Top of the Box Office

1. Blades of Glory
Dreamworks SKG
Weekend Gross: $33,000,000
Total Gross: $33,000,000

2. Meet the Robinsons
Warner Bros.
Weekend Gross: $25,056,000
Total Gross: $25,056,000

3. 300
Warner Bros.
Weekend Gross: $11,155,000
Total Gross: $179,662,000

4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Weinstein Co.
Weekend Gross: $9,160,000
Total Gross: $38,428,000

5. Wild Hogs
Buena Vista
Weekend Gross: $8,389,000
Total Gross: $135,355,000

6. Shooter
Paramount Pictures
Weekend Gross: $8,000,000
Total Gross: $27,212,000

7. Premonition
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $5,100,000
Total Gross: $39,342,000

8. The Last Mimzy
New Line
Weekend Gross: $4,000,000
Total Gross: $16,242,000

9. The Hills Have Eyes II
Fox Searchlight
Weekend Gross: $3,925,000
Total Gross: $15,808,609

10. Reign Over Me
Sony Pictures
Weekend Gross: $3,700,000
Total Gross: $13,331,000

All data courtesy of www.the-numbers.com

April 2nd, 2007 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By MovieMaker Staff

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Exhibitor of the Week: Ironweed Films

Though some might mourn the decline of box office numbers in recent years, the fading out of the movie theater as a venue of choice has made way for some true innovations in film exhibition. Netflix has popularized the rise of the Internet and the ease of renting by mail, but what options exist for cinephiles who are looking for something off the beaten path?

Ironweed Films fills this void with their monthly Film Club, which sends a DVD compilation to its members showcasing the best of today’s socially-conscious moviemaking. Even better, the DVD is yours to keep. “We look for important, newer films that have not yet received a wider distribution. Movies that deal with meaningful issues--censorship, war, our impact on the environment,” says David Steuer, head of production at Ironweed’s parent company, Act Now Productions. For instance, the latest installment of the Film Club, which explored the relationship between humans and the natural world, included a portrait of three bull-riding champions, a look at the local reaction to Timothy Treadwell’s death by bear mauling in Alaska and an interview with Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Mattha.

In addition to the Film Club, Ironweed works with organizations like the Earth Day Network to create action campaigns around the films that they screen. For a limited time, MovieMaker readers are invited to get a FREE TRIAL MONTH for the cost of shipping (just $2.95) and then only $14.95 per month thereafter. Log on to
www.ironweedfilms.com/affiliates/moviemaker/offer070227e to sign up or for more information.

Sound Off: Do you watch many “socially-conscious” films? Why or why not? Do you see film primarily as a vehicle for entertainment, or for effecting change? Talk back in the comments section!

--Jennifer Straus

April 2nd, 2007 | Category: Exhibitor of the Week, Exhibition | By MovieMaker Staff

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Festival of the Week: Woods Hole Film Festival

Sixteen years ago, the Woods Hole Film Festival was small, a one-day event in which five short films were screened. But those screenings were packed. And three of the five moviemakers showing their work were Bill Plympton, Kate Davis and Robert Stone--big-name talent for a start-up festival, or any festival for that matter.

Since that first event, the Woods Hole Film Festival has grown in stature and popularity. It is now the oldest independent film festival on Cape Cod, and part of what has allowed it to age so gracefully is its desire to form connections with likeminded people and organizations, resulting in programs like The Reel BlueFest and Filmmaker in the Schools. “We have been able to expand our reach by creating these relationships,” says Judy Laster, executive director of the festival. “The Reel Blues Fest takes place each summer during the film festival, and the film festival always programs music-related films to screen during the Blues Fest,” says Laster. “We have also developed Filmmaker in Schools through which the film festival gives back to the local schools through offering filmmaking classes to middle school students.”

From that modest one-day shorts festival 16 years ago, the Woods Hole Film Festival has developed into something much, much bigger. It’s a destination for moviemakers, but the festival has also become an important part of the community. That’s one distinction not every festival in an increasingly-crowded festival circuit can claim.

Entries are currently being accepted for the 2007 Woods Hole Film Festivals, which will take place July 28th â€“ August 4th. Log on to www.woodsholefilmfestival.org for more information, or to submit your film.

Sound Off: Besides forming relationships with groups and other film festivals to create the best possible film festival it can, the Woods Hole Film Festival is committed to its community. Does the strength of a festival’s ties to its community impact your decision to go to it? Let us know in our comments section!

--Dante A. Ciampaglia

April 2nd, 2007 | Category: Festival of the Week, Festivals | By MovieMaker Staff

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Screenwriter of the Week: Quentin Tarantino

It’s nearly impossible to find a moviemaker or film enthusiast who has not heard of Quentin Tarantino. One of the industry’s living legends, his is a career and creative mind many aspire to emulate. While the tale of Tarantino’s road to fame is, by now, tired--weaned on movies as a video store clerk in California, discovered by its patrons, somehow made the right connections and landed himself at Sundance--his movies are anything but. The mind of this man is a complicated, pop-culture sieve, intuitively holding tight to meaty (and not-so-meaty) morsels and relieving itself of the rest. This is how he crafts one clever, absorbing screenplay after another--and the reason so many pay to enjoy them.

His half of the highly-anticipated Grindhouse, in theaters April 6, will undoubtedly do the same, proving that wit and form can prevail over the crowd-pleasing fare dominating the box office of late. It is, however, at times ironic that this type of crowd-pleasing fare is what inspires the screenwriter to new lengths, and has, in the past, helped to earn him nominations and awards from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, BAFTA, Cannes and the Independent Spirit Awards.

Tarantino’s unorthodox dialogue--interlocked with rigorous action sequences--has made Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill: Vols. 1 & 2 critical and popular darlings. When not in the director’s chair himself, Tarantino’s slick imagery has been transformed by the likes of Tony Scott (True Romance) and Oliver Stone (Natural Born Killers). All said, this screenwriter’s work has carved out its own niche in the continuum of film studies and already left its mark on the moviemaking community.

Sound off: Quentin Tarantino is well-known for his controversial subject matter and lightning-fast discourse. Together, they form some of moviemaking history’s best speeches. Which of this screenwriter’s memorable lines or conversations do you think deserves a top spot on the list? Everyone has got an opinion on this--share yours in our comments sections!
--Mallory Potosky

April 2nd, 2007 | Category: Screenwriter of the Week, Screenwriting | By MovieMaker Staff

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This Day in Indie History: Maestro

The short film Maestro hit Los Angeles theaters on this day in 2004. But its origins began on the other side of the country, when fellow Rockport College professors-writers-directors Doug Stradley and Daniel Stephens began visualizing a humble $5,000 short project. In the end, Maestro was 30 minutes in length, six times its original budget and featured an unexpected performance by “Saturday Night Live” head writer and performer Seth Meyers. This Rocky-inspired story stars Meyers as the older version of Tim Healy, a bowling alley employee fantasizing about the day he would be the greatest orchestral conductor in the world. His piece de resistance would be the cursed composition “Air,” which failed anyone who ever had a hand in it.

Factoid: Seth Meyers and Stan Grunder (the young version of Tim Healy) returned for writer-director Doug Stradley’s Cub Scout Pinewood Derby comedy, Thunder Road.

April 1st, 2007 | Category: This Day in Indie History | By MovieMaker Staff

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