By Jeff Rosz | May 1st, 2013  One of those projects Melissa McCarthy picked up in February as Identity Thief was hitting theaters has just landed a release date. Distributed by Warner Bros., Tammy will roll out next July 2. The film is about a woman who hits the road with her profane grandmother after losing her job and finding out her husband has cheated on her. Susan Sarandon plays her co-star with Allison Janney supporting as McCarthy’s mother.
Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone are directing this one from a script they co-wrote. Its lead is next set to cameo in The Hangover Part III and star in The Heat as well as St. Vincent de Van Nuys–a high-flying indie project that casts the Mike & Molly lead opposite Bill Murray. Beyond that is a sequel to The Heat and several more in-development projects.
By Jeff Rosz | April 23rd, 2013  This is hardly a surprise, but Universal is already setting up a sequel to Paul Feig’s R-comedy The Heat which releases at the end of June. The studio is bullish on Melissa McCarthy’s continued ability to draw as much as they are with that of Sandra Bullock. Nobody expects this one to fail after Identity Thief powered through the Midwest, propelling its Mike & Molly star to further stardom. That said, one has to wonder how she might be able to fit this one in between her five films or so currently in development and her continued small screen presence.
Today’s news concerning the sequel option comes from Deadline who is reporting Katie Dippold, a former Parks & Recreation and MADtv writer, will be crafting the follow-up. It is worth pointing out Dippold also wrote the first one which leaves us one question: will Bridesmaids director Paul Feig return behind the scenes?
By Jeff Rosz | April 15th, 2013 The third clip has already premiered for Paul Feig’s action comedy The Heat starring an FBI Agent Sandra Bullock and a Boston cop Melissa McCarthy. This is a major film coming out of Fox as it signifies McCarthy’s follow-up to Identity Thief and Feig’s follow-up to Bridesmaids–both runaway success stories. Premiering at the end of June, Hollywood expects a near $50 million open even though the genre will have been served several times over earlier in the month. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | April 12th, 2013 Here is what looks to be the second official movie clip for The Heat (the first actually debuted via Melissa McCarthy’s Fallon appearance last week but did not make it to the web) in which the two leads played by McCarthy and Sandra Bullock drop some guy over the hood of a car. We have seen this in the trailer, but here is the extended version. Paul Feig directed the film for his Bridesmaids follow-up. After the success of Identity Thief, big things are expected for this comedy as it releases the last weekend of June. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | April 7th, 2013  Melissa McCarthy was back hosting Saturday Night Live last night for the second time in two seasons. The actress fared pretty well despite high-ish expectations suggesting a third time is in the cards. That may be putting it mildly though as the Mike & Molly star appears to have stolen the show in every sketch she was in–a tough task for any host. Hit the jump for the footage. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | April 5th, 2013 Melissa McCarthy has the honors of hosting the first Saturday Night Live back from spring break–the promos for which hit the web yesterday. These return episodes tend to be some of the better ones, and given McCarthy’s draw the pressure is on for a big show. The Mike & Molly star stopped by Jimmy Fallon Thursday to give the episode a little bump. Her next film The Heat does not come out until June. Nonetheless, the pic got some love during the appearance. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | April 3rd, 2013  Saturday Night Live is back in originals this week, and the first set of promos just hit the net. Taran Killam is Melissa McCarthy’s cast member buddy in this one as the Mike & Molly star will be hosting for the second time. The last time McCarthy hosted, it drew season-best ratings for the sketch variety program. Alternative rock band Phoenix is the musical guest this weekend. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | March 14th, 2013  Once again, the typically boring Hollywood press junket has developed into something of value as Total Film has compiled a bunch of their interviews in which they asked about Star Wars. Fans may be surprised about who would be game for J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII gearing up for release in 2015, but the takeaway is those completely uninterested. Jason Statham (not that he was on top of the list or anything) apparently hates sci-fi films while Mila Kunis is more likely to show up in the Star Trek universe down the road. It gets kind of awkward at times when some actors are curious about why they are being asked about a project that is not their own, but it is still six minutes worth the view. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | March 6th, 2013  This probably is not incredibly shocking news, but a few of you might get excited about it. Melissa McCarthy is on board to host the April 6th episode of Saturday Night Live. This will mark the sitcom star’s second time hosting with the last time out being in celebration of her hit R-comedy Bridesmaids. The April appearance will be following up yet another hit that came in the form of Identity Thief, the first $100 million comedy of 2013. Ratings are expected to be above the sketch series’ average as was last season’s McCarthy episode.
The Mike & Molly star’s next film will come out nearly two months later at the end of June as audiences can catch her opposite Sandra Bullock in the Paul Feig comedy The Heat.
By Jeff Rosz | February 18th, 2013  Today’s Oscar announcement lands less than six days from the actual event. Joining the presenters already announced will be Salma Hayek Pinault, Melissa McCarthy, Liam Neeson and John Travolta. Of course, that means Seth MacFarlane might have to scratch his Travolta jokes, but it might be worth having Liam Neeson there if only to talk about how he was in that less successful, non-musical version of Les Miserables back in 1998. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | February 7th, 2013  In looking at the box office predictions for this coming weekend, I was a bit stunned to see that the press had Identity Thief taking home as much as $29 million this weekend. Of course, this is based on all sorts of fancy data although that tends to be off by a whole lot from time to time which is why it is a bit shocking to see THR, BoxOffice.com, etc. showing bullish estimates for Seth Gordon’s follow-up to Horrible Bosses.
To be fair, there has not exactly been a comedy of the sort for months, and Movie 43 definitely does not begin to compare. Consumers could be angling for something more, and that might lead into a lot of love directed at small screen favorite Melissa McCarthy. Winter Storm Nemo is going to pose some problems for the North East, however, that still should not take the film’s opening below $20 million according to these early guesses.
So why the pessimism on my part? The movie has received terrible reviews and while comedies often shake the nay-sayers, that remains a rarity in today’s world where Jason Bateman’s last R-comedy (The Change-Up) which received similar feedback only found $13.5 million in its opening weekend against an early August release. This is not Horrible Bosses, and it is certainly not Bridesmaid which would be my explanation for guessing a conservative $10-15 million for the three-day.
The only other film opening wide this weekend is Side Effects–a thriller from director Steven Soderbergh.
By Jeff Rosz | February 6th, 2013  Melissa McCarthy has outed her upcoming projects following this year’s slate which includes Friday’s release Identity Thief and the Sandra Bullock-starrer The Heat bowing in June. THR has the story that the actress’ production company (On the Day) will be producing three new titles, two of which are being prepared for the Mike & Molly lead as starring vehicles.
The first project is called Michelle Darnell and it is based on an original character from McCarthy. She also drafted the story alongside her husband Ben Falcone with Steve Mallory coming on board to help flesh out the script. There is no logline just yet, but look for more information on that in the near future. Universal is distributing. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | February 5th, 2013 With Identity Thief entering theaters this Friday, Melissa McCarthy took to Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday to create a little bit more awareness. The comedy from Horrible Bosses helmer Seth Gordon has received a fair bit of advertising, but it is worth getting out there further word on the project as most non-horror films since the start of the year have noticeably flopped. Many suspect this one could be added to the pile, but others are saying it exceeds expectations. Hopefully this is a repeat of Gordon’s last big screen offering where the project flew under the radar before quietly establishing itself as a summer hit. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | January 30th, 2013 Melissa McCarthy was on The Daily Show last night to promote her new film Identity Thief from the director of Horrible Bosses. The film has the Mike & Molly actress starring alongside Jason Bateman in the title role which is not exactly a home run. Her co-star has been hit or miss throughout his career, and ultimately nobody knows just yet how this one will go down. That brings us to conversation ‘A’ at the top of the appearance, who is to blame if this film fails. Continue Reading
By Jeff Rosz | January 29th, 2013 Even though marketing was already in full swing for Paul Feig’s follow-up to Bridesmaids, Fox is electing to pass on the genre-packed season of spring in favor of the summer. The date being given for The Heat is now June 28th which should sound somewhat familiar because that is roughly where Seth MacFarlane’s Ted cleaned up last year after the release of G.I. Joe was delayed. Since both are R-comedies, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what the studio is looking to get for juggling its schedule.
The Heat was originally set to release on April 5 which was a pretty good, low-competition spot to begin with. Now, the Melissa McCarthy-starrer will do battle with Kick-Ass 2, White House Down, and the second weekend remnants of World War Z. It is hard to imagine Fox would do such a thing unless they believed they got the goods, but then again those three pics should skew male although there is evidence to suggest the female demo would be interesting in the sequel to Kick-Ass and the Channing Tatum-starrer.
Related:
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy Star in the Red-Band Trailer for ‘The Heat’
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