Welcome to CraveOnline's weekly movie news roundup - a weekly rundown of all the breaking news in the film world, with an eye for what Tinseltown's got in store for us in the near future!
BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. Marley and Me - $37 Million
2. Bedtime Stories - $28 Million
3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – $27 Million
4. Valkyrie - $21.5 Million
5. Yes Man - $16.4
6. Seven Pounds - $13.4
7. The Tale of Despereaux - $9.3
8. The Day the Earth Stood Still - $7.9
9. The Spirit – $6.5 Million
10. Doubt - $5.6 Million
Marley and Me landed the #1 spot at the box office over the weekend with $37 million and the highest per theater average of any in the top ten, with $10,632 per theater.
Adam Sandler's latest bid for mainstream relevance, Bedtime Stories, debuted at #2 at the box office, earning $28 million over the weekend and $38.5 million since its Christmas opening.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opened at #3 with $27 million over the weekend and $39 million since opening. With a budget of $150 million, Mr. Jolie's transition from bad boy sex god to wisened character actor doesn't look to be going too smoothly.
Moviegoers were even less enthused with L. Ron Hubbard..er, Tom Cruise's portrayal of a Nazi would-be Hitler assassin in Valkyrie, which debuted at #4 with $21.5 million over the weekend.
Yes Man dropped four spots to #5, earning $16.4 million to bring its total gross to $49.5 million in two weeks.
In case you haven't heard, Warner Bros. has opted not to release The Dark Knight in the Chinese market. Go figure.
"Based on a number of prerelease conditions that are being attached to The Dark Knight as well as cultural sensitivities to some elements of the film, we have opted to forego a theatrical release of the film in China," the studio says in a statement.
Studio execs have been understandably reluctant to offend the communist government's uber-sensitive Ministry of Culture, which has to approve all films for release in the country.
It's believed that the problems have arisen from the fact that The Dark Knight features some action sequences set in Hong Kong with political overtones —the Caped Crusader kidnaps a Chinese executive to circumvent extradition laws and hauls him back for a little Gotham City justice. Nothing like breaking international law in a bat suit to bring someone to justice, especially when the winged enforcer uses Orwellian surveillance technologies to do so - ones that undoubtedly had Dick Cheney screaming with double-fisted glee as he watched the film in his impenetrable fortress deep beneath Castle Greyskull.
Aslan's on to greener pastures: Disney has apparently had enough with the Narnia franchise, opting not to take part in the planned third film in the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This means the movie will no longer happen unless another studio steps in to distribute it. Disney backed out mainly due to not wanting to finance a third of the production costs for the movie.
There is light at the end of the floundering fantasy, however. 20th Century Fox now appears to be interested in taking over the Narnia franchise.
2005's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, of course based on the first volume in the C.S. Lewis children's book series, grossed $745 million at box offices worldwide and became a top-selling DVD for the year.
Its sequel, this year's Prince Caspian, was a flashy mess with very little gravity, but nevertheless made $420 million worldwide.
20th Century Fox has won a judgment against Warner Brothers and now owns the copyright interest for the film Watchmen, which is set to hit the big screen on March 6th, 2009.
On Wednesday, Judge Gary A. Feess issued a five-page written order. Fox had been trying to stop Warner Brothers from releasing Watchmen, since Fox had acquired rights to the graphic novel in the late 1980s. The goal at the time was for Lawrence Gordon to produce the project for Fox, but when the project was put on the shelf (such a small descriptive for "sat on for a quarter century"), Gordon later pursued the project with Universal and then Paramount Pictures before settling with Warner Brothers.
Judge Gary A. Feess stated in a five-page written order that, "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen' motion picture". Feess also stated that both sides should reach for a settlement instead of going to trial. If they do decide to go to trial, the case won't be heard until after the New Year.
Stephen Chow has dropped out as the director of The Green Hornet, but it was still widely believed that he was staying with the project to play the role of Kato. According to The Associated Press, however, Chow may not have time to be a part of The Green Hornet at all because he wants to work with Jack Black on a superhero comedy project. And no, we're not talking Nacho Libre Dos.
Chow stated the following in the AP article:
"If I direct The Green Hornet, the superhero comedy will have to be delayed for two years. The timing might not be right for a superhero comedy in two years. And I want to make a movie based on an original idea."
Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) is set to direct a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel The Great Gatsby. Luhrmann recently bought the rights to the book, and plans to begin focusing on the script once he is finished promoting his new movie, Australia. This will be the fifth big screen version of The Great Gatsby. Some bad ideas just refuse to die.
In the month since Jeffrey Tambor revealed that an Arrested Development film was a go, I've immersed myself in the now-cancelled series, becoming a rabid fan in the process. My hopes, like those of so many other fans, have been toyed with in recent weeks, as Tambor's positivite spin has been weighed down by word that actors Will Arnett and Michael Cera were holding out on the idea. In the latest update,
series creator Mitchell Hurwitz said the following in a recent interview with Fancast (via Collider):
I don’t want to talk about who is holding out right now because we might still work that out and I don’t want to pressure anyone through the press. Although I will say that Will Arnett is gung-ho, so there’s a big clue!
So there you have it. Michael Cera, aka George Michael, aka the most successful of the entire AR cast since the show's demise, still doesn't seem too keen on the notion of stepping into his former role in the dysfunctional Bluth family.
You may remember Cera's previous comments on the concept, which he made back in September: "I don’t think I would want to see a movie of the series if I was a fan, anyway," he said. "And I don’t really see a need for it if you can get the three seasons on DVD."
That doesn't sound too promising, but if history's taught us anything, comments like that usually mean "pay me more money and I'm in." So I guess we'll see.
All you Tron nerds out there should be thrilled to hear that Bruce Boxleitner, who played the title character in the original film, has been cast and is currently filming his role in the upcoming sequel, Tron 2. He'll be re-joining Jeff Bridges, Olivia Wilde and Beau Garrett in the film, which seems to really be aiming for perfection this time around.
Amidst all this superhero movie-casting rumor nonsense, word had been spreading that John Cho was set to play the villain the Mandarin in Iron Man 2. In case the idea doesn't sound absolutely absurd to you already, I'd like to state once and for all that the rumor is total BS. It all stemmed from an Entertainment Weekly article that jokingly named Cho as the new villain, and even went so far as to claiming that Tommy Chong will play the Mandarin's father.
But still, what about this Eddie Murphy/Riddler business? I think that's a perfectly digestible concept when placed next to the absurdity of Shia LeBeouf as Robin (gag) or Rachel Weisz as Catwoman. The chick is damaged goods in a porcelain-perfect body, and Indy's kid has proven himself time and again to be soaked in a very special brand of douche. No thanks.
