The Raven

Weekend Box Office – THINK LIKE A MAN Stays On Top with $18 Million as New Releases Underwhelm

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: April 29th, 2012 at 9:01 am

Thought last weekend, when the comedy Think Like A Man took first place from the heavily-favored The Lucky One, was a surprise? Then check out this weekend’s estimates. Not only has Think Like A Man defied all expectations by holding the top spot for a second week; it did so by beating the heavily-favored rom-com The Five-Year Engagement from super-producer Judd Apatow. Could it be that post-racial America has finally arrived? Or is everyone just saving their money to see The Avengers? You be the judge.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Think Like A Man	$18,400,000	$60.8
2	Pirates! Band of Misfits	$11,400,000	$11.4
3	The Lucky One	$11,325,000	$39.9
4	The Hunger Games	$11,250,000	$372.4
5	The Five-Year Engagement	$11,156,800	$11.1
6	Safe	$7,720,000	$7.7
7	The Raven	$7,250,000	$7.2
8	Chimpanzee	$5,460,000	$19.1
9	The Three Stooges	$5,400,000	$37.1
10	Cabin in the Woods	$4,500,000	$34.6

Producers Aaron Ryder and Marc Evans Talk THE RAVEN, CRUSH, THE STRANGERS 2, MUD, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 28th, 2012 at 3:06 pm

Now playing at theaters everywhere is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

Recently, I got to sit down with producers Aaron Ryder and Marc Evans for an extended interview.  We talked about how they got involved in The Raven, the rating, deleted scenes, how the script changed when the actors got cast, Poe’s dark and extraordinary life, and more.  In addition, they also talked about their upcoming projects like House at the End of the Street with Jennifer Lawrence, Jeff Nichols‘ Mud, The Cold Light of Day and The Strangers 2.  Hit the jump for what they had to say.

Friday Box Office – THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT Can’t Beat Holdovers THINK LIKE A MAN and THE LUCKY ONE on Seriously Slow Friday

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: April 28th, 2012 at 9:13 am

What a difference 12 months makes. On this weekend in 2011, summer started early when the surprise blockbuster Fast Five sped past $86 million on its debut run. And this year? Out of four new wide releases on Friday, not one could challenge last weekend’s number one comedy Think Like A Man. Hell, none of them could beat last weekend’s number two movie The Lucky One, for that matter. Best effort came from the Judd Apatow-produced The Five-Year Engagement, which debuted with an estimated $3.5 million from 2,936 locations or about half of what was expected. Sony’s animated Pirates! Band of Misfits made it into the top five with $2.8 million (and could climb higher if family audiences turn out on Saturday); but both Lionsgate’s Safe and Relativity’s The Raven had to settle for ‘also-ran’ status with $2.6 and $2.5 million, respectively. Overall, it looks like a pretty lifeless weekend, which only means that we’ll have much more hyperbole to work with when The Avengers – which is already breaking records overseas – hits next Friday.

	Title	Friday	Total
1	Think Like A Man	$5,500,000	$48.4
2	The Lucky One	$3,900,000	$40.1
3	The Five-Year Engagement	$3,500,000	$3.5
4	The Hunger Games	$3,000,000	$372.4
5	Pirates! Band of Misfits	$2,800,000	$2.8

THE RAVEN Review

by Bill Graham    Posted: April 27th, 2012 at 7:16 am

Sometimes a film makes you wonder if Hollywood truly is running out of ideas. Or maybe director James McTeigue just wanted to put John Cusack in period dress and the Sherlock Holmes franchise was already taken. Tone-deaf, The Raven squanders an intriguing idea with dull action set pieces and an unfocused theme. The plot revolves around grisly murders that replicate Edgar Allan Poe’s most horrific works in an attempt to get the not-so-famous Poe to solve the case in Baltimore. For those unaware, this isn’t based on a true story. Hit the jump for my full review.

Luke Evans Talks THE RAVEN, Filming at 48 Frames Per Second on THE HOBBIT, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 26th, 2012 at 5:45 pm

Opening this weekend is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

Last week I did an exclusive phone interview with Luke Evans.  We talked about how he got involved in The Raven, his research, what it was like to work with John Cusack, the graphic violence in the film, how much changed during filming, his process as an actor, his favorite movies, and more.  In addition, with Evans currently filming Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit in New Zealand, we talked about how that’s been going, how long he has  been filming for and when he wraps, filming on the RED Epic in 48fps, and future projects like Amateur American and more.  Hit the jump for what he had to say.

John Cusack Talks THE RAVEN, Twitter, THE PAPERBOY, THE FROZEN GROUND, the Experimental NO SOMOS ANIMALES, and More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 25th, 2012 at 8:26 pm

Opening this weekend is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

Last week I got to sit down with John Cusack for an extended video interview.  We talked about how The Raven came together, his research, Twitter (you can follow him here), which of his previous films people always want to talk about, if we’ll ever get a sequel to Hot Tub Time Machine, his upcoming projects like The Paperboy, The Frozen Ground, filming the experimental No Somos Animales in Argentina, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Director James McTeigue Talks THE RAVEN, MESSAGE FROM THE KING, NESS/CAPONE and THE GRINGO

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 22nd, 2012 at 4:57 pm

Opening next weekend is director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven.  If you’re not familiar with the film, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

During my wide ranging interview with McTeigue, we talked about making The Raven, the mixture of fact and fiction, film versus digital, his favorite director, actor and movie, the necessity of an R rating, future projects like Message from the King, The Gringo, and Ness/Capone (a retelling of the Eliot Ness/Al Capone myth that’s “nothing like The Untouchables”) and a lot more.  According to McTeigue, it seems like Message from the King is the one with the one with the most momentum, as he’s “going through the casting process of that at the moment” and it’s being produced by Aaron Ryder and FilmNation.  Hit the jump to watch. 

Watch a Conversation Between John Cusack and Director James McTeigue for THE RAVEN

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 20th, 2012 at 2:56 pm

Director James McTeigue’s (V for Vendetta) twist on Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven, is set to open next weekend, and we’ve been provided with a short featurette from the film to share with our readers.  Instead of having actors speak generally about the film in between clips of action, this featurette is a conversation between McTeigue and star John Cusack about what drew them to the project and what makes Poe such an intriguing person.  It’s actually a fascinating watch and worth checking out if you’re a fan of Poe or any of the people involved in the film.  For those unfamiliar, the story finds the author teaming up with a detective (Luke Evans) in order to catch a killer who is modeling his crimes after Poe’s stories.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette.  The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.  The Raven opens on April 27th.

4 Clips and Nearly 4 Minutes of Behind-the-Scenes Footage from THE RAVEN

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: April 16th, 2012 at 6:39 pm

We’ve been provided with four clips and almost four minutes of behind-the-scenes-footage from director James McTeigue’s (V for Vendetta) thriller The Raven to share with our readers.  The film stars John Cusack as Edgar Allen Poe, and follows the author as he teams up with a detective (Luke Evans) in order to catch a killer who is modeling his crimes after Poe’s stories.  It’s certainly an intriguing premise and Cusack isn’t one for phoning it in, so I’m hoping we’re in for a solid thriller with some nice surprises.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and behind-the-scenes footage.  The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson. The Raven opens April 27th.

Director James McTeigue Talks MESSAGE FROM THE KING, NESS/CAPONE and THE GRINGO

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 14th, 2012 at 11:50 am

With director James McTeigue‘s (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) The Raven opening April 27, yesterday afternoon I got to speak with him here in Los Angeles.  If you’re not familiar with The Raven, the story takes place in 1840s Baltimore where a series of grisly murders appear to have been inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack).  Poe and a detective (Luke Evans) must team up to find the killer before he takes out the woman Poe loves (Alice Eve).  The film also stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson.   For more on the film, here’s the trailer and 40 images.

While I’ll have the full interview online the week of release, towards the end of our conversation, we discussed some of the projects he’s developing like Message from the King, The Gringo, and Ness/Capone (a retelling of the Eliot Ness/Al Capone myth that’s “nothing like The Untouchables”).  According to McTeigue, it seems like Message from the King is the one with any momentum, as he’s “going through the casting process of that at the moment” and it’s being produced by Aaron Ryder and FilmNation.  He says it’s an R rated picture that takes place in L.A. and it’s about “a mysterious outsider who comes into L.A. from South Africa looking for his sister who’s dropped off the radar.”  Hit the jump for more.

Almost 40 New Images from John Cusack’s THE RAVEN

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: March 20th, 2012 at 6:21 pm

The Raven has the unenviable task of drawing audience’s attention (and dollars) away from this year’s slate of big action movies. Luckily for the Gothic murder mystery inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe, April looks to be one of the weaker months for this year’s box office. However, it will only have about one week to rake in the cash until a little movie called The Avengers comes out. Until then, we have a host of new images from The Raven featuring John Cusack, Alice Eve, Luke Evans, Bredan Gleeson and Oliver Jackson-Cohen in various shades of Gothic black. The James McTeigue thriller opens April 27th. Hit the jump to see the images.

New Posters for MEN IN BLACK 3, THE RAVEN, SAFE and WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: March 12th, 2012 at 7:38 pm

In this week’s poster round up, we’ve got a nice selection of advertising from various genres of films. There’s sure to be something you like in the mix. Here’s what we’ve got:

• A graffiti banner from the viral site of Men in Black 3.
• Two stylish posters from John Cusack-starrer, The Raven.
• An in-your-face poster of Jason Statham for his upcoming actioner, Safe.
• Finally, a dude-centric wide shot of the gents from What to Expect When You’re Expecting.

Hit the jump to see the posters and for more on each film.

New Images from THE RAVEN

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 16th, 2012 at 1:09 pm

A batch of new images has been released for James McTeigue’s (V for Vendetta) Edgar Allen Poe thriller The Raven. The film stars John Cusack as Poe, and follows the author as he teams up with a detective (Luke Evans) in order to catch a killer who is modeling his crimes after Poe’s stories. I think the premise is interesting enough, but I can’t help but feel like this might be a retread of From Hell; I’m hoping the similarities are surface-level only. Nevertheless, the tone looks pretty great and the “dark and drab” feel is on full-display in these new images.

Hit the jump to check out the images. The film also stars Alice Eve, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Brendan Gleeson. The Raven opens April 27th.

New Poster for THE RAVEN, Bonus Posters from Sundance 2012: THE IMPOSTER, RED LIGHTS

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 5:07 pm

Although the release date for The Raven has been pushed back a month, that’s allowed Relativity to give us more looks at the property, like this new poster. It’s not quite as ink-soaked or blood-soaked as previous efforts and resembles more of a phoenix than a raven, but it’s stylish nonetheless. Here’s what you need to know about the posters we’ve rounded up today:

• Director James McTeigue’s The Raven stars John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, who joins a detective (Luke Evans of Immortals) to stop a killer who’s committing crimes based on Poe’s works.
• The Imposter, a documentary film by director Bart Layton (Locked Up Abroad) that follows a young Frenchman who posed as a Texas family’s 16-year-old son who had been missing for three years
• From director Rodrigo Cortes (Buried) comes Red Lights, a paranormal thriller that questions the supernatural and whether a world-renowned psychic is actually gifted or just a charlatan. The film stars Robert De Niro, Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver and Elizabeth Olsen.

Hit the jump to check out the full-size posters.

Release Date Shuffle: Relativity Pushes THE RAVEN and HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET; Focus Features Moves SEEKING A FRIEND

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 11:30 am

We’ve got a few release date changes to report this afternoon. Briefly:

• Relativity has pushed The Raven starring John Cusack back from March to April 27th.
• Relativity’s House at the End of the Street starring Jennifer Lawrence moves from April to September 21st.
• Focus Features has pushed the apocalyptic dramedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World starring Steve Carell back from April to June 22nd.

Hit the jump for all the details.

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