Strap in and get ready, cause it's the start of a hell of a big news week in Hollywood...

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BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. Taken - $24.6 Million ($24.6 Million)
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - $14 Million ($83.3 Million)
3. The Uninvited - $10.5 Million ($10.5 Million)
4. Hotel For Dogs - $8.7 Million ($48.2 Million)
5. Gran Torino - $8.6 Million ($110.5 Million)
6. Slumdog Millionaire - $7.6 Million ($67.2 Million)
7. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans - $7.2 Million ($32.7 Million)
8. New in Town - $6.7 Million ($6.7 Million)
9. My Bloody Valentine: 3D - $4.2 Million ($44.6 Million)
10. Inkheart - $3.7 Million ($13 Million)

Taken opened at #1 at the box office over the weekend with $24.6 million, a solid showing for the Liam Neeson kidnapping thriller.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop fell to #2 at the box office, taking in $14 million for a running total of $83.3 million. With a budget of $26 million, you can bet your sweet Super Bowl-hangover-nursing ass we'll be seeing a Paul Plart: Part 2.

The Uninvited made its debut at #3, earning $10.5 million, while Hotel For Dogs stayed at the #4 spot with $8.7 million and a total of $48.2 million.

Gran Torino fell to #5, pulling in $8.6 million over the weekend to raise its eight week total to $110.5 million. The film had a budget of $33 million.

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Did you catch the Super Bowl last night? If not, you missed out on quite a few new movie trailers, several of which are pretty damned exciting.

Films that aired new spots/trailers:

Angels & Demons, Duplicity, Fast and Furious, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, Land of the Lost, Monsters vs. Aliens (in 3-D), Race to Witch Mountain, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Up, Year One (Preview) and Year One (TV Spot).

Stay tuned for an in-depth look at the good, the bad and the ugly from last night's trailer-fest.

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Oh hell yes.

Bloody Disgusting reports that Robert Rodriguez is in talks to produce a reboot of the Predator franchise. The film would reportedly have more than one predator at the core of the story, and would be distributed by Fox. They got the ball rolling strong on two Alien vs. Predator movies, so this one could really be on its way to happening. The only catch: it's unlikely that Rodriguez will direct, considering how many projects he's got on his plate at the moment.

Either way, a return of the Predator is all good news on this end. All good news.

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Slumdog Millionaire's Danny Boyle won big at the Directors Guild of America Awards in Beverly Hills last weekend. Boyle won the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2008 over fellow nominees Christopher Nolan (for The Dark Knight), David Fincher (for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Ron Howard (for Frost/Nixon) and Gus Van Sant (for Milk).

This significantly raises the likelihood that Slumdog Millionaire is going to take both the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars on February 22nd.  Only six times since the DGA Awards began in 1948 has the winner of the directorial award not gone on to win the corresponding Oscar.

"If I can get here, you can get here," Boyle said after receiving his award. "Dream hard."

This week, the film came under fire in a British newspaper report claiming they had not properly cared for or paid the children who play the "slumdogs," but Boyle and producer Christian Colson said that report was inaccurate.

I Have The Power! John Stevenson, the co-director of the animated waste of time that was Kung Fu Panda, has signed on to direct Masters of the Universe, a live-action version of the 1980s cartoon.

The Mattel-launched TV show "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," was a cornerstone show for any kid growing up in the '80s. Whose pre-pubescent arms didn't get all goosebumpy when Prince Adam yelled, "By the power of Grayskull, I have the power!" before turning in He-Man? Defending Eternia from the evil forces of Skeletor, who tried each week to storm and conquer Castle Grayskull, He-Man's equivalent to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.

Justin Marks wrote the script for the Warner Bros./Silver Pictures film, the story of which is said to skew more toward gritty fantasy, reimagining Adam as a soldier who sets off to find his destiny and stumbling upon a magical world called Eternia. There, a being called Skeletor has put together a technologically advanced army and is bent on eradicating all traces of magic.

"'Masters of the Universe' was a billion-dollar franchise for us in the '80s," said Barry Waldo, Mattel's vice president worldwide entertainment marketing and strategy, who will executive produce the movie. "There are so few of those in the vault; it's one of the crown jewels. So we were looking for a master storyteller."

Hell, it can't be any worse than the Dolph Lundgren version from the '90s, right?

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Emily Blunt, who had reportedly been a frontrunner to play the role of Black Widow in Iron Man 2, may be out of the film.

Blunt's previous contractual obligation to star in 20th Century Fox's version of Gulliver's Travels with Jack Black and Jason Segel takes precedence, according to Variety.

But Variety also notes that Fox has been in talks with Blunt's people, and that they "were feeling more optimistic that she could do both projects."

Iron Man 2 begins filming in early April in California, while Gulliver's Travels begins shooting in late March, in the UK. I don't see it working, and I really don't care. What's so special about Miss Blunt anyway?

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And the floodgates open: Notorious screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker is set to pen another story involving a slain rap star. He'll adapt Bill Adler's Tougher Than Leather: The Rise of Run-DMC -- The Authorized Biography for DJ Classicz, the urban extension of Davis Entertainment.

Notorious, which has been in theaters for two weeks, chronicles the life and premature death of Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G. For Tougher, filmmakers will explore the history of hip-hop's first breakout superstars: Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, who was shot to death in his Queens recording studio in 2002.

Having been retired since Mizell's death, Run-DMC will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4 and will perform on a national stage for the first time since the murder.

"It's an extraordinary rags-to-riches journey that I'm eager to bring to the screen," DJ Classicz president Dallas Jackson said. "And I'm hoping to have Run, DMC and Russell Simmons' involvement. This will be a big movie about the 1980s hip-hop movement that took over the world."

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Because the first one wasn't quite bad enough, Columbia Pictures is moving forward with Ghost Rider 2. Writers are currently being recruited to work on the script for the sequel, and yes boys and girls, Nicholas Cage is set to return to star once again as vigilante Johnny Blaze.

Despite being an unwatchable hunk of burnt-hair-covered shit, the first Ghost Rider made $220 million worldwide. Cage has been vocal about his desire to move forward with the sequel, and has discussed the project with Columbia, with the idea of taking Blaze to Europe. As of now, Columbia has made no official announcement.

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The Dawn Treader sets sail: 20th Century Fox has picked up the rights to the Narnia series from Walden Media, after Disney had dropped the project last month. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is now greenlit for production, with Fox and Walden are currently working out the details of the budget, which is said to be $60 million cheaper than that of Prince Caspian's $215 million.

So far it appears that the original cast will be returning for the film, with Michael Apted as the director and Andrew Adamson as producer. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is expected to begin shooting in the summer, for a winter 2010 release.

Seth Rogen has responded to the circulating rumors that The Green Hornet film has been shelved. In an email Rogen sent to Hitfix , who originally broke that the project may be dead, the star had the following to say:

"We have every intention on making it, and assuming we're able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the [June 25, 2010] release date." Not only that, but Adam Sandler is reportedly making a surprise appearance as a superhero.

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According to Variety, The A-Team now has a director. John Singleton was previously attached to the film, but Joe Carnahan (Narc) has instead been brought on to direct the project. A-Team creator Stephen J. Cannell will produce, with Jules Daly and executive producer Tony Scott.

The film will reportedly be about four Middle East war veterans, who are sent to a maximum-security stockade for a crime they didn't commit (Gitmo, anyone?). They then escape and survive by helping those in need, as soldiers of fortune. The film will have a more serious tone than the original TV show.

All I know is that they'd better get Bruce Willis to play John "Hannibal" Smith. It's a perfect casting match. But who would play B.A. Baracus?

Carnahan had the following to say about the film:

"This was a coveted property, and reimagining a show that I remembered as a kid was tough to turn down. Fox hired me to make it as emotional, real and accessible as possible without cheesing it up. You can make a film that reflects on the real world without losing the great sense of fun and velocity of action in a classic summer popcorn movie."

The A-Team is set to begin shooting this summer for a June 11th, 2010 release.

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Yeah, but is Megan Fox on board? According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. Pictures and producer Dan Lin are developing a reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise. Paramount put out the first two installments, but the movie rights have since reverted back to Eidos. Warner Bros, having since upped their stake in the company (to 19.92%) has become part of that deal and will have rights to the film.

The standing goal is to reinvent nearly everything about the Lara Croft character that Angelina Jolie so badly soiled; the origins, mission, love interest, etc. The finished product will reportedly have only a small resemblance to the previous films. Amen to that.

A replacement actress to take over the Croft role will likely be chosen after a writer and director are attached, but there have been some very enticing rumors of Megan Fox taking over the role. I'm definitely on board for that one.

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Jerry Bruckheimer says that his upcoming big screen revival of The Lone Ranger will likely use the same success playbook that his blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean franchise did.

"I think it'll have a supernatural element to it. It's the same writers as Pirates and it'll have a similar kind of thing to it."

Bruckheimer recently told Latino Review that Johnny Depp will play Tonto in the film, but refused to confirm rumors that George Clooney would play the Lone Ranger. The director also said that the film will have a supernatural element to it.

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The New York Times recently interviewed Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law about the new Sherlock Holmes film, and a few new details were uncovered about the project.

Holmes' character will be much more "like James Bond in 1891", as he will be a brawler, gambler, womanizer and martial artist with a head for action.

According to Jude Law, his take on Watson will also be much different in this version:

"Watson is a man who left the military a few years ago and who takes a military approach to situations. He's slightly more strait-laced than Holmes but certainly no less brave."

The Times also provided the following synopsis for the film, which may contain some spoilers, so beware…

"The film starts with Holmes apprehending a murderer and master of the dark arts named Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong) — a character based, Mr. Wigram said, on the notorious Victorian occultist Aleister Crowley. As he is led to the gallows, Lord Blackwood pledges to come back from the dead and continue his evil ways. He does just that, and the rest of the movie follows Holmes and Watson as they try to foil his plot."

Sherlock Holmes is set to open on November 13th, 2009.