The Woman In Black, The Grey, Big Miracle, Underworld: Awakening, One For The Money, Red Tails, The Descendants, Man On A Ledge, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Grey Tops The US Box Office

January 30, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

While many thought The Grey would top the US box office, not that many believed the R-rated thriller would hit $20 million in its first three days, but with the drawing power of Liam Neeson and a fairly clear premise, it’s done just that.

One For The Money, starring Katherine Heigl, beat out modest expectations for a third place finish in its first three days with $11.7 million. There had been hope this adaptation of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels would be the start of a franchise, but it’s going to have to make a fair bit more cash around the world to make that worthwhile.

The only other new entry was Man On A Ledge, which took a soft $8.3 million. Many are blaming this on muddled marketing, as the Sam Worthington flick got decent reviews.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend of January 27th-29th.

Title	Weekend Gross (millions)	Total Gross to date (millions)
The Grey	$20.0	$20.0
Underworld Awakening	$12.5	$42.1
One For The Money	$11.7	$11.7
Red Tails	$10.4	$33.7
Man On A Ledge	$8.3	$8.3
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close	$7.1	$21.1
The Descendants	$6.5	$58.8
Contraband	$6.5	$56.4
Beauty and the Beast	$5.3	$41.1
Haywire	$4.0	$15.2

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FILMS: The Grey, Underworld: Awakening, One For The Money, Red Tails, Man On A Ledge, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Descendants, Contraband, Beauty and the Beast (1990), Haywire

Underworld Awakening Tops The US Box Office

January 23, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Despite a critical drubbing and worries about franchise fatigue, Underworld Awakening has fought through to top the US box office in its first weekend, taking a respectable $25.4 million. That’s a little ahead on Underworld: Rise Of The Lycans, although that movie didn’t have Kate Beckinsale or a boost from premium price 3D ticket sales.

Red Tails also got off to a stronger start than many had expected, with the George Lucas produced movie taking $19.1 million. Although not amazing, many saw it as a very risky venture, with Lucas funding the entire project himself because no studio would touch a WWII movie with an all-black cast. Although the film’s still got a long way to go to make Lucas back his $70 million plus, it’s on the right track.

Doing less well was the expansion of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, which went from a few screens to over 2,000, but only took $10.5 million. While that wouldn’t be too bad for most dramas, it makes it the least attended movie for either Tom Hanks or Sandra Bullock in 15 years. However with bad reviews and a marketing campaign that never seemed certain what the movie was, it’s perhaps not surprising the movie has faltered.

The only other new entry was Haywire, which took fifth spot with $9 million. That’s about in line with several other female oriented action movies, such as Hanna, but it’s not a great start. It doesn’t help that despite seeming to go down okay with the critics, audiences coming out of screenings don’t seem to like it much, and so word of mouth is likely to be lousy.

Take a look below for the US box office top 10 for the weekend on January 20th-22nd.

Rank	Title	Weekend Gross (millions)	Total Gross to date (millions)
1	Underworld Awakening	$25.4	$25.4
2	Red Tails	$19.1	$19.1
3	Contraband	$12.2	$46.1
4	Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close	$10.5	$11.2
5	Haywire	$9.0	$9.0
6	Beauty and the Beast	$8.5	$33.3
7	Joyful Noise	$6.0	$21.9
8	Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol	$5.5	$197.3
9	Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows	$4.8	$178.6
10	The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo	$3.7	$94.7

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FILMS: Underworld: Awakening, Red Tails, Contraband, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Haywire, Beauty and the Beast (1990), Joyful Noise, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Red Tails – Seven Minute Preview

January 11, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

It’s taken a long time to get Red Tails from shoot to cinema (it filmed well over two years ago), but the George Lucas produced Red Tails is finally on its way, and while there’s no definite UK date yet, it’s released in the US later this month. In hope of getting people excited, a seven minute preview of the movie has been released, which largely shows off the spectacular aerial dogfight footage (Lucas has said it’s the closest people will ever get to Star Wars VII), as well as a few quieter scenes. The film is about a crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, who, having faced segregation and been kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard.

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ACTORS: Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard DIRECTORS: Anthony Hemingway FILMS: Red Tails

Red Tails Trailer

November 10, 2011 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

After endless post-production delays and reports that producer George Lucas demanded huge amounts of reshoots on his long-planned movie about the legendary Tuskegee arimen, anticipation has certainly dropped for Ted Tail. However the trailers certainly make it look good! The film is about a crew of African American pilots in the Tuskegee training program, who, having faced segregation and been kept mostly on the ground during World War II, are called into duty under the guidance of Col. A.J. Bullard. No official UK date has been set yet, but it arrives in the US on January 20th (and it’ll be interesting to see if it gets an Oscar qualifying run in LA before that, or if they just don’t bother).

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ACTORS: Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, David Oyelowo, Bryan Cranston, Josh Dallas DIRECTORS: Anthony Hemingway FILMS: Red Tails