A Disappointing “Prince of Persia” Flopped at Box Office

The first biggest bomb of the summer was dropped on the big screen version of the "Prince of Persia" video game, "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time". The Jerry Bruckheimer film wrecked at second spot in its opening weekend, only rakes in $37.7 million over the four-day holiday period domestically. The modest results for "Prince of Persia" leave the movie's franchise potential in doubt. Bruckheimer, whose movies include the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure" series, was aiming for similar franchise treatment on "Prince of Persia." The number which shown by the $150 million production, once again proofing that this is no Mummy or Pirates of the Caribbean, either. RottenTomatoes counted 158 reviews, and of those only 62 were fresh, giving this one a 39% fresh rating at RT. Mainstream critics liked it even less, with the score coming in at only 23% fresh. But Walt Disney Pictures will not be too much disappointed by "Prince of Persia" since it attracts moviegoers from all over the world. The film drew $59 million from 7,100 screens in 47 territories for an early international cume of $87.5 million. In "Prince's" second week on the foreign circuit, it finished No. 1 in at least 40 of its 47 markets and helped drive Disney's 2010 foreign box office revenues past the $1-billion for the 16th consecutive year. It was the fastest that Disney has ever reached that benchmark.

DreamWorks Animation's sequel "Shrek Forever After" remained the No. 1 movie for a second weekend with $43.4 million for the three days ended Sunday and an estimated $55.7 million for the four days ending on Monday's U.S. Memorial Day holiday, according to studio estimates. The fourth Shrek film which also suffered a disappointing debut last weekend, held up surprisingly well. Sales slipped just 39 percent, a better hold than the 56 percent drop for "Shrek the Third" in 2007. The North American tally for the cartoon stands at $133.1 million, down from the comparable 10-day haul of $203 million for "Shrek the Third." The studio said it was too early to tell if the new film could catch up. DreamWorks is really hoping for a lengthy shelf life on "Shrek Forever After," that had critics wondering if audiences finally were growing tired of the big green ogre.

Meanwhile, in third, "Sex and the City 2" sold $37.1 million worth of tickets during its first four days of release across North America, falling far short of the opening round for the first film in the series. While critics ripped this sequel, which reunites actresses Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis with director Michael Patrick King, women still accounted for 90 percent of the audience, up a few points from the first one. They also liked it a little less. RottenTomatoes counted 134 reviews, and of those, only a laughable 21 were positive, which lands “Sex and the City 2” with a rotten rating at 16%. Also with a budget approaching $100 million (about 40% higher than the first film), Carrie and the girls needed to seriously outdo the opening of the original, and like we have seen over the first month of summer so far, this sequel failed to live up to those expectations.

Peter Jackson Would Return to Middle Earth if Necessary

An intriguing bit of follow-up information regarding Guillermo del Toro's choice to no longer direct "The Hobbit" films arrived now by way of a fresh article in the The Dominion Post. Previously, I've said that Del Toro would have been perfect for "The Hobbit" and I don't know if another director could capture his vision. But I somewhat forgot with his friend, the incredible Peter Jackson, who also produce and write the film, also directing the marvelous "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Jackson is of course the pitch perfect contender to solve the problem in this middle earth. And he sounds like he would, if that’s what it takes, but doesn’t think he’ll be able to, thanks to contracts for other films.

The key bit of news was that Jackson could end up directing The Hobbit, if worst comes to worst and they don't find anyone. " Jackson met studio representatives yesterday to begin the search for a new director but wouldn't rule out directing The Hobbit himself if a suitable person could not be found." But it's not up to him. Like Bryan Singer, he has contractual commitments to other projects. "If that's what I have to do to protect Warner Bros' investment, then obviously that's one angle which I'll explore," Jackson says. But he has two other films in the works, one starting next year, and "the other studios may not let me out of the contracts."

The Dominion says that the reported $150 million budget for The Hobbit is more of a "ballpark figure" and could be higher if they go 3D. Some are guessing that Guillermo was "kicked off" because he didn't want to shoot it in 3D and New Line was unhappy. I don't know if I believe that, so we'll stick to the facts. Any idea when they'll be shooting? "I just don't know now until we get a new director. The key thing is that we don't intend to shut the project down. We don't intend to let this affect the progress. Everybody, including the studio, wants to see things carry on as per normal. The idea is to make it as smooth a transition as we can."

Second “Scott Pilgrim” Trailer Slashes the Web

This second trailer for Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” was released on the film’s Facebook page after 100,000 fans signed up for it. Now, the new preview for the comic adaptation film starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Anna Kendrick, Alison Pill, Brandon Routh and Jason Schwartzman, is totally available to please your vision. Building off of the minute-and-a-half first "Scott Pilgrim" trailer that released in March, this new seems really pushes the action and comedy elements to another level and should give you many more reasons to view this. Check it out after the break below.

Plot: Scott Pilgrim (Cera), bass guitarist for the garage band Sex Bob-omb, has just met the girl of his dreams. However, he must defeat Ramona Flowers' (Winstead) seven evil exes, who are coming to kill him.
Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It’s getting rid of them that proves difficult. From the girl who kicked his heart’s ass — and now is back in town — to the teenage distraction he’s trying to shake when Ramona roller blades into his world, love hasn’t been easy. He soon discovers, however, his new crush has the most unusual baggage of all: a nefarious league of exes control her love life and will do whatever it takes to eliminate him as a suitor.
As Scott gets closer to Ramona, he must face an increasingly vicious rogues’ gallery from her past, from infamous skateboarders to vegan rock stars and fearsomely identical twins. And if he hopes to win his true love, he must vanquish them all before it really is game over.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" hits theaters on August 13th.