Attack the Block Updates

Still from Attack the Block

Friday, August 19, 2011 Attack the Block expanded to six more cities - Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Washington D.C., Orlando and Phoenix taking in an additional $83, 478 bringing the U.S. total $604, 420. With a budget of $13 million, the film has grossed $4,275,216 overseas bringing the worldwide total to $4,879,636. -Info courtesy of Box Office Mojo

Read my review here

Update August 29, 2011
Because the film finally opened in Baltimore I wanted to post another box office update so soon.

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $720,002    14.4%
+ Foreign: $4,275,216   85.6%
----------------------------------
= Worldwide: $4,995,218

-Info courtesy of Box Office Mojo

UPDATE September 1, 2011: Attack the Block's John Boyega has been cast in the lead of a HBO boxing drama being helmed by Spike Lee. Read more about it here

Previous updates about the film-

 UPDATE: June 10, 2011

Attack the Block will have a limited platform release on July 29, 2011 starting slow in the cities where it will have the most immediate interest and then build on the buzz for future expansion.-ShockTillYouDrop.com

So it may or may not be in your town on the 29th, but hopefully it will be soon after. This type of release happens to movies like this all the time.


UPDATE: August 1, 2011
Attack the Block opened last weekend July 29-31 and became the HIGHEST GROSSEST FILM...however, according to the great site Shadow & Act-

The film opened in only 8 theaters across the country making a total of $130,000 with an average of $16,250 per screen.

That makes it the highest grossing film per screen, better than The Smurfs which came in second with $10, 660 per screen average, though it opened in 3,395 screens nationwide.

If you know the business of film,  "Per Screen Average" is a huge barometer of a film's success. Hopefully Attack the Block will soon be coming to a screen near you.

Related links-
Read more feedback about the opening weekend at Shadow & Act here

Read a great interview with the Writer/Director of Attack the Block Joe Cornish and star John Boyega at Ebony/Jet.com here

Official website
http://attacktheblock.com/

COOL FAN ART

Sensuous Short Film - If I Leap

Found out about this film through the site Shadow & Act

Anslem Richardson and Adepero Oduye in If I Leap. Photo courtesy of Shadow & Act

Synopsis:

Zipporah (Adepero Oduye), a sister in a religious order, is dealing with a secret about her desire for something she has never experienced—erotic love. When Luca (Anslem Richardson), the nephew of the Mother Superior, seeks refuge at the convent after deserting the army, Zipporah engages in an intimate relationship with him that will change the course of her life.

You can watch the 20-minute short film below:

You can read more comments about this film at Shadow & Act by CLICKING their logo below.

Let's Hear it for the Awkward Black Girls

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl -- ABG for short -- is a web series about a socially handicapped black woman who finds herself in hilarious situations.

The star and creator, Issa Rae (pictured above), sets her series in various Los Angeles locales, and in the main character's office.

This web series reminds me of another awkward black girl, Monie on a great animated show Hey Monie! who also was socially handicapped black woman who finds herself in hilarious situations.

Hey Monie! is an animated American black sitcom produced by Soup2Nuts. Hey Monie! originated as one of 14 animated-short components of X-Chromosone (1999), a series on the Oxygen cable network. Proving popular enough to stand on its own, the cartoon series expanded to 30 minutes and moved to Black Entertainment Television and, afterward, on the Oxygen Network in 2003.

Its main character, Simone ("Monie"), works at a public relations agency in Chicago. She lives in an apartment building with her best friend Yvette. The show chronicles her life living as a single career woman in the big city.

The series' voice talent included the Frangela duo (pictured below); Angela V. Shelton as Monie and Frances Callier as Yvette, Melissa Bardin Galsky and Brendon Small.- Some info from Wikipedia

Frangela - Frances Callier & Angela V. Shelton

You can find a couple episodes of Hey Monie! on YouTube, but they are of low quality.(* See 2016 update below) It really is a funny show and Frangela translate their real life chemistry to their animated counterparts.

Below you can see a video explaining more about how they put the show The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl together


Related link-
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl Official website
www.awkwardblackgirl.com/  

March 2016 Update
Watch the Oprah episode of Hey Monie! below.
 
See more Hey Monie! episodes HERE

September 2016 Update
The "Awkward Black Girl" is coming to HBO!

Reimagined as Insecure the half-hour comedy series starring Issa Rae, Yvonne Orji, Jay Ellis and Lisa Joyce, that looks at the friendship, experiences and tribulations of two black women.

Created and executive produced by Issa Rae, this eight-episode series is also executive produced by Prentice Penny, Melina Matsoukas, Michael Rotenberg, Dave Beck, Jonathan Berry, and Larry Wilmore as a consultant.

WATCH IT October 9th at 10:30PM on HBO and see the trailer below.



Related Post
Taking an Internet Show to TV 

The Film that Started a Career - 5 Deep Breaths

Found this film through the website Shadow & Act, 2011

Seith Mann’s impressive 20-minute short film called 5 Deep Breaths - his NYU MFA thesis project in 2002, which helped launch Mann’s career, directing several notable television shows – notably episodes of HBO’s hit, The Wire.

Some of the short film’s accolades: premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival; it was one of 4 American shorts selected to screen at the Cinefondation Competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival; It won the Best Narrative Short Film award at the 2003 Los Angeles IFP/West Film Festival. Filmmaker magazine named Mann one of their 25 new faces of independent film in 2003. And the IFP gave Mann the Gordon Parks Awards for Emerging African-American Filmmakers; and there’s a lot more.

Television producer Robert F. Colesberry saw Five Deep Breaths, and introduced the other producers of The Wire to it. The producers approached Mann and asked him to shadow their directors during production of the third season in 2004. And 2 years later, in 2006, Mann joined the directing crew of The Wire’s fourth season, and later went onto helm episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, Entourage, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, and many more shows.

Mann has been working on a feature film script titled Come Sunday, which would be his debut. The script won two development awards (the Emerging Narrative Screenwriting Award and the Gordon Parks Award for Screenwriting) from the IFP in 2004.

Most recently, Seith was hired to adapt and direct the graphic novel MISS: Better Living Through Crime, which, as he told us, is still in the works, with a last draft of the script shipped off to the production company, which will be followed by the search for talent and financing. Spike Lee is executive producing that by the way.- Tambay, Shadow & Act

UPDATE APRIL 2015
The project written about in Shadow & Act above in 2011 MISS: Better Living Through Crime is still being listed a "in development" which as they call in Hollywood "development hell" meaning it will more than likely never get made.

Don't cry for Seith Mann though as he has to date 40 directing credits for numerous television shows including popular shows The Wire, Dexter, Homeland and The Walking Dead. You can check out his extensive credits on IMDb here

Profound New Documentary - Dark Girls

Dark Girls is a documentary exploring the deep-seated biases and attitudes about skin color particularly dark skinned women, outside of and within the Black American culture. The film is slated for a Fall/Winter 2011 release, is directed and produced by Bill Duke (Duke Media) and D. Channsin Berry (Urban Winter Entertainment).

The independent project, set to premier in October [2011] at the International Black Film Festival in Nashville, is in need of funds to be completed. Duke and Berry’s goal is to raise $250,000 by July 31. They’ve raised, to date, slightly more than $4,700.-Ebony/Jet.com

The below 9 min. clip is profound to say the least...


To see more clips from the upcoming Dark Girls documentary, to make a contribution and/or post videos of your own testimony, visit: http://officialdarkgirlsmovie.com/

You can read the Ebony/Jet interview with Bill Duke and D. Channsin Berry here

You can read a review of Dark Girls here

UPDATE: May 1, 2013
Based on the above tweet posted last night by One Village Entertainment, it looks like Bill Duke's documentary, Dark Girls (which we've been following since mid-2011) is heading to Oprah Winfrey's OWN network (the other black TV network) this June.

@oprah Check out the artwork for @realbillduke's latest documentary #DarkGirls - world premiering this June on @owntv twitter.com/OneVillageEnt/…
— One Village (@OneVillageEnt) April 30, 2013

This is the artwork mentioned in the Tweet above

Info from Shadow & Act

UPDATE: JUNE 2013
Dark Girls will air on OWN on Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 10PM EST. Read new reactions to this documentary in the comments section at Shadow & Act here

Inside Industry info with Melee Entertainment

Starting around 31 minutes into the podcast, Bryan Turner founder and president of Melee Entertainment gives updates on some of his latest productions in the works, including The Under Shepherd, as well as specifics regarding his desire to seek new filmmakers and writers.

Melee is the company behind films like Friday, Next Day Air and You Got Served.

Listen to internet radio with Shadow And Act on Blog Talk Radio

Me & Raiders of the Lost Ark

I was one of the few people who never saw Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) in theaters.

Scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark

Of course I saw all of the famous clips, Indy running from the huge boulder and Indy duel the guy with the scimitar (sword) and such (pictured above), but I didn’t see the film until at least a decade later (on videotape. Remember those?) and frankly I didn’t see what the hubbub was about. It was ok.

Recently on Facebook during a discussion about Indiana Jones an actor friend of mine Ryan Thomas went on and on about how great this film was. Never one to back away from an argu…er debate. I told him I didn’t think it was all that great. He was aghast and told me I should really see it again something about better than Citizen Kane and The Godfather combined or something like that. Not really what he said, but that’s how adamant he was in my opinion. Since I’m a fair guy I decided maybe I’ll give this film another try. In the past when I have given movies another try, turns out I was right the first time, they sucked!

Several weeks ago I re-watched the movie and guess what…it didn’t suck. I said guess what because I’M SURPRISED since I’m never wrong. I’m man enough to admit when I’m wrong, which I never am…didn’t I say that?

But with all seriousness the movie was VERY GOOD. It deserves all the accolades it got, especially from Ryan. I liked everything about it, it was adventurous and fun and everything the filmmakers set out to make. I guess maybe I was expecting more the last time or maybe my tastes have changed.

This leads me to why I’m writing this. It seems as though my liking of this film was more than likely a shift in my thinking towards movies. Since studying film I think I look at movies a whole different way.

Let me be clear the FIRST time I see a movie I can “turn off the director” in me and just enjoy the film. The second time I can (and will) analyze the film’s aspects. Now when I watch films (the 2nd & subsequent times) I recognize the technical skill it took to make such a film. Sometimes that is good, sometimes that is bad.

I’ve seen some films that everyone is calling a classic and thought “eh”. I’ve seen Midnight Cowboy and recently Serpico and wasn’t impressed. Concurrently within the last 5 years, I’ve seen Cool Hand Luke, Citizen Kane and The Good, The Bad & The Ugly for the first time and realize why everyone says they are great as they say they were. It also works in the reverse. I’ve re-watched some movies that I liked in the past and I think WOW the acting sucked or the direction sucked etc. Maybe some films just outlive their resonance.

When I watch a movie now I can appreciate all of the hard work it took to achieve some of the themes, the acting, the cinematography and of course the direction. In the end a great film is a great film and will stand the test of time whenever you see them and yes Ryan that means Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In some rebranding, repackaging nonsense Raiders of the Lost Ark for its 1999 VHS re-issue, the outer package was retitled Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark to correlate with the film's prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and sequel Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The subsequent DVD release in 2003 features this title as well. THAT 2003 DVD was the one I got from Netflix (Pictured below) setting off my ire! I just hate when “marketing execs” rebrand an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated (new) position in the mind of consumers. Just seems like trickery and I for one will not be fooled by their folly! I SHANT! Okay I’ll calm down now.