Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Ethan Hawke Talks about THE PURGE

Movie Release


From Universal Pictures , the horror thriller The Purge illustrates the government’s response to an America overrun by escalating crime and overcrowded prisons.  For a 12-hour period, once a year, any and all criminal activity, including murder, becomes legal.  And on this one particular night, James (Ethan Hawke) and Mary Sandin (Lena Headey), and their two children, will learn just how vicious the outside world can be.

Actor Ethan Hawke talked about why the subject of families in peril make for good suspense and horror films, what he enjoys about making genre movies, getting to film somewhat chronologically, how much fun the fight scenes were, what he thinks this film says about society, and whether he believes humans are inherently violent. 

 

Why do you think families in peril make for good suspense and horror films?

 

ETHAN HAWKE:  Well, the family in peril trip is kind of obvious, in that it’s everybody’s biggest fear.  There’s a moment in the movie where you see the husband and wife loading guns, and he teaches her to take the safety off.  It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.  Nightmares are a strange thing.  Your worst fear is sometimes something you enjoy thinking about, for some strange reason.  I don’t know why that is, but it’s some kind of fantasy that people play out.  “What would I do to protect my children?  I’d do anything.”  And then, you watch it play out.  I’m petrified of such a thing.  I don’t really enjoy thinking about it.

Did you guys rehearse, at all, to cement the family dynamic?

My favorite element of the script is Lena Headey’s character.  She and I did a movie together when I was 18, and she was 14, or something, in England, and I always thought she was a magical actress.  We didn’t even have any scenes together.  It was a movie calledWaterland.  But, I remember thinking that there was something really special about her.  I’ve watched her from afar, her whole career, and she’s just a terrific actress.  And she plays this part so interestingly.  It’s my favorite aspect of the movie.  I think, partly because I’ve known her for so long, it made the whole family dynamic really easy. 

 

Sinister was your first voyage into this type of genre.  What was it that you liked about doingSinister and being in that type of movie, and what was it in the script for The Purge that made you want to return to this genre?

Well, I got this script when we had just finished Sinister.  Jason Blum gave me this script.  Over the years, we have both loved James DeMonaco, the guy who wrote and directed this movie, so Jason said, “Hey, you’re not going to believe it, but I just read this crazy script by James DeMonaco,” and I was like, “Let me read it.”  And I had so much fun on Sinister.  I loved genre movies, when I was younger.  One of my first directors was Joe Dante, who had directed The Howling and Piranhaand Gremlins, and he had taught me a real love of what was possible with a genre movie.  He taught me that a good genre movie is a really scary, really fun thing to go see on Friday night, but also that it can have some subterranean political message.  And The Purge is perfect for that.  In a way, Sinister was, too.  

I’ve always wanted to flirt with genres.  I also did Daybreakers and, in a lot of ways, Training Day is a genre movie, too, because it’s the cop genre.  Good genre movies are a little bit like trying to write a haiku.  There are certain things that you have to do to fulfill the audience’s expectations, but inside that, you have complete freedom to talk about whatever you want.  In a way, it’s wonderful because you get to make a movie that deals with all these socio-political issues.  Who wants to see a movie about gun violence in America and class?  But, if you set it in this terrifying, fun, roller coaster ride of a movie, you can talk about whatever you want.  That’s been the game that genre movies play, when they do it well.

As a writer yourself, did you have any input into the script, or did you want to stay hands-off, in that regard?

I have a lot of respect for James DeMonaco.  It’s very difficult to make a movie like this with this budget, and he had his work cut out for him.  I couldn’t begin to write a movie like this.  I could try to help him, or help myself create a full three-dimensional character.  This character was very hard to play, in a lot of ways, because he’s not overtly a bad guy.  He thinks he’s a good guy.  It’s easy to play a villain, and it’s easy to play a hero.  This guy is in this weird gray zone of a person, who is culpable for a lot of negative things in his life, but isn’t aware of them, and he slowly wakes up.  But, I certainly didn’t assist in the writing.  I just worked on my own character.

 

There’s such a transformation in your character, throughout the film. Did you film chronologically?

Yeah, we pretty much did.  That was one of the more fun aspects of the movie because the movie was all shot in one location.  It was not exactly in sequence, but more than usual.  It was really nice to be able to do that because, once we got things up and running, we could do it like a play.  It was all in one set.                           

 

You have a lot of crazy, really great fight scenes in the film.  Was there a lot of training to prepare for that?

The fun of it was doing the fight scenes in such a domestic environment, and imagining those situations, being hunted in your own home.  I think all of us can imagine that.  I secretly would love to do one of those crazy fight movies, where you have to have all this training.  I’ve done just enough, my whole life, that I’ve always had some training in it, but I wish I was Jackie Chan.  Then, we could have gotten really crazy, running through the house. 

 

We have seen, in real life, what happens when there is no law enforcement, and what kind of anarchy that creates.  How realistic do you think this premise is, and what do you think it says about society?

 

I think it plays into an age-old human fear.  Whenever any of us see glimpses of revolution or riots on television, or absolute anarchy, or when you’re younger and kids in the schoolyard act like a pack of wolves, it can be really terrifying.  It’s extremely violent film with an anti-violent message.  It’s almost an oxymoron.  Our country is obsessed with violence and our right to protect our violence, and people call you unpatriotic, if you’re not violent.  This film heightens it.  It just exaggerates it.  That’s what the best Philip K. Dick stuff does, and that’s what this is trying to do.

 

Considering the ending of the movie, would you want to have a gun or weapon to defend your family, if you were attacked?

I’d really rather that nobody had a gun, and then nobody would have to worry about it.  That would be more my theory.  In America, there’s this knee-jerk response that more walls and more guns make people safer, and I’m entirely suspect of that way of thinking.

Do you think humans are inherently violent?

It’s moments like this that I wish I was an anthropologist, so that I could answer that.  If you study the history of mankind, it seems to be a history of violence.  It’s kind of terrifying.  Certainly the history of art, whether you look at paintings or movies or plays or whatever, is just a litany of murder and death.  But somehow, I’m always optimistic.  We’re fascinated by things that scare us, and one of the things that scares us is violence.  But, if you think about it, the great mass of us never performs any act of violence.  For every crazed kid in Boston who wants to blow something up, there are a hundred people running to stop it, and thousands of people crying tears over the fact that it did happen.  It’s a conundrum.  Violence exists.  It’s a real part of our lives.  We are obsessed with what we’re scared of, but it certainly doesn’t define us.

 

Does it blow your mind that both Before Midnight and The Purge are rated R?

 

It’s amazing.  It’s almost like something out of The Purge that Before Midnight would be rated R.  It’s fascinating to me, because of a breast.  I see PG-13 movies with my son, that have a death count in the thousands, it seems like sometimes.  I never know how they come up with it.  Our country’s relationship to sex and violence is a fascinating conundrum to me.  It’s both puritanical, on one level, and libertarian, on the next.  It’s funny.  As we did interviews and stuff, it was only the American press that was so concerned with Julie’s breasts.  We did interviews with people all over the world, and they didn’t ask her about her tits.  But here, everybody was like, “By the way, can we talk about your breasts?”  It’s fascinating.  We’re like little, abused children who never saw a titty.  But yet, The Purge is absolutely terrifying.  

It’s just the truth of what we prioritize.  I don’t even know what to say about it.  Sex is a lot scarier to us than violence.  For some, intimacy is scary.  We could write essays about it.  I don’t really understand what it is, but it’s an interesting observation.  On Sinister, Scott Derrickson worked so hard not to get an R.  Any time I did an improv that had the F word in it, we would have to go again.  He wanted no cursing.  There’s no blood in the movie.  But, it was just so damn scary that they gave it an R.  I never know the rhyme or reason for what we decide children should and shouldn’t see.  My mother would let me see anything.

You’re a movie star, but you also work on smaller projects. 

 What is it about small projects that make them attractive to you, as opposed to getting involved with a superhero franchise?  Is it the freedom?

I’ve always done small projects, my whole career.  There’s nothing recent about that.  I’ve always been interested in creative freedom, and the truth is that the more you get paid, the less freedom you have.  They never pay you for nothing.  That’s just always the way it is.  I’ve managed to do this for more than 20 years, and keep dodging and weaving and not being one thing.  I’ve always resisted that.  I wanted the freedom to do something else.  I didn’t want to try to do Long Day’s Journey into Night and have the audience go, “Oh, there’s Batman.”  You know what I mean?  But in many ways, as I get older, I wish I had made other decisions, but I’ve just tried to do things that interested me, sincerely.  They don’t all turn out good.  I haven’t made all perfect decisions.  But, I’ve tried to stay interested in my job, and I’ve succeeded at that.  Doing little projects helps me because I feel like I don’t work for anybody.

Is there a movie of yours that you would want your kids to see?

No.  They don’t want to see me in a movie.  I’m their dad, and they want me to be their dad.  They don’t care.  I would much rather them see To Kill a Mockingbird.

“The Purge” is released and distributed by United International Pictures
through Solar Entertainment Corp.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

POSTERS FOR “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” NOW ONLINE


Columbia Pictures has released two different poster versions for its upcoming thriller “Captain Phillips” starring Tom Hanks.


Poster photo from Columbia
The first design is the domestic one-sheet showing a long shot of two pirates climbing up a ship, while the other, which showcases leading man Hanks, is the international design.

The film is the true story of Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks) and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years. Phillips, married father of two, surrendered himself to a group of four Somali pirates in order to protect his crew off the coast of Africa. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was subsequently rescued when US Navy SEAL snipers shot and killed three of the pirates.

“Captain Phillips” is directed by Oscar-nominee Paul Greengrass (“United 93,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”) from a screenplay by Billy Ray and based upon the book, "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea," by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty.

Opening across the Philippines in October 2013, “Captain Phillips” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Monday, July 29, 2013

DIRECTOR SHAWN LEVY REVEALS GOOGLE FOUNDER CAMEO


From his blockbuster works such as “Real Steel,” “Cheaper By The Dozen,” “Night at the Museum 1 & 2,” and “Date Night,” filmmaker Shawn Levy brings in the outcasts, the obsolete and the nerds in the upcoming comedy movie “The Internship” starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

                “The Internship” finds Nick (Wilson) and his partner Billy (Vaughn), as two newly unemployed watch salesman trying to find employment with a limited skill-set in a world that appears to have passed them by.

                “As salesmen they are incredibly good at what they do,” says Levy, “but the whole profession of selling in person, in an age where most people areincreasingly buying their goods on the Internet, is on the wane. So they are downsized, suddenly unemployed, and Vince's character comes up with this idea of applying for an internship at Google, a company that represents the vanguard of the new economy. It's a long shot, but this possibility of self-reinvention is exciting to Billy and Nick and they take their shot.”

                “If you're going to team Owen and Vince, a duo that is arguably one of the most special in comedy, you need to build characters that exploit their natural personalities. So you haveOwen’s character Nick, who is a bit more laconic, very positive, very much - to quote his character - 'a blue sky artist'. He’s an optimist, but we meet him in a moment when he's been thrown back on his heels. Although he is working for a rather unlikable character, he is still soulful and has an original perspective on life. Vince, meanwhile, plays Billy who is a fast talker, a big dreamer, makes lots of plans, has alot of big ideas, but can't always put it all together. They've been friends since they were kids, and we get a real sense of that history, and they have a very easy rapport that mirrors the chemistry and rapport between Vince and Owen in real life,” narrates Levy of the duo’s characters.

 

                Director Levy further reveals that Sergey Brin, founder of Google made cameo appearances, “I've got him in there twice. The cameo that everyone recognizes is at the end when he says, ‘Congratulations boys,’ to Owen and Vince. But if you look closely, when Vince and Owen arrive at Google and they're looking around at this fantastical strange workplace, there's a point of view shot showing a man in yoga clothes on an elliptical bicycle wearing big neon green fluffy slipper shoes and a pair of futuristic glasses with a computer screen above the eyebrow. That too is Sergey Brin.”

                “Here’s more, we had a sign-up sheet for real Googlers - which is what they call themselves - to be extras in the movie and we had hundreds of people who wanted to play background performers. So most of the extras you see in the exteriors at Google are real Googlers, and they were the most directable and intelligent extras I've ever had in my life. Probably because they were wildly over qualified and over educated,” enthuses Levy.

                “The Internship” will open in cinemas starting August 14 from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Killing Season: De Niro-Travolta Film, a First in the Motion Picture History


Appearing in the big screen together for the first time is Academy Award winning actor, Robert De Niro and two-time Oscar nominee, John Travolta, as they star in the action-packed Hollywood movie, Killing Season.
Photo courtesy of Captive Cinema
Back-dropped against the dangerous landscape of the remote Appalachian mountain, Killing Season follows the story of two Bosnian War veterans- former American military Benjamin Ford (Robert De Niro) and former Serbian soldier (John Travolta)- as they settle an old score and engage themselves in the tense, fierce and purest form of battle: one-on-one.
Killing Season director Mark Steven Johnson, who also directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider, explains how thrilling it was to work with two of the most iconic actors who have never been in the same film together, “You grow up your whole life wanting to work with Robert De Niro and John Travolta … it’s a bit like you’re pinching yourself under the table. But that goes away very quickly when you realize that both of them are just sincerely the two most incredible gentlemen: professional, funny, outgoing and generous.”

“Killing Season” is released  and distributed by Captive Cinema Distribution, Inc.
 
Showing on August 07, 2013 in theatres nationwide.

AYALA MALLS CINEMAS HOSTS CINEMALAYA 2013 ENTRIES


Holds Opening Ceremony @ Alabang Town Center


                Promoting and championing Filipino talents, Ayala Malls Cinemas hosts for the 3rd time entries that will compete in Cinemalaya Festival on its 9th year themed “Cinemalaya Cinesthesia.”

                Ayala Malls Cinemas’ first collaboration with Cinemalaya back in July 2011 opened its Greenbelt3 screens to the entries, paving easy access for the festival’s followers within the metro. Ayala Malls Cinemas solidified its support to the festival by adding Trinoma screens as an additional venue on its 2nd year of partnership with Cinemalaya in 2012.

            Now on its 3rd year of collaboration with Cinemalaya, Ayala Malls Cinemas opens its Alabang Town Center screens for this year’s exciting and multihued film entries.  With this latest development, Ayala Malls Cinemas is set to pay tribute to the competing films on its opening ceremony at Alabang Town Center on July 27 featuring “Jazz In Love” by Babyruth Villarama-Gutierrez.  The movie is about a young man from Davao whose dream wedding is within reach: his boyfriend of 11 months has proposed. Because no law allows him to get married in the Philippines, he must fly to Germany, his boyfriend’s home country, and tie the knot there. One of the things that stand in his way is his inability to speak Deutsch, and to address that he must temporarily relocate to Manila for language lessons. Meanwhile, his parents remain completely unaware of the radical changes that his life is about to undergo.

                Included in this year’s full length New Breed category lineup are: “Babagwa (Spider)” by Jason Paul Laxamana, “Debosyon” by Alvin Yapan, “Instant Mommy” by Leo Abaya, “Nuwebe” by Joseph Israel Laban, “Purok 7” by Carlo Obispo, “Quick Change” by Eduardo Roy Jr., “Rekorder” by Mikhail Red, “The Diplomat Hotel” by Christopher Ad Castillo, “Transit” by Hannah Espia and “David F.” by Manny Palo.                

                For the Directors’ Showcase, features include “Amor y Muerte” by Ces Evangelista, “Ekstra (The Bit Player) by Jeffrey Jeturian, “Porno” by Adolfo B. Alix, Jr., “Sana Dati” by Jerrold Tarog and “Liars” by Gil M. Portes.

                A full-kaleidoscope of Shorts A and Shorts B entries amps this year’s Cinemalaya which runs from 8 minutes to 20 minutes.  Shorts A features include “Bakaw (Little Thief) by Ron Segismundo, “Missing” by Zig Dulay, “Para Kay Ama (For Grandmother)” by Relyn Angkuan Tan, “Taya (Let’s Play)” by Adi Bontuyan and “Tutob” by Kisza Marin Campano.

                Shorts B films to look forward too are “The Houseband’s Wife”by Paolo P. O’Hara, “Katapusang Labok (Last Strike) by Aiess Athina Alonso, “Pukpok (A Rite of Passage)” by Joaquin Adrian Pantaleon, Immanuel Canicosa & Stephan Domingo, “Onang” by JE Tiglao and “Sa Wakas (The End of the Beginning) by Nica Santiago. 

                Cinemalaya entries will open in three Ayala Malls Cinemas – Greenbelt3, Trinoma and Alabang Town Center starting July 27 until August 4.  Check out www.sureseats.com for schedule.

Friday, July 26, 2013

“THE WOLVERINE” AFTER-CREDITS SCENE REVEALED

X-Men movies release

Recent early screenings of “The Wolverine” thrilled fans when it revealed the much talked about scenes after the credits leading to the events of Bryan Singer’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past.” 


Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox
                Hugh Jackman enthused and confirmed that there is in fact an after-credits teaser, which they consider as the tease of all tease. “There’s a lot of great actors in it, and if you stick around to the end of the credit of The Wolverine, you’re going to get a really nice Easter Egg for what Days of the Future Past has to offer…which we can’t reveal!” says Jackman.

 
                Tormented, embarking on a quest to find meaning in his life, this is Wolverine’s ultimate journey and one which forces him to unleash that unbridled, animalistic ‘berserker’ rage in all its power and ferocity.  Directed by James Mangold, “The Wolverine” takes the legendary mutant to Tokyo where  Logan/Wolverine is out of his element in Japan and becomes embroiled in a murky and mysterious conspiracy. Battling the fearsome Silver Samurai and other vicious adversaries, he is also searching for meaning in his life and questioning his immortality. Dark and gritty, the action-fueled drama is set after the events of the 2006 film “X-Men: The Last Stand” and was inspired by the storyline from a popular 1982 comic book by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. Directed by James Mangold, “The Wolverine” also stars Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Will Yun Lee, Brian Tee and Svetlana Khodchenkova.

 


                “The Wolverine” is released by 20th Century Fox and distributed by Warner Bros. For more geek updates, Follow the Knight Of The Old Code using Google and Twitter accounts.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Lena Headley In The Purge


Lena Headey stars as Mary Sandin in Universal’s The Purge.

 

Considering it’s not quite the path she had envisaged, British actress Lena Headey is quite the action hero, and following on from roles in the likes of 300 and Dredd, she has another chance to show us what she’s made of, in

Photo courtesy of UIP
The Purge features Lena as Mary Sandin, who alongside her husband James (Ethan Hawke) and two kids, find themselves in severe danger in their own home, on a night where any crime can be committed without consequence. Headey tells us what it’s like being an action hero, her own aspirations as a filmmaker and she responds to Hawke’s kind compliments about her talent.

 

Can you tell us a little bit abut your character Mary?


Mary is stuck, I guess it’s one of those things in life when you want more money and you want more of this or that, but when you get it you realize it’s a bit of a trap, so we kind of meet them when Ethan’s character is successful and they’ve all just sort of died a bit in the comfort and  started taking things for granted, and it takes this night to go wrong for them to all realize what they’ve been living I guess… The concept for this movie is really brave, it touches on a really uncomfortable subject and it puts it in cinematic form and I like that it’s all a bit suburban and a bit surreal in the beginning and then it turns on its head, and this family have to wake up, their conscience is kicked back into being and it hadn’t been there for a while. That’s what attracted me to it, plus James DeMonaco is a really smart guy and he made the film he wanted to make.

 

Ethan Hawke said that he has “never worked with anyone better” than yourself. Were you aware that you’d had such an impact?


No, not at all, that is so funny and very lovely. I’m quite shocked! Ethan is highly contagious because he is really passionate about what’s going on. He is just very present and very unaware of himself when he’s acting which is lovely, because you can be together in your work and there is no barrier. I enjoy his company a lot, he is just really good fun and very clever and yeah we got on very well.

 

Given the hypothetical scenario The Purge poses, I was wondering what crime you would commit if you knew you could get away with it?


I would like to go and steal loads of shoes. That’s what I’d do.

 

Ethan said he’d be an environmental terrorist…


Yeah his is slightly less selfish.

 

You’re a real action hero at the moment, I was just wondering if that was something you always dreamt of being when you were younger, or if that’s just how things have turned out for you?


It’s not how I dreamt things at all [laughs] I’m still learning, it’s a constant life schooling for me, but I started on little indies and British dramas and all that stuff and I miss that. I love what I do and it’s an adventure, it’s not fucking rocket science let’s be honest, but you’ve got to enjoy the journey of it all. But no I didn’t think I would end up with machine guns and knives fighting terminators and things like that, but like I say, it’s all part of my journey, and I get to do something like The Purge which was a tiny budget, and we shot for 19 days so it had that lovely energy that those movies do, because they require it to keep it going.

 

At the heart of The Purge is the story of a family uniting, and as a mother of a young child, is that something that also attracted you to the role?


Yeah, when you have a kid you give birth to many other things besides them and you explore that, so when there is a mother, especially a mother whose children are in danger, then yes, I think there is some sub-conscious attraction there for me, it’s definitely  part of it.

 

“THE PURGE” is released and distributed by United International Pictures through Solar Entertainment Corp.

 
SHOWING ON JULY 31. NATIONWIDE!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Sneak Peek: Critically Acclaimed movie Metro Manila


 
Seeking a better life, Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and his family decide to move from the poverty stricken rice fields of the Northern Philippine mountain ranges, and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila. Upon arriving in the big city, Oscar and his family fall foul to various city inhabitants whose manipulative ways are a daily part of city survival.
Photo courtesy of John Arcilla
 
Oscar manages to land a job as a driver for an armored truck company and is befriended by Ong, his senior officer. Before long, it becomes apparent that Ong, has been planning the arrival of someone just like Oscar for some time.
Starring Jake Macapagal, John Arcilla and Althea Vega. Directed by Sean Ellis
 
Released and distributed by Captive Cinema.

Saturday, July 20, 2013

“HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2” Trailer




The recent release of DreamWorks Animation’s “How To Train Your Dragon 2” trailer thrilled fans worldwide as the faithful dragon Toothless and his best friend Hiccup soared on air once again.  (View latest trailer here:  http://youtu.be/BsFdEt_OAhI).

 

                At the tail of the success of the first movie, Toothless and Hiccup are back for bigger adventures, laughs and battles as additional voice cast were revealed in this year’s Comic-Con event.  From the phenomenal series “Game of Thrones,” Kit Harrington voices an amusing dragon-trapper named Eret whom he describes as very cocky and brazen; Cate Blanchett who’s known for her role in “The Lord of the Rings” franchise also joins the cast as Valka, a savior of dragons while Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond”) is cast as the voice of Drago Bludvist who chases dragons for personal vendetta.

 

                Directed by Dean Deblois, “How To Train Your Dragon” soars five years after best friends Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) and Toothless united dragons and Vikings on the island of Berk.   DeBlois shared that the film starts where the first one left off – the Vikings are now on the backs of the dragons with the entire world in front of them.  When one of their adventures leads to the discovery of a secret ice cave that is home to hundreds of new wild dragons and the mysterious Dragon Rider, the two friends find themselves at the center of a battle to protect the peace. Now, Hiccup and Toothless must unite to stand up for what they believe while recognizing that only together do they have the power to change the future of both men and dragons.

 

               Landing June 2014 in theaters, “How To Train Your Dragon 2” is a DreamWorks Animation and 20th Century Fox presentation to be distributed by Warner Bros. (Phils.).

“PACIFIC RIM” GROSSES P83.25-M, SM MALL OF ASIA NO. 1 IN THEATER RANKINGS

Media Release

MANILA, July 15, 2013 – The colossal showdown between monster aliens and giant robots destroyed the competition, as Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures' “Pacific Rim” grossed a victorious P83.25-million in just 4 days, opening at the top of Philippine box-office for the July 11-14 weekend.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
            This was announced today by Francis Soliven, General Manager of film's local distributor, Warner Bros. (F.E.), Inc.

            “Pacific Rim” marked the year’s second biggest opening for Warner Bros., coming off the record-setting bow of “Man of Steel” last June.  The studio also fired up the box-office last February with a No. 1 launch of “Jack the Giant Slayer.”

            “`Pacific Rim’ continued the winning streak of Warner, and this bodes well for our remaining slate for 2013,” comments Soliven.  “Frequently described as a nostalgic Valentine to fanboys, Guillermo Del Toro’s film has touched the hearts of a generation, while gaining new fans at the same time.  It’s rip-roaring, monumental fight scenes and deeply human story have received critical acclaim and excellent word-of-mouth, and we’re excited to see how it will perform at the box office in the coming weeks.”

            Warner has every reason to be positive since “Pacific Rim” is tracking higher than recently released movies in the same genre, namely “Wrath of the Titans,” “Real Steel,” “Battleship,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Terminator Salvation,” “Prometheus,” “War of the Worlds” and “The Day After Tomorrow.”

            Bowing in 277 screens nationwide, the futuristic action-adventure recorded the biggest receipts at SM Mall of Asia with a massive P5.89-M , followed by SM North EDSA and Trinoma with P4.93-M and P3.28-M respectively.

            Close to their heels are SM Megamall (P2.94-M), SM Cebu (P2.92-M), Glorietta 4 (P2.60-M), Greenbelt 3 (P2.34-M), Power Plant (P1.91-M), Alabang Town Center (P1.87-M) and SM Southmall (P1.85-M).

            Also posting impressive grosses are Gateway (P1.78-M), SM Aura (P1.60-M), Eastwood (P1.56-M), Newport (P1.54-M), Theatremall (P1.53-M), Gaisano Davao (P1.36-M), Market! Market! (P1.34-M), Ayala Cebu (P1.32-M), Shang Cineplex (P1.24-M) and SM Fairview (P1.19-M).

            In “Pacific Rim,” when legions of monstrous alien creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end.  To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are synched via a neural bridge, called “The Drift.”  But as the enemy grows more powerful with each attack, even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. 

            On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes—a washed up former pilot (Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)—who are teamed to drive a seemingly obsolete Jaeger.  Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

            “Pacific Rim” will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.