Frank Miller's Xerxes #2

Frank Miller's Xerxes #2

© The Weirding, 2018

Miller Polishing Sequels

Frank Miller is polishing scripts and storyboards for the sequels to both 300 and Sin City. Mainstreamers are still declaring The Spirit "the end of his film career" and I still insist in going on record in staunch disagreement. Further, I love to flame, so please allow me for one brief moment, to allay all true fanboys' fears:

Most of the people who are decrying The Spirit a career-ending embarrassment, etc., are 20-something douchebags who are largely unaware of Miller's work outside of 300 and Sin City -- further, they had never even heard of the Spirit until now and certainly aren't familiar with the original material, nor Eisner's work in general. This is a generation which routinely makes movies like Borat, Jackass, and anything with Adam Sandler #1 at the box office; to say they are culturally bereft is like saying Lindsay Lohan needs help.

Maybe I'm a little too defensive here, but I literally grew up on Frank Miller's work and it was a breath of fresh air in a closed room. I agree that the quality of his work has suffered in the last decade, but let's face facts: The man's told the stories he wanted to tell -- all he's doing now is making the money he deserved to be paid the first go-round. I can't fault him that.

But the flip side of this coin is those who keep repeating - far more often, far more vehemently -- how all of his work is sexist, hyper-violent, "man-centric," heavy-handed, and void of any redeeming depth or social value. These people are morons; they should read Elektra: Assassin. They won't get it, but they should read it -- the very fact that they will not understand it should hopefully be enough to shut them up. At the very least, their exposure to the best of his work at the height of his career will be enough to invalidate their baseless dismissal of his canon.

So The Spirit flopped? So what? Frank Miller's earliest sequential work wasn't all that impressive, either -- no one's is. Should he choose to stick with it -- should he get the opportunity to -- he will improve; because he has to: You have to break some eggs to make an omelet, practice makes perfect, et. al.

The sequel to Sin City is slated to start shooting in April. Casting has not started.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Transformers

Transformers not only broke records its opening day, it made $152 million in its first week! It was the number one movie in America its opening week, knocked out this week by the new Harry Potter flick. I told you back when that I had a feeling it would do well, due to the previews I had seen; the SFX looked absolutely amazing. Plus, there’s always a reason a director puts his name above the title of a movie; you are not likely to see, say, Michael Bay’s He-Man. Well, then again...

I’m finding it harder and harder to keep up with all these "records" all these films have reportedly been shattering lately. Spider-Man 3 was the top-grossing something or other, then Pirates of the Caribbean was, then Shrek the Third, now Transformers, and apparently Harry Potter, too! The records keep getting more obscure, too: this one broke the record for the fewest screens, that one broke the record for the most screens, the other broke the record for the most money made on a Monday with more than three mummies on-screen...

Still, a lot of the new movies are pretty solid - mainly because they are sequels. Transformers is at fifth on the list for the year, so far, just behind 300.

300 Noms for MTV Awards

300 pulled five award nominations, and Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, Dead Man's Chest, pulled down only four for the 2007 MTV Awards, hosted by one Sarah Silverman - the self-proclaimed "hairiest woman in comedy." Both films are competing against one another in the Best Film, Best Performance, and Best Villain categories. Ms. Silverman will hold onto her title as "hairiest" chick in comedy.

The awards ceremony will be held June 3^rd and broadcast live for the first time. It does not appear that any other comics-related movies have received nominations, but I cannot be sure. I'm old enough to remember when MTV played music videos.

Box Office Prediction Right Again

Will Ferrell's Blades of Glory took the top box office spot this weekend, just as I predicted. But in all honesty, it wasn't much of a prediction -- just common sense. They blitzed the boob tube and the Internet with advertising and Ferrell is playing the same character he basically always does which, for whatever reason, hasn't gotten old to the public just yet.

TMNT dropped to fourth place and 300 managed to hang in the top five, slipping to #3. That movie's still whipping butt almost a month after its release! The real shocker, from where I sit, is Wild Hogs which has managed to stay in the top five after all this time.

Aside from that, I have to figure out what comics I'm going to purchase since most of the titles to which I'd subscribed have since ended. Other than that ol' man without fear, I don't have much else to read. Any suggestions are welcome.

Turtles Back On Top

20 years later and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are still kicking mainstream comics properties' shells:

TMNT toppled 300 this weekend at the box office, cruising into the #1 spot with about $23 million. The family-friendly CGI-rendered movie of the turtles has gotten mixed, but generally favorable, reviews from critics and fans.

For those who don't know, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a spoof of the popular comics themes of the 1980s - namely teenagers (X-Men, Teen Titans), mutants (X-Men, many popular Marvel titles and Marvel in general), and ninjas (X-Men, Elektra, Lone Wolf & Cub, more) - when The Uncanny X-Men were uber-popular. Invented by the creative team of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, it was independently published and eventually moved to Archie Comics (if I remember correctly). It became so popular that it began outselling the titles it parodied and soon became a powerful commodity in its own right. This is the turtles' second movie; the first was a live-action piece which was surprisingly good.

The more things change...

In more 300 news, sources say Frank Miller is working on a sequel. Um? A sequel to the battle at Thermopylae? That's like a sequel to Titanic, isn't it? Which, by the way, I have never watched all the way through, so please don't tell me how it ends!

300 #1 for 2nd Week

Well, I guess you can call me Karnak. Or Kreskin. Or Uri Geller.

Okay, maybe I'm taking this whole prediction thing a little far. After all, it's not like 300 had any real competition. Still, I said it would top the box office for at least the first two weeks and it did. It surpassed all predictions its first week with $70 million (even high estimates suggested a $50 million opening) and held the top spot this weekend with $31.2 million. That means 300 has passed the $100 million mark.

I have no idea how much Frank Miller is getting from all this. In fact, I really can't say that I understand fully the whole concept of "points" in the movie biz, but I'm damn sure he's rolling in the dough regardless. It's not like the guy was hurting for money before this, but wowza! Talk about a score...

Miller's next movie project is Will Eisner's Spirit. Miller will apparently be writing and directing the movie; he is definitely directing, but I'm not positive who the screenwriter is.

St Patrick and 300

So St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland - that much we all know - but his was a legacy that rarely goes told. We celebrate St. Patrick's Day here in America because this country was built on the backs of we Irish and we brought St. Patrick with us when we came. Of course, being as much Cherokee as Irish, my own feelings on all of this are somewhat mixed. But - being Cherokee as well as Irish - any excuse to drink is a good one.

Christ shield me this day:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me

Beat that, Dave Sim.

Still waiting to hear if 300 topped the box office this weekend, as I predicted it would. If it does, do I get a prize? A No-Prize, at least?

I heard this moron, David Edelstein, on Ebert & Roeper earlier, criticizing 300 for being about war and this cat seems to think it was made to have parallels to modern-day warfare - specifically the war in Iraq.

Dear David E.,
Please read a frickin book; the battle at Thermopylae happened many years ago and is a matter of history, fat boy. This is not your typical Holly-weird political statement, though I can see as how someone like you - steeped as you are in stupid and just dying to be accepted by them - might think of it as such.

Go get bent.

Sincerely,
MD

A Slew of Movie News

It's official: 300 topped the box office and set a new record for March openings this past weekend, raking in nearly $71 million. It didn't just blow the competition away, its take alone is actually more than all of the other weekend's top ten movies combined! It also holds the record for the 3^rd largest-grossing R-rated picture ever, behind Matrix Reloaded and Passion of the Christ. While executives agree that the MySpace advertising campaign helped immensely, word-of-mouth is what they attribute for their success; "Once you make a great movie, word can spread very quickly."

Snyder, director of the record-holding 300, has generated buzz on his hopeful adaptation of Moore's Watchmen by including an image of the character, Rorschach, in a digital trailer for 300. The image was discovered and posted all over the Internet. Snyder says he's hoping for a summer shoot, even though the film has not been cast nor has it been greenlighted.

Speed Racer will be released May 2008, along with Iron Man, and a new Narnia flick. Stephen Spielberg reportedly had to fight an R rating for the new Transformers movie. Jason Lee has signed to the new movie adaptation of Alvin & the Chipmunks.

Disney will release an animated feature film that is completely hand-drawn in 2009. Set in New Orleans, it will also feature their first black female lead character. Disney will have to hire more animators who can actually draw, as the current crop is more computer-oriented. Shrek 3 will be released later this year.

Spiderman 3 will debut in Tokyo, then in several other countries abroad, before premiering in the US on May 4^th. Sony has not discussed the reasons for this, but it's assumed they are trying to get a leg-up on the summer competition. This latest installment has been touted as the "darkest" of the three films. If there's one thing director Sam Raimi (Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Darkman) knows how to do, it's "dark." The CW network has announced that Spidey will join their Saturday morning line-up in an animated series in 2008.

300 = $70 Million Opening Weekend

That's what I said: an estimated $70 million for its opening weekend put 300 at the top of the box office, knocking out last week's comedy, Wild Hogs and dwarfing Ghost Rider, which came in with a little over $6 million this week.

$70 million is more than just "impressive" for a movie with a cast of virtual unknowns; original estimates figured it bringing in $50 million, with conservative figures putting it closer to $30 million. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest brought in about twice that on its opening weekend, but it had some major star power and a HUGE promotional campaign.

300's promotional marketing was considerable - a real "blitz" by any standard - but its major draw is the fashion in which it was filmed. The whole thing was shot indoors against a greenscreen (which used to be called a bluescreen and sometimes still is) and the backgrounds were then computer-generated. This method was chosen so that the filmmakers could duplicate the look of the original graphic novel, penned by none other than Frank Miller, himself.

Now we just have to wait to see if my predictions are accurate as to it dominating the competition for yet another week. I said it would top the box office for at least the first two weeks of its release, if you'll recall. I also said it is poised to be the major summer blockbuster of this year - possibly even the major cinematic event of a few years - so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

If the numbers hold up come Monday, it will make 300 the largest-grossing March opening ever, squeezing out Disney's Ice Age: The Meltdown. 300 holds the title for the 3rd largest opening for an R-rated movie ever.

300 Broke Records Before Release

Are you supposed to say "I told you so" when it's nothing bad? Wait - you're not supposed to say "I told you so" when it is something bad, right? Whatever.

I told you so:

Imax officials say all 57 of its screens sold-out in a record weekend as sales for advance showings were counted. Many arranged last-minute 2:30 AM showings for those who couldn't be fit into midnight screenings! Many of the other cinemas with advance screenings were also sold out, not just Imax theaters, according to WB officials.

Spokespeople have noted as much as 94% of online ticket sales are going/have gone to 300. "Exhibitors are continually adding show times," a spokesperson for Fandango said. While some articles are noting that the movie received mixed reviews - with many prudish, certainly "sensitive" reviewers denouncing its glorified violence and bloodletting - I have heard nothing but raves across the board, including earlier today on Roper & Ebert (although Ebert was not there), which gave it two thumbs up. On there, the reviewers noted that many other reviewers might not like it for this very reason: it is a picture which does, in fact, glorify war and battle.

Sadly, most people are not very edumucated. Sparta was, to be historically accurate, a warring nation. Their children were raised from birth to fight and those born with defects or abnormally small were thrown over the cliffs to their death (ostensibly - their culture was rife with legends of those who had survived the fall). The Spartans were an absolutely amazing culture, noted for their bravery, fighting skill, and sparse living (in fact, the word, "sparse," traces its etymology to "Sparta"), and they were by every measure a very violent society.

This is a film about war - a war involving a society known for its warring capacities - not about the horrors of war or anything so PC. If the film is badly-acted or simply a bad flick, that's one thing, but just because some sissified girly-men deplore war itself (as we should all - remember, the Spartans were the defenders against an invading army; they did not start this war) is no reason to pan a good movie.

Oh Yeah, Did I Mention Movies? More 300

I guess I left out a few more comics movies earlier, including Captain America and Iron Man. I'd heard about Iron Man - even discussed it a few months back - which will star Robert Downey, Jr. This is pretty cool because Tony Stark had his own struggle with alcoholism in the title. I also like it because Downey is not particularly known for his size or muscularity and Stark, while still a big-pecs superhero figure in the book, is actually a businessman; I think it pretty brilliant casting and I'm eager to see if and how Downey will pull this off.

I hadn't heard about Cap's new flick, but I came across it because he made the entertainment headlines today on his own. Even though they used it to hype the movie, Steve Rogers is dead... again. He got shot to death by an assassin... again. I really hope it doesn't stick... again, because Steve Rogers is Captain America, regardless. Besides, a supersoldier felled by an assassin's bullets is just somehow anticlimactic.

Fans may recall this is exactly what happened to Rogers the last time that he was "killed," back in the late 1980s-early 1990s. During his absence, a black Captain America donned the costume and I have some of those issues, but the entire concept never took off. Unlike Iron Man, Cap himself was superhuman due to a serum the government had injected him with back in WWII; Iron Man's only powers come from his many suits of armor.

So, I thought I could put 300 to bed until Friday (when it's going to just crush the competition and likely continue to do so for weeks on end), and then I flipped over to History Channel to find History in Focus - the focus of which was 300. And it was everything G4's Icons was not. While it focused on the historical aspects of the battle, it went into great depth on the making of the movie; Icons was ostensibly about Miller, and even though it did a moderate job getting into that, it was basically little more than a promo for the movie.

History Channel has another special on 300 tomorrow night, as well. I'm not sure how much it will have about the movie specifically, but... yeah, I'm pretty sure it will have just about everything to do with exactly that. This movie's going to mop up so hard, it should come to my house.

Ghost Rider #1 Again

Ghost Rider with Nicholas Cage managed to hold onto the top spot at the box office this past weekend, despite lukewarm critical reviews and very little positive buzz since its opening. While the hype previous to the film's release was pretty heavy with commercials and "making-of" specials playing widely across cable and network channels, as well as heavy spot-placement online, initial reviews were tepid. There has not been much buzz of any kind since the film's release, and I think most people assumed the movie would slip to a lower placing, if not fall completely from the top ten by this time. I personally don't think it will be able to hold onto the #1 spot for the next week, but I could be very wrong.

At any rate, hype for Frank Miller's 300, based on the Spartan's near-impossible hold-out at Thermopylae which proved the male-dominated society's siren song, is reaching fever pitch, with impressive TV commercials and an appearance by the comic book genius, writer, and film director on G4's Icons this Sunday. No matter how well Ghost Rider does next week, I think it safe to predict its upset by Miller's flick the week of its release. 

In fact, I believe 300 will sweep the top box office position its first week, blowing the competition away by literally tens of millions. And, if the movie proves as good as it looks in previews, it may be one of the year's top earners.