The question this weekend wasn’t “Would Deathly Hallows Part 2 have a big weekend?” but rather, “How big a weekend would Deathly Hallows Part 2 have?” and the answer is the biggest opening weekend of all time. The final Harry Potter movie made $168.5 million beating the The Dark Knight’s $158.4 million opening weekend. Deathly Hallows Part 2 also had the highest ever midnight release and the highest opening day gross (it made $43.1 million in midnight shows and $92.1 million on Friday).   Obviously this is also the best opening for the Harry Potter franchise as well, beating Deathly Hallows Part 1′s opening of $125 million.  In a far, far distant second, Tranformers: Dark of the Moon made another $21 million, putting it’s total over $300 million.  Horrible Bosses took the third spot with $17.6 million, Zookeeper took fourth with $12.3 million and Cars 2 rounded out the top 5 with $8.3 million.  Not surprisingly, Winnie the Pooh suffered from opening opposite Deathly Hallows, coming in sixth place with $8 million.  It’s the second best opening for the franchise but it’s probably going to be quickly forgotten in the coming weeks.

In the least shocking news ever, Transformers: Dark of the Moon absolutely destroyed the weekend box office, making $97.4 million over the weekend and $162.1 million over it’s five days of release.  It’s now the highest grossing Independence Day weeekend release of all time and the ninth highest five day opening of all time.  In other record breaking news, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides crossed the $1 billion mark over the weekend, putting it in seventh place on the all time highest gross list, ahead of The Dark Knight and behind Alice in Wonderland.  In a pretty distant second was last week’s number one, Cars 2, which made another $25 million but dropped 62% from last week.  Bad Teacher dropped down to third with $14.1 million and the two other new releases of the weekend barely registered with Larry Crowne coming in at fourth place with $13 million and Monte Carlo came in at $7.6 million.  The only other big movement was from Green Lantern, which plummeted from third to seventh.

Green Lantern was number one at the box office this weekend but it was fairly disappointing opening.  Costing $200 million to make, GL made $52 million at the box office, which puts it on the very low end of the superhero genre, near the Fantastic Fours, Daredevil and Ghost Rider and far from the Iron Mans.  For comparision this year, Thor and X-Men both had better openings.  Compared to DC movies, obviously Green Lantern is not even in the same ballpark as their last movie, The Dark Knight.  Second place went to Super 8, with a pretty low 40% drop off and another $21.4 million.  The other new release, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, opened in third with $18.4 million.  X-Men and The Hangover rounded out the top 5.  Pirates of the Caribbean and Judy Moody both plummeted from their previous week’s positions with Pirates going from fifth to eighth and Judy Moody going from seventh to barely holding onto tenth.  Going in the other direction, Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life is slowly gaining more theaters and is poised to land on the top ten next week, having taken eleventh place this weekend.

If you saw Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides this weekend, then you once again heard Hans Zimmer scoring the film.  Zimmer is one of our favorite movie composers here at Everything Action, even though he sometimes goes to the same well musically. Check out some of his best work below.

“Navy SEALS” from The Rock

“The Dark Knight Theme” from The Dark Knight

“He’s a Pirate” from Pirates of the Caribbean

“Dream is Collapsing” from Inception

“Roll Tide” from Crimson Tide

“Main Theme” from Gladiator

(Source: CarInsurance.org)

One of the most anticipated movies of next year finally gets a trailer, attached to Harry Potter this weekend.  In recent years, the Green Lantern/Hal Jordan has become one of DC’s most popular characters, culminating with last year’s Blackest Night event.  Ryan Reynolds is playing Hal in the movie version and goes back to his origins of being an Air Force test pilot who is recruited into the intergalactic crime fighting society of the Green Lanterns.  The trailer has kind of a weird tug of war going on in that it seems like it wants to be both funny like Iron Man but the music and titles would have you believe it’s serious like The Dark Knight.  It also looks like most of the movie takes place on Earth as opposed to other planets, which I guess is a good thing since most movie goers are going to be hearing about Green Lantern for the first time but the Green Lanterns are space cops so hopefully we’ll get to see some crazy planets.  Check out the trailer below and the movie is going to be out during next summer’s bloodbath of blockbusters.

William Fichtner

Born: November 27, 1956

Number of Roles: 54

Best Known for Playing: Assholes who turn out to be OK, Businessmen, Police

First Appearance: Josh Snyder/Rob Landry on As the World Turns (1987-1993)

Most Recent Appearance: Phil Yagoda on Entourage (2010)

Notable Roles:

• Alex Mahone on Prison Break
• Sheriff Tom Underlay on Invasion
• DA Frank Crenshaw in Date Night
• Darren MacElroy in Blades of Glory
• Captain Knauer in The Longest Yard
• Ken Rosenberg in GTA: Vice City
• Jurgen in Equilibrium
• Sanderson in Black Hawk Down
• Colonel Willie Sharp in Armageddon
• Roger Van Zant in Heat
• David Sullivan in The Perfect Storm

Fun Facts

• Constantly wears a ring that belonged to his grandfather
• Favorite food is sushi
• Member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences
• Avid hockey fan

So no one has really been clamoring for a sequel to 2007′s Ghost Rider, which starred Nicolas Cage but that might change after word got out this week that the duo behind the Crank movies, Neveldine and Taylor were looking to direct the sequel.  Sony had previously said that they might go forward on a sequel without Nic Cage because their rights would expire for the property but now it’s looking like Cage will be back, with a script written by Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer.  This all actually sounds really awesome, just imagine Nic Cage in Bad Lieutenant mode with his head on fire and then all the crazy shit Neveldine and Taylor will throw on top of it. Plus they already kind of demoed it at the end of Crank: High Voltage.

I thought that most people enjoyed Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland but I didn’t think it would do the apparently insane amount of business it did overseas.  The movie has, as of today, made $667 million at the international box office and $332 million domestically, making it the sixth film to earn $1 billion dollars worldwide.  It joins the ranks of The Dark Knight, Avatar, Titanic, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.

Along side The Expendables and Iron Man 2, one of my most anticipated movies of the summer is Christopher Nolan’s Inception.  The man makes amazing Batman movies but his original stuff is just as amazing like Memento and The Prestige.  Inception looks to be right in his awesome, mind fucking wheelhouse as Leonardo DiCaprio plays a thief who specializes in stealing ideas from people’s dreams and then selling them to the highest bidder.  Wanted by authorities, he takes one last job to do the seemingly impossible, plant an idea into someone’s head instead of stealing it.  The trailer has some crazy imagery and the movie looks like what would happen if you crossed say, Dark City with a Terry Gilliam movie; check it out below.

Godzilla is making a return to American studios as Legendary Pictures, the studio that brought you 300 and The Dark Knight, is going to make a new Godzilla movie for release in 2012.  It’s been since 1998 that an American take on the King of the Monsters has been attempted.  That movie was, of course, the ridiculously over hyped Roland Emmerich Godzilla, where the big G was a radioactive iguana and was hunted after by Ferris Bueller.  I’ll admit that that movie definitely falls into my “so bad it’s kind of good” wheelhouse but I think we all want classic fire breathing, spiny backed Godzilla.  There’s really no other details except that a director is going to be announced soon.

It was pretty much an exact copy of the previous weekend at the box office. Everything stayed exactly where it was with the exception of Did You Hear About the Morgans and Nine, which swapped eighth and ninth place. The major story however is that Avatar has crossed the $1 billion dollar mark with it’s worldwide total and is currently fourth in the all time box office totals behind Titanic, The Dark Knight and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Analysts are predicting it will likely jump up to second all time if it continues to perform as well as it has. Oh, and it made $1 billion in 17 days as well. I think the lesson we all should take from this is that no matter how much James Cameron spends on a movie, if you double it, you’ll get it’s box office total.

Comic book movies become all the rage

Blame Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” for the onslaught of comic book movies that dominated this decade. Audiences ate them up for the most part, but for every “Iron Man” there was a “Daredevil”. The high point came with “The Dark Knight”, as it become the biggest movie of 2008 and arguably the decade.

Arnie becomes the Governator

Arnold Schwarzenegger made the movie from action star to another role… governor of the great state of California. Arnie’s roles in the 00s where nothing to write home about (T3 was his lackluster last starring role), but his turn as governor turned many heads in the political career. One wonders what Arnold will do movie wise when his gig as the Governator is up.

Old action stalwarts make a comeback

Really, another “Die Hard” or “Rambo”? Both came late this decade and both were at least… decent. “Live Free or Die Hard” took a techie turn, with John McClane saving the U.S. from a cyber-attack with hacker geek Justin Long in tow. “Rambo” found our titular star in Thailand, saving a group of Christian humanitarians from a cruel military dictator. While the fourth “Die Hard” was a bit lacking, the fourth “Rambo” was a rousing gorey return. Who knows who else will make a return in the next decade, although we are excited for the retro-feeling action film “The Expendables”.

“Gladiator” wins Best Picture

The Oscars aren’t all about the pomp and circumstances of indie dramas or documentaries. Even kick-ass action films can win. Take a look in 2001, when Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” received the Best Picture award. The film also earned wins for Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Costume and Best Sound. The epic film earned a legacy when hero Maximus was named in AFI’s “100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains”.

James Cameron makes a return to movies… action movies

It’s been nearly 12 years since James Cameron declared himself king of the world at the Oscars. This was after winning the Best Director for “Titanic”; a great night for the film that won 11 Academy Awards. The hype for Cameron’s next film, “Avatar”, started really early. Some even claim that it will change cinema forever. The film opened to a $73 million weekend, a bit on the low side of expectations but great nonetheless. It will take a while to tell if “Avatar” is as big as they claim it to be, but so far so good. Action fans don’t mind too much, because instead of another epic tear-jerker, Cameron returned the genre that made him famous.

The weekend box office was drowned in estrogen as the insufferable Twilight series destroyed the box office gross with over $140 million.  New Moon had the highest midnight screening gross and highest opening day of all time and it also had the third highest 3 day weekend, coming in just behind The Dark Knight and Spider Man 3.  80% of the audience was female and most went during the Friday showings. 60% of the audience for The Blind Side was also female and the movie came in at second $34.5 million, making it the highest grossing sports drama, beating the previous top dog of Coach Carter. 2012 dropped down to third with a 60% drop off and took in $26.5 million.  The other new wide release, Planet 51, came in fourth with $12.6 million and the audience was pretty much parents and kids under 12.  Christmas Carol had a pretty drastic drop off as it went from second to the fifth with just over $12 million.  The only other bit of box office news is that Precious continues to gain theaters and money, came in sixth with just over $11 million, dropping three spots but doing well considering it’s competition and distribution.  Should be an interesting battle this weekend as us guys have Ninja Assassin and families have the comedy Old Dogs but can they make a dent in the terrible, sparkly hide of Twilight?

Christopher Nolan is taking another break from the Batman franchise to work on an original idea.  After Batman Begins he made the fantastic “The Prestige” and now after The Dark Knight he’s making the extremely trippy looking Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordan Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page and Cillian Murphy.  The only plot details are that it’s “a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind.”  A teaser trailer was released with Inglourious Basterds this past weekend and you can check it out below.

Add up the other top 10 movies and you probably only have about half of what Transformers 2 made at the box office this weekend. The bots scored 60.6 million on opening day and 201 million over it’s first 5 days, which is second only to The Dark Knight. It’s the best opening of the summer, and probably the year. The Proposal, The Hangover and Up all moved down a space and the other new movie, My Sister’s Keeper, came in at number 5.

Big news for the movie industry and fans as the Acedemy of Motion Picture Arts and Science announced that they would be doubling the amount of best picture nominees from 5 to 10 for this year’s awards.  Reaction has been mixed across the internets as some are thinking this is just a desperate bid for ratings and others are thinking that this could help deserving movies get nominated that otherwise wouldn’t.  One of the main points I’ve been seeing is that if the Academy had implemented this last year then fan favorites The Dark Knight and Wall-E would probably have gotten best picture noms.  What’s your opinion on this?  Sound off in the comments.

Here’s a taste of the craziness that is Adam West’s Batman:

The Batcopter is attacked by a shark but fortunately Batman keeps shark repellent in his utilitiy belt:

Batman’s introduction in the first Tim Burton movie:

The birth of the Joker:

The classic “Joker wants to see himself in the mirror” scene:

When you’re destroying a museum what better musical choice is there than Prince?

I gotta say the Tim Burton era Batmobile is probably my favorite and here it is in action, getting chased by the Joker’s goons:

The final showdown between Joker and Batman:

Trailer for Batman Returns:

The birth of the Penguin:

Batman has to deal with the Red Circus Gang:

I would suggest never working for Christopher Walken:

Looking back, Catwoman is kinda ridiculous:

Penguin is probably one of the most disgusting villains ever:

The Penguin launches his final plan, rocket powered Penguins:

Of course it doesn’t work:

Some gameplay from the awesome Batman Returns SNES game:

The fantastic opening to “Batman: The Animated Series”:

Mark Hamill explains how he came up with the Joker laugh:

Batman Forever Trailer:

Edward Nigma shows off his latest invention:

The Riddler and Two Face team up:

Man, Robin is such a douche:

The Riddler kidnaps Chase Meridian and Batman has to solve his riddle:

Batman and Robin head for the Riddler/Two Face lair:

The final battle between The Dynamic Duo and the bad guys:

Jack Black rocks “Kiss from a Rose”:

Schumacher apologizes for Batman & Robin:

What could you possibly have to apologize for?:

Trailer for Batman Begins:

Batman becomes a ninja thanks to Liam Neeson:

Batman first shows up to kicks some mob ass at the docks:

The ridiculously awesome car chase from Batman Begins:

The final confrontation between Batman and Rhaz Al Ghul:

The Dark Knight trailer:

Ah, the pencil trick:

Finally, some Watchmen action with their Saturday Morning cartoon: