DISTRICT 9 OFFICIAL TRAILER

DISTRICT 9. It's a name you should be remembering from now onwards until its release. District 9 is an upcoming film produced by Peter Jackson (the director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong), based on Alive in Joburg, a short film directed by Neill Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, Simon Hansen and Shanon Worley. Neill Blomkamp will direct the motion picture version and we already have an official trailer now available online.





After watching it, someone said that it looks like "a cheaper version of Terminator". Well, I have to agree with her because it is looks like one.

The movie stars William Allen Young, Robert Hobbs, Jason Cope, Sharlto Copley, Kenneth Nkosi, David James and Venessa Haywood.

In the movie these aliens are called "Non-Humans" and are overseen by Multi-National United (MNU), a company which is utilizing alien technology. Dirk Michaels (William Allen Young) is a soldier working for the MNU when he goes into District 9 and finds a tube. He activates the tube and is sprayed by a toxic chemical that makes him become half human and half "Non-Human", which makes him a wanted man on both sides.

The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for Bloody Violence and Language.

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US BOX OFFICE 3-5 JULY 2009

It's been 2 weeks, a full 14 days since the release of the highly anticipated movie of the year - Transformers 2. The box office number for the movie keeps on expanding and has now gross more than US$ 300 million ever since in the United States with a further US$ 317 million outside America.

boxofficemojo.com reported that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is now approaching fast the landmark figure of US$ 319 million made by the first film, which in my prediction will be surpassed by this Friday.

Last week, although new releases like Ice Age 3 and Johnny Depp - Christian Bale's Public Enemies entered the market with high expectation to dethrone the robotic battle epic from the Gold medal, but it proved as it is not an easy case. Both opened to a strong challenge although Ice Age 3 has to settle in a second place after a tight photo finish.

US TOP 12 BOX OFFICE (03-05 July 2009)

*Notes: Courtesy of boxofficemojo.com
*Actual gross...

01) TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Paramount)
gross: US$ 42.3 M total: US$ 293.4 M

02) ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAUR (Fox)
gross: US$ 41.7 M total: US$ 66.7 M

03) PUBLIC ENEMIES (Universal)
gross: US$ 25.3 M total: US$ 40.1 M

04) THE PROPOSAL (Buena Vista)
gross: US$ 12.9 M total: US$ 94.3 M

05) THE HANGOVER (Warner Bros)
gross: US$ 11.3 M total: US$ 205.0 M

06) UP (Buena Vista)
gross: US$ 6.5 M total: US$ 264.8 M

07) MY SISTER'S KEEPER (Warner Bros.)
gross: US$ 5.8 M total: US$ 26.5 M

08) THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (Sony)
gross: US$ 2.5 M total: US$ 58.5 M

09) YEAR ONE (Sony)
gross: US$ 2.3 M total: US$ 38.3 M

10) NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF SMITHSONIAN (Fox)
gross: US$ 2.0 M total: US$ 167.7 M

11) STAR TREK (Paramount)
gross: US$ 1.8 M total: US$ 249.8 M

12) AWAY WE GO (Focus)
gross: US$ 1.1 M total: US$ 6.1 M


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MOVIE REVIEWS - ICE AGE 3: DAWN OF THE DINOSAUR

ENGLISH - (U) - 01 July 2009 - Animation
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Running time: about 94 mins.
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Producers: Lori Forte, John Donkin
Writers: Michael Berg, Peter Ackerman, Yoni Brenner
Casts: Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Sean William Scott, Sean Pegg
Plot: The sub-zero heroes from the worldwide blockbusters "Ice Age" and "Ice Age: The Meldown" are back, on an incredible adventure...for the ages. Scrat is still trying to nab the ever-elusive nut (while, maybe, finding true love); Manny and Ellie await the birth of their mini-mammoth; Sid the sloth gets into trouble when he creates his own makeshift family after finding some dinosaur eggs; and Diego the saber-toothed tiger wonders if he's growing too 'soft' hanging with his pals. On a mission to rescue the hapless Sid, the gang ventures into a mysterious underground world, where they have some close encounters with dinosaurs, battle flora and fauna run amok - and meet a relentless, one-eyed, dino-hunting weasel named Buck.

THE VERDICT:

Green Tea Bern says:

WARNING FOR SPOILER! With the third installment promising a greater danger of been in a dinosaur land, the reality tells me that there is nothing much to expect from it. Neither the movie did anything spectacular nor evolving much from the previous story in the previous two movies. Ice Age is family-fuel animation that simply just doing it all the best - bringing some laughter for those who crave for some but on the other hand landed on short in strength.



Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaur - continues the journey of three ice age talking animal pals - a giant mammoth, a sloth and a sort-of-like ancient jaguar. This time, a confrontation occurred between the three and Sid - the sloth was 'taken away' by the dinosaur from another world (below them) after Sid tried 'to adopt' three dinosaur babies from her. Manny and Diego, with the rest of the herd-family decided to venture into the other world to look for Sid. Buck, a highly-skilled weasel whom had lived in that other world for sometimes will help them.

Story-wise, it presents nothing more like the previous two - wild and fun adventure of three friends that does not make sense. This is no Pixar's production, besides like many other studio's attempt for making great animations, this is purely entertainment that serves nothing to present the themes strongly. Although family-theme and again, friendship are portrayed here, they are still weak.

Without any major change, this is just another Ice Age. The pace is okay but there are certain parts where can be a bit boring; probably because of the not-so-funny Manny-the-mammoth, been slapped with some uncool dialogue and humour. Diego is too cool while Sid is just as predictable as always but funny in another dimension.

Again, of all of those adorable characters, Scrat-the squirrel with his constant obsession for the acorn and now a new lover is still the main attraction because of its spontaneous comedy slap shots. Also, Buck the adventurous weasel voiced by Simon Pegg is simply fun, sarcastically enjoyable and pleasant to watch.

This animation is again praised for its good artistic cinematographic features but again tainted by a dull subject matter of its story. As always Ice Age 3 is just another passable family animation. Is anyone want to bet that Pixar's Up will beat this movie upside-down?

THE RATINGS.....
CAST - 3.5 stars
STORY - 3.0 stars
CINEMATOGRAPHY - 4.0 stars
EFFECTS - 3.5 stars
an overall>> 3.5 stars
GreenTea-O-Meter: 14.0

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CHARACTERS OF 9 AND 9 IS A MOVIE

9 is an upcoming animation movie by the Focus Feature, adapted from the best Short Animation nominated in the 2005 Academy Awards. Besides Shane Acker holding the responsible to direct the original as well as this one, the visionary production of Timur Bekmambetov and Tim Burton also make this animation feature something to look for.

www.chud.com previews the character posters from the movie 9 – nine in total. These characters are created by someone called Scientist whom is so popular that he is even got his own Facebook page.

1, TO PROTECT US…
Voiced by the legendary Christopher Plummer, 1 is the elder, whom lead the group of ragdoll. He is clever and sly, but also domineering, quick-tempered, and threatened by the new arrival of 9, whose higher intellect leads him to question authority.



2, TO INSPIRE US…
Voiced by Martin Landau, 2 is the inventor and explorer with an inquisitive personality.

3, TO DEFINE US… and 4, TO TEACH US…
They are the scholarly twins who voraciously catalogue everything they can see and find, recording and building a massive database for the group of the world that surrounds them and the history that led up to their creation.

5, TO GUIDE US…
Voiced by John C. Riley, 5 is a caring, nurturing engineer. He is also an apprentice of 2, with whom he shares a special bond.

6, TO LEAD US…
Voiced by Crispin Glover, 6 is a reclusive and eccentric, yet captivates many with his inspiration through drawings made from his pen nib hands and may be keys to help his fellow ragdolls beings navigate their darkest hours.

7, TO DEFEND US…
Voiced by Jennifer Connelly, 7 is the sole female in the group, a fiercely independent adventuress she has been out patrolling the wasteland. To survive, she has adapted, finding the bones of a deceased bird and crafting her signature skull helmet.

8, TO GUARD US…
Voiced by Fred Tatasciore, armed with a giant kitchen cleaver and half a scissor blade, the none-too-bright muscle and enforcer of the group, 8, is created to help the others physically survive the dangerous post-apocalyptic world.

9, TO SAVE US…
Voiced by Elijah Wood, 9 is the newly born lead role of the movie.

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NEW TRAILERS INCOMING FOR MOVIES LATER THIS YEAR

ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL
(Teaser Trailer)

RELEASE DATE: 25 December 2009
DISTRIBUTOR: 20th Century Fox

An upcoming 2009 American live-action/CGI and Musical film starring Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Zachary Levi and the voices of Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, Jesse McCartney, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate and Amy Poehler. The film features Alvin and the Chipmunks and their female counterparts, The Chipettes. It will be directed by Betty Thomas (Dr Dolittle and I Spy)

CUTE!! LOL

THE INFORMANT

RELEASE DATE: 9 October 2009
DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.

An upcoming dark comedy thriller film, directed by Steven Soderbergh (The Ocean's Trilogy), and based on the 2000 nonfiction book, The Informant, by journalist Kurt Eichenwald. The script was written by Scott Z. Burns and the film stars Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey, Scott Bakula, and Joel McHale.

COUPLES RETREAT

RELEASE DATE: 9 October 2009
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures

An upcoming comedy film directed by Peter Billingsley and written by Jon Favreau, who also stars in the film. The cast also includes Vince Vaughn, Faizon Love, Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman and Kali Hawk. The music for this movie is composed by Academy Award winner A.R. Rahman, making his Hollywood debut.



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MORE STAR TREK TO COME...

Star Trek has grossed about US$ 250 million in the Stateside Box Office giving it a run as the most gross and most attended movie in the 11-films Star Trek franchise. Besides gaining commercial success, star Trek has received well praises from the critics and fans.

Collider.com has managed to get the director JJ abrams to talk a little bit about the future of Star Trek on the recent red carpet at the Saturn Awards.

JJ Abrams himself admitted that there have been an idea-throwing sessions around: "It's about that kind of feeling, like 'oh my god, I can't wait to do that!' I won't be walking away from Trek in any way in the next film. I feel too lucky to be a part of this thing to say goodbye to it." - EO



There is a possible rumours that concerned the fans - Abrams might walked out of the franchise, or a possible serving the producer seat only.

Meanwhile, writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci hinted that the franchise may go further, with the insertion of starting threads and plots, much like the loose trilogy of The Wrath of Khan, The Search For Spock and The Voyage Home. They hope a script could be drafted by the end of this year, with Paramount is excited about getting it start.

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MICHAEL BAY AND I AM NUMBER FOUR?

Step aside giant robots, Michael Bay has signed to produce and possibly to direct a new movie - thus talking a break from directing the Transformers franchise for some moment.

Empire Online reported that Michael Bay is in fact very interested with the upcoming book 'I Am Number Four', the first of six planned series - "a sci-fi novels about nine teen aliens on Earth, who escaped their planet just before a hostile race destroyed it. While the nine are busy adjusting to their new world and new roles, the titular Number Four discovers that those who destroyed his world are still determined to hunt him down." - EO



Although the first book was written by two writers under a pseudonym, and it is said that that one of them was James Frey, best-seller author for semi-fictional memoir 'A Million Little Pieces'.

The film will be developed by DreamWorks, with possibility that Steven Spielberg will be the producer.

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2012 OFFICIAL TRAILER IN HD

Roland Emmerich's later this year's disaster movie (again) which take-in the concept of the Mayan apocalypse prediction that will happen on 2012 (20 December that year to be exact) has landed online.

First response, WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT? Here, I would like to raise my doubt. despite a stunning effects waiting for you to get you on the seats, remember 10,000BC? Or probably The Day After Tomorrow?

2012 will be released in a worldwide scale of November 13, 2009.



The film has an ensemble cast, including John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, Oliver Platt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Woody Harrelson. The film will be distributed by Columbia Pictures.



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US BOX OFFICE 28 JUNE 2009

As always been predicted for long now that no one dare to even get the hands on the giant Transformers 2 on the box office this week. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had smashed several records on the way for the big eye-popping records.

This week, the talking giant robots seized the market and turning in the highest weekend grossing of the year. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen jammed the cinemas with US$ 112 million opening on traditional Friday-to-Sunday weekend after a stunning US$ 82.9 million on the first two days since Wednesday opening.



Since Wednesday's opening, Transformers 2 had scored several records:

1. The largest opening day for Wednesday opening ever, beating the previous record of $44.23 million set by Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix in July of 2007.
2. The second largest opening day of all time, behind last year's The Dark Knight's $67.17 million on July 2008.
3. The fourth largest opening day when ticket price inflation is considered, behind The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3 & Pirates of the Caribbean 2.
4. The biggest June opening weekend ever, beating the previous record of $93.69 million set by Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix in July of 2007.
5. The highest-grossing non-holiday period.
   
6. The highest non-Friday opening weekend.
7. The seventh largest opening weekend of all time. (Reference)
   
8. The second-largest five-day start of all time behind The Dark Knight's $203.8 million.
9. The biggest IMAX weekend ever: included in its grosses was $11.7 million at 169 IMAX locations (for $14.4 million in five days), topping former title holder Star Trek's $8.5 million at 138 venues.

US TOP 12 BOX OFFICE (26-28 June 2009)

*Notes: Courtesy of boxofficemojo.com
*Actual gross...

01) TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (Paramount)
gross: US$ 109.0 M total: US$ 200.1 M

02) THE PROPOSAL (Buena Vista)
gross: US$ 18.6 M total: US$ 69.2 M

03) THE HANGOVER (Warner Bros)
gross: US$ 17.0 M total: US$ 183.1 M

04) UP (Buena Vista)
gross: US$ 13.1 M total: US$ 250.2 M

05) MY SISTER'S KEEPER (Warner Bros.)
gross: US$ 12.4 M total: US$ 12.4 M

06) YEAR ONE (Sony)
gross: US$ 6.0 M total: US$ 32.5 M

07) THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3 (Sony)
gross: US$ 5.5 M total: US$ 53.5 M

08) STAR TREK (Paramount)
gross: US$ 3.7 M total: US$ 246.3 M

09) NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: BATTLE OF SMITHSONIAN (Fox)
gross: US$ 3.6 M total: US$ 163.4 M

10) AWAY WE GO (Focus)
gross: US$ 1.7 M total: US$ 4.1 M

11) LAND OF THE LOST (Universal)
gross: US$ 1.2 M total: US$ 46.8 M

12) ANGELS AND DEMONS (Sony)
gross: US$ 1.1 M total: US$ 130.3 M
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TRANSFORMERS 2 SMASH ONE HELL RECORD

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen had smashed one record on its Wednesday's opening day in the United States. Including a hefty US$ 16 million on the midnight shows, the first day take for the robotic film scored a massive US$ 60.628 million in the box office receipt.

With the US$ 60.628 million on Wednesday, the movie scored:

1. The largest opening day for Wednesday opening ever, beating the previous record of $44.23 million set by Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix in July of 2007.
2. The second largest opening day of all time, behind last year's The Dark Knight's $67.17 million on July 2008.
3. The fourth largest opening day when ticket price inflation is considered, behind The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3 & Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

Transformers 2 opening is higher than the first installment opening of $27.85 million on a Tuesday in July of 2007 ($36.65 million when including grosses from its initial Monday evening performance).

For that Green Tea Movie!! will keep track of the box office perfomance from Day 1, you can check the box office on the right sidebar.
OTHER LINK: My review on TFT2 Read More