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Category: Films

Headline News

Box Office Gives Madea Get Out of Jail Free Card

With a take of $41.03M, TYLER PERRY'S MADEA GOES TO JAIL far and away won the weekend box office for Lionsgate in its opening frame.

Focus Features' stop-motion CORALINE (animation from Laika) continues to do well, coming in second with $11.43M and a three-week gross of $53.8M.

Fox's actioner TAKEN is also showing staying power, getting $11.28M, placing third and in four weeks has grossed $95.03M.

Dark Headline News

The Dark Knight Achieves Box Office Milestone

After a record-breaking domestic run and continuing success in the overseas markets, Warner Bros. Pictures' and Legendary Pictures' THE DARK KNIGHT has crossed the $1 billion threshold in worldwide box office revenue with $1,001,082,160 gross to date.

Blogs

Oscar Tour Comes to Close at DreamWorks

By Dan Sarto | Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 6:21pm

The Oscar Showcase tour came to an end on Friday with a visit to DreamWorks. The filmmakers were clearly tired from their long week and a half, but their excitement hasn't wavered. Ron invited Academy board member Rick Farmiloe to join us for the day to experience the tour with the filmmakers.

Headline News

Traffic Writer Gaghan To Pen Dead Spy

Stephen Gaghan, Oscar winner for writing TRAFFIC, has been hired by Warner Bros. to pen DEAD SPY RUNNING, an espionage novel that McG is attached to direct, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

DEAD SPY RUNNING is set to be published in June by British author Jon Stock, and the film is intended to be the first in a trilogy about a newly-trained spy that is said to mix THE BOURNE IDENTITY with the wit of John Le Carre.

Headline News

Ang Lee Might Live the Life of Pi

Director Ang Lee is the latest helmer to be in discussions with Fox 2000 for the film adaptation of LIFE OF PI, reports VARIETY.

The coming-of-age survival tale by Yann Martel is about a young man who is the sole survivor of a freighter crash and ends up in a lifeboat with a hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan and a Bengal tiger.

Headline News

Rodriguez, Dimension Reteam for Nerverackers

SIN CITY and SPY KIDS director Robert Rodriguez will write and direct futuristic thriller NERVERACKERS for Dimension, according to VARIETY.

Set for release on April 16, 2010, the film is set in 2085 and follows a man who is part of an elite unit to quell a crime wave in a "perfect" future society.

Dimension and Rodriguez have released most of the director's work, dating back to FROM DUSK TILL DAWN in 1996 and including the PLANET TERROR half of GRINDHOUSE.

Producers Headline News

Warner Bros. Buys Some Darkness

Warner Bros. has bought the North American rights to EDGE OF DARKNESS, a thriller starring Mel Gibson and directed by Martin Campbell from production company GK Films, per VARIETY.

Based on the BBC miniseries of the same name, the film is about a veteran homicide detective with the Boston Police Department whose only child is murdered on the steps of his home. Producers were Graham King (THE DEPARTED) and the miniseries producer Michael Wearing.

Headline News

Friday the 13th Slays the Competition

Performing far better than expected, FRIDAY THE 13TH remake earned $43.6 million in its opening four-day weekend, taking advantage of the Friday, Feb. 13 opening date, Valentine's Day on Saturday and the President's Day holiday on Monday. The New Line/Warner Bros. horror flick has vfx from Asylum FX and had a whopping per-screen average of $13,605.

Last week's winner, romantic comedy HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU placed second with $22.3M for New Line/Warner Bros., with a total haul of $55.8M.

Headline News

Curtis Hanson, Bruckheimer are Gemini

Curtis Hanson is in negotiations with Disney to direct the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced GEMINI MAN, per VARIETY. In the action thriller most recently penned by David Benioff, an NSA agent tries to retire and is targeted for assassination. His would-be assassin is actually a younger cloned version of himself.

Exec producers are Mike Stenson and Chad Oman with Don Murphy. GEMINI MAN has been in development for almost a decade, with Darren Lemke originating the project and other drafts written by Jonathan Hensleigh and others.

Universal Headline News

Universal Looks at More Ludlum

Universal is in negotiations for the film rights to Robert Ludlum's THE PARSIFAL MOSAIC, in what could be the first major project for Captivate Ent., the company that controls the rights to Ludlum's novels, per VARIETY.

Universal and Captivate signed an overall deal last year, in the wake of the studio's success with the BOURNE IDENTITY series. The deal gives Universal first-look at all Ludlum titles, 25 of which haven't been optioned off yet, as well as the rights to continue the BOURNE series into a fourth film and beyond.

Headline News

Hardy Men Gets New Writer

Ed Solomon is the latest writer to be attached to the 10-years-in-development THE HARDY MEN at Fox 2000, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The MEN IN BLACK writer will re-write the comedy project, with Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise attached to star and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM director Shawn Levy to helm.

Headline News

Nemo Gets Marks Re-Write

Disney's remake of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA: CAPTAIN NEMO will get a re-write from Justin Marks, who has recently penned HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, VOLTRON: DEFENDER OF THE UNIVERSE, STREET FIGHTER and the upcoming Green Arrow feature, per VARIETY.

The fast-tracked NEMO film will be an origins story to be directed by McG, his follow-up to TERMINATOR SALVATION. The first draft was written by Bill Marsilii.

Headline News

Malkovitch to Join Brolin in Jonah Hex

Warner Bros. adaptation of DC Comics' JONAH HEX will star John Malkovich as Turnbull, who blames the title character (played by Josh Brolin) for the death of his son, per VARIETY.

Production begins in April on the film that also has seen Legendary Pictures join in as co-financier and co-producer. Turnbull, a Southern plantation owner whose son was killed by Union soldiers during the Civil War, blames Hex, a Confederate soldier who becomes a bounty hunter.

Short Headline News

Pixar's Next Short Also Cloudy?

A brief entry on Dave Smith's latest DISNEY A to Z: THE OFFICIAL ENCYCLOPEDIA supplement (Via Upcoming Pixar) says Pixar's next short will be called PARTLY CLOUDY, to play in front of UP.

Peter Sohn will direct. Sohn is a story artist and animator at Pixar who also voiced Emile in RATATOUILLE.

Headline News

Zachary Levi Joins Chipmunks Squeakquel

The title character of NBC's CHUCK, Zachary Levi, has joined the cast of Fox 2000's ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Levi will play Jason Lee's character's cousin, who get caught up in the shenanigans of the CG-animated rodents, voiced again by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney.

Headline News

Nolan, WB Reteam for Sci-Fi Actioner Inception

Christopher Nolan, the director and co-writer of the critically lauded summer blockbuster THE DARK KNIGHT, will helm INCEPTION for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Nolan also wrote the original screenplay for INCEPTION, which is described as a contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind. The film will be produced by Nolan and his longtime producing partner Emma Thomas, who served as a producer on THE DARK KNIGHT.

INCEPTION will go into production this summer and is being planned for release in the summer of 2010.

Headline News

Cruise to Confront Washington in Matarese Circle

Tom Cruise is in final negotiations to play Russian spy Vasili Taleniekov in MGM's high-tech thriller THE MATARESE CIRCLE, from Robert Ludlum's novel, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

Denzel Washington is set to play U.S. intelligence operative Brandon Scofield, the mortal enemy of Taleniekov. David Cronenberg (EASTERN PROMISES) will direct the potential franchise-launcher.

Company Headline News

Rhythm & Hues Enters Feature Biz

VFX studio Rhythm & Hues will start developing feature projects as well as open a new studio in Asia for work on an all-CG feature, per VARIETY.

The Culver City-based company has hired Vanguard's Venecia Duran as director of development and has accelerated plans for a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia facility. The development department is now taking script submissions and hopes to make an announcement on a feature co-production in a few months.

Headline News

Guardians of Ga'Hoole Add Voice Cast

Village Roadshow and Animal Logic's GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE will feature voices from Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, Rachael Taylor and David Wenham, per VARIETY.

Currently in production in Australia, the animated feature is being directed by Zack Snyder. Warner Bros. will distribute.

Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian is producing with Donald De Line, Deborah Snyder, Lionel Wigram and Bruce Berman with Dana Goldberg exec producing and Wesley Coller associate producing.

Color Headline News

Company 3's David Hussey Applies the Color of Romance to 500 Days of Summer

DI Colorist Dave Hussey of Company 3 performed final color grading for 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, a romantic comedy from first-time director Marc Webb and a surprise hit at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, which stars Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is about the tumultuous relationship between a young woman who doesn't believe in love and the man who falls for her.

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