Time for another quick batch.
1. Yo ho ho, indeed. According to current estimates, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest raked in $55.5 million on Friday, thus breaking the record for biggest single day at the box office set last year by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
2. The story’s a little old now, so you’ll have to pay to read it in its entirety, but the New York Times reports that Kevin Smith is producing an audio commentary for Clerks II for iPods:
The sequel to the no-budget Sundance discovery that started his career a dozen years ago, ”Clerks II” sounds like a desperate retreat after ”Jersey Girl.” But it turns out to be a shrewd career move, in which Mr. Smith takes his characters into the present and even ratchets up his own forward-looking marketing skills. He has been cultivating fans on the Web for years, using his production company’s site and his own online diary. In an ingenious new ploy, he has recorded a commentary for ”Clerks II” that will be available for free download on iTunes, encouraging viewers to take their iPods to the theater for a second viewing. (Eventually the commentary will also be available on the official movie site, clerks2.com.)
That’s gonna be a little weird for those of us who don’t plan on bringing our iPods to the theatre, especially if the commentary is funnier than the movie and people start bursting into laughter at strange and unusual moments. The film opens July 21.
3. The writing quality at Cinematical is often rather atrocious, given how the writers always go on and on about themselves, but they do pass along interesting rumours. The latest: Karen Allen, the heroine of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), said at a recent screening of the film that she and Kate Capshaw, the heroine of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), might both have parts in the much-speculated-upon fourth Indiana Jones film — and Natalie Portman might join them, as Indy’s daughter.
It’s kind of too bad there was no heroine in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), since the love interest in that film turned out to be a villain, and died; otherwise the new Indy film could have provided some really thorough “This Is Your Life!” moments.
Come to think of it, this reminds me of a magazine article I read back when Last Crusade came out, in which Spielberg said he wished at the last minute that the end-credits music had trotted out all the various leitmotifs, including Short Round’s. Which makes me wonder if we’ll see that character again, too.
Mind you, I’m one of those people who thinks there shouldn’t be a fourth Indiana Jones film at all. And quite frankly, I’m not sure there should have been a second or third film, either.
4. Coming soon from the VeggieTales people: Bob & Larry Sing the 70s. Tracks will include ‘Funky Town’, ‘Jesus Is Just Alright’, ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ and ‘We Are Family’. Oy vey.
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