Bull Durham Gets Hitched
New Star Wars, Rings
October 2004 Movie News
Box-Office News: There are few strong movies this season, as I had noted in my previous post. Sony's The Forgotten wasn't and grossed around $21 million, higher than expected. Shark Tale and Wimbledon started off strong and may have legs, but neither are blockbuster material. Overseas, The Village took in $100 million and Garfield edged close to this number. I can understand the former and shake my head at the latter.
Dances-With-Marriage: Kevin
Costner (left, with entertainment reporter Mary Hart) recently wed his long-standing girlfriend,
Christine Baumgartner, at his Colorado mountain retreat. It isn't known whether
they were serenaded by wolf calls.
Return of the King: Quite literally. On December 14th the extended version of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King will roll out to the excited cries of many fans. It will feature 50 additional minutes of new footage, including a lush musical score and even a cameo appearance by director Peter Jackson.
Return of the Wars: The massive four-disc DVD box set of the original Star Wars trilogy blasted into hyperspace with a staggering $115 million on its first few days on the shelves (assuming you could actually find it and not an empty space). The DVD was combined with Star Wars Battlefront, a video game that allows you to recreate all the epic battles from the movies. This bundle easily blasted the previous record for the top-selling film compilation on DVD, but first-day unit sales did not reach the level of the champ, Finding Nemo, which sold an eye-popping 8 million copies. The set includes feature commentary from Lucas and a two-and-a-half-hour documentary that includes interviews with cast and crew and never-before-seen archival footage. There are also featurettes on storyboarding, production design, costumes and special effects. The DVD debut is being timed to revive interest in the blockbuster space opera in the months before May 2005 opening of the final prequel, Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith.
Last But Not Least: Yes, I must end with sad news. Russ Meyer, the genius behind such soft-porn classics such as Vixen!, Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, and Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill died quietly at his Hollywood home. He was 82.
