Welcome to CraveOnline's weekly movie news roundup - a weekly rundown of all the breaking news in the film world!

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN

1. 17 Again - $24 million ($24 million)
2. State of Play - $14 million ($14 million)
3. Monsters vs. Aliens - $12.9 million ($162.7 million)
4. Hannah Montana The Movie - $12.6 million ($56 million)
5. Fast and Furious - $12.2 million ($136.7 million)
6. Crank: High Voltage - $6.5 million ($6.5 million)
7. Observe and Report - $4 million ($18.6 million)
8. Knowing - $3.4 million ($73.6 million)
9. I Love You, Man - $3.3 million ($64.6 million)
10. The Haunting in Connecticut - $3.1 million ($51.9 million)


Zac Efron's 17 Again debuted at #1 at the box office over the weekend, earning $24 million. In a distant second comes State of Play, earning $14 million in its debut.

Meanwhile, Monsters vs. Aliens stayed put at #3, earning $12.9 million and for a four-week total of $162.7 million. The film had a budget of $175 million.

Hannah Montana The Movie dropped three spots to #4 at the box office with $12.6 million, while Fast and Furious dropped three spots to #5 with $12.2 million. With a running total take of $136.7 million and a budget of $85 million, you can bet your sweet ass that we'll be seeing many more of these gearhead wankfests in the near future.


Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson have some interesting news about the very highly anticipated Lord of the Rings prequel film The Hobbit. "We've decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur," del Toro reveals. It was originally announced in late 2006 that The Hobbit would be two movies, but the book would be adapted solely into the first movie itself, and a bridge story over the LOTR gap would be written specifically for the second movie. Naturally, hardcore Tolkien fans took to this like Amy Winehouse to sobriety, and rebelled.

"We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie," Jackson said. "The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy."

Here's hoping they don't pull a Lucas and ruin everything with the prequels.

Last week I delivered the disappointing news that Bruno had received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA on its first pass. It was an early run, however, and Universal has edited the film and submitted it again, which they confirmed soon after had been given an official R rating, for "pervasive strong and crude sexual content, graphic nudity and language."

It's all part of the plan. The preemptive NC-17 was a great way to drum up controversy, and now that it's made the R cut people are more interested than ever. You can also be sure that the unrated DVD is going to sell like ice cubes in Hell.

Have you seen the X-Men Origins: Wolverine Extended Helicopter Chase Scene? No? Then you've come to the right place.

Looks like a batch of awesome to me. I watched the leak, I know what's missing, and I can't wait to see it all come together next month.

Artist Robert Liefeld, one of the developers of Deadpool's character, discussed the possibility of a spin-off film on Twitter, stating the following:

"There are definite plans to spin off Deadpool if the box office works. Ryan Reynolds was chosen specifically with the idea that he would carry a solo film."

There you have it, folks. Once all the puzzle pieces come together and the Weapon XI/Deadpool mysteries are all laid out on the table, it will be exciting to see how they set up the next film.

In addition to a Deadpool film, word on the street now is that Marvel's looking at the X-Men: First Class as a possible new film franchise.

Producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who worked on all three X-Men movies as well as Wolverine, said on Fox Movie Channel's "Life After Film School" (via Comics Continuum) that X-Men: First Class is in the works. "It is the first class of Xavier's school, way back when, so it's young Scott, young Jean, young Beast and that'll be really fun," Donner said. "I think (the plan) is to follow some of the characters into their own stories, and weave them back into the X-Men world." She added that, "hopefully First Class will become its own franchise and we can follow them as they grow up."


Here is the new preview for Quentin Tarantino's latest epic Inglourious Basterds, in case you missed it. Inglourious Basterds hits the big screen on August 21st, 2009, and after seeing this trailer, I can't bloody wait:



THR reports that Green Lantern - directed by Martin Campbell - is set to shoot at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney with an approved $150 million budget for Campbell. It's good to finally get some solid news on the long-rumored film, but we still don't have any solid casting locks yet. Stay tuned.

Horror sites ShockTillYouDrop and Bloody Disgusting are reporting that C-grade director Declan O'Brien is remaking Roger Corman's classic film Little Shop of Horrors. And it's not going to be a musical. Thank God.

"After I did this movie for Roger called Cyclops he was so happy he said, 'This is the best movie that's come through my doors in 20 years, so here's my catalogue, pick something else," the director said.

Andrew Tennenbaum (The Bourne Trilogy) is producing this surefire failure. The story is about a florist who finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant named Audrey who constantly demands to be fed.

What can we expect? "It'll be dark," O'Brien says, "I have a take on it you're not going to expect. I'm taking it in a different direction, let's put it that way." Yep. Straight to DVD.


The first trailer for the CGI adaptation of Astro Boy is out, and for those who haven't seen it, check your cynicism at the door, because this clip kicks ass.



In a distant future, a brilliant inventor (voiced by Nicholas Cage) creates the world’s ultimate battle robot, in the image of his dead son. Hoping to win his creator's affections, Astro Boy sets off on a heroic journey, battling other robot gladiators and defending Metro City from the villains out to destroy it.

Astro Boy is currently slated for release on October 23, 2009. In addition to Cage, the film will feature the voice work of Kristen Bell, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy, with Freddie Highmore (The Spiderwick Chronicles) voicing Astro Boy.