"The Strain" starts tonight on FX
07.13.14
(CNN) -- Tender, loving vampires? Look elsewhere than FX's "The Strain."
The new thriller series, produced by Guillermo del Toro, Carlton Cuse and author Chuck Hogan, wants to make bloodsuckers scary again.
"The vampire genre has sort of been overrun by romance," Cuse told reporters on a press call. "We had had our fill of vampires that we're feeling sorry for because they had romantic problems."
Instead, "The Strain's" vampires lose their heart, their hair and their genital organs. When these vampires fully transition, there's no mistaking them for the really pale guy in science class.
For Cuse, that was the selling point for hopping aboard.
"The idea of sort of reimagining the vampires, going back to the roots of what vampires are -- that they are scary, dangerous creatures -- that was something that was incredibly compelling for me; the idea that when you see these things, it's not good."
An adaptation of Hogan and del Toro's books, "The Strain," premiering Sunday, July 13, begins with the mysterious deaths of passengers aboard an airplane that lands in New York. All but a few on the flight appear to be dead, and CDC epidemiologist Dr. Ephraim Goodweather (Corey Stoll) heads over to investigate with a few colleagues.
'Transformers' sets all-time box-office record in China
07.08.14
(EW.com ) -- Michael Bay publicly blew off the critics who excoriatedTransformers: Age of Extinction, and he's laughing all the way to the bank. Not only did the fourth film in the franchise win the domestic box-office for the second week in a row, but it has already surpassed Avatar to become the biggest box-office hit in Chinese history.
After only 10 days in Chinese theaters, Age of Extinction has grossed more than $221 million—$46 million more than it has made in the U.S.—and it likely passed James Cameron's 2009 3-D adventure on Monday.
EW: Critical Mass - Come for the Transformers, stay for the critics' zingers
The phenomenal success in China is no accident. Paramount and Bay paid special attention to the second-biggest and rapidly growing movie market after their last film, Dark of the Moon, grossed $165 million there. (In total, Dark of the Moon earned 69 percent of its total $1.1 billion haul abroad.)
06.23.14
Think Like a Man Too narrowly defeated fellow Sony comedy 22 Jump Street to take first place at the box office this weekend. Meanwhile, Clint Eastwood's Jersey Boys got off to a quiet start.
Overall, it was a slow weekend at the box office, with the Top 12 earning $138.8 million. That's down a whopping 40 percent from the same weekend last year, whenMonsters University, World War Z and Man of Steelcombined for $190 million.
Playing at 2,225 locations, Think Like a Man Too opened to $29.2 million this weekend. That's a bit lower than the original Think Like a Man's $33.6 million, and is also below November's The Best Man Holiday ($30.1 million). It is at least an improvement over February's About Last Night, which also starred Kevin Hart and opened to $25.6 million.
A $29 million opening for a modestly-budgeted relationship comedy is undeniably good. Still, with Hart's increased popularity and with a fun new setting (Las Vegas), there was an expectation that the sequel could open higher than its well-liked predecessor. One possible reason for the decline: opening in mid-June, Think Like a Man Too faced far more competition than its predecessor. Most notably, fellow Sony comedy 22 Jump Street continued to attract moviegoers this weekend, which likely cut in to Think Like a Man's business a bit.
05.25.14
X-Men: Days of Future Past dominated the box office over Memorial Day weekend, though it fell short of setting a new record for the 14-year-old franchise. Meanwhile,Adam Sandler's Blended bombed.
X-Men also opened day-and-date in most foreign markets and earned a phenomenal $171.1 million. By next weekend, it will pass The Wolverine ($282 million) to become the highest-grossing X-Men movie ever. For more details, see the Around-the-World Roundup below.
Playing at nearly 4,000 locations, X-Men: Days of Future Past earned an estimated $90.7 million over the three-day weekend. Among recent superhero movies, that's a bit lower than Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($91.6 million).
Among X-Men movies, it ranks second all-time behind X-Men: The Last Stand ($102.8 million), which opened on the same weekend eight years ago. It also sold fewer tickets than 2D-only entries X2: X-Men United and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Still, it was nearly $40 million higher than last Summer's The Wolverine, and was also a massive improvement over X-Men: First Class ($55.1 million). click below for full article