Gawker: defamer, the simpsons movie

ABC Very Gay-Responsible

Seth — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:19:00 EDT

· GLAAD's first-ever "Network Responsibility Index" rates each network for how well they "handle the still-sensitive issue of depicting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals on TV." ABC got the highest rating for shows like Ugly Betty, Brothers and Sisters, and the upcoming Cavemen, sure to stir up much constructive discussion about gay-caveman stereotypes. [Variety]
· International audiences flock to The Simpsons Movie, where the hilarious image of a grown man choking his son transcends all geocultural boundaries. [Variety]
· Kevin Reilly greenlights his first project for Fox—The Oaks, about "three different couples who inhabit the same house at three different times," all of whom are visited by ghosts. Ben Silverman reads this, secretly thinks to himself: "But where's the sexy?" [Variety]
· Scott Rudin buys the rights to best-seller The Dangerous Book for Boys, sure to inspire countless "Dangerous Book for Assistants" parodies, featuring merit badges for hurled-object ducking. [THR]
· Evil babies and flashback jokes appear never to get old, as The Family Guy wins Sunday night for Fox.

Johnny Depp Returns To Gonzo Roots

Mark — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 14:44:49 EDT

· Johnny Depp continues in his quest to wash the bitter, piratey taste of commerce out of his mouth, signing on for an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel The Rum Diary. [Variety]
· Brett Ratner, Billion Dollar Director Day also sees the announcement of a new two-year deal with 20th Century Fox TV, for whom he produces Prison Break and the upcoming Women's Murder Club, establishing that there is no visual medium safe from his boundless ambition. [THR]
· The Simpsons Movie takes in $96 million at the foreign box office, setting a number of single-day and opening weekend records and crushing competition like Transformers and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. [Variety]
· Perhaps because nearly every Simpsons fan in America was watching the World's Favorite Dysfunctional Family at the multiplex, a repeat of the TV show finished behind CBS's Big Brother in the Sunday night ratings race. [THR]
· All hail your new global leader: Variety editor-at-large Elizbaeth Guider jumps to THR as editor, where she'll be "the global leader responsible for the editorial vision and strategic direction of The Hollywood Reporter's daily and weekly editions, digital content offerings and industry-leading executive conferences while overseeing its staff of editors and reporters worldwide." [THR]

Highest. Grossing. Episode. Ever.

Mark — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:46:30 EDT

Monday morning! Nope, even saying it with forced enthusiasm doesn't make it seem any less painful. Take your mind off the bleakness with the weekend box office numbers:

1. The Simpsons Movie—$71.850 million
It seems that Fox's clever promotional onslaught—the conversion of selected 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts, the giant Homer rendering in the English countryside poised to assault the genitals of an ancient fertility god with a donut, and the ambitious strategy of teasing the film's opening by running 18 years of half-hour "mini-films" on their television network to create awareness for their feature—has paid off handsomely, as The Simpsons Movie's nearly $72 million opening weekend far surpassed the safe $40-50 million projections the studio had claimed.

Emboldened by this runaway success, Fox is mulling cutting the buzz-building lead time for a sequel in half, which should put The Simpsons Movie II in theaters in the summer of 2016, a window that should allow enough time for the construction of a fully functioning Springfield metropolis, host to the next installment's premiere, to be constructed at the border of Maine, Ohio, Nevada and Kentucky.

2. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry—$19.063 million
We'd take The Simpsons Movie's lone*, tossed off, pitch-perfect gay joke (we won't spoil it for you, but if you've seen the movie, we're sure you know what we're talking about) over 110 minutes of Adam Sandler and Kevin James exploring every way in which it's icky for hetero firefighters to pretend to be lovers.

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix—$17.065 million
A sad thought: With only two books in the Potter franchise left for Warner Bros. to adapt into movies, the studio probably stands to make only about another $1.5 billion or so in worldwide box office receipts. Let's all send them $10 each to lessen the blow of losing their cash cow.

4. Hairspray—$15.550 million
While we've previously mentioned how disturbing we find seeing John Travolta transformed into Edna Turnblad, in truth, it's the only the second-most terrifying thing we've seen him do.

9. I Know Who Killed Me—$3.4 million
No matter how badly a movie performs, there's always a silver lining: at least Lindsay Lohan's reps can claim that she can open a movie stronger than Big Boi and Faizon Love, a fact which may open up a new career in urban comedies for the troubled actress.

[*OK, maybe not so lone! See comments below.]

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE July 27-29, 2007 [Box Office Mojo]

Oregonian Congressman Cries Election Fraud In 'Simpsons Movie' Premiere Contest

Seth — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 13:16:08 EDT

Not everyone is as tickled as the residents of Springfield, VT over their victory in The Simpsons Movie premiere contest—particularly Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who, in a letter to the memory-deficient head of the Department of Justice that begins, "Heidely ho, Attorney General Gonzalez," demands to know how his own state's nominee could have lost to a town with a population of a mere 9000.

This clip from Countdown with Keith Olbermann summarizes the exchange nicely, highlighting the various potshots taken at the Bush appointee under the guise of yet more viral Simpsons Movie promotion—though DeFazio stops short of accusing the Attorney General of having denied Guantanamo detainees the basic Constitutional right of Habeas Donuts.

Previously: 'The Simpsons Movie' Marketers Mercifully Spare Us Homer's Morning Wood [Defamer]

'The Simpsons Movie' Marketers Mercifully Spare Us Homer's Morning Wood

Seth — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:51:40 EDT

We suspect generations of USC film marketing majors will be required to study The Simpsons Movie campaign, whose out-of-the-Slurpee-container approach to creating buzz for the feature film debut of the familiar yellow clan scores points for both its originality and ambition. But not even retrofitting select 7-Eleven locations across the nation into living Temples of Apu can match the sheer audacity of drawing a giant, donut wielding Homer beside a centuries-old fertility symbol carved into the landscape of Dorset, England.

(We pause, of course, to acknowledge how easily the ridiculous image above could have been created with even the most primitive digital drawing programs, but take will take UK tab The Sun at their word that the sprinklicious symbol was accomplished with water-based biodegradable paint.) Local pagans, not surprisingly, feel their priapic, club-wielding totem has no place next to the crass, tighty-whitey consumerism of its new neighbor, but are told there is nothing that can be done until the first rainfall washes the giant Homer away.

[Photo: The Sun]

Pagans have a cow over Homer [thesun.co.uk via BoingBoing]

Springfield, Vermont beats out 13 other Springfields...

Seth — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:31:54 EDT

Springfield, Vermont beats out 13 other Springfields across the U.S. to host the premiere of The Simpsons Movie, thanks in no small part to the nearby nuclear power plant, and a healthy population of three-eyed trout. [Reuters]

Line Between Real Burbank And Fictional Springfield Convenience Stores Blurred

Mark — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:35:41 EDT

The marketing geniuses behind The Simpsons Movie promotion that has transformed a number of 7-11s into Kwik-E-Marts are proving maniacally devoted to Springfield verisimilitude; in addition to making sure that the store has clerks playing the role of Apu, they've also apparently hired background actors to roam the store in-character; above, the Burbank location's Comic Book Guy pauses to consider his animated inspiration before heading inside to change into his costume, then spend a day wandering the aisles, occasionally engaging a customer near a snack case with a dismissive, "Worst. Nachos. Ever."

[Photo:AP]

7-Elevens become 'Kwik-E-Mart' for Simpsons movie [Yahoo]

'Simpsons' Fans To Step Into Their Wildest Convenience Store Fantasies

Seth — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:08:53 EDT

As we first noted back in March, select 7-Eleven's across the country have been magically transformed over the weekend into Kwik-E-Mart's—part of an elaborate promotional tie-in for The Simpsons Movie. There's a Burbank location at the corners of Olive and Verdugo, where a Flickr user has lovingly documented all the WooHoo! Blue Vanilla Squishees and Sprinklicious donuts that will be gobbled up in the days to come by die-hard Simpsons fanatics who have long cursed their lack of yellow skin. LAist, meanwhile, has a photo of their resident Apu-alike, Golam, whose sunshiny smile belies his familiarity with armed-robbery protocol.

Kwik-E-Mart [Flicker]
Previously: America's Youth Soon To Experience The Psychedelic Effects Of A Syrup-Only Squishee For Themselves [Defamer]