Daybreakers

DAYBREAKERS Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: May 13th, 2010 at 10:16 am

The vampire genre is the most malleable horror metaphor/plot device in cinema. From Nosferatu, to Lugosi’s Dracula, we can witness unwelcome sexual horror in Max Shrek, to Bela Lugosi’s more welcome sexual advances. In The Lost Boys, it’s a metaphor for being accepted, and in The Addiction its meaning becomes self-evident. And there are a number of Vampire films that have traded on A.I.D.S. to give meaning to blood-sucking. For the Spierig Brothers blood and vampirism becomes a metaphor for oil in their film Daybreakers. Ethan Hawke stars as a hematologist vampire working on finding a blood substitute for the world’s now-majority vampire population. A chance encounter leads him to Willem Dafoe and a possible cure for vampirism. Against him are Sam Neill and the global industrial complex, which are happy to plunder the remaining resources. My review of Daybreakers Blu-ray after the jump.

Weekend Box Office – AVATAR Rings Up Another $48.5 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: January 10th, 2010 at 10:01 am

For the first time since The Dark Knight patrolled the multiplex 18 months ago, a feature film has managed to stay at number one for four consecutive weeks. As expected, James Cameron’s Avatar took no notice of 2010′s new arrivals, remaining the event movie of the year… both of them.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Avatar	$48,500,000	$429
2	Sherlock Holmes	$16,600,000	$165.1
3	Alvin & the Chipmunks 2	$16,300,000	$178.1
4	Daybreakers	$15,000,000	$15
5	It’s Complicated	$11,000,000	$76.3
6	Leap Year	$9,200,000	$9.2
7	The Blind Side	$7,750,000	$219.1
8	Up in the Air	$7,100,000	$54.7
9	Youth in Revolt	$7,000,000	$7
10	Princess & the Frog	$4,700,000	$92.6

Friday Box Office – AVATAR Makes it Four Fridays in a Row

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: January 9th, 2010 at 9:22 am

By now you know that James Cameron’s Avatar has become the second highest-grossing movie of all-time with a worldwide total of $1.175 BILLION and counting. Friday estimates put Avatar at $13.3 million – a 47% drop over New Year’s Day. This is the kind of drop that you would expect to see on Day 8, however, not on the 22^nd. Even with three new releases out in theatres, Avatar still had no real completion for America’s discretionary dollars. Lionsgate’s vampire drama Daybreakers was a distant second with $5.8 million while with $3.3 million the romantic comedy Leap Year just made the top five. Meanwhile, TWC’s long-awaited adaptation of Youth in Revolt didn’t embarrass itself with $2.7 million from 1,873 theatres. Full details on this week’s releases when you check back tomorrow.

	Title	Friday	Total
1	Avatar	$13,300,000	$393.8
2	Daybreakers	$5,800,000	$5.8
3	Sherlock Holmes	$5,100,000	$153.7
4	Alvin & the Chipmunks 2	$3,500,000	$165.3
5	Leap Year	$3,300,000	$3.3

Ethan Hawke Interview DAYBREAKERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 7th, 2010 at 11:21 am

Opening tomorrow is The Spierig Brothers new film Daybreakers.  The film stars Ethan Hawke as a brilliant vampire hematologist (blood expert) and he lives in a world where most humans have been turned into vampires due to a plague. Unfortunately, with a vampire society so large, they’ve killed most of the remaining human population and they’re relying on Hawke to provide a blood substitute. The film also stars Sam Neill, Isabel Lucas, and Willem Dafoe.

While vampire movies and TV shows are everywhere, Daybreakers has a great concept and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the film.  It’s definitely no Twilight.

So to help promote the film, I recently participated in a roundtable interview with Ethan Hawke.  He talked about why he got involved in the project, making the film, and a whole lot more.  It’s a great interview worth checking out.

3 Movie Clips from DAYBREAKERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: December 22nd, 2009 at 9:23 pm

Lionsgate has released three clips from their upcoming vampire movie Daybreakers that stars Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.  If you’re the type that’s sick of all the friendly vampires in Twilight and you’re craving some real killers, Daybreakers is for you.

And even if you’re not into vampire movies, I think the premise of Daybreakers is quite cool: it’s the year 2019 and vampires are now the dominant species on the planet with the remaining humans being farmed for blood.  But with the remaining blood supply dwindling, a vampire scientist (Ethan Hawke) finds himself siding with the human resistance.  The film is directed by Michael and Peter Spierig.

So if you’re curious…hit the jump to check the clips out.  Daybreakers hits theaters on January 8, 2010.

New Trailer for DAYBREAKERS Starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, and Sam Neill

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 25th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

A new trailer for the vampire-thriller Daybreakers just went online and before you sigh, “Great, another vampire movie,” you should know that I hear it’s a solid little flick and at the very least these vamps don’t look like they glitter when struck by sunlight.  It’s actually got a pretty neat premise: In the year 2019 (apparently the 2010s are going to be really rough for humanity), vampires are now the dominant species on the planet with the remaining humans being farmed for blood.  But with the remaining blood supply dwindling, a vampire scientist (Ethan Hawke) finds himself siding with the human resistance.  Directed by Michael and Peter Spierig, the film co-stars Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer but subscribe to the new rule that trailers may no longer end with some screaming “Noooooo!!!”  Daybreakers hits theaters on January 8, 2010.

Lionsgate Releases a New “PSA” TV Spot for DAYBREAKERS – The Ethan Hawke/Willem Dafoe Vampire Movie

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: November 18th, 2009 at 8:01 pm

Lionsgate has released a new “PSA” TV spot for Daybreakers and you can watch it after the jump.  As I said after seeing the movie at the Toronto Film Festival, I was surprised by how much I liked it.   The Spierig Brothers, who directed the film, gave the vampire genre a nice twist by showing a future where vampires have taken over and the humans that are left are hunted for food.  Unfortunately, due to the vampire population exploding, not enough humans are left to feed them.  That’s where Ethan Hawke’s character comes in as he’s a researcher trying to find a blood substitute before time runs out.

While I don’t want to paint this film as some sort of masterpiece, it’s a lot better than I expected and I think it’s worth checking out this January when it gets released.  Check out the PSA after the jump:

Poster Madness, Part 2 – DAYBREAKERS, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, VALENTINE’S DAY, and THE MISSING PERSON

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 13th, 2009 at 8:02 pm

Poster madness continues as new posters for “Daybreakers”, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”, “Valentine’s Day”,and “The Missing Person” debuted online and while none of them blow me away, they’re serviceable.  “Daybreakers” could use a better one because vampires may be hot right now but the vampires must be both hot and mostly harmless (and still have the ability to love!); “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” has thrown up tons of posters online but I have yet to see one for its domestic release and this one is Italian so, if you live in Italy, Prego.  The poster for “Valentine’s Day” should just list its ridiculous cast but there’s still plenty of time for that.  The tag line isn’t bad but I think a more honest one would be “‘He’s Just Not That into You’ made a lot of money so…”; Finally, the poster for “The Missing Person” is a little bland but it conveys the film noir tone and it features Michael Shannon so it’s fine by me.

Check out all three below.  “Daybreakers” hits theaters on January 8th, 2010; “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” on December 25^th; “Valentine’s Day” on February 12^th, 2010; and “The Missing Person” currently lacks a firm release date although it’s been making its way along the festival circuit ever since it debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Exclusive Interview with The Spierig Brothers DAYBREAKERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: October 10th, 2009 at 5:10 pm

One of the many films that premiered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival was The Spierig Brothers “Daybreakers”. The film stars Ethan Hawke as a brilliant vampire hematologist (blood expert) and he lives in a world where most humans have been turned into vampires due to a plague. Unfortunately, with a vampire society so large, they’ve killed most of the remaining humans and they’re relying on Hawke to provide a blood substitute. The film also stars Sam Neill, Isabel Lucas, and Willem Dafoe.

While I wasn’t sure what to expect going in, I was surprised by how much I liked the movie. It’s a high concept film that also plays as a vampire movie. I think audiences are going to like it when Lionsgate releases it this January. Anyway, while at the festival, I got to interview The Spierig Brothers and you can read our conversation after the jump. They talk about doing some of the special effects themselves, getting financing, making the film, and they also talk about their next movie “Captain Blood”.

TIFF ’09 Video Blog: YOUTH IN REVOLT and DAYBREAKERS

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: September 16th, 2009 at 10:15 pm

Peter (from Slashfilm) and I usually record our video blog’s in separate locations through the magic of the internet, but since we’re both attending this year’s Toronto Film Festival, we’ve decided to record some video blogs talking about some of the movies we’ve seen at the festival. We’ve tried to keep the video blogs short and to the point, but, as always, it sometimes goes longer than planned. But if you know us, that’s to be expected.

Anyway, after the jump you can watch Peter and I talk about the new Michael Cera movie “Youth in Revolt” and The Spierig Brothers vampire film “Daybreakers”. We liked both of the films, and you can find out why in the video blogs. Also, while some movies at the festival won’t hit theaters for another year, “Youth in Revolt” arrives in late October and “Daybreakers” hits theaters this January.

DAYBREAKERS Review – TIFF ’09

by Monika Bartyzel    Posted: September 9th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

Vampires are all the rage these days, between the tween thrust of “Twilight” and the sexual abandon of “True Blood”. But “Daybreakers” is not like its current brethren – it’s a classic vamp movie that follows some beloved myths while also introducing the genre to a whole new world of deadly circumstances. One, I might add, that doesn’t have any diamond-studded bloodsuckers. Read on to see why you should see “Daybreakers”.

DAYBREAKERS Trailer – Sci-fi Vampire Movie Stars Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: June 25th, 2009 at 8:40 pm

The sci-fi vampire flick “Daybreakers” doesn’t open until January 8^th, but blood-lust for vampire tales is at its meta-peak at the moment – a fact that has clearly not eluded the smart marketers at Lionsgate.  Yahoo! Movies just debuted the first trailer for “Daybreakers”, and what can I say?  It hits all the vampire highs – the blue tone of “Underworld”, the alternate-reality of “True Blood” and the lush, full-lips of Robert Pattin… wait, no.  I think that’s William Dafoe so, yeah… never mind.

“Daybreakers” stars Ethan Hawke as a brilliant vampire hematologist (blood expert) living (seems like the wrong word) in a society that is overwhelmingly vampire-based.  Naturally, the vamps have depleted their natural source of sustenance and are relying on Hawke to provide them with a synthetic blood substitute – or a cure for the undead-dying thing.  Sam Neill co-stars as a vampire leader who seems pretty unconcerned with preserving the precious natural resource of humanity.  See?  It’s really a play on the environment!  But I’m sure the producers don’t want that getting out… modern audiences prefer sparkly vamps over sanctimonious ones.

Catch the “Daybreakers” trailer after the jump…

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