Year: 2017

Two Coreys Classic License To Drive Is Getting Rebooted

It was only a matter of time — in our reboot, remake and recycle culture — when Hollywood reached the Corey Haim and Corey Feldman comedies as fodder for reimagined movies aimed at a new generation. And because we only need simple tweaks made to original films for them to warrant a new version, audiences are going to get a License to Drive remake, only with two female leads in place of the two Coreys.

Deadline has the news, reporting that producer John Davis is setting up this project at 20th Century Fox. In the report, this new License of Drive being described as “the female version of Superbad,” and right away, I have to say, “Nope.” Did John Davis even SEE the original License to Drive? It’s not raunchy like Superbad, nor is it edgy. It’s borderline sweet, with an obvious (and harmless) PG-13 sheen to it. This new one sounds like it wants to strip away the innocence of the Corey Feldman and Corey Haim movie, which lightly capitalized on the chemistry between the oft-paired cinematic duo. We’ll see what is to become of the remake.

What the hell is License to Drive, you ask? I’ll fill you in. During the 1980s, teen-pop sensations Corey Haim and Corey Feldman (good friends on the screen and off) teamed up for a series of movies, with varying degrees of popularity. It started with The Lost Boys in 1987, shifted to License to Drive in 1988, and took a darker right turn with the mystical Dream a Little Dream in 1989. They’d collaborate on projects off and on over the years, but that span was peak Corey/Corey action, and License was their goofy teen comedy, where Haim plays a SoCal kid who fails his driving test, but ignores the law so he can keep a date with a beautiful classmate (played by a young Heather Graham). Her name was Mercedes Lane. Subtlety didn’t exist in 1988.

The biggest hook of a License to Drive remake will be the casting. Audiences back in 1988 loved the chemistry between Corey Haim and Corey Feldman (this is a real thing that happened). Producers on the remake will have to find two girls that we will enjoy playing off of each other, and it’s not like either Corey had a type to play. They just meshed well together, and made a flat, silly, clichéd concept like License bounce along. We’ll continue to track how this movie comes together. Do you have any suggestions as to who they should recruit for this one to work?

‘Really lucky that he stepped in’: Ben Affleck on new Justice League director Joss Whedon

Ben Affleck is grateful Joss Whedon stepped in to replace Justice League director Zack Snyder after he dropped out of the film earlier this year.

The Man of Steel moviemaker stepped away from the upcoming DC Comics movie and handed the reins over to the Avengers director in May, following his daughter Autumn’s suicide in March, and Affleck, who plays Batman in the blockbuster, reveals that while the filming process was different, it turned out to be seamless.

“It’s a little bit unorthodox,” he tells Entertainment Weekly. “Zack had a family tragedy, and stepped off, which was horrible. For the movie, the best person we could’ve possibly found was Joss. We got really lucky that he stepped in.”

“(The film is) an interesting product of two directors, both with kind of unique visions, both with really strong takes,” he adds. “I’ve never had that experience before making a movie. I have to say, I really love working with Zack, and I really love the stuff we’ve done with Joss.”

The actor first played the Caped Crusader in Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike, and after Joss signed on for the new film’s reshoots, insiders suggested there were issues with the project.

“I’ve never worked on a movie that didn’t do reshoots,” Ben explains. “Argo, we did reshoots for a week and a half! Four days on Gone Baby Gone!”

And he insists the films are just getting better as they go along.

“This is a really nice time to work in DC,” he continues. “They’re hitting their stride. They’re getting it right. It’s starting to feel like it’s really working.”

Box office report: Annabelle: Creation scares off the competition

As the summer box office continues to look a fright, the horror movie Annabelle: Creation is on track to debut with an estimated $35 million gross in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, topping fellow newcomers The Nut Job 2 and The Glass Castle as well as holdovers including Dunkirk and The Dark Tower.

The fourth installment of Warner Bros. and New Line’s Conjuring franchise, Annabelle: Creation is poised for the lowest opening of the series, behind Annabelle’s $37.1 million, The Conjuring’s $41.9 million, and The Conjuring 2’s $40.4 million. Nevertheless, $35 million represents a strong start for a chiller that cost a modest $15 million to make.

Reviews have been mixed to positive for the film, which currently has a 68 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it a CinemaScore of B. The story centers on a grieving dollmaker and his wife with a haunted past who welcome a nun and several girls from a shuttered orphanage into their home. David F. Sandberg directed, and the cast includes Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, and Stephanie Sigman.

Holding steady in second place is Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic Dunkirk, which is set to take in an estimated $11.4 million over its fourth weekend in theaters. A rare bright spot during a sluggish summer, the Warner Bros. movie will thus cross the $150 million mark at the domestic box office, while tallying $210 million from foreign markets.

Rounding out the weekend’s top three is the Open Road animated sequel The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature, with an estimated $8.9 million. Despite being good enough for third place, that figure is less than half of what the first Nut Job movie opened to — $19.4 million — on 500 fewer screens in 2014.

Reviews have not been kind to the computer-animated comedy, which follows a group of animals trying to stop an egomaniacal mayor from bulldozing their home to make way for a shoddy amusement park. Audiences gave it a B-plus CinemaScore.

The weekend’s other newcomer, the Brie Larson drama The Glass Castle, will crack the top 10 with an estimated $4.9 million. Opening in 1,461 theaters, the Lionsgate film has a much smaller footprint than than many of its competitors; Annabelle: Creation, for example, is playing in 3,502 locations, and Nut Job 2 is playing in 4,003.

Based on gossip columnist Jeannette Walls’ 2005 memoir about her unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (Short Term 12), The Glass Castle divided critics but garnered an A-minus CinemaScore, suggesting positive word of mouth.

Meanwhile last weekend’s winner, the Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower, will tumble to the No. 4 slot with an estimated $7.9 million. Notching a 59 percent decline, the Sony film continues the recent trend of steep second-week drops.

On the specialty front, the Aubrey Plaza dramedy Ingrid Goes West is set to take in an estimated $141,216 at three locations, which works out to a robust $47,072 per-theater average (one of the best limited releases this year). The crime drama Good Time, starring Robert Pattinson, is on track for an estimated $137,625 at four locations, a per-theater average of $34,406.

After a promising opening last week, writer-director Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River is holding up with an estimated $642,067 from 45 locations ($14,268 per-theater average), bringing its domestic total to $870,285.

The forecast is less sunny for Al Gore’s climate documentary An Inconvenient Sequel, which will take in an estimated $800,000 from 556 locations in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total to $2.3 million. By comparison, the original Inconvenient Truth totaled about $4 million by the end of its third weekend, at 122 locations.

Per ComScore, overall box office is down 4.1 percent from the same frame from last year. Check out the Aug. 11-13 figures below.

1. Annabelle: Creation — $35 million
2. Dunkirk — $11.4 million
3. The Nut Job 2: Nutty By Nature — $8.9 million
4. The Dark Tower — $7.9 million
5. The Emoji Movie — $6.6 million
6. Girls Trip — $6.5 million
7. Spider-Man: Homecoming — $6.1 million
8. Kidnap — $ 5.2 million
9. The Glass Castle — $4.9 million
10. Atomic Blonde — $4.6 million

Box office report: The Dark Tower rises above Dunkirk, though not by much

This year’s August box office is off to a sluggish start as Sony’s fantasy adventure The Dark Tower is poised to debut in the No. 1 spot for the weekend with an estimated $19.5 million gross in the U.S. and Canada, edging out Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic Dunkirk and its estimated $17.6 million in its third weekend in theaters.

The weekend’s other new release, the Halle Berry thriller Kidnap, is on track for fifth place with an estimated $10.2 million, while Kathryn Bigelow’s prestige drama Detroit is stumbling with an estimated $7.3 million take as it expands nationwide.

Although Sony and Media Rights Capital made The Dark Tower for a relatively modest $60 million, its opening haul represents an underwhelming figure for a movie that was intended to launch an ambitious film and TV franchise after spending years in development.

Based on Stephen King’s sprawling eight-book series, The Dark Tower stars Idris Elba as a cowboy-knight named Roland Deschain, Matthew McConaughey as a sinister sorcerer known as the Man in Black, and Tom Taylor as a boy with psychic powers who could be the key to saving this world and others. Danish filmmaker Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) directed.

Despite the star power and much-loved source material, critics pilloried the film, and moviegoers gave it a tepid CinemaScore of B, suggesting that word-of-mouth will be weak.

Coming in behind The Dark Tower are three holdovers: Warner Bros.’ aforementioned Dunkirk; Sony’s animated offering The Emoji Movie, with about $12.4 million; and Universal’s road-trip comedy Girls Trip, with an estimated $11.4 million.

Dunkirk and Girls Trip are both holding strong after 17 days in theaters, with the former tallying a $133.6 million total in North America and the latter reaching $85.4 million, according to estimates. The Emoji Movie, meanwhile, is looking at a standard-issue 50 percent dropoff in its second weekend.

Rounding out the top five is Kidnap, a film that was shot back in 2014 and originally dated for a 2015 release before Relativity Media’s financial woes. Aviron Pictures picked up domestic rights.

Directed by Luis Prieto and starring Berry as a single mother on a mission to rescue her abducted son, the movie received lackluster reviews but garnered a decent B+ CinemaScore.

As for Detroit, Bigelow’s searing account of that city’s 1967 riots, the movie marks an inauspicious start for Annapurna Pictures’ first distribution effort. But the film — which reportedly cost $34 million to make and stars John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, and Will Poulter — has garnered strong reviews and an A- CinemaScore.

On the specialty front, the Weinstein Company’s thriller Wind River is set to take in an estimated $164,167 at four locations. That works out to a per-theater average of $41,042 and one of the strongest limited-release showings this year.

Reviews have been positive for the film, which was written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, the screenwriter of Sicario and Hell or High Water. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen headline the movie as a game trapper and an FBI agent trying to solve a murder on a remote Indian reservation.

Fox Searchlight’s dance documentary Step, about a girls’ high school step team in Baltimore, is set to take in an estimated $145,000 at 29 locations, for a per-theater average of $5,000, and the self-released John Cho-starrer Columbus is set to gross $28,800 at two locations, for a per-screen average of $14,400.

Per ComScore, overall box office is down 2.9 percent from the same frame from last year. Check out the Aug. 4-6 figures below.

1. The Dark Tower — $19.5 million
2. Dunkirk — $17.6 million
3. The Emoji Movie — $12.4 million
4. Girls Trip — $11.4 million
5. Kidnap — $10.2 million
6. Spider-Man: Homecoming — $8.8 million
7. Atomic Blonde — $8.2 million
8. Detroit — $ 7.3 million
9. War for the Planet of the Apes — $6 million
10. Despicable Me 3 — $5.3 million

Box office report: Dunkirk holds off Emoji Movie and Atomic Blonde

Dunkirk is poised for another victory on the box office battlefield. In its second weekend, Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic is set to gross an estimated $28.1 million in the U.S. and Canada, besting new releases The Emoji Movie and Atomic Blonde to claim the No. 1 spot.

Bolstered by glowing reviews and widespread audience satisfaction (as reflected by an A-minus CinemaScore), Dunkirk declined just 44 percent in its second frame, bringing its domestic total to $102.8 million after 10 days in theaters. Nearly a quarter of that amount, $23.1 million, has come from IMAX screenings. The Warner Bros. film, which cost about $100 million to make, will also add an estimated $45.6 million in international markets this weekend, bringing its overseas total to $131.3 million.

For much of the weekend, Dunkirk appeared to be neck-and-neck with Sony Pictures Animation’s smartphone-set comedy The Emoji Movie, which is on track to finish in second place with an estimated $25.7 million, in line with studio projections.

While critics overwhelmingly gave The Emoji Movie a frowny face and audiences assigned it a CinemaScore of B (low for an animated film), Sony can take solace in the debut considering the movie cost a modest $50 million to produce.

Featuring the voices of T.J. Miller, Maya Rudolph, Christina Aguilera, Anna Faris, James Corden, Jennifer Coolidge, Sofia Vergara, and Patrick Stewart, Emoji tells the story of a meh icon who has the unusual ability to express more than one emotion.

The weekend’s other newcomer, the Charlize Theron-starring spy thriller Atomic Blonde, will land in the No. 4 spot with an estimated $18.6 million, trailing the holdover Girls Trip and its estimated $20.1 million. The former figure is a solid, if not spectacular, debut for the Focus Features film, which cost about $30 million to make. For director David Leitch, the opening is about $4 million higher than his John Wick, another stylish shoot-’em-up (which went on to get a sequel).

Based on the graphic novel The Coldest City, Atomic Blonde stars Theron as a lethal MI6 agent and also features James McAvoy, John Goodman, Eddie Marsan, and Sofia Boutella. Reviews were generally positive, with many critics singling out Theron’s performance and the inventive action, while moviegoers gave the film a B CinemaScore.

Universal’s Girls Trip holds strong in its sophomore weekend, parlaying excellent word of mouth (A+ CinemaScore) into a decline of just 36 percent. Directed by Malcolm D. Lee and starring Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Queen Latifah, the film has hauled in $65.5 million domestically, making it the most successful live-action comedy of the year.

Further down in the top 10, EuropaCorp and STX’s sci-fi fantasia Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is on pace for an estimated $6.8 million, which represents a steep second-weekend plunge of 60 percent.

On the specialty front, this weekend saw the release of Kathryn Bigelow’s riot drama Detroit, Al Gore’s environmental documentary An Inconvenient Sequel, A24’s microbudget indie Menashe, and Sony Pictures Classics’ offbeat comedy Brigsby Bear.

A week ahead of its wide rollout, Detroit will take in an estimated $365,455 from 20 locations, for a per-theater average of $18,273.

Inconvenient Sequel will gross an estimated $130,000 across four locations, for a per-theater average of $32,500; Menashe will gross an estimated $61,409 at three locations, for a per-theater average of $20,470; and Brigsby Bear will gross an estimated $45,060 at three locations, for a $15,020 per-theater average.

Per ComScore, overall box office is down 1.3 percent from the same frame from last year. Check out the July 28-30 figures below.

1. Dunkirk — $28.1 million
2. The Emoji Movie — $25.7 million
3. Girls Trip — $20.1 million
4. Atomic Blonde — $18.6 million
5. Spider-Man: Homecoming — $13.5 million
6. War for the Planet of the Apes — $10.4 million
7. Despicable Me 3 — $7.7 million
8. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets — $ 6.8 million
9. Baby Driver — $4.1 million
10. Wonder Woman — $3.5 million