
Though it’s tough to take director Robert Rodriguez at his word given how many times we’ve been promised that Sin City 2 is “right around the corner” over the past few years, he’s finally making good on two follow-ups this summer: Machete Kills and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. With production looming closer on both films, the first promo posters have now gone online. Rodriguez will first shoot the Machete sequel Machete Kills this month, which finds Danny Trejo returning as the murderous Mexican. Other returning actors include Michelle Rodriguez and Jessica Alba, who will be joined by newcomers Mel Gibson, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard, and recent addition Sofia Vergara. Then, Rodriguez will finally shoot the Sin City follow-up, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Hit the jump for more.

Director Robert Rodriguez pulled no punches when he said he wanted star power, in the form of Michelle Williams and Mel Gibson, for his sequel, Machete Kills. It looks like half of that wish is about to come true. Gibson is reportedly in serious negotiations to join the Machete sequel in a supporting role. The original starred Danny Trejo in the title role as a former Mexican Federale, but it also featured a number of co-stars that diluted Trejo’s presence on screen, notably Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal and Lindsay Lohan. This time around, the cast may be smaller since Rodriguez is juggling director duty between Machete Kills and Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For. Hit the jump for more, including commentary from Rodriguez regarding his schedule and where his directing loyalties lie.

Yesterday, we reported that directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller had finally secured financing for Sin City 2 (officially titled Sin City: A Dame to Kill For), and filming was scheduled to begin this summer. As you may recall, Rodriguez also has another sequel in the works: Machete Kills. Back in February, we reported that the plot had Machete (Danny Trejo) “taking down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space.”
Hit the jump for more on Machete Kills.

Given that the festival takes place in his home city, it’s no surprise that filmmaker Robert Rodriguez took part in the 2012 SXSW Film Festival. Rodriguez took the opportunity to provide another update on his production company Quickdraw Productions and the many projects he currently has in development. In addition to touting the launch of Quickdraw Animation (two animated feature films, Heavy Metal and a family film, are already in development), Rodriguez gave a status report on the long-promised Sin City 2 and the Machete follow-up Machete Kills, saying both projects are poised to go into production this year. Hit the jump for more.

A promo poster for Robert Rodriguez‘ Machete sequel, Machete Kills, has popped up online. Unfortunately, Machete was a massive disappointment and I’m wary of a sequel, which is part two in a planned trilogy; the finale will be Machete Kills Again. Machete misunderstood what a gritty B-movie was supposed to be, gussied it up with movie stars, used a bloated storyline to accommodate all of them, and its biggest crime was making Machete (Danny Trejo) a supporting character in his own movie. Hopefully, Machete Kills will be leaner and trust Trejo to carry the flick. The plot has Machete tasked to “take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space.” So…space weapons and global war…that’s leaner, right?
Hit the jump to check out the promo poster. Filming on Machete Kills is set to begin filming in April.

While director Robert Rodriguez has been touting 2010’s Machete as the first in a planned trilogy for quite some time now, I wasn’t exactly holding my breath for the franchise to come to fruition. This past August, Rodriguez said he was waiting on scripts for both Sin City 2 and Machete 2, and now it looks like the latter is geared up and ready to go. Rodriguez is readying Machete Kills with producer Alexander Rodnyansky, and star Danny Trejo is currently in talks to wield his machete once again. Hit the jump for more, including the storyline for Machete Kills.
We have arrived at the official end of summer: Labor Day weekend. Never a blockbuster in terms of grosses, this year’s late summer crop of movies – two horror titles and a thriller – appears weaker than usual. In fact, it looks like it will take four days for the newcomers to earn what last year’s Labor Day releases made in only three.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | The Help | $14,200,000 | $118.6 |
| 2 | The Debt | $9,670,000 | $11.6 |
| 3 | Apollo 18 | $8,700,000 | $10.7 |
| 4 | Shark Night 3D | $8,640,000 | $10.5 |
| 5 | Rise of the Planet of the Apes | $7,800,000 | $160 |
| 6 | Colombiana | $7,400,000 | $21.9 |
| 7 | Our Idiot Brother | $5,180,000 | $15.4 |
| 8 | Don’t be Afraid of the Dark | $4,940,000 | $16.3 |
| 9 | Spy Kids 4 | $4,630,000 | $29 |
| 10 | The Smurfs | $4,000,000 | $131.9 |

During his Hall H panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, director Robert Rodriguez provided some brief updates on his Machete sequels and Sin City 2. At that time, he stated that the Machete sequels had been greenlit and that they would be titled Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again respectively. In regards to Sin City 2, Rodriguez claimed that the sequel would, like the first entry, center on three separate stories, two of which would be new and one that would adapt Frank Miller’s A Dame to Kill For. While doing press for his upcoming children’s film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D, the director updated the status of each of the above properties a little more. Hit the jump for what he had to say.

Director Robert Rodriguez was back in full-force at Comic-Con this week for a Hall H panel regarding all of his upcoming projects, as well as his new production company QuickDraw Studios. The director gave updates on Machete sequels, Sin City 2, Heavy Metal, a new Frank Frazetta museum in Austin, TX, and more. Hit the jump for my recap of the panel.

The film Grindhouse included a number of fake trailers for (mostly) awesome looking movies. At that time, Robert Rodriguez’s trailer for the then imaginary film “Machete” offered a lot of awesome images of asskickery, but what made it great was that it had Danny Trejo in a leading role. Trejo has been kicking around Hollywood for over twenty five years, starting as an extra and moving up to “that guy” status after turns in films like Desperado and Heat. 2010’s Machete then is Trejo’s first starring role as an ex-federale turned day-laborer hired by Michael Booth (Jeff Fahey) to kill Senator John McLaughlin (Robert De Niro). It turns out the shooting is a double cross, and Machete must then get revenge.
Joined by an all star and random cast of actors that range from Steven Seagal, Jessica Alba, Lindsay Lohan, the aforementioned De Niro and Fahey, Cheech Martin, Michelle Rodriguez, Don Johnson and Tom Savini, it’s a weird collision of actors all making a film that was born of a fake trailer. The results are mixed, but it’s hard to hate a film like this. My review of Machete on Blu-ray follows after the jump.
Everything went according to plan for the movie The Town after its somewhat surprising first place finish on Friday. That means that the R-rated drama is America’s new number one movie; taking in an estimated $23.8 million from 2,861 locations.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | The Town | $23,800,000 | $23.8 |
| 2 | Easy A | $18,200,000 | $18.2 |
| 3 | Devil | $12,500,000 | $12.5 |
| 4 | Resident Evil 3D | $5,840,000 | $43.9 |
| 5 | Alpha & Omega | $9,200,000 | $9.2 |
| 6 | Takers | $3,000,000 | $52.3 |
| 7 | The American | $2,756,000 | $32.8 |
| 8 | Inception | $2,015,000 | $285.1 |
| 9 | The Other Guys | $2,000,000 | $115.4 |
| 10 | Machete | $1,700,000 | $24.3 |
Welcome to the all-Resident Evil edition of the weekend box office report! The fourth entry in the RE series was the only new release of the weekend, which means its ascendency to number one was all but ordained by God. God is still a big 3D fan, in case you didn’t know.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | Resident Evil 4 | $27,700,000 | $27.7 |
| 2 | Takers | $6,100,000 | $48.1 |
| 3 | The American | $5,890,000 | $26.7 |
| 4 | Machete | $4,200,000 | $20.8 |
| 5 | Going the Distance | $3,835,000 | $14 |
| 6 | The Other Guys | $3,600,000 | $112.6 |
| 7 | The Last Exorcism | $3,450,000 | $38.1 |
| 8 | The Expendables | $3,250,000 | $98.4 |
| 9 | Inception | $3,015,000 | $282.4 |
| 10 | Eat Pray Love | $2,900,0000 | $74.6 |
Unlike the last Friday of summer – when underachievers Machete and The American battled for number one – the first weekend of fall has given us one unequivocal winner: Resident Evil: Afterlife. The fourth installment in writer/producer Paul WS Anderson’s successful franchise earned an estimated $10.9 million: a Resident Evil record. The series’ previous two features, Extinction in 2007 and Apocalypse in 2004, both opened below $10 million. Of course, considering that Afterlife was the sole wide release of the weekend and that 62% of its 3,203 locations screened the film in its original 3D format (it was shot, not converted, in 3D), that estimate could have been higher… ticket price premium and all. Still, RE: Afterlife is now poised to break its previous weekend record as well – with three day projections coming in at just under $30 million. Full details when you check back tomorrow.
| Title | Friday | Total | |
| 1 | Resident Evil 4 | $10,900,000 | $10.9 |
| 2 | Takers | $1,775,000 | $43.7 |
| 3 | The American | $1,700,000 | $24.1 |
| 4 | Going the Distance | $1,305,000 | $11.4 |
| 5 | Machete | $1,300,000 | $17.9 |

In this week’s installment of Running Dialogue, we discuss three movies about folks serving up healthy dishes of murder to other folks: Anton Corbijn’s The American, Neil Marshall’s Centurion, and Robert Rodriguez’ Machete. Of the three films, The American is a film that demands to be discussed due to its quiet and contemplative nature, and after talking it out with Russ and Curt, I liked the movie even more. Our discussion of Machete also led to a conversation about this summer movie season and how most of the big films disappointed but the smaller films like Exit Through the Gift Shop and Get Low were worth checking out.
Click here to listen to the new episode. Also, you can hit the jump for a list of all the movies we’ve recommended so far. Finally, click here to add Running Dialogue to your RSS feed.
Attendance picked up on Saturday after a typically slow start to the Labor Day weekend on Friday. George Clooney’s The American was able to pull ahead of fellow newcomer Machete, resulting in a clear weekend win for the understated action movie.
| Title | Weekend | Total | |
| 1 | The American | $12,900,000 | $16 |
| 2 | Machete | $12,300,000 | $12.3 |
| 3 | Takers | $11,400,000 | $37.8 |
| 4 | The Last Exorcism | $7,700,000 | $32.4 |
| 5 | Going the Distance | $7,100,000 | $7.1 |
| 6 | The Expendables | $7,000,000 | $92.5 |
| 7 | The Other Guys | $5,100,000 | $106.5 |
| 8 | Eat Pray Love | $4,800,000 | $68.9 |
| 9 | Inception | $4,700,000 | $277.2 |
| 10 | Nanny McPhee Returns | $3,800,000 | $22.6 |
PAN’S LABYRINTH’s Ivana Baquero Joins CARRIE Remake Alongside Judy Greer and Gabriella Wilde
Director Brad Parker Talks CHERNOBYL DIARIES and His Future Bad Robot Project
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Mega Gallery Featuring 50 Images and 15 Posters
Copyright ©2005 - 2012. All Rights Reserved. California web design ![]()