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1-20 of 109 articles from 2008   « Prev | Next »

6 July 2008 3:45 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

By Franck Tabouring

Weekend of July 4 – 6, 2008

Will Smith is still a box office hero!

The actor’s latest action adventure “Hancock” soared to the top of the North American box office this holiday weekend with $66 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Directed by Peter Berg and released by Sony Pictures, the film has grossed $107.3 million since its nationwide opening on Wednesday. “Hancock” stars Smith as a drunken superhero who agrees to team up with a PR guy (Jason Bateman) to restore his damaged image.

Last week’s box office champ “Wall-e” slipped to No. 2, earning $33.4 million and reaching a domestic total of $128.1 million after an impressive two-week run. Pixar Animation’s critically acclaimed adventure tells the story of a little robot who falls in love with a probe droid from outer space.

Franck Tabouring

5 July 2008 10:00 PM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

If Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is ever in need of a challenging (and well-paid) interior design job then he might want to take a crack at Will Smith's plush Hollywood mansion. Sadly, we've checked every phone book going and there's no sign of a number for the Fresh Prince. Fortunately for everyone's favourite foppish Changing Rooms presenter, Digital Spy has discovered a way that he can track down Will with a trip through the jungle, an '80s popstar and a film called Six Degrees Of Separation! Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen to... Kerry Katona - Whatever you do, don't mention reality TV celebs to Laurence. Despite featuring in his own fly-on-the-wall show for Living, he's not too impressed by "famous for being famous" reality stars, singling out Kerry Katona as a prime offender. "I feel aggravated by these whitebait (more)

By Simon Reynolds

3 July 2008 10:56 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Is Will Smith still a box office hero? We probably won’t know the answer to that until Sunday afternoon when we’ll get the five-day box office estimates, but for now, it’s looking like the actor’s latest flick “Hancock” is on the right track to score big bucks.

According to Variety, Peter Berg’s “Hancock” pulled in $17.3 million Wednesday. If you add the $6.8 million from Tuesday night’s preview screenings, the film reaches a current domestic total of $24.1 million.

Looking back at last year’s July 4 weekend, Michael Bay’s action hit “Transformers” took home $27.8 on opening day to bring its weekend total to an impressive $155.4 million. At this stage, it doesn’t look like “Hancock” is going to match that result.

The only other film to open nationwide this holiday weekend is “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl,” but I’m sure that’s not going to

Franck Tabouring

3 July 2008 1:15 PM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

Will Smith's box office power is well documented: His last eight movies have earned over $100 million each, and his last three - I Am Legend, The Pursuit of Happyness, and Hitch - have earned $1.25 billion worldwide. Right now, he's hotter than ever...and he has the whole weekend to himself.

Of course, Hancock was originally supposed to open on Friday, but they pushed back the release date within the past few days, so the movie officially opened Wednesday. Except that there were paid sneaks on Tuesday night. So...as of right now, Hancock has already made $24 million and change. That's not a bad number, but I don't get the move from an unopposed Friday to Tuesday night in the first place. All the move does is reward people who were really paying attention. Most people wouldn't go to a new movie on Tuesday anyway, because they're just not trained to.

Colin Boyd

3 July 2008 8:32 AM, PDT | From fantasymoguls.com | See recent Fantasy Moguls news

Sunday 9:00 a.m. (Pacific): Will Smith's Hancock, despite negative reviews and early box office prognosticators forecasting disaster, surged dramatically on Saturday to $26.1M (in my Friday report, I called for $26M), and Sony is expected another $19.1M today. That would give the Peter Berg-directed film an excellent $107.32M for its 5 1/2 day opening. By any reasonable measure this is an outstanding start for Hancock, especially given that it is a new character not based on a comic-book character or a toy line, like last year's Transformers. Even with a conservative 2.6 multiple (opening weekend multiplied by 2.6), the movie will reach $200M domestic. Even though competing studios have been "spinning" Hancock as a disappointment, any of them would be thrilled to have a $200M hit on their slate. Wall-e (Disney), Pixar's latest masterpiece, scored another $33.41M over the 3-day for a new cume of $128.13M. That gives the lonely.

Steve Mason

3 July 2008 4:11 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Will Smith was disappointed he missed out on an Oscar for his role in The Pursuit Of Happyness - because he was convinced it was "my time".

The star has received two Best Actor Academy Award nominations to date - for Ali in 2001, and again for the 2006 drama.

He was beaten to the podium in 2002 by Denzel Washington - for his role in the critically-acclaimed Training Day - and he and lost out to Forest Whitaker's Last King of Scotland portrayal at the 2007 Academy Awards.

But Smith admits it was Whitaker's win that upset him the most.

He says, "Denzel took it for Training Day; fantastic film. When you can get nominated and invited to the (Oscars) party, it's huge. (But) I can always tell when things aren't right for me at the time; I didn't feel like that was the time.

"But, for Pursuit of Happyness, I actually felt like it was my time and I still didn't win it! I was like, 'Hey, it's my time! Wait, hold on, that other boy's taken my thing!'"

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2 July 2008 12:45 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Seen on: July 2, 2008

The players: Director: Peter Berg, Writers: Vince Gilligan, Vincent Ngo, Cast: Will Smith, Jason Bateman, Eddie Marsan and Charlize Theron

Facts of interest: The film was formely known as "Tonight, He Comes."

The plot: A drunken superhero meets an optimistic PR guy who offers to help him repair his damaged image in the community.

Our thoughts: Much like the people in “Hancock” who deserve a better hero, we deserve a better movie. Peter Berg’s big-budget Will Smith vehicle kicks off with a promising concept, but a sudden twist and a clear lack of new ideas in the script eventually turn the movie into a nearly indescribable mess. It’s unfortunate really, because with a little more effort from the screenwriting department, the film could have turned out a lot better.

Franck Tabouring

2 July 2008 11:03 AM, PDT | From GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news

Hancock

Starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman, and Charlize Theron

Directed by Peter Berg

Rated Pg-13

It makes sense to have Will Smith save the day in Hancock. After all, he's played superhero plenty of times in his career, coming to the rescue for average movies with average casts to turn them into something considerably more with his special super power: Charm.

Of course, Hancock is something else entirely. Here, Smith plays an actual superhero who is devoid of charm, unrepentant about his bad attitude and the property damage he invariably causes while in the line of duty, and a generally unlikable guy.

Hancock is the only one of his kind. We are not peopled with too many superheroes. In fact, unlike the worlds of Superman and Batman, where cities like Gotham and Metropolis fill in for New York, Hancock takes place today in Los Angeles, a city that desperately needs a superhero.

Colin Boyd

2 July 2008 10:45 AM, PDT | From fantasymoguls.com | See recent Fantasy Moguls news

Wednesday 9:00 a.m. (Pacific): Just got off the phone with a competing studio, and they report that Hancock (Sony), starring the world's biggest movie star Will Smith, is off to a spectacular start. Despite lukewarm-to-negative reviews (only 34% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), the new superhero movie for the TMZ/Perez Hilton generation delivered an estimated $6.8M in Tuesday night previews, starting at 7pm.

Steve Mason

2 July 2008 10:37 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Additional reviews for Hancock, starring Will Smith, are appearing today (Wednesday) following the movie's release in some cities Tuesday night. And, for the most part, they are no more enthusiastic than the initial ones. Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post writes that the movie "turns out to be one of the strangest freak shows to arrive since the mermaid, the monkey-faced boy and Rip the wonder peanut. In fact, the most powerful amusement it generates is trying to figure out what thinking went behind it, what executive leap of faith justified its reportedly $150 million budget." Like other critics Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun, enjoyed the opening of the film but was disappointed with the rest of it and particularly the ending twist. "If only they had found a way to untwist their story, they might have come up with an ending that didn't leave audiences feeling screwed," he writes. And Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle concludes: "Hancock is more intelligent than most summer blockbusters and features at its center a thought-out and committed performance by Will Smith. But in the end it's merely almost good."

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1 July 2008 9:12 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

I won’t see Peter Berg’s “Hancock” until tomorrow morning, but so far I’ve only heard bad stuff about the new Will Smith vehicle. I’ll be posting my review sometime tomorrow afternoon, but for now, let’s see what the online critics have to say about the drunk superhero. As usual, click on the links below to read the full reviews.

• Cinemablend’s Josh Tyler: “Hancock is a bunch of strange, vague ideas crammed into a movie with nowhere to go and absolutely nothing to show us.”

• Brad Brevet over at Ropeofsilicon.com says “Will Smith never looks comfortable as the character John Hancock. Not in the opening sequence when he puckers his lips for - is it comedic effect? - or when he is strutting down the street in his superhero skin tight suit.”

• At Cinematical, Kim Voynar: “Overall though, in spite of its flaws,

Franck Tabouring

1 July 2008 2:16 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

From the moment Hancock first introduces Will Smith as a drunken, glowering, foul-mouthed superhero, it seems clear that he's eventually going to rehabilitate himself into the charming version of Will Smith, the one who became famous on the strength of wisecracks and a famously infectious grin. The movie telegraphs that change in the trailer and even in the first half-hour of action, as Smith's hostile hero—who frequently causes millions of dollars in damages while sloppily foiling crimes in Los Angeles—meets PR man Jason Bateman, who offers him a major public-image makeover. But the obvious never happens. Instead, Hancock takes off at right angles, essentially turning into M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable, as seen through the big action lens of modern superhero movies like Iron Man and the Spider-Man series. Like Shyamalan's movies, Hancock leans clumsily on a twisted, complicated mythology that's revealed in awkward chunks just in time to become.

Tasha Robinson

1 July 2008 10:29 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Although Will Smith has become as visible on an Independence Day weekend as the American flag, he may be facing a bit of a challenge this weekend if early reviews of his latest movie, Hancock, is any indication. The movie opens at midnight tonight in many major cities, and several critics are posting their reviews today (Tuesday). "This movie fails so spectacularly -- and on so many levels -- that it's like watching a train plummet off a bridge," writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post. Smith himself gets a pass from critics for his portrayal of an alcoholic everyman with superpowers who has little interest in saving humanity -- a kind of super anti-hero. "It's a strange feeling to see the summer's most promising premise self-destruct into something bizarre and unsatisfying, but that is the Hancock experience," writes Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. Or as Claudia Puig puts it in USA Today: "The finished product is so poorly conceived and misguided that even Will Smith, with all his charm, can't save it." Likewise Michael Phillips comments in the Chicago Tribune: "Not even Smith's charisma can mitigate the chaos that is Hancock." Nevertheless, the film does get a few so-so reviews. Peter Howell writes in the Toronto Star: "Hancock is still worth seeing, if only for a glimpse of what might have been a truly innovative idea." And Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gives the movie three stars and concludes that it's "a lot of fun, if perhaps a little top-heavy with stuff being destroyed."

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1 July 2008 9:30 AM, PDT | From PEOPLE.com | See recent PEOPLE.com news

Forget the free popcorn. There was an extra-special added bonus to the Hancock premiere in Hollywood Monday night: an impromptu show from leading man Will Smith and his old partner in rap, DJ Jazzy Jeff. "I'm out of shape – I'm playing an out of shape superhero here," Smith, 39, said on a stage surrounded by carefully wrecked cars, "prison-cage" private lounges and a moon bounce for the kids. But Smith seemed anything but winded in the party space outside Hollywood High School as he performed many of his hit songs, including the theme from the TV show that launched him to stardom,

Scott Huver and Michael Y. Park

1 July 2008 3:18 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Will Smith has revealed that his successful career was inspired by an ex-girlfriend who cheated on him. The actor admitted that he became determined to do well after having his heart broken when he was 15. He has since starred in several blockbuster movies and found happiness with his wife Jada Pinkett. "My first girlfriend cheated on me when I was 15 years old, and I processed in my mind that she cheated on me because I was not good enough," Smith (more)

By Daniel Kilkelly

30 June 2008 10:23 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Sony's "experiment," in which it plans to stream Hancock, starring Will Smith, to Internet-connected Bravia TV-set owners immediately after its theatrical run (and before it is released on DVD), may set the stage for companies to bypass traditional content distributors like networks, cable TV, and satellite companies, the New York Times indicated today (Monday). The newspaper quoted Sony Cfo Robert Wiesenthal as saying, "The Internet is not only a great place to reach Web sites, but it's also a great way to deliver conventional content. And at the end of the day, it's about getting entertainment back into the living room." But while Sony may be using its film studio and consumer electronics units to experiment with new ways of delivering home entertainment, it is unlikely that it can corner the market in that area, the Times article suggested. It noted that following Sony's announcement, Pali research analyst Richard Greenfield wrote, "While the content offered is only from Sony today, we expect other studios to follow if consumer interest becomes apparent."

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30 June 2008 8:00 AM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

Will Smith, of Fresh Prince, Hancock, putting his kids in movies, and "Ha Ha I'm not a Scientologist!" fame is opening a new private school in California for some reason. According to this article, and the school's website, here's what that school is going to be like: 1. It's a normal school, with a totally normal, non-scientology-sounding name, that just happens to be funded by a movie star: Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have founded the New Village Academy, scheduled to open in September. 2. It's a place where kids of all backgrounds can come together and learn in a way that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard would have approved of: The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church. 3. A school...

30 June 2008 8:00 AM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

Will Smith, of Fresh Prince, Hancock, putting his kids in movies, and "Ha Ha I'm not a Scientologist!" fame is opening a new private school in California for some reason. According to this article, and the school's website, here's what that school is going to be like: 1. It's a normal school, with a totally normal, non-scientology-sounding name, that just happens to be funded by a movie star: Will Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, have founded the New Village Academy, scheduled to open in September. 2. It's a place where kids of all backgrounds can come together and learn in a way that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard would have approved of: The school will use instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called study technology. And a few teachers belong to the church. 3. A school...

30 June 2008 7:46 AM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Neil Pedley

This 4th of July week finds Will Smith's belligerent man of steel sending the rest of the summer tentpole movies running scared, leaving only the indies to offer any alternative.

"Brutal Massacre"

Does the horror genre need its own "This Is Spinal Tap"? Ready or not, here comes "Brutal Massacre," a mockumentary comedy about a once-successful horror director (played by "An American Werewolf in London"'s David Naughton) attempting to make his big comeback film against increasingly insurmountable odds. Be on the lookout for appearances by Gunnar Hansen ("The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"'s Leatherface), Ellen Sandweiss ("The Evil Dead") and other horror movie stalwarts.

Opens in limited release.

"Diminished Capacity"

Terry Kinney made a name for himself as Tim McManus, the idealistic but world-weary warden of Emerald City in the hard-hitting prison drama "Oz." "Diminished Capacity," his debut as a director, also finds Matthew Broderick

Neil Pedley

30 June 2008 5:22 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

A school funded by actor Will Smith has denied that it will be teaching Scientology lessons. The New Village Academy in LA, which was founded by Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, insisted it would be a "secular school". Academy director Jacqueline Olivier said: "Just like all nonreligious independent schools, faculty and staff do not promote their own religions at school or pass on the beliefs of their particular faith to children." The educational establishment opens in (more)

By Alex Fletcher

1-20 of 109 articles from 2008   « Prev | Next »