This Weekends Movie News – Whats Hot This Weekend, What Happened Last Weekend

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The Fourth Kind...They Faked It

Well, this didn’t come as too much of a surprise.  It wouldn’t be the first time that a movie said to be “based on a true story” turned out to be complete hogwash.

So, here is the deal:

Universal Pictures is paying $20,000 to the Alaska Press Club to quell the many complaints they are receiving about the falsified news archives that were created to hype of the movie “The Fourth Kind”.

It was an Anchorage lawyer who negotiated the fee (I would have tried to go for more….haha).  The name of the lawyer was John McKay, and part of his argument was that the fake news stories were undermining the credibility of news organizations.

In case you didn’t know, The Fourth Kind was supposed to be based on a true story about strange events that took place in Nome, Alaska.  In this day and age of avid internet users, they knew that as soon as people heard that it was based on a true story that they would take to their keyboards to see just what happened (or if anything happened) in Nome.  They knew that Google had better have some interesting stories to return to those “Googlers” looking for the scoop.

To make sure that people found something, they went and falsified online news articles that went on to describe a wave of alien abductions that took place in Nome, Alaska over ten years ago.  The reason that they were sued isn’t JUST because the stories were completely fake…but also because of how they appeared on the web.

The stories they posted appeared to be from real and legitimate Alaska news sites…but they weren’t.  The stories and the sites were all made just for the purpose of hyping up this movie.

They even went so far as to include a fake obituary and full news story about the death of the main character that appears in the movie “Dr. William Tyler”, and the articles appeared to be from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, which is an Alaskan news publication.

I’ve got to say, this is pretty disappointing as I did want to believe that it was possible this movie was based on a true story.  While it is disappointing, it certainly isn’t surprising.  Movie companies nowadays will do pretty much anything to make their movies huge…regardless of the backlash that is inevitable, especially when using underhanded tactics such as this.

Read the full story about The Fourth Kind Fake.

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I really don’t understand it…there must have been some paranormal activity going on at the box office, because Paranormal Activity was the top weekend movie this weekend.  Overall, this was actually a terrible weekend for any movie to open….laughable actually.

Paranormal Activity is the Top Weekend Movie

There were so many things that I thought could have happened at this weekends movies, but I seriously never thought that this was even an option.  Somehow, Paranormal Activity took the number one spot at the box office this weekend.  Here is how everything played out:

1:  Paranormal Activity:  Grossed an estimated $22 million.   More than last weekend.  And this movie opened over 4 weeks ago.  I saw it and thought it was a terrible movie.  I really just don’t get it.

2:  Saw VI:  Grossed $14.8 million.  Comparing that to every other Saw movie opening (none of which EVER grossed less than $30 million on an opening weekend) I have to say that is pretty awful.  Obviously, Paranormal Activity was leeching would-be Saw movie goers.  They really should have re-thought that decision, as this years Saw movie is actually being better received than last years Saw V.

3:  Where the Wild Things Are:  Held its own and took the number 3 spot.

4:  Law Abiding Citizen:  Again, holding its own and not dropping very far from its opening weekend spot.

5:  Couples Retreat:  I don’t understand it…I really don’t.  There were just so many great options, and somehow this movie is still appearing in the top 5 movies of the weekend.

That means NONE of the other opening movies of this weekend managed to make it into the top 5!!

The only film that opened this weekend that made it into the top 5 was Saw 6!  There were FOUR  new movies that opened this weekend and only ONE made it!

Astro Boy only managed to bring in almost $7 million.  I never expected this movie to be a blockbuster or anything, but to not make it into the top 5 surprises me a bit.  I guess families were simply choosing Where the Wild Things Are as their family friendly flick of the weekend.

The Vampire’s Assistant brought in an absolutely awful $6 million (just over that actually).  This I guess isn’t too much of a surprise.  It really just didn’t have much appeal, other than those who might have wanted to see a movie that looks like a spoof on the Twilight movie series.

Amelia, the last new opening movie this weekend, brought in…are you ready for this?  A staggering (staggeringly low that is) $4 million.  There isn’t anything to even say…that just sucks.

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My guess is, this weekends movies just had too many competing movies vying for its own viewers.  You had a couple head-to-head match ups where one just didn’t stand a chance over the other.

You had the Astro Boy vs. Where the Wild Things Are

There was Paranormal Activity vs. Saw 6

Then there were the movies that didn’t really fall into a genre at all, and maybe were just hoping to bring in viewers based on star power or buzz.  The thing is, that only works when you don’t already have so many decent movies at the box office to compete with.

All in all, this wasn’t a very good weekend to choose your movie to open on.

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The Top Weekend Movie Honor for This Weekends Movies Goes to…

Where the Wild Things Are Banner

Where the Wild Things Are!!

Spike Jonez who has arguably ceased to ever make a bad film, has continued his legacy.  This weekends movie “Where the Wild Things Are” took this weekends top movie spot bringing in $32.5 million in ticket sales…pretty awesome stuff.  To be honest though, it really isn’t a surprise.  As I said in this post about Where the Wild Things Are, I kind of saw this movie coming out on top.

It just had everything going for it.  I mean, it has the immediate benefit of just plain looking spectacular in the trailers…which draws in the kids.  The real kicker though is this…those same kids who probably didn’t even know this movie is based on a book have parents…parents who have read and remember this book from their childhood.  So the parents wanted to take their kids to see this movie this weekend…and I don’t blame them.  I don’t even have kids and I want to see this movie.

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So, what was a suprise at this weekends movies?  Paranormal Activity.  I guess I shouldn’t say it is a surprise so much as it is just plain awesome.  Why is it awesome?  Alright, I’ll stop with the rhetorical questions.  It is awesome because this movie moved up a spot from last weekend.  Plain old movie buzz and just being a good movie managed to actually take this movie, which finished 4th at the box office last weekend, and bring it up to the number 3 spot for a total haul in of just over $20 million (just this weekend mind you).

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That leaves us with Law Abiding Citizen, which took in just over $21 million this weekend at the box office leaving it in 2nd place.  Now, think about this for a second.  In Law Abiding Citizen you’ve got Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, a ton of advertising and the fact that it is this movies opening weekend (usually the strongest weekend for any movie) and it took it just over $21 million.  Paranormal Activity has NO STARS whatsoever, was shot on an ultra low budget and this weekend was its second weekend at the box office…and it took in almost the same dollar amount as Law Abiding Citizen!

I don’t mean to harp on Paranormal Activity or anything, but as a movie lover, you’ve got to love it when you see a movie do well simply because it is a good movie (although I don’t think anybody can argue that it didn’t have a great advertising campaign…but for it to stick after the movies wide release, the movie must be good).

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Lying in bed...afraid.

I’m not sure if Paranormal Activity will be able to take the number one spot out of all this weekends movies.  For it to be the top weekend movie, it has a lot it has to beat out…including a ton of “star power”.

You’ve got Gerard Butler in “Law Abiding Citizen”, Penn Badgley in “The Stepfather” and you’ve got that very impressive looking “Where the Wild Things Are”.

So, it looks like a battle… Movie Buzz vs. Movie Brawn

Does the buzz of Paranormal Activity have the power to beat out all the brawn brought to this weekends movies by the aforementioned topics and characters?

Even if it doesn’t, the movie is definitely a story of “David and Goliath”.  The movie which has been shot on an ultra low budget (no specifics really, but numbers ranging from $11,000 to almost $20,000 have been thrown around), managed to rake in 7.1 million last weekend.

You can do the math on what kind of a truly massive profit that is…good for them.

This is definitely a movie I’ll be going to see, that much is for sure.

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Michael Jacksons This Is It Movie Poster

Download Michael Jackson’s This Is It Movie

The link to download it is here: This Is It

All the people that purchased tickets to Michael Jacksons sold out show in London were “left out in the cold” upon his death.  He was claiming that concert as “This Is It” and that people were going to be blown away by something they had never seen before.

This movie is supposed to be some sort of “closure” in a way for them.  It is all behind the scenes footage of Michael Jackson rehearsing for his “This Is It” concert.

The trailer for it looks amazing, and no doubt they put this movie together well, as it will surely be part of his lasting legacy.  If you’re going to choose to download this instead of seeing it theaters, the best possible place to download it has been provided below.

Considering “This Is It” will only be in theaters for a VERY SHORT two weeks, there will probably be a lot of people looking to download This Is It if they miss the opportunity to go see it in theaters.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see people crying in the movie theaters…Michael Jackson’s die hard fans are well known to be very dedicated to him.

This movie will no doubt end up being a sell out movie…  I can’t say that I am personally a big fan of his work, but even I am tempted to go and see this.  Hopefully this movie will help to overshadow some of the latter parts of his life that got such huge publicity…things that weren’t because of his amazing work.

Either way, everybody knows and will remember Michael Jackson as the absolute king of pop.  Hopefully the This Is It movie will make sure that nobody can tarnish his reputation…now, or in the future.

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Gerard Butler is quite literally going to “bare all” for his role in this weekends “Law Abiding Citizen”

Gerard Butler is Going to Bare All This Weekend

In a recent interview, Gerard Butler talked about how he “loves to show his bare rear end” because he considers it his finest asset.  He even talks about how it has become a bit of a challenge for him trying to figure out just how he is going to manage to do it in each film he stars in.

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Check out this excerpt one of Gerards comments from the interview: “I love to show my rear end in roles. I fear it’s becoming a bit of a habit, a tradition that I have to show my bottom in every movie that I can,”

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So, does that mean that is why he is going to show not only his bottom, but go completely “bare” for his role in this weekends Law Abiding Citizen?  Apparently, no, it isn’t.

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Him “taking it all off” is neither for ratings or his need to show it all.  It was to actually keep in character for his role in this movie.

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Also, be prepared to see a “bulkier” Gerard as he also mentions he was inspired by Al Pacino in “Taxi Driver” to bulk up a bit.

Read the full article about Gerard baring it all here.