Monday Morning Mixer: 'Taken' again, or is it more 'Taken?'

Posted Monday, October 15, 2012 at 11:59 AM Central
Last updated Monday, October 15, 2012 at 12:42 PM Central

The answer, sadly, is both.

Despite serious competition from the season's first awards contender and horror film, Liam Neeson proves that you can't mess with him, or his family.

It's a great time of the year. Fall is in full swing, in those places that actually get to have an Autumn. Baseball is winding down as the playoffs heat up and football is just starting to get its footing in the middle of the season. Usually, I would add that hockey is also getting under way, but this year the league has decided that despite being the most profitable it has ever been in its history, it will once again lock out its players.

Despite all of the changes on the landscapes, it's refreshing to know that Hollywood continues to stay the course. This weekend was no exception.

There were a plenty of new trailers that dropped and studios were busy positioning their films in the best place possible. As for the celebs, there are four words that I never thought I would ever say, but I will.

Pull up a nice recliner and prepare to mix!

Box Office 411

Liam Neeson proves that there's something almost as impressive as his rumored manhood and that's his box office draw as an action hero. As if we needed more proof, Neeson held off strong competition to finish first for the second week in a row.

Its estimated $22.5 million weekend haul brought the cumulative total for Taken 2 to $86 million and change. It's very doubtful that Taken 2 will hit its predecessor's $144 million, but I think a nice $125-30 million total is well within reach.

Will we see more Taken movies in the future? It depends on whom you ask. Hollywood.com caught up with producer Luc Besson and writer Robert Mark Kamen and they confirmed that Fox wants another one. Meanwhile, Neeson and director Olivier Megaton aren't too sure about the idea of third film.

If you're looking for variety (it is the spice of life after all), this past weekend's new releases are definitely for you. Ben Affleck's real life hostage liberation film Argo bested all newcomers with just over $20 million. The awards season darling is going to benefit from good word of mouth thanks to its A+ CinemaScore.

Of course, Here Comes the Boom got an A CinemaScore when it opened with a less than expected $12 million in fifth place, so it seems that it's not exactly the most reliable measure. Sinister, the season's first true horror film, opened up in third place with $18 million.

Sinister is going to struggle to make it to $50 million though as the season's most anticipated horror flick Paranormal Activity 4 opens this weekend and will seriously undercut its business. The extremely well-cast film Seven Psychopaths opened up in limited release with $4.3 million.

Acting Like a Rock Star

Rooney Mara is certainly an actress who's comfortable in her own skin. After baring everything and then some for her role as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you would think that nothing would faze her.

Well, leave it up to mercurial director Terrence Malick to take her out of her comfort zone. Malick has been at the last two Austin City Limits music festivals filming stars on stage and around the show.

During the Black Lips set, Mara joined the band onstage for a song and mimed along on guitar while cameras filmed. First-hand reports started popping up about how uncomfortable and lost she looked, but now thanks to /Film you can judge for yourself.

One of their reporters was there for the set and caught these two videos of Mara in action. While it's unclear what her part is, or even if this film will even see the light of day, I think it's safe to say that Rooney won't be winning any Grammys any time soon.

Kickstart 'The Goon'

As you know from past news items, we are huge fans of the crowd-sourced funding web site Kickstarter. You just never know what you're going to find on there and with the really cool extras that you get from donating, it doesn't feel so much as a donation as an investment in future cool.

When we got word way back when that David Fincher was working on an animated feature-length adaptation of Eric Powell's "The Goon," we were floored. Fincher is a dream collaborator on the project that will most likely face challenges getting made considering its mature subject matter.

Still, we held out hope that simply having David Fincher attached to the project would green light all of the cash in the world. Well, we were wrong a bit. While the film is indeed moving forward, the financing hasn't yet caught up with the film's progress, so the filmmakers have turned to Kickstarter for a little help.

They are looking to raise $400,000 to fund a feature-length story reel that they can use to shop the film around and secure the financing they need to make this film a reality. Here's a little message from the filmmakers about the project.

It looks like they are well on their way, raising over $116,000 in a single weekend. But, they still have a long way to go and if you're a fan of "The Goon," there are some really cool rewards up for grabs. They did create a proof of concept trailer earlier this year that they took to Comic Con and to help them shop the film. You can check it out below.

"The Goon" Movie Proof of Concept Trailer from Goon Kickstarter on Vimeo.

If you want to contribute, simply click here and open up your check book. Do they even still have things as check books?

The Four Most Horrifying Words Ever

I teased it up top and it would be cruel if I didn't follow through on it. OK, here goes.

Hulk Hogan sex tape.

There, I said them and now you too are scraping your frontal lobes trying to erase them from your memory. Good luck, I've been trying to forget them for hours, with no luck.

Apparently, according to TMZ not only does such a thing exist, but the Hulkster has contacted the FBI to get their help in tracking down the perpetrator who leaked it to the world. While I usually tend to side with those who express their free speech and liberate said sex tapes (if you don't want it to get out, don't film one in the first place), I have to agree with Hulkamania on this one.

No one and I mean no one wants to see this thing. Can't we just remember Hulk Hogan for his improbable turn in Rocky III and leave it like that? Some things are best left to your imagination, or better yet to no one's imagination whatsoever.

A New Look at an Old 'Squad'

After that, I thought it would be best to leave you with a better taste in your mouth. Gangster Squad was a movie that I was high on long before the events surrounding the The Dark Knight Rises shooting necessitated re-shoots that pushed the film into 2013.

This weekend saw the first (technically second) trailer of the film debut and I must say that I think it's even better than the first one. There's even a hint at the re-shot scenes now set in Chinatown at the end of the trailer. Enjoy and until next week, mix well.