The British import BlindedbytheLight illuminates theaters this coming weekend after receiving glowing reviews from its debut earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. From director Gurinder Chadha, who made the breakout hit BendItLikeBeckham, the dramedy focuses on a teenager whose life is transformed by the music of Bruce Springsteen. Viveik Kalra is said teenager and the supporting cast includes Hayley Atwell, Rob Brydon, and Nell Williams.
As mentioned, Blinded was shown on the fest circuit and a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score followed. The pic would love to follow in the footsteps of this summer’s sleeper hit Yesterday, which rode its Beatles musical connection to impressive box office grosses. The ability for this to over perform is possible, but the likely scenario is a mid single digits premiere while it hopes to develop legs over subsequent weekends.
BlindedbytheLight opening weekend prediction: $5.8 million
For my TheAngryBirdsMovie2 prediction, click here:
A growing trend in movies for the past few years (and a bit beyond) is the musical biopic that incorporates one of the band or artist’s songs into the title. The latest example will come out this fall with BohemianRhapsody, the behind the scenes story of Queen.
2019 will bring us Rocketman with Taron Egerton as the legendary Elton John.
We’ve seen this trend in years past. For instance, the 1980s saw LaBamba about Richie Valens.
The 1990s gave us Angela Bassett in her Oscar nominated role playing Tina Turner in What’sLoveGottoDoWithIt?
In 2005, we had WalktheLine with Joaquin Phoenix in his Academy nominated turn as Johnny Cash and Reese Witherspoon winning as June.
More recent ones have been in the hip hop world with StraightOuttaCompton (N.W.A.) and AllEyezonMe (Tupac Shakur). There’s also GetOnUp with Chadwick Boseman as the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.
So this got me thinking. What would be some other movie/song titles if certain iconic musicians got their biopic? For this blog post’s purposes, I tried to focus on artists where I feel a big screen treatment on them is at least feasible. In other words, while RicoSuave might be a spectacular title, I don’t envision two hours on Gerardo coming anytime soon.
There is already a Madonna flick reportedly in the works and it takes its name not from a tune, but from one of her tours – BlondAmbition. I suppose MaterialGirl or LikeaPrayer could have worked, but BlondAmbition is just about perfect.
Some choices seem obvious. You gotta call the Bon Jovi story LivinonaPrayer, after all. And MyWay seems like the natural fit for Frank Sinatra. And BorntoRun for Bruce Springsteen. And there’s PianoMan for Billy Joel.
It doesn’t end there. Respect (Aretha Franklin) and FireandRain (James Taylor).
When it comes to some recently dearly departed legends, Prince presents a challenge because you can’t call it PurpleRain. And a number of his other massive hits don’t fit. WhenDovesCry is probably the name the studio would go for considering it’s his biggest hit. Personally, I rather like the thought of MyNameisPrince, taken from his Love Symbol album of 1992.
With Michael Jackson, Thriller would work but it’s hard to imagine ManintheMirror not being the choice.
For David Bowie, Starman seems like the winner, but that’s also the name of a fairly well-known 1980s science fiction effort starring Jeff Bridges. That may not matter, but if so, SpaceOddity or simply calling it ZiggyStardust might fit.
Tom Petty? How about FreeFallin or RunninDownaDream. George Michael? Faith or Freedom. Whitney Houston? Tough one. Perhaps a studio would want IWillAlwaysLoveYou. Maybe SoEmotional works as well.
Some bands have more than one title that seem appropriate. Aerosmith has three great ones: DreamOn, SweetEmotion, or WalkThisWay. With AC/DC – BackinBlack or Thunderstruck.
Guns n Roses is an interesting one. WelcometotheJungle is fantastic, but it was just the subtitle for the blockbuster Jumanji reboot. In this matter, you might have to go with their album name AppetiteforDestruction, which is ideal.
Metallica could have ForWhomtheBellTolls or EnterSandman. Nirvana might have SmellsLikeTeenSpirit as the studio choice, but I’m a little partial to ComeAsYouAre.
I like RunninwiththeDevil for Van Halen and I suppose StairwaytoHeaven would be the choice for Led Zeppelin.
Let’s move off rock. How about Britney Spears? That may depend on what direction the studio goes. It could be Toxic or Stronger. Maybe BabyOneMoreTime instead.
Stevie Wonder? Superstition or SirDuke are possibilities, but I like HigherGround.
With Bob Marley, maybe GetUp, StandUp or OneLove.
Circling back to hip hop, FightthePower is the clear pick for Public Enemy and the same may hold true for MamaSaidKnockYouOut with LL Cool J.
And then there’s my favorite… the Rick James biopic SuperFreak. Why hasn’t this been made already?
I could go on, but you get the idea. Let’s see if any of these suggested titles end up playing out in the future. Maybe there will be surprises… BarbieGirl: TheAquaStory, anyone?
Eighteen years ago on This Day in Movie History – December 29 – brought a trio of pictures opening for Oscar qualifying runs. While none of them were nominated for Best Picture, they all found varying degrees of success with their actors being nominated for awards.
First up, Terry Gilliam’s sci-fi pic 12 Monkeys starring Bruce Willis, Madeline Stowe, and Brad Pitt. It earned Oscar nominations for Mr. Pitt for Supporting Actor (his first nomination) and Costume Design. Pitt would lose in the category to Kevin Spacey for The Usual Suspects, but he did win the Golden Globe.
Next is Dead Man Walking, the capital punishment drama from director Tim Robbins starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon. It would earn nominations for Director, Actor, Actress, and Original Song with a title track from Bruce Springsteen. Only Sarandon was victorious while Penn would lose to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas.
Finally, Mr. Holland’s Opus with its Oscar nominated performance from Richard Dreyfuss in this drama spanning the life of a music teacher. Dreyfuss’s work was the only Academy nomination, but the pic turned into an unexpected box office hit with an $82 million domestic haul.
As for birthdays today, Jude Law is 41. Mr. Law has worked with some of the greatest directors alive from Scorsese (The Aviator) to Spielberg (A.I.: Artificial Intelligence) to Eastwood (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) to Nichols (Closer). Other notable roles include Gattaca, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Road to Perdition, Cold Mountain, Side Effects, and his work as Watson alongside Robert Downey Jr. in the two Sherlock Holmes flicks.
Danny McBride is 37 today and he’s one of the most recognizable faces in comedy over the past few years with roles in Pineapple Express, Tropic Thunder, Up in the Air, 30 Minutes or Less, Your Highness, and This is The End. There’s also his starring role in the HBO cult hit “Eastbound&Down”.
As for Six Degrees of Separation between the birthday performers:
Jude Law was in Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. was in Tropic Thunder with Danny McBride
And that’s today – December 29 – in Movie History!
