Oh, they're never going to recoup that. Slow opening weekends can be overcome by a sleeper hit, but I don't think there's ever been a $270 million sleeper hit. Maybe My Big Fat Greek Wedding, once you factor in foreign grosses, but it made its money over more than a year and the word of mouth wasn't of the "it's the eeriest thing you've ever seen!" variety.

Matt ... MBFGW isn't a good comparison b/c it was actually a monster freak of a hit. IMDB list the budget as an estimated 5 million (that seems a bit low for a US movie, so I'd put the budget nearer to 10 million minimum) but it raked in over 240 million at the US box office alone.

The only computer animated movie I'm waiting to see besides The Incredibles, is the new one by the makers of Ice Age, called, Robots. Saw the trailer over at Apple and it looks great.

Aimee, did you know there's an adorable AA Milne poem called Emmeline?

I didn't know!!! Must to find right exactly now!!

Skin of Our Teeth! I only read it because it was in the same volume as Our Town, and the rest of the class was taking too long, but I ended up really enjoying it. Such an odd play-- I can see why Our Town is better known, but they're both very good.

I recently saw a trailer online for the new Merchant of Venice film, with Pacino as Shylock. Has anyone heard any early news on if this might be any good or not?

He thinks it's the best adventure movie ever made.

Is he at all a Connery Bond fan? I noticed that there were distinct nods to Dr. No and Diamonds Are Forever, and in several spots the music had a very Bond quality to it.

Another thing I loved about The Incredibles was that the makers went to the trouble of showing that Frozone couldn't make ice if there was no moisture in the air.

They could just cast Julia Roberts as the female lead, and make extraplus sure I'll never watch it:

Tom Hanks is leading the way to star in the big screen adaptation of bestselling drama novel The Da Vinci Code. According to trade paper Hollywood Reporter, Hanks is the favorite to land the lead role of art historian Professor Robert Langdon in the big screen take of Dan Brown's book. The Oscar-winning actor is reportedly already in talks with Columbia Pictures studio bosses and director Ron Howard about the coveted role. In Brown's book, Langdon is the man who cracks the mystery of the renowned Holy Grail. The film is expected to begin shooting next year.

Given that the sole piece of characterisation in the whole book is the repeated "Langdon clenches his manly jaw" variations, casting ol'potato face is kind of perverse.

My DVD of The Celluloid Closet arrived yesterday, and I watched it last night while folding and ironing my clothes. The special features are awesome; there's almost an hour of extra interview footage (Susie Bright, Rita Mae Brown, Quentin Crisp, Richard Dyer, Tony Curtis, etc.), as well as two commentary tracks (I want to say one was by Vito Russo, but didn't he die before the film came out?). I haven't listened to the commentary tracks, but the interviews are fascinating, and go into a lot more depth on several movies like Making Love and Philadelphia. Very cool.

I saw Skin of Our Teeth in a theater when I was little. It really, what's the phrase, freaked me out. I liked it, but I don't think I expected my first stage play experience to be so... out there.