Category: Movies 
Kenneth Branagh’s version of Hamlet is not only the complete, unabridged, long version that faithfully recreates Will’s vision and does not cut out “unimportant” scenes for time, it is also visually stunning and very well acted. In short, it is the best movie version of Hamlet.
It’s a shame that it has taken Warner Brothers so long to bring this beautiful movie out on DVD. The only downside is that it is only on DVD. This movie screams for High Definition. I don’t have HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, but if this movie was available in HD and with 300 and Planet Earth also in HD, it might be time to take the plunge. Here’s hoping that it doesn’t take Warner Brothers 10+ years to get this out on HD.
According to an analyst at Piper Jaffray, 500,000 iPhones were sold between 6pm Friday and 6pm Sunday. Furthermore, the report indicates that 95% of the iPhones sold were the 8GB ($600) model. With that info, let’s look at the numbers:
- Assuming the Piper Jaffray model ratio is correct, 475,000 8GB models were sold for a total of about $285 million, and 25,000 4GB models were sold for a total of about $12.5 million, bringing the combined total to $297.5 million.
- If we use the Piper Jaffray total of 500,000, but use the Josh Madison ratio of 60% 8GB to 40% 4GB, then 300,000 8GB models were sold for a total of $180 million, and 200,000 4GB models were sold for a total of $100 million, bringing the combined total to $280 million.
- Ratatouille, according to Box Office Mojo, brought in $47.2 million for the weekend.
Clearly, the iPhone won. Was there really any doubt?
Today is June 29th, and if you’ve been living under a rock for the last few days, today’s the day that Apple’s iPhone is unleashed upon the general public. It also happens to be the day that Disney/Pixar’s newest movie, “Ratatouille”, opens. Just to make sure that everyone understands the connection, Steve Jobs is the CEO of Apple, Inc., and he was the CEO of Pixar before Disney bought them not too long ago. Mr. Jobs is currently the largest shareholder of Disney stock.
This leads me to wonder...which of Mr. Jobs “babies” will have a bigger opening weekend in terms of dollars?
According to Box Office Mojo, the biggest opening weekend of all time is “Spider-Man 3” at just over $151 million. The biggest opening weekend for an animated movie is “Shrek the Third” at around $121.6 million. The biggest opening weekend for a Pixar animated movie is “The Incredibles” at $70.5 million.
Let’s assume that “Ratatouille” will beat “Spider-Man 3” as the largest opening weekend for a movie and will do so at $155 million (I don’t think it will, but we’re just going to use that as a round number). For the iPhone to beat $155 million, Apple/AT&T needs to sell 310,000 of the 4GB ($500) model, or 258,334 of the 8GB ($600) model. Since I suspect that the sales ratio of iPhone models will be 60% 8GB and 40% 4GB, Apple/AT&T needs to sell 155,000 of the 8GB model and 116,000 of the 4GB model, with a grand total of 271,000 combined.
Based on the line at the Apple Store on 5th Avenue, which I can now see from my office on Madison Avenue, I’d say that the iPhone will beat “Ratatouille” in the opening dollars game.
Update: Posted a wrap-up of the amount of money each made based on analysts reports.
On this date in 1977, Star Wars the movie opened in theaters. I never got to see it in the theater until the Special Edition came out.
I do have a very vivid memory of the first time I saw Star Wars. I don’t remember how old I was but I was pretty young. I remember that I was with my parents and we were visiting a colleague of my father’s country house. They had a new fangled contraption called a VCR which allowed you to watch a movie on a VHS tape, and my father told me to give Star Wars a chance. He sat me down in front of the TV and I never realized that he left the room.
I was totally lost by the story (I was pretty young), but I loved the Stormtroopers and Darth Vader. To this day, I can still recall the room, TV, and bed I was in at the time, and see the opening of the movie when the Stormtroopers break down the door of the Tantive IV.
Whenever I interview prospective employees these days, I always ask the question, “Star Wars or Star Trek?”
After the jump is a photo from a convention (I’ve never been to one), and I’m almost ashamed to say that I find it totally hot.
Continue reading . . .
U2 in 3D • Apr 10 2007
U2 has a concert movie coming out in the fall of 2007. It’s in 3D, but you can catch the preview in plain old 2D. There used to be a time when if you wanted to see a band in 3D, you went to a concert.
Thanks to TheForce.Net I was able to view the dancing Yoda easter egg on the DVD.
I have a SONY DVD player and I had to enter the 1138 as
1 enter 1 enter 3 enter 8 enter
(took some trial and error) and then it started.
