>>>Info on District 9 [DIST9] for HSX players [Thurs. Update]

This Friday, we get one of my most anticipated films of the year District 9 [DIST9]. The film is about alien refugees who are banished to the poor living conditions of South Africa and how humans respond to them. Neill Blomkamp directed the film based on a short he did called "Alive in Joburg" (the short is online at Spyfilms.com). Peter Jackson, of the Lord of the Rings fame, produced, and is the only name involved in the film (the cast is mostly unknowns).
Here is some relevant info on the film for HSX players. Updates every day until Friday.

Info is correct as of Thursday 10AM ET.




Expected theater count: 2900+

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film is 97% positive based on 34 reviews. (To be fair, the one negative review is from Armond White, notorious for giving out bad reviews.) *Down from 100% on 18 reviews on Wednesday*

44.1% of BOM visitors say they will see DIST9 opening weekend. This was at 43.8% on Wednesday, 42.7% on Tuesday, 43.4% on Monday. *Updated*

Comparisons:

• 52.2% said they would see "I Am Legend" O/W. That film opened to a $21,411 PTA
• 35.9% said they would see "Wanted" O/W. That film opened to a $16040 PTA
• 59.7% said they would see "Watchmen" O/W. That film opened to a $15291 PTA
• 29.9% said they would see "Children of Men" O/W. That film opened to a $8434 PTA (albeit in far fewer theaters than the other films listed.)
• 19.4% said they would see "Push" O/W. That film opened to a $4358 PTA.

Chatter on the film's IMDB board seems very active. (though this is to be expected for a film like this)

From the HSX movies board, RS tracking had the film at "mid 20's" as of Sunday, August 9. MTC was posted and has [DIST9] pegged for a $25M opening.

Entertainment Weekly has featured the film on its recent cover. (Though it seems like a major spoiler if you ask me.)

Sony has put an age-restricted clip on MySpace. Members can log-in to see the video.

Box Office Guru's most recent tweet (Wednesday) is that District 9 has a shot at bumping GI Joe from #1. *Updated Thursday*

From YouTube, find the trailer here.

>>> The Green Hornet finds his Kato - Taiwanese star Jay Chou

Next year, Seth Rogen portrays popular crimefighter the Green Hornet in a film directed by Michael Gondry. Missing, until now, had been the sidekick role of Kato, most notably played by Bruce Lee in a 60's television version. News out today is that Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou will play the part.

So who is Jay Chou? Unfamiliar with him myself, I checked that bastion-of-everything Wikipedia. It turns out he has quite the Wiki page. As long as it is all accurate (heh), it seems Chou is quite a big star throughout Asia. He is a best-selling musician (over 25M albums sold), and has acted as well (his biggest known film in the US is Curse of the Golden Flower starring Chow Yun-Fat. Wiki reports Chou was the most searched-for male artist by Chinese Internet users in 2002, and 05-07. As for co-stars, the last I heard was that Nicholas Cage and Cameron Diaz were in talks to join as well.

So what does this mean for the HSX stock [GHRNT]? It means the film is nearing the start of filming, which to make it's current release date of July 9, 2010, is a good thing. Films with a solid release date, and moving into production, usually see a healthy rise in value. Personally, I am not sold on this non-typical superhero film, but that's a debate for closer to the release date.

>>>Info on [JULIE] for HSX players (Friday Update - final)

I'll try to provide news and info on every Sony opener over the next few weeks. First up is Julie & Julia [JULIE], starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

info is correct as of Friday 12PM ET. Final Update

Box Office Guru has a prediction of $18M for opening weekend.

According to Variety, Sony execs predict the movie will open in the high teens.

Entertainment Weekly is going with $20M. *New Link*

expected theater count: 2354 (source) (Currently, BOM is showing 2975, this is likely a typo)

reviews: 67% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes (67 reviews) *Up from 66% on Fri. AM.*

11.3% of Box Office Mojo visitors say they will see [JULIE] opening weekend.
For the Catherine Zeta-Jones film No Reservations, that number was 4.3% and the movie opened in July 2007 to a $4826 per theater average (PTA). For July 2008's Mamma Mia, starring Streep, the number was 13.4%, and film opened to $9325 PTA.

Chatter on the film's IMDB page seems decent. (personal opinion based on other film boards) *Up from "light" on Fri. AM*

According to veteran player notfabio, MTC is tracking [JULIE] at $18M OW, and RS was at almost mid-20's.

His latest update is that [JULIE] does not seem to be outperforming the MTC prediction.

Starting Monday, I will have info for District 9 [DIST9]

>>>DVD Review: Race to Witch Mountain 1 out of 5 stars

Out on DVD today (Tuesday) is the Disney film Race to Witch Mountain, based on the novel Escape to Witch Mountain, and two movies made in the 1970's. Film stars AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig as two aliens who crash on Earth, and are helped by cabbie Dwayne Johnson, who drives them around so they can find an alien device and, ultimately, their ship.

This film is empty, unmagical, and nearly devoid of any joy. Race is just what it's name implies: one long chase scene and nothing else. There are car chases and action galore, but little character development. We get the two alien's life story in all of about 1 minute of exposition. Weirdly, the aliens, for being brother and sister, don't have chemistry the way Kim Richards and Iake Eissinmann did in the two 70's films; an hour after watching the film, I literally can't remember if the two kids even looked at each other, let alone spoke to each other (granted, there's not much time for dialogue; the bad guys are always right behind them, and what dialogue there is, is not funny, interesting, or memorable.) Richards and Eissinmann, by the way, have small cameos; their scene, like the whole movie, is hectic and thus their performances go for naught. The only thing that kept me watching was the break-neck speed of the film and the goodwill that Johnson and co-star Carla Gugino had earned from other, better work.

One important note to families: while I rarely concern myself with the political correctness or family values of a film, Race actually seems very blatant in being inappropriate for young kids. The two teens are in a constant state of peril, most noticeably by the heavy amount of guns used throughout the film, even going so far as to have dozens of soldiers shoot automatic weapons directly at the kids!

I would say the film is completely skippable, especially for younger kids.

>>>Review: The Hurt Locker (4.5 out of 5 stars)

It seems like for every war, there is a great film about it: Saving Private Ryan for World War II, Apocalypse Now (or Platoon) for Vietnam, or Three Kings for the Gulf War. The current conflict had so far only made for films no one cared to see (Stop- Loss, Redacted, etc.), but The Hurt Locker is a worthy choice to be the film of the Iraq War.

The film follows a U.S. Army Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit as they try to defuse explosives throughout Iraq. We get an intense, up close look at what the unit goes through on a daily basis; both the danger and excitement of getting shot at and defusing explosives, as well as the mental pain they try to deal with.

Most recent war-related films have failed because they hammer such an obvious anti-war stance at the viewer; here, director Kathryn Bigelow presents the physical and mental demands of war matter-of-factly, thus allowing film-goers to simply enjoy a dynamic thriller if they want.

The two leads, Jeremy Renner, as the gung-ho bomb technician, and Anthony Mackie, as the cautious Sgt., are great. The only weakness with the film is that the structure is, at times, too much like a tv procedural crime show; the film goes from explosive to explosive to explosive, and it feels like the character development could have used just a little more depth. That keeps the film from being a classic, but overall it is certainly a very good film.

>>>IPO on Monday Aug. 3: Michael Jackson Concert Film

Sony is set to show footage from Michael Jackson's concert rehearsals in a big concert film this fall (October 30). HSX is making the stock [JACKO] available on Monday August 3 at a price of H$40. Is that a good deal for players? Here is some info to help you decide.

An article from the LA Times says Sony bid $60M for the 80 or so hours of footage that concert promoter AEG had filmed. Certainly that means Sony believes fans will be interested.

Concert films have seen mixed results in recent years. The Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Concert film made $65M, the Jonas Brothers 3D film made $20M, and the u2 3D film has been a long term success, making over $10M. Michael Jackson trumps all those acts, right?

My gut feeling is that right now, unless bad reviews of the footage/film plans comes to light, that the IPO price of H$40 is a good deal. SONYX Fund will play the stock long, at least short term, until more info comes out.

>>>Upcoming: Julie & Julia

Summer box office star Meryl Streep is back with a new comedy, perhaps the first movie to be based on a blog! Julie & Julia tells two stories: one is about a young woman (played by Amy Adams) who tries making each recipe (524 in total) from famed chef Julia Child's book Mastering the Art of French Cooking and then details her efforts in a blog; the other is about Child's (Streep) life throughout the 1940's and 50's. The film is directed by Nora Ephron, well known for the hit Sleepless in Seattle.

The two leads are among the best actresses working today (and, of course, in Streep's case, maybe the best ever), while the supporting cast looks strong as well: Stanley Tucci, Jane Lynch, and Mary Lynn Rajskub ("24"). The film's plot though, doesn't strike me as something that would bring in huge crowds right away, but, if it's good, word of mouth could help the film play well into fall. One may not want to discount the success Streep has had in her past films: The Devil Wears Prada and Mamma Mia! both opened to $27M (as of 8/1, HSX players have Julie pegged for a $20M opening.)

Early reviews haven't been great (Variety.com called it "overstuffed and predigested"), but I think the combo of Streep and Adams, and that there hasn't been a big "Ladies Night" film this summer (rom-coms like The Proposal don't count; I'm talking a dramatic, big group of women going type film like Sex and the City), should propel this film to a strong start.

>>>All About SONYX

A call to action to buy SONYX

Hunh? What is SONYX you ask? It is a part of the game known as HSX, a virtual stock market where players trade movies and stars based on box office performance (or lack thereof). SONYX is a Studio Fund, 1 of 8 run by veteran players. SONYX is the fund I run, and in it, I can only purchase stocks of Sony Pictures movies.

So what is a Sony Picture? There are a few big name projects coming up from Sony. This November is the disaster epic 2012, from the guy that did The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. Another is the 4th Spider-Man film. Recent hit romantic comedy The Ugly Truth was also from Sony.

Since I took over SONYX in late January, the price of the fund has gone from about $12.50 a share to over $36 (percentage-wise, that's the best year-to-date gain of the 8 funds). But I hadn't really been giving the fund enough attention...until now. I have decided that with a little over a month left in the studio season (studio funds delist, i.e. get reset, every September), I will go all out getting the fund as high as I can. Currently, the Disney fund (DISNX) is the highest valued at over $58 a share; I'd like to bridge that gap considerably.

Traders can buy up to 10000 shares of any fund. I have set up the fund so that traders can get a clear idea of how I intend to make money. I have 102 different moviestocks in the portfolio, each with a different amount of shares held. The method to my madness:

Stocks are either distributed by:
Sony, Columbia, or Screen Gems, which all fall under the Sony banner (these are usually mainstream films that will open all over the country)
Sony Pictures Classics, which are the "art house" films, that typically open in a few large cities, and only expand with considerable Oscar buzz. (One example was 2008's Rachel Getting Married).

Sony stocks are held based on the status of the film:
1 share= concept
2= development
3= production
4=wrap
5=release

I like to highlight the films I personally am interested in. I have added 10 shares to the above chart for the Sony films I can't wait to see:
11 shares= concept+ must see
12= development+ must see
13= production+ must see
14= wrap+ must see
15=release+ must see

Sony Pictures Classics are numbered in the 100 range
101 shares= concept
102= development
103= production
104=wrap
105=release

111 shares= concept+ must see
112= development+ must see
113= production+ must see
114= wrap+ must see
115=release+ must see

Stocks "in the news", or stocks that should gain in the near future, are held with 49000 added to the above numbers (thus a film with 49104 shares long is a Sony Pictures Classics release that has wrapped and is starting to move up in price). Stocks shorted 50,000 shares are either movies that will go straight-to-video (STV) or likely unable to make their current price.

I will update the shares held whenever a moviestock's status changes. Also, during the HSX commission-free period, I will be taking advantage of that day's price movements to make money, thus the shares held may fluctuate during that time, always to be reset by the end of the period.

So basically, feel free to invest your fake money in SONYX, you won't regret it!

>>>Introduction to Islander Info

Since I am interested in movies, I decided to blog about them. I don't have any idea yet what this blog will become. For now, it will be a mix of movie reviews, news, and tips for the great movie-related game "Hollywood Stock Exchange". Feel free to leave comments about what content you would like to see me add.