Cusack’s “War, Inc.” Shows the Audience Does Still Matter
With the summer movie wave starting to crest, it’s nice to see that the audience can still make a film succeed. After enduring the endless PR blitz from “Sex and the City”, “Speed Racer” and the latest Indiana Jones movie, it looks like John Cusack may have a film that shows you can do things the old fashion way – by putting together a good film and letting the audience spread the word.
Check these numbers that would make most distributors have nightmares: On May 23rd “War, Inc.” opened on only two screens in New York and two screens in LA. This film, about the first War to be outsourced to private enterprise, got fair reviews. One reviewer did said it wanted to be “Dr Strangelove” and another said it was “Grosse Pointe Blank” set in Iraq.
Yet the audience showed up in LA & New York and now the independent First Look Studios says will expand the film release. The original cities will get 10 more screens and “War, Inc.” will also now open in Austin, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Texas and Washington D.C.
Cusack’s credits for “War, Inc.” are multiple; not only does he star in the film, he’s listed as co-writer and as one of the producers.
Many of the films on the subject of Iraq don’t really seem to be at the top of the audience must see list. Case in point, in addition to this dark comedy Cusack was in James Strouse’s 2007 Iraq war film “Grace Is Gone.” Last weekend, “War, Inc.” made more than “Grace is Gone” made in its entire run.
“War, Inc.” also stars: Hilary Duff, Marisa Tomei, Joan Cusack, Ben Kingsley and Dan Aykroyd
More Info:
Watch the “War, Inc.” trailer here.
Official “War, Inc.” site here.
Can Netflix Kick the Postman to the Curb?
Tired of retrieving your DVD’s from the neighbor’s mailbox? Still have the feeling that you get your DVD’s after the mailman takes his turn watching it? Well Netflix has introduced a set-top box to cure what ails you.
Starting today Netflix members can purchase the “Netflix Player by Roku™.” Priced at $99.99 the five inch by five inch box will allow users to stream movies and TV shows from the Netflix library to their home TV sets. Best of all, there’s no additional charge for subscribers to stream the movies.
This product could eliminate the stigma many people have of watching a movie on a computer when they’re at home. The Netflix player connects to a TV and the internet (by hard wire or Wi-Fi). Users can then see their “queue” or list of movies they have shown interest in and then will see which of those movies can be streamed. The number of movies available for streaming has been a bit light… only 10% of the total titles offered, but Netflix claims those numbers are growing everyday.
The set-top box is manufactured by Roku; a small portion of which is owned by Netflix. This will put Netflix in direct competition with Apple and their Apple TV product. Apple TV prices start at $229, but that was before this Netflix announcement.
Read the New York Times article here.
Read the Wired review here.
Read the Netflix press release here.
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