The feature starring Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man pounced the box office, earning $35 million in its first day of release in the U.S. including $7.5 million in midnight screenings. The figure is the biggest Tuesday ever, outpacing Transformers, which took in $27.8 million on a Tuesday back in July of 2007. That film went on to gross over $155 million in its first six days.
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Oops! Might have been a good idea to settle the legality of using Jimi Hendrix songs before launching into production on a Hendrix biopic, but anyway: The filmmakers behind the Andre Benjamin-starring '60s-set pic announce that the rapper-actor will instead cover a greatest hits of period rock, including ditties by the Beatles, for the flick.
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For the past few years I've had the honor of joining the annual Masters of the Web panel at Comic-Con, a confab of journalists and bloggers from the online film community sharing our experiences in web journalism, troll-taming, geek-baiting, etc. This year I'll be returning to the panel, joined by a gaggle of fine web masters and mistresses... along with a special guest moderator: Karl Urban, star of Dredd 3-D. (Hit the jump for a chance to snag tickets to a special just-announced Comic-Con Dredd 3-D screening.)
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A star of Broadway, movies and television, Andy Griffith died Tuesday at his home on Roanoke Island, North Carolina. The once aspiring preacher, trombone player and music teacher, he landed his first movie role in A Face in the Crowd in 1957. But it was his role as the affable and folksy-wise Sheriff Andy Taylor in the 1960s sitcom The Andy Griffith Show that won him legions of fans.
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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has just named its pair of the sexiest herbivores and no shock here, they're celebrities. There were some downright good looking contenders for this year's organically grown animal-friendly crowns, including people across the age spectrum, from Alyssa Milano, Anne Hathaway, Chrissie Hynde, Ashley Judd, Cloris Leachman, Ellen DeGeneres, Hayden Panettiere, Rooney Mara and Venus Williams among the women, while the hot veggie dudes include Casey Affleck, Bill Clinton, Forest Whitaker, Joaquin Phoenix, Jason Schwartzman, Mike Tyson, Moby, Mos Def, Prince, Richard Linklater and Tobey Maguire. In all 100 men and women were up for PETA's "Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrities" of 2012. And the winners are...
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Oliver Stone is certainly not afraid to court controversy. The two-time Oscar winner raised eyebrows with a sympathetic portrayal of Fidel Castro in his 2003 documentary Comandante, a less than sympathetic look at former President George W. Bush in W. and a positive chronicle of Latin America's left-leaning presidents in 2009's South of the Border and he's long been outspoken on issues that win praise from the hard left and venom from the right. On the eve of his latest star-driven bigger budget release, Savages, Stone graced the cover of High Times magazine and over the weekend spoke of his own drug use, how it helped him through Vietnam as a twice-wounded soldier, and about his new movie opening Friday.
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Audiences headed out to theaters to see a foul-mouthed Teddy Bear and some hot man flesh over the weekend. Universal's Ted grossed over $54.1 million over the Friday through Sunday, while Warner Bros.' Magic Mike came in at just over $39.15 million. The two studio newcomers topped the overall box office for the weekend, while last week's newcomer animation Brave held the third spot. Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection landed in fourth place.
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The star of Seth MacFarlane's R-rated comedy Ted reportedly has an entire fetish community agog, only it's not Mark Wahlberg, though plenty of folks are probably feeling his good vibrations. It's the bear.
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In the immortal words of Blue Oyster Cult's Buck Dharma, “history shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man.” He was singing about Godzilla and we're speaking about him, too, as Hollywood has decided to lay another bet on the city-stompin' monster from the Far East.
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It's a big day for reputable news outlets to make a fool of themselves. First CNN announces that SCOTUS spiked Obamacare, now CBS Los Angeles is announcing a greenlight on a film — The Big Lebowski 2 — that anyone with an ounce of common sense knows is not real.
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It's of course no secret that Jeremy Renner is the new face of the Bourne franchise, playing Aaron Cross, a new character in a parallel story to The Bourne Ultimatum. But could Matt Damon possibly team up with Renner in future installments of the story? Yes says the producer of Legacy.
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James Cameron recently said he is Avatar-bound and Sigourney Weaver said she will appear in what will be Avatar 2, 3, 4, confirming that the Titanic director is still on track with the franchise, which made over $2 billion worldwide in its first mammoth installment, which debuted back in December, 2009.
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A flurry of online reports today revealed that filmmaker Nora Ephron was battling illness in a New York hospital and not expected to survive the night. The Washington Post now reports that Ephron has died six years after being diagnosed with the blood disorder myelodysplasia.
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While official confirmation has yet to be reported, columnist Liz Smith eulogizes friend and filmmaker Nora Ephron, writer and director of films including Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, and 2009's Julie & Julia. "People who never dreamed she was ill, are crestfallen. Amazed. Stunned," Smith writes. "I won’t say, “Rest in peace, Nora” – I will just ask “What the hell will we do without you?" UPDATE: Sources clarify that Ephron is alive, but "gravely ill."
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