Image Credit: Sam Urdank/Fox; Disney
So I went a little nuts with Vine!
Mere days before Netflix’s May 26 Arrested Development binge, boozy-witchy Bluth matriarch Lucille has generously taken time out of her day-drinking to snap some sense into the damsels of Disney. They could all stand to lose some weight, by the way. You want your belt to buckle, not your chair. (Click the microphones on and off to hear the audio.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Carol Rosegg
The Easter Bunny brought a special treat to Broadway last week, with overall grosses up 24 percent for the week ending March 31, according to figures from the Broadway League. With a deluge of tourists in New York City for the springtime holiday season, virtually every show saw a sizable bunny-hop in sales (and far less discounting than usual). Wicked and The Lion King both topped $2 million in grosses for the week, while 11 other shows crossed the $1 million threshold.
Among the week’s Million Dollar Club were three new-this-season productions: Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella ($1.4 million), the Tom Hanks-led drama Lucky Guy ($1.25 million), and Motown: the Musical ($1.16 million). That’s the third consecutive $1 million-plus week for Motown since it began previews, a record for a brand-new show opening cold on Broadway (without a previous production Off Broadway or out of town). READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Andrew Eccles
The producers of Motown: The Musical must be dancing in the street. In its first week of previews, the Broadway show about Berry Gordy’s legendary R&B label grossed $1.03 million over just seven performances, according to figures from the Broadway League. Motown (featuring Brandon Victor Dixon and Valisia LeKae, pictured above, as Gordy and Diana Ross) seems primed to become a regular member of the Million Dollar Club of weekly high earners, especially since it begins a standard eight-performance schedule this week. Of course, critics will also weigh in when the show officially opens April 14. In the words of the Temptations, get ready.
Two other new shows cracked the $1 million mark for the week ending March 17. Lucky Guy, the soon-to-open drama penned by the late Nora Ephron, starring Tom Hanks, played to standing-room-only houses and grossed an impressive $1.29 million, representing 115 percent of its potential gross in the Broadhurst Theatre thanks to premium ticket sales. Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella took in $1.1 million, a strong 68 percent of its potential earnings in the larger Broadway Theatre. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Disney
It’s a tale as old as time: A revisionist fairy tale blows up at the box office (this time, it’s Oz the Great and Powerful, which made over $80 million this past weekend), and suddenly all the studios want in on creating the next big live-action “fairy tale.” (In this case, “fairy tale” means any popular children’s story).
Disney is looking to develop Beauty and the Beast into a live-action film, possibly to be written by Joe Ahearne (Trance), according to a Deadline report. The studio’s 1991 animated movie is a beloved classic, and was the first animated movie nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. There was also a successful Broadway musical version that ran for years. A modern-day high school take, Beastly, recently happened as well, but the less said about that the better.
This isn’t the only belle trying to get to the box-office ball. There have been rumors for quite some time that Guillermo Del Toro is working on a revisionist take with Emma Watson to star as Belle. (She is also rumored to be in the running to play Cinderella, opposite Cate Blanchett’s wicked stepmother in a live-action update of that classic fairy tale). This is in addition to a ton of other fairy tales currently in development or production, including Angelina Jolie’s Sleeping Beauty update Maleficent, which is slated for a July 2014 release.
Besides Belle, Cinderella and Aurora, check out some of our other hopes for fairy tales looking for an updated live-action spin. To be honest, there simply aren’t that many classic tales left. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Joan Marcus
There are a small handful of proven box office draws on Broadway: Hugh Jackman, Al Pacino, green-faced witches. Now we can add a new name: Tom Hanks. The two-time Oscar winner’s Broadway debut, Lucky Guy, raked in an astonishing $1.1 million for its first full week of previews ending March 10, according to figures from the Broadway League. It’s rare for a nonmusical to top $1 million in weekly grosses, but the late Nora Ephron’s play (starring Hanks as another departed New York legend, tabloid columnist Mike McAlary) managed to earn 112 percent of the potential gross for the Broadhurst Theatre. Thanks to demand-driven premium pricing, the average ticket climbed to $134.41 — second only to Broadway’s priciest get, The Book of Mormon (average price: $188.57). Lucky Guy, which may become an even hotter ticket after its official opening April 1, is currently selling tickets for performances through June 16. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Joan Marcus
Heading into its final week on Broadway, The Heiress is emerging as a surprising box office hit. Producers of the drama revival starring Jessica Chastain and Dan Stevens announced that the show should recoup its investment before the final performance this Saturday. Ever since Chastain won the Golden Globe last month for Zero Dark Thirty, ticket sales have spiked. According to the Broadway League, the show had its best-ever grosses for the week ending Feb. 3: $673,973, a 11 percent gain from the previous week and 71 percent of the potential earnings for the Walter Kerr Theatre. (Perhaps Chastain should have her three-legged dog, Chaplin, make more impromptu cameos in the production to boost sales even more.)
READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Joan Marcus
January is typically a slow period on Broadway, given the seasonal dip in post-holiday tourism, but shows headlined by Hollywood starlets are bucking the trend this year. In its first full week since its Jan. 17 opening, the Scarlett Johansson-led revival Cat on a Hot Tin Roof clawed in $886,531 for the week ending Jan. 27, according to the Broadway League. That’s a modest 5 percent dip from the show’s premiere week and represents a strong 67 percent of the potential gross for the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Since reviews for Rob Ashford’s production were generally mixed, the popularity of the 28-year-old Avengers star (and improbable doppelganger for a young Christopher Walken) will be a big factor in the revival’s fortunes during its limited run through March 30.
Meanwhile, the recent Golden Globe win for Zero Dark Thirty star Jessica Chastain has proven to be a sudden box office bonanza for the actress’ Broadway debut, The Heiress. The drama revival, which opened last November and will end its limited run Feb. 9, grossed $604,765 last week, a nearly 36 percent jump from its total two weeks ago and two-thirds of the potential haul for the venue. (Of course, it probably doesn’t hurt that her costar Dan Stevens is back in the public eye with the return of Downton Abbey on PBS.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Alex Bailey
Win an Oscar, become evil?
That seems to be the new trend with the news that Cate Blanchett may be playing the Evil Stepmother in a Cinderella remake. She joins Angelina Jolie, who will be portraying Maleficent in an upcoming Sleeping Beauty film, and Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts, who this year both starred as the Evil Queen in Snow White movies.
It’s tempting to say that this is a sad commentary on the roles for 35-plus women in Hollywood who can no longer play “The Girlfriend.” As Tina Fey wrote, “The definition of ‘crazy’ in show business is a woman who keeps talking even after no one wants to f— her anymore,” but while Fey definitely has a point about Hollywood, I don’t think ageism is on display here. These women are still getting complex roles post-Oscar — Theron’s Young Adult, Jolie’s A Mighty Heart — but when a big-budget fairy tale comes knocking, it’s the villain — never the princess — that is the most fascinating and delicious role to play. If we’re going to rally around a cause about women in Hollywood — and there are plenty of issues about women’s opportunities and portrayals on screen — this isn’t the one.
Kids might grow up dreaming of golden-voiced maidens and courageous princes, but adults come to appreciate that the villains are often the most interesting people in the story. Power, intrigue, cunning: What’s not to love? READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Everett Collection
Cinderella is set to make her Broadway debut this winter — but it won’t be the Walt Disney version with which the majority of fans are familiar. Instead, the Rodgers & Hammerstein telling of the classic fairy tale will premiere at NYC’s Broadway Theatre for preview performances starting Jan. 21, 2013, and an opening night set for Feb. 21, 2013, EW has confirmed.
The show comes with a new book based on the original by Hammerstein, written by Douglas Carter Beane (The Little Dog Laughed). And apparently in this updated version there’s a twist — Cinderella gets to save the Prince in the end — although details beyond that are scarce. The show will include songs such as “In My Own Little Corner” and “Ten Minutes Ago,” as well as tunes from the Rodgers & Hammerstein catalog.
