New Line Blacklists Peter Jackson January 10, 2007 6:45 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.2 comments
New Line’s chief executive officer, Robert Shaye, had some harsh words for director Peter Jackson (King Kong, The Lord of the Rings).
“I don’t care about Peter Jackson anymore,” said Shaye. “He wants to have another $100 million or $50 million, whatever he’s suing us for. He doesn’t want to sit down and talk about it. He thinks that we owe him something after we’ve paid him over a quarter of a billion dollars. … Cheers, Peter.” (more…)
Cameron’s “Avatar” dated for summer 2009 January 9, 2007 4:00 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
According to the Hollywood Reporter, James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have announced a planned summer 2009 release for the $190 million 3-d Sci-Fi epic.
That puts a 12 year gap between Cameron’s last feature film, the box office smash Titanic which holds the all-time box office record both domestically ($600 million) and world wide ($1.8 billion). (more…)
Shyamalan tapped for possible “Avatar” film franchise January 9, 2007 3:09 pm
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According to The Hollywood Reporter, M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) has signed a three-picture deal with Paramount’s MTV Films and Nick Movies for a big-screen adaption of the popular Nickelodeon TV series Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Shyamalan is signed on to write, direct and produce for the live-action project.
Source: [The Hollywood Reporter] — Element of Shyamalan in ‘Airbender’
SAG nominations announced January 4, 2007 9:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Awards, Movies, News, Television.3 comments
As mentioned here last week, the Screen Actors Guild today announced their nominees for the 13th annual awards show. The winners will be announced live on TNT and TBS on January 28th.
Continue reading to view the entire list of nominees.
Top DVD Sales for the week ending December 24th January 4, 2007 7:04 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, DVD Sales, Movies, News, Television, TV DVD.add a comment
Newcomers Invincible and Step Up were no match for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest as the second film in the ‘Pirates’ franchise took the top spot for the third straight week.
Other new releases for the week before Christmas were Fearless at number eight, direct-to-dvd American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile at number 12, and the disappointing box office performer Lady in the Water at number 15.
Filling out top 1o after Pirates, Invincible and Step Up were Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby at number four, The Devil Wears Prada at number five, Cars at number six, Barnyard at number seven, Air Buddies at number nine and The Fox and the Hound 2 at number 10.
Among TV Shows on DVD, Grey’s Anatomy: Season 2 was the only boxset to place in the top 20 overall DVD charts, coming in at number 17 (three spots up from the week before.)
New Grindhouse trailer released January 4, 2007 6:41 pm
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A new trailer for Grindhouse (the Rodriguez/Tarantino double-feature film) has been released. Check it out at IGN Movies here.
The movie, or should I say movies, will be released in theaters this April 6th.
Warner Brothers to announce single Blu-ray/HD DVD optical disc January 4, 2007 9:00 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Blu-ray Disc, DVD, HD DVD, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Understanding that consumers are wary of buying into the new high-definition players, Warner Brothers plans to announce a new disc (Total HD disc) capable of playing film and television content in both formats.
Executives at Time Warner (parent of Warner Brothers) hope the disc will generate an increase of sales of the new High-Definition players. Barry M. Meyer, the chairman and chief executive of Warner Brothers, said in an interview that the company came up with the Total HD disc after concluding that neither Blu-ray or HD DVD was going to lose the format war anytime soon.
“The next best thing is to recognize that there will be two formats and to make that not a negative for the consumer,” Mr. Meyer said. “We felt that the most significant constituency for us to satisfy was the consumer first, and the retailer second. The retailer wants to sell hardware and doesn’t want to be forced into stocking two formats for everything. This is ideal for them.”
The disc will be debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next Tuesday.
Source: — [The NY Times] — New Disc May Sway DVD Wars
LG Electronics set to debut first dual-mode HD DVD/Blu-ray player January 4, 2007 8:45 am
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South Korean electronics giant LG Electronics. Inc. announced Thursday their intention to develop the worlds first Optical Disc Player capable of supporting the two competing disc formats — Blu-ray and HD DVD.
LG will debut the player next week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company had originally planned to release models for each format, but decided against that approach, fueling speculation that they were moving in this direction towards a dual player.
The new model will hit the U.S. market during the first quarter of this year, with LG adding that they will announce a timeframe and price point for the device during CES.
Indiana Jones 4 to begin filming in June January 2, 2007 11:45 pm
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The fourth film in the Indiana Jones saga (currently untitled) will begin filming in June of this year.
The David Koepp penned script will be directed by Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford will star. Frank Marshall will serve as producer, while George Lucas and Kathy Kennedy will serve as executive producers.
Though casting has not begun yet (with the exception of Ford as Indy) both Ford and Lucas have gone on the record stating they hope to have Sean Connery reprise his role as Indy’s father. Lucas said: “we are writing him in whether he wants to do it or not.”
There is still no exact release date set for the movie, but it’s expected to be released sometime in May of 2008.
Source: — [The Hollywood Reporter] — Can you dig it? Fourth ‘Indy’ in ’08
ABC green lights tv version of “Mr and Mrs. Smith” January 2, 2007 9:58 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, New Show Orders, News, Television.1 comment so far
In development for a while, Variety is reporting that ABC has given to go ahead on a small-screen version of the hit Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie film Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
The script was originally ordered back in January of 2006. The series will be overseen by Doug Liman and Simon Kinberg as director and writer, and they will be joined by Dave Bartis as executive producers.
“ABC has been amazing in terms of giving us time for development,” Kinberg said. He also added that the plan is to get the pilot out by March.
The show will be more comedic than the feature with a little more darkness, saying: “It’s essentially ‘Married … With Children’ with guns,” Kinberg said. “The show takes all the marital issues a couple has and blows them up to action-genre size.”
So rather than fight about who forgot to pack the toothpaste, “They’ll bicker over someone forgetting to pack the detonator,” he said.
This wil be the second time a TV version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was attempted, there was a 1996 version of the show that lasted less than 2 months on CBS. It starred Scott Bakula and Maria Bello.
Source: — [Variety] — ABC gets with ‘Smith’
Indiana Jones 4 to be released in May 2008 December 29, 2006 9:37 pm
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George Lucas let it be known that the fourth movie in the Indiana Jones saga will begin filming next year for a May 2008 debut in theaters.
Lucas went on to say that Harrison Ford will star and that he and Steven Spielberg only recently finalized the script for the film.
“It’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to be the best one yet,” Lucas said, adding that it will be a “character piece” that will include “very interesting mysteries.”
A “Battlestar Galactica” direct-to-video movie in the works? December 29, 2006 1:54 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Battlestar Galactica, Movies, News, Rumors, Science Fiction, Television.add a comment
According Geek Monthly (an online and print entertainment site), they’ve been informed by sources that Universal Home Video is considering greenlighting a Battlestar Galactica direct-to-video film, which would air on Sci Fi Channel.
There is also speculation that the movie which would air before a potential fourth season of Battlestar Galactica would serve as a sort of bridge to the new Galactica-based series Caprica (which has set to be greenlit by Sci Fi).
The series has suffered from declined ratings losing a very large portion of its audience, but it remains a hit among critics and fans alike. It opened this season with a 1.8 household rating, but has fallen to a series low 1.3 household rating.
The third season is currently averaging a 1.5 household rating, down 25% from the 2.0 it averaged during season 2 and down 37.5% from the 2.4 it averaged during the series’ first season. The four-hour two part mini series back in December of 2003 averaged a 3.5 household rating.
Head on over to Geek Monthly for the exclusive scoop.
Source: — [Geek Monthly] — Galactica Direct-To-Video Movie Set To Launch
SAG Awards nominees to be announced January 4th December 28, 2006 3:53 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Awards, Movies, News, Television.1 comment so far
The nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be revealed at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles early morning on January 4th.
The nominees will be announced by SAG president Alan Rosenberg who will be joined on stage by Sandra Oh and Elijah Wood, both of whom won SAG awards for their respective work in Grey’s Anatomy and Lord of the Rings.
Those interesting in watching the nominees being announced can watch the telecast live on TNT and E! and check back in on January 28th when the awards are presented to their winners live on TNT and TBS from the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles.
Spike Lee to direct feature film on James Brown December 28, 2006 3:45 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movies, News.add a comment
Spike Lee has signed on to direct a feature film for Paramount and Imagine Entertainment which will chronicle the life of James Brown, Variety reported.
The film will be produced by Brian Grazer and will head towards production sometime late next year or early 2008.
Source: [Variety] — Brown biopic in the works
New trailer out for 2nd Fantastic Four movie December 28, 2006 3:37 am
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A trailer has been released for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The movie will be hitting theaters June 15, 2007.
You can check out the trailer at the Apple Quicktime site here.
Top DVD Sales for the week ending December 17th December 22, 2006 1:02 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, DVD Sales, Movies, News, Television.add a comment
Showing just how strong a title it is, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest held off eight new releases this past week to stay atop the DVD charts for a second consecutive week.
Voice cast of TMNT released December 21, 2006 8:05 pm
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USA Today reported that Sarah Michell Gellar, Zhang Ziyi, Chris Evans and filmmaker-actor Kevin Smith along with Patrick Stewart have all been cast in the CGI movie.
Ziyi will voice “Karai”, leader of the evil Foot Ninjas, Gellar will voice April, Evans Casey Jones, while Smith will make a cameo as “a greasy-spoon chef”.
Patrick Stewart will voice the villian of the movie: Max Winters, an industrialist who is amassing an army of monsters in the city.
The turtles will be not voiced by celebrities.
Source: [USA Today] — Slow to return, teen Turtles are back!
New trailers released for “Transformers”, “Ocean’s 13” and “Grindhouse” December 21, 2006 5:30 pm
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You can check out the new trailer for “Transformers” (set for release July 4, 2007) at Yahoo! Movies here.
And the trailer for “Oceans 13” (set for release June 8, 2007) is available to watch at AOL’s Moviefone site here.
There is also a new trailer posted over at Yahoo! for the Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez film “Grindhouse”. You can check that out here.
“Rocky Balboa” has strong opening day December 21, 2006 4:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Box Office, Movies, News.1 comment so far
“Rocky Balboa”, the sixth and final movie in the ‘Rocky’ franchise, earned an estimated $6.2-$6.4M from 2,752 theaters on Wednesday.
The film will add more theaters on Friday (expanding to 3,017) as it tries its hand at taking the box office crown over the weekend.
Analyists are expecting “Rocky” to place somewhere in the top three, possibly being surpassed this weekend by the “Night At The Museum” (opening Friday) and “The Pursuit of Happyness”.
But a third place finish would not be considered a poor showing for the movie, as its budget stayed fairly low at around $24M.
Word of mouth also appears to be strong as audiences (77% at RT), and critics, are saying the movie is better than expectations.
“Pursuit of Happyness” appears to be Friday winner December 16, 2006 12:48 pm
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Early estimates (courtesy Deadline Hollywood Daily and Box Office Mojo) show that the Will Smith powered “Pursuit of Happyness” and “Eragon” were in a tight race Friday for the number one spot, with ‘Pursuit’ taking in about $9.05M in receipts and “Eragon” around $8.62M.
Those two openers were followed by “Charlotte’s Web” at number three ($3.43M), “The Holiday” ($2.58M) holding well from the week prior at number four, “Apocalypto” (last week’s winner) dropping to fifth ($2.245M), “Happy Feet” ($2.07M) at number six, “Blood Diamond” dropping to seventh with $1.805M, “Casino Royale” ($1.575M) at number eight, “The Nativity Story” ($1.20M) at number nine and “Unaccompanied Minors” ($1.015M) at 1oth.
If those numbers hold firm, expect weekend takes of around $27M for “Pursuit of Happyness”, $24M for “Eragon” and $14M for “Charlotte’s Web”.
Box Office for Friday, December 15, 2006
1. “Pursuit of Happyness — $9.05M
2. “Eragon” — $8.62M
3. “Charlotte’s Web” — $3.43M
4. “The Holiday” — $2.58M
5. “Apocalypto” — $2.245M
6. “Happy Feet” — $2.07M
7. “Blood Diamond” — $1.805M
8. “Casino Royale” — $1.575M
9. “The Nativity Story” — $1.20M
10. “Unaccompanied Minors” — $1.015M
Top DVD sales for the week ending December 10th December 16, 2006 12:36 pm
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As was expected, and mentioned here a few days back, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” the second of an expected three films in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise, was the number one best selling DVD for the past week.
Teaser trailer for “Live Free or Die Hard” released December 15, 2006 3:10 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Movie Trailers, Movies, News.1 comment so far
The teaser for the next movie in the Die Hard franchise, “Live Free or Die Hard” has been released.
Head on over to Yahoo! Movies or MovieHole.net to catch the short teaser.
“Dead Man’s Chest” sets one-week sales record for 2006 December 15, 2006 2:57 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in DVD, DVD Sales, Movies, News.1 comment so far
As was mentioned on Entertainment Now a less than a week ago, first day sales of the second ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ franchise were in excess of 5 million units. Experts were expecting when it was all said and done, “Dead Man’s Chest” would become the best selling one-week DVD of 2006.
Well, the movie accomplished the feat selling a 2006 one-week record of 10.5 million DVD’s. The previous record was held by Disney/Pixars “Cars” which sold 9 million units in its first week.
“With the incredible success of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, it is evident that the home entertainment industry continues to flourish,” BVWHE president Bob Chapek said in a statement. “It also further illustrates worldwide phenomenon of everything Pirates of the Caribbean.”
The mark was just a tad short of the previous film in the franchise “Curse of the Black Pearl” which sold 11 million DVD’s and VHS tapes back in its first week in 2003.
The DVD continues to be a huge success worldwide as well, as it sold 1.5 million units in the U.K. (a first-week record) and 1 million units in Japan (the live-action release of all time).
‘Tarzan’ set for bigscreen return December 15, 2006 12:44 pm
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Warner Brothers studio and producer Jery Weintraub intend to bring Tarzan back to the bigscreen.
The studio is eyeing several people for roles on the film, as they are negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct and John Collee (‘Master and Commander’) to pen the screenplay.
“I’d love to create a new version that is still a family movie, but as edgy as I can make it,” Del Toro said. “There are strong themes of survival of a defenseless child left behind in the most hostile environment.”
Del Toro is also very excited at the opportunity to work with John Collee.
“John will be writing it alone, as I’ll be in production on ‘Hellboy 2’ and pursuing writing projects of my own,” Del Toro said. “He’s got a great sense of adventure and the wilderness.”
Del Toro’s most recent film, Pan’s Labryinth, opens December 29th.
Source: [Variety] — ‘Tarzan’ on vine for Warner Bros.
Nominations announced for the 2007 Golden Globe Awards December 14, 2006 11:25 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Awards, Golden Globes, Movies, News, Television.1 comment so far
Nominations have been handed out for the “64th Annual Golden Globes” to be awarded January 15th live on NBC.
The theme for this year’s Golden Globe nominations seems to be double nods, with Clint Eastwood drawing dual director nods for “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima” as well as Leonardo DiCaprio pulling off the rare feat of getting nominations for two starring roles in “The Departed” and “Blood Diamond”.
News Corp. was also a big winner in the nominations, as the corporation picked up nods from three of its units for a total of four out of five nominees in the comedy field (2oth Century Fox’s “Borat” and “The Devil Wears Prada” and Fox Searchlight’s “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Thank You for Smoking”). The other movie in the field was Paramount/Dreamworks “Dreamgirls”.
Joining “The Departed” in the Best Drama field were the movies “Babel” (which had the most nominations at seven overall, followed by six for “The Departed” and five for “Dreamgirls”), “Bobby”, “Little Children” and “The Queen”.
Eastwood’s nominations set up a sort of rematch with Scorsese, up for “The Departed,” after Eastwood took the prize two years ago.
Leonardo DiCaprio was joined in the Best Actor field by nominations for Peter O’Toole for his work in “Venus”, Will Smith for “The Pursuit of Happyness” and Forest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland”.
This year looks to pit, again, Martin Scorcese against Clint Eastwood as Scorcese’s “The Departed” will go up against Eastwood’s two films. Others nominated for Best Director were Stephen Frears for “The Queen” and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for “Babel”.
Looking towards the TV side, the Best Drama field was filled with two new series: NBC’s “Heroes” and HBO’s “Big Love” (HBO led the pack for another year with 13 nominations). Others nominated were Fox’s “24” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatom” and “Lost”.
In the Best Musical/Comedy the nominees were led by another newcomer; ABC’s “Ugly Betty”. Others nominated were ABC’s “Desperate Housewives”, HBO’s “Entourage”, NBC’s “The Office” and Showtime’s “Weeds”.
Here are all the categories and nominees:
Your Entertainment Now 