“Battleship,” Universal Picture’s big budget science fiction film, is likely to dent the studio’s profits after it opened with lower than forecast ticket sales, according to analysts.

The film, which Comcast unit Universal has said cost $209 million to produce, generated $23.4 million in ticket sales at theaters in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, according to figures compiled by Hollywood.com.

It had been projected by tracking services used by Hollywood studios to have ticket sales of between $35 million and $40 million.

The movie, which stars Liam Neeson and the singer Rihanna, finished the weekend second to Walt Disney’s superhero blockbuster “The Avengers,” which led the box office for the third weekend with $55.1 million in ticket sales.

“It is not quite the epic disaster of ‘John Carter,’ but this will put a dent in Comcast’s quarter,” said Matthew Harrigan of Wunderlich Securities, who follows Comcast. He did not quantify how much he expected the film to lose.

“John Carter,” which sold $30.2 million during its opening weekend in March, saddled Disney with a $200 million loss, the company said. That film cost more than $250 million to produce.

Based on the “John Carter” performance, Universal will lose $100 million to $200 million, estimates Michael Morris of Davenport & Co., who does not follow Comcast, but follows Disney, News Corp. and Time Warner, which also have studio units.

A Universal spokeswoman would not comment. Comcast officials were not immediately available for comment.

The studio is estimated to have spent more than $100 million to market the film, standard for large budget films.

“Battleship” has sold more than $220 million in overseas tickets, Universal has said. It is forecast to reach $250 million in foreign sales.

Movie studios generally receive about half of the revenues from ticket sales in North America and less in foreign markets.

The film needed to generate more than $50 million in weekend ticket sales to break even, said analyst Tony Wible, a managing director at Janney Montgomery Scott who compiles a data base on film performances. He does not follow Comcast.

Last week, Disney’s superhero franchise-builder surprised experts by cutting into the expected weekend ticket sales of “Dark Shadows,” starring Johnny Depp, which took in just $29.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

During the coming weekend, “Battleship,” loosely based on the Hasbro board game, will face the third installment of Will Smith’s futuristic comedy “Men in Black.” The last one in the series, in 2002, generated $190.4 million in domestic ticket sales.

Source: Reuters.

Earlier this week, photographs from Hulk Hogan‘s sex tape were released on the Internet. It took a few days to hear anything from the Hogan camp, but it turns out he really does not like being made a fool of, as TMZ reported that Hogan’s attorney is threatening legal action.

Question on Everybody’s Mind: Is Hogan going to get what he wants?

Our Take: It is not impossible for Hogan’s legal team to threaten action to get the photos taken down, but more often than not, when something is on the Internet it is incredibly hard to get it off.

Hype Meter: 4 out of 5 Reasons To Hulk Up

As mentioned earlier this week, it is amazing to think that this whole thing happened to Hogan given how in control of every possible situation he has to be. I don’t know what else to say about it, but I think things are far from over.

Deeper Dive

Hogan Says To Get His Pictures Off The ‘Net (TMZ)

Source: Bleacher Report.

We are only one day removed from April Fool’s Day and some of the movie news seems a little too on the nose.

Case in point, Peter and Bobby Farrelly made the announcement that the sequel toDUMB AND DUMBER will begin production this fall with both Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprising their original roles.

According to Peter Farrelly, We did not do DUMB AND DUMBERER, that was a studio thing. So we’ve always wanted to do a sequel and finally Jim called up. Jeff always wanted to do it. We always wanted to do it. Jim was busy, but he called and said, ‘We’ve got to do this thing again.’ He had just watched ‘Dumb and Dumber’ and he said, ‘This is the perfect sequel. Let’s do it.’

DUMB AND DUMBER is still one of the funniest movies in the last 20 years. I can pop in the DVD or catch it on cable at any point and it will suck thirty minutes of my life. I love it. I do not think the Farrelly’s have truly replicated it, mainly because of the chemistry between Carrey and Daniels.

Source: JoBlo.

On a very basic level, George Orwell’s 1984 is to dystopian novels of the future as A Princess of Mars is to fantastical tales of adventure.  And hopefully going back to the source works out better for Imagine Entertainment (the production company run by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer) and LBI Entertainment as they are currently working closely to ”develop a new take on the 20th century classic.”

That being said, the phrase “new take” might also be the original overwhelmingly vague term in the filmmaking world, so who knows what it might mean to Imagine and LBI.  There was, of course, a movie version of 1984 already released back in 1984 that starred John Hurt and Richard Burton.

Interestingly it seems that Shepard Fairey, the artist whose claim to fame was the creation of Barack Obama’s “Hope” poster, has been one of the project’s main advocates and pushed the idea of a new adaptation of Orwell’s seminal book. Fairey brought the idea to Imagine who in turn took it to Orwell’s estate. They there discovered that LBI was also trying to secure the rights, and the two studios decided to work together and strike the dystopian iron that THE HUNGER GAMES has set up while it is still hot.

Imagine and LBI are currently on the lookout for writers to tackle a first draft.

Source: JoBlo.

*Written by Rob Rimes.

George Lucas is the man that nearly every fucked up juvenile thirty-something fanboy loves to hate. Now I understand that people have the right to be critical of someone’s work when it is put out there for public consumption but to hate the man as vehemently as many people do, is just absurd. Many fans of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ feel that somehow those franchises are theirs and that Mr. Lucas has gone out and ruined them. People truly feel that these massive franchises are their intellectual property and that they have some sort of ownership rights to them. Nothing is further than the truth. So when I read articles all over the Internet about how much of a greedy sick untalented hack George Lucas has become, it really pisses me off. Now don’t get your vaginas in a tizzy, I’m not here to defend the prequel trilogy or “Crystal Skull”, in fact, as a fan, I have serious issues with these films as well but unlike the consensus, I don’t allow my dislike of some minor things that are insignificant to my life as a whole push me over the edge to the point that I am out for this man’s blood. I certainly don’t harbor the opinion that somehow his later work has bastardized and ruined his earlier magic. Even with some of the questionable changes to the original ‘Star Wars’ trilogy, the films are pretty damn solid and to discount their greatness over Jar Jar Binks and wooden actors is asinine.

The original trilogy set the stage for what was to come in the future of movies. They were damn good films in every respect and they influenced nearly every person that has picked up a film camera since they came out. ‘Star Wars’ forever changed Hollywood, the art of film making and special effects. George Lucas, through his intuitive and crafty brilliance, upped the ante and forced film studios to catch up to his imagination and vision. The sad thing is that people often forget this when bashing a man that just wants to share his stories with the world. It’s quite obvious that George Lucas is a child at heart and he only wants to make us smile. However, there’s always an asshole in every group and unfortunately for Mr. Lucas, it seems as if the assholes outnumber the sane people in this instance.

I don’t really understand where this entitled attitude comes from with fans and I’m not just talking about ‘Star Wars’ fans, I’m talking about fans of any franchise really. These people who get so disenfranchised with something they once loved to the point that it makes them spit venom at the stories’ creators is childish and narrow-minded. If guys like Lucas didn’t create and deliver their masterpieces to you in the first place, you’d have nothing to base any of this on. To curse a man’s legacy and the man himself, who has given you decades of joy is pretty disgusting and just shows how sad and pathetic some of these pompous bitches are. Hell, I still remember people being in an uproar over the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ remake before they actually saw it. In the end, it was pretty close to being a science fiction masterpiece! Sometimes you have to spread your wings and fly and that’s what Lucas did. When series are rebooted, remade or continued on, it can go really well or really bad – that’s the risk involved but the person who owns the rights to the property has the freedom to do what they want with it.

No one owns ‘Star Wars’ but George Lucas. For anyone to claim that they have some sort of right over the man’s blood, sweat and tears is ridiculous. He owns the franchise, he owns the characters within it and he can tell any tale that he wants to tell. The fact of the matter is, people have a choice. They don’t have to watch the new material if it isn’t up to their standard and fails to meet their expectations. These little jitterbugs act as if there is some sort of magical gun to their head and that they are forced to soak up every bit of ‘Star Wars’ that is released. Well people, you don’t have to do a damn thing! You can opt out and never look back.

The problem is that so many people put so much of themselves into this fantasy world that they lose a sense of their own reality and when things don’t go the way that they want, the fantasy starts to remind these sad people living vicariously through the fiction that real life is moving along without them. Nostalgia is a motherfucker and it only seems to exist strongly in those who are unsatisfied with what’s really going on around them. To have intense hatred for George Lucas or any great storyteller because their work becomes less than what it once was is pathetic. To invest that much emotion into complete fantasy is retarded. Yes, I wrote “retarded”.. call the sensitivity police!

Kids today, and by kids I mean middle-aged nerds, just don’t seem to respect property rights. Of course, if someone thought that they could infringe upon or add their unlimited hysterical two cents to everything one of these hypocritical fanboys did, they’d have a serious fucking shit fit. Hell, they probably wouldn’t come out of their mom’s basement for several months while losing themselves in an endless one-person ‘Skyrim’ marathon where the only way they’ll even eat is if their mother slides a plate of cold cuts and cheese puffs under the door.

The reason I feel the need to write this rant is because I’ve come across several articles lately that have stated that the fans of these franchises have invested so much of themselves into them that they truly believe they now have some sort of stake or ownership in the property. Yes, the property that they have never contributed anything to creatively other than writing their own shitty unofficial and non-profit fan fictions and role-playing scenarios dictated amongst their equally entitled geek pals. You people have no claim to anything and to think you do makes you look like socialist pussies who are convinced that the whole world and everyone in it owes them something just because they are breathing. Fuck you people. If you don’t like something, move on. Hell, stop crying into your tauntaun sleeping bags and go create something yourself. If you think you know more about storytelling, science fiction and fantasy than George Lucas then go out and fucking prove it! If you don’t, then you’re nothing more than a whiney talentless hack yourself and I’d tell you to go get a girlfriend or boyfriend but the only people that would have you won’t leave their basements either. Create something for once in your life and stop trying to destroy someone who just wants to share their imagination with you. You people are the parasite sponges of the world that rape and pillage the ideas of those greater than you because you’re weak and can’t make something bigger than yourself that people will passionately care about. It’s time to grow up and stop acting like ungrateful cunts.

The truth is, George Lucas has contributed more to this world than any of you probably ever will. Besides, you’re the ones “torturing” yourselves with weekly doses of ‘Clone Wars’ not Mr. Lucas. Guess what idiots, YOU DON’T HAVE TO WATCH IT! Accept it and move on with your sad pathetic lives.

This is a video of two Batmobiles drag racing. Specifically, one from the 1960′s television series and one from the original 1989 Tim Burton movie. Although, truthfully, I don’t think they actually raced, based on the camera work it looks staged. Also, there’s almost eight minutes of talking before the race even begins. What do they have to talk about for eight minutes? Zero clue, I watched the whole thing with no volume so I wouldn’t wake the cockroaches. They’ll steal my bagel.

Hit the jump for the video, “race” starts around 7:45, bonus bikini car-wash with the flag girl after the race around 9:00 (yes really).

Source: Geekologie.

Black and White Silent Picture “The Artist” Wins Best Picture at the 2012 Oscars.

Here’s the rest of the results.

BEST PICTURE
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE HELP
THE TREE OF LIFE
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
MONEYBALL
WAR HORSE
EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, THE DESCENDANTS
Brad Pitt, MONEYBALL
Jean Dujardin, THE ARTIST 
Damien Bachir, A BETTER LIFE
Gary Oldman, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

BEST ACTRESS
Glenn Close, ALBERT NOBBS
Viola Davis, THE HELP
Rooney Mara, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Meryl Streep, THE IRON LADY 
Michelle Williams, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
Nick Nolte, WARRIOR
Jonah Hill, MONEYBALL
Max von Sydow, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo, THE ARTIST
Melissa McCarthy, BRIDESMAIDS
Janet McTeer, ALBERT NOBBS
Octavia Spencer, THE HELP 
Jessica Chastain, THE HELP

BEST ANIMATED FILM
RANGO
CHICO AND RITA
A CAT IN PARIS
KUNG FU PANDA 2
PUSS IN BOOTS

BEST DIRECTOR
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Alexander Payne, THE DESCENDANTS
Martin Scorsese, HUGO
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Terrence Malick, THE TREE OF LIFE

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne and Jim Rash, THE DESCENDANTS 
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, MONEYBALL
John Logan, HUGO
George Clooney and Grant Heslov, IDES OF MARCH
Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Woody Allen, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS 
Michel Hazanavicius, THE ARTIST
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumulo, BRIDESMAIDS
JC Chandor, MARGIN CALL
Asghar Farhadi, A SEPARATION

BEST ART DIRECTION
THE ARTIST
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2
HUGO
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
WAR HORSE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO 
THE TREE OF LIFE
WAR HORSE

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
ANONYMOUS
THE ARTIST 
HUGO
JANE EYRE
W.E.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
HELL AND BACK AGAIN
IF A TREE FALLS
PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY
PINA
UNDEFEATED

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“The Barber of Brimingham”
“God is the Bigger Elvis”
“Saving Face” 
“The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom”
“Incident in New Baghdad”

BEST EDITING
THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
MONEYBALL

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
BULLHEAD
FOOTNOTE
IN DARKNESS
A SEPARATION 
MONSIEUR LAZHAR

BEST MAKEUP
ALBERT NOBBS
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2
THE IRON LADY

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
THE ARTIST 
HUGO
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY
WAR HORSE

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Man or Muppet,” THE MUPPETS 
“Real in Rio,” RIO

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
“Dimanche/Sunday”
“The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore” 
“La Luna”
“A Morning Stroll”
“Wild Life”

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
“Pentecost”
“Raju”
“The Shore” 
“Time Freak”
“Tuba Atlantic”

BEST SOUND EDITING
DRIVE
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

BEST SOUND MIXING
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
HUGO 
MONEYBALL
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
WAR HORSE

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 2
HUGO
REAL STEEL
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON