Adding to the potential pain felt by Transformers fans by the news coming that Michael Bay may be heading up a Transformers 4, there may be a fifth installment on the way as well.

According to Variety Paramount is looking into filming the next two Transformers films back-to-back to cut down on production costs and allow the makers of the bazillion licensed goods to get going on all of the items children will be begging their parents for.

Shia LaBeouf has said he won’t return for any more movies in the series, which means we will miss out on this sort of great acting.

In his place it has been rumored for some time that Jason Statham may be joining the franchise. According to sources no offer has been made to the action star as of yet, but considering how long this rumor has circulated, I would suggest taking it with a generous helping of salt.

However, I have a crazy idea, how about instead of worrying about a human lead, you actually focus on the Transformers?  I know, what a crazy idea.  Yes, you can have a human involved, but worry about the Autobots and the Decepticons for once as the series is named for them after all.

Color me absolutely not surprised, but apparently toy manufacturer Hasbro has been talking to Michael Bay about returning to direct a fourth installment of the Transformers franchise.

Despite saying that Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third film in the series, would be his last outing with the giant robots, according to Deadline,  Hasbro has approached the director about returning for a fourth outing.  Although the newest movie came in second domestically in the series’ domestic box office numbers, it did enough money overseas to become the fourth highest grossing movie of all time in worldwide receipts.

Here is how the series has broken down so far.

Looking at these numbers, do you think there isn’t any chance that there won’t be a fourth film with Bay at the helm.  It isn’t like this is a director that has some passion project cooking in the back of his head, he’s a hack that makes popcorn movies with next to no script.  Bay makes tens of millions himself on these films off of deals off the backend, and that’s going to be awfully hard for him to say no to.

Hasbro said on the earnings call where they said they had approached him that they hoped to have more news on the next quarter’s call.  Seeing that the movies are usually shot 12 months before release, there is still time to put together the fourth movie for summer 2013, and movie going audiences can continue to flock to these messes.

For the first time in history, three films in the same film season have cross the billion dollar mark for global revenue. Yes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has now entered the not-so-exclusive-anymore billion dollar movie club.

It was just yesterday that I noted that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 had crossed the billion dollar mark, and while we knew the third film in the Transformers series was going to do it, we just didn’t know the exact day it was going to happen.  Well, it appears that while pundits were pontificating yesterday on the ninth film to reach that milestone, the tenth was also crossing the line.

Transformers 3 actually landed itself in ninth place on the all time list, pushing The Dark Knight down to the tenth position.  Seeing as three of the films in the top 10 are still in release at this time amazingly enough, it is certain that things will continue to fluctuate.  The only film that seems safe at this point is Avatar which sits comfortably in first place with $2.7 billion.  Actually, second place is also fairly secure with Titanic at $1.8 billion, but spots 3 thru 10 are still moving around.

What I’ve been saying recently about total box office dollar amounts no longer being the proper way to track a film’s success seems to be proven more and more every time I turn around.  For three films to all break into this once illustrious club at nearly the same time is just insanity, but when you are charging extra for 3D and Imax, you can make it there without much difficulty.  Now, show me how many actual bodies walked into each showing, and then we have a metric I can get behind.  Sadly that will never happen, and films that have no business being considered for these upper echelons of film history will continue to get there because they’re just pretty, pretty eye candy.

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 has joined the ranks of the films to break the $1 billion dollar box office mark for global ticket sales, marking only the ninth film to do so. While impressive, it also shows that the measurement of a successful movie based on dollar amounts is hopelessly broken.

Over the past weekend the eighth and final film in the Harry Potter series became the first film of its kin to break the magical billion dollar mark, and while it leads the series in dollars, it does not lead in attendance records.  And that is why this “billion dollar club” has become a joke.

Four of the nine films to enter this pantheon were released in 2009 and 2010, and include extra income from 3D premium tickets, IMAX and ever increasing ticket prices.  The only film not released in this decade to be in top 10 is Titanic, and doesn’t any one else find that odd?

You look at the all time adjusted domestic box office chart which multiplies the attendance by current ticket prices, you see that Gone with the Wind is still the top grossing film and followed by others like Star Wars, The Sound of Music and other older films.  Why aren’t we tracking the success of movies by how many people it gets into the theater, and not what they pay for it?  What I pay in my little town right now compared to large cities is so vastly different, than even as an in the moment measurement system box office dollars simply don’t work.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third film in that series, looks set to break the $1 billion in worldwide dollars by probably tomorrow, meaning that the top 10 films will all be in the billion dollar club, and the list will look like this.

Notice the disturbing trend? Thanks higher 3D ticket prices for totally throwing this out of whack!

Congrats to these films for making it to these dollar marks, now if it only somehow reflected how many people actually saw them.

Knocking the boy wizard from the top box office spot, Captain America: The First Avenger planted his flag at the top of the mountain.

Captain America took the top box office spot this weekend with $65.8 million, beating the last Marvel movie, Thor, by a mere $100,000 for a weekend total.  The latter went on to a domestic gross total of $180 million, so it looks like this film will go on to a similar total.  This is the last of the films from the company leading up to its team film, The Avengers debuting next May.

The big news this week, however, was the 72 percent decline that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2, the largest fall ever for a film that set an opening weekend record. It still brought in $48 million, and it is doubtful that Warner Brothers is to up set as it’s nine day worldwide total sits at $834.5 million.  How will they ever make payroll next week with so little income coming in?

Friends With Benefits came in third with a rather anemic $18.5 million, below the similarly themed No Strings Attached that came out this past winter and opened with $19.7 million. There are probably some nerves around this film now as it opened so low and had a $35 million dollar budget. Using the usual math the film needs to hit $70 million domestic to break even, and that seems a pretty tall order now.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon slipped to fourth place with an estimated $12 million. It’s domestic total now sits at $325 million and a worldwide total of $882.3 million.

Coming in fifth was Horrible Bosses with $11.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $82.4 million off of a $35 million budget.

And since I love a train wreck, where was Green Lantern? 18th place with $390,000 for a new domestic total of $113.9 million. Worldwide it’s now at $147.2 million off of a production budget of $200 million. And yet they say there will be a sequel? Well, okay then.

Next week sees Cowboys & Aliens, Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Smurfs.

 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 didn’t hit the $180 million some expected it would, but it did have the biggest opening weekend ever at $168.5 million.

The former record holder was The Dark Knight at $158.4 million, and factoring in the extra fees for 3D, attendance was slightly lower, but still impressive for the last film in the Harry Potter series.  (Sidenote: When are we going to start paying more attention to attendance than dollar amount?  It’s the only true measure.)  Missing the projected $180 million can be chalked up to a 53 percent decline from Friday to Saturday, a far steeper fall than one would usually expect.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon fell to second place with a 55 percent decline to an estimated $21.25 million. It does however mark the first film of the year to cross the $300 million domestic gross milestone, and has now racked up a total of $762.8 million.

Horrible Bosses came in third with an estimated $17.6 million, marking a decline of only 38 percent, a very respectable amount.

Zookeeper fell only 39 percent to come in at fourth with $12.3 million. It fell less than most, but when you start at such a low level, you don’t have to go.

Rounding out the top five was Cars 2 with $8.3 million.  It looks like Pixar may have finally made a misstep with this film as it is trailing far enough back now from the studio’s other features to mark a 12 year low.

Green Lantern? 14th place with $1.25 million for a total of $112.6 million. This really has become like watching a train wreck.

Next weekend sees the release of Captain America: The First Avenger and Friends With Benefits.

Considering the competition it was facing, it isn’t all that surprising that Transformers: Dark of the Moon won another weekend at the box office.

Falling 52% from it’s opening weekend, the third Transformers film brought in another $47 million and is actually doing quite well, and is holding onto it’s audience better than the second film did.

Horrible Bosses came in second with an estimated $28.1 million, the best opening ever for a dark comedy. Compared to other comedies this summer it fell into about the middle of the pack financially, but with a $35 million dollar budget, it needs to hit a minimum of $70 million total, and it may have a tough time getting there.

Opening in third was Kevin James’ Zookeeper with $21 million. How does this guy keep getting work, and why do people go and see it? He seems like a likable guy in interviews, but he’s just not that funny with scripted material.

Cars 2 settled somewhat with a 42 percent drop to $15.2 million for the weekend, but it is now trailing behind the first film on a day-by-day count.

Bad Teacher fell 38 percent to $9 million with a new total gross of $72.8 million off of a $20 million budget. Cheap comedies work, folks.

Larry Crowne fell 52% to $6.3 million and has about no hope of breaking even now. Perhaps the days of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts as box office draws has come to a close?

And just because it’s become like a sport now, Green Lantern was in ninth place with $3.1 million. It’s now at $109.7 million for a total domestic gross on a $200 million budget. This film is going to go down in history as an object lesson in how to blow a film that should have been a homerun.

Next weekend sees the final movie in the Harry Potter series released. My suspicion is we will see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 comfortably take the lead.

In a surprise to absolutely no one, Transformers: Dark of the Moon won the box office this weekend, and even set a record in the process.

Despite having its opening day moved around more times than anyone could count, the third Transformers movie won the weekend box office even with having been out a few days prior.  For the three day weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), the film brought in $97.4 million.  Add in the Monday numbers, it is estimated the film will have brought in $116.4 million.  This puts it six percent behind the second film, but still a healthy take.

Also of no surprise, mixed reviews seem to have had no impact on the film’s performance.

Cars 2 had a bummer of a weekend, sliding 60 percent from it’s opening weekend to only ring up $26.2 million for the three days, and $32.1 million for the extended holiday. This puts it well down the list of Pixar success stories, but Cars has never been a big earner at the box office, but it does huge in merchandise.

Bad Teacher slid 54 percent to $14.5 million ($17.6 million four-day). It’s grossed $63 million thus far in 11 days, and considering its $20 million budget, it’s already a success story.

The new Tom Hanks/Julia Roberts film Larry Crowne bombed in a big way, opening at 2,973 locations, the production only brought in $13.1 million ($15.7 million four-day). It only had a $30 million budget, and with these mega-stars attached you would have thought it would have brought in larger numbers.

Rounding out the top 5 was Super 8 with $7.8/$9.5 for the three and four day totals.

Monte Carlo cane un sixth with an estimated $7.4 million ($8.8 million four-day). You mean that yet another movie about mistaken identities didn’t do well? I’m shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED!

Where’s Green Lantern you ask? Oh, just sliding another 64 percent to come in seventh with $6.5/$8 million for the weekend. I’d laugh if my hopes hadn’t been so high for this disaster.

Next weekends is all comedies with Horrible Bosses and Zookeeper. The former has potential, the latter makes my brain hurt just watching the commercials.

Cars 2 sped into first place this weekend, but before you sound the horn, there are a couple caveats.

Cars 2 did indeed come in first this weekend with an estimated $68 million, but as Pixar films go, that’s nothing to sing about. Going on attendance as opposed to dollars due to inflation, the second film in the series only beat out A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille and Toy Story. While people weren’t exactly clamoring for this sequel, the merchandising from the first movie did so well that it is believed that is about the only reason this film exists. Another movie, more merchandise.

We’ll see how it fares with a couple more weekends,but it doesn’t look like this one will be setting the film world on fire like some of the previous Pixar productions.

Coming in second was the new Cameron Diaz vehicle, Bad Teacher.  It brought in an estimated $31 million, but Sony has to be singing songs of happiness today as the audience skewed 63 percent female.  Along the same lines as the current hit Bridesmaids that is still bringing in several million a week.

Normally a film sees around a 40 to 50 percent drop in its second weekend. Then you have Green Lantern. Coming in at $18.5 million, that’s around a 65 percent drop from the first weekend. I think we can officially classify this movie as a disaster at this point.

Super 8 came in fourth with $12.1 million, bringing it’s total to $95.2 million and in line with films of this type.

Rounding out the top five Mr. Popper’s Penguins with $10.3 million.  The fact this movie even exists boggles my mind, so lets just leave it there.

The only major release next week is Transformers: Dark of the Moon … PREPARE FOR BAYHEM!

The Super Bowl has one big thing going for it every year … movie trailers.

As I stated the other day, I’m not a fan of the Super Bowl, but I do enjoy the insane movie marketing blitz that comes with it each year now.  While I think it is silly how much they charge for these ads now ($3 million for a 30-second ad this year), at least it puts all of the commercials for the new summer films in one place.

I’ve gathered up a few of the film commercials, skipping things like Rio, Super 8 and Fast Five.  They’re out there if you want to find them, but somehow I can’t bring myself to care about a fifth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise when I didn’t care about the first four.  And, oh yeah, they’re already planning a sixth.

Click below for the trailers of Cowboys & Aliens, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Transformers – Dark of the Moon and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Continue Reading ->

Michael Bay continues to bring pain to the masses disguised as Transformers movies, and the next dose is on its way … with a really stupid title.

With the second Transformers film we started getting saddled with stupid tag lines.  Lets face it, Revenge of the Fallen wasn’t exactly an alternate title that made you go, “Wow, I really need to get to the theater and see this!”  And once you did see it … well … the Fallen  tried for “revenge”, but he never quite lived up to that word.

Here we are at the third film and we get “Dark of the Moon”?  Really?  I understand that the film has something to do with learning that the Transformers helped the human race with getting to the moon in the 1960′s, so that part makes sense, but the taglines on these sequels just seem suprfulous in general.  How about just calling it Transformers 3 and leaving it at that?

And the worst bit?  You already think Michael Bay films are a tad bit style over substance, so what will you do when the craziness of a Transformer’s fight is coming at you in 3D?  Yep, we’ll have to deal with the robots we can’t sort out in a fight already and make it even more confusing by showing it to us in 3D.  If any movie ever needed to not be in three dimensions, it was this one.

Way to go, Mr. Bay.  Way to make me dislike a series of movies even more when I should be loving them.

You can also click on the image up there to see a much larger version of the logo so you can see it in all its “glory” …

Lets get it out of the way right now … Transformers 3 will suck.  I have no delusions, I have not been swayed, I know the “plot” will be some loose collection of events strung together that supposedly will resemble a story, but it’ll be eye candy for sure.

All that being said … OPTIMUS PRIME HAS HIS TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!111!!1!  (click the image for the full view)

The film is in Chicago this weekend filming, and the big surprise that no one saw coming was Optimus Prime hauling around his trailer.  This isn’t just for show or transport but is being used in actual filming, and in this video you can see him cornering pretty fast with it right into an explosion.  In the clip before you can see him pulling it during a chase scene (also seen are Bumblebee, the new Ferrari, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Jolt and three unknown NASCAR cars)

The reason this is such big news is the first release of the toy back int he 1980′s came with a trailer that folded out into a headquarters, and he always had it in the cartoon.  Michael Bay had said in the past they weren’t using it because he didn’t know what to do with it when Optimus would transform.  In the cartoon it just always disappeared into the background, and would reappear when he went back to truck form.  You never knew where it went, it just wasn’t there.  So we’ll see how Bay gets around this.  (I’m also betting nothing in the movie will be said about why he suddenly has it)

The big mystery is the three NASCAR cars, here are pictures of two of them

There has been some speculation these may be Stunticons, a sub-group of Decepticons that combine to form Menasor.  This is a similar concept to the Constructicons seen in the second film, but as of right now no one can see any Decepticon or Autobot insignias on any of the three cars.  From the amounts of weapons on them, I would say they are bad guys.  Of course, there is an off chance they are human made vehicles, but that seems pretty unlikely.

I still have every confidence that in typical Michael Bay fashion this film will suck just as bad as the other two, but the inclusion of the Optimus Prime trailer at last gets me interest up some.

[Optimus trailer and blue NASCAR image from Siebertron, green NASCAR from TFW2005]