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Tag: 300: Rise of an Empire

  • Mr. Peabody And Sherman Rises To The Top Spot At The Box Office

    Aaron Paul’s new action film Need For Speed opened this weekend, but fell short to Mr. Peabody and Sherman, the film that ended up winning this weekend at the box office.

    Need For Speed is based on the popular videogame series of the same name, and it certainly attracted some due to Aaron Paul’s appearance, who has gained plenty of popularity over his role as Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad.

    Perhaps it was simply that more families were going to the theater this weekend, since Mr. Peabody and Sherman was able to dethrone 300: Rise Of An Empire, which had been at the top of the box office last week.

    Need For Speed did not stand a chance, even in its opening weekend, and only earned $17.8 million. The total put the film in the No.3 spot, behind the two films that had claimed the top spots last week. The film cost $66 million to make, and luckily with some help outside of the U.S., it was able to at least earn $63.4 million worldwide in the opening weekend.

    Dave Hollis, the distribution chief behind Need For Speed, said “It’s a disappointing start on the domestic side, but to open to that number worldwide and nearly match the budget of the film is great. This was a very affordable movie and with many territories left to open, everyone will be just fine.”

    On the other hand, the animated film Mr. Peabody And Sherman topped the North American chart with $21.2 million, which gives it a 10-day domestic total of $63.2 million.

    The animated family film comes from DreamWorks animation and 20th Century Fox, featuring the voices of Ty Burrell and Max Charles, as Mr. Peabody and Sherman, respectively.

    In other box office news, The Grand Budapest Hotel continued to impress with its limited release, and grossed $3.6 million as it expanded from four to 66 theaters in its second weekend. Veronica Mars also opened this past weekend, and with a bit of a niche audience, and only 265 theaters in the United States, it only made $2 million, which had the film tying for 10th place, along with The Mounuments Men.

    Mr. Peabody and Sherman came in second place last week, and won fairly easily this week. However, Divergent opens this Friday, and should certainly take the top spot in its opening weekend.

    Does anyone think that Mr. Peabody and Sherman will be able to compete with Divergent?

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  • “300: Rise OF An Empire” Takes Top Spot At The Box Office

    It probably does not come as a surprise to anyone that 300: Rise Of An Empire has taken the top spot at the box office in its opening weekend. It destroyed all of its competition, earning roughly $45 million domestically.

    The film is the sequel to the hit 2007 hit film 300, which quickly became a fan favorite. The rallying cry from 300 even inspired the Spartans of Michigan State, who started using it as a chant during games in order to get everyone pumped up.

    While the first film followed King Leonidas of Sparta, the sequel centers around Greek general Themistokles, who leads the charge against invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

    The cast of 300: Rise Of An Empire includes Lena Headey and Rodrigo Santoro from the first film, and brings in Sullivan Stapleton and Eva Green as Themistokles, and Artemisa, respectively.

    The epic war adventure was shown in 3-D this time around, and also had showings in IMAX, which helped its earnings at the box office. The 342 IMAX screens brought in $6.8 million (or 15 percent) of the film’s weekend earnings, while 3-D showings accounted for 63 percent of the grosses.

    300: Rise Of An Empire gives audiences the story of the Persian invasion of ancient Greece, and comes from a different perspective than the first film. The sequel ties in nicely with the original 300, and the events of the recent film were taking place around the same time, making it almost a mix of a prequel and sequel, which has not been done much before.

    The original 300 film was groundbreaking in its visuals, and despite some lackluster reviews for the new film, audiences continued to flock to the theaters. The film had a big opening weekend, but still did not come close to 300‘s opening weekend of $70 million in March of 2007.

    One thing that may have helped to turn some people away was the fact that Zack Snyder was no longer directing the film, since he did such a great job with the first one, and Noam Murro took over instead. However, Snyder did still write and produce the film.

    While 300: Rise Of An Empire easily claimed the top spot at the box office, the new animated film from DreamWorks, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, took the second spot with an estimated $32.5 million. Third and fourth place went to Liam Neeson’s Non-Stop thriller, and The Lego Movie, which had been the previous reigning champions.

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  • “300: Rise of an Empire” Full-Length Trailer Released

    Back in 2007 when “300” was released, no one really thought a sequel would ever come about. I mean the movie was based on a very popular graphic novel, which had a clear beginning and end. Sadly, this wasn’t the case as “300: Rise of an Empire” is set to release in 2014.

    The film follows the story of General Themistocles who is sent to avenge the death of his King and his fallen countrymen. Along the way he must battle the Persian overlord Xerxes, once again played by Rodrigo Santoro, and the murderous armada let by Artemisia, played by Casino Royale’s Eva Green. If you’d like a little fore information on the film, you can read the official synopsis below:

    “After its victory over Leonidas’ 300, the Persian Army under the command of Xerxes marches south towards the major Greek city-states. The Democratic city of Athens, first on the path of Xerxes’ army, bases its strength on its fleet, led by admiral Themistocles. Themistocles is forced to an unwilling alliance with the traditional rival of Athens, oligarchic Sparta whose might lies with its superior infantry troops. But Xerxes still reigns supreme in numbers over sea and land.”

    “300: Rise of an Empire” stars Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green, Rodrigo Santoro, Lena Headey, and David Wenham among others. The will see a wide release on March 7, 2014.

    If you missed the teaser trailer when it was first released, you can watch it below:

    (Image: YouTube)

  • 300: Rise of an Empire Gets Its First Trailer

    300: Rise of an Empire returns us to the place that helped popularize director Zack Snyder into someone who could be trusted with tentpole releases like The Man of Steel. Despite the almost eight-year gap between the first installment and next year’s sequel, which is surprising when you consider how quickly Hollywood moves on its popular titles, the initial release generated enough fond memories to successfully turn the hype machine back on for the new trailer. Posted almost 24 hours ago by Warner Brothers, the first look at 300: Rise of an Empire has already amassed close to 700,000 views with 11,000 likes, compared to just 281 dislikes.

    When you further consider Gerard Butler’s King Leonidas does not return in Rise of an Empire, and the fact there are no big-name action stars attached, the warm reception is, perhaps, even more surprising. It should be noted that the “no action stars” was, in no way, an offense to the two actresses who have, at the moment, top billing in the upcoming movie (at least on IMDB): Lena Headey and Eva Green.

    Other returning characters, aside from Headey’s Queen Gorgo, include David Wenham’s Dilios–the “narrator” who was telling Leonidas’ story to the remaining Spartans at the end of the first film–and, of course, Rodrigo Santoro’s Xerxes, who looks like he is enjoying himself a great deal as the movie’s bad guy. For those uncertain of where the sequel will pick up, Warner Brothers provides the following description:

    Based on Frank Miller’s latest graphic novel Xerxes, and told in the breathtaking visual style of the blockbuster “300,” this new chapter of the epic saga takes the action to a fresh battlefield—on the sea—as Greek general Themistokles attempts to unite all of Greece by leading the charge that will change the course of the war.

    “300: Rise of an Empire” pits Themistokles against the massive invading Persian forces led by mortal-turned-god Xerxes, and Artemisia, vengeful commander of the Persian navy.

    Playing the role of Gerard Butler Themistokles is Sullivan Stapleton, an Australian actor who is probably best known for his roles Gangster Squad, The Hunter, and in the Strike Back series. It should be noted that Butler was something of an unknown before his role in 300 blew him up to “star” status.

    Can the 300 franchise do the same for Stapleton?

    Over at the movie’s Facebook page, they also released the first poster from the 2014 release (which means don’t get your hopes up until December, at the earliest):

    (image)

    Click here for the full sized version.