SALT soars with Php 100M in 12 days!

MANILA, Aug. 9 – There’s no stopping the tenacious Evelyn Salt in her box-office domination! Angelina Jolie’s power-packed action-thriller Salt breached the landmark P100-million gross Sunday, Aug. 8 or 12 days after its release. This according to Victor R. Cabrera, managing director of distributor Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

The film’s cumulative nationwide gross now stands at a spectacular P100.11-million, easily beating the final grosses of previous spy megahits such as Wanted (P94.65-M), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (P83.26-M) and all three Jason Bourne movies -- The Bourne Ultimatum (P58.07-M), The Bourne Supremacy (P35.90-M) and The Bourne Identity (P 36.80-M).

Salt also became the 2nd P100-M hit for Columbia this year, after last June’s blockbuster The Karate Kid.

The Philip Noyce-directed actioner continued to impress discriminating local critics. “Among the fine cinematic lessons Salt teaches is a veritable crash course in relentless editing for maximum suspense and visceral impact,” wrote Nestor Torre in his column. “From the film’s shocking start to its `twist within a twist’ conclusion, the movie’s pacing and ever-intensifying conclusion doesn’t let up until the viewer ends up feeling like a very wet and limp dishrag—no kidding.”

Widely-read columnist Scott Garceau wrote that after the expositional back-story, “Salt kicks into high gear and doesn’t look back. There are enough stunts here to fill a Die Hard trilogy or a handful of Jason Bourne flicks.”

The cinemas that posted the biggest grosses for “Salt” are Trinoma (P6.13-M), SM Mall of Asia (P5.04-M), Glorietta 4 (P3.90-M), SM Megamall (P3.65-M), SM North EDSA (P3.20-M), SM Cebu (P3.12-M), Greenbelt 3 (P3.11-M), Power Plant (P3.03-M), Alabang Town Center (P2.83-M) and Ayala Cebu (P2.66-M).

Also doing great business are Gateway (P2.65-M), Shang Cineplex (P2.29-M), Eastwood (P2.23-M), Robinsons Ermita (P2.19-M), Greenhills (P2.01-M), Gaisano Davao (P1.92-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.87-M), Market! Market! (P1.71-M), Festival (1.67-M) and SM San Lazaro (P1.33-M)

In the film, CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who Is Salt?"

Still playing across the Philippines, “Salt” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to get the latest movie news, video clips, games and free downloads. Find us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

SALT tops RP movie ratings earning Php 58M in 5 days!

Evelyn Salt outguns James Bond, Jason Bourne…even Mr. & Mrs. Smith!

Columbia Pictures’ “Salt,” a heart-stopping action-thriller starring Angelina Jolie as a suspected double spy, opened at No. 1 at the Philippine box-office, amassing a formidable gross of P58.12-million in five days in 132 screens for the July 28 to Aug. 1 weekend. This was revealed today by Victor R. Cabrera, managing director of distributor Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc.

Arriving to tremendous rave reviews for its break-neck pace and hard-hitting action, “Salt” posted the 4th biggest opening of the year, outpacing 5th placer “Shrek Forever After” (P56.9-M) and bested only by “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” (P177.6-M), “Iron Man 2” (P104.9-M) and “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” (P60.7-M).

“Salt” maneuvered itself to box-office success despite not having IMAX and digital screens which charge higher admission prices.

The kinetic actioner also gave Jolie her highest opening in the country, exceeding her previous best “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (P51-M), even as it handily shattered the debuts of other franchise spy blockbusters -- James Bond’s “Quantum of Solace” (P53.1-M) and Jason Bourne’s “The Bourne Ultimatum” (P26.6-M).

Providing “Salt” its biggest grosses are the following cinemas: Trinoma (P3.41-M), SM Mall of Asia (P3.07-M), Glorietta 4 (P2.45-M), SM Megamall (P2.22-M), Power Plant (P1.87-M), SM North EDSA (P1.82-M), Greenbelt 3 (P1.81-M), SM Cebu (P1.76-M), Alabang Town Center (P1.70-M) and Gateway (P1.57-M).

Not to be outdone are Shang Cineplex (P1.53-M), Ayala Cebu (P1.45-M), Eastwood (P1.21-M), Robinsons Ermita (P1.202-M), Greenhills (P1.201-M), Robinsons Galleria (P1.16-M), Market! Market! (P1.05-M), Gaisano Davao (P1.04-M), Festival (P1.01-M) and SM San Lazaro (P781,090).

In the film, CIA officer Evelyn Salt (Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who Is Salt?"

Still playing across the Philippines, “Salt” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to get the latest movie news, video clips, games and free downloads. Find us on Facebook www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

SALT movie review

Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) is a CIA agent which is a Russian spy undercover assigned to kill the Russian president during his visit at the United States. trained and carefully planned by her colleagues, she was fortunate enough to do her job.

but on the other hand, she was also being used by radical Russian ambition to take over and gain power against American power by threatening international security. since she is an asset to the group, they kidnapped and killed her husband as lure to bring her back. but Salt had other plans in mind.

thus, Evelyn Salt has to take herself into exile from the security measures to keep herself alive and bring justice to her husband.

Sony International Pictures packed Salt with extreme action stunts done by Angelina Jolie herself. honestly i wasn't that satisfied seeing Salt. but it is way too far as they wanted to achieve that James Bond appreciation. Lara Croft will still be a better movie for Jolie in terms of action. i expected even more extreme action but from what you see in the trailer, those i think are the best parts. story wise, it was like any other police or CIA or FBI or INTERPOL chases halting terrorist threats.

if you want to see SALT, it opens on July 28, 2010 in theaters nationwide by Sony International Pictures.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

and then Jolie became SALT

Columbia Pictures’ new, contemporary spy thriller SALT, starring Angelina Jolie, began life with an offhand comment Jolie made a few years ago. “I was meeting with (Sony Pictures Co-Chairman) Amy Pascal when it came up in conversation that she was getting ready to make one of the new James Bond films,” Jolie remembers. “I playfully said, ‘I want to be Bond!’ That was our little joke, and then she found this project.”

Screenwriter Kurt Wimmer had originally conceived the role of Salt to be played by a male actor. His original spec script was developed with producer Sunil Perkash, who then brought it to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Amy Pascal at Sony, who in turn brought on director Phillip Noyce. Like all motion picture projects, the screenplay then went through several drafts, but the major change to the script occurred when the filmmakers envisioned Jolie, an Academy Award®-winning actress and one of the few women in the world who can carry an action picture, in the title role. Very quickly, “Edwin Salt” became “Evelyn Salt.” “We had a really smart script we all collectively loved with an intriguing and complex character, so the idea of Angelina doing this suddenly felt like a no brainer,” says Perkash. “She's an incredible actress who would bring such depth and realism to a very enigmatic character. Having that realism in an otherwise fantastical story was very important, and we were beyond thrilled when she responded to the role.”

“When we changed the gender of the main character, we began to question the dynamic of every scene,” explains producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “We didn’t simply question whether a woman would make all the same choices, but also how the other characters would act or react differently, given that it’s a woman. It was a huge change that rippled through the entire script.”

In the movie, Evelyn Salt must go on the run to prove her innocence when a defector alleges that she’s a mole, triggering Day X – the day when Russian sleeper spies awaken and begin the war against the United States .

Producer di Bonaventura says that the notion of sleeper spies is not fantasy. “There’s no question that they exist,” he says. “The CIA believes that they exist. There’s something really mysterious and sexy about the notion that somebody could lie in wait – for decades, if necessary.”

For example, it has been contended that Soviet Union, and then Russia, deployed covert agents masquerading as citizens in Western countries in the 1980s and 1990s as part of a network of intelligence operatives who would live under assumed names for fifteen to twenty years, or longer. When activated, these sleeper spies would then orchestrate “Day X,” a chain of sabotage and terrorist attacks within the United States , the beginning of a large-scale war with Russia . Sleeper spies for Russia have been discovered in recent years in Estonia and Canada , and the 2006 poisoning death of former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London remains a mystery. Just recently, a group of people – assumed by their friends and neighbors to be living ordinary lives – were arrested by US federal prosecutors and accused of being part of a spy ring, living under false identities in deep cover in an effort to carry out assignments for Russia .

“I have no doubt that sleeper spies are out there,” says Phillip Noyce, director of the film. “It’s been a part of spycraft since day one. Even before reading Kurt Wimmer's script, I was fascinated by the question of what might happen if long at rest sleeper spies were suddenly called to action.”

Opening across the Philippines on July 28, Salt is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and like the fanpage to get the latest movie news, video clips and contests.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

SALT: a spy game with Angelina Jolie

Celebrated actors Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (2012) join Angelina Jolie in Columbia Pictures’ spy thriller SALT as CIA officers who are at odds in dealing with Evelyn Salt’s (Jolie) explosive case.

As a CIA officer, Salt swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who Is Salt?"

Schreiber is an actor known for serious dramatic roles in such films as The Manchurian Candidate and Defiance , but he has also recently branched out into action with Wolverine. “Liev is very politically aware and very thoughtful, so he’s great to work with,” says Jolie. “He takes the role seriously, and still has fun with it.”

When Schreiber was first sent the script for Salt, he read it very quickly, he says. “It was a page-turner,” he recalls. “I zipped right through it. It was a really fun read.”

Schreiber, who plays Ted Winter, Salt’s boss at the CIA, was also intrigued by the concept of the hunt for a sleeper spy, who has been living in deep cover with a new identity. “I’ve heard so many stories about undercover cops who’ve gone into deep cover for years at a time and then kind of lost themselves in their roles,” he says. “They had become really confused about their allegiance and needed serious deprogramming once they were pulled out.” This is the question that Winter must grapple with as he’s torn between wanting to help Salt and wanting to catch her. Can the person he knows so well really be someone else entirely?

Jolie describes Schreiber as “one of the actors that doesn’t sit back. He puts a lot of work in, and we knew when he came in that he was going to make his character better and stronger.”

Similarly, the filmmakers sought a high-energy actor who could bring out the intensity in Peabody, the man whose job it is to track Salt and bring her back in. As a product of the CIA’s counter-intelligence division, he is not an especially sympathetic character. “They’re not the policy makers, they’re the guns,” Jolie explains. Jolie was especially pleased when Olivier Award-winning British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, who was seen in the films 2012 and American Gangster, was cast. “He’s a strong man, Chiwetel, and he’s very tough. He’s such an amazing actor.”

As the counter-intelligence officer on the case, it is Peabody ’s job to determine whether the defector is lying about Salt or telling the truth. “It starts as kind of a dual pursuit of her – to physically get her back into custody, and also to work out whether there is a mole, and whether she is that mole,” says Ejiofor. “And that becomes the cat and mouse of the film.”

“Peabody ’s attitude is that he is going to catch Salt, no matter what it takes,” says producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “There’s an intensity to Chiwetel’s performance that is so graceful. I think people are going to fear for Evelyn Salt as he’s chasing her.”

Since he plays the antagonist, having a good working relationship with Ejiofor was important to Jolie. “I think it’s important to get along very, very well with the person who’s your enemy in the movie, because you end up being a little bolder in your fights,” she says. “He and I had a good time.”

Opening soon across the Philippines , Salt is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and like the fanpage to get the latest movie news, video clips and contests.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

ANGELINA JOLIE is EVELYN SALT - a secret agent on the run

Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie stars in Columbia Pictures’ SALT, a contemporary action thriller from director Philip Noyce (“Clear and Present Danger,” “Patriot Games”).

As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture. Salt's efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who Is Salt?"

SALT began life with an offhand comment Jolie made a few years ago. “I was meeting with (Sony Pictures Co-Chairman) Amy Pascal when it came up in conversation that she was getting ready to make one of the new James Bond films,” Jolie remembers. “I playfully said, ‘I want to be Bond!’ That was our little joke, and then she found this project.”

“SALT has a lot of elements in it,” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explains. “It’s a thriller, it’s an action movie, it’s a spy movie, it’s a dramatic love story, and it has some kick-ass action.”

In the movie, Evelyn Salt must go on the run to prove her innocence when a defector alleges that she’s a mole, triggering Day X – the day when Russian sleeper spies awaken and begin the war against the United States . “Day X is still a controversial topic inside the CIA,” says Jolie. “Some think it’s absolute nonsense and others believe that not only is it real, but sleeper agents have already been activated for certain cases. When we first approached the idea, we thought it was a bit of a fantasy, but as we found out more information, we discovered it was more real than we could have guessed. Truth really is stranger than fiction.”

Jolie describes her character as having had an “understandable reluctance to get close to anybody, and especially to get married, understanding that she was kind of putting him in the line of fire.” However, Evelyn Salt is married to a man who is fully aware of and accepts the risks of being married to a CIA operative.

Jolie says that it’s not unusual for a CIA operative to be married, but it’s a job that can put a lot of strain on a relationship. “I talked to one woman, a former operative, who said it was such a relief when she left the agency – after years of not being able to communicate anything that she did or where she was going, her whole relationship with her husband changed. She didn’t realize how much it had kept them apart, how difficult it had been, until she had a new life.”

To prepare for her role, Jolie did her research. “We talked to a lot of the women in the CIA,” says Jolie. “One after the other, they are just these lovely, sweet women that you can’t imagine being put in a dangerous situation, but they really are.”

Through these interactions with former spies, Noyce says, Jolie learned what an operative would do if she were really accused of being a sleeper spy. “She learned how spies live on the edge, what they do if they are unmasked, how they evade detection,” says the director.

In casting Jolie, the filmmakers felt they could push the throttle on the action quotient. “Salt fights aggressively, in face-to-face combat,” she notes. “In some movies I’ve done, there’s been a temptation – because I’m female – to make the action nice” – and nice, she says, is not how a trained operative accused of being a sleeper mole for the enemy would fight.

“Angelina’s the consummate pro,” adds producer di Bonaventura. “Whether it’s a dramatic scene, whether it’s a funny scene, whether it’s an action scene, she’s going for it. It’s great to work with somebody who really wants to push the boundaries.”

Opening soon across the Philippines , SALT is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and like the fanpage to get the latest movie news, video clips and contests.

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More

PHILLIP NOYCE interview for SALT

Australian director Phillip Noyce has done it all, from acclaimed thrillers like “Clear and Present Danger” and "Patriot Games" to dramas such as "The Quiet American.” Now he's back in the chair for the much anticipated spy thriller SALT, which reunites him with his "The Bone Collector" co-star Angelina Jolie.

In this interview, Noyce takes time out from filming in New York City to talk at length about the film, how it changed from a Tom Cruise movie to a Angelina Jolie film, and working with the talented actress.

Question: This film went from a male lead character, then to a female lead character. And it went through a whole sort of casting process…

Philip Noyce: In the original script by Kurt Wimmer, the lead character was called, at that time, Edwin A. Salt. We discussed the film with Tom Cruise, we had a table read with various actors, including Samuel L. Jackson, who kindly played one of the parts, just so we could hear the script read.

After that table read, Sony Pictures decided they definitely wanted to make the film. Around that time Tom wasn’t prepared to commit to the script as it was – his main fears were that the character was too close to “Mission: Impossible’s” Ethan Hunt, being a rogue spy, with extraordinary abilities. So over many months, we tried to twist and turn the story to differentiate the character of Edwin Salt from Ethan Hunt. But, Tom had a valid point. It was kind of returning to an offshoot of a character that he’d already played. It’s like playing the brother, or the cousin, of somebody that you played in another movie.

Then the project was in hiatus for a couple of weeks. Sony’s Amy Pascal had been talking over the years and had often spoken to Angelina Jolie. They’d expressed their mutual respect for each other and also, their mutual desire to try and create a female spy franchise, so we sent the script to Angelina. Then that script was revised by Brian Helgeland, who basically did a character pass. Based on that script, Angelina committed.

Question: Is the basic script you’re shooting now the same as the Cruise script, in terms of plot structure, and that kind of thing?

Noyce: The script was always evolving. I think that it’s just been a continual process, obviously accelerated by changing the central character. But the locomotive of ideas that drives the movie are the same. An undercover CIA operative is accused of being a Russian mole, and has to go on the run to defend herself. That’s been the same since day one. The tone of the film has changed in this evolution. In the same way, as action thrillers have changed along the lines of the Bond films and the Bourne films. Bond used to be almost cartoonish but now, you can take those Bond stories very seriously, on a dramatic and emotional level.

Question: So, this has a more realistic edge to it?

Noyce: Yeah, it has evolved into a story where we hope at all times that the audience takes seriously the emotional interplay between the characters, and are very, very involved on an emotional level with the story. As well as getting enormous thrills and spills, and all the other popcorn elements that you’d hope to see in a summer movie.

Question: Are you in your element making this kind of movie?

Noyce: This movie is sort of a combination of every movie I’ve ever made, in a weird way. So, was I in my element? Yes. However, the major thing the audience is going to find is that the movie’s a showcase for the incredibly diverse talents of Angelina Jolie. When I say "incredibly", that’s not an understatement. Incredibly diverse. As we know, she’s a brilliant dramatic actress. Without a doubt. That’s been proven. But she’s also shown that she can kick ass as good as any man. In this film, she gets to do both and she does both in a way that I think will startle audiences. It’s highly dramatic, it’s highly emotional. It’s a thrill a minute. People are going to be very, very surprised by what they see, and by what they see her do. As I have been.

(Opening soon across the Philippines, SALT is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and like the fanpage to get the latest movie news, video clips and contests.)

Want to receive more stuff from me? Enter your email address and click the button:

Read More