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Sunday, October 18
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Where the Wild Things Are | $32.5M | $32.5M | Some critics called this the best movie of the year so far. Box office did not quite live up to that billing, but does register best-ever PG opening in October. |
| Law Abiding Citizen | $21.3M | $21.3M | Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler star power trumps poor reviews. |
| Paranormal Activity | $20.2M | $33.7M | "Found video" horror continues on torrid Blair Witch-esque pace. |
| Couples Retreat | $17.9M | $63.3M | Critics suggested single life was preferable to saving your marriage with Couples Retreat, yet this movie headed to blockbuster status. |
| The Stepfather | $12.3M | $12.3M | Remake of '87 horror pic snuck into theaters on Friday afternoon, and snuck into this week's Top 5. |
Posted 10/18/2009 by reelz
Related: Where the Wild Things Are
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Friday, October 16
When we picked our 10 Breakout Stars of 2009 we missed the boat on the child actor likely to end up as the biggest breakout star of the year: Max Records.
The 12-year-old star of the well-reviewed Where the Wild Things Are was plucked from relative obscurity by director Spike Jonze, likely in part due to Records' appearance in music videos for Cake and Death Cab for Cutie.
Before he became director of one of the year's most anticipated films, Jonze started off directing music videos for Sonic Youth, the Beastie Boys, Daft Punk, and Fatboy Slim (to name a few). Kindred spirits, it would seem.
Posted 10/16/2009 by reelz
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Max Records
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Wednesday, October 14
When this project was announced, we were wondering how a kids book of just 338 words would translate to the big screen. Then Spike Jonze was announced to direct. Then we saw the trailer and it gave us goosebumps. Now it's here and expectations are sky high. Unfortunately only Entertainment Weekly's Lisa Schwarzbaum is totally buying into it, calling the movie "one of the year's best."
"Profoundly beautiful and affecting, Where the Wild Things Are is a breath-
taking act of artistic transubstantiation."
— Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
"... more than just a visual feast; it's a blissful evocation of imagining as a process of spiritual maturation."
— Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine
"What's weakest is its blandness, the sense memory of a child raised on Sesame Street. The psychic environment is less King Kong's Skull Island than Fred Rogers's neighborhood: Where the Wild Things Aren't."
— J. Hoberman, Village Voice
"...Spike Jonze's sharp instincts and vibrant visual style can't quite compensate for the lack of narrative eventfulness that increasingly bogs down this bright-minded picture."
— Todd McCarthy, Variety
Posted 10/14/2009 by reelz
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are
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Monday, October 12
The teaser posters recently released for director Spike Jonze's big-screen adaptation of the classic Where the Wild Things Are by author/illustrator Maurice Sendak featured character portraits and names for some of the scary monsters who inhabit the imagination its main character, Max (played by Max Records). However, in the original book, Sendak never named the characters. Sendak told Newsweek:
I never wanted them to have names . . . They never had names until they became movie stars.
Sendak said that his inspiration for the monsters came from his extended family.
The monsters were based on relatives. They came from Europe, and they came on weekends to eat, and my mom had to cook. Three aunts and three uncles who spoke no English, practically. They grabbed you and twisted your face, and they thought that was an affectionate thing to do. And I knew that my mother's cooking was pretty terrible, and it also took forever, and there was every possibility that they would eat me, or my sister or my brother. We really had a wicked fantasy that they were capable of that. We couldn't taste any worse than what she was preparing. So that's who the Wild Things are. They're foreigners, lost in America, without a language. And children who are petrified of them, and don't understand that these gestures, these twistings of flesh, are meant to be affectionate.
Next Showing: Where the Wild Things Are opens October 16
Posted 10/12/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak
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Saturday, October 10
Author Maurice Sendak has had to fight for his story Where the Wild Things Are since he first offered it to publishers. The 1963 book has been praised, criticized, and even banned from some libraries over the years, but the story of a young boy escaping into a world of fantasy to avoid his problems is now considered a classic. In a recent Newsweek interview, Sendak said that Spike Jonze's big-screen adaptation of the book was true to the core elements of his book.
The truth of the matter is, I saw immediately a combination of things that I wanted and I loved. The courage of the child, the danger of the situation — it could turn on a dime. They could have eaten him. All of that was apparent right from the start.
When he was asked if Where the Wild Things Are is too scary for children, the same fire with which Sendak has defended his book over the years boiled to the surface regarding Jonze's film.
I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate. If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered.
Where the Wild Things Are stars Max Records, Catherine Keener, and Mark Ruffalo. It also features the voice talents of James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Lauren Ambrose.
Next Showing: Where the Wild Things Are opens October 16
Posted 10/10/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak
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Friday, September 18
We've just added five new posters for Where the Wild Things Are, which comes out on October 16. These posters give a closer look at the careful CGI work.
If you missed our last post on the movie, director Spike Jonze did recording sessions with actors, then filmed on location with different actors in suits. Only after this did he employ any kind of CGI, and as you can see, it was only to enhance the facial expressions of the creatures.
We've said it before, but we'll say it again: We're very excited about this movie, especially in the promised IMAX.
Where the Wild Things Are features in-the-flesh performances from Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, and Max Records as the protagonist. Voice talent includes Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherina O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Paul Dano.
Posted 9/18/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are
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Tuesday, September 15
Just the other day, Warner Bros. released two new TV spots for Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are. Here's a little something to go along with that: The New York Times has published five new images from the movie as part of an interactive multimedia feature.
In the corresponding article, Jonze spoke with Times free-lancer Dennis Lim about the movie.
I wanted it to be as natural feeling as possible. I wanted to shoot the wild things in camera: on location, out in the wild ... [My goal was to] maintain this feeling I had reading the book as a kid. Those drawings are so immersive, you just fall into them ... Maybe it's because I've known [the creatures] since I existed, basically, but my feeling is that they've always existed as creatures in the world.
The article also discusses Jonze's movie-making process, which included voice-recording sessions with actors, filming on location with different actors, and digital manipulation for facial expressions.
Where the Wild Things Are opens on October 16 and features in-the-flesh performances from Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, and Max Records as the protagonist. Voice talent includes Lauren Ambrose, Chris Cooper, James Gandolfini, Catherina O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Paul Dano.
Posted 9/15/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | Max Records
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Monday, September 14
This movie just keeps looking better and better. Check out the new TV spots recently released for Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's classic children's book Where the Wild Things Are.
Posted 9/14/2009 by Rich Z
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak
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Friday, September 11
Four brand new character banners depicting Max (played by Max Records) and three of his friends from the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie have been released on MySpace. Incredibly detailed, the images bring to life characters created by author Maurice Sendak in his classic 1963 book of the same name. In both, Max escapes into a world of fantasy by donning a wolf costume.
Where the Wild Things Are is directed by Spike Jonze and stars Catherine Keener and Mark Ruffalo. It also features the voice talents of James Gandolfini, Catherine O'Hara, Forest Whitaker, and Lauren Ambrose.
Posted 9/11/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Max Records
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Wednesday, September 9
The movie adaptation of Maurice Sendak's initially-controversial-but-now-classic 1963 book, Where the Wild Things Are, has been beset by its own share of delays, re-edits, and controversy. But according to Max Records, the young star of the picture, any controversy over the movie could simply portend good things.
When the book first came out, it was banned and all the adults hated it and stuff. But all the kids absolutely loved it. Then people started realizing, "Oh this is good. This is good." And so, I think it's the same thing — only hopefully it won't take too long for people to actually realize that it's really, really amazing.
Though Records is only 12 years old, Wild Things is his second feature and he spoke with some insight about the movie's director, Spike Jonze.
Spike's great; his big thing is he takes people and puts them in new situations, like I've never done the acting before. He wants it all to be spontaneous and authentic and real, and not like acting.
Posted 9/9/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Spike Jonze | Where the Wild Things Are | Maurice Sendak | Max Records