Prince Caspian rules the box office

Posted in Films and Movies, News on May 19th, 2008 | 0 comments

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” dethrones “Iron Man” for No. 1 spot, pulling in $56.6 million. ~ AP

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” dethroned “Iron Man” as ruler at the box office, pulling down $56.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Walt Disney Co.’s action sequel took in less domestically in its opening weekend than “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” which sold $65.6 million in North America in its debut weekend in December 2005. “Caspian” also raked in $20.7 million overseas.

But Disney expects the PG-rated movie, based on the C.S. Lewis fantasy series, to ride high through the coming Memorial Day weekend. The first “Narnia” tale grossed $745 million worldwide over its theatrical run.

“This is a film that we think is going to play all summer long and it’s got nothing but school holidays in front of it,” said Mark Zoradi, president of the Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group.

Disney is in pre-production on the third of the series, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” set for release in the summer of 2010.

Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man” slipped to second place after two weeks at No. 1 with $31.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $222.5 million.


Paul Dergarabedian, president of tracking firm Media By Numbers LLC, said the flawed superhero flick is holding its appeal better than “Spider-Man 3” did the previous May.

“‘Iron Man’ continues to hold very well,” he said. “It’s definitely cutting into audiences across the board.”

The 20th Century Fox comedy “What Happens in Vegas,” starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher, came in third, with $13.9 million in its second weekend. Its domestic total reached $40.3 million, well above its $35 million budget.

“It’s clearly the comedy, non-family movie in the marketplace right now,” said Chris Aronson, a Fox senior vice president.

Warner Bros.’ disappointing “Speed Racer” slowed to $7.6 million for fourth place, driving in $29.8 million over two weeks.

The studio said it was not ready to call it game over on the Wachowski brothers movie, which cost $120 million to make.

Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ executive vice president of distribution, said next weekend was “do or die” for the movie.

Overture Films’ acclaimed drama, “The Visitor,” crept into 10th place at the box office with $687,000.

The distributor picked up the indie film, about a professor who discovers a couple living in his little-used New York apartment, at the Toronto Film Festival for a reported $1 million. It has grossed $3.4 million so far.

“It’s good to know that you don’t have to have special effects in your movie to make money,” said Overture Films’ senior vice president Adam Keen.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which received a somewhat ho-hum reaction at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, whips its way into theaters on Thursday.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

  1. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” $56.6 million.

  2. “Iron Man,” $31.2 million.

  3. “What Happens in Vegas,” $13.9 million.

  4. “Speed Racer,” $7.6 million.

  5. “Baby Mama,” $4.6 million.

  6. “Made of Honor,” $4.5 million.

  7. “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” $2.5 million.

  8. “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” $1.8 million.

  9. “The Forbidden Kingdom,” $1 million.

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Carrie Underwood’s new video “Last Name”

Posted in News, Singers on May 19th, 2008 | 1 comment

Carrie Underwood’s new video, “Last Name,” is the prequel to her smash “Before He Cheats.”

Carrie Underwood (WhoABC.com)“Last Name” is a song composed by fourth-season American Idol winner and country pop singer Carrie Underwood, Hillary Lindsey and Luke Laird. It is the third single from Underwood’s second studio album, Carnival Ride. It was released in the United States on April 7, 2008, by which point the song had already charted.

The song is one of four tracks on the album co-written by Underwood, and the third consecutive one to be released as a single from the album. The song tells about a woman meeting a man at a club and later eloping with him in Las Vegas after having had too much to drink that night.

She wakes up the next morning, “dreaming bout Elvis somewhere in Vegas”, to discover that she doesn’t even know her last name (i.e., she married the man while she was intoxicated), worrying that her “mama would be so ashamed.” The music video portrays the song as a prequel to her “Before He Cheats” song.

Carrie Underwood’s Music video:
The song is described in the video as what happened before the “Before He Cheats” video. The video starts with some segments from “Before He Cheats” and then goes into a scene 3 months earlier with her in the club having a drink with her friends.


The man from the same video as “Before He Cheats” spots her and asks her for a dance and she accepts with a head nod. During their dance the guy takes glimpse of another girl on the dance floor who is giving him a flirtatious look back at him as well. Then they leave in a pinto with lucky dice in the rear view mirror. The guy flirts with the girl who brings out his car and then she gives him her number. They make it out to Las Vegas where they participate in a couple of gambling activities such as Russian roulette and a pin wheel game, with the man again flirting with the hostess girls (Underwood seeming oblivious to all this). Later they get married in a chapel with an Elvis impersonator. They run off in his new pick up truck (the one used in “Before He Cheats”) and the video ends with a spark from the chapel head lights.

Carrie Underwood’s Last Name Lyrics:

Last night I got served a little too much of that poison baby
Last night I did things I’m not proud of
And I got a little crazy
Last night I met a guy on the dance floor
And I let him call me baby

And I don’t even know his last name
Oh, my mama would be so ashamed
It started off “Hey cutie, where ya from?”
And then it turned into
“Oh no, what have I done?”
And I don’t even know his last name

We left the club right around three o’clock in the morning
His Pinto sitting there in the parking lot Well it should have been a warning
I had no clue what I was getting into
So I blame it on the Cuervo
Oh where did my manners go?

And I don’t even know his last name
Oh, my mama would be so ashamed
It started off “Hey cutie, where ya from?”
And then it turned into
“Oh no, what have I done?”
And I don’t even know his last name
Here we go…

Today I woke up thinkin’ about Elvis somewhere in Vegas
I’m not sure how I got here
Or how this ring on my left hand just appeared out of nowhere
I gotta go
I take the chips and the Pinto and hit the road
They say what happens here stays here
All of this will disappear
There’s just one little problem…

I don’t even know my last name
Oh my mama would be so ashamed
It started off “Hey cutie, where ya from?”
And then it turned into
“Oh no, what have I done?”
And I don’t even know my last name

What have I done
What have I done
What have I done
Oh, what have I done
I don’t even know my last name

It turned into
“Oh no, what have I done?”
And I don’t even know my last name

It started off “Hey cutie, where ya from?”
And then it turned into
“Oh no, what have I done?”
And I don’t even know my last name

The single was generally met with mixed reviews. All Music picked the song as a “track pick”, calling the song “Miranda Lambert filtered through Shania Twain”, and dubbed it a “one night stand anthem.” Rolling Stone picked the track as their favorite, saying “the most fun is “Last Name,” where she gets wasted and runs off to Vegas with a guy she doesn’t know.” Blender awarded the song four out of five stars, describing the song as the “most irresponsible (and fun) moment on the new album involves one wild night, one too many shots of Cuervo and one unexpected ring.”

However, The 9513 gave the song a ‘thumbs down’, describing the song as a “straight-laced performance” that just “places the focus on the vocal”. Slant Magazine labelled the single as a “bald-faced attempt at recreating the ‘Before He Cheats’ phenomenon”.

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