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Today's Challenge: Can you find the links that connect two of this month's alien flicks: Paul and Mars Needs Moms?
Our first Facebook movie game, ClusterFlick, plays off that old "six degrees of separation" theory — you know, the one that has a certain Kevin at the center of the Hollywood universe. It's easy to play, but not so easy to win. The goal is to use the major cast of movies to get from Point A to Point B in the smallest number of moves.
Play ClusterFlick >>
Posted 03.21.11 by reelz -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Battle: Los Angeles | $36.0M | $36.0M | Go figure. Worst-reviewed wide-release of the year has 2nd-best opening weekend. |
| Rango | $23.1M | $68.7M | Johnny Depp animated pic jumps to 6th-best take for 2011. |
| Red Riding Hood | $14.1M | $14.1M | Negatively-reviewed take on classic tale opens middlingly. |
| The Adjustment Bureau | $11.5M | $38.5M | Matt Damon thriller slides to 4th after 2nd-place finish last week. |
| Mars Needs Moms | $6.8M | $6.8M | Extremely disappointing opening for Disney motion-capture pic puts it on course to be biggest bomb of the year. |
Bomb of the Week: The budget for Mars Needs Moms was $150M, but earned just $6.8M in its opening weekend, one of the largest budget/opening weekend discrepancies in the history of movies.
Posted 03.14.11 by reelz -
Reviews are all over the map for this motion-capture pic. (But if you have kids you're probably already headed to Mars Needs Moms regardless.)
"...a great, jaunty adventure..."
— Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly"...an eye-catching, sneakily moving adaptation of the 2007 Mars Needs Moms picture book..."
— Keith Phipps, Onion AV Club"...never comes off as the considerable achievement it truly is."
— Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter"With originality an alien concept, the film proves to be the equivalent of sci-fi-cinema training wheels."
— Nick Schager, Village Voice"Let's not kid ourselves -- Mars doesn't need moms, and Earth doesn't need this movie."
— Jason McKiernan, filmcritic.comSee more Mars Needs Moms reviews.
Posted 03.11.11 by reelz -
Disney has released the first trailer for its upcoming Mars Needs Moms, based on the book by Bloom County author and illustrator Berkeley Breathed. It follows a young boy (voiced by Seth Green) who stows away on a space ship after his mom (Joan Cusack) is abducted. The boy gets help from the tech-savvy, underground earthman "Gribble" (Dan Fogler) and a rebel Martian girl "Ki" (Elisabeth Harnois).
The animation in the trailer doesn't look much like Breathed's original artwork, instead looking more like the (often creepy) motion-captured animation of The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol. This comes as no surprise — the director of those movies, Robert Zemeckis, is producing. Simon Wells (Balto) directed the movie from a script he co-wrote with Wendy Wells.
Watch the trailer >> Posted 11.24.10 by Ryan -
Two weeks ago, Disney unveiled the first poster for its upcoming 3-D animated adventure movie, Mars Needs Moms, based on the book of the same name by Berkeley Breathed. Now, Disney has released the first still imagefrom the movie, which offers a look at two distinctly different looking Martians. The movie follows Milo (voiced by Seth Green), a young boy who took his mom (Joan Cusack) for granted until she was abducted by Martians. In an effort to rescue his mother, Milo stows away aboard the Martians' spaceship and journeys to the very heart of the alien nation. The movie was produced by Robert Zemeckis and directed by Simon Wells, who utilized the same motion-capture technology used by Zemeckis in directing The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol. Elisabeth Harnois and Dan Fogler also lend their voices to characters in the movie.
Posted 11.13.10 by BrentJS -
Disney has released the first movie poster and the official synopsis of its latest 3-D animated adventure movie, Mars Needs Moms. Directed by Simon Wells (The Time Machine), it's an adaptation of the book of the same name by Berkeley Breathed of Bloom County fame.
The movie — produced by Robert Zemeckis, the writer, director, and producer of Disney's The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol — utilizes the same motion-capture technology used to help animate the performances of Tom Hanks and Jim Carrey in those movies. Here's the official synopsis:
Take out the trash, eat your broccoli — who needs moms, anyway? Nine-year-old Milo (Seth Green) finds out just how much he needs his mom (Joan Cusack) when she’s nabbed by Martians who plan to steal her mom-ness for their own young. Milo embarks on a quest to save his mom — a wild adventure that involves stowing away on a spaceship, navigating an elaborate, multi-level planet, and taking on the alien nation and their leader. With the help of a tech-savvy, underground earthman named Gribble (Dan Fogler) and a rebel Martian girl called Ki (Elisabeth Harnois), Milo just might find his way back to his mom—in more ways than one.
Posted 10.28.10 by BrentJS