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UPDATED: Monday Morning Mixer: Yo, 'Joe!' ('Pineapple Express 2' trailer)

Posted Monday, April 1, 2013 at 11:11 AM Central
Last updated Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 3:05 PM Central

by John Couture

There's no need to turn the dials, and no this isn't an April Fool's Day joke. The Monday Morning Mixer is being delivered both on Monday and in the morning.

It's an April Fool's Day miracle!

What's also not an April Fool's joke, although it surely feels like it is the word this morning that G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the long-delayed sequel blew up over the weekend. Ah yes, it seems Summer arrives earlier and earlier every year.

So, sit back and when you're done laughing at Treasure Maps or voting for the funniest video on YouTube, give our MMM a little read.

Box Office 411

It was certainly an active weekend at the megaplexes as the total box office was right in line with last year's numbers which is impressive given that The Hunger Games was still in full swing. Studios got a jump on the Easter holiday with many of the this weekend's top movies opening up on Thursday or Wednesday last week.

The big winner was G.I. Joe: Retaliation which opened up with $41.2 million over the three day weekend with a total of $51.7 million since it opened mid-week. The sequel almost matched its predecessor which opened with $54.7 million in late Summer 2009.

Believe it or not, G.I. Joe: Retaliation is now the highest grossing opening film ever for Bruce Willis. Just imagine all of his huge blockbusters and all of the Die Hard films and come to grips with the fact that G.I. Joe: Retaliation out-grossed them on their opening weekends. Maybe there's hope still that this Summer's offerings can come close to last Summer's huge numbers.

The real interesting thing though of the film's performance is the risky move that Paramount made last Summer when it yanked G.I. Joe: Retaliation from its original release date a mere two months before release to "post-convert it to 3D." It's usually never a good sign when studios delay a release, but it seems the gamble paid off as the film, which was almost assured of being a big disappointment last Summer, becomes this year's first hit of the "Summer."

Tyler Perry continues to prove that you can put his name on just about anything and an audience will show up. You know, in many ways, his consistent performance reminds me a lot of Kevin Smith and his audience. It's just that Tyler Perry's fans tend to show up to the tune of $20 million openings and $60 million total grosses.

Kevin Smith is good for $30 million total gross for each film. It's like clockwork really. So, when Clerks III eventually opens, it'll be a safe bet to project $30 million in the total gross column.

But today is about Tyler Perry and his ninth film to surpass $20 million in opening weekend receipts. I wasn't aware of this, but thanks to Box Office Mojo, I learned that this is his ninth film to surpass that plateau. I also learned that only two other directors have reached this mark Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis.

That's some pretty impressive company to keep, I don't care who you are. And with no end in sight for Madea, I think it's a safe bet that Perry will continue to climb the charts for a long time to come.

In more exciting news (at least for me, a man approaching middle-age with a toddler and a second child on the way), it seems that our national obsession with mopey, emo teens that fall in love with vampires, aliens, etc. is finally over. After Beautiful Creatures bombed, some wrote that off as pure fancy and the real bellwether performance would come when The Host debuted.

Well, despite its best efforts to emulate that other Stephenie Meyer saga, what with its one girl and two brooding boys poster, The Host crashed and burned to a measly $11 million opening. Sure, it's about 50% better than Beautiful Creatures' opening, but it pales in comparison to even the weakest Twilight opening.

The Croods held on well as pretty much the only family choice this holiday weekend while Olympus Has Fallen took a bit of a hit with G.I. Joe's better than expected performance. Meanwhile, Oz should surpass $200 million today or tomorrow.

More 'Pineapple'?

Here's news out of left field today. Of course, with today being what it is, everything needs to be taken with a big ole grain of salt.

There has been idle chatter over the years of there being a Pineapple Express sequel, but nothing really to write home about. I mean we don't even have a record for it and Seth Rogen has always said that the chances for a sequel have always been about 50/50.

Well, he and fellow co-writer of said movie Evan Goldberg spent some time this past weekend at WonderCon and it seems they had an enjoyable(?) time.

But the real news came this morning from a cryptic tweet from Seth.

Hmm. This could really mean anything. It could be a sequel, or some sort of cool thing that he and Evan did at WonderCon or it could simply just be a cruel April Fool's Day joke. Or, it could simply mean that Seth smoked a huge fattie and tweeted out complete non-sense that sort of hints at a possible Pineapple Express announcement today.

Who knows? We'll stay on it and let you know what develops.

A TRAILER!!!

Well, as expected, it was an April Fools prank, but definitely a clever one. You might recall that they did something similar for December 21, 2012 and the Mayan apocalypse. Whatever the case, it looks like This is the End is definitely a MUST-SEE movie this Summer. It opens on June 14.

Fastest '7'?

Look, we all know The Fast and the Furious 6 is going to be a hit when it opens on May 24. I don't claim to understand this society's fascination with fast cars and Vin Diesel, but I just accept it.

While it's not unheard of for sequels to get a green light before their predecessor even opens at theaters, it's pretty unusual to start filming said film before the former debuts. You know, that whole cart in front of the horse thing.

And while we don't have exact details yet about The Fast and the Furious 7, Vin let it slip this weekend that they are set to start filming the film this Summer. With such a quick around, I wouldn't be surprised to see Fast 7 in theaters next Summer.

We don't have any confirmation on the time frame from the studio, so stay tuned and we will update Fast 7 as details emerge.

Nolan and McConaughey, the next Hollywood power duo?

We freely admit that we know next to nothing about Christopher Nolan's next film Interstellar other than the name and that it will hit theaters on November 7, 2014.

Of course, we did a very interesting whisper this weekend that Nolan offered the lead role to none other than Matthew McConaughey. That's right, the king of bare chests and mustaches might just be the new face of a Christopher Nolan film.

While be it far from me to ever question Nolan's genius as his films all pretty land in my top 25 of all-time, but seeing McConaughey take the lead in a SciFi film that reportedly involves time travel and worm holes is as foreign to me as say Arnold Schwarzenegger landing the lead in a remake of Grease.

Stranger things have happened and we'll keep on it. Well, that's the MMM for this week. I hope you've enjoyed and we look forward until next week. Until then, mix well!