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Monday Mixer: Kong vs. Godzilla, it's going to happen

Posted Monday, September 14, 2015 at 4:45 PM Central

by John Couture

It's been a week or so since last we talked. Holidays and vacations are wonderful things but they leave a mess of delayed work tasks in their wake. Some things take priority and other things make little sense. I mean really, who would read a Monday Mixer on a Wednesday?

But here we sit, another new week dawns and it's one that we have been waiting for for a long time. Football is officially back. If you're a fan of football, you're happy this morning. If you're not a fan of football, well, it also signifies that Autumn is right around the corner and who doesn't like the crisp smell of spiced pumpkin lattes?

Whatever your stance on pumpkin spice, one thing is certain, we have officially entered the post-Labor Day blue period where the search for decent films because very difficult. September has long been a studio dumping ground and this year doesn't look like it will reverse that trend.

I'm not saying that a studio would ever look to distance themselves from an M. Night Shyamalan film, but his track record hasn't been, well, even decent lately. But we're all entitled to fifth and sixth chances, right? Actually, there's less than depressing news concerning Night, so we should probably get right to it, shall we?

Box Office 411

In our little sabbatical, War Room managed to sneak up and dethrone Straight Outta Compton in its second week of release. Yes, that's how uninspiring September films can be. So, what would challenge War Room this week?

Two films both turned in solid September openings and for each of them, the performance was at least moderately surprising. In a photo finish, The Perfect Guy took home the top spot with an estimated $26.7 million. Believe it or not, this represents the third straight film starring Michael Ealy to open in excess of $25 million. The Sleeper Cell vet is finally starting to get some traction in films and that's a great thing.

We hinted at it above, but nipping at the heels of The Perfect Guy was the latest offering from M. Night Shyamalan, The Visit. The straight-forward (as much as anything from Night is straight-forward) horror film debuted to a solid 25.7 million. And yet, as positive as this $25 million opening feels, it does represent the second lowest opening ever from M. Night Shyamalan, ahead of only Lady in the Water's $18 million bow.

Still, the budget for The Visit was reported to be in the range of $5 million, so the unquestioned profitability of the film is a monumental step in the right direction for Night. Combine this success with the well-received accolades for his produced TV series Wayward Pines from this summer and M. Night Shyamalan might just have a decent second run in store for him.

Both films look to end up in the $60 million range as they will both drop off suddenly over the coming weeks. The rest of the films this weekend suffered from the opening of the NFL season as no other film made more than $7.5 million. Next week, things actually do look up a bit with a new Oscar contender and a sequel that is on my must-see list.

Quick Hitters

  • We've been off for a couple of weeks, so you can imagine the sheer amount of quick hitters that we have piled up. I went through and cherry-picked some of my favorites as best as I could. So, enjoy.

    Fist up, The Walking Dead's Norman Reedus told Vulture of his strange new collectible thanks to a couple of female friends. That's right, he's now collecting breast implants and apparently he wants some more for his collection. I guess everyone needs to collect something, eh?

  • When we talk about films, we don't usually talk about production houses unless we're talking about Marvel and the MCU. Usually, we just chat about the distributing studio ala Disney, Universal or in this case Warner Bros. Deadline is reporting that Legendary is taking its next King Kong film from Universal to Warner Bros. Again, news like this happens all the time and usually the only thing that we might notice is a different logo in front of the film, but this movie is different.

    As you may know, Legendary also produces the revamped Godzilla series over at Warner Bros. so, you guessed it, Kong: Skull Island is going to be a movie monster mashup with Godzilla battling King Kong. Marvel, do you see what you're doing to the film industry? Actually, this sounds OK and at least now I'm sort of intrigued to see this film that previously held absolutely no reason for me to see it.

  • I never got into Key and Peele and since the series is over, I feel like I might have missed out on something awesome. Every now and then, I come across one of their sketches and it leaves me in stitches. This latest one about Ray Parker Jr. and Ghostbusters is really well done.

  • It's been way too long since we mentioned anything related to Kevin Smith. That's a travesty. It seems that MallBrats is still on track to be his next film, although filming is now set for early 2016. But, he's finally found his mall.

    Also, a mostly lifelong hockey fan and persistent EA Hockey player, Smith finally found himself in the game - sort of.

    "Hartford? The Whale? They only beat Vancouver once, maybe twice, in a lifetime."

    "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for Sega."

  • I love the MCU, but I'm not the most diehard comic book fan. Also, I tend to lose focus on things over, say the course of nine films and counting. Don't fret, a new featurette on the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron Blu-ray will help you to keep tab on all of the infinity stones. Don't know what I'm talking about when I say "infinity stones," then you definitely need to check out the below video.

    Considering that the next two Avengers films are called Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 and Avengers: Infinity War Part 2, this is probably an important short film to watch.

  • Remember when we mentioned that Steven Spielberg might be casting Gene Wilder in his upcoming project Ready Player One? Well, we've got some more concrete casting news on another character for that film. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Olivia Cooke has been cast as female lead Art3mis.

    As both a huge Olivia Cooke fan and a disciple of Ready Player One, this news makes me happy. But I guess that means that she's out of the running for Star Wars: Episode VIII.

  • A double dose of Back to the Future Quick Hitters. Did you ever wonder what an R-rated version of the film would look like? Well, Andrew Robertson attempts to answer that question with "Back to the F@#$!&' Future." It's F@#$!&' bitchin'.

    Also, since the big day is approaching (October 21, 2015 aka the day that Marty and Doc Brown go into the future to in Back To The Future, Part II), there are plenty of themed events rolling out between now and then. One of these is a brand new behind the scenes documentary and the first trailer is compelling to say the least.

  • Finally today, I present this clip from Sleeping with Other People featuring Alison Brie trying on lingerie without comment. I mean really, what else could I possibly add?

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