How to Spend $20
By Eric Hughes
March 8, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Pick of the Week
For people who anxiously await the will it or won’t it 28 Months Later: The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season
AMC’s The Walking Dead premiered during Fearfest to 5.3 million viewers and then never looked back. Though dipping below five million for two of its half-dozen episodes, the show rebounded to 5.97 million for its season finale – a series high in total viewers and, more importantly, far and away AMC’s best performing original series to date. Mad Men, for example, hasn’t yet crossed three million viewers. And Breaking Bad can’t top two.
I know five million seems rather pithy next to shows like NCIS, which nabs audiences four times as big. But the people that watch NCIS largely don’t have disposable incomes. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, has performed tremendously in the demographic advertisers love – adults 18-49. More than four million 18-49 viewers tuned into the season finale, which was, you know, the most-watched drama series in basic cable history. Even NBC – hell, any broadcast network – would lick its lips at four million 18- to 49-year-olds.
I’ve heard good and bad things about The Walking Dead. The good is that it’s zombie horror drama done well and, I think, a show that remains faithful to the enterprise that came before it (a comic book). The bad is that the writing is, apparently, sucky.
It’ll return with a fresh batch of 13 episodes in October, a year after its Halloween-time premiere.
Disc includes: Making Of The Walking Dead featurette, Inside The Walking Dead: Episodes 1-6 featurette, A Sneak Peek with Robert Kirkman featurette, Behind the Scenes Zombie Make-up Tips featurette, Convention Panel with Producers featurette, The Walking Dead trailer, Zombie School featurette, Bicycle Girl featurette, On Set with Robert Kirkman featurette, Hanging with Steven Yeun featurette, Inside Dale’s RV featurette, On Set with Andrew Lincoln featurette
For bathroom humor enthusiasts: Jackass 3
February 2002: George W. Bush was president, the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City and Jackass went off the air after three seasons. Seems hard to believe that at the time of Jackass 3’s release, more than eight years had passed – and yet the crude reality show was more relevant than ever. The first two movies did solid business, but their totals ($64 million and $72 million, respectively) really don’t bat an eyelash to Jackass 3’s, a flick that got off to a fast start in October 2010 by crossing $50 million in three days. When Jackass 3 exited theaters in January, it had cumed $117.2 million – or nearly six times its reported $20 million budget.
I’m not sure what the popularity of a series like Jackass says about our culture – or the studio execs who greenlit it. (Or, its stars – Johnny Knoxville is 39!) Apparently, Jackass 3 was a go after the fat cats fell in love with “the heli-cockter,” which had a fellow jackasser tethering a remote-control helicopter to his wang and then swinging it around. I don’t want to come off smug by proposing that I might be too sophisticated for this schlock. But whatever, I’ll own it. I’m too sophisticated for this.
Disc includes: Unrated version, theatrical version, deleted scenes, outtakes, MTV Making Of Special featurette
For people who love a good show title: Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
I know, I thought the same thing when its name first crossed my eyes: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman. Intriguing… I dug a little deeper and discovered it was a documentary series that aired originally on the Science Channel last summer. Told in eight parts, the series tackled some of science’s big, messy questions like whether time travel is possible and why Morgan Freeman would narrate a science series.
I was interested enough in the show and opted to check out an episode or two. I ended up watching the premiere, which dug into the creation of the universe and whether it was formed by random chance or with divine hands. Airing on Science Channel, I expected the documentary to be pro-coincidence. The episode, however, lent credibility to both sides.
It did so through three segments. The first centered around a physicist slash big-time surfer in Hawaii who thinks he’s close to figuring out a unifying theory that brings together gravity, electromagnetism, weak and strong forces under one mathematical umbrella. Doing so would explain how these forces maintain a balance and how, I guess, they came to be. Honestly, the segment was the most theoretical of the three and, hence, the most confusing.
Segment two had to do with a man who operates research out of a university basement and whose subjects say can feel the presence of God through a janky bike helmet. What looked like little more than the yellow head protectors used on Legends of the Hidden Temple with wirings and other plugins, his God helmet concentrates on a region of the brain (the right, creative side), which, when tapped, allows subjects to feel a presence in an otherwise empty, dark room. The results support his hypothesis that God isn’t in the heavens, but in our brains.
The final segment, I think, happened to be the most thoughtful. It supposed our universe is controlled by, what else, a computer programmer. Essentially we’re The Sims (who are aware of their existence, but not of the “big picture.”) Though utterly radical, the segment is the only one of the three that I’m still turning over in my head.
Disc includes: N/A
For vandals: Exit Through the Gift Shop
If I saved even more time for documentaries, I probably would have seen Exit Through the Gift Shop by now. It was a favorite among a staffer or two here at BOP, was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 83rd Academy Awards and maintains a healthy 98% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Directed by British graffiti artist Banksy, Exit Through the Gift Shop documents the weird story of Frenchman Thierry Guetta. The jury’s still out, however, on the docu’s validity. Some think Guetta’s evolution into pop artist Mr. Brainwash is a hoax.
Disc includes: B movie: An exclusive film about the “art of Banksy,” deleted scenes, Life Remote Control featurette
March 8, 2011
Blu-ray
Adventures with Purpose: Greece
Adventures with Purpose: Hong Kong
Colors Of Nature: Four Seasons / Sunrises & Sunset
Dragon Ball Z Kai: Season 1, Part 4
Enchanting Garden: Flowers & Gardens / Zen Garden
Every Day
Excalibur
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Four Lions
Heart: Night at Sky Church
IMAX: Straight Up - Helicopters In Action
Inside Job
Jackass 3
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie
The Man From Nowhere
The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus
Morning Glory
Nature: Birds of the Gods
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind
The Next Three Days DVD + Suspense/Crime/Action
Noble Giants: Rocky Mountains / California Redwood
Pacific Wonderland: Olympic Rainforest / Pacific C
The Reef
Rivers & Tides
Super Bowl XLV Champions: Green Bay Packers
Tropical Getaway: Hawaii / Costa Rica
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season
World's Most Beautiful Mountains / Most Beautiful
DVD
The Chaperone (Rental)
Every Day
Exit Through the Gift Shop (DVD +)
Four Lions
Hannah Montana Forever: The Final Season
Heart: Night at Sky Church
Inside Job
Jackass 3
The Man From Nowhere
Morning Glory
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: XX (Set)
Nature: Birds of the Gods
The Next Three Days
Super Bowl XLV Champions: Green Bay Packers
Through The Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
The Walking Dead: The Complete First Season