1. Dr. Hannibal Lecter: Was there any doubt that he would make the list? Granted, Hannibal Lecter made his first on-screen appearance in 1986’s Manhunter, where he was played by Brian Cox, but it’s Anthony Hopkins’ portrayal of the cannibalistic doctor from the 1991 thriller The Silence of the Lambs that became the iconic version of the character. He’s refined, brilliant, and partial to eating pieces of his victims. Definitely not a man you want to upset.
2. Dr. Christian Szell: “Is it safe?” Laurence Olivier’s terrifying delivery of that line in Marathon Man is just the beginning of his brutal dental torture of a younger man (Dustin Hoffman) he believes can help him recover a collection of diamonds tied to Nazi war crimes. Olivier’s performance as the deadly doctor won him an Academy Award.
3. Herbert West: Okay, so technically, Herbert West starts out as a med student, but surely his ability to reanimate dead tissue and bring people back to horrific life qualifies as a doctoral-level achievement. Re-Animator is a bracing mix of horror and comedy, and has become a cult classic thanks to its unique tone and shocking moments of gore and sexuality. (If you’ve ever wanted to see a severed head pleasuring a woman, you have found your movie.)
4. Dr. Seth Brundle: David Cronenberg’s remake of The Fly uses the same basic ideas of the original film but adds an even darker tone and some disturbing special effects. Brundle’s experiments in teleportation backfire when his DNA is mixed with that of a fly, and he begins to lose his sanity as he transforms into a repulsive monster. Not a flick for the squeamish (trust me).
5. Dr. Beverly Mantle: Jeremy Irons plays twin brothers in Dead Ringers, another Cronenberg film about identity. Gynecologist Mantle pushes the limits of technology and tools in his growing fascination with one of his patients. The guy is flat-out creepy.
6. Dr. Moreau: H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau gets a modern update with this 1996 film, and the good doctor is played by none other than Marlon Brando in one of his final roles. He brings a fantastic atmosphere to the portrayal of the diabolical doctor who wants to breed human-animal hybrids.
7. Dr. Giggles: Maybe the only slasher flick to ever get name-checked by Ludacris, Dr. Giggles follows the insane son of an even crazier doctor as he goes on a killing spree in his hometown to avenge his father’s death.
8. Dr. Henry Jekyll: There have been many adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, including John Malkovich’s brooding turn as the personality-shifting doctor in 1996’s Mary Reilly. Anybody who can invent a potion to become someone else is a force to be reckoned with.
9. Dr. Jed Hill: Alec Baldwin’s character in Malice isn’t a lunatic or a killer, just a quiet, evil, manipulative con man willing to take a life if it’s part of the larger plan. The movie’s a little overheated, but Hill’s egomania is legendary (and even popped up in a reference made by Baldwin’s character on “30 Rock” years later).
10. Dr. Channard: The Hellraiser films are pretty brutal, but even so, the Channard character from Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a terrifying addition to the series. He’s fascinated with the gateway to hell and the awful inhabitants contained there, and feeds corpses to a revived spirit in order for it to regain bodily form. Guy is nuts, and frightening in every way.

]]> http://www.whatsupmovies.com/top-10-scariest-movie-doctors/feed/ 1 http://www.whatsupmovies.com/top-10-movies-destroy-san-francisco/ http://www.whatsupmovies.com/top-10-movies-destroy-san-francisco/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:34:19 +0000 admin http://www.whatsupmovies.com/?p=340 In the movies, in every possible way, directors are trying to make damage as much as possible, destroy lot of cars or buildings, bridges and other structures. Destruction of San Francisco is the main idea in this post. This was This is attempted in many movies, but below is the list of top 10, most successful movies with this subject!
In this kind of films, the main attention is dedicated to destruction of the Golden Gate Bridge, which was destroyed in many creative ways by film directors. If you know a movie that deals with the same subject in the lead role, share this with us!

2. Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Harry is filmed in 1971 and it’s American crime film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan.

Dirty Harry was a box office success and set the style for a whole genre of police films. The film was followed by four sequels: Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983 (directed by Eastwood himself), and The Dead Pool in 1988.

3. Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)

An alien named Gallaxhar detects the quantonium radiation emanating from Earth and deploys a gigantic robotic probe to find it and extract it from its source, Susan. After a botched attempt by the Presidentto make peaceful first contact with the robot, it begins destroying everything in sight, resisting all conventional military force used against it.  Arriving in San Francisco, Susan is chased by the robot across the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, where the monsters are able to defeat the robot, and to save bridge.

4. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

In a desperate quest to possess the cure for the X-Men’s mutant power forces, the Golden Gate Bridge is re-routed to Alcatraz, now being used as the site of a major pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. The troops guarding Alcatraz are armed with cure weapons while Magneto moves the Golden Gate Bridge to allow his army to reach the island.Neither monument is safe for long.

5. A View to a Kill (1985)

007 goes to San Francisco and investigates an oil rig owned by Zorin.The Golden Gate Bridge is once again a focal point for action. Zorin tries to kill Bond by flying him into the Golden Gate Bridge, but Bond manages to moor the airship to the bridge framework, stopping it from moving.

Improbable but true, Grace Jones saves Silicon Valley…

6. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

The film opens out in deep space, where a race of gelatinous creatures abandon their dying world. Pushed through the universe by the solar winds, they make their way to Earth and land in San Francisco. One of the worst things that could happen to the streets of San Francisco. Noise pollution.

7. San Francisco (1936)

Movies was based on the April 18, 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The film, which was the top grossing movie of that year, stars Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, and Spencer Tracy. The then very popular singing of MacDonald helped make this film a hit, coming on the heels of her other 1936 blockbuster.

8. The Core (2003)

After a series of strange events over the world connected by variances in the Earth’s electromagnetic field, experts learn that the rotation of Earth’s molten core is slowing down, leading eventually to the collapse of the electromagnetic fieldThe three develop a top-secret plan with the United States government to bore into the Earth’s core and plant a series of nuclear charges at precise points to restart the core’s motion and restore the field.
Meanwhile, on the surface, a patch of unfiltered sunlight  over San Francisco melts the Golden Gate Bridge.

9. Bullitt (1968)

Bullitt is probably best-remembered for its car chase scene through the streets of San Francisco, regarded as one of the most influential car chase sequences in movie history. The scene had Bullitt in a dark “Highland Green” 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 CID Fastback, chasing two hit-men in a “Tuxedo Black” 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum.

10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

It’s released by Paramount Studios. It is the fourth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series. It completes the story begun in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and continued in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Intent on returning home to Earth to face trial for their crimes, the former crew of the USS Enterprise travels to Earth’s past in order to save their present from a probe attempting to communicate with long-dead humpback whales. It’s started with many real locations used as stand-ins for locations around San Francisco.

]]> http://www.whatsupmovies.com/top-10-movies-destroy-san-francisco/feed/ 0 http://www.whatsupmovies.com/5-songs-avoid-listening-working/ http://www.whatsupmovies.com/5-songs-avoid-listening-working/#comments Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:38:21 +0000 admin http://www.whatsupmovies.com/?p=334 Music keeps you going no matter what you are doing and where you are standing. While music can be a welcome distraction when not in the greatest of moods, it can also be an unnecessary source of support. Many of you use music for the former reason. But when you are working, do you really ask yourself what kind of music you want to listen to? Bad or inefficient work can be detrimental to your progress in your field. In such a case, why would you want to listen to music that can spoil things even more? On the other hand, there are people who can work effectively when good music rings in their ears. So, it boils down to what music you wish to listen while working and what kind of music you will need to avoid at such a time. Here listed below are 5 songs that one can avoid listening while working.

Led Zeppelin’s “Heartbreaker” is said to be some of the loudest music ever to have been made. Though being a cult hit in the late 70’s, this music has decibel levels of 130. Such loud decibels can only be an awful distraction at work. No matter how soft it is being played, loud music has its toll on people. You will find yourself in discomfort and hardly in sync with your work. The music could be so loud that your mind is completely lost in the surroundings.

“The River” by Bruce Springsteen talks about premature pregnancy, a marriage and a sad harmonica that crushes the dreams of a young married couple.  This kind of music is sure to affect the psychological side of you. You might be having problems at home and so decide to work as a welcome relief, but this song could get the better of you any day. It has lines that are very disturbing no matter how happy your life is heading. At work, it is definitely not going to help you. Your work might be already taxing as most work is and this particular song can only spoil the party.

“My Immortal” by Evanescence is another song that has lyrics to bog you down. Though it could be one of your favorites, you should still be prepared every time before you listen to it. A working environment has no place for such a song. You could easily be programmed or affected by its lyrics. If you have had a recent break-up, the ideas that you receive from the song will turn into beliefs that may impact your capacity to recover from the break-up. While most enter work shedding aside all personal matter, this song has everything in it to remind you of it. Clearly, this is a song to avoid while working.

“Not Dark Yet” by Bob Dylan. One of the facts of life is that almost whatever you hear or see, it programs your mind.  You will see most people deny this fact. They go on to work or recess thinking music is only a mere sound to the ears. It is only when you sit idle and allow your mind to concentrate on a particular thing, that you realize its effect on you. This song, when played in the background, can have such an effect. Lines like “Well my sense of humanity has gone down the drain, behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain” are definitely disturbing. You might not realize it is affecting you until you look at the productivity of your work.

“Something in the way” by Nirvana. The starting of the song itself will have you all tied up. At a work place or wherever it is you are working, this song is sure to spoil the fun. It is rated as one of the most depressing songs ever. Any good music or your favorite albums can keep you active at work but it is not the same with your favorite depressing albums. Maybe you would enjoy the same song when you are alone at night sipping beer. It is just not conducive for work. Be it fixing pipes and tubes or working on an equation, you will find yourself short of the work to be completed.

The list of such 5 top music celebrities who failed attempting multitasking is enlisted below.

Britney Spears

Well, who in this earth don’t like to swing with her fantastic music! She has been maintaining a magnificent music career for years; however, her move towards the big screen was not a wise decision. Britney’s debut film Crossroads was nominated as the worst film in the year 2002 by the UK’s Naftas Awards.  Not only this, but she has also managed her worst actor and worst on screen couple nomination with Anson Mount.

Madonna:

While talking about top pop stars, who shouldn’t have tried multitasking, how can you forget Madonna’s name. She did around 20 films, out of which 15 are big flops. Whether it is the “Shanghai Surprise”, “Bloodhounds of Broadway” or “Vision Quest”, they all had got really bad ratings at the box offices.

Jessica Simpson:

Another name who attempted the same mistake is of Jessica Simpson. She has gone through a progressive deterioration in her film career. Her first movie “Daisy Duke” has done quite well at the box office. The reviews of her next film “Employee of the Month” were extremely poor followed by subsequent series of flops, which drowned her movie career to nowhere. The film “Private Valentine” was directly released to DVDs, thus, the ultimate fall.

Justin Timberlake:

Justin Timberlake has undoubtedly burnt the charts with his awesome music albums. He is one of the most popular pop singers known till date. However, if you compare his music success with his movie career, you will find a huge gap between the two. He is not as successful in movies as he is as a pop star. His film “Edison Force”, in spite of its huge and popular star cast was quite unable to make a mark in the audience chart and could not attract crowd towards it.

Mariah Carey:

Mariah Carey is one of the most successful pop sensations in today’s era. Her music albums are really adorable and liked by several people. However, her choice of acting in movie was not at al good. She had confronted a terrible breakdown due to the mental stress after her movie “Glitter” came out to be a disaster movie and has been harshly criticized as the worst movie of the decade.

Thus, it is very true that when someone tries to become the jack of all trades, he is more likely to fail. These pop stars should concentrate in the field in which they can excel with their real talents and must not try multitasking at all.

Let us look at the biggest flop of the past decade and find out what were the reasons behind being a flop.

Transformers 2: Revenge of the fallen

The follow up to the Transformers movie had the same theme of two teams of alien machines fighting each other on earth. The same old story of good vs evil story told by director Michael Bay was expensive and too long. Accompanied by tremendous amount of onscreen noise and poor acting, this movie was really one of the biggest flops of the past decade.

The Spirit

Comic book creator Frank Miller tried to turn director with the adaptation of Will Eisner’s comic strip and tried to create the same magic that he created in his comics 300 and Sin City. However, he failed miserably as Samuel L Jackson and a bunch of beautiful girls failed to salvage the movie. This movie was a major flop with Miller returning to his comic strip creations and the production house of Odd Lot Entertainment parting ways.

Grindhouse

Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino proved that they turn out their best works when they work alone. This two super-director movie was a major flop. Grindhouse was a two-movies-in-one concept, which eventually tanked with Harvey Weinstein ripping the movie in two separate parts and then trying to salvage the losses.

Catwoman

Catwoman, the anti-heroine portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer in “Batman and Robin”, was extremely sexy and hot. However, the 2004 movie named after the character and portrayed by Halle Berry was more than a disaster. The $100 million dollar movie was able to make a domestic gross of a mere $40 million. Both Halle Berry and Sharon Stone were unable to surge any interest in the movie whatsoever. An almost incomplete storyline combined with poor acting made it worse for the movie and there was no recovery at all.

Gigli

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were unable to kick up any storm onscreen and with this movie, their real life romance too came to an end.

Town & Country

This sex comedy failed to bring out the humor and was unimpressive in all fields of the movie. The cost of the movie was around $90 million and it was able to make a gross domestic income of only $6.7 million.

Land of the Lost

This movie combining all types of weird creatures and scenarios together failed to make an impression in the market thus only fulfilling the last words of its title, lost. This $100 million dollar poorly constructed work of art was able to make only $65 million in the domestic market.

The Invasion

Remakes require special attention and care otherwise they backfire, Invasion proved this statement. This $80 million Nicole Kidman starrer was able to make $15.1 in the domestic arena.

Rollerball

Costing $70 million this ode to violence and complex aspects of the modern society made by John McTiernan’s remake of an old classic rolled down the box office with a domestic gross of $19 million loosing the audience in its poorly choreographed story telling.

The Adventures of Pluto Nash

In reality, this was a misadventure. One of the worst domestic grosser in the history of Hollywood, this movie was able to make a mere $2.2 million, which was way below the cost of making this movie, estimated at $100 million.

Will Smith is one of the finest actors in Hollywood and there is no doubt about it, so let’s take a look at a blunder in his fast action political thriller, “Enemy of the State”. This movie has some really fast action that would keep you on the edge of your seat but there are many goofs in the movie that go unnoticed. In one of the action scenes we see that Zavits is trying to flee on a bicycle from National Security agents and in an attempt to do so he jumps across the fence on the other side of the road but he is hit by a fire truck. If you take a look at that scene again you will see that Zavits already clears the fence safely and fire truck is at a safe distance and the next scene that follows shows Zavits hit by a fire truck.

Another good thriller that received a lot of appreciation was Flightplan that had Jodie Foster in one of her best roles till date. The movie is entirely shot inside an aircraft, at least that is what we see in the movie, but there are still some mistakes that are made in the movie and that we missed out as well. Just before Jodie Foster is about to enter the aircraft with her daughter in the beginning of the movie she tells that the aircraft has 4 engines but later on when she enters the cockpit we see only 2 engine instruments. Quite strange, isn’t it?

Final Destination is considered as one of the best supernatural horror movies which created a new trend of movies where college teenager became the victims of death. The very first Final Destination movie which was released in the year 2000 had a classic action scene where a BC Rail train smashes Carter’s car. Well, nothing wrong in that but as per the movie the story happens in New York while the BC Rail runs only in Canada.

Mel Gibson is known for making sensible movies that not only are technically good but they have a strong script to backup their project. Apocalypto which was released in 2006 took us back into Mayan age but during one scene where Jaguar Paw is being hunt by Mayan. We see that Jaguar Paw hides in the tree which the camera is focused on the torch lights burning appearing in the distance. At that time a close up of Jaguar Paw reveals that his labret (lip piercing) is missing, but appears in the next scene immediately.

A Serious Man might have received a lot of appreciation at the Golden Globes and at various other award ceremonies but in one of the scenes we see that Larry Gopnik receives a mail that has address with a zip code 55401. As per the movie, Larry Gopnik teaches at a suburban college but the zip code 55401 is in downtown Minneapolis.

A Mighty Heart was a hard hitting drama based on a true story that took the world by storm. However, there are many scenes in the movie where you see Fiat taxis and trucks with Indian number plates which shows that the movie was shot in Pune and Mumbai and not in Karachi.

Do you remember the movie called Babel? Of course, it had superb editing and direction but there is a scene where after the movie, Amelia and her nephew along with Jones children try to enter USA using Tecate border where they get lost in the desert. However, in reality Tecate border is a mountainous region and there is no desert. The shot shown in the movie is Arizona border crossing.

Coming back to Will Smith again this time for Bad Boy 2, where he and Martin Lawrence are the bad boys who bust the drug mafia. In one of the scenes, we see that they find money in the coffin but look again this time, the money clearly has a print on it saying – For Motion Picture Use Only.

We all know the animation movies are imaginary but still there are many animation movies where blunders happened. Madagascar which was released in 2005 was an instant hit with the audience, but Madagascar: Escape to Africa shows Alex’s paw having a birthmark, than why wasn’t it shown in the earlier installment.

In another Academy award winning animation movie named Wall-E we see that when the scout ship storms out of the earth’s atmosphere millions of smaller satellites are just standing still. However, in reality satellites need to keep on hovering because if they stand still they will be pulled into Earth by its gravitational force.

Find Him and Kill Him

I am sure most of you must have definitely watched Memento by Christopher Nolan where a man loses his ability to make any new memories and prefers tattoos on his body instead of using a notepad to remember important things that should be follow up. Find Him and Kill Him is  one of the craziest tattoos I have ever seen in movies where the hero of the movie keeps reminding himself that he still has not killed the murderer of his wife. Crazy one, isn’t it?

Chaos

When we are talking of tattoos we cannot afford to forget XXX where Vin Diesel as Xander Cage turned into a new generation James Bond who would save the planet from destruction. Vin Diesel is seen sporting a kind of American and tribal tattoo that really makes no sense at all. Though, you can see good detailing work but those designs have no resemblance with the movie. Also you would see Chaos design with flames on Vin Diesel’s stomach. So what does chaos and flames on the stomach mean? Hunger?

Darth Maul

Well, this one does have an originality but if you can find some meaning about this black and red tattoo than definitely do write something about it. To some extent this red and black tattoo looks like a muscular diagram of human body. The red and black combination does look attractive but certainly this is one of the craziest tattoos that have been appreciated by many people.

Battling Demons

Now this tattoo looks like a fire alarm symbol when you see it from far but the tattoo is known as battling demons. The tattoo is sported by none other than Keanu Reeves in his supernatural thriller Constantine where he plays the title character who has the ability to see and drive demons and ghosts. The tattoo is a circle with a triangle inside which has a symbol of fire and three arrows at the bottom of the triangle. Even the film makers of Constantine decided not to give out any information about the tattoo because there is no meaning.

Nordic Rune

Although, we all know what Nordic runes are but the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban were quite confused how to use these symbols and therefore they used them as silly tattoos that were sported by Gary Oldman who played the role of Sirius Black in the movie. Even the book did not mentioned anything about the tattoo but something hit the directors and they decided to add the tattoo to their movie to make the character more interesting, but instead the film makers had to satisfy themselves with mixed reactions from the public about the unnecessary use of tattoos on the body of Sirius Black.

Copyright: WhatsUpMovies.com 

The House of the Dead

A motion picture that will live in infamy! The movie that effectively introduced the movie-watching world to a mad German named Uwe Boll and we have never been the same since. Trash talking before the release about how his film was going to kick Resident Evil’s ass – way to set the bar high there, Uwe; trash talking Internet fan boys after the release for decrying his magnum opus as an incompetent and incoherent debacle that has only the faintest ties to the plot less video game on which it is based.

Why was it funny?

At least it is lively, something that cannot be said of a few other Boll-infused snoozers. This deliriously insane mess verges so sharply into Edward D. Wood, Jr., territory on so many occasions House of the Dead may very well be Plan 9 from Outer Space for the 21st Century. Boll tried putting out a “funny version” of this film that wasn’t even 1/100th as intentionally funny as his crowning achievement was unintentionally so.

I know who killed me

Four words: non-religious identical twin stigmata. A high concept movie in the sense that everyone involved with the making of it had to have been high. In Lindsay Lohan’s case, that’s a given. What is everyone else’s excuse? This level of jaw-dropping WTF-ness requires serious effort. You simply cannot make a movie that achieves the levels of badness that this surreal schlock does without having started out with loftier goals and without question, I Know Who Killed Me was clearly a Herculean effort on the part of its makers.

Why was it funny?

A perfect storm of cinema gone wrong: a tabloid fodder actress trying to change her on-screen image even though it’s her off-screen image that needs changing and an off-the-charts preposterous screenplay, which not even a director created by Dr. Frankenstein from the parts of Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Tod Browning, and Brian De Palma could make into a workable film. Simply has to be seen to be believed!

The Happening

Mark Wahlberg has given the best performance in the history of cinema by being an actor behaving like a man suffering from a concussion not actually playing a character suffering from a concussion. Zooey Deschanel is doing the most uncanny impression of a perpetually startled lemur you will ever see; philosophical arguments in defense of the hot dog; people trying to outrun and even outsmart the wind.

Why was it funny?

A loopy ecological thriller about pissed-off plants that cause people to commit suicide in the most preposterous manner possible; to think when the decade began M. Night Shyamalan was being compared to the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Steven Spielberg.

Ultraviolet

So why isn’t Ultraviolet one of the top ten instead of a runner-up? Ultimately, that characters are these mutant vampires called “hemophages” was more an excuse to explain why everyone fights with superhuman abilities than it adds a horrorific vibe to this Skittles-colored world of tomorrow. Therefore, a dishonorable mention is in the cards. Rest assured, though, Ultraviolet is one of the worst films of the past decade of any genre.

Why was it funny?

Vampires. Cyberpunk. Anime aesthetics. Kung fu. Gun fu. Flaming sword fights. Milla Jovovich in spandex. What’s not to love? Everything! What was meant to be a visual tour-de-force ended up being an unwatchable mess made all the more intolerable by its insufferably smug look-how-cool-I-am attitude. Of all the movies listed here that I saw in a theater, Kurt Wimmer’s masturbatory case study in putting style over all the stuff that makes a movie watchable was the only one that led to the most walkouts – over two thirds of the audience were long gone before the closing credits rolled.

Alone in the Dark

A screenplay so indecipherable Dan Brown could pen a new novel about the world’s greatest screenwriter setting off on a mystery quest to piece together the clues trying to make sense of it all. A film so confounding Uwe Boll had to add an opening text crawl longer than the closing credits of some movies explaining what the hell was going and this text still marked the first, last, and only time Alone in the Dark bordered on coherent. So illogical a film even Dragon Wars could make fun of how nonsensical it was – that’s saying something.

Why was it funny?

You would expect even a truly bad movie boasting monsters from another dimension, zombies, centipede-like parasites, sand worms, paranormal commando units, Christian Slater doing Matrix-style kung fu, and Stephen Dorf getting blown to kingdom come would still find a way to be entertaining to some degree. However, Dr. Boll manages to bore even, as he piles convolution on top of convolution on top of convolution and not even Tara Reid comically miscast as an allegedly brilliant anthropologist, who cannot even correctly pronounce “New Foundland” could salvage it.

Copyright: WhatsUpMovies.com

Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland. (See China’s long road to prosperity.)

Although it was too American for audiences in China (where it performed abysmally), Disney’s Mulan was a smash hit in the rest of the world, where it reeled in $300 million. That didn’t sit well with some Chinese, including Guo Shu, executive president of Starlight International Media Group, an entertainment company based in Beijing. “We commit ourselves to be a media with a sense of national responsibility,” she told the state-run People’s Daily. “Now that foreigners can produce a popular movie out of the story Hua Mulan, why can’t we Chinese present its own to the world?”

In 2006, she announced the production of a Chinese Mulan, and now that version has opened to reclaim the global Mulan-mania. On Nov. 27, the $12 million, mainland-funded live-action war epic premiered in mainland China, Singapore and Malaysia. It will hit screens in Hong Kong this week, and negotiations are on the table for release dates in the U.S. and Europe. (See pictures of Shanghai.)

The film’s Hong Kong director, Jingle Ma, says the new 115-minute Mulan is a sweeping melodrama that depicts the central character as an action hero, dutiful daughter and wistful romantic. The film stars Vicki Zhao Wei, who shot to fame in the late 1990s playing the wide-eyed lead role in the television series Princess Pearl. Zhao may have gotten the role because of her tomboy image in action films such as Red Cliff and So Close, but in Mulan, she appears with full makeup and long, glossy fingernails — even as a soldier.

While the Disney film wove comedy into a Disney-esque plot about a young girl breaking out of the confines of tradition to pursue her own destiny, the new Mulan focuses on patriotism, filial piety, romance and the difficulties of war. The formula is part of an evolving mainland genre that has seen filmmakers incorporating more nuanced, entertaining storytelling into patriotic plots. “China is anxious to be part of the global community. There’s a lot of concern over soft power right now,” says Poshek Fu, professor of cinema studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Movies are a strong projection of that desire.”

The new Mulan is at least the 10th film version of the Hua Mulan tale (”Hua” is the heroine’s surname). Many of the previous films — like Mulan Joins the Army, released in 1939 in Japanese-occupied Shanghai — carried political messages during turbulent periods in the country’s history. In 1956, after the Communist Party had banned American films and nationalized the country’s film studios, a state-sponsored Hua Mulan was released, touting the party’s egalitarian gender policy. After many Chinese filmmakers fled communist-controlled China, the Shaw Brothers studio in Hong Kong gave overseas Chinese audiences a vision of a unified China in its 1963 film The Lady General Hua Mulan.

The latest Mulan is not the only post-Disney attempt to remake the folktale. In 2003, there was talk of a version starring Michelle Yeoh and Chow Yun-Fat. In 2006, the Weinstein Co. announced a big-budget Mulan film that would star Zhang Ziyi. Director Ma says his version comes at just the right time. “Eleven years ago, just because someone else made this film didn’t mean that we had to come back and make our version right away,” he says. “It was better to wait for things to cool down before we made our own Mulan. Back then, the Chinese market wasn’t mature yet, but now it’s ready.”

But there’s a foreign presence even in this Chinese attempt to take back its own. The Russian entertainer Vitas plays the role of a singer from a distant land held hostage by the nomadic and militant Rouran tribe, which is set on invading Chinese territory. The casting choice, Ma explained, was a simple marketing decision. Starlight International represents Vitas in China. And, who knows, the Russian actor could be key to the new Mulan’s conquest of foreign audiences. Take that, Disney.

Should that stateside estimate hold up, “2012,” will inch out Emmerich’s previous opening day record for 2004’s “The Day After Tomorrow” which clocked in at $23.5 million. In play at 3,404 theaters, “2012″ also marked the second best first day for a Sony release outside the summer season, following last November’s “Quantum of Solace” which generated $27 million.

The final three-day weekend for “Tomorrow,”which unspooled over the Memorial Day frame, was $68.7 million.

Booked in 58 territories abroad, “2012″ reeled in $36 million on Friday, putting its international total at an estimated $58.4 million and its worldwide tally at $82.1 million.

After a soft opening weekend, “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”slipped 38% from its opening day a week ago, grossing $5.6 million off 3,683 in second. The current B.O. for the motion capture film starring Jim Carrey stands at $46.6 million.

Placing third, Overture Films’ “The Men Who Stare at Goats” took $1.95 million off 2,453, down 58% in its second Friday for an eight-day cume of $19.2 million.

Lionsgate’s expansion of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” surged over two fold from its limited bow a week ago in 18 locales, reaping $1.92 million from 174. The Lee Daniels drama currently counts a domestic B.O. of $4.7 million.

Universal’s sci-fi thriller “The Fourth Kind” landed fifth at the onset of its sophomore sesh with $1.8 million, down 65% on 2,530 and a running B.O. of $17.6 million.

Focus Features’ Blighty comedy “Pirate Radio” fell outside the top 10 with $882,000 from 882 for a per site of $1,000.

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated film “Fantastic Mr. Fox” from Fox Searchlight drew $72,000 from four sites for a boffo theater average of $17,880. Lending their voices to “Mr. Fox” are George Clooney in the title role and Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox as well as other thesps from Anderson’s cinematic repertoire including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Willem Dafoe.

Cobra Assault Cannon

Robocop, 1987

The Robocop trilogy was one of the breakout hits of the ’80s, and the walking tin can more than made up for his slow movement with his over-the-top firepower. The Cobra Assault Cannon was used by both the criminals and the cops, and for good reason. Basically, a sniper rifle that shoots grenades, this bad boy destroys cars, the giant robot ED 209, and nearly takes out Robocop himself. “State of the art, Bang Bang!” Indeed.

Railgun

Eraser, 1996

Schwarzenegger has shot more than a couple guns in his films, and it was tough to nail down the action star’s best-known firearm. In terms of sheer inventiveness though, the title belongs to the Railgun featured in the ‘96 film Eraser. Capable of looking (and shooting!) through solid walls, the gun brought a dangerous, no-place-to-hide energy to the film, and the concept of a gun that fires through walls has become a fixture in films and video games ever since.

Noisy Cricket

Men In Black, 1997

The Men In Black films featured all sorts of wild gadgets, including guns of every shape and size. While the cannons used through the movie are great, one of the films greatest laughs comes when Will Smith gets handed this tiny powerhouse. The even greater surprise is the huge firepower this little gun really packs.

M203 Prosthetic Gun

Planet Terror, 2007

What could beat a machine gun in the event of a zombie breakout? How about if that machine gun was attached to Rose McGowan? The ultimate prosthetic for the discerning zombie killer, this machine gun all but stole the show during Grindhouse. This wildly inventive weapon rewrote the book on zombie apocalypse (how is she firing that thing?) We’d say that’s good enough for our No. 7.

The Guitar-Case Gun

Desperado, 1995

All three movies in the Mexico trilogy are packed with high-powered shootouts and good old-fashioned gunslinging. The image of guitar cases packed with firepower has become something of a joke among musicians. The defining moment of the trilogy, where El Mariachi is joined by his two friends, is a massive firefight featuring guitar cases packed with machine guns, and one packing a rocket launcher. The ol’ gun-in-the-guitar-case trick weighs in at No. 6.

Predator Shoulder Cannon

Predator, 1987

The Predator series is full of insane weaponry, from the humans toting a giant mini-gun nicknamed “Ol’ Painless” to the Predator’s disc blades. Nothing, however, can top the awesomeness of a gun that you don’t have to hold. This little turret of death is all the backup a Predator needs.

The Boomstick

Army of Darkness, 1992

Shotguns have been a fixture of action movies since the days of Wild West films. They’ve more than earned the action-hero seal of approval, but you can’t ask for a better shotgun than Ash’s Boomstick. You know a gun is worth its weight when a guy with a chain

The Phaser

Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979

Whether you’re a Trekkie or not, there’s no denying Star Trek’s popularity. Thirty years after the first feature film, this summer’s Star Trek film is still one of the biggest blockbusters. Fanboys will debate the “greatest” gun in the Star Trek universe, but there’s none more recognizable than the phaser. Set to stun or to kill, the phaser takes third place for us .

My Little Friend (M16 with M203 Grenade Launcher)

Scarface, 1983

Scarface is full of memorable moments and quotes, but nothing beats the moment the world said “hello” to this little guy. It’s almost mandatory to quote that iconic line when handling a firearm. As far as quotes about guns, there’s only one gun that can outgun Tony Montana’s Little Friend, and that gun is…

.44 Magnum Smith & Wesson Model 29

Dirty Harry, 1971

It’s a fact of science that nobody has ever handled a firearm without uttering either the “Do I feel lucky?” speech or the famous line: “Go ahead, make my day.” We know, the second line is from Sudden Impact, which features another gun (the .44 automag), but the image of “Dirty” Harry Callahan brandishing this monster revolver remains the most famous firearm in cinema. Both quotes were in AFI’s top 100 movie quotes of all time, with “Make my day” taking sixth spot, and “Do I feel lucky?” at No. 51. In fact, in a poll of movie weapons by FOX, the .44 came in second to only the lightsaber. Among guns, however, this handcannon to end all handcannons reigns supreme, nearly 40 years later.