Comical canine superhero Underdog has defeated some tough rivals in his cartoon capers, but can a live-action feature film based on the property handle super spy Jason Bourne? That’s the question as Disney’s Underdog and Universal’s The Bourne Ultimatum square off in theaters and give 20th Century Fox’s The Simpsons Movie a run for its money. Also opening in wide release are Paramount’s stuntman comedy Hot Rod and Lionsgate’s live-action BRATZ movie.
Directed by Frederik Du Chau (Racing Stripes), Underdog has the powerful pooch adopted by a 12-year-old boy, who helps him protect Polly Purebred and the good citizens of Capitol City from Dr. Simon Barsinister, played by Peter Dinklage (The Cronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Station Agent). For most shots, our hero is played by a real dog who talks with the aid of visual effects, but other shots required the aid of a digital double.Visual effects for the film were provided by Framestore CFC, Cinesite and Hatch FX. Disney didn’t screen Underdog for reviewers, which doesn’t bode well for the movie.
Jason Lee, star of NBC’s hit comedy My Name is Earl, voices the role of Underdog, taking over for actor/comedian Wally Cox, who provided the voice in the animated series from 1974 to 1973. Lee’s previous voice-over experience includes the role of bad guy Syndrome in Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles.
In The Bourne Ultimatum, Matt Damon is back as Jason Bourne, a former government assassin seeking his true identity. As he comes home, he is tracked by a government agent and hunted by highly trained killers in what many critics are hailing as a pulse-pounding action thrill ride. The cloak-and-dagger action is augmented with visual effects by Double Negative, The Senate VFX, CIS Hollywood and LipSync Post.
MGA Ent.’s BRATZ fashion dolls have been brought to the screen via animation in home video movies released by Lionsgate and their own television series for 4 KidsTV, but today marks their big-screen debut in BRATZ, a live-action movie produced by MGA Ent., Crystal Sky Pictures and Avi Arad & Associates. The Lionsgate release finds the teen fashionistas in their first year of high school and facing down a domineering student body president. The movie is being panned by most critics and rolls out in just 1,509 theaters today.
Among the films opening in limited release this weekend are Picturehouse’s El Cantante starring real-life couple Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Miramax’s Jane Austen biopic Becoming Jane and ThinkFilm’s The Ten, a Sundance stand-out directed by David Wain of Stella fame. The comedy revolves around the ten commandments and features an ensemble cast including Jessica Alba, Paul Rudd, Winona Ryder, Liev Schreiber and Famke Janssen.
After a big opening weekend, The Simpsons Movie may still have enough juice to give all of this weenend’s openers a tough time. The feature-length extention of the popular FOX series bowed to $74 million domestically and did even better overseas last weekend. In just one week the movie has earned more than $204 million worldwide and is expected to rake in much more with the help of glowing reviews and positive word-of-mouth.
