The Academy Awards have come and gone and that means we’re one major step closer to the summer movie season. Another sign the blockbusters are coming? The Lorax earning an incredible $70.7 million at the box office this weekend.
In other potential blockbuster news, Joel Kinnaman is officially the next Robocop, set to bring the character back to life in the upcoming remake. The Percy Jackson sequel snagged three more actresses to play the Fates, Mary Songbird, Yvette Nicole and Missi Pyle while Harvey Weinstein has his eye on Katy Perry to star in his Paul Potts biopic.
As for material due out in the nearer future, The Hunger Games just added a stellar clip to its already impressive stock of promotional material. ParaNorman got a brand new trailer that suggests Focus Features might be able to compete with the animation realm’s big boys.
Interested in checking out that so much more? Here comes your weekly Movie News Cheat Sheet!
1. Joel Kinnaman is Robocop: Just after reports came out claiming Joel Kinnaman was offered the title role in Jose Padilha’s Robocop remake, comes news that it’s a done deal. According to Deadline, MGM confirmed that Kinnaman will take over the role originated in 1987 by Peter Weller, a cop killed on duty that’s revived as Robocop. Kinnaman hasn’t been front and center in any big US releases lately, but you might have caught two fairly memorable supporting performances – as Keller, a safe house guard, in Safe House and as the dubious Skyler in The Darkest Hour. Now that Kinnaman is on his way to becoming the next big action star, the Swedish thrilled Snabba Cash should climb a few steps on your to-watch list.
2. Funny Stuff: Movie: The Movie Blooper Reel: Were you one of the millions who got a good laugh out of Jimmy Kimmel’s Movie: The Movie trailer this week? Well, the fun continues with the Movie: The Movie blooper reel! The making of video was pretty amusing, but this blooper reel seems to have some real slip ups, and what’s better than seeing some of the best of the best in Hollywood messing up and getting silly? Plus, I still maintain that a hovercraft-flying Helen Mirren really does deserve her own feature.
3. Kathryn Bigelow’s Bin Laden Movie Gets a Title: Really, could there be a better title than Kill Bin Laden? Apparently not because now Kathryn Bigelow’s movie about SEAL Team Six, the group responsible for finding and killing Osama bin Laden, is called Zero Dark Thirty. Yes, the title does have meaning – in military speak it translates to thirty minutes after midnight, a very early starting time – but we’re talking the business of film here. Kill Bin Laden is a much easier sell. Perhaps a bit more pressing than title talk is Bigelow’s run-in with on-location protesters. According to Reuters, she was denied permission to film in Pakistan so transformed parts of India to look like the desired location. The problem is, India and Pakistan are enemies, so the thought of having their country resemble Pakistan on the big screen isn’t sitting well and people are protesting. The article doesn’t mention how the protests are affecting the shoot, but considering the film is set to drop on December 19th, I’d like to bet they’re doing whatever it takes to stay on schedule.
4. The Making of Psycho Gets Another Pair of Top Talent: We’ve already got Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren starring as Hitchock and his wife, Alam, but now, according to Variety, Scarlett Johansson and James D’Arcy are on board, too, set to play Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins in The Making of Psycho. The John McLaughlin-penned script focuses on what happened while making the iconic horror film, Psycho. Some are likening the film to My Week With Marilyn, even speculating that Johansson’s role could earn her some nominations, just like Michelle Williams. Then again, we do have a full year to go before awards season rolls around again.
5. The Hunger Games Clip: The time has finally come; the very first clip from The Hunger Games is here! I always thought they’d go for a brief conversational scene, perhaps in District 12 or on the train on the way to the Capitol, but we actually got one of the book’s most striking moments – when Katniss shoots an arrow through the apple in the Gamemakers’ pig’s mouth. Even beyond the fact that this is a profound scene in relation to the story as a whole, this moment is constructed incredibly well. The cheery, yet almost threatening music sets a pitch-perfect tone, Jennifer Lawrence’s bow and arrow skills look as authentic as possible and, perhaps most importantly of all, the way Gary Ross chose to cover the moment clearly establishes the important players and props, and heightens the tension.
6. Percy Jackson Adds Three: Things are finally picking up for the Percy Jackson sequel Percy Jackson & The Olympians: Sea of Monsters. According to Variety, Mary Songbird, Yvette Nicole and Missi Pyle will join Percy Jackson veterans Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson, Jake Abel and Melina Kanakaredes in round two. Songbird, Nicole and Pyle will appear as the three Fates, “taxi-driving sisters who bicker over the single eye they share.” In addition, Douglas Smith is joining the cast, too, as Percy’s half-brother, a Cyclops. No word on when Sea of Monsters will go into production, but as its March 27, 2013 release date is just about a year away, it’s got to be soon.
7. Adele vs. Katy Perry for One Chance: Whether or not Harvey Weinstein’s Paul Potts biopic will earn him another Oscar, it certainly seems as though this one could attract a crowd with the names Weinstein is dropping for this one. Weinstein recently told the New York Post that he’s got his eye on either Katy Perry or Adele for the role of Pott’s wife, Julie-Ann Cooper. Weinstein approached Perry at the Academy Awards about the gig to which she responded, I love a challenge.” As for Adele, Weinstein explained, “We’d really like someone like Katy or Adele to play the role of Potts’ wife, and Katy seemed genuinely interested,” implying that Adele might have just been an idea and someone he’s yet to have even approached. For those of you who missed the 2007 season of Britain’s Got Talent, Potts went from simple mobile-phone salesman to a singing sensation, making a chart-topping album and even performing for Queen Elizabeth. Reportedly Weinstein is currently in negotiations with a British actor to take that role.
8. Top Gun 2 Gets a Writer: There’s been quite a bit of talk about a Top Gun sequel, but who ever thought it’d really happen? Well, it looks like the project is one step closer to becoming a reality because THR reports that Paramount hired Peter Craig (The Town) to pen the script. Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Skydance Productions are all set to produce, but that’s all we’ve got thus far. However, via THR back in September, the original Top Gun is set to undergo 3D conversion for a re-release, possibly this year.
9. Trailers: ParaNorman, That’s My Boy, Despicable Me 2: The Lorax not your thing? Pixar’s Brave not looking all that great? You’ve got to check out this new trailer for ParaNorman. It’s an innocent family film, yet honors its horror side so well, it’s bound to appeal to families and scary movie lovers alike. Jack and Jill not your thing? Did you think that Grown Ups wasn’t all that great? You’re in big trouble because Adam Sandler’s next is looking just as bad. Sandler is annoying as ever and, per usual, the plot is downright ludicrous. Back on the bright side, we’ve got a teaser for Despicable Me 2 and while it doesn’t show anything from the new film, let alone drop a single hint about the plot, it’s got those super cute minions and that’s more than enough for me.
10. Box Office: It’s official; we’ve got our first major hit of the year. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax opened on top with a whopping $70.7 million on a wildly impressive $18,960 per theater average. Project X trailed far behind, but still earned a solid $20.8 million. Act of Valor held on stronger than expected, only losing 44% of its weekend one profits and taking another $13.7 million to the bank. Safe House took an even lesser hit, only dropping 34.1%, earning $7.2 million more, which brings its grand total to $108.2 million. Rounding out the top five is Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds, which saw the obligatory Tyler Perry week two slash in half, taking in just $7 million more. (via Box Office Mojo)
