The Bourne Legacy and The Campaign opened over the weekend with enough gusto to topple The Dark Knight Rises from its box office throne, though the final installment in the Christopher Nolan-directed Batman trilogy still held solid in the third spot in the overall box office rankings. Hope Springs gained momentum after its mid-week bow, while Total Recall lands soft in its second frame. 1. The Bourne Legacy Gross: $40,265,491 Screens: 3,745 (PSA: $10,752) Week: 1 The latest Bourne easily snatched the top spot in the overall box office in its debut, ending the long reign of The Dark Knight Rises . But compared to its most immediate predecessor, the latest installment came in a bit thinner. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) landed at just per $69.28 million in its opening weekend in 3,660 theaters, averaging $18,929. The pic went on to gross over $227.47 million in the domestic box office. Legacy also opened in 13 small territories, grossing $7.8 million, bringing its worldwide total to $48.1 million. 2. The Campaign Gross: $27.44 million Screens: 3,205 (PSA: $8,562) Week : 1 The comedy touched the funny bone for audiences, grabbing the second spot in the box office. It is the biggest weekend opener for Will Ferrell since 2010 comedy The Other Guys , which came in at over $35.5 million in 3,651 theaters. 3. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $19.54 million (Cume: $390,149,000) Screens: 3,690 (PSA: $5,295) Week: 4 (Change: – 45%) The Christopher Nolan-directed Batman finale held the top spot for three weeks in the domestic box office, but has likely crested Stateside. The blockbuster dropped 552 theaters from the previous week and its screen average came in at $5,295 vs the previous weekend’s $8,590. Its worldwide cume is now well over $835.4 million. 4. Hope Springs Gross: $15.6 million (Cume: $20,053,000 – Opened Wednesday) Screens: 2,361 (PSA: $6,607) Week: 1 The Meryl Streep-starrer opened quietly mid-week, but received a flurry of audience attention as the weekend hit. Streep’s Julie & Julia , for comparison sake, debuted on 2,354 theaters in 2009, grossing just north of $20 million, averaging $8,508. 5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Gross: $8,200,000 (Cume: $30,554,008) Screens: 3,401 (PSA: $2,411) Week: 2 (Change: – 44%) The comedy added just 10 locations in its second weekend. Its worldwide gross is now over $36.55 million. 6. Total Recall Gross: $8.1 million (Cume: $44.188 million) Screens: 3,601 (PSA: $2,249) Week: 2 (Change: – 68%) The Total Recall reboot stayed in the same number of theaters and in its second round, the title appears to be sputtering with a 68% decline in gross compared to its tepid opening weekend of $26 million. Overseas, the pic has grossed an additional $27.5 million.
Late last week, the box office prognosticators speculated whether The Dark Knight Rises would eek out a triumph over newcomer Total Recall . The pendulum would swing in either direction as the weekend approached, but in the end TDKR easily beat out Total by every measure. In fact, the film only really managed to measure-up to its original, but in 2012 dollars 1. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $36,440,000 (Cume: $354,638,000) Screens: 4,242 (PSA: $8,590) Weeks: 3 (Change: – 41%) Speculation ran rampant in among box office watchers if The Dark Knight Rises would hold number one with the debut of Total Recall , but in the end Batman won and actually quite handily. TDKR took the top spot for the third weekend in a row. The feature dropped 162 screens compared to the previous weekend and its $8,590 per-screen average compares to $14,549 last weekend. Internationally, the pic has grossed well over $378 million. 2. Total Recall Gross: $26 million Screens: 3,601 (PSA: $7,220) Week 1 The original opened with just over $25.5 million when it debuted in 1990 in 2,060 theaters for a $12,395 average, so the re-make is in quite in the shadow of its original especially when factoring inflation. Abroad, Total Recall grossed $6.2 million in 12 markets, but will be heading to larger territories in the coming weeks. 3. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Gross: $14.7 million Screens: 3,391 (PSA: $4,335) Week: 1 The pic also grossed an additional $2.77 million overseas, so within ear-shot of its $22 million production budget, but it did not measure up to last year’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules in its bow. The previous installment of the series grossed $23.75 million from 3,167 theaters for a $7,500 average back in March of 2011. It went on to gross nearly $52.7 million domestically 4. Ice Age: Continental Drift (3-D, Animation) Gross: $8.4 million (Cume: $131,862,859) Screens: 3,542 (PSA: $2,372) Week: 4 (Change: – 37%) The animated feature held decently one month out and should surpass the previous installment Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs , which grossed just under $200 million domestically. 5. The Watch Gross: $6.35 million (Cume: $25,363,203) Screens: 3,168 (PSA: $2,004) Weeks: 2 (Change: -50%) The pic struggled to connect with audiences with a drop of 50% despite no change in screen count. 6. Ted Gross: $5,478,660 (Cume: $203,413,895) Screens: 2,767 (PSA: $1,980) Weeks: 6 (Change: -25%) The stuffed bear continues to be a summer hit internationally as well. The comedy grossed $32 million at 2,380 locations in 20 territories for an international total coming in at $77.3 million. Domestically, the feature played 362 theaters compared to the previous weekend. 7. Step Up: Revolution (3-D) Gross: $5.3 million (Cume: $23,097,149) Screens: 2,606 (PSA: $2,034) Weeks: 2 (Change: – 55%) The feature had a pretty steep drop, though it did have a slight up-tick in showings compared to its opening weekend. Still, the drop suggests the pic is not grabbing audience attention as it expands. 8. The Amazing Spider-Man Gross: $4.3 million (Cume $250.64 million) Screens: 2,425 (PSA: $1,773) Weeks: 5 (Change: -36%) One of the summer’s biggest hits, the feature is now totaling just under $678 million worldwide. 9. Brave (3-D, Animation) Gross: $2.89 million (Cume: $223,324,000) Screens: 2,110 (PSA: $1,370) Weeks: 7 (Change: -33%) The Disney animation has cumed $118 million for a global total coming in at $341.3 million. Brave has comfortably surpassed the summer’s other animated success, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted , which has cumed just over $210.8 million in 9 weeks of release. 10. Magic Mike Gross: $1.38 million (Cume: $110,894,000) Screens: 1,202 (PSA: $1,148) Weeks: 6 (Change: – 47%) A success by any measure, the feature has likely come close to its domestic peak. The Steven Soderbergh directed film added 349 theaters in its sixth weekend out. Still its $1,148 average compares to $1,626 last week. And overall, certainly a stripping success for a $7 million budget.
TDKR will likely rule the big box office for a third weekend in a row and Total Recall is a re-make that should bring out a decent mass of humanity. But there are a number of new specialty releases also braving the theaters this weekend that are more than worth your $$. Among this weekend’s new “”indie/specialty/limited release” newcomers are 360 with Rachel Weisz, Jude Law and Anthony Hopkins. The Babymakers with Paul Schneider and Olivia Munn and Celeste and Jesse Forever , starring Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood and Ari Graynor and Soldiers of Fortune with Christian Slater, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames and Dominic Monaghan. Also on tap are Girlfriend Boyfriend by China/Taiwan/Hong Kong specialty outfit China Lion and doc Sushi: The Global Catch . 360 Directed by Fernando Meirelles Written by Peter Morgan (screenplay), Arthur Schnitzler Cast: Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Ben Foster, Lucia Siposová Opens: New York and Los Angeles and will reach more cities over the next two weeks. Directed by Fernando Meirelles and written by Oscar-nominated writer Peter Morgan ( The Queen ), specialty distributor Magnolia Pictures picked up 360 out of last year’s Toronto International Film Festival in part due to its pedigree of filmmakers and actors. “It’s a sophisticated team of filmmakers and a lovely cast,” said Magnolia exec Matt Cowal. “It’s a smart and elegant movie that will appeal to the classic art-house audience. It’s an ensemble character-driven film and we’ve been pushing this online.” Synopsis: From two acclaimed artists: director Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) and writer Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon). With a stellar international cast that includes Rachel Weisz, Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, Ben Foster, Jamel Debbouze and Moritz Bleibtreu, 360 is a moving and exciting dramatic thriller that dazzlingly weaves together the stories of an array of people from disparate social backgrounds through their intersecting relationships. The Babymakers Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar Written by Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow Cast: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Noureen DeWulf, Aisha Tyler] Opens: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix and San Francisco and will continue from there. Director Jay Chandrasekhar said that the big studios have all but abandoned comedies that fall in the $5 million to $30 million range and noted that his film’s distributor Millennium Films is filling the vacuum left. “”With Smaller films like American Beauty – who knows if that would be green-lit today,” he said, adding, “”We made it independently and cast it how we wanted it to be. We sold it to Millennium at this year’s SXSW Film Festival.” The film, which centers on a couple high-outta-luck in getting pregnant take some unconventional matters into their own hands. The guy grabs his buddies and plots to steal his own sperm – from a sperm bank. “”I think there’s a real relationship at the center of this movie,” said Chandrasekhar. “The goal is to have a baby and you can feel for them, but there is a lot of comedy centered around the sperm bank heist,” said Chandrasekhar. “He has to get his only good sperm left. It’s wild but also grounded.” Synopsis: After failing to get his wife pregnant, a guy (Schneider) recruits his pals to steal the deposit he left at a sperm bank years ago. Celeste And Jesse Forever Directed by Lee Toland Krieger Written by Rashida Jones, Will McCormack Cast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Elijah Wood, Ari Graynor, Eric Christian Olsen, Rob Huebel, Shira Lazar, Will McCormack Opens: New York and Los Angeles with more cities coming over the summer. [ Movieline’s Review of Celeste and Jesse Forever ] After a roller-coaster beginning with the project and landing at at least two companies before the filmmakers found financing through an individual, Celeste and Jesse Forever finally hit production. “We finally ended up making the movie for under $1 million and took it to Sundance,” said producer Jennifer Todd. Director Lee Toland Krieger came on board after Todd sent him the script and he “fell in love with it” after reading. Krieger said that he had initially only been meant to read it. “This is a real labor of love that took so long to get to the screen,” he said about the film, which stars Rashida Jones (who co-wrote the film) about a divorcing couple who try to maintain a close friendship even as they move on romantically. Synopsis: Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) met in high school, married young and are growing apart. Now thirty, Celeste is the driven owner of her own media consulting firm, Jesse is once again unemployed and in no particular rush to do anything with his life. Celeste is convinced that divorcing Jesse is the right thing to do — she is on her way up, he is on his way nowhere, and if they do it now instead of later, they can remain supportive friends. Jesse passively accepts this transition into friendship, even though he is still in love with her. As the reality of their separation sets in, Celeste slowly and painfully realizes she has been cavalier about their relationship, and her decision, which once seemed mature and progressive, now seems impulsive and selfish. But her timing with Jesse is less than fortuitous. While navigating the turbulent changes in their lives and in their hearts, these two learn that in order to truly love someone, you may have to let them go. Girlfriend Boyfriend Directed by Ya-che Yang Written by Ya-che Yang Cast: Joseph Hsiao-Chuan Chang, Lun Mei Gwei, Rhydian Vaughan Opens: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Toronto and New York with targeted locations added later. Distributor China Lion specializes on Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong films for the North American market, typically targeting audiences of Chinese descent, but for Girlfriend Boyfriend , it is also hitting gay audiences. The story focuses on three rebellious students to leave their hometown for the big city. Their relationships face pressure as the ’80s era socio-political reformation movement unfolds in Taiwan. “It’s a drama and a rom-com,” said China Lion CEO Milt Barlow. “It’s a great real life story and found that young Chinese audiences are keen to have more modern stories. Synopsis: When three rebellious students leave their hometown to pursue their lifelong dreams in the big city, their relationships start to face the pressures of real life as the 1980s Taiwanese sociopolitical reformation movement unfolds in the background. Soldiers of Fortune Directed by Maxim Korostyshevsky Written by Robert Crombie, Alexandre Coscas, Joe Kelbley Cast: Christian Slater, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Dominic Monaghan, Colm Meaney, James Cromwell, Freddy Rodriguez Opens: In select locations now. Synopsis: A former U.S. special forces soldier is reluctantly appointed to protect a group of millionaires who want to experience the thrills of war first-hand. But when their excision goes horribly awry, the unlikely team must band together in order to get out alive. Sushi: The Global Catch Directed by Mark Hall Opens: New York only with targeted locations throughout the country to follow. The Global Catch won a a special jury award last year at the Seattle International Film Festival, which brought the film to the attention of Kino Lorber Films. In 2011, the New York-based distributor released Gereon Wetzel’s El Bulli: Cooking In Progress, which went on to make over $237K domestically, enough incentive for the company to crave more food docs. “We found that combining the culinary aspect of the [film] with the conservancy issue was really compelling to us,” Kino Lorber VP Elizabeth Sheldon said. “It appeals to people who care about environmental issues and care about food.” Synopsis: In this meticulously researched documentary, filmmaker Mark Hall traces the origins of sushi in Japan to its status today as a cuisine that has spawned a lucrative worldwide industry. This explosion in demand for sushi over the past 30 years has brought with it problems of its own, as fish stocks have steadily depleted, threatening the balance of the ocean’s ecosystems. Through extensive interviews with prominent industry representatives and environmental activists, Hall carefully presents the various solutions being proposed to the vexing issue of overfishing. Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival, Sushi: The Global Catch raises some pressing questions that all sushi lovers should seek to address.
Rashida Jones filtered her own relationship history — and a few heart-wrenching break-ups — into this weekend’s Celeste and Jesse Forever , an L.A.-set look at one couple’s struggle to remain besties through separation, divorce, and the complicated disentanglement that follows the world’s best-worst break-up. Co-written with fellow actor Will McCormack, whom Jones dated for three weeks years ago, the sweet, affecting dramedy is peppered with moments inspired by real life events that carry Celeste through her journey of painful but necessary self-discovery — including one legendarily awful date with a guy who turned out to be, in Jones’ words, “a serial masturbator.” Like Celeste, Jones, who looks back on her past relationships as life lessons, has learned the hard way that not all love stories are meant to last. “I’m no better at break-ups,” she admits. “I haven’t gotten any stronger, I just try to learn my lesson in a way where I don’t have to re-learn it, and that’s the only thing I can do,” she says. As I was watching, I realized these are revelations you can only really have by experiencing them firsthand. Yeah, totally. Will always says, “The cure for the pain is the pain.” I hate when he says that, but I definitely feel like it’s the first step in real adulthood, when you’re like, “Oh, things are not going to be the way I thought they would.” In some ways they’re going to be better, and in some ways they’re going to be way worse. But regardless, I have no control over it, and my need to control it only makes it worse. It definitely came from a real place. It’s a very personal story for me, and hopefully it’s the kind of thing I can leave in the movie and leave behind. There’s so much truth in this movie. For instance: The crushing wisdom that is contained in Boyz II Men’s “On Bended Knee.” Was there an actual best-worst break-up for you that inspired the story? It’s definitely a composite of a lot of relationships for me, for Will, and for family members and friends. We just stole the best-worst parts. I definitely loved somebody for years, and it didn’t work out. We grew up together, and it was really hard to let go. We spent years not being friends and now we’re friends and it’s great — but that’s because it took years. And I’m no better at break-ups. I haven’t gotten any stronger, I just try to learn my lesson in a way where I don’t have to re-learn it, and that’s the only thing I can do. It gets a little better every time I get out of a relationship, I know I’m never going to do that thing again. You and Will wrote this together, but the press notes tell us you two dated for a few weeks way back when. I assume you were able to be good friends after that? We were. We dated for three weeks and then he kind of dumped me. I was like, “Ugh, whatever.” Then we became friends a couple months later. He reminded me recently that he had apologized to me for not treating me well, and then we became friends. That’s nice! I think that was obviously an essential part that I had blocked out, but… so we were friends for a long time and talked about writing, and started things but never finished them. But the Celeste and Jesse relationship, that dynamic is very close to the one that Will and I have — except we don’t still have that “will they/won’t they” tension. We’re basically brother and sister now. So that’s what happens, huh? Well, listen — not with everybody! I have people with which that thing will never go away. That’s the crazy part about being an adult: when it’s like, [your feelings for another person] are never going to go away. But it doesn’t mean I should be with that person. I have somebody that I love and will always love, and we’re friends, but we’re never going to be together. That sucks, but you can’t always reward the connection with a lifelong relationship. Sometimes it is what it is. You’re so wise! Ugh, not really! [Laughs] There’s a line in the film that stuck with me: “Would you rather be right, or be happy?” That’s the kind of thing that really sucks to hear until you realize that it’s true. I know. To me, that was really the key to turning to adulthood for me. For so long when I was precocious and in my twenties I thought, “If I take right action, if I know what’s right, I’m going to be fine.” And then shit happens, because shit always happens to you. Then you have to learn how to be flexible and see grey and not hold onto a concept, or not fight for a mission that’s going to make you unhappy. For a long time I was convinced that I could will whatever I wanted to into being. Me too. My Will and I bring this up all the time — free will versus destiny — because I think when you feel like you have control over your life you do think, “Well, if I just do this, I’ll make it better.” Then you’re like, “Oh my god, maybe there is no free will, because things happen and if you try, you’re going to be miserable.” [Laughs] Well, you’ve given us all a lot to chew on. In terms of tackling the romantic dramedy genre, how did you and Will approach it, and what did you want to do differently than what had come before? The kinds of romantic comedies that I’ve always responded to, that I’m obsessed with, that I watch incessantly, are When Harry Met Sally… , Manhattan , Annie Hall , Broadcast News . And what I love about those films is that, yeah, maybe they’re hilarious, but they also have these rich insights and complicated relationships, and you walk away feeling something. You’re left with something. The humor comes out of the pain of the reality of the relationships. Mainstream film doesn’t have as much of that element anymore, so we kind of wanted to do something like that and hopefully touch upon some kind of socio-cultural trends that relate to people, that they feel haven’t been represented in movies. What are some of those trends? There are a couple of things: One is the Peter Pan-syndrome boy and the Type A woman relationship, and I think that has been touched upon — that’s, like, a Judd Apatow model. That’s his thing. But then more it’s growing up with somebody and feeling like they’re a family member, somebody that you loved, and trying to transition into friendship. Can you be friends with your ex? What does that actually look like? How do you get past a relationship that has defined you for so many years and try to keep some part of it but not throw all of it out, just because you’re not going to be together anymore? Right — and that would be the typical immediate reaction to most break-ups. To throw it all out? I think there’s some survivalist protection thing involved, too. I personally don’t think you can go right into being friends with somebody right after so long being together. You have to have a break. You have to heal, you know? [Laughs] People say this to me all the time and I fucking hate it, but you’re only ready when you’re ready. Chris Messina’s character says it in the movie and it’s so annoying, but you go back as many times as you need to go back before you’re done with that lesson. You’re going to do it until you’re not going to do it anymore. So true. Meanwhile, Celeste and Jesse also manages to feel very authentic to L.A. — not just the local landmarks and spots, but even something in Celeste’s constant plugged-in multimedia engagement. Maybe that’s something of the contemporary female experience, in an age when everyone’s consumed by email and the ego-driven Twitter mentality, all these things pulling you in different directions at the same time. For sure. Also, her job in the movie is to stay connected. And to be smarter than everyone else, in a way — to be able to forecast the future, to predict trends, which is exactly what she has trouble doing in her own life. Exactly. If we were being really simple and cliché one of the themes that we were going for was, she can predict everyone else’s future, but she can’t predict her own. She picked a job where she can always be right, and she can prove to herself that she’s always right. Then life happens and she can’t be right about it. Some of the more comic scenes — the awful date Celeste goes on at Chateau Marmont with the celebrity photographer, for instance — were those inspired by terrible dates in real life? That happened to me. No! It did not! It did ! Horrible, horrible dating story. The whole thing? The whole thing. Yeah. That’s amazing. Is it? [Laughs] It was less amazing when it happened, and then like six months later it was okay, I could tell the story. The worst part was that I had a friend that I told the story to and I knew that she had dated him briefly, and the same thing happened to her! He was, like, a serial masturbator. I want you to know that makes that scene so much better for me as a viewer. I know, it’s so sad. Also: Was Ke$ha not available to play the trashy pop starlet played by Emma Roberts? [Laughs] You know, there’s obviously a little bit of that in there but it’s another kind of composite. It’s her, a little early Britney Spears, a little Taylor Swift, a little Miley Cyrus… Sure, but there is a nod to the unexpected wisdom in that character. We didn’t want it to be this superficial, shallow girl. We tried a little bit to buck convention. Every character in the movie, we tried to do a thing where you expect one thing from them and they surprise you, which is hard to do. Next up for you is another re-team with Will, adapting your own project? Frenemy of the State, yeah. We’re doing an adaptation of a comic book that I co-wrote, for Universal and Imagine. It’s about a socialite who is recruited to be a spy in the C.I.A. Are you thinking of starring in it? No! It’s like a 20-year-old girl. I could be her mother. I could legitimately be her mother. If you were a teen mom, or something. Yeah, if I was a teen mom. So we’ll see. Hopefully they make it! Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
“Why don’t people send this stuff to me?!” Bryan Singer cries through laughter, watching YouTube parodies of his films, including X-Men , The Usual Suspects , and Jack the Giant Killer . It’s kind of adorable. Welcome to the internet, Bryan Singer! (Fun, but I do wonder why the folks at What’s Trending don’t show Singer any Superman Returns and Valkryie parodies. Because, oh yes, they do exist.) [ What’s Trending ]
Also in Friday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, Will Ferrell joins a new comedy. WWE champ gets back in front of the camera and a court in Beijing sends a group of execs from a VOD site to prison in one of the harshest sentences ever. Ted Beats The Dark Knight Rises Abroad The foul-mouthed creation by Seth MacFarlane and starring Mark Wahlberg is open in 10 overseas territories and scored number one in almost all of them. It’s international cume is $54.5 million in 20 territories and it’s still set to debut in 38 more, Deadline reports . Will Ferrell Gets an Internship He joins Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Rose Byrne in the project directed by Shawn Levy and written by Vaughn. The story revolves around two men in their early 40s who are layer off and try to reinvent themselves as interns at an Internet company that is run by managers in their 20s. Variety reports . Randy Orton Back in the Ring for 12 Rounds: Reloaded The three-time WWE World Heavyweight champion will star in the follow-up of the action franchise. He’ll play an emergency medical technician who’s being pursued by a vigilante threatening his family, Deadline reports . WWII Pic About Epic Battle In the Works A film about the battle for Monte Cassino – one of the most bitterly-fought land campaigns of World War II – is being made to coincide with the battle’s 70th anniversary. 200,000 soldiers participated from 30 countries with 55,000 allied troops and 20,000 German troops injured or killed. John Irvin will direct, BBC reports . Beijing Court Send 6 VOD Execs to Prison China has issued its harshest penalties for online streaming of copyright infringed material on execs from OpenV.com, which attracted daily traffic of more than 55 million page views, 40 million video view and 8 million unique visitors. A large chunk of what it offered involved copyright infringed content, Screen Daily reports .
If you’re already jonesing for more gritty Batman heroics, you won’t have to wait for the eventual home video release of The Dark Knight Rises to get your fix: The folks at Warner Premiere have announced the September release of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns , an animated adaptation of Frank Miller’s celebrated 1986 graphic novel charting the return of the retired Caped Crusader to a Gotham City in need. Bonus cool points: Peter Weller as Batman! Miller’s Dark Knight Returns story, which earned critical acclaim and has been heralded as one of the best graphic novels of all time, joins a slew of animated features from the studio behind previous direct-to-DVD animations Superman: Doomsday and Batman: Year One and will hit DVD/Blu-ray on September 25. This version of Bat-lore follows a 55-year-old Bruce Wayne as he comes out of retirement to battle old foe Harvey Dent/Two Face, also tangling with The Joker, local cops, and the U.S. government. Sidekick Robin pops up — in the form of a 13-year-old girl named Carrie — as does fellow DC superhero Superman, with whom Batman battles. (Christopher Nolan’s TDKR borrowed elements from Miller’s Dark Knight Returns , Batman’s retirement, beef with authorities, and arguably his fate included.) Bonus features on the Dark Knight Returns release: • Standard and high definition versions of the feature film • UltraViolet™* • Sneak Peak at Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 , the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie • Featurette – “Her Name is Carrie … Her Role is Robin” – An all-new featurette. Experience the role of Robin, through the eyes of a female warrior. • Featurette – “Batman and Me: The Bob Kane Story” – A documentary comprehensively chronicling the remarkable life of the creator of Batman. • Two bonus episodes from Batman: The Animated Series handpicked by producer Alan Burnett: Two-Face, Parts 1 and 2 . • Digital Comic – “Batman: The Dark Knight Returns” (digital comic with cover art and three full comic pages) [via THR ]
For the time time since the deadly Colorado shooting that took 12 lives, someone associated with The Dark Knight Rises has spoken out. And that someone is director Christopher Nolan. “Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises , I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community,” Nolan said, adding: “I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting, but that they were there last night to watch a movie. “I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.” James Holmes is in custody for the crime, which tragically took place just miles from the 1999 school shooting incident in Columbine, Colorado.
A longtime proponent of gun control, New York City Michael Bloomberg weighed in on the tragic shooting early Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado, that left 12 dead and dozens more wounded at a showing of The Dark Knight Rises . Twenty-four year-old suspect James Holmes was arrested after allegedly opening fire in the crowded theater and carrying a rifle, handgun and gas mask. The tragedy prompted Bloomberg’s police commissioner to announce increased security at screenings of The Dark Knight Rises in NYC to prevent any possible copycat incidents. “You know, soothing words are nice, but maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country,” Bloomberg said Friday morning on WOR Radio’s The John Gambling Show with Mayor Mike. “Everybody always says ‘Isn’t it tragic?’ And you know, we look for was the guy, as you said, maybe trying to recreate Batman. I mean, there are so many murders with guns every day, it’s just got to stop. And instead of the two people – President Obama and Governor Romney – talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, okay, tell us how. And this is a real problem. No matter where you stand on the Second Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities – specifically what are they going to do about guns?” Watch the full interview below. Thoughts? [Via Denver Post , Huffington Post ]
The Dark Knight Rises finally arrives this weekend, and curiously, amid the hype attending Christopher Nolan and his top-flight cast , two other performers have been strongly covered in the media: The behemoth tank that is The Tumbler , and the exciting off-shoot vehicle known as The Batpod. Considering the latter is one of the most arresting two-wheelers ever featured on-screen, we celebrate its revival by highlighting nine other curiosities Hollywood has offered up in the motorcycle category. Captain America Chopper – Easy Rider At first it might seem a pedestrian selection, but upon release in 1969 this was in fact a striking departure for motorcycle design. Following World War II, returning veterans kicked off a wave of automotive redesign with self-created modifications; garage-built hot rods rose in popularity, and similar to that were the emergence of “bobbers,” motorcycles mechanically altered by their owners. This involved taking a showroom motorcycle and trimming away parts deemed superfluous, such as fenders and foot boards, in an effort to make a streamlined and lighter bike. By the 1960s bobbing gave way to more extreme experimentation. Owners began making changes to the basic structure of the motorcycle itself, cutting and welding the frames into new shapes in a practice called “chopping.” This produced wholesale alterations to the appearance, and Easy Rider opened America’s eyes to the new practice. Features such as the lowered rider position, extended forks, and raised sissy-bar seat backs were stark visions at the time, and soon the term “chopper” entered the national lexicon to describe the lengthened cruising style motorcycle. Light Cycles – Tron , Tron Legacy It’s one thing to design a new look to motorcycles artistically, but to have that creation become iconic makes a real statement. Initially conceived for the video visual realm in the original movie, the light cycles quickly became one of the most popular components of the cult classic. These concept vehicles even became a linchpin component to the related video game. When Disney announced plans to remake their property years ago, much of the anticipation surrounded what the new light cycles would look like,and the studio made the digital vehicles a center point in their marketing. Where previously the design involved the characters morphing into a pixilated cycle, the new version had the rider stretched forward across and becoming incorporated into the cycle, remaining visible on camera. Even as both films had a number of detractors, the light cycles from each have maintained high levels of appreciation. Kaneda’s Street Bike – Akira What is probably the most popular anime out of Japan is one that instantly calls to mind a lone visual; any mention of the title automatically provokes the image of this highly-stylized motorcycle. Conceived with a futuristic combination of street-bike esthetics and over-sized touring-bike comfort, this vehicle provokes envy while challenging engineering. There have been many attempts over the years to replicate the physics of this hand-drawn creation into a reality (Kanye West even commissioned one to be built for a music video), but the results of those builds to date have underwhelmed. Fans still hold out hope that the proposed, yet oft-delayed, live-action version of the film will someday bring about a fully realized physical version of the famed bike. The Lawmaster – Judge Dredd When Sylvester Stallone donned the famous helmet of the violent jurist (and angered many by removing said helmet), he also had to carry forward other elements from the British comic. The opulent uniform was both true to form and ridiculous in execution (the codpiece was a nice touch); conversely, his famous ride paled in comparison to the comic origins. This is due to the motorcycle having rather cartoonish features in print, so when Stallone rode into frame for his introduction, the famed Lawmaster came off as almost a disappointment, and thus an afterthought. At the recent Comic-Con, footage of the reboot generated positive responses. Hopefully the producers worked on this detail. The Bonnevile Bike – The World’s Fastest Indian Some may have questioned Anthony Hopkins trying to pass himself as a Native American, but the Indian in the title actually refers to the make of motorcycle featured in the film. This is the true story of a New Zealand motorcycle racer named Burt Munro, who, in the 1960s, set a series of land-speed records on a bike of his own creation. Rather than state-of-the-art engineering, Munro modified his cycle entirely in his own garage simply with the tools at his disposal. More stunning was his doing so using a nearly 50-year old motorcycle. He cracked the 200mph threshold on his archaic ride, and even more amazingly, one of his speed records is still in place today. The Demon Chopper – Ghost Rider As a child stunt rider Johnny Blaze sells his soul to the Devil; later in life he is enlisted by Old Scratch to serve as a bounty hunter. In paying off his debt, Blaze changes into The Ghost Rider, and as he does the motorcycle transforms as well — into a rather daft looking set piece. As Johnny is full ablaze he lays his hands on the gas tank of his cherished bike (probably not the wisest move), and we watch as his ride morphs into a garish piece of machinery with a massive skull perched between the handlebars, long forks made of chain link, and an aforementioned gas tank webbed with bony fingers. The end result truly appears less a menacing conveyance from Hades than it does a goofy prop you’d likely see on stage during a GWAR concert. The V-Rex – Fast & Furious The fourth iteration of this car-intensive series features Paul Walker perched in the saddle of this wildly conceived motorcycle. The futuristic appearance also features a unique design function. The front wheel is not held by a traditional fork assembly but instead has a swing-arm mount, the sort normally seen as a rear-wheel set up. It is dampened by a solitary large shock absorber positioned beneath the twin halogen headlamps. This gives a vaguely robotic appearance, one which was actually pitched to Michael Bay as a possible component for the second Transformers . (He ultimately dismissed featuring a robotic motorcycle gang in that franchise.) Rather than a piece of fancy from a Hollywood design garage, this vehicle is actually a production model by Travertson, a Florida manufacturer. Moto Terminators – Terminator: Salvation One of the components included in the attempt at rejuvenation of this franchise was a collection of automaton two-wheeled terminators, outfitted with heavy ordnance and shown as distinctively riderless. The automatic gun turrets featured an articulated mounting that served as counter-balancing when the motorcycle leaned into turns. Sporting artificial intelligence and rocket launchers, the end result was a motorcycle gang on the roads more intimidating than the Hell’s Angels. The Turbine Bike – Priest Last summer’s Priest was soon forgotten by those few who watched it, and yet there has been one enduring memory: The title character’s motorcycle. The story is an odd one, set in both in a dystopian future and an alternate universe, involving a centuries-long battle between humans and vampires. Paul Bettany plays a warrior priest who breaks from the church to wage a battle, yadda-yadda. The one takeaway for most viewers was the striking bike Bettany uses to run down a train carrying vampires, a curiosity featuring an impressive turbine engine, mounted where one might normally expect the gas tank to be found. BONUS: Tricked-Out Scooter – Quadrophenia In this 1979 film adaptation of the classic Who album, disillusioned youths play out a dramatic existence in London, and mini-motor-bikes feature prominently. Some may find it a stretch to conjure a fully appointed Lambretta scooter serving as a metaphor, but the appearance of the multi-mirrored ride is enough to bring about a grin. [Clip language NSFW] Brad Slager has written about movies and entertainment for Film Threat, Mediaite, and is a columnist at CHUD.com . His less insightful impressions on entertainment can be found on Twitter .
