News for
Team America: World Police (2004)

Clooney Supports 'Team America' Makers Despite Ridicule
15 February 2005 (WENN)
George Clooney remains an avid viewer of comedy cartoon series South Park - despite being ridiculed in creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's latest film. The Ocean's Twelve actor - who helped South Park to launch on TV - encourages his pals Parker and Stone to poke fun at him like they did in Team America: World Police because celebrities are perfect targets of mockery. Clooney tells movie magazine Hotdog, "I must say I would've been offended if I wasn't in it. Those guys, they're friends of mine. I helped them get their show on the air and was Sparky the gay dog and was in their South Park movie. Part of the fun about being up here is that we get to be objects of that."

Stone Explains Dumb Damon Puppet
19 January 2005 (WENN)
Matt Stone has finally explained why Matt Damon's puppet in recent marionette movie Team America: World Police looks "retarded" - it was accidental. Stone, who made the satirical film with his South Park partner Trey Parker, was surprised when Damon's puppet came out of the oven looking nothing like they were expecting him to. He says, "When we looked at the plans for his head he looked good, but when we came out of the oven he just looked retarded. I think it was well thought out. Honestly, I think Matt Damon is one of the better actors around. I think he's a pretty great actor. He's pretty talented. And for no real reason, he is retarded in this movie."

'The Incredibles' Is Super
9 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
The final weekend ticket-sales figure for Disney/Pixar's The Incredibles was $70.5 million, making it the second-best premiere ever for an animated film, behind Shrek 2, which took in $108 million. (Meanwhile, DreamWorks announced that the home video version of Shrek 2, released on Friday -- the same day that The Incredibles opened -- generated some $185 million in sales over the weekend.) It was the best opening ever for a Pixar feature, edging out last year's Finding Nemo by just $216,000. The only other new film opening wide, Paramount's Alfie, tanked with just $6.2 million, winding up in fifth place on the box-office charts. The top 12 films took in $135.8 million, down 5.4 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Incredibles, Disney, $70,467,623, (New); 2. Ray, Universal, $13,644,990, 2 Wks. ($39,641,775); 3. The Grudge, Sony, $12,675,393, 3 Wks. ($88,755,563); 4. Saw, Lions Gate, $11,093,169, 2 Wks. ($35,394,411); 5. Alfie, Paramount, $6,218,335, (New); 6. Shall We Dance?, Miramax, $5,663,514, 4 Wks. ($42,144,287); 7. Shark Tale, DreamWorks, $4,555,382, 6 Wks. ($154,031,467); 8. Friday Night Lights, Universal, $2,975,065, 5 Wks. ($57,256,950); 9. Ladder 49, Disney, $2,670,778, 6 Wks. ($69,977,816); 10. Team America: World Police, Paramount, $1,863,371, 4 Wks. ($30,464,862).

Incredible Opening for 'The Incredibles'
8 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Analysts were somewhat incredulous over the estimated $70.7-million bow of The Incredibles over the weekend. Most had forecast a take of about $60 million. If estimates pan out, it will mark the biggest opening for a film under the Disney banner in history, besting by about $400,000 last year's Finding Nemo (also a Pixar animated feature). "The thought that we could somehow compete with and beat Nemo is a true testament to how strong this movie is," Disney's distribution chief Chuck Viane told today's (Monday) Los Angeles Daily News. The record for the best November debut is held by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which opened in 2001 with $90.3 million. The record for the best debut of an animated film is held by Shrek 2, which opened with $108 million. Universal's Ray Charles biopic Ray performed strongly in second place, dipping only 31 percent in its second week with $13.8 million. Sony's The Grudge was close behind with $13.5 million, down 38 percent in its third week. But Paramount saw yet another new release flop as Alfie premiered in fifth place with just $6.5 million. Paramount distribution chief Wayne Llewellyn blamed the poor showing on the political climate as reflected in last week's elections. "Maybe they didn't want to see a guy that slept around," he said. The super performance of The Incredibles was not strong enough to lift the overall box office out of its recent inertia. Total ticket sales were estimated at $145 million, down 6 percent from the comparable week a year ago.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. The Incredibles, $70.7 million; 2. Ray, $13.8 million; 3. The Grudge, $13.5 million; 4. Saw, $11.4 million; 5. Alfie, $6.5 million; 6. Shall We Dance?, $5.65 million; 7. Shark Tale, $4.6 million; 8. Friday Night Lights, $3 million; 9. Ladder 49, $2.6 million; 10. Team America: World Police, $1.9 million.

Kids Flock To Theaters on Halloween
2 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Millions of young moviegoers celebrated Halloween by going to the multiplex where two horror films vied for attention over the weekend. As it turned out, Sony's The Grudge scared up the most loot -- $21.8 million -- while winding up in first place for the second consecutive week. Lion's Gate's Saw was not far behind, finishing in third place with $18.3 million. The film was made by Melbourne, Australia students James Wan and Leigh Whannell for $1.4 million. Universal's Ray Charles biopic Ray was in second place with $20 million. The Taylor Hackford-directed film produced the highest per-theater average, $10,020.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1 The Grudge, Sony, $21,817,598, 2 Wks. ($70,684,627); 2. Ray, Universal, $20,039,730, 1 Wks. ($20,039,730); 3. Saw, Lions Gate, $18,276,468, 1 Wks. ($18,276,468); 4. Shark Tale, DreamWorks, $7,502,096, 5 Wks. ($146,859,079); 5. Shall We Dance?, Miramax, $6,285,963, 3 Wks. ($33,940,119); 6. Friday Night Lights, Universal, $4,085,440, 4 Wks. ($52,944,730); 7. Ladder 49, Disney, $3,256,363, 5 Wks. ($66,118,796); 8. Team America: World Police, Paramount, $3,083,704, 3 Wks. ($27,245,193); 9. Surviving Christmas, DreamWorks, $2,435,652, 2 Wks. ($7,980,427); 10. Taxi, 20th Century Fox, $2,106,136, 4 Wks. ($32,700,351).

On Halloween 'The Grudge' Is Just the Trick
1 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
The Grudge didn't budge from its first-place standing at the box office over the Halloween weekend. The Sarah Michelle Gellar starrer took in a better-than-expected $22.4 million, according to industry estimates, beating another thriller timed for Halloween, Saw, which opened in third place with $17.4 million. Ray, the biopic starring Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, debuted in second place with $20.1 million -- but its scorching $10,000-per-theater average -- higher than any other film in wide release (The Grudge averaged about $6,700 per theater) -- astounded many analysts. Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told Bloomberg News: "By going into fewer theaters [2006], they did better in attracting an older audience. It will build and build." The Associated Press observed that the film had been shopped around the studios for some time before Universal picked it up and quoted Nikki Rocco, the studio's distribution chief as saying, "Nobody wanted this movie, so as a result we are celebrating like you can't even believe." Sales of the top 12 films totaled $92.8 million, about 2.9 percent above the comparable weekend a year ago.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. The Grudge, $22.4 million; 2. Ray, $20.1 million; 3. Saw, $17.4 million; 4. Shark Tale, $8 million; 5. Shall We Dance? $6.3 million; 6. Friday Night Lights, $4.1 million; 7. Ladder 49, $3.3 million; 8. Team America: World Police, $3.1 million; 9. Surviving Christmas, $2.6 million; 10. Taxi, $2.15 million.

Penn Explains 'Team America' Letter
29 October 2004 (WENN)
Oscar winner Sean Penn has defended his decision to write a letter to filmmakers Matt Stone and Trey Parker, objecting to their satirical puppet movie Team America: World Police. The Mystic River star became enraged when the pair - also responsible for animated TV series South Park - jokingly encouraged Americans not to vote. Penn then fired off his letter, which he ended with the words "f**k off". The 44-year-old actor's anti-war views are parodied in the film, but Penn claims not to be bothered by this. He explains, "I just saw a guy who told people not to vote and I thought it was stupid." Stone and Parker have previously expressed their satisfaction at the publicity Penn's outburst afforded their movie.

'The Grudge' Scares Up $39.1 Million
26 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Although Sony's The Grudge earned $39.1 million over the weekend -- about twice what box-office analysts had predicted, the result was well off the $48.3-million October record set by Scary Movie 3, which led a blazing box office during the comparable weekend last year. Both films were rated PG-13. Nevertheless, the success of the two films present a lesson for movie distributors, New York Daily News movie critic Jack Mathews observed today: "Scary movies sell in October like turkeys in November. But they sell a lot better when teenagers can buy them." The only other new movie to open wide over the weekend, Surviving Christmas, looked like it might not survive Halloween. The DreamWorks comedy, starring Ben Affleck, opened in seventh place with just $4.4 million. Another disappointment was Paramount's Team America: World Police, which earned only $6.4 million in its second week to place fifth. Ticket sales for the top 12 films were off 18 percent from the same weekend a year ago, with a total gross of $98 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Grudge, Sony, $39,128,715, (New); 2. Shark Tale, DreamWorks, $14,308,271, 4 Wks. ($136,982,460); 3. Shall We Dance?, Miramax, $8,589,988, 2 Wks. ($24,418,113); 4. Friday Night Lights, Universal, $6,947,460, 3 Wks. ($47,269,480); 5. Team America: World Police, Paramount, $6,388,442, 2 Wks. ($22,115,806); 6. Ladder 49, Disney, $5,324,148, 4 Wks. ($61,365,196); 7. Surviving Christmas, DreamWorks, $4,441,356, (New); 8. Taxi, 20th Century Fox, $4,123,642, 3 Wks. ($29,729,699); 9. The Forgotten, Sony, $3,278,603, 5 Wks. ($61,988,961); 10. I Heart Huckabees, Fox Searchlight, $2,902,468, 4 Wks. ($5,807,764).

No Begrudging 'The Grudge'
25 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Moviegoers embarrassed box office analysts once again by packing theaters showing Sony's The Grudge over the weekend and buying $40-million worth of tickets, about twice what the analysts had predicted. The movie eclipsed the fourth week of DreamWorks' Shark Tale, which took in an estimated $14.3 million, bringing its total to date to $136.9 million. Even Sony executives were astonished by The Grudge's successful opening. "I wish I could say I had any inclination that we were going to hit the ball so far out of the park," Sony distribution chief Rory Bruer told Daily Variety. The rest of the movies highlighted on theater marquees over the weekend all drew skimpy business, and the overall box office -- about $107 million -- was down 18 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago. Among the losers was Ben Affleck's critically derided Surviving Christmas, which opened in seventh place with just $4.5 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. The Grudge, $40 million; 2. Shark Tale, $14.3 million; 3. Shall We Dance?, $8.6 million; 4. Friday Night Lights, $7 million; 5. Team America: World Police, $6.6 million; 6. Ladder 49, $5.4 million; 7. Surviving Christmas, $4.5 million; 8. Taxi, $4.25 million; 9. The Forgotten, $3.4 million; 10. I Heart Huckabees, $3 million.

Movie Reviews: 'Surviving Christmas'
22 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
If analysts overestimated how much Team America: World Police would earn last weekend, they could be overcompensating this week in their estimates of how much Surviving Christmas will earn. "DreamWorks would be thrilled to get past $10 million with the Ben Affleck comedy," Daily Variety said today. Most analysts are predicting it will earn $7-9 million. Reviewers haven't been so merciless in attacking a film since Affleck's 2003 film, Gigli. Indeed, several reviewers are comparing this film to the earlier one -- unfavorably. Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News says that it "makes Gigli look like one of the crowning moments in [Affleck's] career." Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer says it's "so bad you're nostalgic for Gigli." Not a major reviewer has much to say about the movie that can be regarded as positive -- unless you take into account Stephen Holden's review in the New York Times, which observes that the moviemakers appear "to have found a clever way to use Ben Affleck's disagreeable qualities. The actor's shark-like grin, cocky petulance and bullying frat-boy swagger befit his character." But most of the reviews are positively venomous. Consider Wesley Morris's in the Boston Globe: "Surviving Christmas is exactly what's wrong with Hollywood: No one responsible for this thing seems ever to have lived outside the 310 area code or had a family or been lonely. It's the sort of stupid swill that gets spewed out by a studio committee, slapped together without a brain, a heart, or a good idea about where to put a camera or when to cut a scene. The finished product (calling it a movie would be like categorizing Spam as meat) is then pumped out to the megaplexes of America by a machine you can imagine only someone like the Grinch cranking." The advice from the Toronto Star's Peter Howell to moviegoers: "Avoid it."

'Team America' Creators Thank Sean Penn
20 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Last weekend's box office for Team America: World Police may have been lower than analysts had expected, but Matt Stone and Trey Parker are suggesting that it might have been lower still had not Sean Penn denounced them in an open letter. In their movie, the pair skewer Penn and other Hollywood anti-war activists for attempting to confront terrorism with pacifism. Penn responded that they were encouraging "irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation, and death of innocent people." But in an interview with DarkHorizons.com, Parker maintained that "There isn't anything he could have done to help us more. ... Like, he released this letter and it gets picked up all over." Parker predicted that other celebrities who are lampooned in the movie "will like it." Penn, he said, was "humorless."

'Team America' Routed
19 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Team America: World Police, which analysts had expected to rule the box office over the weekend, appeared to be in full retreat by Sunday. The R-rated animated puppet feature earned just $12.1 million, slightly more than half what many analysts had predicted. It wound up in third place, behind the third week of DreamWorks' Shark Tale, which earned $22 million, and the second week of Friday Night Lights, which took in $12.2 million. Miramax's Shall We Dance?, the only other film to open wide (1,772 screens), earned $11.8 million, placing fourth (but drew the largest per-theater gross). The film, which stars Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, and Susan Sarandon, also appeared to be benefiting from positive word-of-mouth. By Monday it had moved to second place on the box-office chart. Overall, the box office tallied $97 million in ticket sales, some 15 percent below what it earned in the comparable weekend a year ago.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Shark Tale, DreamWorks, $22,005,952, 3 Wks. ($118,724,863); 2. Friday Night Lights, Universal, $12,216,880, 2 Wks. ($37,819,455); 3. Team America: World Police, Paramount, $12,120,358, (New); 4. Shall We Dance?, Miramax, $11,783,467, (New); 5. Ladder 49, Disney, $8,503,420, 3 Wks. ($53,747,377); 6. Taxi, 20th Century Fox, $7,891,169, 2 Wks. ($23,891,719); 7. The Forgotten, Sony, $6,007,726, 4 Wks. ($57,160,305); 8. Raise Your Voice, New Line, $2,757,809, 2 Wks. ($7,902,305); 9. The Motorcycle Diaries, Focus Features, $1,756,157, 4 Wks. ($5,748,162); 10. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, Paramount, $1,218,417, 5 Wks. ($35,899,489).

'Shark' Retains Hold on Box Office
18 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Team America: World Police was unable to save the box office from the grip of Shark Tale over the weekend as the DreamWorks animated feature continued to hold onto the top spot for a third consecutive week with an estimated $22.1 million. In fact, Paramount' puppet movie was pretty much tied in knots as it debuted in third place with a much lower than expected $12.3 million. (Most analysts had predicted that it would earn $20 million or more.) Universal's Friday Night Lights remained in second place with $13.1 million. Shall We Dance, the only other new film to debut wide -- actually in just 1,772 screens -- earned $11.6 million, representing the best per-screen take of any movie, and wound up in fourth place.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Shark Tale, $22.1 million; 2. Friday Night Lights, $13.1 million; 3. Team America: World Police, $12.3 million; 4. Shall We Dance?, $11.6 million; 5. Ladder 49, $8.6 million; 6. Taxi, $7.7 million; 7. The Forgotten, $6 million; 8. Raise Your Voice, $3 million; 9. The Motorcycle Diaries, $1.7 million; 10. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, $1.3 million.

Movie Reviews: 'Team America: World Police'
15 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Movie critics in their reviews of Team America: World Police are attempting to discern the political biases of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Although the film was denounced by Bush administration figures long before its release, New York Times critic A.O. Scott sides with those who espy a "pronounced conservative streak amid the anarchy," noting that while the film skewers numerous liberal figures in the media, including Sean Penn and Michael Moore, "right-wing media figures escape derision altogether." Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe & Mail makes a similar point: "Hollywood liberals who criticize their government's foreign policy are gleefully decapitated, dismembered and demolished. Right-wing apologists, never mind George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, are unscathed." But bias may be in the mind of the beholder, Washington Post critic Hank Stuever suggests: "What I took as a lampoon of Bushworld seemed to be received, in the seats around me, as a triumph of Bushworld." Actually, writes Robert K. Elder in the Chicago Tribune, "You never quite know whose [political] team they're on, and that's why Parker and Stone's wily brand of kamikaze satire works." And Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News calls the movie, "hilarious, shocking and bound to offend nearly everyone." But Roger Ebert is clearly unamused by what he calls the film's "nihilism." In his Chicago Sun-Times review, Ebert comments: "At a time when the world is in crisis and the country faces an important election, the response of Parker, Stone and company is to sneer at both sides -- indeed, at anyone who takes the current world situation seriously. They may be right that some of us are puppets, but they're wrong that all of us are fools, and dead wrong that it doesn't matter."

'South Park' Guys Lampoon Michael Moore
14 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are taking pains to describe their Team America: World Police, due to be released on Friday, as an equal opportunity offender. The movie not only satirically attacks the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror but also many of the celebrities who rail against it, including Martin Sheen, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Janeane Garofalo, Samuel L. Jackson, Matt Damon, Helen Hunt, and, most especially, Michael Moore. Stone told today's (Thursday) Toronto Globe & Mail that he included Moore in his film (as a hot-dog munching suicide bomber) because he was outraged over a segment of Moore's last documentary. "I did an interview for Bowling for Columbine because I'm from Littleton [where Columbine High School is located]. He asked me to do it. ... People think we did that [South Park-type] animation that comes after us in the movie, but we didn't. It's so anti-American and mean, and I was just bummed out because people thought I did that."

Sean Penn Scolds 'South Park' Guys
11 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose Team America: World Police will no doubt draw much fire from supporters of President Bush when it is released next week, have found themselves under attack from a far different source. Sean Penn has written the pair an angry letter after they ridiculed Sean 'P.Diddy' Combs' "Vote or Die!" campaign to encourage young people to vote. ("If you don't know what you're talking about, there's no shame in not voting," Stone remarked in a Rolling Stone interview, essentially advancing the cause of an informed electorate.) "You guys are talented young guys, but alas, primarily young guys," Penn wrote in a letter to the South Park creators. "It's all well to joke about me or whomever you choose. Not so well to encourage irresponsibility that will ultimately lead to the disembowelment, mutilation, exploitation and death of innocent people around the world."

'South Park' Creators Upset Over Puppet Sex Censorship
8 October 2004 (WENN)
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have won a censorship battle with officials at the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA) after their new puppet film was slapped with a "ridiculous" NC-17 rating. The duo knew their new racy Thunderbirds-type film Team America: World Police would be met with some opposition but they were outraged when MPAA bosses came back with their harshest rating. Parker reveals the censorship chiefs were most upset with one scene showing two puppets making love and another featuring a puppet likeness of United Nations weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix being eaten alive by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's sharks. Parker fumes he was particularly upset with censorship surrounding the sex scene, because, in making the necessary cuts to get an R-rating, he and his partner have turned the scene into a smutty love-making mess. He says, "We just have a love-making scene, not a sex scene, where the two puppets fall in love... They're not anatomically correct and we did the thing that all kids do and the MPAA's like, 'Well, they can't do this.'" Stone adds, "The puppets did make love for about three and half minutes, now it's just a cheap one-night stand."

Parker and Stone: 'Team America' Is Not Anti-Bush
7 October 2004 (WENN)
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have ridiculed suggestions their forthcoming film Team America: World Police was designed to persuade voters against re-electing US President George W. Bush in next month's election. The $32 million puppet movie mocks celebrities including Michael Moore, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, and anti-war actors Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins and George Clooney - but doesn't single out Bush for special treatment. And Stone hopes controversial Team America: World Police, which is released in the US on October 15 and features hardcore puppet sex, won't influence how the American public votes. He tells website Pagesix.Com, "If anyone walks out of this movie, or a Michael Moore movie, thinking about voting a certain way, then they're f**king stupid and shouldn't be voting. If this movie makes you think that much, then you're too weak-kneed to vote."

Parker and Stone Finally Win R-Rating for 'Team America'
7 October 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Fans of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone will have to wait until the DVD version of their latest film, Team America: World Police, is released before they find out how many splinters were removed from sex scenes featuring puppets in order to garner an R rating for the film. The two had said on Monday that they had reedited the film nine times in order to get the MPAA ratings board to back away from the NC-17 rating that it had initially imposed on the film. The tenth time, presumably, proved to be the charm. Robert Friedman, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Group, told today's (Thursday) Los Angeles Times that the two filmmakers had altered "the level of sex, how often and how many positions and which positions. It was really all about the level, the positions and the intensity of the sex." The MPAA notice now says that the film is rated R "for graphic, crude, sexual humor; violent images and strong language all involving puppets."

Shocking 'Thunderbirds' Spoof Movie
22 August 2004 (WENN)
South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have made a shocking Thunderbirds spoof movie - featuring graphic scenes of puppets having sex. The controversial duo hope to spark controversy with the big-budget Paramount movie, Team America: World Police which mocks President George W. Bush's pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and has already been given an adult rating by US film censors. Stone explains, "Watching puppets discuss life and death issues is just funny." Parker adds, "See it before passing judgement." The British Board Of Film Classification says, "Terrorism is not funny. We need to see this film before making any decision as to what certificate it is given." The controversial movie will hit cinemas worldwide this autumn.