Half Past Dead is a 2002 American action film written and directed by Don Michael Paul in his directorial debut. The film was produced by Elie Samaha, Andrew Stevens, and Steven Seagal, who also starred in the lead role. The film co-stars Morris Chestnut, Ja Rule, Tony Plana, Kurupt, and Nia Peeples. It tells the story of a criminal who infiltrates a prison to interrogate a prisoner about the location of a fortune in gold while an undercover FBI agent has to stop him. Distribution and copyrights were held by Columbia Pictures. Half Past Dead was released in the United States on November 15, 2002, by Screen Gems. The film garnered negative reviews from critics, and only grossed $19 million worldwide against its $25 million production budget. Half Past Dead was Steven Seagal's last widely released film before he shifted to several direct-to-video films in many years until 2010.
Good Burger is a 1997 American teen comedy film directed by Brian Robbins, written by Dan Schneider with Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert, and starring Kenan Thompson, Kel Mitchell, and Abe Vigoda. The film is a spin-off of the "Good Burger" comedy sketch from the Nickelodeon variety series All That, with Mitchell reprising his role as Ed. The story follows Dexter Reed, a high school student who takes a job at a fast-food restaurant called Good Burger to pay off the damages he made to his teacher's car as he and Ed, his dimwitted co-worker, stumble upon an evil plot by a rival fast-food restaurant.
Wild at Heart is a 1990 American romantic crime drama film written and directed by David Lynch, based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Barry Gifford. Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, Diane Ladd, Isabella Rossellini, and Harry Dean Stanton, the film follows Sailor Ripley and Lula Fortune, a young couple who go on the run from Lula's domineering mother and the criminals she hires to kill Sailor.
Gigli is a 2003 American romantic crime comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Martin Brest and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bartha, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Lainie Kazan.
Soul Plane is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Jessy Terrero. The film stars Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart, Method Man and Snoop Dogg. Supporting actors include Mo'Nique, Loni Love, K. D. Aubert, D. L. Hughley, Godfrey and Sofia Vergara. The film revolves around multiple characters in different scenarios on board an airplane. Soul Plane received negative reviews from critics and grossed $14 million worldwide, falling short of its $16 million budget.
Snatch is a 2000 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast and set in the London criminal underworld. The film contains two intertwined plots, one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter who finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless gangster who is ready and willing to have his subordinates carry out severe and sadistic acts of violence.
Catwoman is a 2004 American superhero film directed by Pitof and written by John Rogers, John Brancato and Michael Ferris from a story by Theresa Rebeck, Brancato and Ferris, with music by Klaus Badelt. It is loosely based on the DC Comics character Catwoman. The film stars Halle Berry, Benjamin Bratt, Lambert Wilson, Frances Conroy, Alex Borstein, and Sharon Stone. Its plot centers on Patience Phillips, a meek graphic designer, who discovers a conspiracy within the cosmetics company she works for that involves a dangerous product that could cause widespread health problems. After being discovered and murdered by the conspirators, Patience is revived by an Egyptian mau cat that grants her superhuman cat-like abilities, allowing her to become the crime-fighting superheroine Catwoman.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films: Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); and the romantic comedy Hit Man (2023).
Proof of Life is a 2000 American action thriller film directed and produced by Taylor Hackford, and starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe. The title refers to a phrase commonly used to indicate proof that a kidnap victim is still alive. The film's screenplay was written by Tony Gilroy, who also was an executive producer, and was inspired by William Prochnau's Vanity Fair magazine article "Adventures in the Ransom Trade", and Thomas Hargrove's book Long March to Freedom, in which Hargrove recounts how his release was negotiated by Thomas Clayton, who went on to be the founder of kidnap-for-ransom consultancy Clayton Consultants, Inc.
Drillbit Taylor is a 2008 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Steven Brill, produced by Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth with screenplay by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen based on an original story by John Hughes. In the film, three high school pupils decide to hire an adult bodyguard to protect them from some bullies who endlessly harass and abuse them.
The Hottie and The Nottie is a 2008 American romantic comedy film starring Paris Hilton, Joel David Moore, and Christine Lakin. Written by Heidi Ferrer and directed by Tom Putnam, the film began shooting in January 2007 and was released theatrically on February 8, 2008.
Bratz is a 2007 American teen comedy film based on the fashion dolls of the same name from MGA Entertainment. The film is directed by Sean McNamara with a screenplay by Susan Estelle Jansen, from a story written by Adam de la Pena and David Eilenberg. It is the first live-action film based on the toyline after a series of direct-to-video animated films and a television series.
Pinocchio is a 2002 Italian fantasy comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Roberto Benigni, who also stars. It is based on the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, with Benigni portraying Pinocchio. Filming took place in Italy and Kalkara, Malta. It was dedicated to costume and production designer Danilo Donati, who died on 1 December 2001.
The Apparition is a 2012 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Todd Lincoln, in his directorial debut, and starring Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan, Tom Felton, Julianna Guill, and Rick Gomez. The plot follows three college students who, after the death of their friend, must battle a supernatural force they summoned themselves. The film was loosely inspired by the Philip experiment conducted in 1972.
Bad Teacher is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan and written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. Starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Lucy Punch, John Michael Higgins, and Jason Segel, the film tells the story of a middle school teacher who hates her job, her students, and her co-workers, but returns to teaching after her wealthy fiancé breaks up with her.
Let's Be Cops is a 2014 American buddy cop action comedy film co-written and directed by Luke Greenfield. The film stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Jake Johnson as two friends who pretend to be police officers in Los Angeles. The film co-starred Nina Dobrev, Rob Riggle, James D'Arcy, and Andy García. It was filmed on location in Atlanta, Georgia, and released on August 13, 2014. The film received negative reviews from critics. It was a box office success grossing $138.2 million worldwide against a production budget of $17 million.
Monster Trucks is a 2016 American live action/animated monster comedy film co-produced by Paramount Animation, Nickelodeon Movies and Disruption Entertainment for Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Chris Wedge, in both his live-action directorial debut and first directorial effort outside of his own company Blue Sky Studios, and written by Derek Connolly, from a story by Jonathan Aibel, Glenn Berger and Matthew Robinson. The film stars Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Barry Pepper, Thomas Lennon, and Holt McCallany, and follows Tripp Coley, a young junkyard employee who finds a subterranean creature living in his truck.
Justin Bieber's Believe is a 2013 American concert film and the sequel to Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011), both centering on Canadian singer Justin Bieber. It was distributed through Open Road Films in the United States and Canada, premiering on December 18, 2013 and being officially released to theaters on December 25, 2013. The film received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $32.2 million at the worldwide box office.
The dump months are what the film community has, before the era of streaming television, called the two periods of the year when there have been lowered commercial and critical expectations for most new theatrical releases from American filmmakers and distributors. Domestic audiences during these periods are smaller than the rest of the year, so no tentpole movies are released. January and February are usually most commonly described this way, with August and September sometimes included. Releases during those times primarily include films that would have been released at other times of year had they performed better at test screenings, films with less prominent stars, genre films, movies that cannot be easily marketed and films intended for a teenage audience, which has fewer entertainment options outside the home.
