Sci-Fi Storm

The Hunger Games showed that it really is as strong as expected as it cleared over $250 million domestically with $61.1 million in it’s second weekend, which handily beat two anticipated newcomers – Wrath of the Titans, the sequel to Clash of the Titans, which came in second with $34.2M, a little better than half what it’s predecessor opened with, and third place Mirror, Mirror, the comedic take on Snow White starring Julia Roberts, at $19M.

I finally got to see The Hunger Games, and I have to say…it’s worthy of the hype. And I have not read the book – yet. I will be, but I prefer in these cases to see the movie first, so as to not be disappointed at what was left out, or the imagery being “wrong”.

From the start of the movie, although it can be considered a slow start, there is an intensity that builds without requiring the combat which comes later. The setting of they story is told sufficiently, if not completely – some things do get kind of glossed over. At one point, I thought the “country” was called “Pan-Am”, but it is really “Panem”, from the Latin panem et circenses, or “Bread and Circuses” – a fitting name.
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Even though many of Marvel’s characters live over at nearby Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, Disney will be showing off some of them at Walt Disney World. To celebrate the upcoming movie The Avengers, WDW will be “wrapping” (covering with a durable but removable skin) one of their Monorail trainsets with an advertisement for the movie, similar to how they created the “Tron-o-rail” for the release of Tron: Legacy.

Monorail decorated for The Avengers - click to embiggen

It appears there are still some restrictions, though…word is this particular monorail will be restricted to the Magic Kingdom routes, and will not travel to Epcot – possibly because the beam track to Epcot actually runs within the park itself, which may violate the contract or agreement in place that restricts what can be done within the parks.

Actor Warren Stevens, who made many, many guest appearances on television in the 60s and 70s, and can best be remembered by SF fans as Doc in Forbidden Planet as well as Rojan, the Kelvan Empire commander who tries to take the Enterprise to the Andromeda galaxy in the original Star Trek episode “By Any Other Name”, passed away at the age of 92.

So apparently we have world premieres for the trailers for remakes now… 🙂

Check out the teaser which announces that the trailer will premiere on Sunday:

The Hunger Games simply demolished the weekend box office, with an expected $155 million total domestic take for the weekend which places it third all time behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 ($162.2m) and The Dark Night ($158.4m), while eclipsing both of The Twilight Saga‘s recent issues, New Moon ($142.m) and Breaking Dawn, Part 1 ($138.1m), as well as Spider-Man 3 ($151.1m). This also means it is the biggest opening all time for a non-sequel. Go Katniss!

Update 3/26: The actuals from the weekend placed it slightly lower, at $152.5 million, but still safely in 3rd place.

It appears that The Hunger Games is poised to be a massive blockbuster, even beyond expectations. With an audience that is now drawing from not just the young, female audience but all ages and males as well, it has already set the bar for the highest midnights gross for a non-sequel at $19.75 million, and the 7th highest all time. And some analysts are now looking it it possibly exceeding the recent weekend take of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, which took in $138 million.

It seems there are still white knights out there…or at least White Wizards. Gandalf himself, Ian McKellan, along with The Hobbit co-star Stephen Fry, both stepped in to pay the licensing fee for a Southhampton, England pub that for twenty years operated under the name The Hobbit.

It seems that the forces of Mordor let loose the orcs-I mean, Saul Zaentz Company, which has held various rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit since the 70s, sent in the lawyers to force The Hobbit to change their name. The pub also uses character likenesses as well as having drinks named after characters. Zentz then also offered the pub to pay a licensing fee instead.

In step McKellan and Fry, along with their followers on Facebook and Twitter, asking the company to “stand down”, with Fry calling the action “self-defeating bullying” and McKellan saying it was “unnecessary pettiness”. They then told the pub that they would pay the licensing fee.

The pub is still cautious though…the terms haven’t been worked out just yet. “Until everything is in black and white, on paper, we’re going to be a bit reserved because it could be $100 this year and $20,000 next year,” according to the owner, Stella Roberts.

I’m hearing from various directions this evening that the loss for Disney’s John Carter is worse than analysts predicted, with Disney taking a $200 million write-off and Disney Studios expected to have a loss of $120 million in the quarter. Analysts were predicting $50-100 million less.

Now that The Hunger Games gets released this week, no one expects any appreciable income for John Cater in the coming weeks, and it appears they are not expecting a strong DVD market for the movie either.

Check out the latest trailer for Prometheus!