Mahna Mahna

Mahna Mahna - Catchy Muppets song has Dirty little secret.How a ditty from a soft-core Italian movie became the Muppets’ catchiest tune. With guest vocalists ranging from Joanna Newsom to Mickey Rooney, the soundtrack to The Muppets reboot leaves no demographic unserved. But the song audiences are likely to be humming on the way out of the theater wasn’t composed, or even recorded, for the new film.

Jim Henson’s immortal creations have lent their distinctive voices to plenty of great songs—“Bein’ Green,” written by Henson standby Joe Raposo, or Paul Williams’ “Rainbow Connection”—but none quite have the nagging persistence of “Mahna Mahna,” which helps bring The Muppets to a rousing finish.

“Mahna Mahna” is as catchy as a song can be, like a fishing hook stuck in your tympanum. Most people know the tune from a classic sketch that aired during The Muppet Show’s 1976 premiere, in which an orange-haired hepcat unsuccessfully tries to persuade two hot-pink creatures with long, disapproving snouts to get into the “Mahna Mahna” groove. But the bit goes back further, and the song further still, originating in, of all places, an Italian soft-core movie called Sweden: Heaven and Hell.

In the tradition of the shocking, factually questionable Mondo Cane, Heaven and Hell was styled as a documentary about Scandinavian sexuality, which provided a thin veneer of respectability for its leering exploration of lesbian nightclubs and meter maids who moonlight as nude models. In the scene where “Viva la Sauna Svedese”—as the song was originally titled—makes its appearance, the camera follows a bevy of statuesque, fur-swaddled blondes as they make their way through the snow to a sauna, then cuts to the same women clad only in carelessly draped towels, giggling as they soak up the heat.

Composer Piero Umiliani’s C.V. includes the 1958 classic Big Deal on Madonna Street, but by 1968, he seems to have been more concerned with quantity than quality; Heaven and Hell was one of 11 credits for him that year; he’d had a dozen the year before that.* But he was onto something with this brief, catchy snippet, which, when released as a single under the title “Mah Nà Mah Nà,” made it to No. 55 on the U.S. charts. The nasal, kazoo-like vocals by Alessandro Alessandrini have the hallmarks of an instant novelty hit, which is to say they’re at once annoying and unforgettable. 

As “Mah Nà Mah Nà” climbed the charts, the fledgling Children’s Television Workshop was struggling to settle on a format for their educational TV program, Sesame Street. CTW co-founder Joan Ganz Cooney had recently given the OK to bring in Jim Henson, whose Muppet characters had at that point been seen only in commercials and on variety programs like The Ed Sullivan Show. Henson, a bearded bohemian with no experience in children’s programming, was something of an odd choice, but that was just why Cooney wanted him.

Mahna Mahna, as the character would come to be known, made his televised debut on Nov. 27, 1969, during Sesame Street’s first season. (The YouTube clip below reads Nov. 30, but the authoritative MuppetWiki says Nov. 27.) The setup is identical to the more familiar Muppet Show version, with Mahna Mahna’s hoarse scat pitted against the dulcet “doo dee doo” of the twin Snouths (a portmanteau of “snout” and “mouth”), who shake their heads and purse their lips in disapproval when their irrepressible colleague strays from the script. 

In Street Gang, Michael Davis’s history of Sesame Street, several of Henson’s colleagues describe his artistic style as “affectionate anarchy,” and it doesn’t take much in the way of exegesis to see an anti-conformist message at work here. As Mahna Mahna’s antics grow wilder, the Snouths grow more uneasy and eventually counterattack, smother him with their bodies. But Mahna Mahna eventually breaks free and runs right at the camera, making contact to the sound of shattering glass.

via: state

New 'Avengers' photos

New 'Avengers' photos - Meet 'The Avengers' with These New Character Banners. It's drawing near, the payoff that we've been told we've been waiting for since the release of "Iron Man" in 2008. Next May brings with it "The Avengers," the Joss Whedon-directed culmination of all things Marvel at the movies.

Under the S.H.I.E.L.D., um, shield and on these banners (no relation), we've got Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Eric Ba-- Edward Nor-- Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor/Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Tom Hiddleston as Loki (boo!), Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow ready to fight off the nefarious schemes of Loki (BOO!).

Ahem. You get the idea. "The Avengers" hits theaters on May 4, 2012.

via: msn

'Twilight' takes big bite at box office

'Twilight' takes big bite at box office - "Breaking Dawn — Part 1" turns out to be every bit the hit fans thought it would be.Box Office: 'Breaking Dawn - Part 1' Draws a Strong $139M. The box office is lifeless no more: "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" opened to $139.5 million domestically this weekend, according to studio data.

The fourth of Summit's vampire-and-werewolf movies had the franchise's second best three-day opening ever, behind 2009's "New Moon" ($142.8 million in November 2009).

For a box office that's down about 3.5 percent from last year, "Breaking Dawn" is only the second movie this year, including the summer's final "Harry Potter" film, to open to more than $100 million. (There were four $100 million openers last year.)

And it had the third-best opening Friday ever, grossing $71.4 million -- behind only this year's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" and "New Moon."

"Breaking Dawn's" international numbers were as strong as its domestic ones. The movie grossed $144 million in 54 territories, giving it a worldwide box office total of $283.5 million in just three days. The movie cost about $110 million to make, after tax rebates.

While "Breaking Dawn" almost exactly matched its pre-release predictions, the animated penguins of Warner Bros.' "Happy Feet Two" grossed only $22 million, according to studio estimates -- enough to rank the movie No. 2 this weekend, but still a disappointing performance. The movie was projected to open to about $30 million.

Relativity Media's "Immortals," meanwhile, grossed $12.2 million in its second weekend of release -- a 62 percent drop. It is No. 3 at the box office.

The best per-screen numbers of the weekend belonged to Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants." The movie, which stars George Clooney, opened in 29 locations, but was still No. 10 at the box office with $1.3 million. That's a spectacular per-screen average of $44,800.

"Breaking Dawn," by comparison, opened at 4,061 locations and averaged $34,245.

Summit's president of domestic distribution, Richie Fay, told TheWrap Sunday that the fourth installment of any franchise can be a little worrisome.

"There's a definite interest in wanting to continue to see the series," he said. "The fact that our audience is aging up a little bit, the impulse to get out and see it on the first weekend isn't necessarily there the way it has been. To me, that means that the holdover should be much better."

"Breaking Dawn's audience was 80 percent female and 60 percent older than 21.

According to moviegoer survey firm CinemaScore, the movie graded out at a so-so "B-plus" among all age and gender groups.

On the strength of "Breaking Dawn," the box office was up 14 percent this weekend compared to the same weekend last year.

"In a period where it's been ... a down cycle of growth, we've got the public interested in a movie again -- and in going to movies as we approach Thanksgiving and obviously Christmas," Fay said.

He said the movie's strongest performance was in Salt Lake City, followed by New York City.

The weekend's other major release -- also a sequel -- had a tougher time at the box office.

"Happy Feet Two," the follow-up to the 2006 Oscar-winning hit, underperformed.

"We obviously came in a little bit under our expectations on 'Happy Feet,' but the marketplace is very competitive out there, especially with 'Twilight' getting close to 80 percent of the female audience," Dan Fellman, Warner Bros. president of distribution, told TheWrap Sunday.

The PG-rated animated movie about dancing penguins received a B-plus CinemaScore. And it has some tough competition coming up, with "Hugo," "The Muppets" and "Arthur Christmas" all opening up for Thanksgiving week.

"The market expands enormously over the holiday," Fellman said. "By next Monday, we'll know whether we're in good shape."

The first "Happy Feet" opened to $41.5 million and ultimately grossed $198 million domestically and $384.3 million worldwide. Its budget was estimated at $100 million. The second cost an estimated $140 million to make.

"After 'Twilight' gets in a couple of hundred million dollars worth of business in the first week, you'll see some of the female audience move over to 'Happy Feet,'" Fellman predicted.

Internationally, Steven Spielberg's motion-capture extravaganza "The Adventures of Tintin" continued to perform well, grossing $21.7 million on 13,040 screens in 53 markets.

Sony and Paramount are both distributing the movie.

In Sony's territories, the movie grossed $11.3 this weekend. The total gross in those territories is $187.6 million.

In Paramount's territories, "Tintin" took in $10.4 million this weekend. Those territories have grossed $35 million so far.

"Tintin" opened big in China this weekend, taking $7.4 million on 7,030 screens. The movie was off 63 percent in France, grossing $2.3 million and pushing its total past $50 million. The U.K. was down 35 percent and Spain was down 43 percent.

"The Adventures of Tintin" opens in the United States on Dec. 21.

Here's how the top 10 rounded out:

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" ($139.5m) "Happy Feet Two" ($22.0m) "Immortals" ($12.2m) "Jack and Jill" ($12.0m) "Puss In Boots" ($10.7m) "Tower Heist" ($6.9m) "J. Edgar" ($5.9m) "A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas" ($2.9m) "In Time" ($1.6m) "The Descendants" ($1.3m)

via: yahoo

'Breaking Dawn' rises to $283.5M worldwide debut

'Breaking Dawn' rises to $283.5M worldwide debut - "The Twilight Saga" has staked out another huge opening with a $139.5 million first weekend domestically and a worldwide launch of $283.5 million. The domestic total gives "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1" the second-best debut weekend for the franchise, after the $142.8 million launch for 2009's "The Twilight Saga: New Moon." ''Breaking Dawn" did more than half of its business, $72 million, on opening day Friday.

Opening in 54 overseas markets, "Breaking Dawn" pulled in $144 million internationally.

But the dancing penguin sequel "Happy Feet 2" stumbled in its debut, pulling in just $22 million over opening weekend. That's barely half what the first film in the animated franchise earned in its 2006 opening.

via: yahoo

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Movie Review

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Movie Review - The Twilight Saga, an up-to-now-entertaining set of films about a love triangle between a vampire with a quiff, a dour-faced schoolgirl and a werewolf who can’t act, has always attracted an unreasonable amount of bile. Unusually, it hasn't come from critics, so much as the droves of young, straight males with a broadband connection who resent that a popular movie series has the gall to pander to an audience other than them.

Crowds largely made up of teenage girls and their approving mothers have so far spent £1.13 billion watching Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson), Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) brood and mumble their way through three increasingly well-made films that authentically captured the misery of being a love-struck teenager.

But this fourth and penultimate film, in which Edward and Bella marry and finally consummate their relationship, takes an Olympic-pole-vault-sized leap backwards. Director Bill Condon and screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg have adapted Stephenie Meyer’s awkward source novel into a formless, gormless soap opera: it’s a humourless, incoherent bore that lives down to the very worst stereotypes associated with the franchise.

After a brief prologue in which the cast receive their wedding invitations and Jacob gets so angry he takes his t-shirt off – don’t question it, it’s what he does – the film opens with Edward and Bella’s long-awaited nuptials. These are admittedly well-mounted and the bride’s Pippa Middleton dress is very on-trend. They also give the unsung heroes of the Twilight cast, Billy Burke as Bella’s father Charlie and Anna Kendrick as her friend Jessica, their once-per-film chance to show off: in this case, in an enjoyable after-dinner speech montage that recalls a scene from this summer’s sleeper hit comedy Bridesmaids. 

The happy couple then jet off on their Brazilian honeymoon, during which the groom’s enthusiastic lovemaking demolishes their four-poster bed – well, after 200-odd years of abstinence, it would do.

At this point, Bella falls pregnant and finds her human womb struggles to cope with a foetus that’s 50 percent vampire. She tells her father that she’s fallen ill and is checking into a Swiss clinic – which must have put his mind at rest – before she returns in secret to the Cullen house, where Edward’s family do their best to make sure she survives to full-term, making her drink human blood in an attempt to feed the baby (Edward thoughtfully decants it into a fast food cup first). Meanwhile, the local werewolves swear revenge on the Cullens, firstly because Bella’s life has been threatened, and also because they take a dim view of human-vampire procreation generally.

As the above paragraph shows, it’s almost impossible to make the plot of Breaking Dawn sound sensible, but it would have been nice if the film made a token effort to do so. Instead, Rosenberg’s screenplay foregrounds the book’s loopiest ideas while burying anything that might have made for compelling drama: Edward’s anxiety over fathering a child that’s killing his wife and Jacob’s strained loyalty to his revenge-hungry pedigree chums, for example, go almost completely unexplored. 

The script is often startlingly lazy: in one confused scene, Edward explains the nuances of werewolf behaviour to no-one in particular, just to give the audience a fighting chance at comprehension. Earlier, Bella croakily reveals that she wants to mix her and Edward's mothers’ names together and call their baby Renesmee. The line is presented without a flicker of irony and was deservedly greeted in the critics' screening with gales of scornockery.

The special effects sequences are equally bad. Unlike the superb werewolf-on-vampire battles in Eclipse, the David Slade-directed third installment, Breaking Dawn’s action scenes are muddled and gloomy. They’re also not particularly easy to take seriously thanks to the wolves speaking with bizarre half-human, half-canine voices that put me in mind of Scooby Doo.

Sadly, it’s unlikely that Breaking Dawn – Part 2 will be any better than this (both films were shot back-to-back by the same director), but an incongruous mid-credits teaser, featuring Michael Sheen as the camp vampire king Aro, hints that it might at least have a sense of humour. We can but hope. At least that way, some of the laughs might be intentional.

via: telegraph

Julia Roberts Gets Mean in the ‘Mirror Mirror’ Trailer Premiere

Julia Roberts Gets Mean in the ‘Mirror Mirror’ Trailer Premiere - Roberts' surprising take on Evil Queen. Julia Roberts plays the classic villain very differently in the trailer for “Mirror Mirror." There comes a point in every actor's career where they just want to be bad. They just want to find a role where they don't have to worry about being sympathetic or likable and just be as mean as possible.

It looks like that time is now for Julia Roberts as she sinks her teeth into the role of the evil Queen in "Mirror Mirror," a new telling of "Snow White." The role gives her the chance to be both wicked and wickedly funny as she schemes to retain her status as the "fairest of them all."

It's a departure from how the fairy tale villain has been portrayed in the past. While the Queen from Walt Disney's 1937 version was dark and imperious -- and Charlize Theron's take in next year's "Snow White and the Huntsman" looks icily alluring -- Roberts puts a brash, sharp-tongued and vibrant twist to the role.

In the just-released trailer for the film, Roberts sure seems to be having fun as the Queen banishes Snow White (played by Lily Collins) to the dark forest so that she can have the handsome Prince (Armie Hammer) all to herself. But according to her costars, being wicked didn't come naturally to Roberts.

Lily Collins told People Magazine that while Roberts was completely convincing as a villain when cameras were rolling, but "once they yell cut, the first thing she says to me, 'Are you okay? I'm sorry, I hate being mean to you.'" The film's director, Tarsem Singh ("Immortals") also said that Roberts expressed her mixed feelings about getting tough on screen, telling him "I feel so strange being mean to her, because it feels like I'm being mean to Bambi."

It's obvious, though, that Roberts isn't playing an overly dark and foreboding character here. Her Queen is snarky and sarcastic, hurling insults at Snow White and her servant (Nathan Lane). And her attempt to bewitch the handsome and rich Prince fails when she gives him the wrong love potion. But we do get a hint of the real threat the Queen poses with a brief shot of her withered hand giving Snow White that famous poisoned apple. Collins said in Entertainment Weekly, "The way [Julia is] playing the queen, people feel really bad for Snow White."

Watch the exclusive trailer premiere for "Mirror Mirror," opening March 16, 2012.

Jennifer Lawrence in 'Hunger Games' Trailer

Jennifer Lawrence in 'Hunger Games' Trailer - The trailer for the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games" debuted on Monday, November 14, on "Good Morning America" before hitting the web later that day. Josh Hutcherson, who stars in the film as Peeta Mellark, stopped by the show to talk about the upcoming film.

"It's amazing. To have such a great book now be made into a movie and have such great support to the fans is the best thing in the world," Hutcherson said during his appearance on the morning program.

"I've never read a character and a story that I connected with more than Peeta. I felt like so much of who I am as a person and what believe in is Peeta," Hucherson added about his character. "So, for me, it was a very easy transition into that character."

The film adaptation of the popular novel by Suzanne Collins will hit theaters on March 23, 2012.

"The Hunger Games" is the first book in the trilogy of novels based around the character Katniss Everdeen, who will be played by "Winter's Bone" actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Everdeen lives in the post-apocalyptic North America, which is now called Panem. In the book, the Hunger Games are an annual televised event put on by the government in Capitol city, where a boy and a girl from each district fight to the death.

The new photos also include new looks at co-stars Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth. Hutcherson, 19, dyed his hair blond for the role of Mellark, a baker's son who competes for Everdeen's affections. The character accompanies Everdeen into the 74th annual Hunger Games as the boy chosen to fight from her district.

Meanwhile, 21-year-old Hemsworth plays Gale Hawthorne, Everdeen's childhood friend who shares a "transcendent bond" with her.

On Monday, August 8, it was announced that the sequel for the film called "Catching Fire," based on the follow-up novel to "The Hunger Games," will be released on Nov. 22, 2013.

The trailer also gives away the first looks of Donald Sutherland as President Snow and longer glances at Lenny Kravitz as Cinna, Mallark and Everdeen's stylist for the Hunger Games, Woody Harrelson as their mentor Haymitch Abernathy and Elizabeth Banks, who takes on the role of Effie Trinket .

Watch the trailer for "The Hunger Games" below.

via: otrc

'Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn' premiere streaming live, selling out

'Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn' premiere streaming live, selling out - This weekend The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 hits theaters worldwide, and while more than a thousand screenings are already sold out in the US, fans in Los Angeles are camping out for the premiere on November 14. Sales for the first part of the two-part finale of the vampire franchise accounted for 72% of last week's tickets, according to Fandango, the American online cinema retailer.

Twi-hards in tents around the Nokia Theatre prepared for the Breaking Dawn - Part 1 red carpet premiere with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner on Monday in downtown Los Angeles. MTV will stream the event live at 8 pm ET on http://www.MTV.com.

In this fourth installment of The Twilight Saga Bella marries Edward and becomes pregnant. The story follows the Quileute vampire coven and the Volturi as they go after Edward and Bella, whose child will pose a threat to both the wolf pack and vampires.

Movietickets.com, another online ticket retailer, reported brisk sales for the much-anticipated Breaking Dawn, saying it sold out another 1,344 showings.

Immortals, which opened Friday and was the top US film for the weekend, placed second, accounting for only four percent of ticket sales.

via: yahoo

See Jennifer Lawrence Sacrifice Herself in The Hunger Games Trailer

See Jennifer Lawrence Sacrifice Herself in The Hunger Games Trailer - The first full-length trailer for The Hunger Games is finally here!. Based on author Suzanne Collins' bestselling trilogy, the first film -- which hits theaters March 23, 2012 -- stars 21-year-old Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence. She portrays heroine Katniss Everdeen, who sacrifices her own safety to protect her younger sister, Prim (Willow Shields).

As one of 24 teens forced to compete in The Hunger Games -- a nationally televised event in which teenage tributes must fight to the death -- Katinss is assigned a mentor, Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson), who aims to help her and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) survive.

Directed by Gary Ross, the Lionsgate film also stars Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, Isabelle Fuhrman, Amandla Stenberg, Alexander Ludwig, Levin Rambin, Jacqueline Emerson and Wes Bentley.


via: um

Film trailer: Kristen Stewart in 'Snow White and the Huntsman'

Film trailer: Kristen Stewart in 'Snow White and the Huntsman' - The first trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga) as Snow White, was released November 10. In this fairy tale adaptation, co-starring Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Oscar winner Charlize Theron (Hancock), the focus is on the Evil Queen, portrayed by Theron, who maintains power through her beauty, destroying any threat to her reign.

The footage focuses on the Evil Queen opening on her classic question, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" with the answer setting the story into motion.

Snow White finds her in training with a huntsman dispatched to kill her; he becomes her protector and together they turn on the Queen.

The cast also includes Ian McShane and Sam Claflin, both from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Rupert Sanders, who has directed Nike and video game commercials, makes his directorial debut for a feature film with this epic action-adventure.

The film is not to be confused with another upcoming Snow White film by director Tarsem Singh (Immortals), which is titled Mirror Mirror and stars Julia Roberts, Lily Collins (The Blind Side) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network), releasing March 16.

Snow White and the Huntsman opens May 31 in Hong Kong and Singapore, June 1, 2012 in North America, the UK and Europe, and then around the world.

via: yahoo

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 Trailers

'Immortals' reigns with $32M opening weekend

'Immortals' reigns with $32M opening weekend - The gods of ancient Greece have extended their rule to the weekend box office with a No. 1 debut for the action tale "Immortals." The story of Greek hero Theseus took in $32 million domestically, while Adam Sandler's comedy "Jack and Jill" opened at No. 2 with $26 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The new movies bumped the animated hit "Puss in Boots" to the No. 3 spot after two weekends at the top. "Puss in Boots" earned $25.5 million, raising its domestic total to $108.8 million.

Director Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar," a film biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio as longtime FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover, played in narrower release and opened at No. 5 with $11.5 million.

Released by Relativity Media, "Immortals" stars Henry Cavill and Freida Pinto in a tale of human heroes battling an evil king (Mickey Rourke) who aims to bring down the Olympian gods.

With males making up 60 percent of its audience, "Immortals" has a chance to corner much of the action market through Thanksgiving weekend and beyond, a period likely to be dominated by family movies such as "Happy Feet 2," "The Muppets," "Hugo" and "Arthur Christmas."

"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn _ Part 1" does open Friday, but that blockbuster action fantasy franchise mainly draws female crowds.

"There's really not another action movie until you approach the Christmas holidays," said Kyle Davies, head of distribution for Relativity. "Over the next few weeks, there's no real competition for us."

Sandler plays dual roles in "Jack and Jill," as a sturdy family man and his needy sister, who comes to visit for Thanksgiving.

"Jack and Jill" got off to a solid start but came in on the low end for Sandler, whose comedies typically open in the $30 million to $40 million range. Still, it continues Sandler's virtually unbroken string of strong openings for his broad comedies dating back to the late 1990s.

"A big part of his success is just that sort of Everyman appeal he has, whether it be the guys going out to have a beer or girls thinking he's just as charming as all hell," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, which released "Jack and Jill."

"J. Edgar" played in 1,910 theaters, compared with more than 3,000 for the rest of the top-five movies. It was the weekend's grown-up choice, with 66 percent of viewers over age 50, according to distributor Warner Bros.

Like "Immortals" with action crowds, "J. Edgar" has the prospect to dominate among older viewers through Thanksgiving weekend, one of the busiest times of the year for movie theaters.

"We're the adult choice," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner. "We feel we have really good play time ahead of us going into the holiday."

"J. Edgar" will join a parade of potential Academy Awards contenders arriving before year's end as Hollywood rolls into its most diverse season, when drama, comedy, action and family films share screen time.

"This was one of the first weekends we've seen in a while that had a nice combination of films that gave us a really solid weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "To me, this is what the holiday season is all about, having films like `Immortals' in the mix in the top-five with a drama like `J. Edgar.'"

The variety clicked with audiences this weekend. Overall revenues came in at $137 million, up 13 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Megamind" led with $29.1 million, according to Hollywood.com.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Immortals," $32 million.

2. "Jack and Jill," $26 million ($2.7 million international).

3. "Puss in Boots," $25.5 million.

4. "Tower Heist," $13.2 million ($7.6 million international).

5. "J. Edgar," $11.5 million.

6. "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," $5.9 million.

7. "In Time," $4.2 million.

8. "Paranormal Activity 3," $3.6 million.

9. "Footloose," $2.7 million.

10. "Real Steel," $2 million ($12 million international).

via: bw

Friday Box Office: 'Immortals' Battling to Strong $35M+ Weekend

Friday Box Office: 'Immortals' Battling to Strong $35M+ Weekend - Fanboys delivered Relativity's "Immortals" a strong $15 million box office Friday, and the movie is on track to pull in nearly $36 million for the weekend, studio estimates show. Relativity had predicted an opening of only around $25 million, and most predictions outside the studio were also well below $30 million.

The swords-and-sandals epic opened to $1.4 million at midnight showings Thursday.

Sony's "Jack and Jill" is on track to meet the studio's low expectations, grossing just short of $10 million on Friday. The Adam Sandler comedy won't have the $30 million weekend the star is used to. Estimates have it at $23.7 million for the weekend.

"Puss in Boots" is enjoying a good third weekend, with an estimated $8.8 million Friday. That should put the DreamWorks Animation movie in second place, at $25 million for the weekend. If its pace holds up, "Puss in Boots" will have declined only around 25 percent from its opening weekend two weeks ago.

Universal's "Tower Heist" is in fourth place in its second weekend of release. Brett Ratner's adventure comedy starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy took in just short of $5 million on Friday and is looking at a $13.8 million weekend.

"J. Edgar," meanwhile, is looking at a soft, fifth-place opening. The Warner Bros. biopic about former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover took in about $4.25 million on Friday, estimates show. It is on track to gross a touch more than $11 million for the weekend.

Two of the three movies opening wide this weekend are targeted at a key film-going demographic that has been staying away from the movies lately: Young men.

Relativity's R-rated, 3D epic "Immortals" and Sony's latest Adam Sandler comedy "Jack and Jill" could both use help this weekend from males under 25 as they enter wide domestic distribution with tepid pre-release tracking.

Warner's "J. Edgar," an R-rated biopic focused on former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, is also going wide Friday, while Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" is set for a limited debut.

With domestic movie-ticket revenue down 3.5 percent over last year, much of the blame is being laid at the feet of moviegoers 24 and younger. They accounted for 60 percent of domestic box office attendance in 1975 but dwindled to just 32 percent of attendees by 2010, according to a recent survey (see chart below).

And the more dramatic drop is among young males, a studio distribution executive told TheWrap Thursday.

Young men, the executive said, "are toast. They're so away it's not even funny ... You know what they're all doing right now? They're all playing 'Modern Warfare 3.' I'm sorry, that's what they're doing ... It's just a fact of life."

Against this backdrop, Relativity is hoping its $75 million after tax rebates swords-and-sandals action film can crack a middling $25 million on its opening weekend.

Sony, meanwhile, hasn't opened an Adam Sandler comedy to less than $30 million, but expects to gross no more than $25 million this weekend for "Jack and Jill."

"Particularly with younger moviegoers, if you don't get them on opening weekend ... you're not going to get them," Vincent Bruzzese, president of the motion picture division for the research firm Ipsos OTX, told TheWrap. "That shows the impact of the younger male. ... It's very difficult to get somebody who's not excited on opening night to go to a second or third week."

"Immortals" is Relativity's first stab at a big action movie.

Directed by Tarsem Singh ("The Cell"), "Immortals" has a soft Rotten Tomatoes score of 46 and is set to open in 3,112 locations.

"Immortals" stars Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans and John Hurt, and tells the story of Theseus, a young cobbler whom the god Zeus chooses to lead mankind in a battle against the evil King Hyperion.

Not surprisingly, it is tracking strongest among men, but the greater traction is with males older than 25 -- a typical skew for action-driven movies these days.

According to research firm NRG, 81 percent of older males know "Immortals" is coming to theaters, while 55 percent report "definite interest" in seeing it and 22 percent call it their "first choice" on the marquee.

Box-office watchers outside Relativity predict the film will gross between $23 million - $28 million.

The movie is also opening this weekend in about 30 international territories, including China, Germany, Italy, UK, Japan, South Korea, Greece, India and Russia.

"Jack and Jill," meanwhile, directed by Dennis Dugan and written by Steve Koren, had a conspicuously bad Rotten Tomatoes score of 0 with 21 reviews in the bank as of late-day Thursday.

The movie stars Sandler as Jack Sadelstein, a guy who dreads Thanksgiving weekend because it means a visit from his twin sister, Jill. Sandler plays both characters in the comedy, which also stars Al Pacino and Katie Holmes. It opens in 3,483 locations.

Sandler, of course, established his big-screen presence more than a decade ago on the backs of young male moviegoers with films like "Billy Madison," "Happy Gilmore" and "The Waterboy." But young males are showing some of the weakest interest to see his latest movie.

According to NRG, 81 percent of males under 25 even know "Jack and Jill" is in theaters (compared to 87 percent of females under 25).

"Jack and Jill" cost about $79 million to make, and Sony expects it will gross in the low-to-mid $20 millions -- about on track with outside estimates.

Clint Eastwood's "J. Edgar," meanwhile, has already shown proven traction among moviegoers, opening to $53,000 at seven locations Wednesday night.

The film -- which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Judi Dench and Armie Hammer -- opens wide Friday at 1,910 locations.

Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black ("Milk") wrote the $35 million film, which garnered only 41 percent Rotten Tomatoes love through late-day Thursday.

It was filmed for about $35 million, and box-office watchers outside of Warner figure it will take in $12 million this weekend.

via: yahoo

Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart “Throw Down” in First ‘Snow White’ Trailer

Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart “Throw Down” in First ‘Snow White’ Trailer - The first trailer for “Snow White and the Huntsman” — featuring Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart– has been released and promises a visually stunning twist on a classic fairy tale. As the Evil Queen, Theron opens the clip with a chilling narration, uttering:

“Do you hear that? It’s the sound of battles fought, and lives lost. It once pained me to know that I am the cause of such despair.”

“But now their cries give me strength,” Theron narrates as the scene cuts to her sucking the life from a hapless girl before throwing her mercilessly to the ground. “Beauty is my power,” she adds.

After she utters the timeless words — “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is fairest of them all?” — the Queen discovers – to no-one’s surprise – that the pretty Snow White (played by Stewart) is her adversary set to bring her down.

Snow White and the Huntsman, currently in production, is slated to hit theaters June 1, 2012.

In the meantime, check out Charlize Theron and Kristen Stewart do battle in the intense, action-packed new trailer for the upcoming film below:

Vampire babies

Vampire babies - Alright all you Twi-hard fans, we are now officially only two weeks away from the Breaking Dawn premiere. In previous weeks, we covered how an undead bloodsucker like Edward Cullen gets it up for, ya know, the Brazilian honeymoon biz (don't tell us you never thought about that yourself). And what comes after one roll in the hay? A baby, duh! And what better way to congratulate the new parents Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart—uh, we mean Bella and Edward—on their supernatural newborn than by counting down the most fabulously freaky babies of all time:

1. A Chip Off The Old Satan: Rosemary's Baby

First up on the dribble list is Rosemary's Baby. This is a horror movie classic that doesn't disappoint. It turns out Mia Farrow wasn't just a paranoid head case with a dubious one night stand, after all. Can't get much freakier than the Son of Satan, now can you? We didn't think so.

2. Babies Don't Grind: The Dancing Baby

Remember The Dancing Baby, that creepy, weird, 3-D model of the baby that was one of the first videos ever to go viral? If you missed out on all that old-schooly Information Superhighway fun, this was also the baby from Ally McBeal, the one that made Calista Flockhart and her mini skirts crazy! We can totally see why. Random daydreams shouldn't contain this freak show.

3. Little Bundle of Terror: Zombie Baby

And the baby we would never recommend breastfeeding? How about the zombie baby from Dawn of the Dead? Like its eyes weren't devilish enough. Remember hearing it getting shot? Well how's that for a feel good? Yikes!

READ: Robert Pattinson Spills on Making Music, Traveling to London and the End of Twilight

4. You Kiss Your Mom with That Mouth: Baby Julie

Rosanne Barr, now if the mere mention of that name doesn't freak you out, we don't know what will. Look Who's Talking Too, cute sweet baby Julie was voiced by this very comic legend turned nut farmer. The brass, crass sound of her voice will send chills down anyone's spine. Poor Julie!

5. Born From a Dude! Baby Alien

We could never leave out the Alien baby. If this didn't give you nightmares we think you need to check for freak-o-meter! What in this world could be any worse than a hungry, ready-to-destroy-the-world alien coming right through your rib cage? Seriously? Like heartburn on crack, not to mention instantaneous death at childbirth.

6. Sink Your Teeth Into This: Edward and Bella's Babe

Last? Well only the most anticipated baby of all time (well maybe more like the last few years) that's sure to be freaky: Renesmee Cullen!

The baby is Edward Cullen and Bella Swan's half human/half vampire little pile of joy. While we haven't seen the actual scenes yet (obvi) we have seen shots of baby momma gripping her tummy. If you've read the book, and we know you have, the pregnancy contains a little more than your normal morning sickness. So while we haven't laid eyes on this creature yet, we know we are in for a freaky treat!

via: Eonline

J. Edgar Hoover

J. Edgar Hoover - There are a lot of words one could use to describe the father of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover: dedicated, unrelenting, ambitious, bulldoggish. But chances are that "flashy" wouldn't be one of them. Hoover got the job done, and with a historic degree of success, but he was more prone to do it through intimidation and brute force than with a flourish of anything resembling panache.

The same thing can be said of director Clint Eastwood's solid but staid "J. Edgar," a dual accounting of the public life -- and the private secrets -- of the man who served as America's top cop for half a century. "J. Edgar" the movie, like J. Edgar the man, gets the job done. But what it doesn't do is leave a lasting impression.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio -- in heavy makeup and heavy accent -- in the title role, it is often interesting, and often intriguing, but that's more because Hoover was a fascinating man than because of Eastwood's treatment of his story.

The film picks up at the birth of Hoover's law-enforcement career, as a gung-ho, staunchly anti-Communist greenhorn working with the Justice Department. Following him through his appointment as the first director of the fledgling FBI, it goes on to hit most of the high points of his career: his head-to-head battle with organized crime, his investigation of the Lindbergh kidnapping, his transformation of the FBI from a mostly powerless federal afterthought to one of the most efficient and feared investigative agencies in the world.

But it's what went on behind the scenes that is the most titillating, and perhaps tragic. Because while he was facing off with the Al Capones and Baby Face Nelsons, Hoover was also a confirmed bachelor -- living with his mother and maintaining a close, decades-long relationship with his right-hand-man at the agency, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). How close were Hoover and Tolson? They vacationed together, they took their meals together, Tolson would inherit Hoover's estate upon his death and accept the flag that draped his coffin. Whether they were lovers is something we can only speculate about -- and Eastwood does here, albeit delicately.

The sad part, however, is that if Hoover was, indeed, gay, he was also a terribly conflicted man. That's not only because he wanted to be seen as America's No. 1 tough guy -- no easy task even if he wasn't rumored to prance around in women's wear -- but because, at least in Eastwood's version, his beloved mother (Judi Dench) tells him in no uncertain terms that she would rather have a dead son than a "daffodil" son. It's a touching scene, but not quite as heartbreaking as it was doubtlessly intended.

Based on a script by Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black ("Milk"), "J. Edgar" is presented in a series of flashbacks, as a septuagenarian Hoover remembers his career to a reporter. That structure, with its constant flashing back and forth, is confusing at worst and distracting at best. But it's not the most distracting thing about Eastwood's film.

The extensive age makeup, for example, looks remarkable -- until the moment DiCaprio or Hammer are required to speak, at which point they appear to have full-facial paralysis. (The handsome DiCaprio's transformation into the pug-faced Hoover as a young man, however, is a thing of beauty in its subtlety and effectiveness.)

DiCaprio's performance, while earnest, feels just a few degrees north of "Saturday Night Live"-style mimicry. He undoubtedly studied endless newsreels of Hoover to capture his intonation and vocal mannerisms. The problem is, every one of his lines -- from Congressional testimony to intimate conversations -- is delivered with that same bombastic, grandiloquent tone, as if Hoover never dialed it down.

So while "J. Edgar" ends up feeling like a mostly complete portrait of the man, and as fascinating a story as it is, it still falls just short of being something entirely memorable.

via: nola

Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar

Leonardo DiCaprio in J. Edgar - With his slick tailored suit and shiny smile, Leonardo DiCaprio looks like a celebrity as he enters the interview room at a Beverly Hills hotel. And that’s fine with him. He just doesn’t want to act like a celebrity. After dimming down his movie-star status for more challenging roles, the 36-year-old says he likes where he’s headed.

The new direction has him in conversation with Martin Scorsese to play Frank Sinatra in a film. And he’s excited about his Jay Gatsby part in the re-imagined Baz Luhrmann movie version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, currently shooting in Australia.

For a real change of pace, fans can catch DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood’s biopic J. Edgar, in which he plays the controversial FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. It’s a performance that will likely earn him his fourth Oscar nomination.

DiCaprio plays Hoover, from his early days as an ambitious justice-department agent based in Washington, D.C., to his aggressive FBI empire building from the 1930s to the 1970s, until his death in 1972.

Critical moments in the FBI, and Hoover’s reign, are emphasized. They include his 1919 battle, as a justice agent, with Communist radicals, his real and imagined handling of the Lindbergh kidnapping case, and his trackdown of the bank-robbing gangsters during the Dirty ’30s.

More revealing are depictions of Hoover extorting high-ranking officials with his secret files, including presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, the latter’s Attorney General brother Bobby, and civil-rights leader Martin Luther King, among many others.

As well, Hoover’s clandestine personal life is examined by director Eastwood and writer Dustin Lance Black, who earned an Academy Award for his script for Milk, about the life and death of gay San Francisco politician, Harvey Milk.

In J. Edgar, the film shows America’s top cop as a mother-obsessed closeted gay man, and likely cross-dresser, who had a relationship with his longtime deputy, Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). Judi Dench plays Hoover’s overbearing mother, and Naomi Watts is Hoover’s loyal secretary, Helen Gandy.

“Hoover was a crackpot of eccentricities, and we couldn’t even fit all of his eccentricities into this movie,” DiCaprio says on a break from The Great Gatsby to promote J. Edgar.

That was the easy part. Playing the pudgy-faced megalomaniac required lots of makeup, too — a makeover that took six to eight hours a day.

DiCaprio says he’s thankful Eastwood decided to shoot the “older scenes” in the last two weeks of filming, which helped DiCaprio, along with Hammer as Tolson and Watts as Gandy, who also had to age significantly.

“We got to get our footing, and then come to set,” DiCaprio says. “The challenge for me was not just the prosthetic work, and how to move like an older man, but more, to show an all-powerful older man with 50 years in the workplace.”

DiCaprio says Eastwood “created an environment catering to actors,” so the aging sequences were easier than they might have been.

The actor also says he adheres to the old-school Eastwood method. “What Clint expects is that you plant your feet and speak the truth, like James Cagney said.”

Indeed, DiCaprio insists that playing Hoover as a lonely eccentric hiding his sexual orientation was a great deal less complex than showing the career-obsessed side of the lawman’s personality.

“That’s a hard concept for me to wrap my head around,” DiCaprio says of Hoover’s career obsession. “I would never completely sacrifice any sort of love in my life. I have never experienced that on a personal level.”

via: NP

Jack And Jill Movie Review

Jack And Jill Movie Review - Jack And Jill A Semi Thrill. Jack and Jill is the latest project from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions. Sandler not only stars as identical twins Jack and Jill Sadelstein, he is also the film’s co-writer and producer.

Jack lives an almost perfect life in Los Angeles with his wife, Erin (Katie Holmes) and their two kids. Every Thanksgiving, his life turns upside-down when his twin sister, Jill, flies in from the Bronx for her annual visit.

When Jill arrives, Jack is already counting the days until Jill leaves. That is – until she becomes the object of Al Pacino’s (playing himself) affection. That’s because Jack has been trying to get Pacino to star in a new commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts and he sees Jill as just the person he needs to get Pacino to do just that.

Jack and Jill also stars Eugenio Derbez as Felipe. Derbez is one of Mexico’s and Latin America’s most loved comedians. Jack and Jill is rated PG. In theaters now.

via: cbs

Charlize Theron's frightening evil queen

Charlize Theron's frightening evil queen - A First Look at ‘Snow White and the Huntsman’. Everybody knows that actors have a lot more fun playing the bad guy. No need to remind Charlize Theron of that. The Oscar-winning actress is starring as the evil queen (emphasis on "evil") in the upcoming "Snow White and the Huntsman."

Theron, who has played scary before (remember "Monster"?), remarked to E! Online that she's been having "a lot of fun" playing the evil queen. Theron laughed and said her character is a "total bitch." We'll find out if audiences agree when the movie, which co-stars Kristen Stewart as Snow White, hits theaters next summer.

Check out the first trailer for the hotly anticipated flick below.

If you find yourself saying, "Wait, I thought Julia Roberts was playing the evil queen," well, you're right. But that's a different movie called "Mirror Mirror." That version stars Lily Collins as Snow White and is set to hit theaters March 16, 2012. Roberts says that her character lives up to her name. She's "pretty evil," Roberts remarked. Well, duh.

via: yahoo

Charlize Theron in 'Young Adult' - While everyone swooned over Charlize Theron in the newly released "Snow White & The Huntsman" trailer, we're also particularly excited for another one of her upcoming projects: Diablo Cody's "Young Adult."

Theron plays Mavis, a boozy YA fiction writer who borders on unlikable, and some sources claim that there's already Oscar buzz for the role. Mavis returns to her hometown to win back the heart of her high school sweetheart... who is married, with a child.

According to Reuters, Cody admits that the hollow, whiskey-swilling homewrecker is at least partially based on herself. Directed by Jason Reitman, early reviews peg "Young Adult" as his darkest work.