Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Supercut of the Day:

See how many of the 100 most iconic movie lines of all time you can quote along with this video:

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Mash-Up of the Day:

Maybe the key to defeating the dinosaurs in Jurassic World is to try to eat them. Let’s learn from Cookie Monster in this Sesame Street parody of Jurassic Park called “Jurassic Cookie” (via /Film).

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Trailer Mix of the Day:

We all love to knock The Lost World: Jurassic Park, but nobody makes fun of it better than Honest Trailers.

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Vintage Image of the Day:

As we celebrate 30 years of The Goonies this week, we learn of the loss of Mary Ellen Trainor to cancer. Rest in piece, Mrs. Walsh.

Filmmaker in Focus:

Speaking of movies co-starring Mary Ellen Trainor, here’s The Goonies director Richard Donner analyzing the opening chase scene from Lethal Weapon 2 (via Filmmaker IQ):

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Here’s part of that opening scene:

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Fan Art of the Day:

We’ve seen a lot of detailed Furiosa art out there, but this stick-figure piece for Mad Max: Fury Road, part of a Buzzfeed movie quiz, is also pretty cool.

Study of an Actor:

Check out the trailer for the hot new documentary Listen to Me Marlon, which profiles the life of Marlon Brandon in his own words. It opens next month before hitting Showtime.

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Cosplay of the Day:

This family staged a heroic rescue with Dad as Batman and son as Robin and Mom as damsel in distress. Hopefully those railroad tracks aren’t in use and this was all in good, safe fun. Photo by Thiele Photography (via BuzzFeed)

Daily Dose of Star Wars:

Who cares if there’s less room for all your remotes and snacks and large picture books? This carved wood and glass X-Wing coffee table is too cool to be practical (via Geekologie):

Today’s Special Anniversary:

20 years ago, Congo opened in theaters, disappointing any fans of Michael Crichton‘s novel hoping for a Jurassic Park-level hit. Watch the original trailer:

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The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 left a lot of people salivating for what would happen next in the saga of Katniss Everdeen and the oppressed people of Panem, and now we have our answer.

Love! War! Despair! More war! More despair! Revolution! Welcome to the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

Once again directed by Francis Lawrence, Part 2 obviously picks up where the last movie left off, with the revolution practically knocking on the door of the villainous capitol. This first trailer is more of a teaser stacked with eye-popping imagery and less step-by-step plot specifics (hey, if you want those, the books have been out for years), so there’s no risking of watching it and feeling like you’ve just seen the whole thing.

That said, there is definitely a risk that November 20, 2015 is going to suddenly seem 10,000 times farther away.

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Here are a bunch of little bites to satisfy your hunger for movie culture:

Supercut of the Day:

Jacob T. Swinney highlights the sounds of Jurassic Park in his latest video essay:

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Mash-Up of the Day:

What if David Lynch directed The Shining? It’d be even creepier, apparently. Check out “Blue Shining” (via Press Play):

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Trailer Mix of the Day:

Here’s what Mad Max: Fury Road looks like as an animated film, where each frame is a painting (via Press Play):

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Fan Art of the Day:

Jared Leto‘s Joker from Suicide Squad, as if painted by Edvard Munch. See more classic works of art redone as Batman-themed pop art at Design Taxi.

Toy Time:

This Hulkbuster figure from Avengers: Age of Ultron fits a regular-size Iron Man figure inside it. Now we just need it to talk and respond to the name “Veronica” (via Geek Tyrant):

Study of an Actor:

The following video essay focuses on Jennifer Connelly and asks, “Do characters that share an actor have the same soul?” Watch “She Stands at the End (Requieum for a Wharf)” (via Film Studies For Free):

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Filmmaker in Focus:

Now that you’ve seen the trailer for his latest, The Martian, watch a video essay on Ridley Scott titled “Ridley Scott, A Body of Work” (via The Playlist):

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Cosplay of the Day:

Sometimes you see cosplay and you think, “that might actually just be the character.” Such as in the case of this Splinter from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (via Fashionably Geek):

Daily Dose of Star Wars:

This Millennium Falcon cockpit bed is apparently only child-size, but there are tons of adult fans of Star Wars who wouldn’t mind having one of their own (via Design Taxi):

Anniversary of the Day:

25 years ago, Another 48 Hrs. debuted in theaters, re-teaming Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. Watch the original trailer for the sequel:

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Today the trailer hit for Ridley Scott’s next big sci-fi epic, The Martian. Almost instantly people began complaining that the trailer was full of spoilers. That’s not exactly true. In fact, if the trailer for The Martian spoils anything, it’s the experience of reading the fantastic book it’s based on.

The basic problem is that you can pick up a copy Andy Weir’s The Martian knowing the basic set up: an astronaut is stranded on Mars and has to figure out how to survive. You can pitch that to someone and it makes sense, and since Weir writes the book as if they were journal entries from that astronaut, it seems like that’s all the story is about. It’s a much bigger story, though.

The story is so big, in fact, that you can’t hide it in the movie’s marketing. All it takes is one visit to the movie’s cast page and you instantly realize, hey, Matt Damon may be the only person on Mars, but he isn’t the only person in the movie. And since you can’t hide it, you may as well embrace it.

So if you watched the trailer and think the movie has been ruined for you, I want to talk you off that ledge. The Martian has the potential to not only be incredibly entertaining, but a pretty profound piece of science fiction. Here’s why.

The Martian and the accident

Matt Damon stars as Mark Watney, a botanist aboard the Ares 3 manned mission to Mars, and the story opens with him being left for dead on the Red Planet. A surprise storm barreled down on his landing team, forcing their evacuation. Watney gets struck by debris during the chaos and the team, having every reason to believe he’s dead and out of reach, has no choice but to leave his dead body behind.

Watney later wakes up, half buried in the Martian soil, and manages his way back to their habitat, which was never fully set up. He has no immediate means of contacting either his fellow astronauts or NASA. All he can do is try to survive long enough to figure out how to make that happen.

(And also make us laugh, because Watney is actually a tremendously funny character. He’ll be quoted for years.)

The NASA scientists and the Earthlings

Back on Earth, NASA learns from Watney’s crewmates of his untimely death. They promptly inform the world, which then mourns for the first human who died on Mars. Unfortunately this also means the loss of this very vital mission to Mars, as the Ares 3 must return to Earth. But then, one day, a low level employee spots a few subtle changes at the accident site, eventually proving that Watney is still alive.

There’s a catch, though. NASA can’t communicate with Mark, and he can’t communicate with them. Even if they could, they can’t rescue him. And if they tell the crew of the Ares 3 they stranded a live person on Mars to die a horrible death of starvation, they know they’d want to try and save him even though they don’t have the means (or time) to do so. So NASA has to figure out how to save Mark’s life, how to stop the Ares 3 crew from killing themselves, and how to tell (or not) all of this to the world.

The Apollo 13-ness of it all

Remember that scene in Apollo 13 where the NASA scientists have to figure out how to make a square peg fit into a round hole using only the supplies aboard Apollo 13, and then they have to hope that the crew actually builds it successfully?

The Martian is basically a non-stop version of that scene. Even when you think you know what’s going to happen, watching Watney try to figure out how to pull off the impossible is straight up exhilarating. People are already loving his “I am going to have to science the shit out this” line, but the reality is the entire story is about everyone trying to constantly “science the shit” out of everything.

The whole story is like one giant science fair experiment that keeps going horribly wrong. Seriously, Weir’s ability to turn scientific equations into action movie set pieces is kind of astounding. If Drew Goddard’s script can capture even some of them, we’re in for something special.

More than just one man’s story

Watney’s story becomes a drama that takes place not just on a global, but an intergalactic stage. The Martian isn’t really about whether or not Mark does survive, it’s about if mankind, with all of our problems, is collectively capable of saving him, and if the answer to that question is indicative of our own future as a species.

Like I said, there’s a much bigger story here, one that isn’t easily spoiled. The trailer definitely hasn’t spoiled it, but let’s just hope all future marketing keeps it that way.

Oh, and let’s hope that Ridley Scott pulls the whole thing off.

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The Martian hits theaters on November 25, 2015. But if you can’t wait, I highly recommend reading the book.

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It’s difficult to pick a favorite character in Mad Max: Fury Road, but outside of Furiosa, Nux, Immortan Joe and, of course, Max, one of the major standouts is the Doof Warrior. He doesn’t have any lines and he doesn’t have much to do in the way of the plot, but the image of a guy playing a flame-shooting guitar on a mobile stage in the middle of a massive chase sequence is not a common sight. So, he’s extremely memorable. And quite imitable, if you have the right materials and can keep yourself safe.

Become a ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ Hipster By Making Your Own Flame-Throwing Ukelele

One fan has shared a way to find your inner Doof Warrior with an easily constructed instrument inspired by the fiery headbanger. He didn’t go with an electric guitar, though, because “the scale of the one in the movie was a bit outside my comfort zone, so I decided to build a flamethrower ukulele instead.” Ukes are small, and so they aren’t always looked at as being the coolest of instruments. That all changes with a burst of fire coming out the top. “Tiny bubbles,” meet big inferno.

Now you just need to pack your pickup truck with giant speakers, just as this guy did, get a full-red outfit and a convoy of maniacs and warrior boys to ride with, and you’re good to go. We wouldn’t recommend wearing the skin off your dead mother’s face, as we learned the movie’s Doof Warrior does, any more than we recommend you make yourself blind for full accuracy of character. Actually, now that we think about it, we don’t recommend building a flame-throwing ukelele, either. This thing looks really, really dangerous.

But if you’re curious, check out this guy’s fan-build video showing how he made the extreme uke using stuff available at any hardware store:

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Netflix has been betting huge on original content for a while now, but most of those investments have been in making TV shows. Granted, some of those shows do have movie ties, like Marvel’s Daredevil or the upcoming Wet Hot American Summer, but for the most part their commitment to original movie content has been rather small, with their first major deal being for new Adam Sandler comedies.

That’s changing, though, with Netflix having just made their biggest commitment yet to stealing some studio thunder. They’ve agreed to pay in excess of $30 million for the exclusive rights to War Machine, Brad Pitt’s next movie as a star and producer.

No, War Machine isn’t yet another solo Marvel movie, but it is a satirical comedy inspired by the book The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America’s War In Afghanistan. It’ll be written and directed by David Michod (Animal Kingdom, The Rover) and produced by Pitt’s own company, Plan B Entertainment, which is on a hot streak having recently made Selma, 12 Years a Slave, and World War Z.

Netflix has already made one big movie play this year by taking on the potentially great Beasts of No Nation starring Idris Elba and directed by Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), so matching that with War Machine gives the online streaming giant a pretty impressive arsenal. And considering the company keeps expanding all over the world (Italy, Portugal, and Spain were all just announced today), it may not be that long before Netflix graduates from expensive future Oscar nominees to expensive future blockbusters.

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The Rock Talks About That Big Trouble in Little China Remake

If there’s anyone who can do justice to a Big Trouble in Little China remake and lend it such much-needed nerd cred, it’s Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The success of his most recent projects has turned the former wrestler into one of today’s hottest in-demand stars, and he’ll need all of that star power to deliver a Big Trouble remake fans of the classic John Carpenter movie will be proud of. But what else can he bring to the recently-announced movie?

How about John Carpenter?

While speaking about the project to EW, The Rock says he wants Carpenter involved at some level. “I loved reading the reactions from the fans, that they were so polarized – I’m the same way,” he said. “My response is: know that I come to the project with nothing but love and respect for the original, which is why we want to bring on John Carpenter.”

Whether or not Carpenter lends some support is probably based on how the script turns out. In fact, Johnson says it all comes down to the script, to the point where this won’t even happen if they don’t get something juicy to work with.

“Let’s see what feels good, what we can come up with and then go from there,” Johnson said. “And as we write it, if the whole thing starts to stink up, then we thank everybody for their efforts and accept this just couldn’t make it.”

James Cameron Lends Some Street Cred to Terminator: Genisys

The Rock isn’t the only one tossing out some street cred to upcoming nerd-fueled projects — James Cameron is in your corner, too. The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day director is featured in a new video in which he talks about what it was like watching Terminator: Genisys (in theaters July 1) for the first time.

Check out the video below, via IGN.

What’s interesting is how Cameron considers Terminator: Genisys to be the third film in the franchise, bypassing both Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Terminator Salvation — making it a direct sequel to his two movies. He also says the choice to make John Connor the villain is “pretty cool because you create this riff against expectation,” adding that if you like the Terminator films, “you’re gonna love this movie.”

If the director who kicked off the entire franchise thinks we’re gonna love the new one, that’s a very good thing. Now we just need to convince him to direct the next one… (wink, wink).

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The Stand: Josh Boone (The Fault in Our Stars), who came on board the big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand more than a year ago, first described it as a “three-hour, R-rated version,” then King hinted that it might be made “in an entirely different and innovative way.” Now comes word that Warner Bros., CBS Films, and Showtime are talking about making an 8-hour miniseries first, ahead of a big-budget movie that would debut in theaters. Shooting would begin early next year on the project. [The Wrap]

Wool: Nicole Perlman, who shared a writing credit for Guardians of the Galaxy, has been hired to write a new draft of the screenplay for Wool. Based on a science-fiction novel by Hugh Howey, the story centers on a community living underground because the air is no longer breathable on the surface of the Earth. Ridley Scott is one of the producers. [The Wrap]

The Martian Video: In a new video for The Martian, an astronaut (Matt Damon) hosts a tour of a Mars-bound spacecraft and introduces the crew members before liftoff. The crew will experience a disastrous storm after they arrive on Mars, and Damon gets left behind when they evacuate. Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, and Kate Mara also star; the movie will land in theaters on November 25. Watch the first trailer for The Martian here. [SlashFilm]

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Jurassic World Trailer: An extended first look at Jurassic World shows Chris Pratt in action. He’s a trainer at a very exotic theme park, and when things go bad he tries to keep people from getting eaten by dinosaurs. Bryce Dallas Howard and Vincent D’Onofrio also star; the movie stomps into theaters this Friday, June 12. [MovieClips]

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Creep Trailer: Suffering from terminal cancer, in Creep Mark Duplass hires Patrick Brice to document a day in his life so as to leave a permanent record for his young son. But all is not as it seems, as a trip into the woods proves to be far more fearsome than imagined. The movie will be available to watch via various Video On Demand platforms on June 23. [Film Festivals and Indie Films]

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We’re liking this trend where Hollywood is delivering a new space epic every fall. Just in the last three years we had Gravity, Interstellar and now Ridley Scott’s The Martian, based on the super-nerdy book about an astronaut (Matt Damon) who becomes stranded on Mars after his crew leaves believing he’s already dead.

The film hits theaters on November 25, and here’s the first trailer.

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At around three minutes in length, this first look at The Martian presents a different kind of space-rescue story, told from two different vantage points: the astronaut stranded on Mars, using science to extend his life long enough to be rescued, and his crew who disregard NASA’s instructions in order to pull off one helluva dangerous rescue mission.

The film comes stacked with a fantastic ensemble cast, with Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Sean Bean and Donald Glover all in the mix. And if there’s any director we want taking us to outer space, it’s Ridley Scott (Alien, Prometheus, Blade Runner), who knows a thing or two about delivering memorable sci-fi movies.

Plus, “I’m gonna science the sh*t out of this” is already one of our favorite lines of 2015. Bring on The Martian!

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Here’s your estimated 3-day box office returns (new releases bolded):

1. Spy – $30.0 million ($30.0 million total)

2. San Andreas – $26.4 million ($99.0 million total)

3. Insidious Chapter 3 – $23.0 million ($23.0 million total)

4. Entourage – $10.4 million ($17.8 million total)

5. Mad Max: Fury Road – $7.9 million ($130.8 million total)

6. Pitch Perfect 2 – $7.7 million ($161.0 million total)

7. Tomorrowland – $7.0 million ($76.2 million total)

8. The Avengers: Age of Ultron – $6.2 million ($438.0 million total)

9. Aloha – $3.3 million ($16.3 million total)

10. Poltergeist – $2.8 million ($44.4 million total)

The Big Stories

Box office fell slightly below expectations for all the major releases this weekend, but that does not exactly translate into disappointing returns for any of them. People are still down with Melissa McCarthy, especially when she’s in a funny movie…directed by Paul Feig. Horror fans seem to still dig the Insidious series, too. And for some reason people went out to see Entourage. Yes, there was certainly something this weekend for everyone.

McCarthy + Feig = $$$

Paul Feig’s Bridesmaids grossed $169.1 million in 2011 and The Heat took home $159.5 million in 2013. Can Spy come close to those numbers? Fox would certainly like to think so. People should be reminded that while Melissa McCarthy has seemingly dominated nearly everything she has been associated with since her Oscar-nominated breakthrough, this is only the second time she’s received top billing.

The $134.5 million of Identity Thief had her paired with Jason Bateman in the dead period of February and The Heat had her teamed with Sandra Bullock. Her previous top billing was last summer’s horrifically reviewed Tammy ($84.5 million), that she co-wrote that with hubby Ben Falcone, who directed. Spy‘s numbers are already much better than that.

If its score holds, Spy will be just the 16th wide release by one of the majors since 2010 to score a 95% or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, and just the 9th film that’s not in the family category — a stat that pairs it with this year’s Mad Max: Fury Road, 2010’s The Social Network & True Grit, 2011’s Moneyball, 2012’s Argo, 2013’s Gravity, and 2014’s Selma & Nightcrawler. Those are the kind of numbers scored by Best Picture nominees.

Cinemascore voters gave Spy a “B+”, the same score given to hit Bridesmaids, which posted a 6.44 multiple from opening weekend. That’s the second best increase for a summer release since 2011, beaten only by The Help which opened three months later. Even with three weeks to itself until Ted 2 comes out, that seems like a rather lofty proposition.

Looking at other comedies with the same Cinemascore in the vicinity of Spy‘s numbers we can find Horrible Bosses, The Other Woman and Sex and the City 2. That small sample size registered an average multiple of 3.53, which would put Spy in the range of an $105 million gross. On the other hand, if it can come close to the average of a Tomatometer score of 95%+ (5.15) it would be looking at $154 million, right up there The Heat and Bridesmaids. That would certainly make for a very unique partnership between Melissa McCarthy and Paul Feig.

The Horror Prequel and the TV Show Adaptation

$13.2 million translated to $54 million which then translated to $40.2 million and $83.5 million. That was the leap between the openings and final grosses of the first two Insidious chapters. James Wan has moved on to directing what is soon to be the third highest grossing film (Furious 7) in history (Avengers: Age of Ultron has also just moved to fifth all-time ahead of the final Harry Potter.) But Leigh Whannell, the friend that started the journey with Wan in writing Saw, has taken over directorial duties and the reviews have not been half-bad, hovering around 59-60%. Better than Chapter 2 (38%) and slightly less than the original (66%).

However, while the first film was the rare horror film that grew from word-of-mouth and gathered a most impressive 4.06 multiple for the genre, the sequel only registered a 2.0755 even with a “B+”. That’s a number the Poltergeist remake is still trying to hit (as it struggles to reach $50 million) and it got off to a very similar start ($22.6 million) as Insidious: Chapter 3’s ($23.0 million, which could be $22.6 once the Monday numbers are confirmed.) All signs may point to this being the lowest-grossing Insidious film, but with a Blumhouse-sponsored budget of just $10 million don’t count on it being the final chapter just yet.

Doug Ellin may not have given his characters real closure on the final season of Entourage — two impending marriages manage to fail in the eight days and eight months later where the movie version kicks off. Before the film even made its $5.3 million on “opening day” ($2 million of that was made Tuesday night), Variety was reporting a $20 million Friday-to-Sunday for the big-screen adaptation. Not only is the film going to come up short of that for its 5-day gross, it’s barely going to make half of those projections just on the weekend. $10.4 million from Friday-to-Sunday. $17 million since late Tuesday night.

Tales of the Top Ten

San Andreas is just a day away from hitting the $100 million mark; the 11th film of 2015 to do so. Sony can certainly use a success story, as can this summer from the studio’s point of view.

It sure as heck ain’t going to be Cameron Crowe’s Aloha, dropping 66% this weekend. Only two films this summer are currently in the black – Avengers: Age of Ultron and Pitch Perfect 2 – and San Andreas looks like the next best chance of the big-budget titles to break out of the red, but it still needs over $150 million to do so.

While Insidious: Chapter 3 may indeed be the next film to post a profit, Mad Max: Fury Road is still hopeful there is enough in the tank worldwide to earn the money it deserves. It has just passed $300 million worldwide and it’s still leaps and bounds the most successful word-of-mouth release of the summer with a 2.88 multiple to date compared to the next best (2.34), but it’s still looking at another $124 million to recoup.

That 2.34 multiple, by the way, belongs to Disney’s Tomorrowland. The good news for Disney is that it’s not going to be quite the disaster as Mars Needs Moms, The Lone Ranger or John Carter. But it’s still going to need about $86 million worldwide to avoid being one of the ten biggest bombs since 2011; a list that already claims this year’s Jupiter Ascending.

To end with some good news, the Brian Wilson film,Love & Mercy just missed the top ten with $2.2 million on just 483 screens. That’s the best launch on under 500 screens this year, ahead of Woman In Gold. It also sits at 88% at Rotten Tomatoes, which means it’s also the second-best reviewed film of the week behind Spy.

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