[HTML1] Navy Secretary Ray Mabus spent about five minutes with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, but the two entertainment icons — one’s taking over for David Letterman next year, the other had a role in “Battleship” — packed a lot of big issues into one quick interview. A sampling: Post-service careers: Colbert asked Mabus, who left uniformed Navy service as a lieutenant junior grade, whether he ever wished he could go back in time to his former self and say, “Hang in their, buddy — you get to boss these people around later.” Recruiting and retention: Mabus offered his favorite recruiting poster…
Browsing: Battleship
On one side: A former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former chief of naval operations, 43-year naval officer, Harvard Business School graduate and occasional late-night TV conversationalist. On the other side: A lucky contest winner. In the middle: The greatest Navy-themed board game ever to be turned into a motion picture starring Ray Mabus and Liam Neeson. Not necessarily in that order. Yes, for the low price of $10 (or less), you can enter for a chance to play Battleship against retired Adm. Mike Mullen at the Naval Academy, part of an online fundraiser benefiting The Mission Continues,…
There were special screenings for sailors stateside and promotional events abroad. There was a massive marketing campaign that involved sandwich shops and soda makers. There was a positive review from Military Times’ octoplex guru. There was a cameo by the Navy Department’s top civilian. Despite all that, and despite an overseas box office take worth more than $220 million, movie-industry reports are pretty much unanimous: “Battleship” bombed. Deadline Hollywood reports a $25.3 million take for the film over its debut weekend in U.S., well behind “The Avengers,” which topped $55 million in its third weekend. One analyst quoted in this…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOq2EVbv0B0[/youtube] Hollywood just went to boot camp — surface Navy-style. The task of getting the cast of the forthcoming movie Battleship to look and speak Navy fell to the retired Navy captain who served as the film’s technical adviser. It was no easy task. “Is that your war face? What kind of a face is that!” retired Capt. Rick Hoffman, who in real-life commanded frigate DeWert and cruiser Hue City, shouts at one actor in jest during a movie trailer released April 3. “Wipe that smile off your face, sailor!” This is all part of what he called “Capt. Rick’s…
Nations including China and Russia will get an inside look at some of the U.S. Navy’s most advanced tactics. Specifically, how the Navy would deal with an alien invasion. If Liam Neeson ran Pacific Fleet. And if the director of “Friday Night Lights” ran everything. It might not be much of an intel edge, but international audiences will be the first to see the Hollywood blockbuster “Battleship,” which debuts overseas in IMAX theaters April 12, according to an IMAX news release. More than 100 international theaters will screen the movie before it hits U.S. cinemas May 18. Gawker Media’s I09…
It’s shaping up to be a traditional Super Bowl Sunday: A six-hour pregame show followed by football, snacks, drinks, aliens, surface warships and Liam Neeson. The last part might need an explainer. “Battleship,” the action movie somehow based on the board game of the same name, will debut in theaters this May, but you’ll get a new 60-second sneak peek during the first quarter of Sunday’s big game, Deadline New York reports. We’ve shown you earlier, longer trailers for this one before, but this’ll be the biggest audience yet for the SWOs-vs.-aliens adventure, which stars Neeson, “Friday Night Lights” youngster…
