The Best of 2010 (A top 5 from what I saw)

Self-explanatory. If your favorite movie isn't on here, it's probably because I didn't see it. Or it sucked.

5. True Grit

Okay, so I've never seen the original, but who cares? This was amazing, not a moment I didn't enjoy. Okay, the ending was a little drawn-out, but seriously, who cares. The story was well-constructed, the characters well-developed, and it had all the elements of style you could every hope to expect. This one's still in theaters, go see it NOW if you haven't already.

4. Inception

What the What? Number 4? Yeah. I know. Let's just say it was a good year for movies. While Inception is a smart, tight and fun action movie, it isn't quite what the fan-boys would have you think. Upon further reflection, it is a bit silly. That's part of what makes it good though, that you don't think about it while you're watching it. Definitely worth seeing, at least once.

3. Toy Story 3

I thought a lot about this. There is an element of the film I don't appreciate. It's so commercial. It basically glorifies consumerism and reinforces a desire for more stuff. But how can you not love it for everything else? It's so much fun, and has a bit of bite to it too. Despite a few nitpicks, this deserves to be on every top 10 list, and I'm sure it will be. (except for Armond White, a major IRL troll, and everyone knows it)

2. The Social Network

Now here's a film with which I have no complaints. Everything is perfect. It tells a real-life story, but remains unpredictable and engaging. It has a great poignancy and raises big questions about the modern age, without actually raising them. Aaron Sorkin's script is beyond genius, and should be taught in film-school as a shining example of excellent screen-writing. All of the actors perform there jobs well, but Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield both deliver award-worthy work. Simply amazing.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I think the reason I hated Tron so much was because I saw this movie first. It's smarter, faster, cooler, and just way way better. Funnier than Toy Story 3, more of a mind-frag than Inception and the most fun I've had all year. Is it really that good John? Yes, yes it is.

Honorable Mentions:

-How to Train your Dragon
-Let me In

Foreign Film Remakes

It's no secret that Hollywood isn't known for originality these days. Most movies are adapted from books, this is nothing new, but now more and more remakes and sequels are showing up all over. This is common knowledge, but what isn't is that many seemingly original films are actually remakes of foreign films.

Americans don't seem to like foreign films very much. They consistently fail to make even a slight blip on the box office radar. They're typically only seen by film buffs, so most people haven't heard of them. This makes them prime remake material. I recently found out that Dinner for Schmucks, coming out this weekend is based on the French film "The Dinner Game" from 1998. So I knew, I had to make this list.

Here's a short list of the most notable ones from the last 10 years:

China
The Eye (2008) from The Eye (2002)
The Departed (2006) from Internal Affairs (2002)

Denmark
Catch that Kid (2004) from Klatretosen (2002)
Brothers (2009) from Brodre (2004)

French
Taxi (2004) from Taxi (1998)

German
No Reservations (2007) from Bella Martha (2001)

Japan
Dark Water (2005) from Dark Water (2002)
The Grudge (2004) from Ju-On: The Grudge (2003)
One Missed Call (2008) from Chakushin Ari (2004)
The Ring (2001) from Ringu (1998)
Shall we Dance (2004) from Shall we Dansu (1996)

Korea
The Lake House (2006) from Il Mare (2000)
The Uninvited (2009) from A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
Mirrors (2009) from Into the Mirror (2003)

Norway
Insomnia (2002) from Insomnia (1997)

Spain
Vanilla Sky (2001) from Abre Los Ojos (1997)
Quarantine (2008) from REC (2007)

Thailand
Shutter (2008) from Shutter (2004)
Bangkok Dangerous (2008) from Bangkok Dangerous (1999)

Sweden
Let Me in (2010) from Let the Right one In (2008)

and also some older ones you might not expect.

The Birdcage
Jungle 2 Jungle
The Parent Trap
Weekend at Bernie's
True Lies
Three men and a Baby

Breaking Even in Film: More movies cross the line!

Get him to the Greek
Production Budget: $40 Million
Domestic Gross: $60 million
Overseas: $21 million
Worldwide: $81 million

Get him to the Greek was a decidedly middling comedy, especially when you consider it's from heavyweight Judd Apatow. Still, it managed to make its money back, and it has more coming in overseas.

Predators
Production Budget: $40 million
Domestic Gross: $44 million
Overseas: $37 million
Worldwide: $81 million

After 14 days in theaters, Predators has crossed the mark to make its money back. Despite a very steep drop last weekend, I think Predators still has some legs left, especially overseas. Look for a sequel to be announced any minute now.

Despicable Me
Production Budget: $69 million
Domestic Gross: $138 million
Overseas: $12 million
Worldwide: $150 million

Despicable Me managed to defy predictions earlier this month and is holding onto its glory. It's made its money back, even before you take overseas numbers into account and could be considered the breakout hit of the summer. Obviously it's just getting started overseas, so by the end of its run I wouldn't put $400 million worldwide out of its reach. I'm still surprised they made this film for under $70 million, but boy is Universal happy with this!

Breaking Even in Film

It's a generally understood fact in Hollywood, that to make money on a film you have to surpass the budget. Usually, if the worldwide gross is twice the film's budget, it is considered to have broken even, and is typically considered successful, considering the money that will be made on DVD. Why double? Due to marketing costs, and the fact that about 50% of the gross actually goes back to the studios. Considering that, even films considered successful often don't make money until the DVD comes out. I consider breaking even the most important thing for a film to achieve, so I'm going to list the films this summer that have done so, and in future posts I may include more of them...just cuz I wanted to. Note: While production budgets are readily available, marketing costs are usually kept under wraps, so that part will be conjecture on my part. Usually there's one wide release every week that manages to actually make money.

Iron Man 2
Production Budget: $200 million
Domestic Gross: $308 million
Overseas: $303 million
Worldwide: $611 million

Even when marketing is taken into account, you can't deny that this movie made money. Despite a weaker overall performance domestically, this has surpassed the first film worldwide.

Letters to Juliet
Production Budget: $30 million
Domestic Gross: $51 million
Overseas: $8.9 million
Worldwide: $59.9 million

Okay, this technically has not broken even, but it will within a few days, and then some once the overseas market kicks in (it has yet to be released in most markets). This is a good example though of how difficult it is to break even on a film, even with a modest budget. Taking into account marketing costs, this movie probably won't make money till the DVD comes out, but I think the studio was counting on that.

Shrek Forever After
Production Budget: $165 million
Domestic: $233 million
Overseas: $137 million
Worldwide: $370 million

Despite performing far below the other Shrek films, (although it has better legs than Shrek 3) Shrek 4 has managed to more than break even, and is still just getting started on the foreign side of things. With marketing, it still has a ways to go but will probably make it by the time all the foreign markets are tallied.

Sex and the City 2
Production Budget: $100 million
Domestic: $93 million
Overseas: $172 million
Worldwide: $265 million

Another movie that did below expectations domestically, Sex and the City 2 has managed to make money, despite a bloated budget and horrible reviews. The DVD will have to recoup most of the marketing costs, but (sadly) a third film is not entirely out of the equation...blech.

The Karate Kid
Production Budget: $40 million
Domestic: $155 million
Overseas: $24 million
Worldwide: $179 million

A run away success, which I predicted. No matter how much was spent on marketing the studios have made a boatload of cash on this picture, and it will only increase, since it has yet to launch in many major overseas markets, and is still playing strongly here in the US.

Toy Story 3
Production Budget: $200 million
Domestic: $301 million
Overseas: $151 million
Worldwide: $452 million

Who didn't expect this? Even with a $200 million budget to conquer, this is one of the most recent films to make it's money back. It's still playing strongly here, and has yet to launch in many places overseas. When all is said and done on the box office side, this will probably be the highest grossing film of the summer. Almost certainly.

Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Production Budget: $65 million
Domestic: $175 million
Foreign: $100 million
Worldwide: $275 million

After only six days of release, Eclipse is one of the most profitable films of the year, having made more than 4 times its budget back. In the end its profits will be unimaginable, proving that a big budget is almost always a hindrance more than a help. Take notes Hollywood, and you can all make money. (preferably however, have better stories than Twilight, my point is special effects and big names do not box office make)

4th of July Weekend Box Office Predictions

Next weekend Twilight: Eclipse opens and will doubtless dominate the box office, the real question is how high it will fly, and whether fellow opener "The Last Airbender" will stand up tall beneath the behemoth, a la "Day After Tommorow" in 2004, or crash and burn a la...Jonah Hex. Let's see what I think.

Twilight Eclipse
Opening Size: 4000+ theaters, probably upwards of 7,000 screens
Budget: $65,000,000
Predicted Opening (from June 30-July 4): $165,000,000
Predicted Total Gross: $330,000,000

Yes, I'm predicting it will fly just as high/higher than the last picture. The major difference here is Eclipse's opening on a Wednesday for a 5-day independence day opening, while New Moon opened on the Friday before thanksgiving. New Moon hit brought in nearly $73 million the first day, that's a record. However, for the weekend it came out to $142 million, less than double the opening day. I think Eclipse will hit a similar pattern, upwards of $70 million on Wednesday, with $30-40 for Thursday, $30-40 Friday, $30-40 Saturday and less than $30 Sunday, although with Sunday being independence day it might get a boost. 75+35+35+35+25...actually that comes to $205, which I can't imagine considering that would be the biggest 5-day gross of all time. Expect it to drop off much quicker off of the opening day...but still a ridiculously massive start.

The Last Airbender
Opening Size: 3000+ theaters, as many as 6,000 screens
Budget: $150,000,000
Predicted Opening (July 1-4): $60,000,000
Predicted Total Gross: $200,000,000

The Last Airbender is based on the Nickelodeon anime-like series, which has been very successful. It is directed by M Night Shyamalan, which I don't think will have much sway here one way or another. I think the property will either sell or it won't and Shyamalan may take credit, or blame, but he really won't affect it at all I don't think. I predict solid business, as it has generated a good amount of buzz for this type of picture, and may successfully counter-program Eclipse. All the teenage-tweenage girls will go see Twilight, which will drive the far-less interested male audience to other pictures. Airbender may just fit the bill. I expect the audience to skew heavily male, and also heavily under age 25. (whereas Eclipse will obviously skew female) Airbender, oddly enough opens the day after Eclipse, which I think was a very smart move. The multi-plexes will be overrun with Twilight fans the first day, but in following days it will be much slower for that picture. I think the weekend breakdown will also be more even for Airbender, with less focus on the opening day. But we'll see, won't we.