- North American moviegoers were hungry for Hannibal the Cannibal at the weekend.
"Hannibal," a thriller starring Sir Anthony Hopkins in a long-awaited follow-up to the 1991 hit "The Silence of the Lambs," grossed a record-breaking $58 million in its first three days of release in the United States and Canada, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
If the numbers hold when final data are issued on Monday, "Hannibal" will replace 2000's "Mission: Impossible II" ($57.9 million) as the third-highest bow in movie history, after 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" ($72 million) and 1999's "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace" ($64.8 million). It also set new records for a non-summer opening, an R-rated release and for a release by domestic distributor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
"I must confess I expected it to be big, but not this big," "Hannibal" producer Dino De Laurentiis told Reuters from Berlin.
Indeed most industry expectations were in the $35 million- $40 million range. MGM distribution president Larry Gleason said he had hoped to surpass the $42 million bow of the 2000 horror spoof "Scary Movie," which held the record for an R-rated release.
AUDIENCE LOVES THE VILLAIN
The film stars Hopkins as elegant cannibal Hannibal Lecter. When he's not disemboweling or dining on his hapless victims, he engages in a transatlantic cat-and-mouse game with FBI agent Clarice Starling, played by Julianne Moore. Jodie Foster played Starling in "Lambs," but opted not to return, reportedly because of the new film's violence. Ridley Scott ("Gladiator") directed. The original was directed by Jonathan Demme.
De Laurentiis, in Berlin for the film's screening on Sunday night at the German capital's annual film festival, said audiences have conferred hero status on Hannibal Lecter.
"When he's forced to kill, he kills somebody the audience wants to kill too," he said. "'Hannibal' is a picture in its own. It's a picture that will be remembered forever."
He said Hopkins, who received a $10 million-plus salary for "Hannibal," had asked to be in a sequel. This was confirmed by MGM's Gleason. Whereas "Silence" and "Hannibal" were based on novels by Thomas Harris, the new project would probably bypass the book stage and go straight to script, Gleason said.
As for the violent scenes, both De Laurentiis and Gleason noted that they were staged in an understated way with irony and humor.
"It's playing much more fun than violent, in a weird way," Gleason said. "There's a lot of nervous laughter (among the audience).
Although a genius on the battlefield, where he used surprise and maneuver to overcome the relatively small size of his force, I do not believe that Hannibal was an ethical leader. He did not always exhibit the essential intellectual traits of critical thinking, nor did he always enforce ethical standards. To clarify, Hannibal’s vision was for independence for territories. But based on some of his actions, the concept of ‘freedom for all’ was not a part of that vision. Hannibal exhibited the trait of intellectual hypocrisy; he didn’t hold himself to the same standards that he fought for when he was faced the ethical dilemma of feeding, equipping, and paying his troops for their service; or selling Roman captives into slavery. In an effort to take care of his men, he succumbed to the latter, after the failed attempt to negotiate a ransom with Rome. And so, Roman captives were sold to a local slave trader (Commire & Klezmer, 1994). Perhaps, he fell prey to ethical relativism, using this ethical trap as a way to justify the inconsistency between his thoughts and his actions. Or maybe he didn’t care; but we’ll never know. What we do know is that this lack of intellectual integrity is opposite of the behavior that is required of an ethical leader (CF03SG, 2013, p. 7). Most assuredly, his actions confused his team of warriors, and affected their view of his professional character, especially since non-Roman captives had been released to their respective countries.
The play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza begins with a simple set-up, four parents from different social classes coming together to discuss a dispute between their sons. As the play continues we see the characters slowly becoming less polite and civil as they start yelling at each other, getting piss drunk, and everyone’s favourite, vomiting. Throughout the play these characters are constantly being tested and judged. When Veronica and Michael attempt to show off their material possessions to the Raleighs they are given a metaphorical slap to the face as they physically ruin what the Novaks hold dear to them. In return the Novaks judge the Raleighs on their sense of righteousness and responsibility, the Raleighs social standing allowing them
As can be seen in exhibit to solution 2, we have estimated the per-film value of each production company. MCA Universal, Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Co are the only production companies that provide a positive per film value, with values of 9.89, 1.92, 12.56 million respectively. This value is calculated by dividing the net present value of all the movies by the total number of movies. We also calculated the average value of each production company based upon their share of the total number of movies produced. The companies with positive values were MCA Universal, Warner Brothers and Walt Disney Co is also the only production companies that provide a positive per film value, with values of 1.40, 0.37, 1.40 million respectively. These values are based on the average value per film multiplied by the company's average share of the industry.
The Hunger Games. Dir. Gary Ross. Perf. Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson. LionsGate, 2012. Netflix.
The saga has had a profitable history at movie theaters, bringing in over four billion dollars and ranking fifth in top grossing movie series. The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith are the only two movies that are still high enough to be in top 50 of the highest grossing movies ever. Inflation of American money does have to be taken into account though when dealing with movies dating back to the 1980’s. After considering
Inglourious Bastards. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. Perf. Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. The Weinstein Company, 2009. DVD.
It made $212m in its second weekend in the US. In my opinion, it's better to see a film without hearing too much about it beforehand. With The Passion I was expecting to be bored for the first hour while seeing Christ preaching to his followers and healing the sick, but Gibson didn't tire us all with that, he filmed it in an interesting way which pleasantly surprised me. In fact, I was very impressed with the opening scenes. Instead of showing us Jesus' life from birth to death, Gibson set the film at the last two days of his life while having the odd flashback to Jesus' earlier days.
a few awards. At one point it was among the top 20 films in the US – a
The Notebook. Dir. Nick Cassavetes. Pert. Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, Gena Rowlands. New Line Cinema, 2004. DVD.
In many ways, James Cameron’s Avatar closely resembles the common, safe “top-echelon” blockbuster described by David A. Cook in “Formative Industry Trends” (347). The film is definitely high concept; the plot is simple and easy to describe, is multi-genre, and relies on spectacle. It also featured saturation marketing, as was described by Jesse Algeron Rhines in “Blockbusters and Independents: 1975 to the Present” (414). There are Avatar books, video games, action figures, postage stamps, and even a future theme park (Cody). Marketing helped Avatar do exceedingly well in the box office, which is one requirement of a blockbuster according to Thomas Schatz in “The New Hollywood” (371).
Fox, Sarah. (2013, July 9) “Sony confirms ‘The Last of Us’ sales pass 3.4 million, fastest-selling PS3 title of 2013.” TheSlanted.com. Retrieved January 25 2014 from http://theslanted.com
Hannibal Lecter, revered psychiatrist and cannibal. She is sent to interview him by her superior, Jack Crawford, who is attempting to capture “Buffalo Bill” who murders and skins his victims, all female. Lecter gives her information about “Buffalo Bill” in exchange for information about herself. Lecter uses anagrams to provide discreet information leading to the identity of Buffalo Bill. He then escapes entrapment and Starling is able to find the newly identified Jame Gumb who is transgender and is using the skins he collects to make a woman suit. Starling shoots Gumb as he follows her through his dark basement and is able to free the woman that he is holding hostage.
Measuring the success of a film can be an incredibly subjective endeavor. However, analyzing a film’s ROI, or return on investment, can provide insight on how profitable a movie is. Horror films are the most
Moviemaking is a risky business, for it is not always profitable. Only one in ten films ever recovers its initial investment from theatrical exhibition. In fact, four out of ten movies never recoup the original investment. In 2000, the average studio film cost had a total cost of over $80 million per film. No other industry in the world risks that much capital to make, finance, produce ...
Few movies have been panned by critics but widely accepted by viewers across the nation. National Treasure is one of them. Even after receiving sub par reviews including only two stars from Roger Ebert, National Treasure won over the public, earning almost $350 million worldwide. Even though the movie is under the Walt Disney Company and has a PG rating, this movie is not just for children. Superb acting and action from beginning to end will keep people of all ages glued to their seat as they follow one man’s quest for a hidden treasure.