Following his red-carpet antics at this year’s Academy Awards, there was huge anticipation around the kind of stunt Sacha Baron Cohen might pull-off at the World Premiere of his latest movie, The Dictator, in London last night. And his latest incarnation AKA the Wadiyan Dictator General Aladeen did not disappoint, rolling up at the star studded Royal Festival Hall in a tow truck after his bright orange sports car was clamped. It seems that even the last remaining Dictator is subject to London’s parking restrictions and diplomatic immunity isn’t granted to international criminals.
He might be ruthless and cold blooded, but you can’t help but like the world’s cruelest, most bigoted, most deluded yet most affable Dictator. Put a foot wrong in Wadiya and you could find yourself condemned to decapitation at the autocrat’s whim. Not surprising the resistance movement, masterminded by Aladeen’s right hand man Tamir (Sir Ben Kingsley) is planning a coup to oust the bearded leader and a New York state visit to address the United Nations provides the opportunity. A switched identity with one of his lookalike bodyguards, however, sees the General down and out in the Big Apple while the simpleton and malleable doppelgänger takes his place in international politics, a puppet manipulated by Tamir.
It’s difficult to watch any new Mel Gibson film without thinking about his very chequered recent past and with the release of his last film, The Beaver, it would appear that most people chose not to watch it all. However, with the release of his latest attempt to get back into the big time, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, regardless of what you may think of Gibson, it is still apparent that there are few actors in the world today who can carry a film as well as him.
How I Spent My Summer Vacation utilises Gibson’s charms as both an action star and a knowing, mischievous screen presence. It won’t win any prizes for originality but it’s a lean, efficient thriller that like the recent Safe, doesn’t over-reach. The majority of the film takes place in a Mexican jail where it seems that absolutely anything goes and Gibson, who’s sent inside for stealing a considerable amount of money, wastes little time in manipulating the many unsavoury inmates to his whims. The lean, nasty plot has shades of an Elmore Leonard novel as Gibson plays different groups off each other in an attempt to gain his freedom.
The Avengers Assemble 3D juggernaut shows little signs of slowing down as another mammoth weekend sees the film cross the £30m barrier. A further £8.1m from Friday to Sunday and £3.5m on Monday takes the film to £33.4m, a figure that would have placed it fourth on 2011’s list of highest grossing films. Although it has some way to go to eclipse 2011’s second place film, The King’s Speech, you wouldn’t bet against it passing that film’s final total of £45.7m. It goes without saying that Avengers Assemble 3D is now near the very top of the list of most successful comic book films with only The Dark Knight (£49.1m) ahead of it.
On a weekend with a large number of new releases, it was clear that the UK public are still open to another helping of American Pie. A £4.5m Friday to Sunday opening for American Pie: Reunion compares favourably with the last theatrically released American Pie film’s debut (The Wedding – £4.2m) but its someway short of American Pie 2’s £5.5m opening. With a cume total of £7.8m including previews and bank holiday Monday, the film is already over half way to overtaking the first American Pie’s final total of £14m.
Spots 3 – 5 in the top 10 were also taken up with new releases, with Zac Efron weepie The Lucky One (£1.2m, including £329k from previews) holding off both Beauty and the Beast 3D (£685k) and Jason Statham bone cruncher Safe (£680k). Safe’s performance is better than Jason Statham’s most recent couple of films Blitz (£266k) and Killer Elite (£481k) but not quite as good as The Mechanic (£922k). Beauty And The Beast 3D had a strong bank holiday Monday and now has a cume total of £1.2m. Including Monday, The Lucky One’s cume is £1.5m and Safe is on £920k. The final new entry in the top 15 was horror Silent House in ninth place with £215k (£285k cume).
One other notable occurrence was The Hunger Games crossing the £23m mark. Its reign as the number 1 film of 2012 so far only lasted a week but it’s still a fantastic performance and bodes well for the release of the next book in the series, Catching Fire in November 2013. Overall the box office was up a sizeable 91% from the same weekend last year.
Across the Atlantic box office records were smashed as The Avengers opened to an unprecedented $207.4m. This absolutely trounced the previous all-time weekend record set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 last Summer ($169.2m). After just three days in cinemas The Avengers has already taken more than Thor ($181m), Captain America: The First Avenger ($176.6m) and The Incredible Hulk ($134.8m) made in their total run. $207.4m also accounted for a whopping 83.1% of the $249.7m the Top 12 earned this weekend, which is the second-highest weekend market share ever. Trailing in The Avengers’ wake, the best performing of the rest of the titles were Think Like a Man with $8.1m, The Hunger Games with $5.6m and The Lucky One with $5.4m. Way down in 16th place was a great performance from a home-grown hit. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel opened on just 27 locations but grossed $737k for a very strong location average of $27k. With expansion planned expect a decent next few weeks for the charming British comedy.
Mentos 3 is the latest innovation in chewing gum, combining 3 layers of different flavoured gum in a single stick. To support the product in the UK, Perfetti Van Melle are running a 30″ Cinema spot ‘High Rider’ around the film release of Avengers Assemble 3D. The ad is a visual metaphor for the product with a classic American lowrider turning into an awesome triple layered car.
As Avengers Assemble is being released in 3D, and the product has taken the physical form of gum into three dimensions, it was a natural step for Perfetti Van Melle to consider running the ad 3D. The fact that the triple layered car featured already existed as a 3D model made it an easy decision to go with 3D.
DCM in partnership with Prime Focus and AMS Media undertook the 2D to 3D conversion, using the existing footage from the ad and the 3D model of the car, to great effect.
Prior to this year, the world’s most celebrated film festival for independent cinema had previously confined itself to the US, and predominantly Park City, Utah. However, in March 2011 Sundance founder and screen legend Robert Redford announced that the inaugural Sundance London would take place this past weekend at the O2 Greenwich featuring some of the highlights of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival proper and would also feature some special concerts and the usual selection of industry panels and workshops.
Rather than spend a whole weekend at the soulless O2, I opted instead to see a few choice films and have a more relaxed festival experience. From looking at the films selected to be screened, it was quickly obvious to anyone familiar with the line-up from Park City that there was a huge omission. Ben Lewin’s The Surrogate picked up the audience award and the special jury prize at Sundance in January and is already tipped for Oscar success next year. For unknown reasons it was conspicuously absent from the London line-up but despite this there was still plenty to excite lovers of independent cinema. Here’s a short summary of the three films I saw
At DCM we love sharing the magic of cinema and on 17 April 2012 the inaugural DCM Tuesdays did just that!
DCM Tuesdays is a monthly free film club for selected figures from the media industry and after walking down the red carpet, our guests were treated to champagne on arrival before enjoying an exclusive screening of one of the year’s most talked about movies, ‘The Cabin in the Woods’.
The evening was a fantastic industry networking opportunity with more than 130 attendees from companies such as Walker Media, MEC Global, MediaCom, Carat and Mindshare and the critically acclaimed horror movie we screened had the audience jumping with fright in their seats as they tucked into their free popcorn.
The Royal Albert Hall, not a name you think of when there is a movies premiere but upon entering the auditorium it becomes apparent why it was chosen for the Titanic 3D world premiere.
It is a warm and sunny evening in Kensington as I approach the red carpet, walking past the cameras and catching a glimpse of the adoring fans that have waited hours for their screen idols. The walk takes me past Kate Winslet, star of the movie, who is in conversation with the press, as well as a few of the other supporting cast and celebrities in attendance.
Upon entering the screening we are treated to a live feed from the red carpet, watching as the stars of the movie make their way towards the venue, stopping briefly for photos and signatures with the fans who line the barriers.
