'Race to Witch Mountain'

[ALIASd]

Posted: Sat., Mar. 14, 2009, 9:05am PT

'Mountain' tops Friday box office

'Watchmen' falls to new releases

By Anthony D'Allessandro
Variety

Two 1970s remakes weighed down on "Watchmen" in its second Friday as Disney’s Dwayne Johnson adventure "Race to Witch Mountain" notched first with $6.7 million followed by Universal/Rogue’s "The Last House on the Left" which reaped $5.6 million.

Warner Bros./Paramount's comic book epic "Watchmen" fell 78% from its opening day landing third Friday with an estimated $5.4 million from 3,611 theaters. Pic’s eight-day cume currently stands at $73.3 million.

Meanwhile, the reteaming of Johnson with helmer Andy Fickman, who both collaborated on the 2007 Disney sleeper comedy "The Game Plan," proved similar B.O. results: the first day for "Race to Witch Mountain" was slightly higher than the $6.3 million cumed by "Game Plan" which went on to ring up $23 million in its opening weekend. Playing at 3,187 engagements, "Race to Witch Mountain" is a reimagination of the Mouse House’s ‘70s family franchise.

'Mountain' tops Friday box office - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety

[ALIASd]

'Watchmen' no match for 'Witch Mountain'

Disney film tops weekend b.o. with $25 million

By Carl DiOrio
The Hollywood Reporter
March 15, 2009, 01:46 PM ET


"Race to Witch Mountain"

Warner Bros.' "Watchmen" wilted under the pressure in its second weekend as Disney's family adventure "Race to Witch Mountain" sped to No. 1 with $25 million in estimated opening grosses.

"Watchmen" dropped a big 67% from its opening domestic grosses to register $18.1 million in second place. Universal's Rogue-produced horror pic "The Last House on the Left" bowed in third place with $14.7 million, while Fox Atomic's youth comedy "Miss March" stumbled into theaters with just $2.4 million in 10th place.

PG-rated "Mountain" is a reworking of 1975's "Escape to Witch Mountain" with Dwayne Johnson in the starring role. Other cast members in the Andy Fickman-helmed family-oriented pic include Carla Gugino, who also co-stars in "Watchmen."

"Headed into the weekend, we thought it was going to be a three-way race, but we're very pleased to be at the top of this heap," Disney distribution topper Chuck Viane said. "It was very competitive."

"Mountain" drew audiences comprised 68% of family patrons. Males accounted for 51% of its opening audiences, with 56% of patrons under age 25.

Warners has estimated production costs on "Watchmen" -- which now totes a $86 million cume -- at $120 million, though some industry estimate set the figure higher. Legendary Pictures and foreign-rights holder Paramount helped defray production costs, and Fox is in line for a cut of receipts following a court-supervised settlement of claims to distribution rights.

'Watchmen' no match for 'Witch Mountain'

[Baloo]

I actually enjoyed the movie. It was clean family fun

[SummerInFL]

Going to see it today with the family, I'll post a review once I get home.

[ALIASd]

March 15, 2009, 03:51 PM ET
Updated: March 15, 2009, 05:14 PM ET

Opening in Southeast Asia simultaneously with its No. 1 domestic premiere was Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain," with Dwayne Johnson and AnnaSophia Robb, which derives from 1975's "Escape to Witch Mountain." The family action update debuted to $660,000 from 180 screens in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. Up next for the film are Greece and Turkey.

'Marley & Me' top dog at int'l b.o.

[SummerInFL]

My family really enjoyed the film, as a big fan of the original two I was happy to see the little references in the film, including...

I'm putting it in here so I don't ruin it for everyone else.

Spoiler

The sheriff and the waitress Tina, I totally called them as the kids from the original films, that part was awesome!

It's a great family film, has a little bit of everything for everyone, I'm definitely buying this one when it comes out on DVD.

[ALIASd]

Child Stars Return to 'Witch Mountain'

Kim Richards, Iake Eissinmann return to 'Witch Mountain' - Los Angeles Times

[ALIASd]

Dwayne Johnson Surprises Audience at San Diego Theater!

03.16.09 - Dwayne Johnson, star of Walt Disney Pictures' Race to Witch Mountain, this weekend's No. 1 film at the box office, surprised audiences at a San Diego movie theater when he made a personal appearance on the first day of the film's release, Friday, March 13. In addition to greeting the moviegoers at the AMC Mission Valley Theater, Johnson gave every member of the audience two free passes to Disneyland! Appearing with Johnson were the film's director, Andy Fickman, and producer Andrew Gunn.

The event was part of Disney's newly launched Opening Weekend Surprise program. Under this new initiative, moviegoers seeing a Walt Disney Pictures film on its national opening weekend in 2009 may be treated to a truly magical Disney experience. This can include surprise in-theater appearances by talent from the film, live performances and more. Moviegoers won't know in advance which cities, theaters or show times will be selected.

"I'm thrilled to have taken part in Disney's Opening Weekend Surprise program," Johnson said. "I loved meeting the audience and being able to give something back to them. The look of surprise and excitement on their faces was priceless."

Jim Gallagher, president of marketing for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, said: "Movies from Walt Disney Pictures are always about magic, fun, thrills and excitement, and so are the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we're going to be providing to our fans in theaters opening weekend. Go to a Disney movie opening weekend, and you never know what may happen. With the Walt Disney Pictures' Opening Weekend Surprise program, we have a lot of incredibly fun, unique surprises up our sleeves, and I know our audiences are going to enjoy them."

In the coming weeks, Opening Weekend Surprise on Disney.com will create a moviegoing community where fans will get sneak peek looks at upcoming movies and participate in a variety of activities offering clues to the next big opening weekend surprise. The site will feature exclusive video, soundtrack music, polls, trivia, behind the scenes photos and information, as well as a message board for eager moviegoers to celebrate Disney movies and speculate about the next opening weekend surprise.

Starting today fans can text SURPRISE to DISNEY (347639) for mobile updates to be among the first to know about Disney's Opening Weekend Surprise events and get access to the activities on-the-go.

[Grumpy38]

Just saw the movie and it was a lot better than I expected it to be.

[grrandram]

I saw it last weekend. I didn't like it. There was no character development. The kids just pop in out of nowhere. Who were they? Were they even brother and sister? Should I even care? The focus was more on The Rock and it was his movie, than about the kids trying to get to Witch Mountain. Who was that lady and why was she even in the movie? On top of that, it was mostly crashes, explosions and violence than story.

It was nice seeing Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards again though.

[BuzzedLightyear]

I thought the movie wa sunderperforming until I saw in the NYTimes that the budget was only $50 million. Disney should make a nice profit on this. Hopefully the character development in the sequel is much better!

[SummerInFL]

Originally Posted by grrandram

I saw it last weekend. I didn't like it. There was no character development. The kids just pop in out of nowhere. Who were they? Were they even brother and sister? Should I even care? The focus was more on The Rock and it was his movie, than about the kids trying to get to Witch Mountain. Who was that lady and why was she even in the movie? On top of that, it was mostly crashes, explosions and violence than story.

It was nice seeing Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards again though.

The kids were a species from another planet who were searching for the solution to the air problem on their planet, the proof was on earth.

They were brother and sister and stated that their parents were arrested for trying to bring that information to light, that's why they were alone.

The Rock was helping the kids get to the mountain but I thought there was a healthy balance of screen time for both, they were traveling together after all.

The woman was important because she was a scientist whose main area of expertise was life on other planets, that's why the Rock went to her.

As far as crashes, explosion and violence, their was a killer alien after the kids because someone in the government of their home planet didn't want them to bring back proof because they wanted to move ahead with the invasion of Earth.

They told you all these things while you were watching the film......

[grrandram]

Originally Posted by SummerInFL

The kids were a species from another planet who were searching for the solution to the air problem on their planet, the proof was on earth.

They were brother and sister and stated that their parents were arrested for trying to bring that information to light, that's why they were alone.

The Rock was helping the kids get to the mountain but I thought there was a healthy balance of screen time for both, they were traveling together after all.

The woman was important because she was a scientist whose main area of expertise was life on other planets, that's why the Rock went to her.

As far as crashes, explosion and violence, their was a killer alien after the kids because someone in the government of their home planet didn't want them to bring back proof because they wanted to move ahead with the invasion of Earth.

They told you all these things while you were watching the film......

Oh. I must have missed that part. Those two kids are witches.

[ALIASd]

March 22, 2009, 01:14 PM ET

Elsewhere among the latest rankings, Disney's family adventure "Race to Witch Mountain" dropped a modest 47% from opening grosses to ring up $13 million in fourth place for a 10-day cume of $44.7 million.

'Knowing' tops weekend boxoffice

[ALIASd]

Furious FX Races to Witch Mountain

Burbank-based Furious FX took on their largest project to date with Disney's re-imagined Race to Witch Mountain, creating UFOs, SUV collisions and eerie blue alien lights along the way.

By Alain Bielik
VFXWorld
[ Posted on March 31, 2009 ]

In 1975, Walt Disney Studios used clever in-camera tricks, wire effects and optical composites to achieve the magic of Escape to Witch Mountain, a family film in which two teenage extraterrestrials desperately try to go back to their spaceship. The movie was so popular that it spawned two sequels and a remake. So it comes as no surprise that Disney has rebooted the franchise with Race to Witch Mountain, taking full advantage of CG.

That task was awarded to Furious FX -- it was to become the largest project ever undertaken by the Burbank-based company. "This project was greenlit at 353 shots, with a majority of the visual effects elements shot on second unit," Executive Visual Effects Supervisor David Lingenfelser says. "During filming, we all had a sense of it growing, mainly due to the amount of camera coverage, and so many successful takes between the stunt and action sequences. Once the first edit was assembled, and everyone loved the excitement level in these scenes, we found ourselves nearing 960 shots, though these eventually tightened to around 860."

full article with video and photos at:
http://vfxworld.com/?atype=articles&id=3948