Latest Video: FilmCrunch 067: Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, Premonition reviewed
Veronica Santiago and Neil Estep review Hairspray, Chuck & Larry, and Premonition in this episode of FilmCrunch.Play Video
Mission: Impossible 4 Breaks Franchise Record
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Paramount, Action, Adaptation, Mystery, Sequels, Thrillers, Box Office, New Releases
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol is the most successful film in the movie series' franchise. The Brad Bird-directed film - which sees Tom Cruise return as operative Ethan Hunt, alongside Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg - has made $571 million worldwide since its release late last year, and studio Paramount has admitted it is delighted with the success.
"Brad Bird, Tom Cruise, J.J. Abrams and the entire team who worked on M:I4 created an incredibly entertaining film, one that fans worldwide embraced in record numbers," said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman of Paramount. Mission: Impossible II is the next most successful film in the franchise, earning $546 million worldwide.
Brad has previously joked he was terrified about being the director who killed off Tom when he made him hang off the world's tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai for the fourth installment of the movie: "I think every director that has worked with him in these kinds of films probably has that feeling where your eyes snap open at three in the morning and you go, 'My god, what am I doing?' Definitely."
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Box Office Breakdown: Underworld Takes Over Box Office
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Buena Vista, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros, Weinstein Company, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Classics, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Political, Science Fiction, Sequels, Thrillers, Box Office, New Releases
Vampire films are still proving to be winning box office material, as Underworld Awakening raked in $25.3 million this past weekend, bumping Kate Beckinsale's other film, Contraband, from its number 1 spot.
Not too far behind was the Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Terrence Howard WWII film, Red Tails, which debuted at number 2 for $18.7 million. Last week's top film, Contraband, was bumped down to number 3 with $12 million while Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close jumped from 36th last week to the number 4 spot -- thanks to the addition of more than 2,000 screens. Lastly, the 3D version of Beauty and the Beast, which came in second last week, secured the number 5 spot with $8.8 million.
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Idris Elba Will Return For Thor Sequel
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Disney, Paramount, Action, Adaptation, Science Fiction, Sequels, Thrillers, Casting, Celeb News, Rumors
Idris Elba will be returning to the Thor series.
The British actor - who played the role of guardian Heimdall in the first instalment of the action movie starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hilddleston - has confirmed he will be back for the second feature, which is due to begin filming this year.
Asked if he had any Marvel projects in the future, he said, "Thor 2, for sure. We're going at it again." However, he admits he has yet to meet the film's director Alan Taylor, who took over after Patty Jenkins dropped out due to differences of opinion.
Natalie Portman - who played Jane Foster in the 2011 film - is also widely expected to return, although she was said to have been annoyed at Patty being sidelined in the project. The first Thor, which told the tale of the leader of the Norse Gods, played by Sir Anthony Hopkins, banishing his son to earth, made $448.5 million at the box office worldwide.
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Brad Pitt’s World War Z to Be a Trilogy?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Paramount, Adaptation, Horror, Sequels, Thrillers, Rumors, Upcoming Releases
Brad Pitt's World War Z is being considered as a potential trilogy. Director Marc Foster and Paramount Pictures are both thought to view the post-apocalyptic horror film as a trilogy, which could see the 48-year-old star finally get a big movie franchise of his own.
The motion picture - which is set to be released later this year - sees Brad portray the role of a United Nations fact-finder and family man who travels around the world to visit survivors of a zombie apocalypse which is referred to as World War Z. Should the film be turned into a trilogy, it is thought it will take on the same realism of Matt Damon's Bourne series.
Brad recently starred as Billy Beane in baseball drama movie Moneyball and director Bennett Miller - who stepped in following the summer 2009 departure of Steven Soderbergh, who had been developing the script for two years - found the Hollywood actor's experience on both sides of the camera to be invaluable: "You work all day with Brad the actor and there's that energy, and then we'd wrap at the end of the day and maybe half an hour later we'd get together in this little area outside his trailer and he'd be Brad the producer. We would look at the next day, just go over things and maybe have a glass of wine. Sometimes it would be two or three hours of discussing and planning, and it's pretty exhausting making a movie, but it became this ritual for us. And then early the next morning, Brad the actor is back, being on set and making things happen in a totally different way."
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Box Office Breakdown: M:I-4 Continues to Outrun Competition
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Buena Vista, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Mystery, Remakes, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, New Releases
Despite the major competition over the holiday weekend, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol took number 1 at the box office for the second week in a row with $29.6 million.
Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows kept its number 2 spot with $21 million, while the family film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked moved up one spot to number 3 with $16.4 million. The highly-anticipated David Fincher film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo was bumped down to number 4 with $14.8 million, and Steven Spielberg's War Horse rounded out the Top 5 at $14.4 million.
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J.J. Abrams: ‘Star Trek 2 is Mine to Mess Up’
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Paramount, Action, Adventure, Classics, Science Fiction, Sequels, Thrillers, Filmmaking, Scripts, Technology, Upcoming Releases
J.J. Abrams believes it will be his fault if Star Trek 2 is not a success. The director - who returns to the sci-fi franchise for the follow-up to the hugely successful 2009 film - admits the script by Damon Lindelof, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman is "amazing" and it is up to him to make it into a decent movie.
"It's a little early to be talking about Star Trek, but I will say that they wrote, the three writers Damon, Bob and Alex, they wrote the most amazing script and I'm thrilled to get a chance to direct it. It's totally mine to screw up, so if you don't like it, it's completely on me. Our sets are almost done, so we're going to go back and start shooting next month."
He also revealed the movie will not be shot with special 3-D cameras but instead converted in post-production. "We're shooting on film, 2-D, and then we'll do a good high-end conversion like the Harry Potter movie and all that. Luckily, with our release date now we have the months needed to do it right because if you rush it, it never looks good."
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana are all returning to the film, which is set for release in 2013.
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Benicio Del Toro Pulls Out of Star Trek 2
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Paramount, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Science Fiction, Sequels, Casting, Celeb News, Rumors, Upcoming Releases
Benicio Del Toro has pulled out of negotiations to appear in Star Trek 2.
The Wolfman actor was in talks to play the lead bad guy in the forthcoming J.J. Abrams-directed sequel - starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana - but "monetary issues" have ended chances of him starring. Although no details of who the character is have so far been leaked, NYPost.com's Vulture blog claims he was set to play Khan Noonien-Singh in the much-hyped project.
The character - a genetically engineered super-human - originally appeared in the original Star Trek TV series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and was played by Ricardo Montalban. No actors have been named as possible successors to Benicio, but with the film due to begin shooting in January a replacement will have to be found shortly.
The sequel is set to be shot in 3-D by director J.J., while Alice Eve - best known for the role of the Irish nanny in Sex and the City 2 - is signed up to star.
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Michael Bay to Direct Transformers 4?
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Paramount, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Science Fiction, Sequels, Thrillers, Casting, Celeb News, Filmmaking, Rumors, Upcoming Releases
Michael Bay is set to return to the Transformers franchise. Despite the director previously claiming he would not be in the frame to direct the rebooted series, the success of the third film Transformers: Dark of the Moon - which took over $1 billion at the international box office - has persuaded him to think again.
According to NYMag.com's Vulture blog, Michael could begin shooting on the project, which will not be a prequel to the original three films starring Shia LaBeouf, in late 2012 following his work on revenge thriller Pain and Gain.
Although details are not known about the story, it is thought it will focus more on the canon of the series and delve into old characters. A source told the blog, "Regular people might not care about bringing out a character like Sentinel Prime. But believe me, fans of the series cared."
Jason Statham is reportedly being considered for the lead role in the fourth film, with active discussions taking part between him and studio Paramount.
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Box Office Breakdown: Breaking Dawn Still Sparkling
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Buena Vista, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, New Releases
With no new major releases this past weekend, the Twi-hards were again able to secure the coveted box office top spot for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. At $16.9 million, the penultimate Twilight film has earned more than its predecessors in the third week.
The Muppets held on to its #2 spot at $11.2 million while Martin Scorcese's Hugo jumped from #5 to the #3 spot this week at $7.6 million after having been screened at an additional 500+ theaters. Holiday animated film Arthur Christmas maintained its #4 position with $7.3 million, and Happy Feet Two fell from #3 to #5 with $6 million.
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Box Office Breakdown: Breaking Dawn Sinks Teeth Into Competition
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Buena Vista, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Musicals, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, New Releases
Neither the classic Jim Henson characters of The Muppets nor the Black Friday events were enough to sway the effect that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 has on audiences everywhere! The vampire love story took the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, pulling in $41.6 million for the long Thanksgiving weekend -- bringing its box office total to $220.8 million.
Amy Adams and Jason Segel claimed the #2 spot at $29.2 million with The Muppets in its first week, bumping Happy Feet Two down to #3 with $13.4 million in its second week. The animated holiday film Arthur Christmas and Martin Scorcese's latest film Hugo took fourth and fifth with $12 million and $11.3 million, respectively.
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