Amalgamated Zen

A New Darko Story...

"Donnie Darko", the movie from 2001 that became a cult classic, has spawned a sequel - a straight to video sequel due out July 2009. The movie which spurred actor Jake Gyllenhaal's career has somehow warranted a sequel... which stars none of the original cast - save for Daveigh Chase who is reprising her role as Samantha Darko(albeit 7 years later). The movie "S. Darko" follows Samantha as she deals with her brother's death and the fact that her family is falling apart. She leaves her family with a friend to straighten out her life and along the way has visions of the end of the universe and learns that she isn't really a Darko. Now while Donnie Darko was an absolutely fantastic movie, it in no way, warrants a sequel. It was cut and dry, one take and finished. But to have a sequel, with a plot like this, along with being straight to video, I don't see good things happening. And I don't need someone in a giant rabbit suit to tell me that!

Wanna Write for Marvel?

Following the incredible success of Iron Man which earned over $500 million worldwide, Marvel Entertainment is taking a page out of the Disney play book and assembling a team of new writers to develop scripts for their vast stable of characters.
Emphasis will be placed on the second and third tier Heros such as such as Black Panther, Cable, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, Nighthawk and  the Vision, with the hope of catching Iron Man type lightning in a bottle.
Marvel will be bringing in up to five writers each year to work on specific projects under a fellowship program similar to the one Disney has been running since 1990. They will be paid an annual salary that is estimated to be twice the $50K Disney is paying with Marvel owning the rights to what they've written over the course of the year.
Time to start firing up the spec scripts.

Simon Pegg's a weasel

Don't worry... this isn't a slanderous attack on Simon. Quite the contrary. British actor Simon Pegg has confirmed that he is part of the cast for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs which is due out in July of this year. Pegg, who joins original actors Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, and Ray Romano along with Queen Latifah, Seann William Scott and Josh Peck from the second installation, will be voicing the character Buck. As Pegg describes him, "Buck is a one-eyed, swashbuckling weasel who's personality is reminiscent of Captain Ahab". Most of Pegg's movies are oriented towards the older audience, but the funny-man wants to do something a little more family friendly so his child (due in June) along with his nieces can see what exactly he does. And if that means being a weasel, it's a good start.

Moon Bloodgood to get "Burned"

With Tricia Helfer's departure at the season 2 finale of Burn Notice (pause for a moment of silence), Jeffery Donovan's character Michael Westen is going to need a new antagonist. Enter Moon Bloodgood. The Terminator: Salvation starlet is stepping in to replace Jennifer Esposito who was cast as a Miami Detective trying to discover the real Michael Westen - Esposito is said to have dropped out for health concerns, though the exact nature wasn't given. Production for the third season of Burn Notice started last week.

Box Office Hits & Misses

The fans have spoken and the box office tells their story! Nic Cage's new movie Knowing sits at the top of the box office bringing in $24.6 million in the opening weekend. The anticipated film, directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City) is all ready half-way to budget and still has plenty of time in theaters. Following another dismal weekend for a movie that was so highly anticipated, it seems that word-of-mouth has failed The Watchmen. The movie brought in a mere $6.8 million this weekend bringing it's gross box office to $98.1 million... still significantly short of the $130 million it cost to make. Meanwhile in comparison, the movie Taken which cost 30 million Euros ($40.6 million) has grossed $133 million in seven weeks out and Tim Burton's Coraline has grossed $73 million in six weeks for a movie that cost $35 million to make.

Watchmen sinking fast?

After having a ground-breaking opening weekend with $55.2 million, Watchmen struggled throughout the week and into the weekend and has only raked in another $31 million with $18 million coming in over the weekend. And while it still sits in a comfortable second at the current box office, if the movie continues to drop off at this rate, trying to break even at $130 million will be more of a challenge than producers would have hoped. The highly anticipated movie opened with a bang, but word of mouth seems to have failed this movie. From my experience, the movie was good, but not great and if it passes budget, it won't be by much. The movie started slow and when it picked up, only hit a few points I felt should have had more focus. It was a good attempt, but for me it falls short.

Questionable Movie Decisions

With the upcoming release of Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, one begins to wonder at what point did this script seem like a good idea. The new Street Fighter film will focus on Kristin Kreuk's version of Chun-Li... but don't worry, Jean-Claude Van Damme won't be in it. However, like the first movie, the directors instead choose to focus on the wrong character. For those that ever played the video game or remember the old anime cartoon, Street Fighter was about Ryu - who had a minor role in the first film and doesn't appear in this new one. Following Street Fighter will be the release of Dragonball Evolution this spring. Now while this movie looks a little more promising than Street Fighter, it honestly looks questionable, in particular, Justin Chatwin's casting as Goku (Canadian/Asian... same difference). And finally we come to this summers release of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra which looks rough because it's been largely modernized. G.I. Joe is more of a period piece and may very well be over done with the overly modernized technology. While the cast list in all three movies features some rather impressive names in the major roles, it seems as though the filmmakers thought the names would be enough to carry these films while leaving the story on the shaky side. If everyone's lucky, they won't be complete flops like Super Mario Bros. (Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper), Double Dragon (Mark Dacascos, Scott Wolf, Robert Patrick) or Street Fighter (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Raul Julia).... it might be a stretch, but one can hope.

Rowling vs. Meyer - King decides winner.

Famed horror writer Stephen King has openly critiqued Twilight writer Stephanie Meyer. King who is famous for novels such as "It", "Carrie", "The Stand" and many others has also stated that he appreciates the writing of British author J.k. Rowling who is famous for her Harry Potter novels. Says King, "... Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephanie Meyer can't write worth a darn."

Paul Blart gets Taken

Despite two weeks at the top of the Box Office, Kevin James' comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop has been "Taken" by Liam Neeson's new movie. "Taken" finished it's opening weekend with $24.6M while "Mall Cop" pulled in $14M for it's third weekend out. Horror flick "The Uninvited" with Elizabeth Banks, "Hotel for Dogs" and Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" round out the remaining top spots.

The End of Watchmen?

In a battle that has been ongoing for the last half of the year, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. have agreed to let Judge Gary Feess decide the future of the Watchmen movie, which Warner Bros is supposed to release in March. Watchmen, a graphic novel written by Alan Moore, was originally acquired in 1986 by Larry Gordon and Joel Silver, a producer for 20th Century Fox. However, by 1991, the project was moved to Warner Bros. and eventually the current movie adpation fell into the lap of Zack Snyder (of '300' fame). However, Fox has claimed that it never gave up complete control of the movie to Gordon or to anyone else there after, and is suing Warner Bros for copyright infringement and Judge Feess has agreed with Fox. Warner Bros. maintains that Fox is carried away with all of the legal issues and that the judge will eventually rule in favor of Warner Bros. in order for them to make the scheduled release date.