Weekend Openers: See What's Opening Beyond Prometheus and Madagascar 3

Summer's gearing up (though it is still spring) with the latest blockbustery types hitting screens around the country. Madagascar 3 opens with everyone's favorite wild animals on another adventure, this time escaping the serene lands of Africa for a mis-adventure in Europe as they try and make their way back to their beloved - err - New York. Ridley Scott's crew leaves Earth altogether in Prometheus, which has already shown box office snuff overseas. Will it catch on here? And are you ready for some non-studio (or not so studio) entertainment?

Bel Ami provides a hybrid starring everyone's favorite sexy vampire, Robert Pattinson. Hailing from the Far East is action-adventure Double Trouble and if you've ever suffered a break-up and a bit of a slutty aftermath, then by all means check out Lola Versus! And rounding out the specialty side of things are Peace, Love & Misunderstanding with Jane Fonda embracing the hippie pot-smoking free-love spirit you've always craved and Safety Not Guaranteed, about a group of journalists and time travel. hmmm...

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted
Directors: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath, Conrad Vernon
Writers: Eric Darnell, Noah Baumbach
Voices: Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tom McGrath, Frances McDormand, Jessica Chastain (and more)
Distributor: Paramount Pictures/Dreamworks Animation

Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe are still vying to get home to their beloved New York City (because that's where all good wild animals belong). But en route, they happen upon Monaco and their travels take them through Europe where they find cover in a traveling circus which they make their own. "I auditioned for this part, and I was so happy when I got the part," said Jessica Chastain last month in Cannes; she plays a seductive jaguar in the feature. "I'm an actor who wants to do all kinds of things."

"It's a very difficult thing to do," said Tom McGrath about voicing movie animation. "You have to project that you're running in your voice when you're sitting in a studio and you have to change emotion. That's hard to do when you're only behind a microphone." Added Chastain, "I hadn't done anything before in which I didn't work with another actor." The film had its world premiere in Cannes and now it's definitely headed to a theater near you! Break out the red carpet, champagne and the kids!

Prometheus
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce (and more)
Distributor: Fox

Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Thriller - they're all rolled into one in this Alien-esque prequel by director Ridley Scott. The film centers on a group of explorers who discover the origins of humanity on Earth, which leads them on a journey to the furthest reaches of the universe. Once there (wherever that is) they confront a battle the outcome of which will determine the future of mankind.

Bel Ami
Director: Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod
Writers: Guy de Maupassant (novel), Rachel Bennette (screenplay)
Cast: Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Christina Ricci (and more)
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

The film revolves around a young man's ascent to power in Paris through his manipulation of the city's most powerful women. And guess who does the manipulation - or perhaps more importantly - guess who they get to be manipulated by? The vamp himself, Robert Pattinson. Naturally! Said Pattinson recently about being accepted by the public and industry as only his Twilight character: "..the amount of times you get asked, 'Oh, are you worried about being typecast?' I’m just worried about people saying, like, 'What happened to that guy?'" Now Bel Ami (and later this summer Cosmopolis) will tell...

Double Trouble
Director: David Hsun-Wei Chung

Writers: Zhang Hongyi, Yeh Sho-Heng

Cast: Jaycee Chan, Xia Yu, Chen Han-Tien, Deng Jiajia, Chang Fei

Distributor: China Lion
Double Trouble stars Jackie Chan’s son Jaycee Chan, whom distributor China Lion hopes will bring out his fans to see the feature about a Taiwanese security guard who is forced to work with another guard from Beijing in order to recover a legendary painting stolen by international art thieves. “It’s [Jaycee Chan's] first major film and it’s his first exposure in the U.S," noted the head of China Lion Milt Barlow. "The Chan dynasty is set to continue.”

Lola Versus
Director: Daryl Wein

Writers: Daryl Wein, Zoe Lister Jones

Cast: Greta Gerwig, Zoe Lister Jones, Hamish Linklater, Joel Kinnaman
Distributor: Fox Searchlight

In the film, Gerwig plays Lola who is suddenly dumped by her fiance only weeks before their wedding. Her life slowly tailspins as she seeks out close friends for solace and sexual mishaps as she faces turning 30 and being suddenly single. "Greta is great for the part because she is not an overly-polished lead. She's vulnerable, likable but still at times unlikable," director Daryl Wein said about Gerwig earlier this week. "Zoe [Lister Jones] and I were both single and interested in stories that were honest about break-ups and not just glorified versions of them..."

Patagonia Rising (Documentary)
Director: Brian Lilla
Cast: Lalo Romero
Distributor: First Run Features

The doc takes a look at a plan to build five large hydroelectric dams on two of the world's pristine free-flowing rivers in the Patagonia region of Chile.

Peace, Love & Misunderstanding
Director: Bruce Beresford

Writers: Joseph Muszynski, Christina Mengert

Cast: Jane Fonda, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Olsen, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chase Crawford, Kyle MacLauchlan

Distributor: Sundance Selects

Directed by Driving Miss Daisy director Bruce Beresford, the film, which had its U.S. debut at the Woodstock Film Festival - natch! - follows Manhattan lawyer Diane (Keener), who drives her teenage son Jake (Nat Wolff) and adult daughter Zoe (Elizabeth Olsen) to visit their Woodstock-bound hippie grandmother Grace (Fonda), who the kids have never met. Grace stages protests, smokes and sells dope, but their weekend getaway morphs into a summer adventure of romance, music and more. This was the first movie set for then-newcomers Elizabeth Olsen and Nat Wolff a producer told Movieline this week.

Safety Not Guaranteed
Director: Colin Trevorrow

Writer: Derek Connolly

Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson, Jeff Garlin and Kristen Bell

Distributor: FilmDistrict
The film centers on three magazine employees who head out on assignment to interview a guy who sought out a companion for time travel...

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Which new film is your movie of choice this weekend? Tell us below.

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