It's that time (ha!) of year again, when TIME magazine releases its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In addition to names you'd expect to read (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg), there are some major Hollywood players singled out in the 2011 edition, like Oprah Winfrey, producer Scott Rudin, Pixar head John Lasseter, Matt Damon, Colin Firth, and... Blake Lively?
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First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes placenta chewing in the baby carriage. Or something. The first half of Breaking Dawn doesn't come out until November, but it's never too early for Twihards to get excited about the final chapter in the beloved 'tween vampire romance. For instance, what can fans expect from the wedding of Edward and Bella? Something akin to a no smoking sign on your cigarette break.
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Last month, Movieline investigated the Adam Sandler Box Office Paradox to determine whether there was any correlation between how poorly Sandler's films are received critically and how well they do at the multiplex. This month, in anticipation of Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family (opening Friday), Movieline is subjecting Tyler Perry to the same treatment. Do crude stereotypes and blunt force morality lessons always lead to box office gold for the prolific media emperor? Spike Lee, take note.
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Three months after its Sundance debut, Zal Batmanglij's stunning drama Sound of My Voice has landed a distribution deal with Fox Searchlight. The studio previously nabbed rights to Sundance '11 pick-ups The Art of Getting By (AKA Homework), Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Another Earth -- the second of two sci-fi-tinged Sundance entries co-written and starring phenom Brit Marling. Read Movieline's Verge interview with the multi-talented Marling and get ready to want to follow her anywhere. [Deadline]
Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Robert Zemeckis hopes to take Flight... a No Strings Attached breakout star lands another role... Chris Colfer, writer... and more ahead.
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I can't help but thinking these new Green Lantern stills look like poorly greenscreened music videos from precisely 2001-02. Shakira's "Whenever, Wherever"? Brandy's "What About Us"? Janet Jackson's "All for You"? What a terrible time for pop starlets. You had to dance alongside CGI horses on Crayola mountaintops if you wanted a pop hit. Anyway, Ryan Reynolds looks silly here, but whatever! Enjoy.
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Remember all that teeth gnashing you did upon hearing that Bradley Cooper was in talks to play the lead role in The Crow remake for Relativity Media? Thanks to Bob and Harvey Weinstein, you may be able to step off the ledge. The brothers are filing a lawsuit against Relativity Media head Ryan Kavanaugh to prevent the film from happening.
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On Monday, Movieline wondered whether Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit From the Goon Squad would get some Hollywood adaptation attention this week. Just two days later, HBO announced that they have already snapped up the sprawling '80s tale for a project of their own.
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Award-winning photojournalist and documentarian Tim Hetherington was killed on Wednesday while covering the conflict in Libya, his last effort in a career in which he took risks to bring attention to the world's many wars. In his wrenching Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary Restrepo (co-directed with Sebastian Junger), Hetherington shone a light on the emotional toll suffered by a platoon of soldiers in Afghanistan; the same year, he made the short film Diary as a personal exploration of his experience as a combat journalist.
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Enough already. Mere hours after saying that Lindsay Lohan would not star in Gotti: Three Generations, producer Marc Fiore tells TMZ that she will appear. Probably. Though not as the rumored Victoria Gotti. Instead, Lohan will play John Gotti Jr.'s daughter-in-law, Kim -- a role that was originally marked for Kim Kardashian. Hold your breath until the next Lohan/Gotti casting rumor is announced. It actually shouldn't be very long. [TMZ]
Robert Rodriguez's fourth installment of the successful Spy Kids series premieres this August and Dimension Films has just released the first official image. The 3-D follow-up stars Jessica Alba as a former spy (kid?) who must raise two bickering stepchildren, convince her spy-hunting reporter husband (Joel McHale) that she isn't a secret agent and, y'know, stop a "magical terrorist" played by Jeremy Piven from ending the world -- all with a baby strapped to her chest. Enjoy the first still from Alba's summer adventure ahead.
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If Catherine Hardwicke's comments regarding why she was never asked to direct The Fighter didn't point enough to Hollywood's celluloid ceiling, Jodie Foster's explanation in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday adds psychological reasons to the issue. Why do female directors only account for 7 percent of Hollywood movies? Is there a specific resistance from executives? The two-time Oscar-winner lays it out.
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Who would have guessed that Movieline darling Jacki Weaver would follow up her dark Oscar-nominated turn in Animal Kingdom with a role in the Judd Apatow-produced Five-Year Engagement? (Not us.) Jason Segel and Emily Blunt will star in the Nicholas Stoller-directed comedy about a couple who decides to wait five years before getting married. No word yet on which character the Australian actress will play. Team Jacki! [Deadline]
A week after backpedaling from the rumored threat that they'd pull major summer blockbusters (Harry Potter? The Hangover II? NO!!) from theaters to punish studios for committing to early video on demand distribution agreements, the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) is taking a different tack. Meet NATOs new army of foot soldiers in the debate over VOD: 23 of Hollywood's biggest names, who signed a NATO-backed open letter pleading for the protection of "the movie-going experience."
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· Upset you have to wait over a year until more Batman comes into your life? Good news! The animated film Batman: Year One will debut at Comic-Con this summer before heading to DVD in the fall. Ben McKenzie (Ryan Atwood, 4eva!), Eliza Dushku, Bryan Cranston and Katee Sackhoff will lend their voices to the adaptation of the Frank Miller comic classic (as Batman, Catwoman, then-Lieutenant Gordon and Detective Sarah Essen), and you can check out a first look at the project ahead. Then stick around for more Buzz Break.
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