Michael Mann's Top Grossing Movies

Want to know Michael Mann's top grossing films? Here they all are at the-numbers.com.

Unsurprisingly, Collateral comes out top with the pulling power of Tom Cruise and an oscar nominated performance by Jamie Fox boosting sales. Total gross was $100,170,152. Public Enemies came a close second with $97,104,620. The Keep came bottom with just $3,661,757.

The Keep analyzed by FerdyonFilms

Here is a helpful analysis of The Keep by Roderick Heath at Ferdy on Films.

An extract is below, but the full article can be found here:

Like Ridley Scott, Terence Malick, and a few other visually oriented directors of the time, Mann experimented with dispensing with the traditional brackets of narrative and tried to realise story through a kind of running montage. The Keep builds to one of Mann’s most hypnotic climaxes, cutting between Cuza bringing a gleaming talisman out of the cavern, and Glaeken climbing out of the ravine to save the day. The human and elemental dramas dovetail at last when Eva tries to prevent her father from removing the talisman from the Keep, prompting Malasar to demand of Cuza that he kill her and move on. As if in humanistic rewrite of the Abraham and Isaac myth, Cuza turns on the beast and demands of it, “Who are you that I should prove myself by killing my daughter?” before insisting that if the talisman is Malasar’s, he should be able to take it out himself. Infuriated, Malasar reduces Cuza to his crippled state again, but before he can kill Cuza and Eva, Glaeken walks in with his cosmic bazooka to scrub Malasar out, even at the cost of his own life on earth.

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Michael Mann's Luck 2011 filming schedule

Santa Anita horse racing track, the star location of the forthcoming Michael Mann produced TV show, has needed its synthetic track to be replaced by a traditional dirt track disrupting a little the tight filming schedules. Here is an article from last October for anyone interested.

Mike Willman of Trackside Review reported from Santa Anita Park the following shoot schedule for 2011 and provides information on who is directing. Episode three is said to be directed by Phillip Noyce (who recently shot "Salt").

ARCADIA, Calif. — Production on the pilot and first two episodes of  Home Box Office’s (HBO) highly anticipated series, “Luck,” has been nearly completed and production and shooting for episode Three will resume at Santa Anita on Jan. 10.

“Luck,” which stars several “A List” actors, including Dustin Hoffman, is the brainchild of world renowned writer/producer David Milch, and is being shot in large-part at Santa Anita.

“Their production crew completed two weeks of work on and around the racetrack last week,” said Santa Anita Community and Special Events Coordinator Pete Siberell.  “The pilot was completed several months ago and this will enable them to finish their work on the first two episodes.”

Full article here

Michael Gambon joins stella cast on "Luck"

Many of you will know Michael Gambon. If you don't, you will recognise him from either The Insider or more famously, the Harry Potter movies (which I have no love for). He is being cast in Michael Mann's new TV series, "Luck". For other casting information on "Luck" visit IMDB, or see this link to deadline.com.

American Cinematographer Magazine

You cannot be a Michael Mann fan without being a true appreciator of fine cinematography - a hallmark of every movie he has made. There are a number of American Cinematographer back issues you can purchase that feature interviews with top cinematographers, but I think the ones featuring Mann films are regretfully now out of stock, as a quick search didn't bring them up. However, all is not lost as they provide back issues in digital format too, going back to May 2007. So the Public Enemies feature can be downloaded at just $5.95. For those who don't know what an issue looks like, check this November 2010 issue out. Nothing Mann related in this issue, but I have been a subscriber and its worth every penny. Enjoy. Just click the Expand button to view it full size.

Michael Mann's next movie might still be the Capa Biopic

Andrew Garfield

Gemma Arterton

Just when it seemed certain that Mann's next big movie would be Big Tuna, a fellow film and Mann fan, Niles, sent me a link to this article, which starts out with:

Despite a number of gestating go-to film projects on Michael Mann‘s plate including a long gestating adaptation of Ernest Hemingway‘s “For Whom The Bell Tolls;” the medieval tale “Agincourt” based on the novel by Bernard Cromwell and the gangster pic “Big Tuna” being written by “Up In The Air” scribe Sheldon Turner it looks like movement is coming together on a film that has been kicking around for a little while now.

Speaking with Total Film (via Up And Comers) after being tipped by the mag as Hottest Actress of 2010, Gemma Arterton was more than happy to spill the beans on what she’s up to next. And one of those projects is apparently Michael Mann’s “Capa,” a biopic of war photographer Robert Capa and she says she will be joined by another hot actor, Andrew Garfield.

Read full article here

I see more potential in the Capa movie. A detailed character study, which sounds delicious. Though I fear it will not make a studio much money. Just isn't commercial enough subject matter. But film and Mann aficionados will have something to look forward to. With actors already penned, I would now think from this information that the Capa biopic is going to be the next movie, rather than Big Tuna. It would be unusual to have two gangster movies back to back.

For commercial success, Mann needs to do an ultra high tech CIA / Al-Quaede intelligence film, with undertones of international espionage and ulterior political motives. Like Heat, one will need a major gun battle, perhaps covert missions of the US CIA working with Russian special forces to halt the running of opium smuggling operations out of Afghanistan for a side story. It will be The Insider on steroids. Hands up who would like to see that movie?

The Conversations: Michael Mann

There is an awful lot of information out there about Michael Mann, and views on his films. Here are some ramblings covering most of Mann's movies. I don't agree with all they comment on, but there are some useful comments for those studying Mann. The screenshots are a good touch too.

Here is the link.

Let me know if you want me to cover anything specific, that you haven't yet found on this blog. If anyone reads this blog and has been part of his crew, would be great to hear from you, even if off the record (which I always respect if requested).