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
Russell Brand Producing Presidential Comedy
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Warner Bros, Romance, Comedy, Celeb News, Scripts, Upcoming Releases
Russell Brand is to play a "sexy hippie" in The President Stole My Girlfriend. The British comedy actor will produce and star in the forthcoming comedy, written by Matt Portenoy, which was option by his company Branded Films.
Warner Bros. is working on the film, which Brand jokes was inspired by a meeting he had with the studio's president. "In this movie, the president steals the girlfriend of a sexy hippie - me, obviously. It was inspired by the night I naively invited Warners president Jeff Robinov for dinner."
Despite being a relative newcomer in Hollywood, Brand has had moderates success with a remake of Arthur starring Dame Helen Mirren and comedy Get Him to the Greek with Jonah Hill. He will next be seen in musical Rock of Ages, which features an all-star cast including Tom Cruise and Mary J. Blige, and an untitled comedy about God and faith.
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Box Office: Russell Brand Stays on Top
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: FOCUS, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Biopics, Family, Horror, Remakes, Comedy, Box Office, New Releases
UPDATE: Final numbers prove Sunday estimates were wrong. Get the updated -- and accurate -- box office results below.
Even Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman can’t compete with family-friendly Easter-themed animation. Hop has retained its number one box office position, and Portman’s lowbrow comedy flick suffered a dismal opening weekend.
Hop, which cost around $63 million to make, has already earned a cool $68.2 million from box office revenue ($21.7 million this weekend). Thanks to his new comedy flick, Russell Brand is in the top two positions on the box office list for the weekend. Arthur earned $12.6 million to gain the second top slot. His voice is behind the leading bunny in Hop, and Brand plays the title character in the number 2 flick.
Action flick Hanna just barely got pushed into third, earning $12.3 million in its opening weekend. Soul Surfer scored $11.1 million to lock down a fourth place opening. Insidious is still on the top five list (barely) with $9.7 million. Natalie Portman, James Franco and Danny McBride proved to be a dismal box office combination, earning a combined $9.5 with Your Highness to land in sixth place.
UPDATED: Hanna actually earned second place at the box office with $12.4 million. Arthur slid into third place with its $12.2 million box office take.
Read More 
| Entertainment Weekly
Russell Brand Ready to Rock New Film
Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Adaptation, Music, Comedy, Casting, Celebrity Gossip, Upcoming Releases
Forgetting Russell Brand just isn’t possible anymore. When the British-born comedian hosted MTV’s VMAs in 2008, he was relatively unknown. Now, he’s cropping up in star-studded comedies and pulling in huge bucks at the box office. He’s playing himself in Hop, the biggest movie hit of the year, and next week he’ll lead Arthur to the theaters.
Now, we’re hearing Brand is returning to his movie roots: he’ll be playing a rock star in an upcoming film role. He played eccentric star Aldous Snow in both Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek, to much success. Rumor says that Brand is negotiating a role in Rock of Ages, a big screen adaptation of the Broadway hit of the same name. The plot centers on a 1980s rock bar in LA owned by a washed-up rocker (Alec Baldwin). Happening star Stacee Jax (Tom Cruise) will headline a concert sponsored by the bar. Reportedly, Brand will play Lonny, the bar’s operator.
Mary J. Blige and Julianne Hough are already attached to the film, a gossip says that Amy Adams is in talks for another role.
Read More | Huffington Post
In Theaters This Weekend: December 10, 2010
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, IFC Films, Miramax, Paramount, Sony, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Biopics, Documentary, Drama, Family, Independent, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases, Trailers
Here are a few selections in theaters this weekend:
- The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (PG): starring Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley (directed by Michael Apted)
- The Tourist (PG-13): starring Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Paul Bettany (directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
- And Everything is Going Fine* (NR): starring Spalding Gray (directed by Steven Soderbergh)
- The Fighter* (R): starring Christian Bale, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams (directed by David O. Russell)
Click to continue reading In Theaters This Weekend: December 10, 2010
This Week on DVD and Blu-ray: September 28, 2010
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: FOCUS, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Biopics, Documentary, Drama, Foreign, Foreign Language, Horror, Independent, Period, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Home Entertainment, Lists, New Releases
Here are some of the DVD and Blu-ray options available this Tuesday:
- Babies: DVD, Blu-ray
- Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky: DVD, Blu-ray
- Frozen: DVD, Blu-ray
- Get Him to the Greek: DVD, Blu-ray
- Good: DVD, Blu-ray
- Iron Man 2: DVD, Blu-ray
- The Killer Inside Me: DVD, Blu-ray
- Legend of the Seeker: DVD, Blu-ray
- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence: DVD, Blu-ray
- The Private Eyes: DVD, Blu-ray
- The Thin Red Line: DVD, Blu-ray
Make sure to also check out the TV-on-DVD options for this week.
Read More | Amazon
Box Office Breakdown: Twilight Eclipses Competition
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Remakes, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists
Summit Entertainment saw fireworks at the theaters this holiday weekend.
The four-day frame ended with The Twilight Saga: Eclipse hauling in approximately $83.6 million. Although the David Slade-directed installment easily dethroned reigning champ Toy Story 3, the sequel actually failed to surpass the previous outing. Last fall, The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed $178.9 million over six days. Eclipse, on the other hand, only raised $176.3 million since opening last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, scathing reviews didn’t keep The Last Airbender from raking up a sizable share of the box office pot. M. Night Shyamalan’s take on Nickelodeon series fought off critics to earn $51.8 million over four days. Overall, the $150 million production has totaled $69.3 million domestically since its Thursday debut.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Twilight Eclipses Competition
Read More | Box Office Mojo
Box Office Breakdown: Woody, Buzz Top Sandler and Cruise
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Remakes, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists
Despite increased competition from a number of A-list stars, Toy Story 3 easily cruised to another victory this weekend. The Pixar film added another $59.3 million to its total bringing its domestic gross to over $225 million.
Coming in second was Grown Ups, starring Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider. The comedy, which could have probably placed first on any other weekend, earned $40.5 million - the fourth best open in Sandler’s career. (The Longest Yard‘s $47.6 million from 2005 is still his best.) The movie also surpassed James’ last big hit, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, which premiered to $31.8 million in 2009.
Meanwhile, Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz found a box office win to be mission impossible. Knight and Day only fired up a mediocre $20.1 million ($27.4 million since Wednesday) and a third place finish. Keep in mind: Vanilla Sky, their last film together, debuted to $25 million back in 2001 - and that wasn’t even an action film.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Woody, Buzz Top Sandler and Cruise
Read More | Box Office Mojo
Box Office Breakdown: Toy Story Still Has Game
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Remakes, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists
The number “11” appears to be a good one for Pixar.
Although it’s been almost 11 years since we had fun with Woody and Buzz Lightyear, those classic characters were apparently anything but forgotten. This weekend’s long-anticipated debut of Toy Story 3 rang up $110 million, giving Pixar its 11th chart topper in a row. The sequel also surpassed all previous Pixar debuts (including The Incredibles’ $70.5 million from 2004) and became the second best animated opener of all time (right behind Shrek the Third‘s $121.6 million from 2007).
Jonah Hex, on the other hand, was unfortunately cursed from the start. The comic book adaptation - starring Josh Brolin and Megan Fox - fired up a underwhelming $5.4 million. That performance was even more dismal than the debut of Megan Fox’s last film, Jennifer’s Body, which opened to $6.9 million in September 2009.
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Toy Story Still Has Game
Box Office Breakdown: A-Team’s Face Kicked by Karate Kid’s Foot
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Remakes, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists
The battle of the ‘80s remakes was won by an actor born in 1998.
Despite featuring no actual karate and a Smith named Jaden, The Karate Kid had no problem kicking up Will Smith-esque dollars this weekend. (I’m sure it had something to do with that Justin Bieber song.). Sony’s remake of the 1984 classic surpassed early projections by rallying to a $55.7 million finish. The film’s debut means the 11-year-old star has already managed to outperform most of his father’s films. (I Am Legend opened to $77.2 million in 2007; Hancock premiered to $62.6 million in 2008.)
Meanwhile, Fox’s reboot of The A-Team cranked out what could be considered a B-grade performance. The movie, which cost over $95 million to make (compared to Karate‘s $40 million), only rang up $25.7 million in its first three days. That’s barely above the figure Liam Neeson’s Taken earned in 2009 ($24.7 million) and nowhere near the debut Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel had with Valentine’s Day ($56.2 million).
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: A-Team’s Face Kicked by Karate Kid’s Foot
Read More | Box Office Mojo
Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Get to the Greek…and Shrek
Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, New Line, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Horror, Remakes, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists
Ashton Kutcher may have more Twitter followers than Diddy and Russell Brand combined - but that achievement wasn’t reflected at the box office this weekend.
Despite pirating the first 13 minutes of Killers, Kutcher was unable to generate enough interest to earn more than third place. The film - Katherine Heigl’s first since leaving Grey’s Anatomy - only rounded up a mere $15.8 million. (In other words, Ashton got about $3 from each of his Tweeps.)
Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Audiences Get to the Greek…and Shrek
Read More | Box Office Mojo
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