Frotcast Fantasy Summer Box Office standings:

Vince’s Picks:

1. Harry Potter
2. X-Men: First Class ($55.1 million opening)
3. Green Lantern ($53 million)
4. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
BOMB PICK: The Change Up

Ben’s (The Ear Rapist) Picks:

1. Cars 2 ($68 million*)
2. Super 8 ($35.45 million)
3. The Zookeeper
4. Friends with Benefits
BOMB PICK: The Smurfs

Brendan’s (Human Giant) Picks:

1. Transformers 3
2. Captain America
3. Bad Teacher ($31 million)
4. Mr. Popper’s Penguins ($18.2 million)
BOMB PICK: Green Lantern ($200 million production budget minus $53 million gross = -$147 million)

Bret’s (Grumpiest Man Alive) Picks:

1. Cowboys and Aliens
2. Smurfs
3. Spy Kids 4
4. Horrible Bosses
BOMB PICK: Transformers 3

Leader in the clubhouse: Brendan’s three and four picks were kind of duds (for the purposes of this game, anyway), but his bomb pick came up huge and he still has Transformers 3 and Captain America opening.  What an assh*le. (I had to pick fourth, by the way). Much as we laughed at Bret’s bomb pick, with a $195 million budget, Transformers 3 is all but guaranteed a budget minus opening of $90 million plus. I probably should’ve math’d this better.  Regular box office stuff after the jump. (And again, thanks to the guys at MastersofNone for inventing this game so that we could steal it).

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UPDATE: For your listening pleasure, I uploaded the Fake Bret Remake (“Squirrels in the Sky”) separately, and you can listen/download that HERE.

This week on the Frotcast, aside from our usual talk of poop transplants and an amazing Fake Bret Remix song sent in by Waqas, I talked to Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, writers of this week’s Bad Teacher, as well as The Office, and a Ghostbusters 3 script that Bill Murray has thus far steadfastly avoided reading. The interview begins at 22:15.

(the player below may take a second to load. here’s a direct link to the podcast. right-click “save link as” to download file)

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Other Notes from the Interview:

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Here’s Cameron Diaz in the new poster for Bad Teacher, which gets points for clarity of concept at the very least.  It’s not the most sexually suggestive use of an apple I’ve ever seen, but it gets the point across.  I mean, it’s not like she was demurely holding a fresh, juicy apple over her virginal crotch or anything.

[via JustJared]

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"Get out of the way, lady, my Corvette is dirty."

After the jump, it’s the red-band trailer for Bad Teacher, starring Cam’ron Diaz and Justin Timberlake.  I read this script a while back and really liked it, but then Sony hired Cameron Diaz to play the lead and her then-boyfriend Justin Timberlake to play her love interest, the kind of decision that only makes sense if you’re a studio exec.  On the plus side, Jake Kasdan is directing (of Orange County and the criminally underrated Walk Hard) and Jason Segel has a supporting role.  Maybe I can still pretend to buy Cameron Diaz in this role long enough to enjoy it?  It’s going to be hard, but if I can get Burnsy to stop feeding me popcorn with his big man paws like he usually does, I might be able to manage.

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Cameron Diaz is set to star in Bad Teacher, a script by Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky that made the 2008 black list, set to be directed by Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard).

Story centers on a foulmouthed, gold-digging middle-school teacher who, after getting dumped by her boyfriend, competes with a colleague for the affections of the school’s model teacher.  Now that the studio has its leading lady, production is set to begin in the spring in Los Angeles. [Variety]

I actually read the script for this and it was really funny.  The lead is kind of a female version of Kenny Powers, or Bad Santa — simple concept, funny lines.  It’s disappointing the studio went with Cameron Diaz for this.  Not because I have strong feelings against her, it’s just that this kind of movie needs a talented comedic actress, not an established star trying to reinvent herself.  It’s this old-fart studio mentality that a comedy needs a marquee actor to carry it, so they just pick a famous person instead of finding someone that fits who’s, you know, funny.  Comedy doesn’t rely on stars to sell it, it relies on jokes.  And it’s that much better if it’s someone new — see: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, or Zach Galifianakis — rather than someone who’s already burned us a few times.   You put Cameron Diaz in this movie and for all the upside of it raising its profile, there’s twice the downside when people lump it in with What Happens in Vegas.  And no one wants another What Happens in Vegas.  No one except… you guessed it, Danny Masterson.