Vince Vaughn

In theaters June 2, 2006

. . . pick a side.

Top 10 Films
Here are the top movie ticket sales Friday through Sunday, with estimated weekend receipts, and total receipts since the movie opened. The number of weeks opened is in parentheses.

Monday, June 5, 2006; C04
Visit BoxOfficeMojo.com for all the newest figures

	Weekend Total	Total
1. The Break-Up (1)	38.1	38.1
2. X-Men: The Last Stand (2)	34.4	175.7
3. Over the Hedge (3)	20.6	112.4
4. The Da Vinci Code (3)	19.3	172.7
5. Mission Impossible III (5)	4.7	122.7
6. Poseidon (4)	3.4	51.7
7. RV (6)	3.3	61.8
8. See No Evil (3)	2.0	12.4
9. An Inconvenient Truth (2)	1.3	1.9
10. Just My Luck (4)	0.8	15.6

Official Website
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Vince Vaughn and Universal Team Up for "The Break Up"
SOURCE: Variety

©2005 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Jan 17, 2005 - At the conclusion of a bidding war involving a number of major studios, Universal Pictures won out on the rights to make "The Break Up" movie, a comedy based on an idea of Vince Vaughn's.

Vince Vaughn, who will next be seen in "Be Cool" with John Travolta and Uma Thurman and "The Wedding Crashers" with Owen Wilson, will produce and star in "The Break Up." Variety is reporting the movie's storyline is being kept a secret but apparently has to do with the aftermath of a breakup - thus the title.

According to Variety, Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick were paid $2 million for the spec, making it one of the bigger spec sales in years.

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The Old 97's - one of my favorite bands - are in The Break Up. Visit their site: Old 97's Official Website

If you are not familiar, Old 97's also had a song - Time Bomb - in another VV film, Clay Pigeons. That film was actually how I discovered the band and have probably seen them at least 3 or 4 times live in DC.

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Aniston Stars in the Comedy Movie "The Break Up" for Universal Pictures
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter

Mar. 17, 2005 - Jennifer Aniston apparently doesn't believe in taking vacations. Aniston, who will next be seen in "Rumor Has It" and "Friends with Money," has joined Vince Vaughn for "The Break Up," a comedy from Universal Pictures.

"Down with Love" director Peyton Reed has been tapped to helm "The Break Up," with Jay Lavender and Jeremy Garelick writing the script based on an idea of Vince Vaughn's.

Filming is expected to begin in early summer with Universal shooting for a February 2006 release.

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Cast and Crew

©2005 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Cast:
Jennifer Aniston ... Brooke
Vince Vaughn ... Gary
Joey Lauren Adams ... Addie
Peter Billingsley .... Andrew
Rhett Miller .... Himself/Old 97's
Murry Hammond .... Himself/Old 97's
Ann-Margret
Jon Favreau ... Johnny O
Judy Davis
Cole Hauser ... Lupus
John Michael Higgins
Justin Long
Vincent D'Onofrio

Crew:
Director: Peyton Reed
Screenplay: Jeremy Garelick, and Jay Lavender
Story By: Vince Vaughn & Jeremy Garelick & Jay Lavender
Producer: Vince Vaughn
Executive Producers: Stuart Besser and Peter Billingsley

MPAA RATING: Not Yet Rated
RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2006


©2005 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

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Latest News about the Film

Bad summer flicks? Box office doesn't show it

By Bob Tourtellotte
Reuters
Monday, June 5, 2006; 7:44 PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Think last summer's slate of poorly reviewed Hollywood movies helped lead to the slump at the box offices? Think again.

So far, Hollywood's Summer 2006 movies, including last weekend's No. 1 flick, comedy "The Break-Up," have been mostly panned by critics, yet U.S. and Canadian box offices are roughly 4 percent higher than at the same point last year, reversing last summer's slump.

"When it comes to big summer blockbusters ... most of those movies depend on marketing and, quite frankly the hype, more than the reviews," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Dergarabedian cited a long-held truth in Hollywood: That the core audience for big-budget summer movies -- mostly teen-age and college-age youth -- pays more attention to promotion and advertising than to critics.

Take a look at the reviews for "Break-Up," which starred Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn as a couple who separate from each other but can't give up their condo.

"Doesn't know when to call it quits," wrote the Dallas Morning News. "Isn't much fun," said the Washington Post.

The critical word on religious thriller "The Da Vinci Code" was worse. Newsweek said it was "both overstuffed and underwhelming."

Action flick "X-Men: The Last Stand" did only marginally better in the reviews, but like the others it defied critics at box offices.

"X-Men" is a huge hit with more than $175 million at domestic box offices. "Da Vinci Code" is a hair behind at $172 million, and overseas it has racked up another $410 million.

Experts cite many reasons for the disconnect, including that older and less-frequent moviegoers read reviews. Kids do not.

Younger audiences hear about a film through their friends, who have seen promotions in theaters or on TV. Increasingly, the Internet has been a key arena for reaching kids.

Universal Pictures, for instance, is running a promotion for upcoming street-racing movie "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" through social community site LiveDigital, where people who customize cars can post a video of their handiwork.

"We are targeting a very tight community. Our belief is they don't quite listen to critics or authorities," said LiveDigital founder Lawrence Ng.

But take heart movie critics, you still matter.

Good reviews are a must for low-budget films and those competing for awards. That was true for 2005 race-relations drama "Crash." It played in theaters last summer season and earned strong reviews. It sold only $54 million worth of tickets at domestic box offices but won the best film Oscar.

"There is definitely a place for reviews, and there always will be," Dergarabedian said.

Reuters/VNU
© 2006 Reuters

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'The Break-Up': Split to Splat
Jennifer Aniston Gets the Short End of the Shtick

By Desson Thomson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 2, 2006; C01

Nobody likes a fight that's fixed, except the backroom boys making the deal. Which is why "The Break-Up," a romantic comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston, may have its share of laughs, but isn't much fun .

That's because Vaughn -- also one of the film's co-writers and producers -- seems to have awarded himself the championship belt before the opening bell. He gets all the laughs. And Aniston's the pretty palooka who takes the fall, all too early.

Viewers hungry for glimmers of Aniston's off-screen relationship with Vaughn -- so fresh on the heels of that Other Break-Up with Brad Pitt -- won't find more than the usual meaningful glances between any actors playing lovers. And there are no nudge-nudge wink-wink one-liners to get the audience chortling, or sighing, over Brangelina or Vaughniston.

Vaughn plays Gary, a tour guide in Chicago who charms tourists with his slightly risque jokes. His idea of a good time is shooting pool, watching the Cubs on widescreen TV or firing up a video game while his live-in girlfriend, Brooke (Aniston), kvetches in the background. Thanks to his hilarious turns in films such as "Swingers" and "Wedding Crashers," we're conditioned to guffaw at everything he does -- cluelessness, couch-potato slovenliness and all. ("Get some!" he yells, clicking at the console, as his favorite character blows cops into smithereens.) There's no question whose corner we're supposed to be in.

Brooke's a humor-impaired art dealer who has a sharp eye for fine paintings, ballet and Gary's domestic shortcomings. Her reactions amount to three: She's appalled, thunderstruck or upset by his actions. When she weeps, her face concertinas into a wet, squishy mess. She seems perpetually miserable. (Aniston clearly fails the A-list actress challenge of still looking beautiful while crying -- think Meg, Julia -- and instead just blubs like the rest of us.)

When, in the heat of an argument, Gary makes a point about Michelangelo's "16th chapel," it's Brooke's straight-gal job to inform him it's the Sistine Chapel. She's right, but he's funny. And in comedy, smart alecks lose and endearing goofballs win. Round 1 to Gary.

When Brooke decides to end the relationship, both parties refuse to leave the condo they bought together. So they agree to an estranged coexistence, with Gary spending his nights on the pullout sofa. But even though he's lost the bedroom, and is clearly heartbroken, Gary remains on top. When Brooke brings in a new suitor named Mike, for instance, Gary persuades him to sit down for a quick game of virtual football. Mike soon forgets he's supposed to be taking Brooke out on a date.

"I can't take all the credit," Gary says, when Mike expresses admiration for his video-clicking prowess. "I gotta thank those little digital guys with the big hearts."

Brooke reads in the background, pretending not to care, losing again.

Aniston showed peppy spirit as Rachel Green in years of TV's "Friends," and she was a ticklish surprise as Joanna in "Office Space." But in this movie, she never gets to show those comedic abilities; she's cast as a cute killjoy. When Gary's beaten up by Brooke's gay brother, Richard (John Michael Higgins), whom he previously dismissed as a wimp, Brooke snickers when Gary recounts the story. But even then, she doesn't win the round; Gary loses it on his own.

It takes two to tangle -- a couple evenly matched, ready to fight tooth and nail. Take a speedy rewind through the best romantic matchups of the past: Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, or Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in "When Harry Met Sally," or Cher and Nicolas Cage in "Moonstruck." It's as comical to watch Crystal getting flustered as Ryan, Hepburn as Tracy. It's enjoyable to wonder who's going to get the upper hand -- even as we conveniently forget the inevitable result: a heartwarming tie.

Because the main event in "The Break-Up" is such a disappointment, we're reduced to finding amusement in the supporting characters, who are, frankly, the best thing about the movie. Higgins, best known for his turns in "Best in Show" and TV's "Arrested Development," steals every scene he shares with Vaughn. At one point -- and to Gary's horror -- he enlists an entire dinner gathering of family to accompany his a cappella rendering of the Yes song, "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Then there's Andy (Peter Billingsley), the henpecked husband of Brooke's best friend (a surprisingly muted Joey Lauren Adams), who can hardly speak without a signal from his wife. Vincent D'Onofrio, who plays Gary's brother, has one of the finest scenes of all, a real tour de force, as he wordlessly expresses his frustration with Gary by uncricking his neck and, peculiarly, using the corners of a handkerchief to clean the wax out of his ears. The routine is so off-the-wall, you can't help laughing. And you know when you're chuckling at moments like this, you are craving a better comedy.

The Break-Up (105 minutes, at area theaters) is rated PG-13 for profanity, sexual content and some nudity.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

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