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Which promising movies fell shortest of expectations?
When we first heard the news that J.J. Abrams had been hired by Disney to continue the adventures of Luke Skywalker and company as the director of Star Wars: Episode VII, we were almost beside ourselves with enthusiasm. After all, as the director of Star Trek (2009), Abrams proved that he could revitalize a classic sci-fi franchise while remaining true to its core concepts and respectful of its legacy. Added to that the fact that Abrams will be shooting from a script written by Academy Award-winner Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) and Episode VII is bound to be the greatest Star Wars movie since Return of the Jedi, right? We'll see. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but gearing down from "enthusiastic" to "hopefully optimistic."
Studios don't set out to make bad movies, yet they churn them out each and every year. Sure, most bad movies are doomed from the get-go, be they saddled with a bad script, a director who lacks vision, a cast made up of eye candy instead of actors, or some combination thereof, but even movies that seem to have everything going for them can still turn out to be dreadful. A movie about cowboys fighting aliens starring Indiana Jones and James Bond directed by the man who brought us Iron Man? Sounds awesome! Too bad Cowboys and Aliens turned out to be just another one of those movies that should have been great, but ultimately left us feeling unsatisfied and disappointed.
You've griped about them to your friends, now tell us which movies you found to be the biggest disappointments, the ones that simply failed to live up to expectations.
Rate the Top 10 Most Disappointing Movies >>
Posted 01.25.13 by BrentJS -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Taken 2 | $22.5M | $86.7M | Liam Neeson beats out five newcomers to retain box office crown |
| Argo | $20.1M | $20.1M | Solid start to Ben Affleck helmed Middle East thriller |
| Sinister | $18.2M | $18.2M | Debuts in the black on a $3M budget |
| Hotel Transylvania | $17.3M | $102M | Cracks the $100M mark on way to be top-grossing Sony animation pic |
| Here Comes the Boom | $12M | $12M | Disappointing start for a Kevin James flick, though moviegoers gave it an "A" |
get all your box office news hereWeeknights after the movies
Posted 10.15.12 by reelz -
"It's not the years...it's the mileage."
Though the novelty of The Expendables' all-star cast of '80s and '90s action heroes wore off somewhat by the time The Expendables 2 hit theaters, the resurgence of aging tough-guy actors continues with the success of Liam Neeson's Taken 2, which beat down the competition this past weekend. And there's more to come. Ah-nuld's getting back in the game with The Last Stand and Bruce Willis is dusting off John McClane for a fifth go-round in A Good Day to Die Hard. But, not all aging actors can continue to pull off the kind of tough-guy roles they played in their youth. Tell us which over-50 actors still have what it takes to beat up the bad guys and come back for more.
Rate the Top 10 Tough-Guy Actors Over 50 Still Making Movies >>
Posted 10.09.12 by BrentJS -
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| Taken 2 | $50M | $50M | One of the best October debuts ever and topping off Liam Neeson's biggest year ever |
| Hotel Transylvania | $26.3M | $76M | Not even Tim Burton proved to be much competition for this Adam Sandler 'toon |
| Pitch Perfect | $14.7M | $21.6M | Leveraged strong word of mouth into a solid third-place debut in wide release |
| Looper | $12.2M | $40.3M | Dropped a healthy 41% in its second weekend |
| Frankenweenie | $11.5M | $11.5M | Proof there's not room for two Halloween-themed cartoons |
get all your box office news hereWeeknights after the movies
Posted 10.08.12 by Chris -
The sh*t hits the fan.
more on taken 2 tonightWeeknights after the movies
Posted 10.05.12 by reelz -
The audience was certainly taken...
Taken 2 star Liam Neeson appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in a fuzzy pink bathrobe and a pair of very pink skivvies. The reason? Ellen had kidnapped his daughter... Wait, that's our new elevator pitch. Neeson was actually on the show to help support breast cancer research and the stunt helped raise $20,000 after the, er, healthy 60-year-old actor dropped trou and took his place in an impromtu dunk tank. A lucky audience member helped.
But you really just need to watch >> Posted 10.02.12 by Jud -
Cops, songs, and European abductions!
As movie theaters transition from the summer blockbuster season to the more moodier and spookier fall season, there are still plenty of options of movies to watch. Whether you like action thrillers, action dramas, comedies, or comedies with songs, we've compiled new preview clips from several upcoming movies: the thriller sequel Taken 2, the cop drama End of Watch and the musical comedy Pitch Perfect. If you're not sure which of these to spend your hard-earned dollars on, don't worry. Reelz is here to help you make an informed decision. Click the jump and check out some new footage for each movie in some newly-released preview clips.
catch up on the latest trailersSaturdays 10:00a ET / 7:00a PT
watch the clips >> Posted 09.23.12 by Ryan -
A new, longer international trailer for Taken 2 is now online and it shows Bryan "Very Particular Set of Skills" Mills (Liam Neeson) doing what he does best: kicking ass and taking names. Directed by Olivier Megaton (Transporter 3), the sequel to the 2009 smash-hit thriller Taken finds the family members of the Albanian kidnappers who snatched Mills' daughter, Kim (Maggie Grace), in the first movie — and who got to witness Mills' skills firsthand — out for revenge. Led by Murad (Rade Sherbedgia), whose son was killed by Mills, the Albanians attempt to re-kidnap Kim, along with her mother, Lenore (Famke Janssen), and Mills himself. (Maybe they should have titled the movie "Taken, Too"?)
watch the new trailer >> Posted 08.02.12 by BrentJS -
After the 2009 thriller Taken became a breakout success, the question of a sequel became, "who will be taken next?" Wisely, producer and co-screenwriter Luc Besson and star Liam Neeson met to "hash out" sequel details a few years ago and decided that Neeson's character Bryan Mills, the former CIA operative with a particular set of skills, was going to be "taken" in the upcoming Taken 2.
While the decision avoids the groans from fans had the sequel again shown Mills' daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) get kidnapped in a new European locale, it seems the Mills family haven't learned their lesson about traveling in a foreign country. Both Mills and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) are grabbed by the father of Kim's former kidnapper (Rade Sherbedgia). The recently released first trailer showed that Neeson won't spend the entirety of the sequel tied to a chair in a dark room, the latest international trailer shows that Kim will also be heavily involved in the action as she attempts to save her parents.
watch the trailer >> Posted 07.06.12 by Ryan -
It seems appropriate that the first poster for Taken 2 should arrive in the form of a U.K. quad poster and that the first footage should arrive in an international trailer.
Set a year after the events of 2009 thriller Taken, the sequel sees CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) feeling comfortable enough to head back to Europe after previously helping save his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from being kidnapped during her French vacation. Arriving in Istanbul for vacation, Mills is surprised by Kim and his ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) — who is now maybe his wife wife instead of an ex-wife? — and finds himself and Lenore quickly grabbed by the father of Kim's former kidnapper (Rade Sherbedgia). While we're sure that Neeson will use his "particular set of skills" to save himself and his wife, Grace will also have to help out as well.
watch the trailer and see the poster >> Posted 06.22.12 by Ryan