-
Monday, June 8
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| The Hangover | $43.9M | $43.9M | Touted as "The Sleeper of the Summer" by People and several other publications, the R-rated romp backs it up in first week of release. |
| Up | $44.1M | $137.2M | Tiny Week 2 dropoff nearly allows Pixar to hold off Vegas bachelor party pic. |
| Land of the Lost | $19.5M | $19.5M | A Universal executive was quoted saying, "We didn't do the business that we hoped." Good one! |
| Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian | $14.6M | $127.3M | What museum should Museum 3 take place in? |
| Star Trek | $8.4M | $222.8M | Trek slowing but still at low-digit Warp Speed. Franchise reboot is current 2009 box office leader. |
Bomb of the Week: Land of the Lost isn't just up for Bomb of the Week, it's a leading contender for Bomb of the Year, with just $19.5M in box office receipts against a $200M bill to produce, market, and distribute. Wither Will Ferrell? Or wither big-screen adaptations of cheesy '70s TV shows?
If Land of the Lost was the Fat Man, Nia Vardalos's My Life in Ruins is Little Boy. Her attempt to recapture some of that Greek Wedding magic failed with just $3.2M and an anemic $2,771-per-screen average.
Posted 6/8/2009 by reelz
Related: Land of the Lost | My Life in Ruins
-
Friday, June 5
Only last week, it appeared as if a sequel to the wildly hilarious 2004 comedy Anchorman would be forthcoming. Now, however, Will Ferrell, who played chauvinist journalist Ron Burgundy in the original, has cast some doubt on that possibility.
In a recent interview, Ferrell said:
I thought we were. I kept saying that. I was told we were, and now I've heard it's too hard to get everyone together. So, hopefully (director) Adam McKay is going to be able to talk to all the guys individually and see if there's a time and place that were can figure out how to do it.
When asked if he thought a sequel to Anchorman could live up to the original, Ferrell said:
Oh, we don't. It's just that it would be really fun to do. It could be terrible. But, if they're going to pay us to do it, why not?
I agree that sequels are hard. I think we would use that as a challenge, to try to make it the craziest sequel you've ever seen, with a live by the sword, die by the sword kind of feel.
Ferrell's latest release, Land of the Lost, debuts today nationwide. Ferrell plays Dr. Marshall, a disgraced scientist who, along with his assistant, Holly (played by Anna Friel), and Will, a backwoods survivalist (East Bound and Down's Danny McBride), tumbles through a space-time vortex and ends up in a mysterious place.
Posted 6/5/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Will Ferrell | Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy | Land of the Lost | Anchorman 2
-
Thursday, June 4
Early reviews of Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost suggest that yes, it does look as bad as the trailer, and may be the summer's first big disappointment.
"...has stray amusing tidbits, but overall it leaves you feeling splattered."
-- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"...halfway toward amusing, which means it's just as close to awful."
-- Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
"Lame sketch comedy, an uninspired performance from Will Ferrell and an overall failure of the imagination turn Brad Silberling's Land of the Lost into a lethargic meander through a wilderness of misfiring gags."
-- Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
"...a laborious mess."
-- Brian Lowry, Hollywood Reporter
Check back here to see what the First Fans tell host Travis Oscarson about how they liked the movie, as he gets their reaction on Friday.
Posted 6/4/2009 by reelz
Related: Land of the Lost
-
Thursday, May 28
The marketing campaign for Land of the Lost has gone into overdrive with all sorts of previews in advance of the movie's premiere next week.
Most of the new material features the T. rex, which has admittedly evolved quite impressively from its predecessor in the 1970 cult TV series. The toothy dinosaur rips right through the latest poster for the movie in hot pursuit of expedition leader Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell). Then in a pair of new clips we get an extended look at its attack across a stone bridge...
...and its attempt to gobble up the members of the expedition, who have been left dangling from the ceiling of a cave as the result of some other ill-fated encounter.
If that's not enough Land of the Lost for you, you can check out the barrage of new TV spots that have been released over the past few days, some of which do contain bits and pieces of new footage.
Next Showing: Land of the Lost releases June 5
Posted 5/28/2009 by Bill
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost
-
Out promoting Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell joins Bear Grylls in a comically tinged episode of the Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild. The pair go out into far north reaches of Sweden, where they practice survival skills, and even eat reindeer eyeballs together.
It's not dinosaurs and Sleestaks but, as is evident in a preview clip from the episode, there is a heaping helping of Ferrell's trademark one-liners. Summing up the experience, Ferrell quips,
To be able to participate in an episode of Man vs. Wild was a thrill of a lifetime, even though I did get urine-drunk which is sad.
From the look of the trailers, far more disgusting things than that await his character, Dr. Rick Marshall, in Land of the Lost.
Posted 5/28/2009 by Bill
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost
-
Monday, May 25
A new Land of the Lost clip has debuted on MTV showing how the intrepid party of adventurers first encounter the iconic Sleestaks, a race of slow-walking, bug-eyed, sentient humanoid lizards.
As the group wanders into Sleestak territory, their ape-like guide Chaka (Jorma Taccone) tries to warn them, but alas they think he is taking about chorizo tacos. And, of course, they all miss the big sign in the background that says "Beware of Sleestak."
Next Showing: Land of the Lost releases June 5
Posted 5/25/2009 by Bill
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost | Jorma Taccone
-
Monday, May 11
Until he invents a tachyon amplifier and stumbles into the Land of the Lost, Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) just isn't getting any respect. Actually, he doesn't get much respect afterward either. Especially not from one relentless T-Rex, whose intelligence he repeatedly insults. The ensuing chase scenes, and lots more trippy eye candy (and Sleescks!), round out this second trailer for Land of the Lost, which is evidently aiming to be your rock-and-roll dinosaur movie.
Posted 5/11/2009 by Bill
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost
-
Thursday, May 7
The clips aren't on line yet, but a review of five scenes from Land of the Lost screened by a reporter at Hit Fix provides one of the most detailed looks yet at the movie adaptation of the campy '70s TV series. There's a lot of CGI, of course, and plausible-looking dinosaurs -- something the bargain-basement original clearly lacked. But in most of the clips he describes, what really stands out is the movie's kaleidoscopic disrespect for time and place, and its trippy brand of humor.
One representative scene takes place at a motel pool that has somehow found its way intact (and full of water) into the middle of a surreal desert. The band of intrepid travelers drinks a strange concoction. Then their ape-boy guide Chaka (Jorma Taccone) treats them to exponentially more and more dire translations of what exactly they have ingested -- what starts out as "joyful lightness" is soon revised to "howling loneliness" then to something that makes your bowels feel like they are "being pierced by a ghost serpent" and then into the zombie beyond. "It might be narcotic," he adds, almost as an afterthought. Cue "All Along the Watchtower."
Pretty good evidence, it seems, for the reviewer's conclusion that weird is in this movie's DNA.
Posted 5/7/2009 by Bill
Related: Land of the Lost | Jorma Taccone
-
Wednesday, April 22
The challenge facing filmmakers, Will Ferrell explains in an interview with MTV, was how to update the story and special effects without losing the campy charm of the '70s Saturday morning live-action TV series. With a much bigger budget and access to CGI special effects, they could afford to populate their world with all manner of scary critters beyond the reach of the original. No longer dependent on rubber-suited monsters and hand puppets, they also decided to make the dinosaurs scary, not cute. Ferrell says "we wanted to get away from the kitsch value and make the action and adventure part look real and then have the comedy play off that."
The characters have changed a bit, as well:
In the new version, Ferrell plays Rick Marshall, a celebrity paleontologist who is ostracized from the scientific community for his wild theories about time travel. Holly (Anna Friel) is no longer his daughter but a woman who convinces Marshall to keep pursuing his research. And Will (Danny McBride) has shifted from being Rick's son to being a scummy survivalist who gets pulled along for the ride.
The over-all result, however, remains true to the spirit of the original, Ferrell insists. And it even keeps the trademark theme song.
Next Showing: Land of the Lost stomps into theaters June 5, 2009
Posted 4/22/2009 by Bill
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost
-
Sunday, February 1
With the Steelers up 10 to nothing, we get a glimpse at Will Ferrel's next vehicle Land of the Lost -- a reminiscent romp remembering the Saturday morning live action classic from Sid and Marty Krofft.
I wonder if Ferrell was picked partly for his name. You remember the song, right? Marshal, Will and Hollly, on a routine expedition...
In the trailer, we see Chaka, and some dinosaurs but no Sleestaks! Did I miss it? Gotta find this one online and post it. Looks fun.
UPDATE: Voila! And hey, there WERE Sleestaks!
Posted 2/1/2009 by Jim
Related: Will Ferrell | Land of the Lost