Monday Morning Mixer: Shine again, one more time
Posted Sunday, July 29, 2012 at 11:55 PM Central
Last updated Sunday, July 29, 2012 at 11:55 PM Central
by John Couture
While the world gathered to watch the Olympics in London, it was business as usual in Hollywood. Well, maybe not usual, but the machinery of film making continued to turn this weekend.
As you would expect, the box office continued to be dominated by The Dark Knight Rises and it will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The nice thing is that Olympics is must-see TV and whenever that happens, you can be sure that Hollywood films will be there to get their wares in front of the audience's eyes.
You may have noticed that we have a little ongoing series of our own capturing the Olympic spirit. We hope you enjoy them and continue to give us feedback.
For now though, sit back and enjoy a little MMM.
Box Office 411
There's no shocker here. The Dark Knight Rises continued its ascent by adding another $64 million or so to its coffers. While the numbers for The Dark Knight Rises seemed to mirror The Dark Knight through its opening weekend, the latest film is starting to fall off the pace of The Dark Knight.
While I was being generous last week thinking that The Dark Knight Rises would surpass the $530 million of The Dark Knight, this week I'm not so sure. I think that it's going to struggle to get to $500 million, stalling out around $475 million or so.
The weekend's biggest new release The Watch was a non-starter earning just $16 million or so. It's hard to tell what was the biggest factor in its failure as there were plenty of things going against it. Not only was it opening a week after The Dark Knight Rises but it was also opening against the Summer Olympics opening ceremony.
Not to mention that this film got a late title change due to the real life shooting of Trayvon Martin by the coordinator of a neighborhood watch group in Florida. Combined with the shooting in Colorado last week, it's quite possible that audiences just weren't in the mood for a film that would remind them of violence, despite being a comedy.
Or, it could simply just being what I like to call Ben Stiller fatigue. It seems like it's been a long time since he was a relevant force at the box office.
Shine on
The Shining is having quite a week. First, it won a silver medal for best snow in film in our little Olympics series. And now, it seems that a prequel might be coming.
According to the LA Times Warner Bros. is exploring a potential prequel to The Shining. While this barely qualifies as anything but non-news, it is intriguing and bizarre enough that it might actually happen.
The prequel would focus on the history of Overlook Hotel and not the Torrance family, but there's enough creepiness to delve into that I don't think many people would miss Jack Nicholson. Of course, Stephen King's upcoming sequel to The Shining where Danny uses his power to fight off a special group of vampires (of course he does because you know, vamps are huge right now).
You know that the sequel will eventually see the light of the projection room, but the chances of the prequel moving into development is unknown at best. There's no word of King's involvement in the prequel, but it's a pretty good bet that if he does come on board the chances of seeing it come to fruition increase exponentially.
Bond. James Bond.
I think James Bond would have been a great Olympic athlete. I mean he's a sure bet for all those shooting gold medals, no?
Well, art and life blurred their boundaries yet again during the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. In case you missed it, James Bond shows up to escort the Queen Mother to the opening shindig and things get, well, Bond-like.
I would show you the clip, but apparently despite the Internet and social media being one of the big themes of the opening ceremonies, the clip is not being allowed to be shown online. I know, it's crazy, but it was a pretty cool clip.
What is available though is a TV spot that has been popping up during the coverage from Skyfall. Check it out below.
I don't know about you, but that clip really makes me excited for November.
Actually, since most of the world was concerned with London, things were a bit slower this weekend. But hey, that just means that next week's offering will be that much better. Until then, mix well my friends.