Open Bar: First Anniversary Edition
The Open Bar is a convivial place for all readers of Anomalous Material to discuss anything and everything they want all week starting every Thursday evening. Feel free to chime in or introduce new topics of discussion.
Announcements
- Anomalous Material turns one today, November 18, 2010! Thank you again for making this blog what it is today
- Win a DVD of Inception or a copy of The Book of Awesome this month! (Learn more)
- Tired of feeling like no one is reading your posts on your blog? Want to be a part of a growing and active community of movie lovers? We are looking for staff writers!
US Box Office Openings and Forecast
- Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part I (Warner Bros): The big juggernaut at the box office for the next 3 or 4 weeks
- The Next Three Days (Lionsgate): I expect this Russell Crowe vehicle to perform badly and come in below expectations. The trailers have done nothing and the marketing has been so subdued that no ones even knows it’s coming out. Going against HP7, this could flop badly.
| Title | Release Date | Distributor | Opening Weekend (Actual) | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Due Date | November 5 | Warner Bros | $34,000,000 (32.7 m) | $120,000,000 |
| For Colored Girls | November 5 | Lionsgate | $21,000,000 ($19.5 m) | $60,000,000 |
| Megamind | November 5 | Dreamworks | $39,000,000 ($46.0 m) | $140,000,000 |
| Morning Glory | November 10 | Paramount | $14,000,000 ($11.8 m) | $50,000,000 |
| Skyline | November 12 | Universal | $16,000,000 ($11.7 m | $48,000,000 |
| Unstoppable | November 12 | Fox | $21,000,000 ($22.7 m) | $62,000,000 |
| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I | November 19 | Warner Bros | $131,000,000 ($125 m) | $330,000,000 |
| The Next Three Days | November 19 | Lionsgate | $8,500,000 ($6.5 m) | $28,000,000 |
| Burlesque | November 24 | Screen Gems | $12,300,000 ($11.9 m) | $39,000,000 |
| Faster | November_24 | CBS | $11,200,000 ($8.5 m) | $40,000,000 |
| Love and Other Drugs | November 24 | Fox | $9,700,000 ($9.7 m) | $32,000,000 |
| Tangled | November 24 | Disney | $33,300,000 ($48.8) | $140,000,000 |
The Open Bar Soundtrack
Links
- Richard list his top 10 female movie villains (Blah! Movie Edition)
- Kai lists his bottom 10 movies of 2010 (The List)
- Matt wonders where the cinematic landmarks of today have gone (CyniCritics)
- Darren answers all the questions you might have about The Green Lantern universe (the m0vie blog)
- Marcello puts together his top 10 Akira Kurosawa movies (Japan Cinema)
- Dan summarizes the Harry Potter story so far ahead of the movie release (Top10Films)
- Corey ranks the greatest movie rivalries (Monday Night Films)
A Few Potential Topics of Discussion
- What are your plans for the weekend?
- What movies are you going to see?
- Predict the box office weekend, thoughts on my box office forecast?
- Your favorite songs of the moment?
- What’s on your mind?
133 Comments
Happy anniversary!
I’m heading off to Poughkeepsie tomorrow. My sister made the idea of me staying over with her in her dorm room for a night to get the feeling of living in a dorm. Suffice to say I won’t be watching anything tomorrow, but I’ll try to watch 12 Monkeys on Saturday when I get back.
I get jealous of all the great movies you seem to get to see for the first time.
And I’m jealous that she gets to love every single one of them!
Well not all of them, according to Annas blog she still hasn’t seen Rushmore or Royal Tenenbaums… Wes might be the most annoying director I know.
Its amazing to me that he was actually on the short list for Spiderman that would have been a disaster.
@Castor Hey, don’t blame me for having good taste!
@Joel Actually, I have seen Rushmore.
Anna: Oh I thought those were the two Wes Anderson movies you still hadn’t seen.
@Joel You were close though. I haven’t seen The Royal Tenenbaums yet; Bottle Rocket is the other Anderson movie I’ve yet to see.
Awww, I loved Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited. Anderson’s okay. Yay static shots!
Nay for shallow and ironic characters and plot.
…yep. I can’t understand why The Royal Tenenbaums gets so much praise. It has about as much warmth as a frozen lake.
Actually Royal has the best scene ever in a Wes Anderson film the bathtub suicide its to bad he chooses not to do more stuff like that.
Happy Anniversary!
Thanks!
Happy Blog-a-Versary!! I can’t believe y’all have only been at this for a year. I feel like a hack by comparison!
This weekend will be about Potter of course, both by watching the film on Friday night and recording a Matineecast about it on Saturday afternoon (which will be posted on ‘short rest’ Sunday night).
This weekend I’ll also likely dust off the Christmas dvd’s and start working them into rotation.
Don’t forget Jingle all the way with Arnie I was totally surprised of how good it was.
Ahhh…Jingle All The Way…one of my sister’s faves for Christmas. It’s a fun film.
Thanks Mad! I will see Harry Potter but it probably won’t happen until next weekend because I want to avoid the mad rush that is sure to happen all over the country (and world). Also, I finally saw Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! Hit me up when you feel like doing whatever you want us to do
@ Castor… Suh-weeet!! If you look at my post from yesterday about BACK TO THE FUTURE it’ll give you a rough sketch of what’s in store. I’ll email you soon.
Woah woah woah! Just NOW getting around to Bueller? I’m not sure what worse, that or me just finally seeing Apocalypse Now: Redux.
Hey – I emailed you this morning…what gives?
I saw your email. Been a little bit busy today but I will respond shortly!
Yes me too, Hatter! I’m gonna try to see HP7 Saturday afternoon… I don’t think the snow will dampen my plans
I also have Centurion to watch Friday night… looking forward to that.
Wasn’t crazy about CENTURION. Curious to read what you think.
Yeah, the reviews weren’t kind, but I like Fassbender so hopefully I like it a bit better that you.
Looking forward in hearing that Matinee cast about HP7 I watched it yesterday and my main impression was quite good. The issues I had with it originated mostly from the book.
Thanks dude – rather flattered to hear you were going through the back episodes. There’s some mint conversations back there…and a lot of me babbling.
The Pottercast should be up Sunday evening…the trick is gonna be keeping my guest on point as he’s a massive Potter fan.
Well they are perfect to listen on my way to work it takes aprox. 50 minutes from door to door from my apartment to my office.
Castor: Heres my review request for last months leader board prize…
Citizen Kane (gotta throw it in there because of all the hatred going on)
Long Kiss Goodnight (Awesome and totally underrated)
Duel (Steven Spielberg)
Great picks, I actually never saw Citizen Kane and have been meaning to see it so this is a great excuse. Adding those to my netflix! I will review Gone in 60 Seconds sometime next week, just as FYI
Great news remember the first 25 minutes is extremly slow but when it gets going it gets going for real!
Citizen Kane gets a bad reputation, I think, because it’s taught too early in media classes to kids who just don’t get it (or give it a chance – probably because it’s black and white and doesn’t fit into the simple criteria of a particular genre). That happened with me.
The other problem is that it was revolutionary in its style and the way it presented its narrative but in the meantime new audiences have experienced such techniques in modern films and Kane therefore doesn’t seem so unique anymore. But it is and remains one of the greatest films ever made.
Watching it recently, I’ve never enjoyed it so much. It gets better and better.
Totally agree with you. There is a lot of truts in those statements!
Still never watched Citizen Kane start to finish. I’m not exactly one to recognize when older movies make groundbreaking film-making techniques, which is what Kane is all about, so I just can’t see it as the greatest movie ever.
A lot of people (bloggers) say that. I think it holds up very well.
I tried to watch it a few years back and was quite bored. Plus, when you know the ending, I think it’s harder to sit through!
Citizen Kane is boring.
It’s a combination of things that land it that Greatest Ever seeding…what you see on screen along with the innovation that went into its execution, the fact that it was created completely outside of the Hollywood system, and the fact that Welles did it all at the age of 26.
I dont know if I agree about it being some kind of old independent film. It was produced at RKO quite a big player at that time.
I think its an essential piece of filmmaking in so many ways but I also have a very nostalgic reason for praising it I’ll comment on that on the upcomming review.
Sure, but take whatever support RKO gave Welles and put it against the amount of muscle Hearst flexed at trying to get the film quashed and I’d wager it evens out.
Not to mention most of Hollywood didn’t like Orson, as evidenced by the film being all but ignored at that year’s Oscars.
…that’s another issue Citizen Kane constantly battles with. People who have never seen the film hear all the time that Kane is the greatest film ever made. new audiences go into thinking they’re going to see something that ultimately can’t live up to such high expectation.
But, it’s a wonderful film. It does deserve the greatest film tag even though it unfairly puts a lot of baggage on to it.
Try to watch the film thinking it’s the worst film ever made, see if that helps!
I’m reading and junk.
Also, I got a DVD specifically for review. Is that weird?
Why nag about it. Be happy! =)
Congrats on hitting your one year anniversary, Castor! I’m sure most will agree that AM is one of the very best movie blogs around. Looking forward to year 2.
By the way, thanks for the link!
Thank you sir! Great post by the way
I am gonna try to score a ticket for the Face 2 Face event (Q/A) with Holly Hunter this saturday in Stockholm, heres a trailer for the event: http://www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/en/film/holly_hunter
Besides that I am gonna host a dinner for some producer collegues from film shool and I might try to catch a movie at the film festival as well.
On sunday I’ll be bunking in front of the TV and watching the cross country world cup relay in skiing.
That’s cool that you’re enjoying the film festival festivities, Joel… Wow, Holly Hunter! Do you have a question or two prepared for her?
I am thinking of revisiting my favorite film with her, Copycat unfortunately my DVD copy is a region 1 and my region free DVD player has been busted up.
If I get in on the Q/A I’ll try to do a recap on my blog.
Holly Hunter is one of the actresses that it’s almost impossible not to love.
Cool, I do hope you get to meet her. Have fun @ the festival!
I just scored a ticket for the Q/A. Its a big theatre 450 plus seats so I dont know much audience participation it will be but if you would ask her a question what would it be?
I attended the Face 2 Face. Really interesting I’ll do a recap on my blog.
Now I’m know you are from Scandinavia! No one else would sit down and watch the cross country world cup relay in skiing ahah
Wow you don’t know what you are missing out! And you’re from Minnesota? Shame on you… =)
An update just for you. Norweigan superstar Petter Northug wont be participating in this weekends world cup premiere in Gällivare Sweden.
It would be like Tiger Woods (before he got caught cheating) having to say no to start in the US Open.
My friend is covering the Stockholm Film Fest for YAM Magazine =D – she’s raving about the film she saw tonight… Japan’s Caterpillar. You can see some of her tweeting and re-tweets over at the YAM Mag Twitter.
Ah thats great Amy! I’ll make sure to follow her tweets! By the way I think that a Swedish horror film named Psalm 21 has been licensed to your territory. You need to keep your eyes open for that one.
Happy anniversary
I’m still waiting for Due Date to arrive here, I thought this weekend I can see it, but it’s not here yet.
At least I have DVD to watch and review.
This weekend, I’m going to try watching Zombieland, this movie has been sitting nicely in my computer file for more than 6 months.
Really enjoyed Zombieland, actually looking forward to the sequel.
I do to! Is it greenlit for production?
Zombieland is all types of fun, especially the first 15 or so minutes. Kinda gets stuck in gear after that, but it’s still a fun gear…
Which one do you guys think is better? Zombieland or Shaun.
The reason I haven’t watched it yet is because I love Shaun a lot, and I know, like it or not, I will compare it with zombieland
Shaun is better, but I really do consider that one of the best comedies to come out the past decade. It’s tough to live up to that movie. One might like Zombieland more on the first try, but Shaun has better legs. (that sounds bad…oh well)
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, Castor! You already know how I feel about your blog… keep up the great work, man!
Your prediction on HP7 sounds about right, for sure it’ll cross the 100 million mark. The Next Three Days might still make it in the top 10 but yeah, the trailer and marketing don’t work… I’ve seen it and it’s a lot better than the trailer made it out to be, and Russell is fantastic in it.
Box office weekend predictions (for scarlet and others):
1. HP7 $131 mil: The big juggernaut for the next 3 or 4 weeks
2. Megamind $15.4 Will face stiff competition from HP for the same audience. Should be able to hold second spot.
3. Unstoppable $12.7 mil Well-received movie should hold up well
4. The Next Three Days $8.5 mil Subdued marketing, generic trailer, likely to disappoint at box office
5. Due Date $7.9 mil Holding up well despite poor reviews
6. Morning Glory $5.7 mil Strong word-of-mouth will keep this alive a couple more weeks as only female-centric choice
7. Skyline $3.8 mil Should have a massive drop from opening weekend from atrocious reviews and word-of-mouth
8. For Colored Girls $2.8 mil Yes.
Happy Blog-a-versy thingy. I remember the old days when me linking you on Monday Corner was a big to-do and you’d swing by and give much thanks and be all humble. But now, no, you and your consistently awesome posts get links all over the place and my Monday Corner ramblings get an occasional ‘thanks Uni.’ Mr. big shot, huh, sipping from your golden laced cup with your Cuban cigars gracing us lesser bloggers with your presence. Well I’m not going to stand for it anymore! I’m going to rise up… I’m not entirely sure how but I will! Just you wait and see! MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
(I would like to note the above is meant to be satirical. Someone has to keep you in check with all the people singing your praise
)
Congrats anyways on making it to one year. I can’t even begin to recall all the upstart blogs I’ve seen over the years kick off with a bang then fade just as quickly. You guys seem to be the real deal and really care about your readers.
As for BO predictions we can almost guarantee Next Three Days isn’t breaking into the upper to mid teens (putting it out this weekend definitely feels like a dump off). I’m willing to bet HP7 opens big then fizzles a bit, that seems to be the trend for the films (primarily here in the US). My concern with HP7 is that there’s so much in the sixth book that had to be cut for character building and time that I’m not convinced they’ll be able to bring it all back in with the seventh and not make it two hours of ‘oh yeah, we didn’t say this but….’
So you are showing your true self Megatron, your slight will not go unpunished! You also forgot to mention my diamond-encrusted dental grill which I wear when I stare into the distance from the 52nd floor of my skyscraper.
I doubt The Next Three Days even breaks into the teens! We shall see muahahaha
Well I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, but while we’re at it can you stop circling my house with your retrofitted blogging helicopter? It’s just showing off man.
As for N3D (I like that abbreviation because it is in fact not in 3D) you’re probably right. Then again the largest mention it’s likely to get come the Sunday afternoon reports is a passing mention at the bottom.
Happy Anniversary, Castor! It has been a fantastic year, looking forward to celebrating many more for this site.
This weekend is a busy one…which will hinder the movie watching a bit. I still need to finish The Good, The Bad, The Weird as I fell asleep 15 minutes in (nothing against the film, was just really tired). I also need to get around to the watching a 1963 flick, The Terror, at some point as well. Hoping to see HP7 early next week.
Thanks CS
Saw Harry Potter yesterday’s morning~
Plans for the weekend include go through the Joan Crawford Collection vol. 2
Thinking of Box Office… this year has been rather… weak, right? I mean other than Toy Story 3, I can’t recall any big blockbuster. Inception was considered a surprised, right?
Maybe a surprise that it made such huge numbers but it was never any hesitation that it would work good in the box office.
It feels like there is a lot of smash and grabbers this year but the difference this year is that they really smash fast and don’t grab as much as they used to.
Yes, it seems this year that most movies tend to do less money in subsequent weeks than they used to.
This year at the box office, overall hasn’t been entirely week. It HAS has two billion dollar movies (Avatar and Alice). Granted, the likes Iron Man 2 somewhat underwhelmed, but I think the worldwide cume has saved quite a few movies in overall money-making regard. And you have to look at all the excellent animated movies that came out this year to storm the box office.
Oh yeah, completely forgot about Alice. That one stayed on top of the Japan BO for 8 weeks before it was taken by Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions… which was rather surprising.
I wonder how many people sa the re-release of Avatar. From the people here, not many did. How about the US?
Not very many saw the re-release, but it’s initial run made a good chunk of it’s money in this calender year.
Question, is there gonig to be a special activity/posts/series of post to mark AM’s first year? xD
Not really, but we welcome any suggestion
Free copy of Inception for everyone? Huh? Huh?
voting this one up!
Wow you guys really want it that bad… haha
This weekend, I will take a look at The Karate Kid remake as well as write some kind of article (haven’t decided yet). I have been doing some WordPress optimization the past few days but this template is really killing my shared hosting account. It looks like I will need to move to VPS hosting or they will suspend us next week.
Also, I’m an going to go see Unstoppable in a few minutes!
Once you watch The Karate Kid – I have a rather curious cultural question about it. xD It has to do with audiences liking it and not liking it.
I will let you know but I will probably see it on Saturday afternoon if I have nothing else to do.
The remake was pretty good. I felt its better to change your Hosting plan to VPS. BTW which Hosting provider you are using now…I think HostGator is Best in Web for Hosting Services.
All the midnight screenings are sold out, so I’m gonna try and catch it tomorrow before I head home. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve actually posted anything, but I’m hoping to get that changed. Just don’t have the time/energy to put anything worthwhile into a post with deployment just a week away.
Oh, and I’m making a $145.84 mil call for HP.
Red will cry himself to sleep tonight because he couldn’t get a ticket for Harry Potter.
Happy Anniversary, AM! You guys have worked hard at this this year and it shows. And thanks for continuing to support us lowlier bloggers like THE LIST!
As for me, I have to watch The Pacific and Gremlins this weekend for a show I’m doing next week. Also going to see Skyline on Thanksgiving. That’s my plans… that and beer… and hopefully some sex!
Ahaha thanks Kai, lowlier?? We don’t get to be featured on the WordPress front-page multiple times!!!
I only did it once, in fairness!
…”having” to watch The Pacific and Gremlins sounds like something I’d like to “have” to do! Is the sex optional?
Happy anniversary to your blog site Castor! I, btw, posted my predictions for you here http://scarletsp1der.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/box-office-predictions/ with a special dedication to you! Hope you enjoy!
You got Harry Potter at $131,000,000. Wow I must underselling the movie. I have the movie making $105,000,000. HA!!!
Maybe somewhere in between
By the way, what’s up with the favorite Australian actress? Is it curiosity or did I miss a post/article about Australian actresses? xD
I didn’t know Isla Fisher was Australian!
No I didn’t make a post for it. It feels a bit redundant but I might make one this weekend
I didn’t realize there was a poll until I read your comment. Well, I don’t even have to read anyone else’s name once I saw Blanchett in there
She’s my fave of ALL, not just Australians.
Yeah, Isla is Aussie but she barely has an Aussie accent anymore though.
Emilie de Ravin should have made it into this poll she has a solid fanbase from her TV work. Out of this bunch I’ll go with Isla.
I like Cate, but I still have a soft spot for Nicole Kidman – I’m really looking forward to Rabbit Hole. Now more than ever with the positive reviews…
I don’t know anything about numbers, but I do know half my school is seeing the midnight screening of Harry Potter tonight, and the other half is walking to the theatre straight after school. With T-shirts and hats and wizard cloaks. It will be a parade of teenage sweat and the lost money of parentals. Of course I’ll have to be there. It’s rousing.
Yea, I just came back from Unstoppable and the movie theater felt like high school with kids camping in the hallways hours before the movie showings.
And why the hell would you like to see that one in the theaters? Feels like the a hidden Runaway Train reboot a la Due Date.
Happy Aniversary. Congrats to Castor and Red. You guys really made us proud to be a part of Movie Community. I am expecting Harry Potter 7 gonna be a New record in Box Office collection. Then this week I gonna watch the movie ‘Last Train Home’(2009) and ‘Sex is Zero’ korean movie. Cheers
How was the Movie ‘Unstoppable’. I am expecting a lot from you…
Review coming up Mani.
Since I saw Pelham 123 I just wasn’t all that interested to see Denzel + train again, but the reviews are surprisingly good. Curious to hear what you think, Castor.
Posted!
you know, I once left class 15min early to make it to the first afternoon show of Azkaban. LOL
Congrats. Way to go. Very impressive – the anniversary, the site, the whole operation. I’m with you on The Next Three Days, Castor. Monsters opens in Chicago this weekend so I’m seeing that one. No offense, none at all, to the Harry Potter people but I haven’t read the books and I haven’t seen the movies and I’m not starting now. It’s just not, as they say, my cup of tea.
Have fun at Monsters! It’s a really great watch and amazingly well done for how little it cost.
So cool its actually showing on Stockholm film festival, might have to check it out.
Thanks Nic! I haven’t seen any Harry Potter either but I have been cornered into seeing it sometime this Thanksgiving week. Guess I will have no idea what is happening on screen
I would strongly suggest you wait until part 2 is released. Especially since you haven’t seen previous episodes.
…you’ll be okay Castor…just check out my ‘story so far’ post!
Happy Happy Happy Blog Birthday you wonderful movie lords!!! I’ve been off the radar for a couple of weeks, but I’m feeling rested and ready to get back to work. I’m dying to see Potter but it won’t be till next weekend. I’m too broke to see any of the other flicks I want. I can’t believe you have to pay money to apply to college! So now it’s the holiday season and I have to shell out all this dough for my daughter to apply to schools! My mom wants to buy us a new TV for Christmas. My TV is almost 20yrs old, but I feel guilty taking such a big gift when we could use the dough so badly. What do you guys think? It would be sweet to watch DVDs in style since I’m broke, right?
Go for the TV its worth it in the long run, let the daughter have the old one for her dorm room!
That old dinosaur is SO heavy I doubt she’d want to lug it to school. Great idea though! It would be awesome to watch all my beloved Christmas specials on a big TV! I think my will in wanning.
or you could hook up your tv signal to your computer screen… or actually, new tv screens you can hook up to computers – so it’s kind of the same.
If you watch a lot of television, buy the TV. But if you’re going to use it for DVDs, Blu-ray… computer all the way!
Yeah, our TV is too old to plug the laptop in to it. We do stream movies on the laptop sometimes but we all have to huddle to the middle of the sofa to see it! Now I’m pulling away from the idea again because I was hit with more financial crap yesterday. It never stops does it? I did finally watch The Walking Dead on AMC last night and it certainly made me feel like, hey things could be worse, you could be a zombie!
Happy birthday Castor / Red! It’s been fantastic watching you guys go from 0 comments through to the epic epi-centre blog it is these days. Great job!
Happy anniversary, Castor! Thanks for the link. Here’s to the next year of your great site.
@ Paul, Richard: Thanks guys for your support throughout this first year!
Happy Anniversary!!! Best wishes from both Matt and I. The site is truly awesome and an amazing accomplishment!
And for our first anniversary, we get a new contributing writer! I will introduce her shortly.
Thats so cool! Is she on the news department or a regular contributer?
Regular
You should have a competiton or betting poll on who it is! I am totally stoked that AM will have another writer! Its awesome!
ahah I doubt she is anyone you know
Its even more cool if ots no one of the regular suspects. My five cents would have been on Anna from Life of a Cinephile and Bibliophile.
Now I am even more stoked!
Fresh blood, she has never commented here
Happy birthday Anomalous Material. Can’t believe it has only being on the web for a year with all the great content to be found. Would love to see another Greatest Comedy-like tournament – maybe horror or action or something!
…and the fantasy draft was brilliant too. Did somebody ‘win’ that or were the votes just for fun?
Happy Anniversary!! Very nice! I recently wrote a post that responds to your question regarding my placement of Black Swan so low on by Oscar prediction list – would love your input.
Thanks RC! I will also take a look at your post right now.
I’m only three days late (ONLY!), but happy anniversary AM and best of luck on your sort of kind of expansion of.
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