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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.
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Elijah Wood filming The Hobbit

Elijah Wood is excited to watch The Hobbit as a "fan."

The actor - who returns to play his Lord of the Rings character Frodo Baggins in the Peter Jackson-directed prequel - has shot his scenes for the movie in New Zealand, and is particularly excited about seeing the film because he does not have the "deep knowledge" of what else is being filmed.

Click to continue reading Elijah Wood’s Hobbit Surprise


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Kate Beckinsale in Underworld Awakening

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.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Underworld Takes Over Box Office

Read More | Box Office Mojo

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Andrew Garfield as Spider-ManAndrew Garfield had "near death experiences" every day on the set of The Amazing Spider-Man.

The British actor takes over playing the role from Tobey Maguire in the forthcoming prequel - also starring Emma Stone - and he reveals he regularly had to undertake death-defying stunts during the shoot:

"As you can see, a lot of the stunts are practical and grounded in reality. I would exhaust myself every day and get into near-death experiences every hour on the hour. I collaborated with the stunt team not only on the big stunt set-pieces but also on what happens to Peter's body when he gets bitten. What happens to his DNA and how that effects the way he moves."

Emma - who plays Gwen Stacy in the film, and has since gone on to become Andrew's real life girlfriend - has also revealed she enjoyed the kiss they shared on the film. She told a press conference in Japan, "You want to watch the movie and find out. You've got to decide if it's iconic or not. We liked it."

The Amazing Spider-Man is to be released later this year.


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Idris Elba in ThorIdris 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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Steven SpielbergSteven Spielberg has confirmed he will not be directing Jurassic Park 4.

The War Horse director - who helmed the first two stories in the dinosaur movie series - will be returning for the mooted fourth installment, but only in the capacity of producer: "I don't want to talk about Jurassic Park 4 yet - it's too early - but I can tell you that I'm not directing it. I'm producing it though."

Steven also confirms his forthcoming adaptation of Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse will be a "big popcorn movie," but does not want to confirm too many details about the project. He added at a press conference in Paris, "I'm making a science fiction movie probably in September called Robopocalypse because on Daniel Wilson's book. It's a cautionary tale about war between human beings and robots. It's a big crowd pleaser, I think, a big action popcorn movie with a message. I have a couple of other plans which I don't want to go into because they're too far out of the horizon."


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Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

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.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: M:I-4 Continues to Outrun Competition

Read More | Box Office Mojo

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The AvengersThe Avengers will be released in 3-D. The Marvel movie - starring a huge cast including Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth - is now to be released in the special format alongside a 2-D version.

In the same release, Disney also confirmed another as-yet-untitled film has been moved from a release date of June 2014 to April 2014, with many speculating it may be the follow-up to Captain America: The First Avenger.

Joss Whedon has directed The Avengers, and Disney's distribution chief Dave Hollis has predicted it will be huge upon its release in 2012: "I don't know who doesn't know about The Avengers at this point. It will be an absolute phenomenon."

Jeremy Renner - who stars as Hawkeye in the movie - previously joked he had no idea how the final movie would look after it had been edited: "Someone's in the air, flying around. I'm on the ground, shooting a bow and arrow. There are a lot of things happening. I have no idea what that movie looks like. Zero idea. Most of the time, I have a good idea of how it's going to turn out because I've seen so much of it, but I have no idea. I feel like I might be an extra in it. I'm not sure."


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Harrison FordHarrison Ford has signed up to star in Ender's Game.

The Indiana Jones actor will take on the role of Colonel Hyram Graff in the sci-fi movie, which will be directed by Gavin Hood. Ford will appear alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, Hailee Syeinfeld, Abigail Breslin and Asa Butterfield.

Hood has adapted Orson Scott Card's classic sci-fi novel and Butterfield will take on the lead role of Ender Wiggin, a prodigy who becomes part of mankind's war against an alien race known as the Formics. Rising quickly through the ranks at the Battle School, Ender is revealed as a master tactician. Hailee will play fellow school warrior Petra Arkanian, Breslin will take on the role of Ender's older sister Valentine and Kingsley is aboard to play Mazer Rackham, a legendary war hero many had thought was dead.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci - who recently wrote the Star Trek sequel - have signed on as producers and shooting is set to start in February.


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J.J. AbramsJ.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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The Amazing Spider-Man

With all the excitement building around the upcoming Iron Man sequel and The Avengers, it's easy to see why Marvel Entertainment didn't want you to forget about their lone wall-crawling superhero, offering up a new teaser poster for The Amazing Spider-Man. Warner Bros. followed suit by unveiling a new teaser poster for The Dark Knight Rises -- because DC has superheroes, too, lest you forget.

While Andrew Garfield looks promising as the new Spidey (as far as the wall posing goes, anyway), things don't look too good for Batman if the film's poster featuring Tom Hardy's Bane is intended to shed light on the plot.

Click to continue reading New Spider-Man, Batman Teaser Posters

Read More | Empire Online

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