Off the Pajiba, on the QT, and Very Hush-Hush
The Daily Trade Round-Up / Dustin Rowles
Trade News | March 1, 2007 | Comments ()
All right, now this is (hopefully) promising round-up news to lead you into your weekend: Rumor has it that the principals (Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Curtis Hanson) are in discussions to direct/star in a sequel to L.A. Confidential (which, as I recall, is Jeremy’s favorite all-time flick). I don’t usually get too worked up over sequels, but this one is to pick up right where the original L.A. Confidential left off (the 10-year-age difference might look a bit awkward), with Guy Pearce’s character the up-and-coming cop and Russell Crowe an ex-cop living with an ex-prostitute (Basinger?). And how could you not love to see an expertly made extension of the original L.A. Confidential? It truly was one of the better films of the ’90s and really, at this point, anything to get the ass-taste of The Black Dahlia out of our collective mouths is worth the effort. Hanson’s sequel, presumably, would come from an original screenplay, written by Brian Helgeland, who wrote the original L.A. Confidential.
The biggest problem with a potential Curtis Hanson sequel to L.A. Confidential, however, might be that Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces, Narc) is also working on a Confidential sequel of sorts, directing George Clooney in White Jazz, which was the fourth novel in James Ellroy’s L.A. tetralogy. In fact, Guy Pearce’s character (Ed Exley) even makes a few brief appearances in White Jazz. Rumor has it that Pearce has been cold to the idea of reprising his role in White Jazz, though I don’t see why he couldn’t appear in both. There’s certainly enough Guy Pearce to go around, and it beats watching a brilliant actor toil away in relative anonymity.
And proving that Hollywood can’t leave well enough alone, a week after I mentioned that Ron Howard was remaking the French film, Caché, the Weinsteins have announced that they will be remaking this year’s Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Lives of Others for English-speaking audiences who can’t bother with subtitles. Sidney Pollack and Anthony Minghella are developing the project and if either one of them ultimately takes over as director, I’m guessing the new version of The Lives of Others will be a beautifully shot, insufferably dull film.
In the box-office report, Ghost Rider held on to the top spot for the second week last weekend, raking in another $20 million to put its total over $80 million. $80 million, people. That means more than 10 million people have seen Ghost Rider. Just think about that for a second. Oh — sorry, if we could think, then we wouldn’t be watching Ghost Rider, now would we? Elsewhere, Jim Carrey’s The Number 23 debuted at number two, taking in around $15 million, which is decent until you consider that admission was $23 per person. Reno 911!: Miami debuted unspectacularly with $10 million, while The Astronaut Farmer opened weakly, with $4.5 million, and Amazing Grace staggered in at number 10 with $4 million, and quite frankly, it surprises me that it even earned that much.
We have three wide releases this weekend: Wild Hogs opens on 3,200 screens, and John has offered an appropriately excoriating review. It’s Pajibatastic. Black Snake Moan opens in 1,300 theaters and I’ve written all I can about that flick; in fact, the reason today’s round-up is lackluster is that I completely drained myself trying to compare Ricci’s forehead to giving birth. I got nothing left. Zodiac opens in 2,300 theaters and, because of its length, most cities can only show it three times a day. Fun fact: Dirty Harry was loosely based on the Zodiac case. Finally, we’ll also offer up a review of Starter for 10, a film I’d never heard of until two days ago, but suddenly got excited about once I heard it compared to High Fidelity on a quiz show. Oh, and sometime next week, I’ll be bringing another real-time review of another unnecessary straight-to-DVD sequel and Jeremy will provide the next installment of “Pajiba’s Guide to What’s Good for You.” Stick around.
Dustin Rowles is the publisher of Pajiba. He lives with his wife in Ithaca, New York. You may email him, or leave a comment below.
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