Universal Studios UK has announced that Tarsem Singh’s Immortals will be released on DVD and Blu-ray March 5, 2012. The movie was released back in November and followed Theseus (Henry Cavill), a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke), who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity.

Immortals received mixed reviews but has given Relativity Media it’s biggest hit so far, with nearly $200 million earned worldwide. Given its $75m budget it can be considered a financial success and gives Cavill some leading man experiences before Man of Steel hits in 2013.

The Blu-ray special features include:

It’s No Myth
Deleted Scenes
Alternate Opening Scene – Young Theseus
Alternate Endings Excerpt from “Immortals: Gods & Heroes” Comic Book
Theatrical Trailer
Carravaggio Meets Fight Club:
– Tarsem’s Vision
– A Matter of Perspective
– Immortal Warriors
– Settling a Score
Pocket BLU
And more…

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With little to no competition The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 nabbed another first place at the international box office, well on its way to match the worldwide grosses of past entries in the series.

This is the third consecutive win for the vampire flick and is now just one first place away from matching the four in a row achieved by New Moon around the same time in 2009. With another $40.4 million, Breaking Dawn – Part 1 sits at $344.8 million internationally while worldwide the number is $594.1 million. This means The Twilight Saga has made almost $2.4 billion in little over 3 years, making it one of the most successful franchises ever on the big screen.

Puss in Boots was 2nd after expanding to a few more countries. The animated film grossed $22.7 million for $89 million internationally with a lot more markets set to open on the horizon, setting Puss in Boots on track for over $300 million outside the US. Worldwide the flick generated $229 million and will most likely double the $130 million reported budget sometime next week, on its way to $450 million and more.

French comedy Intouchables is still making the rounds with $15.9 million and $109.3 million in total ($102.6 million coming from France alone). Happy Feet Two was in 4th place with $15.6 million for $33.3 million internationally and $86.4 million worldwide. In 2006 Happy Feet stopped at $384.3 million worldwide, the sequel won’t gross half of that even with the higher priced 3D tickets on its side.

Arthur Christmas ranked 5th with $11.9 million and $71.4 million worldwide while Russian biopic, Vysotsky. Spasibo, chto zhivoy (Vysotsky: Thank God I’m Alive), opened with $11.2 million in its country of origin.

In 7th place The Adventures of Tintin grossed $10.6 million for total of $220.5 million with still a few markets left to go (including North America starting December 21st). With a sequel already moving forward, it’s safe to say Paramount and Sony are happy with the current box office success of this flick.

In Time was 8th with $9.6 million and thanks to 117.9 million worldwide, it has almost tripled its $40 million production budget. Justin Timberlake is slowly turning into a bona fide international start, that or he is very good at choosing his projects.

Immortals made another $6.5 million and so far the Tarsem directed epic has grossed $178.5 million worldwide, more than enough to cover the $75 million budget. Rounding up the top 10 is the Japanese comedy Eiga Kaibutsukun with $5.7 million and a total of $15.4 million coming from Japan alone.

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 lead the international box office for a second consecutive weekend thanks to another fantastic haul. Besides that French comedy Intouchables continued its blockbuster box office run.

Thanks to a new $76 million gross, Breaking Dawn – Part 1 just passed the half a billion mark making this the third Twilight film to do so in just two years, something not even Harry Potter can claim since there have never been three of those in such a short time. It remains a wonder of our times how this series can sustain such a strong following even with yearly entries that usually have the opposite effect, creating saturation a lot more often than demand. Still, the most successful Twilight film (The Twilight Saga: New Moon with $709.8 million worldwide) was less popular then the least successful Potter (Prisoner of Azkaban with $796.6 million worldwide) so while not in the same league, the vampire love story saga proves to be a beast of its own time and time again.

Intouchables was 2nd with $17.4 million and a new total of $90.2 million. In the country of its origin, France, the film is now the highest grossing of the year with $85 million. In 3rd place Immortals made $13.9 million and has now amassed a hefty $90.1 million internationally for a worldwide total of $160.3 million, more than doubling the $75 million production budget. Also this is by far the highest grossing movie for director Tarsem Singh. His next project, Mirror Mirror, opens in March next year with Relativity Media producing and distributing again.

The Adventures of Tintin is now at $207.8 million after bringing in $12.6 million over the weekend. I was expecting a bit more by now but still, this is an international blockbuster and that can’t be denied. Will it make enough to warrant a sequel (that is said to already be in production)? We shall see very soon.

Arthur Christmas was 5th with $12.3 million, $22.7 million internationally and $39 million worldwide. Puss in Boots made another $10.4 million for 6th place and $197.7 million worldwide with loads more countries left to open in the coming months giving this a real shot at over $500 million when all will be said and done.

Happy Fee Two opened in even more countries and grossed $10.4 million for an international total of $14.4 million and $58.2 million worldwide. Johnny English Reborn is now inches from the original thanks to $156.9 million after bringing in $10 million over the weekend (Johnny English finished with $160.5 million).

Japanese flick Eiga Kaibutsukun was 9th with $7.4 million made exclusively in Japan and Tower Heist finished 10th with $7.3 million for $36.1 million internationally and $101.6 million worldwide.

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The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 opened on top around the world after a great weekend that signalled the return to form of the international box office. Below things weren’t as jolly for Immortals. The previous leader took a bit of a dive from 1st to 4th place.

$152.9 million is what Breaking Dawn – Part 1 made in 54 countries, a new opening record for the series internationally. Granted, this is the widest release ever for a Twilight flick. Anyway, with these kind of numbers The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 should be headed for the usual series range, $380-400 million internationally and what might become $700 million worldwide. Right now it sits at $291 million after just one weekend.

The Adventures of Tintin was yet again in 2nd place with $21.7 million this time. The Steven Spielberg- directed motion-capture flick has grossed $187.6 million so far and will open on December 21st in North America. When all is said and done The Adventures of Tintin should end up with $400 million or more worldwide, depending on how strong it performs in the US.

3rd place belongs to French comedy Intouchables, a regular of the international box office by now. With another $17.6 million, this film is well on track to become the highest grossing movie of the year in France. Rien a Declarer, a Dany Boon comedy, is currently in the lead with $74.6 million.

Immortals lost quite a few millions compared to the previous weekend and had to settle for $17.5 million, giving it an international total of $65.8 million and a worldwide tally of $118.8 million. I think now Immortals might stop just shy of $200 million worldwide at the end of its run.

Rounding up the top 5 was Real Steel with $6.9 million for a grand total of $242.5 million worldwide. Now reports regarding the cost of this Hugh Jackman film have been rather different, I’m hearing anything from $110 million up to $140 million, and if the truth is somewhere in the middle then Real Steel might just start turning a profit before it leaves theaters.

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The first part of the final Twilight chapter showed no sign of fatigue after opening with the 5th highest weekend ever, just shy of the series record. On the opposite side was Happy Feet Two after a disappointing debut that barely matched half of the $41.5 million made by Happy Feet in 2006.

It was another great weekend for Summit Entertainment after their star franchise pulled $138.1 million over the weekend. Back in November 2009, The Twilight Saga: New Moon opened with $142.8 million so while Breaking Dawn Part 1 was slightly lower, it’s still incredibly impressive and ranks as the 5th biggest weekend ever in North America. With Thanksgiving coming up, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 is looking at easily $290-300 million at the end of its box office run. With the exception of Harry Potter, there’s no other series out there getting yearly entries and still maintaining the same strong box office numbers. It will be interesting to see if The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 can manage an increase next year or if it will stay on the same level as the other movies. Twilight is a goldmine for Summit Entertainment and I can’t imagine what they’ll do next when this is all over. At least Warner Bros. still have Batman now that Harry Potter is all over.

In 2nd place it was bad news for Warner Bros. with Happy Feet Two grossing only $21.2 million. As mentioned in the introduction, the original Happy Feet opened with $41.5 million back in 2006 without the help of overpriced 3D tickets making Happy Feet Two look even worse in perspective. With such numbers Warner Bros. should consider themselves lucky if this makes half the $198 million grossed by the original.

Immortals was down 61.6% with $12.3 million for 3rd place and $53 million in 10 days. I’m starting to have doubts regarding my previous $80+ million prediction for this movie. If it keeps going down then it won’t reach that mark and will have to rely mostly on the strength of international box office to break even.

Jack and Jill was 4th with $11.7 million and $40.7 million in 10 days while Puss in Boots finished 5th after falling 56.3%. The animated cat-lover film made $10.8 million bringing its total to $122.4 million. With a bit of help from an under-performing Happy Feet Two and the upcoming holiday season, Puss in Boots could still make it to $150 million.

Everything written here so far might make you think otherwise but the real star of the weekend wasn’t The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, I mean we all knew that was going to make a tone of money. No, the real star is The Descendants. Yes, the George Clooney movie that I didn’t even mention last week when I wrote my box office forecast. But there’s a reason for that, you see The Descendants only opened in 29 theaters. Just to give you an idea, the latest Twilight film has 4061 theaters. Put yourself in my shoes, who could have known that The Descendants would make the top 10 (ranking 10th actually) with just 29 theaters? That movie making $1.1 million in 29 theaters was for me personally a lot more impressive than $138.1 million in 4061 theaters (for an extremely well known properly turned into a mainstream phenomenon).

So what did we learn this week? Vampires have perfected the art of sucking money out of your pocket, penguins aren’t as popular as they were 5 years ago, Immortals is not 300, Adam Sandler should stick to playing a single role in his films, cats rule and George Clooney is still the man.

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It’s been more than a year since Bella and what’s his name were last seen on the big screen, but we now have The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 opening this weekend. Also the singing/dancing penguins in the animated flick Happy Feet Two are here to provide entertainment for the little and not so little ones.

Edward, the sparkly vampire that owns a shirt, and Jacob, the overgrown dog that doesn’t own a shirt, probably have a tougher fight ahead of them in the movie than in the box office charts since there is absolutely no way this film won’t make it to the top. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 could run for a single day and it would still finish first.

Twilight opened with $69.6 million back in 2008, but Part 1 will probably make more than that in the first day. The number to beat here is $72.7 million made by The Twilight Saga: New Moon in 2009 on the first day it came out. Normally the 4th part in a series starts to fall but I don’t see that happening with Breaking Dawn Part 1, so I say it opens with $150 million, a new record for the series and the 4th highest ever.

In 2nd place without a doubt we should see the other newcomer of the weekend, Happy Feet Two (written this way because that’s how Warner Bros. are advertising it). Now this is the sequel to the 2006 original with the same name (minus the Two) that went on to gross $198 million after opening with $41.5 million. I actually see a small improvement here, a $42 million weekend for Happy Feet Two. With Arthur Christmas, Hugo, The Muppets, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and We Bought a Zoo aimed at a similar audience, all coming out in the next month, Happy Feet Two is going to need amazing word of mouth to make it as far as Happy Feet did.

Immortals should be 3rd with $15 million or so for a 10 day total of $56 million and well on its way to $80 million and more. 4th place is a tossup between Jack and Jill and Puss in Boots, both aiming for $12 million. Because of Happy Feet Two, Puss in Boots should see a 50% drop instead of the 25% that we had last time.

Next week on Thanksgiving Martin Scorsese tries his luck at a family film with Hugo, Aardman Animations leave stop-motion behind with a second computer generated film called Arthur Christmas and Disney tries to resurrect The Muppets for a new generation.

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With not much else besides Tintin out there, it wasn’t much of a fight for Immortals to get on top of the international box office. Besides that, the French comedy Intouchables managed to go up in its second weekend instead of the usual drop that we have come to expect from every movie at this point.

Immortals made $38 million in 35 countries, thus getting the top spot and, surprisingly, enough to match the $75 million production budget. Yes, Immortals stands at $75.2 million worldwide so at this point we know it will be profitable since it’s bound to double that figure in the coming weeks. The fact that there are a lot more markets left to open also helps. Looking at Immortals now, I say it will finish with at least $250 million worldwide. 300 made $456 million in 2006.

The Adventures of Tintin was 2nd with $28.2 million and now sports a total of $159.1 million. It seems the movie could maybe pull another $60 million from its current markets and considering it still has more than a few countries left to open, $300 million internationally should be achievable. If The Adventures of Tintin doesn’t reach that mark and the US box office disappoints (under $100 million) then I don’t know if the planned sequel will get a green light. I’m certainly crossing my fingers for good word of mouth and great holiday box office legs.

Turns out Intouchables, in 3rd place, could be a fantastic movie since I don’t see how else it could have made even more money this time. Instead of going down the French comedy went up 58% for $23.6 million. Again, the vast majority of that money was made in France and besides that the movie is only running in Belgium.

Thanks to a great opening in China, Real Steel finished 4th with $12 million last weekend for an international total of $147.5 million, and an even mightier $229.3 million worldwide. Unfortunately since this cost around $140 million to make, Disney needs it to gross at least $280 million worldwide, an almost impossible goal.

And finally In Time is 5th with $8.7 million for a worldwide total of $84.3 million. On a $40 million budget, that’s just about enough if Fox played the distribution cards right.

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Immortals came out on top after fighting off fellow newcomer Jack and Jill, an Adam Sandler comedy, and Puss in Boots, the former leader. Very much a surprising victory in what ended up as a better than expected weekend.

I have to be honest here, I was not expecting Immortals to gross $32.2 million over the weekend. Now granted, that’s only a fraction of the 2D only $70.9 million made by 300 in 2006, but considering most people were predicting no more than $20 million, I’d say Immortals more than delivered at the box office. For Relativity this is now their highest opening weekend yet. Also since Immortals was made with a production budget of $75 million, it might actually turn a small profit when all will be said and done since I’m not expecting less than $90 million in North America and just as much around the world.

Jack and Jill was 2nd with $25 million and among Adam Sandler comedies, only Funny People (not that much of a comedy actually) opened worse in the past 11 years. Way to go and yet that is still a great opening considering just how awful Jack and Jill seems to be. The sad part is this movie will probably make enough money to bring the studio a profit and Adam Sandler will keep making dribble when we all know he can do a lot better. Jack and Jill should finish somewhere around $80 million or so in North America.

3rd place belongs to Puss in Boots with a very impressive $24.7 million in its third weekend. Thanks to box office legs unlike anything I’ve seen for an animated film since How to Train Your Dragon, Puss in Boots stands at $109.9 million after just 19 days. It will be interesting to see how the release of Happy Feet Two this upcoming weekend will change things.

Tower Heist was 4th, softer than expected at $12.7 million. After 12 days the Brett Ratner movie has made $45 million. In order to make a profit it will need a strong international box office run since North America definitely won’t cut it.

Finally in 5th place J. Edgar, the Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio biopic about the life of John Edgar Hoover, grossed $11.2 million. While on paper this seems like a good idea for a movie, in practice biopics are almost never that popular. There’s the odd exception out there, one actually featured Leonardo DiCaprio. I’m obviously talking about The Aviator, Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic. That was a hit, this one won’t be.

So what did we learn today? Tarsem can make a hit (Immortals), Adam Sandler can still sell tickets on his name alone, cats bring the big bucks, Brett Ratner is running on fumes and Leonardo DiCaprio makes much more successful biopics when paired with Martin Scorsese.

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Full disclosure: I studied Greek and Roman mythology when I was in college, so I’m a sucker for these kinds of movies. Now that you can take this review with the appropriate grain of salt, I liked Immortals. It certainly won’t end up anywhere near my favorites of the year list, but it’s a pretty fantastic union of a director with a unique visual style to a script that desperately needs the distraction of that style.

A fusion of stories from Greek mythology, Immortals follows Theseus (Henry Cavill), a young peasant chosen by Zeus (Luke Evans), and Phaedra (Freida Pinto), an oracle priestess, as they lead humans against the evil King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) and his legions of warriors. Snubbed by the gods, Hyperion plans to take vengeance on them by releasing the Titans, the gods’ archenemies who have remained trapped in the earth following an epic battle years prior. But Hyperion needs the Epirus Bow, a legendary weapon capable of producing powerful arrows out of thin air, to accomplish his goal.

The movie is being sold as a companion piece to Zack Snyder’s 300, and it’s clear that the studio had a huge influence on those comparisons, even down to the story level. The two films share many of the same plot points: a traitor defecting to the opposing army, warriors wearing masks, cheesy speeches, and one sequence involving a tunnel near the end that’s ripped directly from Snyder’s breakout film. To its credit, though, I actually liked Immortals a lot more than 300. Most Greek myth stories probably feel familiar from a story perspective, and if most feel cliche these days, it’s because these old myths are the basis of western storytelling as we know it. We’ve seen these stories told before in thousands of variations in movies and television shows over the years, so it makes sense that the only way audiences will find them interesting is attaching visionary directors to give us a fresh look at the material.

For me, it comes down to performance. Mickey Rourke owns this movie as King Hyperion, relishing every line and squeezing every dramatic drop out of his twisted villainy on screen. It’s a much more interesting performance than Gerard Butler’s constant bellowing in 300, and Rourke alone gives Immortals a higher likelihood of rewatchability for me. I also prefer Tarsem’s grandiose symmetrical visuals to Snyder’s speed-ramping; Tarsem’s predilection for eastern imagery and fascinating production design – on full display in his fantastic second film, The Fall - seems to fit well with this kind of storytelling.

Speaking of Snyder, he’s got a new Superman movie coming up called Man of Steel, and cast none other than Henry Cavill as the lead. While this role doesn’t demand much of anything from him, aside from running around shirtless and throwing the occasional spear, I saw flashes of both Clark Kent and Superman in his performance. (As of this writing, we haven’t seen any trailers or footage from Snyder’s film, so my gut feeling is that Cavill is going to be a really good Superman in a pretty terrible Superman movie.) Getting back to Immortals, the gods, played by young 20-somethings with chiseled bodies, wear insane headgear that would make even Tim Burton do a double take. One piece in particular looks like the head of a dragonfly. Why would Tarsem do this? The only answer I can think of: “because he’s Tarsem.”

The fight sequences are clearly depicted through the use of Brendan Galvin’s impressive cinematography (he reunites with Tarsem for their upcoming Snow White film, Mirror, Mirror), and if my only complaint with the action that it gets a little overdone by the film’s ludicrous ending, then I’d say that’s a compliment. After all, no one comes to movies like this for the dialogue. (Though there are some interesting religious points touched on here about faith and belief that I found surprisingly well-handled for a movie that’s otherwise brash and borders on garish at times.) The score is influenced heavily, as most action films seem to be now, by Hans Zimmer’s work on Inception, with quick strings highlighted by bursts of booming brass.

Immortals is a fluff piece with almost no real weight to it, but it’s also a beautifully shot film that marries a visionary director to the perfect subject matter for his tastes. If nothing else, it will expose people to Cavill, an actor best-known for a small role in The Count of Monte Cristo and the Showtime series “The Tudors,” and get them ready to see him take flight as Superman in 2013. Until next time…

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We have an interesting weekend ahead of us with the latest Adam Sandler comedy Jack and Jill going up against Immortals. There’s also Puss in Boots still going strong and J. Edgar should be a lock for a spot in the top 5.

I’m not happy with this but I have to give Jack and Jill the upper hand here. Standing at an amazing 2% on Rotten Tomatoes, this would make crappy-movies-extraordinaire Uwe Boll blush. No matter how bad it looks (from previews) or really is (haven’t seen it) Jack and Jill has an extraordinary box office power behind it, and that power is called Adam Sandler. This guy has one of the most amazing track records in Hollywood and regardless what anyone else thinks of the quality of his movies (personally I’m a fan of his past works, the newer ones not so much), he constantly delivers at the box office. His luck won’t change with Jack and Jill and thanks to about $28 million, it should take the top spot.

Puss in Boots still has a week before Happy Feet Two comes out so it should pull another $24 million over the weekend for an unexpected $106 million in 17 days.

Immortals is the second new release of the week. Starring Henry Cavill (Man of Steel), this R-rated epic aims to recapture what made 300 so popular way back in 2006. Unfortunately for Relativity Media, having a bunch of 300 producers behind Immortals is not the way to do that. At least director Tarsem got the look right but for everything else we’ll have to wait. I’m expecting $18 million for Immortals, just slightly above the opening of The Cell (2000), Tarsem’s highest grosser yet.

Tower Heist should finish in 4th with $14 million while the last new wide release of the week, J. Edgar, starring Leonardo and directed by Clint Eastwood, might gross $12 million. Reviews have not been too kind with this movie so the prospect of box office legs is looking rather slim.

Next week Happy Feet Two and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 open so things should finally start to move the way we expect them to move in November. In other words, big numbers at the box office.

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