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Sunday, November 8
| Title | Weekend | Total | Analysis |
| A Christmas Carol | $31.0M | $31.0M | Dickens + Jim Carrey + "performance capture" = easy win. |
| Michael Jackson's This Is It | $14.0M | $57.9M | MJ rehearsal concert pic beats two new movies in wide release. |
| The Men Who Stare at Goats | $13.3M | $13.3M | Negative critic buzz didn't completely sink Clooney pic. |
| The Fourth Kind | $12.5M | $12.5M | Perhaps Milla Jovovich should stick to Resident Evil movies — this did 1/2 those movies' Week 1 business. |
| Paranormal Activity | $8.6M | $97.4M | Blair Witch it ain't, but within a hair of $100M blockbuster mark. |
Bomb of the Week: The Box stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden but had the lowest per-screen average of any movie released this weekend. Will America every be ready for director Richard Kelly?
Posted 11/8/2009 by reelz
Related: A Christmas Carol
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It was the title role in the sci-fi movie Donnie Darko that made Jake Gyllenhaal a star, and now Gyllenhaal may be appearing in another mind-bending genre film. Variety is reporting that Gyllenhaal is in negotiations to star in Source Code, a sci-fi picture about a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter on a doomed train ride.
The original Source Code screenplay was written by Ben Rippley and was set up at Universal with Topher Grace in the lead and Shane Abess at the helm. Now, The Mark Gordon Co. and newly formed Vendome Pictures are producing, with script revisions by Billy Ray and Duncan Jones directing.
Production on Source Code is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2010.
Posted 11/8/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Donnie Darko | Duncan Jones
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Actress Gwyneth Paltrow has just wrapped filming on director Jon Favreau's second installment of Iron Man, in which she plays Tony Stark's top assistant and love interest Pepper Potts. Now she's preparing to star opposite Nicole Kidman in Tomas Alfredson's follow-up to Let the Right One In,The Danish Girl.
An adaptation of the David Ebershoff book of the same name, The Danish Girl is based on the true story of the relationship between the world's first post-operative transsexual, Einar Wegener, and his artist wife, Greta. When Greta asked her husband to stand in for one of her models one day, the experience led the two of them down the road to transformation that changed both of their lives forever.
The script is by Lucinda Coxon and producers include Gail Mutrux, Anne Harrison, Linda Reisman, Per Saari and Kidman, who replaced Charlize Theron in the title role.
Next Showing: Iron Man 2 opens May 7, 2010
Posted 11/8/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Gwyneth Paltrow | Nicole Kidman | Iron Man 2 | Let the Right One In | The Danish Girl | Tomas Alfredson
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Saturday, November 7
There hasn't been much word regarding Simon Pegg's newest film, Paul, about two British slackers who decide to go to Area 51 in search of aliens after a trip to Comic-Con only to discover an actual alien. There's been one still released, which doesn't really show very much, and actor Jason Bateman talked about getting a gift from his Paul co-stars, but that's about it.
Apparently, even Pegg is aware of the lack of news, because he recently offered an update to his fans in the forum of his web-site.
Hi all
Thought you might like to hear how things are going on the Paul front. It's been a while since we wrapped now and with the absence of Lance B's video blogs, I guess things must seem to have gone very quiet. Rest assured the good (space)ship Paul is progressing apace. Our venerable and brilliant director Greg Mottola [Superbad], is currently ensconced in an edit suite in NYC with Oscar winning editor, Chris Dickens (Slumdog Millionaire ... and Spaced, Shaun and Fuzz), putting together the first pre f/x cut. The next phase of the process will see Greg and Chris continue to hone and cut the movie and will of course entail the complex process of bringing Paul himself to life, combining the efforts of ace f/x wizards, Double Negative and further work with The Green Hornet himself, Mr. Seth Rogen. Rest assured all is going well and we're all very excited. More news of a kind as we encounter it.
Simon
Paul also stars Sigourney Weaver, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, Jane Lynch and Rogen as the voice of Paul.
Next Showing: Paul is expected to debut in the U.K. in 2010
Posted 11/7/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jason Bateman | Simon Pegg | Shaun of the Dead | Hot Fuzz | Paul
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Despite pushing back production on Halloween 3-D due to possible financial woes within the company, The Weinstein Company is still keeping its fingers crossed about getting a Hellraiser remake off the ground after two years of attempts. At the American Film Market, ShockTillYouDrop reports that The Weinsteins included a synopsis for the remake, listing no director or writer but creator Clive Barker as Executive Producer in their AFM guide.
The re-telling of Clive Barker's classic horror masterpiece. Basedon Barker's critically acclaimed novella The Hellbound Heart, Hellraiser tells the story of an unfaithful wife who attempts to assist her dead lover in his escape from hell. Having lost his earthly body to a trio of forsaken demons — lead by one of the most enduring horror characters of all time, Pinhead — he must force his former mistress to bring him the necessary human sacrifices to complete his body. Clive Barker's Hellraiser promises to be a terrifying journey into the darkest corners of the soul.
Producer Bob Weinstein told Variety in September that he was planning to go "back to doing what I do best," which apparently means sequels for franchises like Scream, Spy Kids, and a Hellraiser sequel in 3-D. Weinstein seemed confident that financing for the sequels wouldn't be a problem.
There is no question that financing is readily available to produce and market these films. I am eager to expand our scope in the 3D business.
Looks like he is doing just that.
Posted 11/7/2009 by Ryan
Related: Robert Weinstein | Clive Barker | Hellraiser
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Star Trek director J.J. Abrams has made it no secret that he would like to have William Shatner appear in Star Trek 2, even planning a lunch to talk with him about it.
At a recent unveiling of a wax figure of Shatner as Captain Kirk, Shatner said that his participation in the sequel is entirely up to Abrams.
I have no plans, because I don't make those plans. JJ Abrams has myfate wrapped up in his two little hands. I would love to be in the next Star Trek, if he so thought that would be good for it.
Posted 11/7/2009 by Ryan
Related: William Shatner | J.J. Abrams | Star Trek 2
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Friday, November 6
Lionsgate has released four new teaser posters for Kick-Ass, director Matthew Vaughn's dark, teen superhero movie adaptation of the comic book by Mark Millar.
Each of the four posters spotlights one of the movie's "heroes": Aaron Johnson as Dave "Kick-Ass" Lizewski, Nicolas Cage as Damon "Big Daddy" Macready, Chloe Moretz as Mindy "Hit Girl" Macready, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Chris "Red Mist" D'Amico.
Also, we should mention that the official Kick-Ass movie site is up and running, though with only limited content for the time being.
Next Showing: Kick-Ass opens April 16, 2010
Posted 11/6/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Aaron Johnson | Nicolas Cage | Chloe Moretz | Matthew Vaughn | Kick-Ass | Christopher Mintz-Plasse