Director Scott favours this 'Blade Runner'
This holiday season, director Ridley Scott and science-fiction-film fans both get to cross a long-hoped-for item off of their wish lists: an ultimate home video version of his 1982 hit Blade Runner.
In making the futuristic noir classic, which starred Harrison Ford, Scott was coerced to add a happier ending and Ford's voice-over to the complex film about "replicants," or androids, who wanted to become human.
Studio executives, Scott says, found the film "too oppressive or even non-specific, and wanted to see did (Ford's character Deckard and Sean Young's Rachael) have a life after the movie."
Scott, 70, who has already earned best-director and best-picture Golden Globe nominations for his latest film, American Gangster, concedes that at the time, "I was not as experienced as I am now and kind of went along with the process of readjustments." But after the fact, he realized that the ending with Deckard and Rachael headed into the beautiful mountain range "was always a problem for me. It was too sweet."
For this 25th anniversary Blade Runner: The Final Cut, Scott oversaw an exacting digital restoration. He left off the original voice-over and happy ending, digitally tweaked some effects and restored a few extra bits of violence. Scott also reshot the death of Zhora (Joanna Cassidy), which was originally done by a stuntwoman with a bad wig, a fact that over the years grated on Scott and viewers alike.
This version, which played in some theaters and at film festivals, is just out in multiple editions, including a five-DVD "limited ultimate collector's set" in a numbered plastic briefcase ($79). That set includes the final cut and four other versions of the film — the original theatrical and international versions, the 1992 director's cut and a "work print" — plus a piece of film from the original movie, unicorn figurine, miniature car and photos.
Also available: five-disc HD DVD and Blu-ray ultimate limited editions ($100), a two-DVD final cut special edition ($21) and a four-DVD collector's edition ($35).
All editions include a new documentary, Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner, and a movie-length audio commentary by Scott, who considers this final cut his favorite version. After its digital makeover, Scott says the film looks as if "it could have been made this week. This isn't some old walnut I'm dragging out of the sock drawer. It could have been released now."
Police Collar Top Tour of 2007
Los Angeles (E! Online) - In a classic case of role reversal, it was the Police who topped this year's most-wanted list.
The trio's reunion tour, which kicked off May 28 in Vancouver, finished 2007 as North America's number one top grossing tour, per year-end figures released Friday by the concert trade Pollstar. Sting & Co.'s 41-city, 54-show outing grossed $132 million in ticket sales, nearly double the amount of country star Kenny Chesney, who finished second with $71 million.
The Police had the highest average per-concert take, with $3.2 million per gig. The reunited rockers also sold the most tickets, just over 1.15 million, followed closely by Chesney's 1.14 million. But the Police only had the fifth highest average ticket price ($114.32), behind Barry Manilow ($141.72), Celine Dion ($141.26), Genesis ($130.39) and Elton John ($126.76).
The Police were also the top ticket seller internationally, bringing in a grand total of $212 million worldwide. The trio, who finished the tour's Latin American leg earlier this month, restarts the tour Jan. 17 in New Zealand.
The reunited Genesis proved it could still turn it on again. Phil Collins, Tony Banks and Mike Rutherford kicked off their North American jaunt Sept. 7 in Toronto and finished the year as the eighth highest grossing tour at $47.6 million. Genesis cracked the top 10 with the fewest number of shows, 25, but the band's high seat prices made up the difference. Genesis also scored the second highest grossing international tour, selling $129 million in tickets worldwide.
Showing that reunion tours were the rage this year, Van Halen finished in the fifth spot. On the heels of their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, the L.A. rockers launched their reunion tour last September, selling nearly $57 million in tickets to date.
The fourth highest grossing act wasn't really a tour at all. Celine Dion did 113 performances of A New Day at Caesar's Palace this year, with the Canadian chanteuse finishing her remarkable five-year run just last week. Her Las Vegas residency brought in $65.3 million in its final year.
Since opening her show in early 2003, Dion sold more than $400 million in tickets to nearly 3 million fans. The casino's 4,100-seat Colosseum, built specifically for her performances, limited her tickets-per-show average, but she led the pack in total number of shows.
While many singers would take a break after such a grueling schedule, Dion appears anxious to get on the road. Her yearlong Taking Chances tour kicks off Valentine's Day in South Africa.
Chesney's second-place finish kept Justin Timberlake at third, with about $500,000 separating them. The country star also exacted some revenge by topping Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's Soul2Soul 2007 tour, which finished sixth with $52.3 million. Last year, the Soul2Soul tour grossed $88.6 million, topping Chesney's 2005 Somewhere in the Sun as the highest grossing country tour of all time.
Among the other top-10 finishers, Rod Stewart and current Christmas king Josh Groban finished at seventh ($49 million) and ninth ($43 million), respectively. With $41.5 million in sales, Rascal Flatts finished 10th, giving country music three of the year's top-10 tours.
Just outside the top 10 were a clutch of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, with Billy Joel finishing 12th ($39.1 million), Roger Waters 13th ($38.3 million) and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band coming in 14th ($38.2 million). Elton John finished at 16th with $35.7 million, thanks to his Red Piano show, which he performed in the Colosseum during Celine Dion's breaks.
Tween concertgoers were represented by Miley Cyrus. The Disney Channel star's Best of Both Worlds Tour, one of the year's hardest tickets to come by, finished 15th, with $36 million in gross ticket sales.
Finally, Mexican rockers Maná had the top Spanish-language tour, and the 20th highest grossing overall, moving nearly $34 million in tickets over 46 shows.
North American ticket sales hit $2.6 billion for the year, according to Billboard. That's a drop of 10 percent from last year's record-setting mark, while the actual number of concertgoers—51 million—was also down 19 percent.
Here's a recap of 2007's top 10 highest grossing North American tours, per Pollstar:
1. The Police ($131.9 millon)
2. Kenny Chesney ($71.1 million)
3. Justin Timberlake ($70.6 million)
4. Celine Dion ($65.3 million)
5. Van Halen ($56.7 million)
6. Tim McGraw/Faith Hill ($52.3 million)
7. Rod Stewart ($49 million)
8. Genesis ($47.6 million)
9. Josh Groban ($43 million)
10. Rascal Flatts ($41.5 million)
Holiday albums can become classics fast
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks and Toby Keith have a couple apiece. Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton did one together. The ever-prolific Willie Nelson has at least four of them. Most country stars, and many of their pop counterparts, have a Christmas album or two in their catalogs, and for good reason: The records are relatively easy to make and have the potential for big payoff.
"If it's really good, it can go for 20 years," said Bill Kennedy, vice president of sales for Capitol Records Nashville.
Or longer.
Released in 1957, "Elvis' Christmas Album" is the top-selling holiday release of all time with 9 million in sales, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The single "Blue Christmas" is a Christmas classic, even parodied by Porky Pig.
Other Christmas blockbusters are Kenny G's "Miracles: The Holiday Album" (8 million) and Barbara Streisand's "A Christmas Album" (5 million), according to the RIAA.
But the Christmas kings, at least in terms of sales, have to be Mannheim Steamroller with two albums topping the 6 million mark: "A Fresh Aire Christmas" and "Mannheim Steamroller Christmas."
Holiday records are unique in the way they're promoted and marketed.
"It is a very short window that begins in late October, hits its peak the first two weeks of December, and then falls off the cliff right after the holiday," explained Ben Kline, executive vice president of sales, marketing and new media for Universal Music Group Nashville.
Though the window is tight, successful releases will do well for at least a few seasons before trailing off, said Peter Strickland, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Warner Brothers Nashville.
That's what happened with Warner Brothers' "A Very Larry Christmas" by Larry the Cable Guy. In 2004, the first year, the comedy album sold 150,000 copies. That shot to 250,000 the second year and to 315,000 the third.
This year, sales fell to about 70,000, though some of that likely is due to the October release of a second Christmas album by the comic, "Christmastime in Larryland."
Because most Christmas albums contain standards, they can be easier and faster to record than an album of new material, but not always. Choirs and string sections can add time and cost.
And with marketing and promotions time compressed, TV appearances become key, said Joe Galante, chairman of Sony BMG Nashville.
"We think of Christmas CDs as albums that will sell mainly for three to five years and won't be driven by hit singles on the radio," Galante said.
There are exceptions, but in general, sales expectations for holiday albums are lower than for standard releases. And for every breakout record, dozens of others get snowed under.
"If it can sell gold (500,000) or better, that's hugely successful," said Capitol Records' Kennedy. "And if you can do a minimum of 250,000 as a base, that would be all right."
George Strait, as big a star as there is in country music, has two Christmas albums, both of which sold over 500,000. By comparison, Strait's regular releases typically top the 1 million mark.
Still, Galante said most singers view the albums as fun and as an artistic break. "It helps fill out the artist's catalog," he said.
This year's hot holiday release is Josh Groban's "Noel," a traditional collection that has already scanned more than 2 million.
But for many, the star at the top of the tree remains "Elvis' Christmas Album." Released at the height of Presley's fame, it's a must-have for the serious Christmas music fan.
Ironically, the album's biggest hit, "Blue Christmas," was the one track Elvis didn't want to record.
As Gordon Stoker, a member of the Jordanaires, the vocal group that backed Presley on that song and many others, recalls, Elvis at first refused to do "Blue Christmas" out of respect for Ernest Tubb, who had had a No. 1 hit with it earlier.
When the producers said he had to cut it, he told folks at the session to come up with something so bad that it would never see the light of day as a single, Stoker told The Associated Press recently from his Nashville home.
"We thought that 'oo-ooo-oooo' was bad enough that they wouldn't release it," Stoker said of the signature backing vocals.
To this day, he said, "It still sounds bad to me when I hear it."
'Treasure' finds $45M in box office gold
LOS ANGELES - Nicolas Cage followed his secret treasure map to another fortune at movie theaters. Cage's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the Disney sequel to its 2004 hit, opened as the weekend's No. 1 movie with $45.5 million as Hollywood continued a holiday spree at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
With Cage reprising his role as a history buff on the hunt for a vanished fortune, the "National Treasure" sequel outdid the original, which debuted with $35.1 million on its way to a $173 million total.
The previous weekend's top flick, Will Smith's "I Am Legend," slipped to second place with $34.2 million, the Warner Bros. hit raising its 10-day total to $137.5 million.
The two action films led a crowded market filled with new releases, among them Universal's foreign-policy satire "Charlie Wilson's War," starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Directed by Mike Nichols, "Charlie Wilson's War" debuted at No. 4 with $9.6 million. The absurdist romp follows an unlikely trio — a congressman, a socialite and a scruffy CIA man — who shaped the United States' covert response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Playing in just 1,249 theaters, about half as many as "Charlie Wilson's War," the DreamWorks-Paramount musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" did almost as much business, coming in at No. 5 with $9.35 million.
Warner Bros. produced a dud in "P.S. I Love You," which had a so-so No. 6 opening with $6.5 million. The movie stars Hilary Swank as a widow whose husband arranged to send letters after his death to inspire her to go on living.
The latest from the Judd Apatow comedy machine, Sony's "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," was a surprise bomb, taking in just $4.1 million despite good reviews praising its no-holds-barred humor and John C. Reilly's giddy performance.
Produced and co-written by Apatow ("Knocked Up"), the spoof of music biopics stars Reilly as a country rocker who shoots to stardom and lives the ultimate artist's life of excess and self-indulgence.
With five new wide releases this weekend and two more opening Christmas Day — the action-horror sequel "Alien vs. Predator: Requiem" and the family flick "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" — Hollywood is banking on the holiday week to provide a big finish for 2007.
After a sluggish fall, Hollywood business soared for the second-straight weekend. The top 12 movies took in $153.5 million, up 41 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
"The variety of films is really bringing out the audience," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "People are looking for all different types of movies, and everything is represented here."
Along with its domestic haul, the "National Treasure" sequel pulled in $22.3 million overseas, mostly in Asia.
The movie does not open in Europe until February, but with London and Paris locations, it should take in more overseas than the $173 million the first installment did, said Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group.
The movie follows Cage's character as he races to clear the name of an ancestor implicated in Abraham Lincoln's assassination, a trail that leads to a legendary city of gold.
Four-fifths of viewers for "Charlie Wilson's War" were 30 and older, an audience that does not necessarily rush out to catch films in the first few days. Universal is counting on the film's good reviews and word-of-mouth to gradually build the audience.
"Everyone knew going in this was a genre that doesn't pop big numbers on opening weekend," said Universal marketing and distribution executive Adam Fogelson. "We wanted to be the sophisticated commercial option for grown-ups."
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Wednesday.
1. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," $45.5 million.
2. "I Am Legend," $34.2 million.
3. "Alvin and the Chipmunks," $29 million.
4. "Charlie Wilson's War," $9.6 million.
5. "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," $9.35 million.
6. "P.S. I Love You," $6.5 million.
7. "Enchanted," $4.15 million.
8. "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story," $4.1 million.
9. "The Golden Compass," $4 million.
10. "Juno," $3.4 million.