Ender's Game Red Carpet Interview: Aramis Knight & Khylin Rhambo

It's always a good time talking to Bean actor Aramis Knight and were pleased when we had a chance to speak with him this past Monday on the red carpet. We had scared him a bit with the threat of a live pop quiz after his hilarious appearance on EnderCast but we're not that mean.



Here is the ICEE reference for those who missed Asa's appearance on our podcast as well.

Khylin Rhambo (Dink Meeker) also stopped by for a quick chat and told us about his favorite scene -- which, if you watch all the videos, you'll find seems to be everyone's favorite scene.



You'll know it when you see it. ;)

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$28 Million Opening Weekend for Ender's Game

Ender's Game won the U.S. box office this weekend with an estimated $28 million in ticket sales from 3,407 theaters. While this is a solid start for the movie - and better than feared - the numbers pale in comparison with similar big-budget sci-fi starts in 2013. Ender's opening weekend was way off from Pacific Rim and Oblivion (both over $37 million), and was about on par with After Earth ($27.5 million).

The $110 million budget film will have to hold strong for a few weeks and play well in Europe to find financial success, which would support additional sequels. Unfortuately it doesn't look that way at the moment. Ender's Game opened very weak in the two biggest markets in Europe, with just $1.87 million in the United Kingdom (opened 5th place last weekend) and $800,000 in Germany where it opened 6th place.

To put these numbers in perspective: Thor: The Dark World, which opens in the U.S. on Friday and will be tough direct competition for Ender's Game, turned in about $110 million internationally last week, opened in the U.K. with $13.4 million and brought in $7.9 million from Germany - on the opening weekend. It is hard to imagine Thor not crushing Ender's numbers and marginalizing its audience this coming weekend in the US. And with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opening later this month it will be really tough for Ender's Game to show a strong hold with the general audience.

It looks like a decision on possible Ender's Game sequels won't be made before early next year when the movie opens in the world's second and third biggest markets, China and Japan.

The most positive takeaway from the opening weekend is that the audience generally likes the film. The audience score at Rotten Tomatoes climbed from 76% on Saturday (47,869 users) to 78% this morning (53,478 users). Similar at IMDb where the audience rates the film a 7.2 (9,064 votes) now, up from 7.0 (3,438 votes) on Saturday. The Ender News Review-O-Meter is tracking 187 English-language reviews for an average critics score of 68%, which is also pretty decent for the sci-fi genre.

So why is the movie not getting better, bigger numbers at the box office? As I wrote about two weeks ago on this blog, it was my concern that "the most avid group of moviegoers in the U.S., teenagers and young adults age 12 to 24, could have been addressed much better by promoting the young cast beyond what has been done so far," and if we look a bit deeper into the reported numbers, it looks like my concerns were warranted.

According to distributor Lionsgate/Summit, the movie's audience was 58 percent male and 54 percent over the age of 25. Ender's Game did not create much of a buzz with a young audience beyond those familiar with the original story. When we challenged the studio to "make a wide-release Ender's Game trailer with no adults. It's a story about kids, after all," it was for a good reason.

Box Office Mojo summed it up nicely today:

Marketing emphasized Harrison Ford's gruff military commander while failing to show what it is about Ender that makes him worth rooting for. This kept the movie from really connecting with those who aren't familiar with the source material, which is the key to success in the adaptation game.

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Win Limited Edition Art and Props from the Film!

MovieTickets.com is running a super exciting sweepstakes where one lucky Launchie can win framed Battle School production artwork, signed by the artist, as well as framed Battle School army badges.

Click here to enter - and here to check out all the rules.

You have to have an account with MovieTickets.com to enter, as well as be a resident of the continental US, unfortunately excluding Alaska, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Guam, Puerto Rico, and all other U.S. territories and possessions -- why Rhode Island, I have no idea.

Contest ends November 11th and the winner will be notified on or around that date.

Good luck, Launchies!

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Ender's Game Review: A Beautiful, Moving Adaptation

Gavin Hood is a true fan. He filmed an unfilmable story and he did it very, very well.

As you all probably know, I've been following this movie since principal production began in New Orleans. I visited the set in May of 2012 and left completely convinced that I had no reason to worry; Ender's story was in the hands of a group of fans and I believed there was no way I'd be disappointed come November. The closer we got to release, though, the more I began to contemplate what I would write on Ender News if I disliked it. Would I need to remain positive? Fudge the truth or be completely honest?

Fortunately I don't have to make that decision.

Crystal from EnderWiggin.net, Asa Butterfield (Ender), and Kelly (me!) from Ender News

I loved this film. I found it to be a beautiful, moving adaptation with the heart of the story and most of the key plot points preserved. It was entertaining, emotional, and the twist was done so well that even I -- who knew what was coming -- inhaled sharply when all was revealed.

First off, Asa Butterfield makes a moving, authentic Ender. I never doubted that he would be a convincing child genius but, as a smaller-framed actor, I was slightly afraid that he wouldn't be able to pull off that Peter-esque aggressive streak. However, he manages -- and very convincingly. And since the movie was filmed mostly in chronological order, you can definitely see him age and grow as time in the film passes which adds to his performance. He was vulnerable, he was intense, he was Ender. Butterfield absolutely killed it.

And then, the visuals: altogether it is a stunning visual experience. Garrett Warren's take on weightlessness is not only believable, but beautiful as well. While there are more Battle Room scenes than I actually thought we would get, you can't help but sigh when Ender heads back to Earth, knowing our time in null-g is over. The Command School training scenes are also impressive; everyone needs to see this film in IMAX just to experience Ender's first go at the simulator. When he raises his arms to pull his fleet forward, your heart will skip a beat.

Eros display at the premiere after-party

One thing that surprised me the most is that a great deal of the first half of the movie is surprisingly funny. Aramis Knight (Bean) quips a particular one-liner that had the entire audience roaring and he displays a sort of sure-footed cockiness in the film that suited his character very well. Moises Arias, too, garnered lots of laughs: while I never pictured Bonzo as AMUSING, the character is handled well. He's believable, albeit a little bit ridiculous, and a mere look from Fly Molo (Brandon Soo Hoo) or Petra (Hailee Steinfeld) tell us they feel so as well. Before Monday, I agreed with those who believed he was miscast but I was wrong; he ended up being one of my favorite parts of the film.

It's true that the story rockets along at an almost neck-breaking pace, and that this is what might make many plot points lost on members of the audience who haven't read the book. It also prevents any real character development apart from Ender and thus it's never really clear that those Battle School kids who make it all the way to Command School are the ones Ender trusts most -- except perhaps Petra.

However, I think my one real complaint is that while Jimmy Jax Pinchak was convincing in the very brief time we spend with him, his character in the film is a beautiful bully and nothing more: we are given no evidence that Peter is anything besides jealous and a bit unhinged. When we spoke to Gavin Hood at the set visit, he assured us Peter's better qualities would be displayed at some point in the film and his motivations would become clear; however, we see none of the "tough love" the director spoke of. While it seems likely this was a decision made in the editing room, it was a decision that cut Peter and perhaps any possible sequel off at the knees.

But book-to-movie adaptations are hard and these decisions have to be made. I've been an avid reader since well before kindergarten when I figured out those squiggly lines were letters which turned into stories which could one day hit the big screen. I knew there was always a chance that something could be lost in translation. But this one of the best adaptations I've seen in a while and I am immensely grateful to Gavin Hood, the producers, and the cast for coming together to create something that stayed true to the spirit of Ender's Game.

It's been a wild ride these past two years but the end result was utterly worth it.

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