Eric Bana
Although his chiseled face and sculpted physique have been put to use in action flicks, this Australian actor started out in stand-up. He both wrote and performed on the down-under sketch-comedy serie...
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BirthDate BirthPlace |
08/08/1968
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
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Early Friday Estimates: 'Hulk' Nets $18M, 'Happening' Surprises with $12M
June 14, 2008 7:38am ESTMarvel Studios is batting 1.000. After the spectacular success of the newly minted studio’s first self-financed and self-produced comic book adaptation Iron Man (Paramount), they have given new life to Bruce Banner and his famously angry alter ego. Just 5 years after Ang Lee’s brooding film treatment, director Louis Leterrier (Transporter, Transporter 2) and Oscar nominee Edward Norton (Primal Fear, American History X) have teamed up on The Incredible Hulk (Universal), which has bounded to a terrific $18M opening day. That will likely translate to a 3-day of $48.6M or so, which is about what most prognosticators have been calling for (although my final prediction was for $55M-$60M). Yes, that is less than 2003’s gloomy Eric Bana version, which posted the all-time 8th-best opening for a comic book adaptation, but The Incredible Hulk will solidly crack the all-time Top 20 in this genre. ALL-TIME TOP 20 OPENINGS FOR COMIC BOOK ADAPTATIONS 1. Spider-Man 3 - $151.11M 2. Spider-Man - $114.84M 3. X-Men: The Last Stand - $102.75M 4. Iron Man - $98.61M 5. Spider-Man 2 - $88.15M 6. X2: X-Men United - $85.55M 7. 300 - $70.88M 8. Hulk (2003) - $62.12M 9. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer - $60.23M 10. Fantastic Four - $56.06M 11. X-Men - $54.47M 12. Batman Forever - $52.78M 13. Superman Returns - $52.53M 14. Men in Black II - $52.14M 15. Men in Black - $51.06M 16. Batman Begins - $48.74M 17. The Incredible Hulk - $48.6M (estimate) 18. Batman Returns - $45.68M 19. Ghost Rider - $45.38M 20. Batman & Robin - $42.87M Also, with excellent reviews and positive word-of-mouth, The Incredible Hulk could have decent legs. There is a solid chance that this film will reach $135M-$145M domestic, which is a good. If Iron Man was a "home run," then The Incredible Hulk is a "double off the wall" (to use a sports analogy). The new Hulk is easily Leterrier’s biggest opening, surpassing Transporter 2’s $16.54M. It is also the biggest opening in Edward Norton’s career. ALL-TIME BEST EDWARD NORTON OPENINGS 1. The Incredible Hulk - $48.6M (estimate) 2. Red Dragon - $36.54M 3. Kingdom of Heaven - $19.63M 4. The Italian Job - $19.45M 5. The Score - $19.01M The news was far less disastrous than expected for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening (Fox). With an R-rating, spotty reviews, and less-than-spectacular industry tracking, this one could have sunk like 2006’s Lady in the Water. Instead, the movie opened with a surprising $12M Friday and that will likely lead to an estimated $31.2M opening. That is much better than the high teens opening some had been expecting, and it well exceeds my call for $20M-$25M. ALL-TIME M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN OPENINGS 1. Signs - $60.11M opening - $227.96M cume 2. The Village - $50.74M opening - $114.19M cume 3. The Happening - $31.2M - tbd cume 4. Unbreakable - $30.33M opening - $95M cume 5. The Sixth Sense - $26.68M opening - $293.5M cume 6. Lady in the Water - $18M opening - $42.28M cume DreamWorks’ smash hit Kung Fu Panda (Paramount) added another $10.25M on Friday, which is good enough for 3rd place behind the 2 new wide openers. Panda will finish #2 for the weekend with an estimated $35.87M for a new 10-day cume of $119.54M. If the number holds, that will make for the 4th-best 10-day gross for an animated non-sequel behind only Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc.. ALL-TIME BEST 10-DAY GROSSES FOR ANIMATED NON-SEQUELS 1. Finding Nemo - $144.04 million 2. The Incredibles - $143.25 million 3. Monsters, Inc. - $122.15 million 4. Kung Fu Panda - $119.54 million (Estimated) 5. Cars - $117.05 million 6. Ratatouille - $109.53 million 7. Madagascar - $100.37 million 8. Happy Feet - $99.25 million 9. Shrek - $99.01 million 10. Ice Age - $87.29 million Adam Sandler’s You Don't Mess with the Zohan (Sony), already the all-time #1 post-Zionist hairdresser movie, clipped another $6.1M in Friday business, and that should result in an estimated $18.2M 2nd weekend. Zohan will have topped the $70M mark by Monday morning. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Paramount) generated $3.65M to start the weekend and the 3-day haul should be $13.15M or so. That will push Indy 4 to just under $275M domestic. The Sex and the City girls are continuing to sell tickets with just over $11M anticipated for the 3-day, as Carrie Bradshaw and friends climb to almost $121M domestic by Sunday night. Meanwhile, I expect Marvel’s Iron Man to scoop up $5.5M more in the frame, leaving the Robert Downey Jr. superhero debut a little more than $2M away from the magical $300M benchmark.
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The Incredible Hulk Review
June 13, 2008 5:48am ESTChronicled before in countless comic books a ‘70s television series and of course Ang Lee’s critically lambasted 2003 big screen version The Incredible Hulk remains one of Marvel’s treasured creations. The innate story revolves around scientist Dr. Bruce Banner whose cells are poisoned by gamma radiation and who frequently unleashes his inner monster--the mean green machine known as the Hulk. Thankfully this spruced-up version doesn’t waste a lot of time giving us the back story. Instead it launches right into the problems at hand. Banner (Edward Norton) now forced to be apart from the love of his life Dr. Betty Ross (Liv Tyler) and living on the edges of society is desperately looking for the antidote that will cure him of his unique rage. His immediate task however is avoiding the dogged pursuit of the U.S. military machine aiming--led by Betty’s father General Ross (William Hurt)--to exploit his unique powers. This quest has led them all to the outskirts of Brazil where Banner is on the loose. Ross employs the services of super-soldier Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth) to do the deed a job that leads to Blonsky’s own re-invention as The Abomination--and setting up the ultimate battle of battles when both are back in America. Marvel Studios is on a roll when it comes to unique casting ideas this summer. First they re-ignited 40-something Robert Downey Jr.’s career in an inspired idea to make him Iron Man--and now travel the unlikely route of putting Edward Norton a fine actor not known for popcorn action fare in the Bruce Banner part. Norton brings an urgency wit and intelligence to the role that was sorely missing when Eric Bana took it on in Lee’s version. We really understand the anger raging within and Banner’s determined desire to get rid of it. Just as in classic movie monsters like King Kong there is great empathy for the monster that is unleashed in the form of the Hulk . Much of that is do to Norton’s smart take and dedication (he’s an uncredited co-writer) in creating this incarnation of Banner. He owns this role now. Whatever reported conflicts happened in production the final results are worth it. Tyler’s Betty Ross is nicely played and full of the appropriate passion while Tim Blake Nelson has some hilarious super-hyper moments as the scientist who may hold the key to Banner’s salvation. Hurt is properly authoritative and evil as the General out for Banner’s power. And finally Roth scrappy and fierce as Norton’s main nemesis and his perfect match. Young French director Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2) proves the perfect choice to finally make Hulk work on screen. His fast-paced take-no-prisoners filmmaking style--mixed with his professed love of all things Hulk when he was growing up as a kid in Paris--have paid off handsomely. He clearly has a vision and moves this thing along like a freight train almost a non-stop chase in the same spirit that powered last summer’s supreme sequel The Bourne Ultimatum. Not shackled with Ang Lee’s problems in creating a credible monster Leterrier is the beneficiary of strong advances in CGI and the Hulk and Abomination are both state-of-the-art iconic visual effects. The ultimate “Godzilla vs Mothra”-style battle at the end is flawlessly pulled off and a marvel to watch (pun intended). Leterrier has achieved some of the best action sequences ever but not at a human cost which is really remarkable in a summer comic book blockbuster like this. At the center are recognizable people we can root for--and against--right up to the end of the breezy 104-minute running time when an unexpected cameo in the form of another comic book superstar makes a surprise appearance.
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Cast, Title Finalized for Judd Apatow/Adam Sandler Movie
June 12, 2008 5:18am ESTJudd Apatow has enlisted Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill to join Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in his next directorial effort. The film had been untitled thus far but now has a moniker: Funny People. Variety reports that production will begin in September in LA and the film will be released next summer. Apatow, who last wrote and directed Knocked Up, was deliberately vague about subject matter, Variety reports. He would only allow that the movie takes place in the world of stand-up comedy and the focus is on a comedian who has a near-death experience. Coincidentally, Bana began his career as a comic on the standup circuit in Australia and starred in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal and The Eric Bana Show before remaking himself as a dramatic actor, Variety notes. Hill starred in the Apatow-produced Superbad and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He also appeared in the Apatow-directed features Knocked Up and The 40 Year-Old Virgin. Mann is married to Apatow and co-starred in Knocked Up and Virgin. Apatow and Sandler teamed with Robert Smigel to write the script for current release You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Apatow is also producer of the upcoming Adam McKay-directed Step Brothers starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly and stoner comedy Pineapple Express with Rogen and James Franco.
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The Other Boleyn Girl Review
February 29, 2008 4:16am ESTAdapted from Philippa Gregory’s novel by no less than Oscar-nominee Peter Morgan (The Queen) this is a speculative dramatization of the relationship between sisters Anne (Natalie Portman) and Mary Boleyn (Scarlett Johansson) each of whom shared a bed at one time or another with no less a monarch than Henry VIII (Eric Bana). History has shown that Anne’s relationship with the King would have a mammoth long-lasting impact on the Throne and on the Church of England. However this film is more concerned with the intimate details of the sister’s relationship with each other and with Henry than with any historical resonance. This serves only to make a melodrama out of material with far greater potential. Few of these characters ever seem to perceive or even care about the consequences of their actions--so it’s not terribly easy to empathize with them despite the best efforts of Johansson and Portman to imbue their roles with emotional depth. Those expecting fireworks between onscreen siblings Portman and Johansson will find their dramatic scenes together more incongruous than incendiary. Neither is particularly bad although they are among the more unlikely screen siblings in recent memory and both are comfortable in period surroundings but there’s the unmistakable whiff of a missed opportunity in the air--that the hoped-for chemistry between them isn’t coming together. Although Bana is one of the handsomer screen Henrys he’s portrayed as little more than a bed-hopping hunk. He may exchange smoldering glances with Portman and/or Johansson but there’s a distinct lack of passion (on several levels) to these proceedings. David Morrissey sneers throughout as the manipulative Duke of Norfolk who essentially gets everybody into this mess in the first place. As the girls’ father Sir Thomas Boleyn Mark Rylance sports an ill-fitting beard and a befuddled expression throughout as he basically pimps his daughters out while Kristin Scott Thomas suffers nobly as Lady Elizabeth Boleyn who knew all along that this would end up badly--but whose warnings (naturally) went unheeded. Most of Justin Chadwick’s previous work has been in television and it shows. The Other Boleyn Girl is heavy on the talk and light on the action. This story might have been better and more persuasively told as a TV mini-series--as fans of the Showtime series The Tudors which covers some of the same dramatic territory might well attest. This story undoubtedly made for a juicy novel but comes up dry on the big screen. The Other Boleyn Girl is stately and opulent but the fires of the story’s passion have been dampened by soap suds. By the time the ax is ready to fall--and upon whose neck you should already know--the entire affair such as it is (and they are) feels anti-climactic. The viewer never really gets a sense of the scope of this story as if the filmmakers simply presumed the audience know the outcome from the beginning and felt no need to delve any further into the historical ramifications. To have combined the two approaches would have made for a much more well-rounded and satisfying film.
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Eric Bana Wins Top Honor at Australia Film Awards
December 07, 2007 5:03am ESTEric Bana scooped the top honor at Australia's Film Institute annual awards event in Melbourne on Thursday. Romulus, My Father was named 2007's Best Film by the Antipodean version of the Academy Awards, with its star, native Australian Bana, beating his 11-year-old costar Kodi Smit-McPhee for the Best Actor award. Smit-McPhee, who plays the Troy star's son in director Richard Roxburgh's film adaptation of Raimond Gatia's childhood memoirs, later scooped the prize for Best Young Actor. Chinese-born actress Joan Chen won the prize for Best Actress for her portrayal of a Shanghai nightclub singer in The Home Song Stories, which swept the event with eight wins, including Best Director for Tony Ayres and Best Screenplay. COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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Simon Pegg Lands Role in 'Star Trek' Movie
October 12, 2007 7:46am ESTHot Fuzz star Simon Pegg is set to play Scotty in the new Star Trek movie. The British funnyman, 37, has landed the role of the chief Starship Enterprise engineer, played originally by James Doohan in the classic TV series. The film, directed by Lost creator J.J. Abrams, focuses on the early lives of Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock. Star Trek's 11th big-screen outing also stars Hollywood actors Eric Bana, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy. Actor Chris Pine is reportedly in talks to play the young Captain Kirk. Filming is due to start next month. COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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Lucky You Review
May 07, 2007 7:06am ESTHuck Cheever (Bana) is all hustle and no commitment. He knows when to hold ’em and he knows when to fold ’em at the poker table. But with women Huck’s not ready to gamble with his affections. Then he meets Billie Offer (Barrymore). The singer’s cute honest and magnanimous—everything Huck isn’t. If he’s down to his last buck Huck won’t think twice about “borrowing” money from a girlfriend or pawning a pal’s digital camera. Naturally it’s love at first sight. Only Huck isn’t willing to stake everything to win Billie’s heart. Not when he’s taking his father L.C. Cheever (Duvall) down a peg or two. See the colorful L.C.’s made a fortune by being a prudent professional poker player. He taught a young Huck everything he knows except how to beat him at his own game. Now Huck—who loses his cool just as often as he loses to L.C.—wants to payback his father for putting his pursuit of five of a kind above his family. And no time is better than now what with both Cheevers set about to play in the World Series of Poker. Assuming of course Huck can make back the $10 000 entry fee he’s already lost to L.C. “You’re good ” a mesmerized pawn shop employee coos when Huck smooth talks her into paying more for his pal’s digital camera. But she could just as easily be talking about Bana. You wouldn’t want anything to do with Huck if it weren’t for Bana drawing you in with his undeniable charm. He makes Huck likeable without putting on a hard sell or trying to varnish over his rough edges. And that makes it easier to root for Huck to open up to Billie and to forgive L.C. for past mistakes. Most important Bana manages to match wits with the wily and surprisingly sympathetic Duvall during confrontations that are fraught with familial animosity. It’s actually a great deal of fun to watch them bait each other. On the other hand Barrymore brings nothing to the table. Director Curtis Hanson (Wonder Boys ) guided Kim Basinger to an Oscar in L.A. Confidential and he turned Eminem into an actor with 8 Mile. But he can’t work any miracles with Barrymore. Sure she radiates warmth but she’s unable to turn Billie into anything other than the inspiration for Huck’s redemption. You know what she feels in her heart but you have no idea what’s going through her mind. Barrymore’s clearly better off fooling around with Adam Sandler than fooling herself into thinking she can pull off a role that requires her to be more than sweet and bubbly. It's been a long wait for Lucky You which was originally going to open in December 2005 two months after the release of Hanson’s In Her Shoes. Now Lucky You opens against Spider-Man 3. Talk about being dealt a losing hand. Unlike most films that studios dump Lucky You isn’t a complete disaster. It’s thoroughly compelling as an examination of father-son dynamics but that’s due more to the interaction between Bana and Duvall than Eric Roth’s pedestrian screenplay. Too bad you simply do not believe an honest gal like Billie would want anything to do with a compulsive gambler like Huck. As for its insider look at the world of competitive card playing Lucky You is a loser. You’re out of luck if you don’t know what’s a flop or a flush. Hanson never finds an effective way to explain the game to the uninitiated. Those who do play Texas Hold 'Em may find themselves yawning when the cards are cut. Hanson stages each game as though the players are competing for nickels and dimes. He never raises the stakes dramatically even when Huck digs himself into a financial hole. This is all the more disappointing considering Hanson made the rap battles in 8 Mile tense affairs. “Sometimes nothing’s enough ” Huck says bluffing his way to a big win. Sorry but what Lucky You has is not enough to appease admirers of Hanson’s previous character studies or rabid fans of the World Series of Poker.
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Box Office Analysis, May 7: 'Spidey 3' Shatters Records
May 07, 2007 6:39am ESTAnd so it begins. Spider-Man 3, the webbed superhero’s latest adventure, smashed North American box-office records this weekend, with $148 million in its first three days. It has beat the previous record holder, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, which opened last year with $135.6 million. With $59.3 million on its opening day Friday alone, Spider-Man 3, which reunites Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi, also broke the single-day box-office record, previously held by Dead Man's Chest, which took in $55.8 million in its first day of release. According to The Associated Press, Spider-Man 3 has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film's worldwide total to $375 million, since it began rolling out overseas Tuesday. Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, Spider-Man 3 averaged an impressive $34,807 a theater. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its $258 million mega-production budget. The weekend's only other new wide release, the romantic drama Lucky You, starring Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, tanked with $2.5 million to come in sixth place. With Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters to follow, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood. "If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, told AP. "This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films." The overall box office soared with Spider-Man 3. The top-12 movies took in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from last year’s total of $99.6 million and up 167.03 percent from last weekend’s total of $66.1 million. The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Paramount’s Mission: Impossible III, which opened at No. 1 with $47.7 million in 4,054 theaters, averaging $11,777 per theater; Sony’s R.V., which stayed in second place in its second week with $11 million in 3,651 theaters, averaging $3,014 per theater; and Freestyle Releasing’s An American Haunting, which opened in third place with $5.7 million in 1,680 theaters, averaging $3,443 per theater. (Click here to read last year's box office report). BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES: (Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.) No. 1: Spider-Man 3 (Sony, PG-13) • Gross: $148 million • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 4,252 • Per-theater average: $34,807 No. 2: Disturbia (Paramount, PG-13) • Gross: $5.7 million (-37%) • Weeks opened: 4 • Theaters: 3,132 (+85) • Per-theater average: $1,826 • Cume to date: $59.8 million No. 3: Fracture (New Line, R) • Gross: $3.5 million (-49%) • Weeks opened: 3 • Theaters: 2,365 (-78) • Per-theater average: $1,480 • Cume to date: $26.5 million No. 4: The Invisible (Buena Vista, PG-13) • Gross: $3.1 million (-60%) • Weeks opened: 2 • Theaters: 2,019 (unchanged) • Per-theater average: $1,548 • Cume to date: $12.3 million No. 5: Next (Paramount, PG-13) • Gross: $2.7 million (-61%) • Weeks opened: 2 • Theaters: 2,733 (+8) • Per-theater average: $1,013 • Cume to date: $11.8 million No. 6: Lucky You (Warner Bros., PG-13) • Gross: $2.5 million • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 2,525 • Per-theater average: $996 No. 7: Meet the Robinsons (Buena Vista, G) • Gross: $2.4 million (-49%) • Weeks opened: 6 • Theaters: 2,107 (-354) • Per-theater average: $1,170 • Cume to date: $91.7 million No. 8: Blades of Glory (Paramount, PG-13) • Gross: $2.3 million (-55%) • Weeks opened: 6 • Theaters: 2,113 (-943) • Per-theater average: $1,089 • Cume to date: $111.6 million No. 9: Hot Fuzz (Rogue, R) • Gross: $2 million (-58%) • Weeks opened: 3 • Theaters: 1,266 (-6) • Per-theater average: $1,623 • Cume to date: $16.1 million No. 10: Are We Done Yet? (Sony, PG) • Gross: $1.7 million (-51%) • Weeks opened: 5 • Theaters: 1,704 (-997) • Per-theater average: $998 • Cume to date: $46.1 million OTHER OPENINGS Waitress (Fox Searchligt’s, R) • Gross: $91,470 • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 4 • Per-theater average: $22,867 Away From Her (Lionsgate, PG-13) • Gross: $56,000 • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 4 • Per-theater average: $14,000 The Flying Scotsman (MGM, PG-13) • Gross: $78,000 • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 100 • Per-theater average: $780 Paris Je T'Aime (First Look, R) • Gross: $37,777 • Weeks opened: NEW! • Theaters: 2 • Per-theater average: $18,889
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Edward Norton to Play Hulk?
April 16, 2007 6:33am ESTHollywood actor Edward Norton is set to play comic hero The Hulk in a new movie, according to media reports. The Fight Club star will take over the role from Troy actor Eric Bana, reports Hollywood film publication Variety. The 2003 film, which starred Bana and was directed by Ang Lee, was a commercial flop and received mixed reviews. Marvel Studios insists the sequel, which will be released next summer, will "be less serious than the first one and more in tune with the comic book series." The new installment will be directed by The Transporter's Louis Leterrier. COPYRIGHT 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All Global Rights Reserved.
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New 'Hulk' Movie Set for 2008
November 09, 2006 5:30am ESTA sequel to The Incredible Hulk is set to hit the big screen in 2008, and it will stay closer to the classic TV series than its comic-book origins. The movie will reference events which took place in Ang Lee's 2003 movie, but Eric Bana, who played the title character, will not return. Screenwriter Zak Penn says, "It's definitely not a remake. We're not going to tell the origin story of the Hulk. I think the tone will shift. We all loved the action (in the first one), and I like a lot of the creature stuff and I liked the performances in the movie. "There's something about the tone of the TV show--there's something about the man on the run with a dark secret, Jekyll-and-Hyde theme that we could do more with. There wasn't much of that in the Hulk movie." Article Copyright World Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.
