Transformers 2 Devours US Box Office

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NOTE: The first half of this article may be boring unless you’re interested in the figures. But if you’re not, jump straight to the second half where I give my thoughts on the Transformers 2 insanely addictive marketing campaign. And yes, you were probably a victim, as I was. And it lead to my own demise.

Even after watching Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, I cannot resist posting a story about the movie. But this is a big story. What is it, you say? It’s the story of Michael Bay’s super massive summer blockbuster really following through with that notion of being a “blockbuster” and at the same time busting the US box office.

WARNING: A lot of numbers are coming at you.

Cutting all the crap, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grossed an obscene $201.2 million at the US box office in its first five days that was Wednesday through Sunday. That figure is only 2nd in the history of 5-day openings to none other than The Dark Knight which grossed a cool $203.8 million in the same time frame last summer.

Transformers 2 also came in second to The Dark Knight for the biggest opening day gross, getting $60.6 million and $67.1 million respectively. As for Transformers 2’s conventional opening weekend (Fri-Sat), it was the 7th biggest ($112 million) grossing film in history after The Dark Knight, a Shrek movie, two Spiderman movies and two Pirates of the Caribbean movies. However, because Transformers 2 opened on a Wednesday instead of the regular Friday, it has the record of having the highest 5-day total for a movie to have been released on a Wednesday. Spiderman 2 is second in that regard when it grossed $152.4 million from Wednesday to Sunday back in 2004.

Combined with the $186.1 million the movie managed to gross in other countries across the world, it takes the total worldwide gross for the movie to $387.3 million as of Sunday.

As things are right now and how things are going for Transformers 2, it doesn’t look so good for me and my top 10 grossing summer movies predictions list.

Here is a recap of all the numbers:

Opening day US gross: $60.6 mil
Opening weekend US gross (Fri-Sun): $112 mil
Opening 5-day US gross: $201.2 mil
Foreign gross as of Sunday: $186.1 mil
Worldwide gross as of Sunday: $387.3 mil

I’m sorry for going on about all these numbers. If you didn’t understand a word of what I was saying, I apologize. I’m just amazed by how much money what is a pretty average movie can take in. I guess at the end of the day all this commercial success is spawned from the incredibly dense and interest-generating marketing campaign for the movie. There were so many posters, trailers and TV spots shown in theaters, on TV and on the Web, it was so overwhelming.

For me, all the hype building up to the movie only made the movie so much worse than it really was. The buzz for the movie was so alluring it gave me more expectations on top of my already high expectations from after the last movie, and I ultimately got let down. Makes me think twice about getting too sucked into the whole viral/publicity/marketing campaign thingamabob in the future.

What is my point? My point is, I use to love trailers and posters, and I still do. But you have to keep in mind that the trailers of movies will sometimes be better than the movies themselves. This was exactly the case for Transformers 2. Kudos and congratulations to Paramount’s marketing department are in order, I guess.

If you have any thoughts on the matter, don’t be afraid to drop me something in the comments below.

Source: Box Office Mojo

Opening This Week: Ice Age 3

So the summer blockbuster season is in full swing and its been almost a week since the huge Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen hit the screens. I didn't think much of the film. If you've seen it already, let me know what you think of it. You can check out my review of the film here.

As for this week, yet again we only have one movie hitting cinemas-
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Are you a fan of the franchise? Check out the preview below.


Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
Feat. voices of: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Queen Latifah, Bill Hader, Simon Pegg, Sean William Scott
Directors: Carlos Saldanha, Mike Thurmeier
USA release: July 1
Msia release: July 1
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family, Adventure
Runtime: 1 Hour 27 Minutes
Rated in USA: PG for some mild rude humor and peril
Rated in Msia: U
IMDb User Rating: 7.9/10

The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters Ice Age and Ice Age: The Meldown are back, on an incredible adventure...for the ages. Scrat is still trying to nab the ever-elusive nut (while, maybe, finding true love); Manny and Ellie await the birth of their mini-mammoth; Sid the sloth gets into trouble when he creates his own makeshift family after finding some dinosaur eggs; and Diego the saber-toothed tiger wonders if he's growing too 'soft' hanging with his pals. On a mission to rescue the hapless Sid, the gang ventures into a mysterious underground world, where they have some close encounters with dinosaurs, battle flora and fauna run amok - and meet a relentless, one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck. [Cinema Online]

I cannot talk about this movie without referring to the previous ones, so I have to say I absolutely loved the first one. Sadly, I really did not like the second. After seeing the second one, I thought I've had enough of
Ice Age; its growing old and the humor just isn't there anymore. So when I found out that there was a third one on its way, I was like ugh. Having said that, there is no doubt that I will watch this film in the hope of it being as good or even better than the first one. This film is suitable for all ages so if you wanted to take your kids or little brother to see a movie last week only to find movies like Transformers 2 and Terminator Salvation playing, take them to see Ice Age 3 this weekend. They're bound to love it.

Everybody these days are going 3-D so
Ice Age 3 will be available in 3-D at selected cinemas across Malaysia. The places where you can go to catch the 3-D version are below.

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MidValley
One Utama
Pavilion

TGV Cinemas
The Mines
Sunway Pyramid
One Utama
Bukit Raja, Klang
Kinta City, Ipoh
Seremban 2 Shopping Center
Tebrau City, Johor Bahru
Kepong
Cheras Selatan
Bukit Tinggi, Klang
Seberang Prai City, Prai



So what did you think of the first and second movies. Are you going to catch the movies in theaters or just download wait and buy the DVD? Let me know in the comments below.

Ricky Gervais Invents Lying

I have never been a fan of Ricky Gervais. But I did find the trailer for his new movie, which he acts in, co-wrote and co-directed with Matthew Robinson, The Invention of Lying very funny.

The idea of the movie is that Mark (Gervais) lives in an alternate world where nobody lies. At all. People only speak the truth and what's on their minds. All the time. That is, of course, until Mark finds out how to do the most amazing thing ever. Lie. From then on, he is able to influence people easily and things start to change.

The premise is an incredibly clever and interesting one. There are plenty of well-known actors in this movie. The cast boasts the names of Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe and Patrick Stewart as the narrator. Enough talk, below I've embedded the trailer.

There is an alternate trailer but has crappy video quality so I didn't embed that. I thought it was a little bit funnier than the trailer below. If you want to see it, just click here.



The Invention of Lying gets an American release September 25. Unfortunately, there is no news of when we'll get it here in Malaysia.

News Bits: Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Jeff Goldblum, Transformers 2, Oscars and Spread

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Here's a little roundup of some of the entertainment news bits that are being talked about most in mainstream and social media right now.

Farrah Fawcett died at the age of 62, after fighting cancer for the last three years. Her pin-up poster is still the best-selling poster in history, selling over 12 million copies.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop also died earlier today at the age of 50. He was reported to have suffered a heart attack and died of cardiac arrest. His autopsy results and more details on the cause of his death should be revealed by Friday afternoon in the States. The sudden news of his death has sent shockwaves around the world. Millions of fans around the world are mourning the loss of this legendary icon.

Jeff Goldblum (Jurassic Park, Independence Day) was also reported dead but later it was confirmed that it was only a horrible hoax. His rep released a statement saying Goldblum is “alive and well”.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened in theaters on Wednesday in the US and managed to gross $60.6 million in just that one day. This figure is the highest ever for a Wednesday opening. Experts say the movie could easily reach $150 million at the end of the week. However, movie critics are continuing to pan the movie. The movie currently has a score of just 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to 38% just four days ago. Topping the bad news some more is the controversy created over the racist innuendos of two of the Transformers 2 characters; The Twins- Skids and Mudflap. They very clearly speak with African American accents, use relatively vulgar language (as vulgar as PG-13 would allow), talk slang like “bust a cap in somebody’s ass,” admit to being illiterate, and one of them even sports a gold tooth.

Best Picture category at next year’s Academy Awards will have the number of nominees increased from five to 10. This will give movies like Pixar’s Up and new comedy The Hangover a chance to maybe get nominated where they had no chance previously.

Spread, Ashton Kutcher’s new comedy, out August 14 in the US, now has a trailer. I’ve embedded it below.

Ashton Kutcher was one of countless celebrities voicing their grief on Twitter over the news of Michael Jackson’s passing. He had this to say-

I plea to the public to refuse to consume media that does not respect the anonymity of Michaels children.

Below are some of the many celebrity heartfelt Tweets:

@mileycyrus michael jackson was my inspiration. love and blessings

@mrskutcher I am greatly saddened for the loss of both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Especially for their children!

@Tyrese4ReaL I can’t believe I’m about to write this Michael Jackson May God Bless your SOUL WE LOVE YOU FOREVER REST IN PEACE I’m sad this is horrible

@ashleytisdale So sad. Saying a prayer for Michael Jackson

I was never a super hardcore fan of Michael Jackson, but I was a decent fan of his. The strongest memory I have of Michael Jackson is that of the numerous people who have made fun of my name and called me Michael Jackson, instead of Michael Jason Campton, which is my proper name. I love his music, and his dancing even more. I think he is the best dancer to have ever lived. His music and videos will definitely be around for many years to come.

If you have any interesting stories in entertainment to share, tell me about it. Also, if you have anything to say about Michael Jackson, go ahead.

If you’re on Twitter, go ahead and follow me and/or @reply me at @mcampton.

M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender Teaser Trailer Looks Awesome!

If you’re a big fan of the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you’ll love this teaser. I have never seen the cartoon before but I definitele want to now. M. Night Shyamalan (Sixth Sense, Signs) brings the hugely popular cartoon series to the big screen in live-action. New kid Noah Ringer plays Aang and Dev Patel (Jamal in Slumdog Millionaire) plays Zuko. Check out the teaser below.



Expect The Last Airbender to be in theaters next summer.

The Box Trailer

I don't like Cameron Diaz. I find her acting annoying and she has a big mouth. Literally. So when I was about to watch this trailer of The Box starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden, I was kind of hesitant. But people were raving about this trailer so I watched it anyway. It is actually a pretty amazing trailer. The premise to the movie is definitely unique and intriguing. It'll be interesting to see what director Richard Kelly does with it. Read the plot below. Then the trailer. Enjoy!

Norma and Arthur Lewis are a suburban couple with a young child who receive an anonymous gift bearing fatal and irrevocable consequences. A simple wooden box, it promises to deliver its owner $1 million with the press of a button. However, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world...someone they don't know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the crosshairs of a startling moral dilemma and face the true nature of their humanity.




The Box
opens in American theaters October 30 and a week later in Malaysian theaters.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review

transformers2last04 [This review may contain ever so slight spoilers]

If you took a group of teenagers or young adults, and mentioned the word Transformers, they’d probably start jumping up and down, shrieking like little Twilight fan girls. It is literally the biggest, most talked about movie this summer, in fact, this year. But really, when you take Shia LeBeouf, probably the next big Hollywood action star, Megan Fox, gigantic robots, outrageous explosions, insane special effects and just throw them all together, no matter in what form or fashion, people are bound to love it. Most people. Enough of this opening jabber. My review of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Lets go!

Transformers 2 takes place a couple of years after the first one. The Autobots have joined forces with the American military to create a special team called NEST. This team travels the globe in the hunt for the remaining DecepticonsMegatron, as you' probably already know, gets brought back to life. And we’re introduced to a new Decepticon called The Fallen. He got screwed over millions of years before so now he’s back for revenge, hence the title. that are hiding out on Earth. From there stuff escalates, I don’t really know how, I wasn’t really paying attention.

It’s very simple, really. I did not like Transformers 2. It let me down. I had such high expectations for the film. So you might say, “easy, just don’t have high expectations”- like my friend Kevin. But its not that simple. The first movie was so mind-blowing because I had never seen this kind of Transformers before. But now that I have, and I watch the sequel, its like “meh, its just more of the same”. So really, its all about improving from the first one. And that just didn’t happen for me. Question is, could the sequel have been any better than the first one? I don’t think so. But enough of the comparisons, what did I think about just the sequel?

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The start of the movie was cool. I wished that they had kept the robot action minimal in the beginning, then brought the thunder towards the end. But that isn’t the case. There is robot action all through the entire movie and still managed to bring the thunder in the last quarter of the movie or so. So it was enormous amounts of robot action in the first three quarters and even more than enormous amounts of robot action in the last quarter. As for how the story flows, it doesn’t really. Its stagnant and static. This is how it goes- this thing happens, which means this will happen, so then Sam and Mikaela must go to this place with the help of Autobots and find this person to help them out while being hunted by Decepticons. There was not a lot of mystery or suspense that kept me interested. In the middle of the movie I was starting to get bored and felt the movie was dragging on too long. It only picked up slightly, like any other movie, right before the climax. There are so many little things that are just redundant and added no extra comedy or purpose to the movie. Like the part where Jetfire was brought to life and was limping around with his cane. That was such an unfunny and a useless scene. Another part of the movie I thought it could have done without was the twins, Skids and Mudflap. I could tell they were part of the comic relief, but it just does not work for me.

I’m not a Transformers junkie. I don’t know much, maybe nothing at all, about the original story and historical background stuff from the cartoons. So I can’t really comment on how I think true Transformers fans would like this. But there was quite a bit of history on the origins of the Transformers and how they came to be, how their war started, stuff like that. Honestly, when those details were being explained, that was when I enjoyed the story a little bit more. After seeing this film, only did I realize that Shia LeBeouf will probably be the next Harrison Ford or Bruce Willis or even the next Matt Damon. I really liked his performance. I hated him in Indy 4, but not in this film. I’m actually excited to see more of him, possibly in Transformers 3 and Indy 5.

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I have come to the conclusion that Megan Fox cannot act to save her life. If I was Sam, I’d just slap her across the face and say “stop following me, you’re only slowing me down”. Then throw her into the path of a raging Decepticon. Yes, I do not like Megan Fox. So hate me. She looks like a man some of the time, mostly off the big screen. Jon Turturo does a splendid job as former Agent Simmons and is one of the funnier characters in the movie. Ramon Rodriguez who plays Leo, is annoying as hell. For all I cared, he could have joined Mikaela under a Decepticon’s foot. The rest of the cast is just OK. Tyrese’s performance isn’t really that convincing but Josh Duhamel makes an awesome Captain.

Something brought over from the first movie is the cheesy lines. Especially from the big man Optimus Prime. He would make Japanese anime characters sweat all day long and have butterflies fly over their heads in circles. If you watch Japanese anime, you know what I’m talking about. Not only are things cheesy in the film, it felt as if there was so much effort put into the start and middle of the movie, that they ran out of time and Michael Bay didn’t really care to finish the movie properly. It felt very rushed and the bad guys got killed easily and stuff got destroyed so quickly. I’m sure Michael Bay didn’t really do that, but it just felt that way to me and a couple of other people. By the way, Michael Bay is still the man.

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For me, at the end of the day, one thing saved this movie from complete disaster, apart from Shia LeBeouf. Three letters- ILM. Industrial Light & Magic. They are the company that did the special effects for the movie. They are one of the foremost special effects houses around. Owned by George Lucas’ Lucasfilm, ILM have done the effects for such epic films as all the Star Wars films, Harry Potter films, The Day After Tomorrow, Pirates of the Caribbean films, Star Trek films including this year’s, which was epic by the way, Terminator Salvation and Transformers. The CG for the film is close to flawless and close to perfect. Although I spotted a tiny, tiny flaw when Sam was touching Bee in the beginning, the rest of the movie was pure art. Not only do the robots blend in so beautifully with the live-action scenes and background, but they also interact with the actors and is integrated into all the scenes so realistically. The robots’ transformation from their vehicle form into their robot form and vice versa is still a little messy like in the first movie, but still incredible nevertheless. If I were to compare this movie to Wolverine, it would make Wolverine seem like it was done by a pre-schooler. I could go on about the CG even more but lets not.

At the end of the day, if you’re a fan of big explosions and stuff getting demolished, then you should be watching this movie. It is simply an incredibly jaw-dropping pyrotechnics spectacle. Unfortunately, where the movie lacks in a good story, it does not make up in great effects. The whole plot of the movie really let me down and nothing, not even mind-blowing CG, could make this film anything more than average for me.

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The first one was a huge hit at the box office. Will the sequel be as popular commercially as the first? Yes. Actually, it will probably do much better than the first. Will it do as well critically as the first? Not a chance in Cybertron heaven or hell. Having said all that I have, go out, book your tickets and see the film. Ultimately, this is the epitome of action films. You cannot ask for anymore action to be stuffed into two and a half hours. And I guess that’s what people want and enjoy- action, action, action. I just wished there was more emphasis on the quality of the story. One thing good has come out of this for me- at least I’ll have low expectations for Transformers 3.

I give Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 5 out of 10 Popcorns.

Special mention: I give ILM 9.5 out of 10 Popcorns. =)

Opening This Week: Must I Say? TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

This week, there is only one movie new to theater here in fair Malaysia. Even if there were more than one movie opening this week, nobody would care. Why? Because the sequel to the massively successful 2007 summer blockbuster Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is finally upon us! Since the first movie in 2007, the franchise has gained tons of fans, including me (well, I'm not really a Transformers fan per se; more like a fan of Michael Bay and huge explosions and awesome CG effects). Enough rambling, lets get into the preview of the most anticipated film of the year shall we?


Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Ramon Rodriguez, Isabel Lucas, Rainn Wilson
Director: Michael Bay
Written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Ehren Kruger
USA release: June 24
Msia release: June 23
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 2 Hours 24 Minutes
Rated in USA: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material
Rated in Msia: PG-13
IMDb User Rating: 7.7/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 38%

The
Decepticons are back to take Sam Witwicky prisoner after he learns of the mysterious origins of the Transformers. Optimus Prime and the Autobots join forces with international armies to stop the Decepticons.

There is nothing much to say about this film, really. Everybody knows what Transformers is- a global phenomenon that took the world by storm back in 2007.
Revenge of the Fallen is supposed to be bigger, badder and better, but I don't think many critics would agree to that statement. Many critics and movie bloggers have already seen the movie and the reviews have come back pretty bad. Its reflected in its Rotten Tomatoes score of 38%. The first one got 57%. Of course, its still early and there are two ways to look at this, critically and commercially. Revenge of the Fallen, I think it will have huge opening weekend and possibly gross the most money for any movie this year (oops). The movie will be incredibly popular, mostly among the younger generation, but still a movie for all kinds of people nonetheless. Question is, do you have your tickets yet? If not, get them soon.



I will see you later in the week with my review of the movie. Until then, try to get good seats!

Here are a few
Transformers 2 wallpapers I've uploaded for you guys to download. Have fun!


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Brad Pitt’s Killin’ Natsee Business Is A' Boomin'

inglourious-basterds-0905-pp05 Way back in February, I showed you guys the first look at Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds with the trailer. Since then, we’ve had three teaser posters and one, two, three, four, five character posters. Also, the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and for the people who saw it, some of them liked it, some of them not so much. Now, Universal have just released the second trailer and I am now even more excited for this movie than before. I know a few of you reading this will agree with me when I say that Inglourious Basterds looks incredibly awesome so far. So why don’t you sit back and enjoy Brad Pitt and Eli Roth killin’ Natsees.

America will get the movie in August but we in Malaysia will have to wait until October 22 to see Brad Pitt doing that slick Southern accent.

Source: firstshowing.net

New Transformers 2 Clip

We are just about two days away until the biggest movie of this year. But in the mean, here’s a clip of Sam dropping a piece of the Allspark which goes through the floor of his bedroom and ends up in his kitchen, turning all his kitchen appliances into Decepticons which chase Sam out of his house, firing bullets and rockets at him. Really cool sequence. But I thought the end was the best part. So make sure to watch the whole thing. Enjoy!

2012 Official Trailer Is EPIC

Ever since the epic teaser for 2012, which you can see here, there hasn’t been much talk about the film. In the past couple of days, the official trailer of 2012 was made available on Yahoo! with a little intro by director Roland Emmerich. Name sounds familiar? Well, he was the main man behind one of my favorite movies ever- Independence Day. He also did The Day After Tomorrow and unfortunately, 10,000 BC. This guy seems to like his disaster movies and so do I.

I’m a huge sucker for disaster films. All the avalanches, mass flooding, tidal waves, city incineration, skyscrapers collapsing, asteroids colliding and just massive destruction in general, does something to me. I don’t know what. There is plenty of that in the trailer for 2012 and I cannot wait until this comes out. I must say, though, that the CG looked a little shabby in parts. But its all goood. Enjoy. Full screen HD viewing is highly recommended.

The film stars John Cusack, which is good, Thandie Newton, Woody Harrelson, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt. Expect 2012 to be in theaters November 12.

Sherlock Holmes Character Posters

I thought the trailer for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes was pretty amazing. Now the first posters for the movie just got released and they’re character posters. One featuring Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and the other is of his trusty sidekick Dr. Watson, played by British actor, Jude Law. I think these posters are pretty cool. Check them out.

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Sherlock Holmes hits theaters Christmas Eve here in Malaysia.

They're Already Here

Tuesday. June 23. Are you ready? They are.





Transformers 2 Fun Facts + One Transformers 2 Clip + Three Transformers 2 TV Spots = Pure Transformers 2 AWESOMENESS

So, what is it? Five days away from the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and people cannot be more pumped up. Ever since January, we’ve been teased and teased and teased so many times. Right before the movie hits theaters all over the world, here are a few more Transformers 2 goodies for you.

Starting off with some Revenge of the Fallen fun (more mind-blowing than fun, actually) facts. Taken off Michael Bay’s blog.

Robots

  • 14 robots last time, 46 robots this time (ILM only)
  • If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
  • Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
  • Devastator’s hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
  • The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
  • All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
  • Devastator’s parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
  • If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.

Disk space
  • Transformers took 20 Terabytes of disk space. Transformers 2 took 145 Terabytes. Seven times bigger!
  • 145 terabytes would fill 35,000 DVDs. Stacked one on top of the other without storage cases, they would be 145 feet tall.

Rendering times
  • If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year’s premiere!
  • A single IMAX shot in the movie (df250) would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop.
  • IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

Imax
  • Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
  • Imax frames take about 6 times longer than anamorphic to render.
  • IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

ILM screen time
ILM Screen Time is about 51 minutes.
Devastator
  • Devastator is as tall as a 10 story building.
  • Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
  • Laid out end to end, Devastator’s parts would be almost 14 miles long.

Devastator totals
  • Number of geom pieces: 52632
  • The total number of polygons: 11,716,127
  • The total length of all pieces: 73090 feet
  • The total length of all pieces: 13.84 miles

Is all that freaking insane or what? Now for all the video goodies. Here’s a clip from the movie called “We Gonna Die” in which Sam, his new buddy, Leo, and Mikaela are being chased by Decepticons.

Finally, check out three brand new TV spots called “Ancient Power”, “Everything” and “Bumblebee”.

New Harry Potter 6 Posters

Check out these new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince posters featuring Harry and Ginny; Ron and Hermione; Ron, Lavender Brown and Hermione; Luna Lovegood; and Draco Malfoy.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince gets a worldwide release July 16, about one month from now.

Trailer for Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island

Be warned. The trailer you are about so see is extremely epic. Why? Because Shutter Island is directed by one of the best directors in Hollywood, and the lead role is played by one of my favorite actors, Leonardo DiCaprio. His acting skills are impeccable, and he does different accents very well. The film also features acclaimed actors Sir Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Emily Mortimer, and Jackie Earle Haley, fresh from his brilliant performance in Watchmen, in which he played Rorschach. I got goosebumps watching this trailer. You might get them too. Enjoy.

It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister. Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling, improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything - his memory, his partner, even his own sanity. (IMDb)

Shutter Island gets an American release October 2. Expect it here in Malaysia early December.

Kickass New Divide Music Video

In the build up to the worldwide release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on June 24, we’ve been hearing quite a lot of Linkin Park’s contribution to the movie, their newest song, “New Divide”. If you haven’t heard it, where have you been hiding? Today the official music video for the song was released on MySpace and I found it off Mike Shinoda’s blog. I’ve embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure.

The video is so different and quite weird. But I love it and we get to see bits of new footage of Revenge of the Fallen thrown into the video. Check it out.

If you have trouble playing the video, click here to watch. Not my fault. Stupid MySpace embed.

Drag Me To Hell Review

drag3b [This review may contain a slight spoiler.]

Yesterday I said on Twitter that I loved the movie. Thinking of it now, I’m not sure if I did love it. I definitely liked it a lot, no question about that. But not too sure about loving it. I’ve never seen any of Sam Raimi’s pre-Spiderman work but I have read that Drag Me To Hell is a return to the genre that got his career off the ground. So I was excited to see a movie that director Sam Raimi was famed for.

Drag Me To Hell, as you have probably seen in the trailer, is about a bank loan officer, Christine Brown, who is up for a promotion to assistant manager of the bank. Her boss tells her that she has a better shot at the promotion if she made more tough decisions on her own. When an old lady comes into the bank asking Christine for an extension on her home loan, she denies it and rejects the old lady. Later on, the old lady, Mrs. Ganush attacks Christine in the underground parking garage and puts a curse on her. The curse brings upon an evil spirit that haunts Christine and looks to eventually drag her to hell.

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There is something about some of the films released so far this year. Quite a few of them have had very strong, hard-hitting and emotional opening sequences. Watchmen and Star Trek to name a couple. Drag Me To Hell is no different. Right off the bat, the audience is thrown straight into a movie that is truly terrifying. It got a couple of jumps out of me. I’m not even going to lie. Believe me when I say that this is not like any other horror movie you’ve seen, unless you’ve seen some of Sam Raimi’s early works, of course. Its frightening, suspense-filled, unpredictable and also, wait for it…funny and enjoyable. Wait. What? Yes, this horror movie has a slight pinch of slapstick comedy thrown into it.

I have a feeling many people would find this off-putting, which is a shame, because I thought what Raimi did was close to genius. The humor was incorporated into the movie very well and each gag was timed quite appropriately. But again, when it mattered, the movie was horrifying. I am just afraid many people will think the movie is a joke and will not appreciate it. This might be the reason why the US box office numbers were pretty low for this movie, although it was very well reviewed all-round.

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The only problems I have with this film is that towards the end, certain aspects of the movie start to get a little fake. The effects aren’t exactly mind-blowing but decent. The colors of the movie really did engulf me and gave me a much better experience. It makes the movie seem very dark and scary but in a strange way, light on the eyes.

All in all, Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell is a genuinely scary movie but it will also get a couple chuckles out of you. It has a very straightforward plot that isn’t too heavy, if you will. This movie is a good horror flick that is ultimately quite a lot of fun. I strongly recommend it if you wan to get a few screams and laughs in.

I give Drag Me To Hell 7 out of 10 Popcorns.

First Look: Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in Iron Man 2

Today, Iron Man 2 director, Jon Favreau broke the picture of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash on Twitter. First asking us to stay tuned, then said Whiplash!, accompanied by a link. The link was to a USA Today page on which an article was written about the new Whiplash photo. Here it is, check it out.

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The USA Today article gives us a better understanding of the villain’s story. Whiplash aka Ivan Vanko is a Russian who "has constructed his own version of a suit," Favreau says. He manages to break out of prison using his suit. He sports a power pack on his chest similar to that of Tony Stark and Favreau says that "the technologies are definitely related, that's part of the core theme of the film."

In the photo, Whiplash is seen at the Monaco Grand Prix. Director Jon Favreau is being very secretive when it comes to the movie’s plot. But expect a lot more to be revealed in the coming months.

Iron Man 2 comes to theaters May 7, 2010.

If you’re on Twitter, follow Jon Favreau as he updates about the production of Iron Man 2, @Jon_Favreau. Also, you can follow my Tweets at @mcampton.

Transformers 2 Tokyo World Premiere Highlights

Here's a better look at the world premiere with the official video.

Yet Another Transformers 2 Update

Transformers 2 buzz is getting very crazy, very quick. So here’s a little update on what’s been going on with Michael Bay and the gang. Three days ago, Michael Bay told haters to beware on his blog. He also mentioned that the final cut of the movie, at that time, wasn’t even completed yet! And this was written on the same day as the premiere of the movie in Tokyo, Japan. Another thing he mentioned was that there are 4 scenes in Revenge of the Fallen that were shot with IMAX cameras on 70mm film. Oh, and there are a total of 42 robots in the movie. I can see a lot of people’s eyes popping out of their sockets right about now. Below is the blog post by Michael Bay himself.

Hey everyone,


In Japan today. After a month and half seven days a week most days going till midnight me and my crew have just about finished Transformers. I have never seen such a level of dedication from every crew member in a movie before.


Even today after the press in Japan and right before the premiere tonight, I have to sneak out to a digital house to approve the last few effect shots.


It has been a long hard road, but really fun one to travel. What you will notice that is strikingly different than Transformers 1, is the level of animation detail. The robot characters (42 in all), you really can feel empathy for them. What is also very different is the sheer scale of the movie. We have been very tight holding back much of the best imagery in commercials and trailers.


The way to see this movie is on IMAX. Never before has there been 4k rendered character animation shot on full IMAX 70 mm film. This is a first and the results are stunning. You will see Optimus Prime in a few shots where he is actually perfectly to scale on the IMAX 50 foot tall screens.


For IMAX, I created a slightly longer cut with more robot fighting. Four scenes were shot on IMAX cameras so the screen will fill the full IMAX screen for these scenes.

Haters beware.
Michael

So he mentioned that he was in Japan. He was there yesterday along with most of the movie’s stars- Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese, Isabel Lucas and Ramon Rodriguez. The premiere came and went and below are plenty of pictures of the Bay and the cast on the red carpet, signing autographs, etc. Plus, a little video too. Enjoy.

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So now that there has been a small amount of people who have seen Revenge of the Fallen, there must be some early buzz right? /Film is tracking the early buzz here. And this is what they have so far-

Sora on the MichaelBay Forums: “I loved Transformers 1 so much, but I’m sure you’ll feel like the previous movie was just a dash of bitters in a glass of appetizer Martini. Be prepared to be impressed!”

Wonkimus_Major on Don Murphy’s message board: “Movie was incredible, I liked it much more than the first! More action, more robots, less humans! Though there are some lame sexual inuendos like Wheelie humping Megan’s leg.” Head on over to the message board posting to read some spoilers.

So how do you Transformers fans feel now? Are you even more excited for the movie? Do you think it will be awesome? What do you think about the insane number of 42 robots in the movie? Let me know what you think.

Source: MichaelBay.com, LatinoReview, /Film

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