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Tag: film sequel

  • “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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  • Sin City: A Dame To Kill For Releases First Trailer [Video]

    One of the most anticipated films in recent years, for some people at least, has finally released its first trailer. Sin City: A Dame To Kill For has been in the making for a long time, and the sequel to Sin City will come 9 years after the original film.

    In 2005, Sin City introduced audiences to an action packed neo-noir thriller that boasted an ensemble cast with plenty of talented actors that people were familiar with, and a few that have become much more popular since the film’s release. After years of waiting, the corrupt and violent characters from the first film are back for more, and are ready to seek revenge.

    Several big stars such as Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Mickey Rourke, and Rosario Dawson will return from the original film. The sequel has added a ton of new people as well, and the long list of stars includes people such as Joseph Gordon Levitt, Josh Brolin, Jeremy Piven and Ray Liotta.

    The film was shot in black and white, and the sequel will be as well, which gives people a bit of a comic book type of an environment. The films are also based on a series of graphic novels written by Frank Miller. Miller is also the screenwriter for the film, and co-director, along with Robert Rodriguez.

    Director Robert Rodriguez is known for collaborating with fan favorite Quentin Tarantino on multiple projects, while he was also responsible for the Desperado trilogy, and the Spy Kids films.

    Rodriguez recently spoke about the film after some early photos were released and said “There’s something about the way Sin City works that I thought would lend itself very well to 3-D because the images are so stripped down and abstract…you almost can see it better in 3-D.”

    At the time, fans were given a first look at photos revealing a new character that will be played by Joseph Gordon Levitt named Johnny, a gambler, in addition to the old favorites portrayed by Jessica Alba and Bruce Willis.

    Sin City: A Dame To Kill For will also be told in four different segments, much like a comic book would, and displaying a creative film-making technique that Rodriguez has utilized before.

    The long overdue sequel to the 2005 cult hit Sin City will finally be released to theaters on August 22, 2014.

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