1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($140.7 million)
2. "The Blind Side" ($34.5 million)
3. "2012" ($26.5 million)
4. "Planet 51" ($12.6 million)
5. "A Christmas Carol" ($12.2 million)
The only thing a vampire craves more than blood is box office gold, as proven by the decisive success of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" in theaters this weekend. The second installment of the "Twilight" series exceeded expectations by opening to record-smashing numbers, easily paving the way for a first place finish of $140.7 million domestically, $118.1 million from international markets and a worldwide total of $258.8 million. Read more...
1. "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" ($72.7 million)
2. "The Blind Side" ($10.9 million)
3. "2012" ($8.1 million)
4. "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" ($3.6 million)
5. "Planet 51" ($3.2 million)
You don't have to be a mind-reading vampire with diamond-encrusted flesh to know who this weekend's box office champion will be. With "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" in over 4,000 theaters nationwide, there was virtually no chance that the continued romance of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan would fall anywhere short of first place — but perhaps no one could have predicted just how far ahead of the competition "New Moon" would end up. Read more...
The Queen of Daytime Television is dethroning herself. On September 9, 2011, Oprah Winfrey will take her last bow as the host of the Oprah Winfrey Show, almost 25 years to the day since the program initially launched.
But Oprah's televised days are far from over, as the media mogul plans on launching the Oprah Winfrey Network — appropriately abbreviated as OWN — in early 2011. Once her show ends, she'll focus much of her energy on the brand new network.
Honestly, it's a pretty brilliant career move. In fact, it's one that several television franchises could probably follow with great success — or, at least, hilarious results. Following Oprah's move from television host to network overlord, I think these five franchises could take a similar leap from series to channel. Read more...
Episode Title: "August"
Written By: J.H. Wyman & Jeff Pinkner
Synopsis: The Observer (Michael Cerveris) is back, and just as he ominously warned Walter Bishop (John Noble) in last season's finale, there is more than one of everything — including himself. A renegade Observer named August (Peter Woodward) draws attention from Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) and the Fringe team after he abducts a young woman in broad daylight. What is August's plan? Why is he acting rather than observing? More importantly, where are his eyebrows? Read more...
Episode Title: "Believe"
Written By: Nicole Yorkin & Dawn Prestwich
Synopsis: The spotlight shines on Doctor Bryce Varley (Zachary Knighton) as we learn the reason behind his blackout-botched suicide attempt and his consequently renewed faith in life — which has something to do with the beautiful Keiko Arahida (Yuko Takeuchi), a low-level Japanese business woman with a thing for sushi and tattoos. The Mosaic Team gets some insight into Demetri Noh's (John Cho) future murder, while Aaron Stark (Brian F. O'Byrne) struggles with the return of his daughter Tracy (Genevieve Cortese) and their shared taste for alcohol. Read more...
The vampires of "Twilight" aren't the only bloodsuckers making the rounds this week. "True Blood" star Stephen Moyer is earning a name for himself on the big screen as well, first with "Priest" — an adaptation of the TokyoPop manga series — and now with a thriller called "The Caller."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Moyer is joining the film alongside Brittany Murphy and Luis Guzman, making for one of the strangest casting round-ups that I can think of in recent memory. "The Caller" is directed by Mathew Parkhill and written by Sergio Casci. Read more...
I've got good news and bad news, video game fans. The good news is that a "Space Invader" film is on the way. The bad news is that it has no connection whatsoever to the classic arcade game.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Iron Man 2" screenwriter Justin Theroux is set to pen "Space Invader," Fox's astronaut romantic comedy that has nothing to do with shooting down wave after wave of aggressive alien aircrafts via joystick and button mashing. Instead, "Space Invader" focuses on a man who goes to space after suspecting that his astronaut girlfriend is cheating on him with a fellow astronaut.
Don't get me wrong, this "Space Invader" premise is pretty funny, and Will Arnett's attachment to the lead role makes it even funnier. Still, why throw away the "Space Invaders" name on a romantic comedy, rather than reserving it for a future video game adaptation? That's almost as bad as if the following five video games had their titles used for entirely different premises... Read more...
Call them "cult classics." "Guilty pleasures." "Comfort movies." We all have a mental rolodex of flicks that may not be terribly popular but, for one reason or another, they resonate in a very special way. Maybe you saw it at the right moment. Maybe you just see gold where everyone else sees feces. Whatever the case, these are the special favorites that you keep stashed away for sick days. Here are some of ours.
My favorite superhero film of all time is called "Condorman." You've probably never heard of it. It's not an Oscar-nominated picture. It's not particularly well-liked. It isn't based on a comic book. It isn't available on DVD, at least not in the United States. Until recently, I hadn't even seen it since elementary school. To most, it's the very definition of movie theater trash.
To me, it's cinematic gold. Read more...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Sean Connery supposed to be drinking delicious dragon's tears from the Holy Grail while surrounded by a harem of every beautiful Bond girl in cinema history? That was the impression I was under regarding the beloved actor's retirement plan — as it turns out, I was misinformed.
The erstwhile Henry Jones, Sr. is taking a break from retirement to lend his vocal talents to Sascha and Tessa Hartmann's "Sir Billi," a CGI animated film that's been in production for five years and is set to be completed in 2010. Alan Cumming, Miriam Margoyles, Ruby Wax and others are also providing voice work in the movie. Read more...
Filmmaker Carl Rinsch isn't the last samurai, but the once rumored "Alien 5" director could well be one of many ronin.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Rinsch will assume the role of lord and master — and, of course, director — over "47 Ronin," Universal's samurai film that Keanu Reeves has been attached to star in for some time. Chris Morgan, who previously described the film as borrowing elements of "Gladiator" and "300," wrote the most recent draft of "47 Ronin." Read more...
