Weekend Box Office: July 23-25

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Inception - $43.5 million

2.  Salt - $36.5 million

3.  Despicable Me - $24.1 million

4.  The Sorcerer's Apprentice - $9.6 million

5.  Toy Story 3 - $9 million

6.  Ramona & Beezus - $8 million

7.  Grown Ups - $7.6 million

8.  The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - $7 million

9.  The Last Airbender - $4.1 million

10.  Predators - $2.8 million

So it looks like you can release a few original movies during the summer and still make a crapload of money after all. 

Fueled by plenty of repeat business and excellent word-of-mouth from pretty much everyone who saw it last weekend, Inception easily retained the #1 spot this weekend, earning another $43.5 million and bringing its total to $143.6 million in just under 10 days.  It's also playing strongly overseas, where it has earned an additonal $84 million.

Angelina Jolie had herself a good weekend as well, with her spy thriller Salt coming in second place with $36.5 million.  Despicable Me had another great weekend, dropping only 26% to finish in third place with $24.1 million.  The animated comedy has now earned $161 million domestically.

While coming in a distant fourth place, Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice didn't drop off too terribly this weekend, only 45% to end the weekend with $9.6 million.  Regardless, it will most likely take its place right next to Prince of Persia as one of this summer's box office duds (although Persia was a big hit overseas). 

Luckily, Disney can still boast about the amazing (and well-deserved) success of Toy Story 3, which landed in 5th place with another $9 million to add to its $379 million domestic total, making it the highest grossing movie of 2010 and Pixar's highest grossing film.  Its overseas total is catching up to its domestic haul, currently standing at $351 million.

All of this appeared to be too much to handle for this weekend's other new release, Ramona & Beezus, which despite decent reviews came in at sixth place with just $8 million, which is too bad, since I loved these books as a kid and would have loved to see a movie version do well.  Maybe Fox should remember to advertise these movies next time.

The usual suspects rounded out the rest of the top 10:  both Eclipse and The Last Airbender inexplicably continue to make money, Adam Sandler is still king of the silly summer comedy as Grown Ups stands with a terrific $142 million, and Predators is hanging on with another $2.8 million.

On the limited-release front, The Kids Are All Right expanded its run to 201 theaters and earned a fantastic $2.6 million.  At this rate, it's likely to pass Cyrus as the summer indie darling.

Stay tuned for Mitch to update with the actuals once they come in!

Infinity Gauntlet From Thor

The beautiful golden, gem filled glove you see is known as the Infinity Gauntlet. Spinoff Online has provided the image from Comic-Con earlier today with news that it will play a role in the upcoming Thor film next year. The glove itself was made by Thanos in the comics in order to control the Infinity Gems that are nestled inside of it. Heres a brief description of Thanos and what the Infinity Gems allow its possessor:

Thanos is a Death-obsessed Eternal bent on genocide and galactic conquest. The Infinity Gems — initially called the Soul Gems — are six immensely powerful stones, each granting its bearer with mastery over one aspect of the universe: Mind, Reality, Time, Space, Soul and Power. Combined on the Infinity Gauntlet, they make the user omnipotent.

There has been no other confirmation of the purpose of the glove in the film, but Loki has handled the gems in the comics so my bet is it will deal with his mischief. Marvel could be working this towards introducing Thanos in the Avengers movie as the main villain for the team to fight.

Cowboys & Aliens Synopsis and Image!

Courtesy of Collider we now have the first official image and the synopsis for Jon Favreau's directorial follow up to Iron Man 2, Cowboys and Aliens!

The first image is of Daniel Craig in full cowboy gear holding in front of him what appears to be an alien weapon. Well that makes sense, I was honestly wondering how cowboys would realistically defeat aliens. Now we know, they steal the alien weapons, clever!

Cowboys and Aliens opens everywhere July 29, 2011.

Blockbuster filmmaker Jon Favreau directs Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in an event film for summer 2011 that crosses the classic Western with the alien-invasion movie in a blazingly original way: Cowboys & Aliens.  Joined by an arsenal of top moviemakers—Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci—he brings an all-new action thriller that will take audiences into the Old West, where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world.

1873.  Arizona Territory.  A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution.  The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist.  What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford).  It’s a town that lives in fear.

But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky.  Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known.

Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation.  As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force.  With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents—townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors—all in danger of annihilation.  United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

The script for Cowboys & Aliens is by Star Trek’s Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci and Damon Lindelof (television’s Lost), based on Platinum Studios’ graphic novel created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.  Grazer, Howard, Rosenberg, Kurtzman and Orci produce.  Spielberg and Denis L. Stewart executive produce.

Thor, Captain America & The Avengers At Comic Con!

Once again today the lucky folks at comic con were treated to more super hero footage, and thanks to comingsoon we have the description. The footage this time was of Marvels upcoming comic book films for Thor and Captain America. Hopefully we can something online from one if not both of the films due out next summer.

The Captain America Teaser description:

started with an air raid siren, which led to archival footage of World War II with famous quotes voiced over the top. We can see that there's an alternating red, white and blue background as we see different scenes from World War II.

The titles say... "In the world's greatest Country, Our Courage and Strength Led Us Into Battle. Stories Emerged of Heroes, But One Story Has Never Been Told."

The red, white and blue background slowly pulls back to show us that it is indeed Captain America's shield.

There's a voiceover of Teddy Roosevelt saying "Today we must create the finest army in history, and every army starts with one man."

And we see Captain America in shadow. (The crowd goes wild.)

"Next summer, meet the world's first Avenger."

And we see our first look as Chris Evans as Captain America. (Crowd goes wilder.)

Then we see the "Captain America" logo and the next shot has Captain America throwing his shield at the camera.

They've only been shooting Captain America for eight days, and Hugo Weaving revealed he's already worn the Red Skull mask once already! I guess that solves the question as to whether he would wear a mask or make up... or does it?

They also showed an apparent scene of "raw footage" from Cap which was described by Collider:

we see Weaving come in as Johann Schmidt, who would eventually become “Red Skull”.  He’s leading a team of Nazi soldiers as they storm a catacomb and open a sarcophagus to reveal a skeleton holding what appears to be the Cosmic Cube.  Schmidt says it was “the jewel of Odin’s treasure room.”  He then walks around the catacomb and looks at a giant engraving of a tree along a wall.  Schmidt then is able to find a secret compartment that pushes out into a box.  He then takes out the box, opens it, we see a blue light reflected on Schmidt’s face and then the scene ends.

The Thor teaser description:

 It starts with lightning and then it shows a SHIELD base where Clark Gregg's Agent Coulson is interrogating someone chained to a chair. It's Chris Hemsworth's Thor, and Coulson gives a long monologue asking him where he got his training. We see a bit of footage of Thor in action sans hammer taking down the SHIELD soldiers who are trying to stop him.

"Who are you?" asks Coulson and Thor looks up.

We then see what looks like a constellation system and we hear a voiceover by Anthony Hopkins as Odin as we see the golden buildings of Asgard and the camera goes into the throne room where he's giving a big speech to his son, who is kneeling at the base of the throne. We see glimpses of each of the Asgardian Gods including Sif, Balder and the Warriors Three, and Idris Elba's Heimdall. Odin is obviously mad at Thor and he says the he's going to take his power and banish him for his actions, sending a bolt that sends Thor down through the constellation where he lands in the desert and is found by Natalie Portman's Jane Foster. We then see Hemsworth walking around shirtless and impressing Foster and her assistant Darcy (played by Kat Dennings).

For the full Thor description go HERE.

After both films were previewed for the very lucky audience the entire cast of the Avengers came on stage. The cast included Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and the new Bruce Banner/The Hulk. So I guess that makes it official Ruffalo is the new Hulk! There was also a teaser for The Avengers which was essentially the new logo with a voice over by Sam Jackson, regardless still sounds all kinds of awesome!

I just hope we can at least get some new screen shots if not both trailers for Thor and Captain America online. The only problem being neither film comes out until mid next year so the probability seems very slim, but none the less even if we don't see it we know they at least sound amazing.

In addition to to the footage shown Marvel Studios just announced the newly launched Assemble.Marvel.com, the official site for The Avengers which features the new logo!

I hate to be the one to say this, but it looks like marvels reign of terror on the film industry isn't letting up anytime soon, They're kicking DC's ass all over the place right now! Can Marvel force a Batman or Superman announcement out of DC/WB before the months over, I sure hope so!

The Destroyer From Thor

Thor director Kenneth Branagh unveiled the Destroyer from the film at Marvel Studios' Comic-Con booth today.

The epic adventure Thor spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Is it just me or is Thor starting to look all kinds of awesome! Between this and the helmets recently revealed I've almost forgotten entirely about the mediocre picture released just last week. Be sure to check back later today for the Thor and Captain America Footage descriptions if not actual video if we're lucky enough.

First Footage From "Green Lantern" Description!

At this very moment the Green Lantern panel is under way in San Diego at comic con. They've already shown the footage and lucky for us Superherohype has posted their description:

It's essentially a teaser which starts off with a glowing green ball and an alien voiceover that says:

"Welcome inhabitants of sector 2814. The Guardians have chosen you as candidates for enlistment but before you can be recruited, you must be tested. The light you see before you is controlled by your will. Focus on the light. If you will it, it will be. Now, focus."

That ball of green light continues to pulse and get larger and larger before it blasts the screen with a wave of green light.

We then hear Reynolds' voiceover saying the Green Lantern oath and a quick montage of footage cut together that went by very fast, including a close-up of Reynolds as Hal Jordan, his hand holding the ring, we see him in street clothes being pulled upwards and see a later scene in which he's taking on criminals by using the ring to form a giant fist that throws a roundhouse punch knocking out a bunch of guys. We get a very brief glimpse of Hector Hammond and Tomar Re. (We presume that the voiceover was Abin Sur, but we're not sure.)

After the oath is done, we hear the original alien voiceover saying, "The choice has been made."

The light we saw earlier starts forming into the GL emblem and then we see the logo is "Await Further Contact Summer 2011."

In addition to the footage shown the cast and crew came out to take questions and talk about the film. Ryan Reynolds said he was influenced by Han Solo and Chuck Yaeger for the part of Hal Jordan, awesome!

Martin Campbell also talked about Hal's relationship with his father Martin as seen in the "Secret Origins" arc and how that's going to play a large part in the movie, finally culminating at the end of the movie when Hal becomes a Green Lantern. So does this mean the film will play out similar to Batman Begins but on an intergalactic scale, it certainly sounds like it.

Unlike previous years a lot of the footage shown for the films being promoted at comic con this year has been released online. Hopefully this means later today or maybe tomorrow we can update this with the actual footage shown today, fingers crossed!

New Trailer "The Goon"

MTV has released the comic con trailer for the animated adaptation of Eric Powell's The Goon, produced by David Fincher and voiced by Paul Giamatti.

The Goon follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and "skunk apes."

This is actually looks a lot better then it sounds. I should have known though, it's not like Fincher would attach his name to a shitty project. I have to wonder if this will be an  R rated picture or just PG 13 with the censors like they were in the trailer, either way it was hilarious.

Teaser Trailer "Drive Angry"

The very brief teaser trailer shown at comic con yesterday for Summit Entertainments Drive Angry 3D is now online.

The film tells the story of Milton (Nicolas Cage), a mysterious man who has escaped from Hell to avenge the death of his daughter and retrieve her kidnapped baby.

I'm positive I'm not the only that thinks this is very "meh" at this point. This doesn't look any different than what I expected out of Nic Cage. Weird crazy and receding hairline in a new color with smack talk and action, yay?

Priest Trailer

You may have seen the images from this film on TMT the other day and now there is a trailer, I'm not sure where it came from or how long it will stay up so check it out asap!

The story is essentially The Searchers with vampires and there are multiple influences on show in the trailer, but I love the look of the futuristic world depicted here and the action looks pretty kick ass, the fact it has a May release date suggests early buzz must be very good. Clearly some of the CGI is a bit ropey but they have nearly a year to fix it.

Jeremy Renner confirmed for the avengers!

The rumors for once have actually proven true, Jeremy Renner will in fact play Hawk Eye in Joss Whedon's Avengers! The rumor of Renner joining avengers first surfaced back in November of last year but was brushed aside with mostly skepticism. Then again in June of this year the rumor made its rounds again picking up more steam including quotes from Renner himself saying he would love to take on the role. Until now I thinks it's safe to say no one honestly expected Renner to sign on, not that it isn't great news which it definitely is, but after the critical acclaim of his performance in The Hurt Locker he could have had just about any role he wanted.

Courtesy of OntheRedCarpet.com we have the video footage of Whedon confirming Renners casting as well joking about killing off Iron Man. Although the Iron Man death was obviously a tongue in cheek comment as was the no I'm actually killing Hawkeye comment, the likelihood of Iron Man ala RDJ appearing in the capacity of only a cameo seems very good at this point. The end of Iron Man 2 alluded somewhat to Tony Stark having limited involvement with the team. This could also easily explain the inclusion of Hawkeye with out over crowding the film with hero's. Technically this scenario should only be considered speculation for the time being, but I would also call it an educated guess based on what we already know.