Monday, April 30

• Box Office Report: Saving Up for Spidey

  It was a slow weekend at the cineplex, with movie fans apparently saving up for the May 4th release of Spider-Man 3. Newly-crowned box office heavyweight Shia LaBeouf's Disturbia led the box office for the third week in a row with a tally of $9.1 million, according to boxofficemojo.com. Teenage supernatural thriller The Invisible led new releases with $7.6 million, while Nicolas Cage's Next limped to a disappointing $7.2 million tally. Rounding out the top five were Fracture and Blades of Glory, which took in $7 million and $5.2 million, respectively.
  
  

  Posted 04/30/2007 by Thomas

  Disturbia | Next | The Invisible | Blades of Glory | Fracture

Thursday, April 19

• Ferrell goes digital   

  If you're one of the few people left that hasn't already been sent the quickly-infamous Will Ferrell video by a friend who's just a bit more plugged-in than yourself, here's the deal:

  A new web site just launched called funnyordie.com. Basically, it's a web site dedicated to comedy videos. Their flagship video, Landlord, is an amusing two-minute short starring Will Ferrell, director Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and a precocious foul-mouthed, hard-drinking toddler named Pearl. As Ferrell's mean-spirited landlord, Pearl berates the deadbeat tenant with such classic lines as "I want my money b***h!"

  The video has already been a tremendous success, capitalizing on another Ferrell hit on the big screen, Blades of Glory. The story has been linked around the net and also picked up by YouTube.

  There isn't a lot of news yet as to the origins of the video, although it doesn't look like it took a ton of production time. Funnyordie.com is purportedly a partnership between Ferrell's production company and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital.

  
  
  

  Blades of Glory

  Ferrell on Ice

  Posted 04/19/2007 by Jeff

  Adam McKay | Will Ferrell | Blades of Glory | Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Monday, April 16

• Weekend Box Office: Good news for Spielberg, Lucas

  Looks like their new Indy 4 star Shia LaBeouf can open a movie after all. LaBeouf's Rear Window remake Disturbia took the top spot in this weekend's box office tally, raking in $23 million, according to boxofficemojo.com. The news wasn't nearly as good for the rest of this weekend's new releases, as holdovers Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons took second and third place with $14 million and $12 million, respectively. Halle Berry's thriller Perfect Stranger came in fourth with a disappointing $11.5 million take. Rounding out the top five was Ice Cube's family flick Are We Done Yet?, which made $9.2 million.

  
  

  Posted 04/16/2007 by Thomas

  Disturbia | Perfect Stranger | Blades of Glory | Meet the Robinsons | Are We Done Yet?

Monday, April 9

• The people have spoken...

  ...and for once, they agreed with me. Grindhouse tanked monumentally at the box office this weekend, bringing in just $11.6 million -- far short of analysts' expectations of around $25 million, according to Boxofficemojo.com -- barely enough to take fourth place.

  Compounding the humiliation, Grindhouse was beaten out by two of last week's releases, Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons, which took in $23 million and $17 million respectively. Ice Cube's family comedy Are We Done Yet? was the top debut, at $15 million.

  Explanations for Grindhouse's monumental flop range from the three-hour running time to the fact that younger audiences just didn't get the joke. Or maybe, just maybe, it wasn't that great of a movie.

   

  
  

  Posted 04/09/2007 by Thomas

  Grindhouse | Blades of Glory | Meet the Robinsons | Are We Done Yet?

Monday, April 2

• Homoeroticism: Hollywood's next big trend?

  The astounding success of 300 and Blades of Glory, two films bursting at the seams with latent homoeroticism, has many analysts wondering if the movie industry is on the verge of its next big trend. Does this mean the long-delayed Top Gun sequel will finally get the go-ahead? We'll have to wait and see.

  
  

  Posted 04/02/2007 by Thomas

  300 | Blades of Glory | Top Gun

• Movie Fans LOVE Figure Skating!
  

  How else do you explain this weekend's gigantic opening for the new figure skating movie Blades of Glory? Will Ferrell, you say? Will Arnett, Jon Heder and Amy Poehler? The public demanded men in tights skating gracefully across the ice. Come on, give figure skating its due people! America wanted it and they got it. They responded to the tune of $33 smackaroonees! I rest my case.
  
  In second place was the new Disney 3-D animated adventure Meet the Robinsons with a very respectable $25 million. Sweaty men in their underwear continued its run of bloody success, adding $11 million more to its nearly $180 million domestic take in just four weeks. Last week's number one, TMNT, dropped to number four with $9 million while the proof of America's quickly dropping I.Q., Wild Hogs, stayed strong with $8.3 million for a $135 million in five weeks.
  
  So what does this weekend mean for America? Well, a Brian Boitano movie has to happen. The American public has demanded it.
  
  
  
  
  Next Showing: Blades of Glory is now playing in theaters nationwide
  

  Reelz Clip

  Blades of Glory clip: "Lady Humps"

  Posted 04/02/2007 by Jeff

  Blades of Glory | 300 | TMNT | Meet the Robinsons

Friday, March 30

• By the Numbers

  A rundown of ReelzChannel.com's reviews of this week's new releases:

  Blades of Glory:

  "Another brainless Will Ferrell sports comedy, executed brilliantly."

   

  ReelzChannel Rating: 

   

  Meet the Robinsons:

  "This 3-D visual dazzler that starts out slowly but gradually builds up steam."

   

  ReelzChannel Rating: 

  The Lookout:

  "Last year, Joseph Gordon-Levitt shone in the criminally underrated Brick. He's even better in The Lookout."

   

  ReelzChannel Rating: 

  
  

  Posted 03/30/2007 by Thomas

  Blades of Glory | Meet the Robinsons | The Lookout

Tuesday, March 27

• Ferrell Teams Up Again with McKay, Reilly

  While promoting his new flick Blades of Glory, Will Ferrell described his next project with comedy collaborator Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights):

  "McKay and I just finished our third script," said Ferrell. "We had so much fun working with John C. Reilly that the three of us came up with a premise: We're essentially two grown men who still live with a parent, and those parents get married and we still live at home, so we're these two stepbrothers. It's kind of like Brady Bunch meets Ordinary People. We're two 40-year-old guys who still live at home and we're still indignant about trying to get jobs."

  Hmm...sounds like well-trodden territory. But who am I to question the comic genius of the Ferrell/McKay/Reilly triumvirate?

  Check out our interview with Ferrell in our Features section.

  
  
  

  Blades of Glory - Trailer

  Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as rival Olympic figure skaters.

  Posted 03/27/2007 by Thomas

  Adam McKay | Will Ferrell | John C. Reilly | Blades of Glory

Wednesday, March 21

• Show Us Your Lutz

  In advance of the Will Ferrell figure-skating comedy Blades of Glory, those creative folks at Paramount are hosting a "Skate-Off" competition tomorrow in Burbank, California, where participants can compete on the ice for a chance to win $5,000. American figure skating phenom, the surprisingly hot Sasha Cohen (not Borat), will be there to judge the contestants. Performances will be evaluated based on a number of criteria, including originality & style, presentation & execution and enthusiasm. The competition will likely be fierce, as Burbank has long been known as a hotbed of figure-skating talent.

  For more information on the contest, click here.

  
  
  

  Reelz Clip

  Starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as rival Olympic ice skaters.

  Posted 03/21/2007 by Thomas

  Will Ferrell | Blades of Glory