Entertainment

Over the weekend, new release The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Tourist failed to draw big numbers from the audience while the box office itself was down nearly five percent from the year prior when Disney’s The Princess and the Frog lead. Still audiences had plenty of holdover movies to choose from like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Tangled, and Unstoppable.

Sony Pictures, The Tourist travels to your local theater for its nation wide release, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. The film marks a return for Sony Pictures to the cinema (other then Burlesque) sense they finished the summer with Resident Evil: After Life and the much praised, The Social Network. Sony Pictures will be back again next week to finish out its year with romantic comedy ‘How Do You Know’, starring Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson and the ever great, Jack Nicholson. I do however feel bad for that movie as it will have to go up against Tron: Legacy and I think we both know what movie ill be going with…

Anyways, hit the jump for a trailer for The Tourist which is one I’m excited to see. Should be especially great for the 25+ crowd, so take your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband on a nice date this week and catch a more adult film.

 American tourist Frank (Johnny Depp) meets a mysterious beauty who drags him into a dangerous world of intrigue and espionage while traveling through Europe in director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s paranoid thriller. When Frank met Elise (Angelina Jolie) on the train, he thought it was a chance encounter. Little did Frank realize it was all part of a much bigger plan, one that would soon find him dodging bullets through both the historic streets of Paris and the winding canals of Venice. Now, the faster Frank and Elise run, the more intense their romance grows. 

Emma Stone, star of recent hits such as Superbad, The House Bunny, and Zombieland will be playing Gwen Stacy, Peter Parkers love interest in the upcoming Marc Web “peter-parker-told-differently”/”> Spider-man reboot. Though many of Stone’s fan know her and have seen her as a red her in her movies and outings, Stone says that she is actually a natural blond and is now back to her original color as she prepares for her up coming roll. Recently photographed at the red carpet at Trevor Live at the Hollywood Palladium on Sunday, we can start to get a feel for her character, though this is far from the final look of “Gwen Stacy”.

George Clooney has picked up the rights to the play Farragut North by Beau Williamson and will be directing and starring in the film titled The Ides of March. According to SlashFilm, “Ryan Gosling will play Stephen Meyers, the young campaign mastermind to Governor Morris (George Clooney), who is campaigning for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Paul Giamatti is a rival candidate’s campaign leader. Marisa Tomei plays a New York Times reporter and Evan Rachel Wood an intern with whom Ryan Gosling’s character has a liaison.” With the main cast set and the movie to begin shooting soon, it was still a mystery on which studio would actually distribute this Oscar-aimed movie. Now we know that Sony Pictures has scooped up the film.

 The studio will release The Ides of March in a limited theatrical run in December 2011, with a wide release to follow in January 2012. So they will get the picture out there in time to qualify for an Oscar, but not so much that it really has to directly compete with the other slate of December 2011 releases. 

[Via SlashFilm]

Oh no! Over the last several weeks, we have been reporting on all the new casting for Sony Pictures and Marb Web Spider-man reboot. We have the Lizard,Uncle Ben, Aunt May, Gwen Stacy and of course Peter Parker, aka Spider-man. Now comes news that Sony is also looking to recast J.K. Simmons (above) who played Daily Bugle editor J. Jonah Jameson ever so perfectly. For fans of the comic and the 90’s cartoon, J.K. Simmons nailed that character perfectly with not only looks, but attitude, wit, and charm at the same time. It’s really hard to imagine anybody else filling in those shoes and having the same impact. I know that this series is a reboot and it’s out with the old actors and in with the new actors which Mar Web wants to leverage and create a story told differently but really, can we please just keep J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson? Please?

[Via SlashFilm]

Coming as no surprise, the seventh Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, rocked the box office of this weekend with a $125.1 million take and a $330.1 million worldwide gross. Part one of this two-part finale which is slated to end on July 15th, 2011 grabbed a phenomenal $24 million on its Thursday night midnight opening alone, which is higher than some other movies’ weekend take. Flying past previous franchise installments, the 7th film in the series posted the highest numbers yet, putting Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire‘s $102.7 million a distant second. Opening approximately 9,400 screens at 4,125 locations, the franchise also set a new record  number of IMAX venues (239), and they contributed an estimated $12.4 million, setting a new opening weekend benchmark for the format.

As a franchise, Harry Potter ranks second behind Star Wars with a $1.84 billion take versus $1.92 billion. With still another movie under its belt and the 7th film still early in its release time, Harry Potter will out Star Wars as the highest grossing franchise ever.

Also opening this weekend was the thriller nobody saw, The Next Three Days, which made an estimated $6.8 million on close to 2,700 screens at 2,564 locations. Megamind still faired decent, but couldn’t help falling 45% to earn another $16.2 million. Though the film has earned $109.5 million in 17 days, it still trails behind this year’s release of Despicable Me which had $161.3 million by day 17. Also on its 17th day, comedy Due Date fell another 41%, putting its total at $72.7 million. Unfortunately, Morning Glory couldn’t find much of a new audience, falling 43% and gaining only $5.2 million, putting the films 12 day total at a lousy $19.9 million.

Unstoppable had a better then average slow down of 42%. gaining another $13.1 million to put the films US gross at $41.8 million and $61.1 million for its total world wide gross. The Tony Scott film had a $100 million budget. The hack alien invasion film, Skyline fell a whopping 71% to gain only $3.4 million this weekend. The film has earned $17.7 million so far on its $10 million budget.

Box Office Results:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – $125.1 million ($330.1 million total worldwide)
2. Megamind – $16.1 million ($136.4 million total worldwide)
   
3. Unstoppable – $13.1 million ($61.1million total worldwide)
4. Due Date – $9.1 million ($119.5 million total worldwide)
   
5. The Next Three Days – $6.7 million ($6.7 million total worldwide)

We have more Men in Black news for you. We already know that the film will be released in 3D on May 25th, 2012. We have reported that Sony Pictures has Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Borlin and Jemaine Clement all casted in the film for the male roles. But what about some female presence? Besides recently announced Emma Thompson, Dancing with the Stars winner and PussyCat Dolls lead, Nicole Scherzinger will be joining but not as any form of love interest, but instead, as a villain. Talking with E!, Nicole went to say:

 My name is Lilly. She’s like a small villain role. I’m so excited because I get to die. I make an appearance. I say a couple of lines and then I die. 

So although it seems like she wont be playing any big role, or at least from what we can take away from her comments, I’m sure fans wont mind her on a screen for a few minutes.

[Via E!]

Last week’s leader, Megamind, was again ahead of the pack while the Denzel Washington and Chris Pine movie Unstoppable had a solid start. Alien invasion flick Skyline had a modest opening, though nothing to write about while not a flop either while Morning Glory was on track for an the mature comedy genre.

Megamind pulled in another $30.1 million this weekend, with 64% of it coming from 3D screens to put the movies total at $89.7 million ($116.7 million worldwide). The movie was down 35% which is on par with most high profile animated movies though Pixar movies tend to fall in the high 20’s. Megamind is currently trailing other Dreamworks films like Monsters vs. Aliens and Despicable Me, though it is slightly ahead of How to Train Your Dragon.

Unstoppable opened this weekend on 4,300 screens with $23.5 million going towards its way. The Denzel Washington and Chris Pine movie opened right in line with prior Tony Scott films, most notably last year’s Taking of Pelham 123 which brought in $20 million. This marks Chris Pines first major role since putting on the suit as Captain Kirk in last year’s Star Trek reboot. This is also Denzel Washingtons 8th movie in a row to open above the $20 million mark.

Skyline opened the weekend at a modest $11.6 million, making the $10 million alien invasion film a sure bet already for Universal. Though a film like this with its poor word of mouth is likely to dive down 70% next week, especially with the release of Harry Potter  and the Deathly Hallows part 1. The duo who worked on this film were previously working on the Sony Pictures film Battle: Los Angeles and left the project and went to Universal to create Skyline for a much smaller budget and in far less time. It will be interesting to note if this lackluster film hurts Battle: Los Angeles which has a similar concept, but with talent behind the project.

On a completely different note, adult comedy, and by that I mean more mature than raunchy adult comedy, Morning Glory woke up this morning to a $9.6 million tally from the 2,800 screens it debuted on. Starring Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford, the $40 million film didn’t open as well as other past films within the same spectrum though films like this tend to have more legs on them than other films.

Last weekend’s release, Due Date plunged 52% to put the film at $59 million ($106 million world wide) which makes this $65 million comedy already a hit in Warner Brothers’ eyes. Though the film is getting nowhere near the business The Hangover was last year, and the film was heavily promoted as a similar, almost related comedy, The Hangover was an exception to the comedy genre. Though, to be fair to the film, the film in its second week is already set to beat Get Him to the Greek ($61 million) and Role Models ($67 million). Sony Pictures’ holdover, The Social Network, only added $4 million to its gross from last week, totaling now at $154 million world wide. The hit movie, now on its 7th week has lost most of its screens, down to only 1088 and will probably be off screens in the next two weeks as the big budget films like Harry Potter and Tron enter the cinemas.

See below for weekend results with worldwide tallies.

Box Office Results:

1. Megamind – $30.1 million ($116.7 million total worldwide)
2. Unstoppable – $23.5 million ($42.8 million total worldwide)
3. Due Date – $15.5 million ($106.1 million total worldwide)
   
4. Skyline – $11.6 million ($11.6 million total worldwide)
   
5. Morning Glory – $7.7 million ($12.2 million total worldwide)

Over the last several days, we have been reporting on the new cast members of Marc Web’s Spider-man reboot. Now that we have the Lizard, Uncle Ben, Aunt May and Gwen Stacy, is there room for Mary Jane Watson as well? If we are to believe the rumors, it seems not. Traditionally in the series, and we even saw this in the 3rd Spider-man film, both Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy are love interests in Peter Parker’s life. Depending on the comic book series that you’ve read or show you have watched, there are times when Peter is conflicted with who to pursue. Well, The Wrap seems to think that “peter-parker-told-differently”/” target=”_self”>Marc Web wants to keep the story a little simpler for his series by currently not having Mary Jane Watson in it. This can make sense, especially for the first film where you have only so much time to establish this new universe and trying to introduce two different love interests (and the key is that they are love interests of Peter, not just friends in his life) will take away precious screen time that can be devoted to other things.

[The Wrap]

Following the norm of animated movies, Megamind starring Brad Pitt and Will Ferrel led the pack with a solid start while Rated R comedy, Due Date had a strong start of its own to improve the weekend results by 27% compared to the same time last year. Also, Sony Pictures the Social Network crosses a new milestone.

The $130 million 3D animated movie Megimind scored $46 million at the box office to claim the number one spot. Opening on 7,300 screens, the film was able to snag 2,634 locations for 3D, which accounted for 66 percent of the gross (59 percent regular 3D and seven percent IMAX 3D). This put the film slightly ahead of Dreamsworks previous animated film, How to Train Your Dragon which opened with $43 million.  Zach Galifianakis was back in another drunken comedy, starring a long side of Robert Downey Jr. in Due Date which was able to pull in $32.7 million on 4,700 screens on a modest $65 million budget. Although the film did not score the Hangovers $45 million opening, it’s still the highest opening for an R rated comedy in November.

Another new release this week was Tyler Perrys drama For Colored Girls which opened at a modest $19.5 million. Though the film was the lowest opening for Tyler Perry himself, the film also did not use the Tyler Perry branding as this was his first adaption of somebody else’s work. With only a $21 million budget, this movie will certainly be successful like Mr. Perrys other films. Prior weeks horror films like Saw 3D and Paranormal Activity 2 both took the expect horror movie plunge with Saw 3D down 66% for a gross of $52.7 million world wide on a $20 million budget. Paranormal Activity 2 on the other hand had a 57% decline to put the film at $142 million world wide with its insanely low, $3 million budget. Can you say pure profit? Finally, the Sony Pictures film, the Social Network has crossed the $150 million mark for its world wide take.

Weekend results with world wide tallies.

Box Office Results:

1. Megamind – $46 million ($66.4 million total)
2. Due Date – $32.7 million ($54.6 million total)
3. For Color Girls – $19.4 million ($19.4 million total)
   
4. Red – $8.6 million ($85.7 million total)
   
5. Saw 3D – $7.7 million ($52.7 million total)

Hot on the heels of Martin Sheen joining the cast of Spider-man as Uncle Ben, it’s been announced that Sally Fields will be playing the role of Aunt May, previously portrayed by Rosemary Harris. Aunt May plays an important role in the Spider-man saga as she is his care taker. Although she does not know his real identity, Aunt May is the person Peter cares for and who acts as his only parental figure after the death of Uncle Ben.

The casting is starting to really gear up as Sony Pictures nears shooting for the Spider-man reboot that is to be directed by “peter-parker-told-differently”/” target=”_self”>Marc Web. Now that we know who will play Peter Parker, the Lizard and Gwen Stacy, Sony Pictures has announced the actor for Uncle Ben: Martin Sheen. Sheen is best known for his rolls in Wall Street, The West Wing and The Departed. Uncle Ben famously tells Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility,” which becomes the turning point for Spider-man. It’s currently unknown how large of a role Martin Sheen will have in the film as Uncle Ben has always died and thus turned into the catalyst for Spider-man to fight crime.

This weekends box office was all about the scares with the recent release of Saw 3D which is suppose to be the final Saw film, the continued gain of Paranormal Activity 2 and hold over strength from Red. Compared to last years release Michael Jacksons: This Is it, the box office was up three precent.

Saw 3D continued to be another win in the books for Lionsgate Studio with an $22.5 million opening on 3,500 screens. Although still off, compared to some previous Saw titles like Saw V which opened at $32 million, the movie still fared much better then Saw VI with its $14.1 million opening. Saw 3D originally was set to release on October 22nd but when Paramount snuck Paranormal Activity 2 in there, making Lionsgate backed hold off till this weekend.

Paranormal Activity 2 had the typical horror film dip, dropping 59% to gain another $16.5 million on its $3 million budget. This puts the film at a $65.7 million in 10 days and a cool $110.5 million world wide. Expect another release in the series next year.

Dropping another 28%, Red, the action comedy starring Bruce Willis and Morgen Freeman was able to pull in another $10.8 million. With $58 million made so far at the US box office, Red has finally matched its budget, although it has so far only gained $5.3 million from its international release, putting the film at $64.2 million.

On its 17th day at the theaters, Jackass 3D has crossed the $100 million mark, putting the $20 million film at a $106.1 million. This puts the film already far ahead of previous Jackass releases with the fist film nabbing in $79.4 million and the second film $84.6 at the world wide box office. Sony release, The Social Network continues its small declines, losing 35% of its friends to gain another $4.7 million. This puts the $50 million drama at a world wide gain of $111.8 million, making it David Finchers second highest grossing movie, behind oscar winner, The Curious Case of Benjamin button with $333.9 million.

Box Office Results:

1. Saw 3D – $22.5 million ($35.7 million total)
2. Paranormal Activity 2 – $16.5 million ($110.5 million total)
3. Red – $10.8 million ($64.2 million total)
   
4. Jackass 3D – $8.4 million ($106.1 million total)
   
5. Hereafter – $6.3 million ($22.1 million total)
   

Sony has unveiled the poster for their January 14th action film, The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen and Jay Chou. Hit the jump for the official plot synopsis.