Studios tend to release anything with awards potential at the end of the year, making December a battleground for awards-bait movies and January a dumping ground for crap, like Season of the Witch.  But it wasn’t all bad news this weekend, as True Grit crossed the $100 million mark domestically, becoming the Coen Brothers’ highest-grossing movie of all time, and passing other Westerns Unforgiven, Maverick, Tombstone, and Brokeback Mountain.  No Country for Old Men finished with $74 million domestically.

True Grit led the weekend with $15 million.  Elsewhere, Little Fockers was still earning more than it should ($13.8m for the weekend, $124 million total – a lot, but less than half the last fockers movie), and Season of the Witch was tanking, but not as hard as Gulliver’s Travels, which fell to number 12 in its third weekend and has thus far earned $35 million on a $112 million budget.  Man, who would’ve thought a 3D version of an 18th century political satire aimed at kids was such a bad idea?  Oh right, everyone.

Meanwhile, Boxcar Gwynnie‘s extended cowgirl roleplay, Country Strong, did middling business in its first nationwide role out, earning $7.3 million from an audience that was 71% female.  I imagine you’ll soon be able to commemorate the event with a decorative bean tin and top hat with the top missing (“distressed”), just $109.95 from Goop.com.

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Like our boy C-Tates playing a Roman Centurion, some actors are just inherently hilarious in a period piece.  Such is the case with Nic Cage playing a good sir knight of the round forehead in this new Season of the Witch trailer (directed by Gone in 60 Seconds‘ Dominic Sena, co-starring Ron “Hellboy” Perlman). I defy you not to laugh at Nic Cage’s first line of dialog.  No one else could turn “…That fewer still would believe,” into such a riotous punch line. I also love that 98% of the trailer is pure exposition, and the actors all deliver it like they’re just killing time until the end of their shift in five minutes.

“You are the legendary knight sir Cage.”
“I might be.”
“Shall we sword fight now?”
“(*shrugs*) Whatever.”

I love it.  This could be the next Jonah Hex.  At the very least, it should be a great opportunity to see Nic Cage looking confused in different silly outfits, which is really all I want out of it.

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In just one of his sorcery-related projects this year, Nic Cage reteams with Gone in 60 Seconds director Dominic Sena, fresh off the critically-acclaimed thriller Whiteout (6% on RottenTomatoes, one of the few positive reviews called it “A tolerably entertaining film starring the weather”), in Season of the Witch. I’d love to tell you the plot, but unfortunately none of the shots in the trailer last more than half a second. I think it’s about a Marilyn Manson song or something.

Nicolas Cage stars as a 14th century Crusader who returns with his comrade (Ron Perlman) to a homeland devastated by the Black Plague. A beleaguered church, deeming sorcery the culprit of the plague, commands the two knights to transport an accused witch (Claire Foy) to a remote abbey, where monks will perform a ritual in hopes of ending the pestilence. [Wiki]

And that ritual was called “basic sanitation.”  I see Cage and Perlman will be employing the same accent Richard Gere used in First Knight.  “Hey, like, I’m Sir Nic of Santa Monica.  What’s up with your witches and stuff.”

This is the first teaser trailer for Season of the Witch, from Gone in 60 Seconds director Dominic Sena, starring Nic Cage and Ron Perlman — that is, a guy whose face looks like a mask and a guy who’s usually wearing one, ha ch-cha cha cha.

14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.

I have to say, this trailer is a complete failure.  It chooses to focus solely on the spooky-Halloween-movie angle while ignoring the one aspect, which, above all else, is really going to sell this flick:  Nic Cage on a horse, motherf-cker!  POW!

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Let’s face it, Season of the Witch is an elaborate practical joke.  It has to be.  There’s no way you get Nic Cage and his painted-on forehead, slap a wig on him, make him ride on a white horse and talk about witches in Olde English, unless the payoff is laughing your ass off when he takes it all super seriously.  You just know every crew member on this shoot is doubled over wiping tears from their eyes right now.  Hey, Nic, so, uh, in this next scene, the hero’s gonna smear some cat poop all over his face.  Yeah, it’s uh, something the knights of the round table used to do – an old superstition, you know.  Pfftt, Oh my God, look at him, dude, he’s actually doing it!

[via USA Today]