Also in Monday morning's Biz Break: With only two days and some change before the 65th Cannes Film Festival opens with the world premiere of Focus Features' Moonrise Kingdom, the event revealed its full jury for its Un Certain Regard sidebar. Meanwhile, specialty openers had a drab weekend overall and overseas releases proved a mixed bag for Hollywood.
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No, not that one — the other one: "This distinguished 250SL has a very desirable option package that includes ZF four-speed automatic transmission with floor shift, air conditioning, power steering, removable hardtop and a hidden soft top. [...] The 250SL is the rarest of the W113-bodied cars, having been built only in 1967 and 1968. Its predecessor, the 230SL, was vastly improved upon in this model, while the last of the W113 cars, the 280SL, had a slightly larger engine and improved steering. This was one of the most popular cars that Mercedes-Benz ever built, and is extremely popular with collectors. The fantastic Natalie Wood lineage makes this 250SL all the more desirable. It is expected to fetch $30,000 - $50,000." What a steal! Cheaper than a Willy Wonka costume, anyway. [Profiles in History]
Johnny Depp likely has a lock on the weekend's new releases with Tim Burton's Dark Shadows. The movie is set for 3,700 screens. No other new release comes close, but there are nevertheless plenty of other limited roll-outs that may make their way in a theater near you. Check a few of them out in this weekend's new-release roundup.
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Also in Thursday afternoon's Biz Break: Gavin O'Connor (Warrior) is set to direct a post-tsunami Japan crime thriller, Naomi Watts and Matt Dillon's Sunlight Jr. will preview at Cannes, Nigel Lythgoe teams with BAFTA L.A., and Venice winners are spotlighted in NYC Italian film series.
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Look, people: If you keep giving Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer money to make their cheap-o spoof flicks, they're going to keep the lowest common denominator drivel coming. Case in point: The Starving Games, the next in the duo's empire of big screen parodies, will take aim at Lionsgate's mega-hit The Hunger Games with a little something for every fanboy and girl. Variety reports: "Though The Hunger Games will be front and center for many of the jokes, other pics to be pilloried include The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes and the finale of the Harry Potter franchise." Ready, aim, spoof. [Variety]
Here's just what you need to keep that Prometheus mania going: A batch of fantastic Prometheus photos and stills featuring Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, and others from the cast in their spiffy (and skin-tight) Prometheus space suits. It's a space suit party! Oh, the laughs Charlize and Fassy and Noomi share when they're not on set staring ominously into the distant at unknown horrors, or resting those space helmets on those sassy hips.
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Los Angeles traffic is famous for getting rotten when big happenings hit town, but George Clooney's fundraising bash for President Obama promises to make the Thursday commute even more dreadful. And so, in the grand tradition of traffic-paralyzing presidential visits of the past (or: Obama-jams!) and 2011's infamous "Carmageddon" (remember that?), POTUS's social visit tonight to Clooney's canyon pad -- for a $40,000-a-plate shindig expected to raise $15 million for the Obama re-election campaign -- has a name: Starmageddon.
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Rejoice, Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz faithful! At long last, the eagerly anticipated threequel in Edgar Wright's "Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy" (AKA "The Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" -- Wright's version of Kieślowski's Colors series) is on its way. Deadline reports that The World's End, to be directed by Wright with collaborators Simon Pegg and Nick Frost starring, is set to begin filming this September with fingers crossed for a spring 2013 release. But wait, there's more! Get a taste of the trio's upcoming shenanigans from the film's synopsis, which promises adventure, friendship, and -- what else? -- pubs.
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Also in Thursday morning's Biz Break: Another star may be leaving Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, getting to know this year's Cannes competition jury and a new 'bear' animation heads for production.
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Trailblazing hair and fashion icon Vidal Sassoon has died at the age of 84, according to the L.A. Times, following reports in recent years that he'd been battling leukemia. The hair styling legend had built an empire after making a name for himself with game-changing designs for women in the 1960s, including bold coifs for the likes of movie stars Nancy Kwan and Mia Farrow.
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Honestly, the part where 10 Things I Hate About You helmer Gil Junger admits he's made more in residuals from the flick than he was paid to direct it kind of explains it all, but: Junger tells Variety he's directing a sequel to his 1999 Heath Ledger-Julia Stiles teen comedy Shakespeare riff, with Captain America's Hayley Atwell starring, "which advances the situations from the original film." Oh, also? It's about suicide. "Two people who go to the same place at the same time to end it. … Their chance meeting is so awkward, so raw, and so funny, they postpone their intentions and go their separate ways." [Variety]
Andrew Garfield has passed along comments and notes from his inaugural Spider-Man stint for a while now, but he's saved his first truly in-depth press foray for a chat with the one guy on Earth who can literally relate to every word: Ex-Spider-Man franchise star Tobey Maguire.
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Among Wednesday morning's Biz Break: Rebecca Hall chases Iron Man 3, Clifford the Big Red Dog is headed for the big silver screen, and word of a possible "Hollywood studio" for Queens.
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Fans of Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller and director Danny Boyle who weren't lucky enough to cross the pond to catch the trio's intriguing Royal National Theatre production of Frankenstein, you're in luck! A filmed recording of the play, in which Cumberbatch and Miller took turns playing the dual roles of Frankenstein and his monster (a tag-team performance that won them the 2012 UK Olivier Award for Best Actor) is heading to theaters stateside this June. Details after the jump!
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Johnny Depp and Tim Burton have crossed the celluloid path on eight films over a little more than two decades. But apparently that long collaboration is not without a little pain. And apparently this time it was all about the... nails?
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