The Wrap #59: A Cold Box Office

12/13/13 • 11 min

Though only just returned from the edge of the death, TJ does not fail to bring you this week’s fun movie goodness! For starters, the upcoming ‘Star Trek’ film has 2 new writers. The more the merrier! TJ made a mistake with his box office analysis earlier in the week in regards to ‘Frozen’ for which he apologizes. AFI has announced their top 10 movies and TV shows. Joe Cornish is not directing the next ‘Star Trek’ film. Paramount is working on ‘Jack Reacher 2’. ‘World War Z’ Sequel has an announced director. Joe stepped in on ‘The MovieByte Podcast’ this week for TJ to talk with Chad about ‘Frozen’ and you probably won’t want to miss that episode. ‘Agents of SHIELD’s’ ratings fell again this week, which is quite the bummer! And of course, find out what to see this weekend.

Show Notes & Links

Third ‘Star Trek’ Reboot Story Gets 2 New WritersJ.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have been tapped to write Star Trek 3[sic] for Paramount and Skydance Productions. The duo will join Roberto Orci, who co-wrote the first two installments of the reboot with partner Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Orci is working without Kurtzman on this one. The next Star Trek film is untitled and unscheduled, but Paramount and Skydance are hoping to have a film in time for the franchise to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016. Stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana are expected to return.
The Box Office Got a Little ColdAs most of you will remember (it’s only been a couple weeks), I used to post a weekly feature every Monday called The Box Office Report. The problem for me was that it was starting to feel routine and boring for me so I quit. But I’m going to sort of bring it back. I’m no longer going to feel obligated to post the top 8, but instead I’ll post about what I think is fun, what I care about, and/or what is important. So lets get started:
AFI announces Their Top 10 Movies and TV ShowsDecember 9, 2013 – The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2013 – 10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding television programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. An almanac documenting works of excellence that mark a moment in time, AFI AWARDS is also the only national honor for the community’s creative ensembles as a whole, acknowledging the collaborative nature of the art form. Honorees are selected based on works which best advance the art of the moving image, enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form, inspire audiences and artists alike, and/or make a mark on American society. AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR 12 YEARS A SLAVE AMERICAN HUSTLE CAPTAIN PHILLIPS FRUITVALE STATION GRAVITY HER INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS NEBRASKA SAVING MR. BANKS THE WOLF OF WALL STREET AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR THE AMERICANS BREAKING BAD GAME OF THRONES THE GOOD WIFE HOUSE OF CARDS MAD MEN MASTERS OF SEX ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK SCANDAL VEEP
Joe Cornish Not Directing Next ‘Star Trek’ FilmAnd while just over a month ago, Cornish emerged as Paramount’s top choice to direct “Star Trek 3,”[sic] it looks like he won’t be going into the final frontier. Among Variety’s recent news that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were joining the tentpole to write alongside franchise mainstay Roberto Orci (though, no sign of Alex Kurtzman) was the little nugget that Cornish is “is no longer involved” with the movie. No reason is given for why the talks may have broken down between the studio and filmmaker, and everything is pressing ahead to try and meet a 2016 release date.
Paramount Planning ‘Jack Reacher 2’Although the Christopher McQuarrie-directed “Jack Reacher” opened to a muted response stateside last Christmas—its opening haul was $15 million with the final domestic tally just over $80 million—international audiences were more kind, with the Lee Child adaptation making $138 million abroad. Naturally, Paramount is looking to get back into business with the anti-hero. Deadline reports plans are being made to do a “Jack Reacher 2.” Instead of tackling any of the other seventeen novels, Paramount and Skydance Productions are looking at Child’s latest installment, this fall’s “Never Go Back,” to use as the basis for the 2012 film’s sequel. The novel sees Reacher...

Show Notes & Links

Third ‘Star Trek’ Reboot Story Gets 2 New WritersJ.D. Payne and Patrick McKay have been tapped to write Star Trek 3[sic] for Paramount and Skydance Productions. The duo will join Roberto Orci, who co-wrote the first two installments of the reboot with partner Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Orci is working without Kurtzman on this one. The next Star Trek film is untitled and unscheduled, but Paramount and Skydance are hoping to have a film in time for the franchise to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016. Stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana are expected to return.
The Box Office Got a Little ColdAs most of you will remember (it’s only been a couple weeks), I used to post a weekly feature every Monday called The Box Office Report. The problem for me was that it was starting to feel routine and boring for me so I quit. But I’m going to sort of bring it back. I’m no longer going to feel obligated to post the top 8, but instead I’ll post about what I think is fun, what I care about, and/or what is important. So lets get started:
AFI announces Their Top 10 Movies and TV ShowsDecember 9, 2013 – The American Film Institute (AFI) today announced the official selections of AFI AWARDS 2013 – 10 outstanding films and 10 outstanding television programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of the year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. An almanac documenting works of excellence that mark a moment in time, AFI AWARDS is also the only national honor for the community’s creative ensembles as a whole, acknowledging the collaborative nature of the art form. Honorees are selected based on works which best advance the art of the moving image, enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form, inspire audiences and artists alike, and/or make a mark on American society. AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR 12 YEARS A SLAVE AMERICAN HUSTLE CAPTAIN PHILLIPS FRUITVALE STATION GRAVITY HER INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS NEBRASKA SAVING MR. BANKS THE WOLF OF WALL STREET AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR THE AMERICANS BREAKING BAD GAME OF THRONES THE GOOD WIFE HOUSE OF CARDS MAD MEN MASTERS OF SEX ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK SCANDAL VEEP
Joe Cornish Not Directing Next ‘Star Trek’ FilmAnd while just over a month ago, Cornish emerged as Paramount’s top choice to direct “Star Trek 3,”[sic] it looks like he won’t be going into the final frontier. Among Variety’s recent news that J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay were joining the tentpole to write alongside franchise mainstay Roberto Orci (though, no sign of Alex Kurtzman) was the little nugget that Cornish is “is no longer involved” with the movie. No reason is given for why the talks may have broken down between the studio and filmmaker, and everything is pressing ahead to try and meet a 2016 release date.
Paramount Planning ‘Jack Reacher 2’Although the Christopher McQuarrie-directed “Jack Reacher” opened to a muted response stateside last Christmas—its opening haul was $15 million with the final domestic tally just over $80 million—international audiences were more kind, with the Lee Child adaptation making $138 million abroad. Naturally, Paramount is looking to get back into business with the anti-hero. Deadline reports plans are being made to do a “Jack Reacher 2.” Instead of tackling any of the other seventeen novels, Paramount and Skydance Productions are looking at Child’s latest installment, this fall’s “Never Go Back,” to use as the basis for the 2012 film’s sequel. The novel sees Reacher...

Previous Episode

The Wrap #58: Abrams’ Mistake

TJ missed a week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, so buckle up while he tries to keep things from getting entirely too long. First up, ‘The Wovlerine’ sequel will be based on an existing comic book arc. Since that was also the case with the previous film, and it was a really good film, that seems like a fine idea to TJ. TJ, Chad, and Mike Fissel recorded episode 70 of The MovieByte Podcast talking about ‘Catching Fire’ which was really good and none of them really had anything too bad to say about it. TJ also released a ByteSized Video Review about the film. Also find out why Francis Lawrence is crucial to ‘The Hunger Games’ franchise. In the sad news this week, Paul Walker of ‘Fast and Furious’ fame died at the age of 40 in a fiery car crash. In light of that news, Universal has halted production on ‘Fast and Furious 7’ which he was in and issued one of the more tear jerking press releases in recent memory. TJ’s not a fan of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise but his thoughts and heart goes out to those close to him. ‘Pirates 5’ is reportedly looking at Keith Richards returning, and at casting Christoph Waltz as the villain. Why are they making this again since ‘Pirate 4’ was so awful? JJ Abrams says hiding Khan’s identity from the world was a mistake and that he should of put it out there and allowed people to acclimate to the idea. As painful as it is to say this, TJ thinks he’s right. Ben Affleck inserted 9 minutes of additional footage in to the ‘Argo’ extended edition Blu-ray. TJ is really looking forward to seeing that. ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ has been announced. Even though ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ hasn’t even made it out of the gate yet, TJ’s exited for it and looking forward to it as long as Bryan Singer is involved. Of course don’t forget to listen in as TJ runs down your options for what to see this weekend!

Show Notes & Links

Next Episode

The Wrap #60: The Island of Well Known Villains

In this episode as we near the end of 2013, TJ talks about the launch of MovieByte’s responsive redesign and he hopes you like it. Then moving on to real and fun news, ‘House of Cards’ Season 2 trailer dropped online earlier this week. The first season was one of the real TV delights of the year and TJ is really looking forward to season 2. Channing Tatum’s character Duke might be coming back for G.I. Joe 3 even though the character is dead? Is this a joke?!? This week was pretty much all about ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. As such, TJ wrote a review, talked for over an hour with three other guys on ‘The MovieByte Podcast’ about it, and released a video review as well. There’s a new film coming straight to TV about the ‘Descendants’ of well known Disney villains. Ho hum. Gilligan’s Island is on it’s way back to the big screen and will star Josh Gad. And this is why we can’t have nice things. Peter Jackson, Warner Bros. New Line Cinema, and The Tolkien Estate are all busy squabbling over rights and books and adaptions. This is also why we can’t have nice things. Hugh Jackman is being eyed for a role in the upcoming ‘Pan’ origin story. They would like him to play the part of Blackbeard. While TJ is not into yet another adaptation of Peter Pan, he’s all in on Jackman playing Blackbeard. And of course, find out what to see this weekend. And have a Merry Christmas!

Show Notes & Links

Responsive RedesignHere it is guys. This is the responsive redesign I’ve been talking about for a couple months. There is very little code reuse from the previous design. I’ve re-factored or re-wrote pretty much every line of code. There were two primary focuses with this redesign: Fully responsive, mobile first design More modern, less heavy desig
‘House of Cards’ Season 2 TrailerThe beginning of the trailer looks a little bit re-hashy, but don’t let that fool you. Brand new footage will begin to reveal itself just before the half-way mark. It’s funny how what is probably the most cinematic television show I have ever seen is brought to us by a completely digital delivery method of what is now a completely digital company. Season 2’s 13 episode run will be released simultaneously on February 14.
Channing Tatum’s Duke Might Be Back for ‘G.I. Joe 3’In Jon M. Chu’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the President of the United States (played by Jonathan Pryce), who is actually Zartan in disguise orders the United States military to kill the Joes. During the ambush Duke (played by Channing Tatum) is blown to smithereens while trying to get Flint (played D.J. Cotrona) to safety. So, that should be all for Duke, right? Maybe not. Jon M. Chu recently signed on to direct the next G.I. Joe film tells MTV News there is a shot Duke might rise from the grave.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — Reviewhe Hobbit trilogy is, I think, perhaps the ultimate fan fiction for the universe surrounding Middle Earth — that is to say, for The Lord of the Rings. Consider: why would one take a book less than 300 pages and make a trilogy out of it where with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, 3 books of about ~400 pages each were made into 3 films? If the same logic was applied to The Lord of the Rings filmmaking as we’re seeing here with The Hobbit, we’d have 9 films, 3 for each book. So what has happened here? Well, I’ll tell you: Peter Jackson is a fan boy of Middle Earth and he wanted to mix in some (a lot) of fan-fiction with the story of The Hobbit. While this is not altogether a bad thing, it is strange. I cannot recall any time previous that fan-fiction acheived such heights and blockbuster status.
The MovieByte Podcast #73: The Misty DVDTJ and Chad are joined this week by special guests Mike Fissel and Clark Douglas to talk about ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. But first, a Peter Pan origin story? Apparently so. No one on this podcast is quite sure they needed this, but whatever. And of course, your hosts must talk about A.V. Club’s 15 worse films of 2013. It seems everyone has something on this list to quibble with. But no one can agree on what that one film on this list is that shouldn’t be there. And of course be sure to find out all about the thoughts and opinions behind ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’. Is this just big-boy fan fiction or is there something more here? And what’s with Tauriel? Who’s she and why was a non-cannon character added to the ...