Prince Caspian usurped the box office crown from Iron Man this weekend. But even though it toppled the iron giant with a $56m total, the $200m fantasy epic earnt $15m less than projected. The problem is, once you pass The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, how many Narnia books can anyone name? With a stronger overseas performance likely, as happened first time round, expect the series to continue anyway.

No other films were given wide release this weekend which is pretty odd, even during a summer season when blockbusters are normally well spaced out. It may have something to do with Indy starting midnight Wednesday. Still it leaves us just a little bit more time to look back again at Speed Racer’s colossal crash last week and shake our collective heads.

Iron Man’s stockpile continues to grow - The movie has now amassed $225m, which means it will shortly overtake X Men 3 and move into the top 50 highest grossing films of all time.

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With Harrison Ford already 65, the notion of an Indiana Jones 5 might seem ridiculous. But another sequel is, in fact, extremely likely…

In the 1980s there were originally 5 Indiana Jones movies planned. The 19 year delay since The Last Crusade was due to a disagreement over the direction of the story. That has now been resolved.

Spielberg says he became particularly interested in returning to the series after his son asked when the remaining two would be released. All of which means… we’re still one short.

Spielberg stated at the Cannes press conference that he was indeed open to making another film if the public wanted more. “That’s why we made this Indiana Jones. We’ll certainly have our ear to the ground to hear what happens. That’ll decide were we go from here.”

Given that Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull will, without doubt, be the biggest financial hit of the year, and the critical response has been good… this criteria has been well met.

For his part Harrison Ford said last week “Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones.”

But here’s the kicker. Don’t expect Indiana Jones to be the lead in Indiana Jones 5. George Lucas explained to reporters at a recent premiere “I have an idea to make Shia [LaBeouf] the lead character next time and have Harrison come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out.”

It doesn’t get much more black and white than that.

Sources: BBC, Yahoo

News, Sequel | 5 Comments »

Arguably the single best part of Grindhouse was the faux trailer Don’t. In the following video director Edgar Wright (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) provides a commentary for the real trailer that inspired it (that and The House On Haunted Hill). Enjoy.

And here’s Don’t, for those who missed it.

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The 2AM Critics are going Narnia. This is the only video where you get 9 Prince Caspian reviews at once, all fighting for attention.

It’s time to get the lowdown on the biggest Christian blockbuster since The Passion.

Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Liam Neeson, Eddie Izzard, Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis, Ben Barnes
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 69%
Our Rating: B-

2AM Critics, Review | No Comments »

With all the negative buzz around Indy 4 now, could The Mummy 3 end up being better? Urgh, unthinkable. Here’s the trailer -

I know it has its fans, but I thought the first two Mummy films were awful, especially The Mummy Returns.

The move to the Far East here is, visually, a good one, and certainly does something to distinguish it from what’s gone before but… You know The Mummy came out at a time when it could get free ride from its visual effects - they were still thrilling to see. But put the same kind of thing up on screen now and it just seems so by the numbers and uninteresting.

Which is a problem because the humour in this film looks not just bad, but so bad you feel your skin crawl. If these are the most hilarious one liners here in the trailer Lord help us.

Really the Mummy of the film is Brendan Fraser, rising from his career grave. But by the looks of things, he’s going straight back.

Trailers | 2 Comments »

The trailer for fantasy flick City of Ember is online. Don’t care? Well, Bill Murray’s in it.

When a power-dependent underground city finds its electricity is running out, two plucky/cocky/precocious kids have to decode the clues and unlock the mystery to find a way to the surface. Easier that than pay the bill.

Looks like a kid’s version of The Da Vinci Code, mixed with a bit of Bioshock.

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