Kevin Smith Shooting Red State This August

Coming off of the rather lackluster/awful buddy cop comedy, Cop Out, it looks as though Kevin Smith is looking to get that taste out of his mouth, this time, with one long gestating project that many film geeks, including yours truly, have been waiting for.

According to an interview with E!Online, the filmmaker will begin shooting his long talked about dream horror project, Red State, this August, and yes, he still plans on using a cast full of unknown actors:

"It's a political horror movie, essentially. We're still casting right now, but I don't want to cast anybody that anybody knows because that takes you right out of the flick. The idea is what's going to sell the movie."

Personally, while I’m not a fan of Cop Out, and Smith’s work has been diminishing returns as of late, the idea of the filmmaker getting back into the world of smaller, unknown actor filled projects, let alone an interesting horror film like this, has me more than excited. I love Smith’s writing, which was missing from Cop Out, and his style is really suited to the lower key nature of the horror film. Horror films don’t all have to look like the visually obnoxious fare of films like Nightmare On Elm Street, and would work really well with Smith’s point and shoot style.

All in all, my hopes are high for this one, so Smith, don’t mess this one up. I may lose all faith in you.

Go see something good!

FORUM: Can A Title Truly Affect Box Office Totals?

So, as I'm sitting here reading and trying to find something to do, I stumbled across a very interesting article over at Yahoo!. Now, the biggest release of this week was arguably Zack and Miri Make a Porno, and it not only came out during a rather weak week, but it starred the now comedic profit mine, Seth Rogen. That said, the film opened with a horrendous 2.2$ million on opening Friday, leaving the weekend total at a mediocre 10.7$ million, and the film is looking at an estimated 30$ gross for the full run, nearly 66% less than the 80$ million the Weisteins had originally estimated. Granted, it was Halloween, but Halloween falls on a Friday once every 7 years, so data to suggest that it had any effect is pretty scarce.

As I was reading the said article, I came across this little sentence...

The movie also faced some audience resistance over the racy subject matter and the word "Porno" in the title.

This is an interesting little concept. Can a title truly affect a films box office total? Let's take a look at what the film has going for it, and against it...

-For-
1) It's a raunchy comedy, a.k.a. relatively solid box office potential, especially when talking about the college demographic
2) Seth Rogen is a pretty big comedic star, at least at this point in time.
3) The film has a controversial title
4) The film has had a VERY controversial life span
5) No press is bad press

-Against-
1) It's a Kevin Smith comedy, a.k.a. a HYSTORICALLY small box office gross...I have proof (thanks to Reelz Channel for the photo...)



2) The film has been banned at a few theatres
3) The film's title has kept it out of many publications
4) There has been little to no prime time promotion
5) Halloween weekend started on Friday
6) High School Musical AND Saw V just started their runs

So this leads me to the question, does the title Zack and Miri Make a Porno make this film a box office bomb? Was it simply the title, or was the kiss of death the weekend they chose to release it, or was it in the fact that it was a Kevin Smith film? What are your thoughts?

Go see something good!

Zack And Miri Make a Porno Redband Trailer...

Hey guys! I was surfing the web, and noticed over at /Film this little diddy of a trailer for Kevin Smith's upcoming film, Zack and Miri Make A Porno...check it out!!



I am pretty excited for this flick. This trailer looks really funny, and from what I've heard, this is a funny film. What do you guys think?

The MPAA...is it needed??? Plus...some early Joker Concept Art...

Kevin Smith is not a shy guy. Kevin Smith, as many of you know, or should know, is the director of such comedy classics (at least in my mind), Clerks, Dogma, and the brilliant Clerks 2. Now, in many of his films, he had a run in with the MPAA, the ratings board for this fine medium. His newest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, was no different. Just as of two weeks ago, it looked as though the cut Smith gave to the devil, umm, MPAA was going to recieve the dreaded NC-17 rating. However, KS has won his battle, and it looks as though it will recieve the all important R rating. So, that brings me to my question. In Clerks 2, he has a man have sexual relations with a donkey, and in this film, he is basically all on the table in saying that this will be about two friends making a porn film. So, is there really a point to the MPAA? Should it even exist? Or is there a point, but it just needs an overhall? Should it stay the same? I'm a really liberal guy, so you can expect what I will say, but I really want to get into this. I want to hear what you guys think, so post some comments.

The other thing I would like to talk about, are these really interesting photos from the book, the Art Of The Dark Knight, which features early pre production information, the shooting script, and some really interesting pics...





What do you guys think? I'm suprised with how tame the final version they went with was. Would these have made the film to dark for it's own good???

That's all I've got for now...come back for more news and the weekend wrap up....

How can they do a Pineapple Express/Superbad crossover when Rogen is in both films??? I want your theories people!

Go see something good!!!

R.I.P. Bernie Mac...