Just about every decade has one film that brings all of the hot young talent together for one big project. The 1990′s launched with Flatliners filling this hole, so it makes perfect sense it should be remade!

Excuse me while I go bang my head on a desk.

Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin and Oliver Platt, Flatliners was directed by Joel Schumacher who went on to a disastrous career directing trainwrecks like Batman & Robin.  The story of medical students experimenting with killing themselves to see what was on the other side and then bringing themselves back – and in turn bringing something back from the other side – was ok, but it was definitely secondary to the cast that had been put together.

For whatever reason Columbia Pictures feels this is screaming out for a remake.  I have no clue why, and somehow I suspect no one else gets it.  It isn’t like there are tons of aspiring writers out there with great scripts just dying to get their big break, but the better idea is just to keep remaking everything under the sun.

We aren’t even remaking big hits any more, we’re just remaking everything under the sun.  At this rate they’re going to have start remaking the remakes because they ran out of stuff to take on.  You know we’ll be at the point when someone decides to remake Xanadu … oh wait, that got turned into a Broadway show.  Does that count?

Supposedly Dancing With the Stars wanted to go more towards A-List celebrities this time around, but apparently they use a different alphabet then the rest of the world.

Apparently they decided to go with a mixture of people who USED to be on the A-List, and then add in some people you’ll be left scratching your head about until they eventually get voted off the show.  There’s a few easy picks for early eliminations, and a couple that might stick around … you know, like every other season of the show.

The professional partners for each dancer will be announced on Aug. 31st and I;ll make sure to update this past as soon as they are announced.

• David Arquette – Actor and part of the fairly eccentric Arquette family.
• Ron Artest – Mandatory male sports star of the season.  At least this time he’s a basketball player.
• Chaz Bono – Son of Cher and Sonny Bono, transgender rights activist.  (Now legally a man, Chaz was born a girl)
• Elisabetta Canalis – Model and former girlfriend of George Clooney.
• Kristin Cavallari – Actress … and I use the term loosely.
• Nancy Grace – The insanely irritating “legal expert.”
• Rob Kardashian - Yes, those Kardashians.
• Carson Kressley – Fashion expert and formerly of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
• Ricki Lake – Actress and former talk show host.
• J.R. Martinez - Severely burned soldier from Iraq who is now a motivational speaker and actor on All My Children.  Definitely who I am rooting for.
• Chynna Phillips – Actress and singer
• Hope Solo – Goalie for the U.S. Women’s Soccer team.

The Help was crowned champion of the weekend once again, and it wasn’t all due to a hurricane.

Once again the the drama about the race relations between African-American employees and their white employers fended off three newcomers to win the weekend.  In its fourth weekend of release, The Help brought in an estimated $14.3 million to take first place.

While it was able to hold off the newcomers, it looks like it was a combination of weak new releases, and Hurricane Irene keeping people out of the theaters.  This ended up being the second weakest weekend of the year, coming in only behind Superbowl weekend.

Coming in second was the female-driven action film Colombiana with $10.3 million. This was a better showing for an action film starring Zoe Saldana, best known for playing Uhura in the 2009 Star Trek.

Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark came in with just $8.7 million, and a fairly weak stat for the horror genre.

In fourth place was Rise of the Planet of the Apes with around $8.65 million, adding to its winning ways of the past several weeks. Considering the number of new releases that have come out since its initial release, the fact that its held on this strongly is a good sign.

Round out the top 5 was the Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother. It only brought in $6.58 million off of a $5 million dollar budget. Factor in marketing costs and it still has a ways to go.

Notice that none of last weeks new releases held on to the top 5. Spy Kids 4 fell nearly 51% to land in sixth place with $5.7 million. Conan the Barbarian landed in eighth with a 69.1% decline to bring in a laughable $3.1 million. Despite landing in ninth place wih just over $3 million, Fright Night fared better as it only dropped off about 60% from its previous showing.

The only release for next weekend is The Debt, so it definitely looks like we are leaving the thrill of the summer releases.  Barring something highly unusual happening, I have a feeling The Help will enjoy a third weekend at the top.

I continue to find interesting videos of the  Japan Earthquake-Tsunami of March 11, but this may be one of the scariest yet.

While there have been some shocking videos of the event to be sure, this one was filmed from inside a car in Sendai City as the earthquake happened and the tsunami water poured into the city.  It isn’t clear to me if this person stayed with the car as this was a dash-mounted, but from the way the video ends, I don’t believe they did.  All I can assume is this was retrieved when the car was later found.

This will certainly make sure I never question the power of water again.

Please remember you can help by checking out the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Relief. It has been over a month since the tragic events of March 11th, but they still need our help.

A total of 28 this week.

FunJug.com

• Baby Impersonates Freddie Mercury
• Google Plus Trailer (The Social Network Parody)
• A Very Safe Russian Slide
• Mooing Dog
• Cop Hit by Stolen Car, Still Chases Thief
• My Drunk Kitchen, Ep. 9: Latkes!
• Saturday Shorts: How Much Affection?

SeanPAune.com

• TEPCO Apologizes and Shates Video From Inside Fukushima Daiichi
• The Help Helped Beat Down the New Releases
• Yes, the Foreign Box Office Does Matter
• So Long, Steve
• New Star Trek TV Series Being Prepped
• Scattercast Episode #159: Steve Jobs
• Deadman Series Being Developed for The CW

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Ask The Buffalo: Motorola Nexus Phone? .. WebOS Dead?!
• Meet Jon Rettinger in London on August 24th
• Ask the Buffalo: August 23rd Edition
• Thank You to All Who Attended the London Meetup!
• Can Apple Survive Without Steve Jobs?
• What’s The Apps: Pro HDR Camera
• Tim Cook E-Mails Apple Employees to Assure Them “Apple is not going to change”
• Microsoft Shows Off a Quad-Core Slate, May Run Windows 8
• Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T, Sprint & T-Mobile Image Leaks Early
• Preparing Your Electronics for Hurricane Irene Checklist
• Rumor Roundup : Invasion of the Summer Phones! (And a Tablet, Too)
• Minecraft 1.8 Features Detailed at PAX
• Motorola Fire Gets Shown Off in a Video for the U.K.
• White iPod Touch Coming This Year? (photo)

In an effort to fill the hole left by the end of Smallville, The CW is working on developing a series based on the DC Comics character Deadman.

According to Deadline, Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is currently readying a development treatment for a Deadman series that will follow the original stories from DC Comics.  For those of you unfamiliar with the character, which is probably 99.9% of you as who ranks as a D list character as best, Deadman was a man named Boston Brand who was killed while he was a well-known trapeze artists.

Upon his death, a made up Hindu Goddess gave him the power to possess the living to try to find his killer.  Along the way he ends up helping other people he jumps through.  After finally finding his killer he continues with helping others.

If this sounds like a mixture of The Crow and Quantum Leap, well, yeah, kinda, except Deadman first appeared in 1967.  Most people would never realize this and think that a TV series based on the character was a rip off, but he actually did come first.

Beyond that, I can almost see this working as a TV series 20 years ago, but these days, and with The CW involved, I have nothing but reservations.  This is a network known for producing half-assed television shows, so I see this being nothing more than another of their excuses to make an over dramatic piece of tripe.  I’m sure they’ll throw in a love interest, lots of longing shots, musical montages … you know, just like Smallville.

Of all the characters in the DC Universe, and this is the one they pick to make into a series?  DC never ceases to amaze me.

It’s episode #159 and Scattercast is feeling like being analytical..

An entire episode about Steve Jobs leaving the role of CEO of Apple.  Wasn’t what I planed, but just the way it worked out.

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Are you ready for a sixth Star Trek TV series? Apparently some people think we are.

Multiple sources are reporting that David Foster, a writer/producer who used to work on Battlestar Galactica, has gone to CBS with a pitch for a sixth Star Trek television series.  Despite the fact that J.J. Abrams 2009 film set up an alternative timeline that completely ignored the five television series and numerous movies in the franchise, but apparently this new concept is set in the time after Star Trek: Voyager, the fourth series and the one that pushed the timeline the furthest into the future.

Apparently the new series will continue along the original timeline and ignore the new film chronology.  Not a big deal, it did seem silly to me to throw out decades of history so, sure, why not, go ahead and run two different timelines.

How close is this to reality?  “The series concept is fully developed, subject to change, of course, with a solid 5- to 7- year series plan, pilot script and conceptualized finale that intends to define Star Trek for generations,” Foster told The New York Post.  A pilot script has been completed and far more development than your normal pitch, but the official presentation has still yet to happen.

Will it get to air?  Who knows.  Mr. Foster says that this series will return more to the original roots of the series than some of the later incarnations did.  You can interpret that a lot of different ways, but my hopes is it will be less about technobabble and how many ridges the make-up department can fit on a nose, and more about telling actual stories and morality tales.

One of the biggest concerns is that apparently the concept focuses on younger characters, so I’m fearful we may get “Teen Drama in Space,” but we’ll just have to wait to see.

Does this mean I may finally have to update my “Who is the Best Star Trek Captain” post?

I’ve known this day was coming for some time, but it still didn’t stop my jaw from going a bit slack when it finally happened.

Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple.

I have had my issues with Apple over the years, and even now that I have seemingly converted my computer loving ways over to the all mighty iMac, one thing you would never hear me do is say a negative word about former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.  Say what you will about the company’s products, but there is no denying that the man is a business genius.  What he has done with Apple is nothing short of amazing, and I truly believe that some day in the not so distant future, there will be entire business courses taught around some of his decisions.

While he is not completely leaving the company it seems, it will still be odd to not think of him calling all of the shots on a day to day basis.  Steve Jobs has been Apple for so many years that they have become one and the same.  While I can name most of the executives at Apple (because it’s my job), I doubt many other people can.

Thank you, Steve for all you have done.  Thank you for your part in changing the world and the industry I love.

Just … thank you.

A lot of times when you see box office results, the only one that seems to matter is the United States, but with just about everything else in the world these days, there is a big world out there that also matters.

As I have said a countless number of times, for a movie to be considered a success in the United States it needs to gross double its budget to take into account advertising, distribution, prints and more. So why would a movie that cost $40 million to make and only made $28 million in the United States be getting a sequel? Because it did $160.5 million worldwide.  And that, folks, is how Johnny English Reborn came into being.

The original Johnny English was the creation of Rowan Atkinson of Mr. Bean fame and came out in 2003.  While he has had great success in the realm of television, this was a rare incursion strictly into the world of film for the beloved comedian.  While $160.5 isn’t huge, it’s a profit, and depending on the cost of the sequel, it’s almost assured to be another success.

It makes me wonder, while the lion’s share of box office returns may come from the U.S., are we becoming less important?  Just take a look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 and it’s rise to the third highest grossing film of all time.  While it has made a healthy $366.6 million in the U.S., it has hit $901 million internationally.  While the biggest concentration comes from the U.S., it really didn’t need us.

This is something I plan on watching a bit closer.  Until then, enjoy the trailer for Johnny English Reborn.

There are bad weekends in the movie business, and then there are BAD WEEKENDS.  Anyone want to guess which one this one was?

It’s rare for a movie to rise to the #1 spot after multiple weeks on the chart, but that’s exactly what happened with The Help this weekend when it pulled in $20.5 million.  It slid only 21% from last weekend, which is impressive for any film these days, but in three weekends the movie has pulled in a total of $71.8 million off of a $25 million budget, it is well into the profit region.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes fell 41.4% to $16.5 million and now sits at $133.7 million for a domestic total.  Not too shabby, and the fact it hasn’t fallen further probably only strengthens the sequel talk that has already been circulating.

It’s in the number three region of the list that the bloodbath that was this weekend kicks in.  The top new release of the was Spy Kids 4 with an anemic $12 million. Despite it’s somewhat modest budget of $27 million, it’s going to have a hard time hitting the $54 million needed to consider it a success. Why this series even came back is beyond me, but the box office numbers definitely prove out that I was not alone in my confusion.

Conan the Barbarian landed with a thud in fourth place with $10 million.  Seeing as it had a $90 million budget, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see some news today of some executives being shown the door.  Jason Momoa in the title role always seemed a tad odd to me as he has no marquee titles to his name, and it’s doubtful anyone outside of Stargate: Atlantis fans even know who he is.

Coming in fifth was The Smurfs.  As if it wasn’t bad enough a couple weeks ago when it looked like this movie had beaten Cowboys & Aliens, this week the little blue creatures claimed another big name victim in the form of Fright Night. The kid friendly film pulled in another $8 million compared to the horror movie remake’s paltry $7.9 million. (I expect the final numbers to shift slightly)  Fright Night only had a $30 million dollar budget, but good luck making that back with this sort of debut.

If this weekend teaches us anything, it is next to impossible to predict what movie goes are in the mood for.  You could say remakes are now the kiss of death, but can’t you technically say then that Rise of the Planet of the Apes shouldn’t be doing so well?  Overall, something is afoot at the box office, and it’s time for the studios to be taking a few more lessons from these failures.

Next week will see three new releases, but none of them look like the type to take the box office by storm. Colombiana, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and Our Idiot Brother all look set to ring out the end of the summer with a full thud.

Ever since the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami of March 11, Tokyo Electric Power company (TEPCO) has remained rather quiet about how things are going at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

The Japanese are not known for their desire to lose “face”, so to make admissions of fault sometimes take longer than we’re used to here in the West, but at times, you have to wonder about the person who ends up giving the apology is the one to do so.  In this case, it is the general manage of the plant. Masao Yoshida,  who is shown int he below YouTube video apologizing to the people of Fukushima, and explaining where they are in their clean-up of the nuclear waste.  While I understand this was the man in charge at the time of the disaster, he was certainly not the man who designed the power station or made the decisions on how much it could withstand.  I’m also not sure there was much he could have done to stop a combination of an earthquake and tsunami that actually shifted the entire planet on its axis.  Yes, it’s good to finally get some insight as to what is happening there, but I don’t think we can put too much blame on this guy.

In general, things are not good.  While repairs and containment continue, the residents of the region are moving out in droves – and who can blame them – the economy is devastated and radiation is showing up in the food chain now.  No matter what they do at the plant at this point, damage has been done that will impact the entire country for years to come.  Having people show up on video to apologize is just the way of the Japanese, but it seems pretty useless.  I was in Tokyo in 2001 during the anniversary of the surrender to the United States, and despite nearly 60 years having passed at that point, I was shocked to see the prime minister issuing the annual apology for the war and the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Um … okay, apology accepted … I think we can move on now.

Still, with only a little over five months having passed since March 11, this video at least gives us some insights, but at the same time makes you realize just how much is still left to do.

Please remember you can help by checking out the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Relief. It has been over a month since the tragic events of March 11th, but they still need our help.