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As usual, movie studio used the Super Bowl to plug upcoming films. Trailers for "The Last Airbender", "Wolfman", Robin Hood", Alice in Wonderland", "Shutter Island", "Prince of Persia" and "The Craizes" were seen during the broadcast on CBS (I think that was everybody). And there were other movie-related commericals for the new Harry Potter attraction at Universal Studios, and The Griswolds even made an appearance (for HomeAway.com).
But the most shocking and sure to be most talked-about spot was the promo for "The Late Show with David Letterman" that included Letterman, Oprah and Jay Leno. Leave it to the Letterman people to pull this off. Classic.
My other favorite commercials: The Simpsons (Coke), Tracy Morgan and Stevie Wonder for Volkswagon, Kia with the dreaming toy and, of course, the great Betty White playing a little football for Snickers.
And the product I most want after seeing the commercials? FloTV. Mark my words. This will be HUGE.
Meantime, the 37th Annual Annie Awards were handed-out Saturday night, and, no surprise, "Up" won for Best Animated Feature and "Up" director Pete Doctor won the Best Director award. But, it a bit of an upset, the Writing in a Feature Production award went to "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Congratulations to Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach for an honor well deserved.
Let's talk Oscar nominations...
I'm glad "Up" got both Best Picture and Animated Feature nominations.
Biggest surprise: "The Blind Side" getting a Best Picture nom. I thought "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (which is nominated for Best Animated Feature) or "Julie & Julia" had a better shot at it than "Blind", but I'm still happy.
"The Princess and the Frog"'s nomination for Best Animated Feature is a bit surprising, but the bigger shocker in this category is "The Secret of Kells", which knocked-out "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs", which I think deserved the selection over "Princess". "Coraline" rounds out that category.
Overall, congratulations to "Up", which has a total of 5 nominations, and becomes only the second animated film to be nominated for Best Picture. The only other was my all-time favorite film, "Beauty and the Beast".
Can it win? Do I think it'll win? Stay tuned...
The Oscar nominations are coming out Tuesday, and I'm hoping that "Up" will get a Best Picture nomination. Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep will definitely pick-up Best Actress nominations. And there's a slight chance that "Julie & Julia" or even "The Blind Side" could get a Best Picture nod. "Avatar" will probably get a Best Picture nomination, but I'm hoping it doesn't. Even with all that money spent and all that money made, it wasn't one of the best 10 films of '09.
On to the BOX OFFICE...
"Avatar" wins again with $30 million. After it's first three days back in December, the film had only made $73 million, which I thought was a disappointement, but really bounced back and is only $7 million away from being the highest grossing domesticate film of all-time, and is already the biggest film worldwide of all-time. And I gave it a C!
I was suprised and glad that "Tooth Fairy" hung on at fourth place this week with another $10 million. This could be because of word of mouth, and that no new family films came out this past weekend. I was disappointed, however, that "Extraordinary Measures" dropped out of the Top 10 after only one week. If you have the chance, please check it out before it leaves your area. It's very good.
With Sandra Bullock winning the SAG Award Saturday night she takes a slight lead over Meryl Streep as the favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar. Or does she?
Each of them won Golden Globes (Bullock in the Comedy category, Streep in the Drama) and they tied for the Critics Choice Award.
Streep has dominated the Academy Awards in the past, with a record 15 nominations, but she's won only two. Bullock has never been nominated for an Academy Award, but that will change in a few days.
Along with Best Picture, this is the best race of the year. Bullock is the favorite right now, but that could by the time Academy voters start filling out their ballots.
Last year, when I first heard about the "Tooth Fairy" movie, one thing struck me as odd: Where's the "The"?
It seems to me that the natural title for the film would be "The Tooth Fairy". In real life everyone calls it "The" Tooth Fairy, just like we say "The" Easter Bunny or "The" Great Pumpkin (only Santa Claus doesn't get a "The").
Thousands of people this weekend will be calling this movie "The Tooth Fairy" (many of them on TV). And they'll all be wrong. I can only guess the reason 20th Century Fox left out the "The" is that the studio didn't want any confusion by parents with the 2006 horror film "The Tooth Fairy", when this new movie comes out on video.
In other news: the Screen Actors Guide Awards are Saturday night. Why a Saturday for a major awards show like the SAGs? Afterall, if the Academy Awards or Golden Globes were held on a Saturday night their ratings would be terrible.
Well, the SAG's are on cable, which means, I guess, that they AREN'T a major award. Plus, anything goes on cable (maybe even Conan O'Brien this fall). And I'm sure they didn't want to go up against the NFL Playoff games on Sunday.
Finally, news on two favorites: My #1 film of 2009, "Fantastic Mr. Fox" will be out on DVD on March 23, while the release of one of my favorite movies of all time, Disney's animated classic "Beauty and the Beast" in 3-D has, sadly, been pushed-back again, this time into 2011.
So, "Spider-Man 4" has a new director: Marc Webb of "(500) Days of Summer" fame. Intersting choice, since that was his first feature film and before that he was doing music videos. Great name for the job, however (Webb - get it?)
We already new that this version was going to be a prequel, but I read today that the budget is expected to be around $80 million! How can you make a "Spider-Man" movie for that? Sure, it's going to be Peter Parker in high school and so there won't have to be a lot of action scenes and special effects, but there are going to have to be some. And who's are they going to get to play Peter and still be able to stay within that budget? (go to Whaaddya Think? and vote for who you'd like to see in the role)
Also, Webb's deal includes an option for two sequels. How are they going to do two sequels and not over-lap the first "Spider-Man" movie? Are we supposed to forget Toby Maguire completely?
This is all a tangled...
It was a great "Golden Globes" ceremony, up until the end!
First off, Ricky Gervais saved NBC from another no host Golden Globes disaster. His Mel Gibson drinking line was hysterical, and his plugging of his shows and "The Invention of Lying" were right on!
Facial hair was popular - George Clooney and William Hurt leading the way. Hurt's beard looked like it was a foot long.
Paul McCartney presented Best Animated Feature and "Up" won. Hey, it was a great movie (though I was pulling for "Fantastic Mr. Fox, of course)!
Felicuty Huffman embarassed herself with the worst on-stage presentation.
Cher presented Best Original Song! She looked great.
A thing I noticed was that a lot of nominated films (and winners) came out in the early part of the year and not as many from the end, which is usually the case (e.g. - "Julie & Julia", "Up" and "The Hangover", which ended up winning Best Picture Comedy or Musical).
The big losers of the night include: "Nine", "The Hurt Locker", and "Up in the Air". The George Clooney film won just one award out of it's six nominations.
Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia"), Robert Downey, Jr. ("Sherlock Holmes") , Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side"), Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart"), Mo'Nique ("Precious"), and Christoph Waltz ("Inglorious Bastards") were the acting winners. And shockingly, "Avatar" won Best Director and Best Picture Drama. What?! Are you kidding me?! For me this means that there's a chance that history could be made at the Oscars by "Up".
"Up" does have a shot at the Best Picture Oscar, but couldn't at the Globes. As of 2007, animated films could only be eligible in their own category (which Pixar has sweeped the last four years). From 1989-2007, three animated films won Best Picture Comedy or Musical. They were "Beauty and the Beast", "The Lion King", and "Toy Story 2". "The Little Mermaid", "Aladdin", "Toy Story", "Chicken Run", "Shrek", "Finding Nemo", and "The Incredibles" were all nominated in that category but lost. Of course "Beauty and the Beast" has been the only animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, but, sadly, didn't win.
I hope Ricky Gervais is invited back next year.
And don't forget to watch "The Ricky Gervias Show", on HBO, beginning in February
Here's the latest on the "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil" mystery: There isn't anything new!
Burger King has "Hood 2" toys (I got my first one Friday - Beam Hoppin' Granny). As for the movie, still no idea when it's coming-out. This could be the first time in movie history that a fast-food restaurant has offred premiums for a film that isn't out and that no one knows when it's coming out.
My friend and animation expert Jerry Beck e-mailed me from LA last night to say that he's hearing that "Hood 2" may not even come out in February, which had been the latest rumor. I'm reading that the Weinstein Company be holding back the movie because they're worried that it's not going to do well against the other family films this winter. The studio is apparently upset because their most recent film, "Nine" is bombing.
I don;t think they should worry about "Hood 2". If everyone who saw the original goes to this sequel it'll do great. And if it's as funny as the first a lot more people will go.
Let's hope we get to see it soon to find out.
I'm getting ready for school this morning (watching SpongeBob, of course) and I see a Burger King commercial advertising the new "Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs. Evil" toys. What's up with that?
We've all been waiting for the new release date for this sequel (it was originally scheduled to come out this Friday, but that plan was changed weeks ago). The B.K. website only says the movie will be "In Theaters Soon" and I can't find anywhere else that has an actual release date for the film (only "February", which is what we already knew and I had written about before).
I'm amazed that they would the offering toys from a movie that still doesn't have a release date. The toys look great: 6 characters, including the new Hansel and Gretel and one of my all-time favorite animated characters - Twitchy.
I'm heading to school now, but I'll be hitting a B.K. on the way home and will have more later.
"Avatar" has become the highest-grossing U.S. film of 2009, with $429 million, passing "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". I still surprised by "Avatar"'s incredible success, because I don;t love the film. But I also happy that it will be the top film of the year, and not "Transfomers 2" which I hated.
Very soon "Avatar" will move into 3rd-place all-time domestically, but will need another $600 million to catch James Cameron's previous epic - "Titanic", and probably won't get there. But internationally, "Avatar" has a good shot at catching "Titanic" and becomming the new #1.
I still don't get it (obviously the IMAX ticket prices have helped) but it's still an amazing accomplishment for a film about humans battling aliens on a strange planet (hasn't everyone see that before).
In other news: Jay's out of Prime Time; the Gumby creator passes, and Disney will re-release the '51 animated classic "Alice in Wonderland" in an Un-Anniversary Edition on March 30th, while Tim Burton's new live-action "Alice" IS STILL IN THEATERS. Very curious.
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