Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Adam Sandler Lands a Record 11 Razzie Nominations for JACK & JILL, JUST GO WITH IT, and BUCKY LARSON

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: February 26th, 2012 at 7:59 am

Critically speaking, 2011 may have been Adam Sandler‘s worst year ever.  His two main vehicles, Just Go With It and Jack & Jill, were panned.  As a producer, his name is also on Zookeeper and (most damningly) Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.  The Razzies recognized his efforts with a record 11 nominations.  For those keeping track, this shatters the record set by Eddie Murphy and his 5 nominations for Norbit in 2007.  New Year’s Eve, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, and Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 join Jack & Jill and Bucky Larson as the 5 contenders for Worst Picture.  Hit the jump for the full list.

2012 Annie Award Winners Announced; RANGO Named Best Animated Feature

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: February 5th, 2012 at 10:44 am

The 2012 Annie Awards were held last night, and critical favorite Rango ended up deservedly taking home the Best Animated Feature award. Gore Verbinski’s quirky western also took home the award for Best Writing in a Feature Production, Best Editing, and the Members Favorite Award, but lost Best Directing to Kung Fu Panda 2’s Jennifer Yuh Nelson. Bill Nighy won Best Voice Acting for Arthur Christmas, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes took home the Character Animation in a Live Action Feature Production award.

On the television side of things, The Simpsons was awarded the top prize as well as Best Directing and Best Writing. Heading into the Academy Awards, Rango is our clear frontrunner. The Adventures of Tintin was pegged as the film’s biggest competition at the Oscar ceremony, but the Steven Spielberg film was ultimately left out of the nominations. Hit the jump to see the full list of Annie Awards Winners.

2012 Oscar Nominations Announced; HUGO and THE ARTIST Lead the Pack

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 24th, 2012 at 6:05 am

The nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards have finally been unveiled. Many of the categories have fallen in line just as most have predicted (I fared alright with my predictions, but not great), with Hugo scoring 11 nods, followed closely by The Artist with 10. The biggest surprises are War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting in for Best Picture, the exclusion of The Adventures of Tintin from Best Animated Feature, and The Tree of Life nabbing Best Picture and Best Director nods (hooray!). On the snub side of things, despite landing the most precursor critics awards of any other actor in the race thus far, Albert Brooks was denied a Best Supporting Actor nod for his stellar work in Drive (boo). Additionally, Tilda Swinton was overlooked for giving the best performance of the year in We Need to Talk About Kevin, and AMPAS has no love for Michael Fassbender‘s haunting work in Shame.

There’s still plenty to be happy about, as Gary Oldman has his first ever Oscar Nomination (yes, that’s right) and Melissa McCarthy is a Best Supporting Actress nominee. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominees. The 84th Academy Awards will be presented by Billy Crystal on February 26th.

Visual Effects Oscar Category Narrowed Down to 10 Choices; Contenders Include HARRY POTTER, CAPTAIN AMERICA, and THE TREE OF LIFE

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 4th, 2012 at 2:00 pm

We’re just a little less than two months away from the 84th Annual Academy Awards, and today the choices in yet another category have been pared down. AMPAS announced today that 10 films remain in contention for the Best Visual Effects award, with films like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Hugo, and The Tree of Life making the cut. The pretty clear frontrunner in this race is Rise of the Planet of the Apes (and rightfully so), but there’s much to admire in the 10 films that have been shortlisted.

Though Terrence Malick’s existential drama The Tree of Life is heavy on the naturalistic visuals, the extended “history of the universe” sequence is gloriously enchanting and features some breathtaking visual effects work (dinosaurs!), so I’m happy to see that it hasn’t been overlooked. All members of the Academy’s visual effects branch will view 10-minute excerpts from each of the 10 shortlisted films, after which they’ll vote to nominate five pics for the Academy Award. Hit the jump to read the full press release, which includes all 10 singled-out films. The Oscars will be presented on February 26th.

Details and Cover Art for 4-Disc 3D Blu-ray of TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 27th, 2011 at 10:24 am

Transformers: Dark of the Moon will get a second Blu-ray release in the new year, with a 4-disc Ultimate Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD combo pack due on January 31, 2012.  Director Michael Bay promises:

“This Blu-ray 3D of Dark of the Moon will blow you away.  If you’ve been waiting for the right time to get a 3D television, this is it.”

Additionally, if you are willing and able to spring for the 7-disc set with the whole Transformers trilogy, you receive a plaque of movie images signed by Mr. Bay.  The 4-disc set has nearly 4 hours of bonus features; the 7-disc set offers more than 10 hours.  Hit the jump for the full rundown on what to expect, plus cover art.

2012 Oscar Preview: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Technical Category Quick Picks

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: November 26th, 2011 at 10:19 am

Continuing on with our look at the 2012 Oscar race, today we delve into Best Animated Feature and the technical categories. As Pixar’s Cars 2 was the studio’s worst-received feature to date (it currently sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes), we’ve got ourselves an actual competition in the Animated Feature category. Not only that, but if all 18 films that were submitted to the Academy are deemed eligible, we’ll have a total of five nominated films. This leaves us to debate the merits of Rango and The Adventures of Tintin against the likes of Puss in Boots and Arthur Christmas.

Additionally, we’ve taken a stab at Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the technical categories. As these are incredibly tricky to predict this far out (and my picks would be doomed to haunt me come February), I’ve simply listed a couple of frontrunners in each category instead of going in depth. Though it’s still early, we’ve got an overall picture of how things look like they’ll stack up; so hit the jump to check out the state of the race so far. If you missed our previous preview articles, be sure to take a look at our picks for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actor and Best Actress.

TRANSFORMERS 4 and 5 to Shoot Back-to-Back; Jason Statham May Star

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: October 17th, 2011 at 6:24 pm

In a down economy, everyone is looking for unique ways to save a few million dollars. When you have a billion dollar franchise like Hasbro’s Transformers, every million counts. Noting the rising costs of special effects, advanced planning for marketing tie-ins and laborious contract negations, Paramount is considering shooting the fourth and fifth installments back-to-back. Hasbro CEO announced at the company’s third quarter earnings conference that they were actively discussing this strategy with Paramount, director Michael Bay and producer Steven Spielberg. With Shia LaBeouf not returning, this frees up some room for a new face of the franchise…perhaps, Jason Statham?

Hit the jump for more on Transformers 4 and 5.

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Blu-ray Review

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: September 26th, 2011 at 6:50 pm

While watching Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon, it’s impossible to deny two things: Bay is a master of spectacle, and Bay needs to work with people who keep him from his own worst habits. But when you’ve turned the Transformers toy line into a franchise, and made two films that have been hugely successful (and with the third film making over a billion dollars worldwide), it’s hard to argue against that success. But still. Shia Labeouf and Rosie Huntingly-Whiteley star as the romantic leads who try to anchor metal punching metal in Transformers: Dark of the Moon and our review of the Blu-ray of follows after the jump.

Exclusive: Megan Fox Talks FRIENDS WITH KIDS, Video Games, Comic Book Movies, THE DICTATOR, Judd Apatow, TRANSFORMERS 3, More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: September 15th, 2011 at 9:11 am

One of the things I love about Megan Fox is her honesty.  While many celebrities are careful with their answers, if you ask Megan Fox a question, she’ll always tell you exactly what she thinks.  So when I sat down with her a few days ago at the Toronto Film Festival for an exclusive interview for writer-director Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends With Kids (which premiered at TIFF and is really good),  I knew it was going to be a great interview.

During our twenty minute conversation we talked about Friends With Kids, how she got involved in Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator, Judd Apatow’s untitled project (also known as This is Forty), her thoughts on doing more comic book movies and what she wants to do in the future.  In addition, we talked about whether she had seen Transformers 3, karaoke, Twitter, Facebook and social networking (she didn’t pull any punches on her thoughts), revealed she’s a hard core gamer and you might find her online playing Halo Reach, her Giorgio Armani campaign, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to either read or listen to the interview.

Paramount Announces Remastered IMAX 3D Re-Release for TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: August 22nd, 2011 at 7:56 pm

Did you miss a chance to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon on IMAX in its initial run?  No, you did not.  It has made over $1.1 billion.  Still, if Michael Bay did one thing right (and that may be the case), it was the production of a truly IMAX-worthy spectacle.  Consequently, Paramount has decided to re-release Transformers 3 in 246 North American IMAX theaters from August 26-September 8.  Even better:

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon: An IMAX 3D Experience has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX 3D.”

I couldn’t tell you exactly what all that means, but I imagine the trademarked remastering process will take a pretty awesome experience and make it marginally better.  Are you in?

Weekend Box Office – RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Rises Above Expectations with $54 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: August 7th, 2011 at 9:48 am

Looks like summer 2011 had one more blockbuster left after all.  Cowboys and Aliens may have been a late-July disappointment but, so far, Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes is performing more like a June release than your typical August afterthought.  Surpassing all early projections, the sci-fi vehicle took in an estimated $54 million from 3,648 locations for an easy number one at the US box office.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Rise of the Planet of the Apes	$54,000,000	$54
2	The Smurfs	$21,000,000	$76.2
3	Cowboys and Aliens	$15,748,000	$67.3
4	The Change-Up	$13,500,000	$13.5
5	Captain America	$13,000,000	$143.1
6	Harry Potter 7b	$12,160,000	$342.8
7	Crazy, Stupid, Love	$12,100,000	$42.1
8	Friends with Benefits	$4,700,000	$48.5
9	Horrible Bosses	$4,620,000	$105.1
10	Transformers 3	$3,015,000	$344.1

Weekend Box Office – It’s a Draw. COWBOYS AND ALIENS Tie THE SMURFS with $36.2 Million Each

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 31st, 2011 at 10:21 am

At the moment the estimates for the weekend’s two top films are dead even: a box office rarity.  Both Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs are claiming estimates of $36.2 million – a figure that is slightly embarrassing for one film and a near miracle for the other.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Cowboys and Aliens	$36,200,000	$36.2
2	The Smurfs	$36,200,000	$36.2
3	Captain America	$24,900,000	$116.7
4	Harry Potter 7b	$21,900,000	$318.4
5	Crazy Stupid Love	$19,300,000	$19.3
6	Friends With Benefits	$9,300,000	$38.2
7	Horrible Bosses	$7,100,000	$96.2
8	Transformers 3	$5,970,000	$337.8
9	Zookeeper	$4,200,000	$68.7
10	Cars 2	$2,300,000	$182

Weekend Box Office – HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2 Breaks Weekend Record with $168.5 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 17th, 2011 at 9:34 am

In its magical debut, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 has claimed another record: the all-time domestic weekend opening.  With an estimated $168.5 million from its 4,375 locations, Harry Potter’s final installment topped the former record of $158.7 million that The Dark Knight set in July 2008.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Harry Potter 7b	$168,550,000	$168.5
2	Transformers 3	$21,250,000	$302.8
3	Horrible Bosses	$17,630,000	$$60
4	Zookeeper	$12,300,000	$32.3
5	Cars 2	$8,344,000	$165.3
6	Winnie the Pooh	$9,000,000	$8
7	Bad Teacher	$5,200,000	$88.5
8	Larry Crowne	$2,572,000	$31.6
9	Super 8	$1,925,000	$122,2
10	Midnight in Paris	$1,891,000	$41.8

Weekend Box Office – TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Tops $250 Million to Become 2011′s Biggest Hit

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 10th, 2011 at 9:56 am

As expected, neither of this week’s new comedies came close to catching Transformers 3 on its second weekend.  While Horrible Bosses became the latest R-rated comedy to top expectations this summer, Zookeeper became the latest potential tentpole to fall flat.  Meanwhile, both films combined barely topped this weekend’s estimate for Dark of the Moon, which became the US’s highest-grossing release of 2011 as of Sunday.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Transformers 3	$47,000,000	$261
2	Horrible Bosses	$28,100,000	$28.1
3	Zookeeper	$21,000,000	$21
4	Cars 2	$15,209,000	$148.8
5	Bad Teacher	$9,000,000	$78.7
6	Larry Crowne	$6,264,000	$26.5
7	Super 8	$4,825,000	$118
8	Monte Carlo	$3,800,000	$16.1
9	Green lantern	$3,125,000	$109.7
10	Mr. Popper’s Penguins	$2,850,000	$57.7

Friday Box Office – TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON Primed for Second Weekend on Top

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: July 9th, 2011 at 9:17 am

In 2009, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen barely eked out a victory in its second weekend at the domestic box office.  Two years later, its follow-up looks much better situated.  On Friday Transformers: Dark of the Moon took in an estimated $15 million, bringing its domestic total up to $228.9 million in ten days.  Though it still trails the $269 million Fallen had earned at its ten day point here in the US, worldwide Tf3 passed the $500 million mark on Thursday and should pass $600 million sometime today.  In second place, Warner Brothers’ Horrible Bosses brought in an estimated $9.9 million from 3,062 locations for what looks like a weekend total of $26 million.  Meanwhile, Sony’s Zookeeper looks like 2011’s latest disappointment with a first day estimate of $7.4 million and a weekend projection of just $20 million.  Details and analysis tomorrow.

	Title	Friday	Total
1	Transformers 3	$15,000,000	$228.9
2	Horrible Bosses	$9,920,000	$9.9
3	Zookeeper	$7,400,000	$7.4
4	Cars 2	$4,825,000	$138.4
5	Bad Teacher	$3,000,000	$72.7

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