The Hollywood Roundup: September 22
Chow in Green Hornet, Tintin's on hold and Harry Potter goes IMAX
BOX OFFICE TOP TEN
1. Lakeview Terrace - $15.6 million ($15.6 million)
2. Burn After Reading - $11.2 million ($36.4 million)
3. My Best Friend's Girl - $8.3 million ($8.3 million)
4. Igor - $8 million ($8 million)
5. Righteous Kill - $7.7 million ($28.8 million)
6. Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys - $7.5 million ($28.3 million)
7. The Women - $5.3 million ($19.2 million)
8. Ghost Town - $5.1 million ($5.1 million)
9. The Dark Knight - $2.9 million ($521.9 million)
10. The House Bunny - $2.8 million ($45.7 million)
Lakeview Terrace debuted #1 at the box office this weekend, earning $15.6 million. Evidently people like to be creeped the hell out by Sam Jackson.
Burn After Reading fell one spot to #2 in its second weekend, with $11.2 million, raising its total gross to $36.4 million.
Ridiculous Dane Cook vehicle My Best Friend's Girl debuted at #3 with $8.3 million.
Not too many people care about hunchback cartoons. Igor debuted at #4 with $8 million. With a budget of $30 million, things aren't looking so hot for Mr. Scoliosis.
Return of the cougars: At the DVD release party for Sex and the City: The Movie on Thursday night, Sarah Jessica Parker confirmed that a sequel is going to happen. No official announcement has been made, but rest assured that Carrie Bradshaw and Co. will return to inspire vapidity and menopausal promiscuity in all of us once more.
"Let's wring everything we can out of this thing," Parker said.
Action hero wannabe Vin Diesel, whose last film Babylon A.D. fell hard, is returning for a third xXx film, titled xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. First sign of a shit movie (other than Vin's involvement, of course)? People are talking about it before there's even a script. Both Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen have agreed to return but haven't signed any contracts yet. Diesel skipped out on the second xXx (Ice Cube starred in that one - yeah we don't remember either), just like he did on the second and third Fast and the Furious films. But he's back with F&F, so why not this one too? It's not like we'll be seeing either one.
Jon Favreau, whose directorial accomplishments are far beyond any acting he's done, is reteaming with his Swingers costar Vince Vaughn for a film called Couples Retreat. Favreau actually wrote the script which will also star Jason Bateman and Faizon Love. Peter Billingsley (Ralphie from A Christmas Story) will be making his directorial debut with this one. He's already produced most of Favreau's films, and done work as a second-unit director.
This marks the first time since Swingers in 1996 that both Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn will star together. Can't wait.
Universal has rejected the $130 million budget for the Peter Jackson/Steven Spielberg project Tintin, based around a European comic strip that's over forty years old. The studio backed out of co-financing the production with Paramount, saying that Tintin would need to make an estimated $425 million in order for the studio to break even. Does anybody care? You shouldn't. This shit sounds terrible. Back to the Hobbit, Pete. And Spielberg? I dunno, man. Just don't go making another Indy movie. Especially one about aliens.
Seth Rogen is having a good day today. We're sure of it. Stephen Chow, the legendary Chinese director known for Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, will star in and direct Rogen's pet project The Green Hornet. Chow had long been rumored to be Rogen's top choice for the character of Kato, the Green Hornet's sidekick. He will not only take on that role, but he's going to direct the film as well, which might just be the best news we've heard all month! I was already looking forward to seeing Rogen's take on the Green Hornet, but now I'm sure this is going to be something truly great. Bruce Lee previously played Kato on the classic TV show, but now it's time for Stephen Chow to step in.
In a recent interview with ComingSoon, Rogen explained that his version of The Green Hornet is "a very intense action movie and the relationship between Green Hornet and Kato, a lot of comedy comes from that." He mentions that they weren't sure whether they wanted a Kato with more humor or not, but decided "in the version that we've made it seems like a Stephen Chow type guy would be more suitable for the role." Damn right he would. If you've seen Kung Fu Hustle, there's no reason you shouldn't be quietly repeating the word "awesome" to yourself over and over right now. The release date is still set for June 25th, 2010.
Even though it's been delayed until July next year, IMAX has announced that almost a full half hour of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be presented in IMAX 3D. The decision was likely inspired by Order of the Phoenix's 20 minutes of footage during the final fight that was shown in 3D. It will arrive in theaters everywhere starting on July 17th, 2009.
Talking to USA Today at a charity golf tournament over the weekend, Will Ferrell promised we won't ever see a Blades of Glory 2, or, worse yet, a Semi-Pro 2. “I will no longer attempt to do any sports movie, anymore. Any sports,” he announced.
“Yeah, I'm retired from sports-genre films. You know, I think I filled my quota," said the funnyman. Excellent choice, because all we care about is another Anchorman movie.
