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When a movie makes $390 million and counting at the box office like Clash of the Titans has, or $373 million like How to Train Your Dragon, then making a sequel is a foregone conclusion. However, while the announcement of a sequel is no real shock for either movie, it's the news of the Clash sequel that holds the most surprise.
Clash director Louis Leterrier has been very vocal that he saw Clash as a trilogy, with Warner Brothers even only approving the remake if Leterrier could promise two more movies to follow. "I promise you that I've got more," Leterrier said in March. So few expected that Warners would make a sequel without Leterrier's services.
more on Clash sequel without Leterrier >> Posted 05.01.10 by Ryan -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| How to Train Your Dragon | $15.0M | $178.0M | Third place two weeks ago, now back on top. And still 2nd only to Alice in Wonderland for 2010. |
| The Back-Up Plan | $12.3M | $12.3M | Anemic opening for J-Lo comeback pic. |
| Date Night | $10.6M | $63.5M | Carell-Fey comedy doing very respectable business in 3rd week, and now in the black ($55M budget). |
| The Losers | $9.6M | $9.6M | Insert "losers" joke here. This movie is a bomb in spite of Zoe Saldana. |
| Kick-Ass | $9.5M | $34.9M | Last week's photo-finish winner fading fast in 2nd week. |
Posted 04.25.10 by reelz -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| How to Train Your Dragon | $43.3M | $43.3M | Family friendly animation is what it takes to knock Alice in Wonderland from top spot. |
| Alice in Wonderland | $17.3M | $293.1M | At $293M, Alice is the runaway 2010 leader and and currently tied with 2009's #5 movie. |
| Hot Tub Time Machine | $13.7M | $13.7M | Most critics agree this is a foul-mouthed guilty pleasure, yet so far audiences not feeling it. |
| The Bounty Hunter | $12.4M | $38.8M | Star power overcomes all the hating on this pic; at the break-even point ($40M budget) in second week. |
| Diary of a Wimpy Kid | $10.0M | $35.8M | Elementary school book phenomenon running out of steam fast, but so profitable ($15M budget) more movies likely on the way. |
Posted 03.28.10 by reelz -
This animated kids/family flick from Dreamworks is getting positive marks, especially when viewed in 3-D.
"...a thrilling drama interspersed with amusing comedic elements..."
— Peter DeBruge, Variety
"...has a kinetically dreamy, soaring-through-the-air effervescence. On some level, though, it's just the sweetly simple tale of a boy and his dog."
— Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Seeing Dragon in 3-D really is a must. Its formidable realm of Vikings and dragons and nerds (oh my!) should be enjoyed to the fullest extent theaters allow."
— Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
"...bright, good-looking and has high energy. Kids above the easily scared age will probably like the movie the younger they are."
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"A lively though disjointed 3D cartoon that never quite entices an audience to invest emotionally in its fantasy world."
— Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter
Posted 03.25.10 by reelz -
Okay, so let's just run down the roster here, shall we? The Princess and the Frog had Oprah Winfrey, Terrence Howard, and John Goodman doing voices. This week's How to Train Your Dragon will offer Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, and Jonah Hill. Toy Story3 has Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, natch, plus Michael Keaton, Joan Cusack, Bonnie Hunt ... and others too numerous to mention. And that's just a handful of recent releases — go back over the decades and you'll see how rapidly animated movies have become the domain of legitimate actors.
And that's okay by us. Aside from triggering an audience's "Hey, it's..." reaction when a celebrated voice is heard, letting an established star loose in a cartoon can bring a level of depth and nuance to creatures who are frequently little more than drawn scribbles or computer constructs. But while some actors can readily shuttle between the sound stage and recording booth, others, for various reasons, might want to consider lingering in the virtual world. These 10 should consider a permanent move to Toontown.
Posted 03.25.10 by reelz -
Valentine's Day is just around the corner. If you don't have that someone special to shop for, consider using those free funds to make a donation to Kids Kicking Cancer. You might just win yourself a dinner date with King Leonidas (aka Gerard Butler) in either Los Angeles or New York.
Butler has long supported this charity that trains children in the mind-body techniques found in karate and meditation as a way to cope with and fight cancer. Everyone who donates to Kids Kicking Cancer from now until February 13 is eligible to win the dinner or another one of the prizes Butler is offering, which include a set visit to one of his upcoming movies and reserved seating at a red carpet premiere. The contest is being held in conjunction with the fansite GerardButler.net, which has all the contest details.
This isn't Butler's only philanthropic endeavor. Hollywood Dailies' Steve Patterson caught up with him at the Artists for Peace and Justice Charity Art Auction, where he discussed his efforts to help children in Haiti.
Butler can next be seen with Jennifer Aniston in The Bounty Hunter and heard in the animated feature How to Train Your Dragon.
Posted 02.04.10 by reelz -
Hot on the heels of the first official trailer that debuted last month, a second trailer has been released for Dreamworks Animation's latest family friendly animated adventure, How To Train Your Dragon.
The animated feature takes place in a mythical world where Vikings and dragons have been at odds with one another for thousands of years, and killing dragons is an everyday occurrence for Vikings. It centers on a young Viking boy named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who one day befriends an injured dragon instead of killing it as he's supposed to, much to the embarrassment of his father (voiced by Gerard Butler).
Posted 12.29.09 by reelz -
A new teaser trailer has been released for DreamWorks Animation's newest 3-D adventure movie, How to Train Your Dragon. Based on Cressida Cowell's 2003 book of the same name, the movie tells the story of a young Viking boy named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who befriends a dragon rather than hunting it down and killing it like the others in his village. Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, and Baruchel's Knocked Up co-star Jonah Hill also lend their voices.
Posted 11.03.09 by BrentJS -
DreamWorks Animation (Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens) is teasing its next project — and second digital 3-D movie — with a quick-glimpse trailer. How to Train Your Dragon tells the story of an unlikely hero, Hiccup, heir of a Viking chiefdom.
To pass an initiation into manhood, Hiccup embarks on a quest to hunt down and bring into submission the fiercest dragon. Voice-over actors in the movie include Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig, and America Ferrera. How to Train Your Dragon is due in theaters on March 26, 2010.
Posted 09.14.09 by reelz