Unless watching nubile young co-eds get torn to shreds is your idea of a good time, this weekend marks the end of the summer from a box-office relevance standpoint. Though at least things will probably go out with a bang: It has been widely predicted that The Expendables and Eat, Pray, Love will each open to around $30 million in ticket sales, but what of the third major release hitting theaters on Friday, Universal's Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? Good question! Ahead, Movieline handicaps its box-office bonafides.
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A week after Adam Yauch went to war (unsuccessfully) with the MPAA ratings board over A Film Unfinished's "bullsh*t" R-rating, Harvey Weinstein is appealing (and, of course, publicizing) the same injustice against his Pat Tillman cover-up exposé The Tillman Story.
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Also in today's (slim) Hollywood Ink: Robert Schwentke may be the new Ridley Scott, and Paramount gets geeky. But really: Let's hear your Belushi recommendations after the jump.
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· A behind-the-scenes video from Penn Badgley's new photoshoot with Bullett magazine sees the Gossip Girl actor playing a piano and crooning softly, perfect for shrieking Penn Badgley zealots everywhere. It gets a little schmaltzy, but hey! Penn Badgley! Multi-hyphenate! [World of Wonder]
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AMC has greenlit its fifth original series, a Seattle-set crime drama with character-driven touches formerly called The Killing. The now-untitled show is based off a Danish series called Forbrydelsen and will follow the murder of a young girl and the ensuing investigation. With executive producer and writer Veena Sud (Cold Case) in place and director Patty Jenkins (Monster) on board for the pilot, the show's 13-episode first season will debut in 2011. Self-important people will start conversations about it at parties thereafter. [THR]
While attending the HollyShorts Film Festival's opening night, James Caan leveled with a reporter about his political leanings. "I'm not a G** damn Hollywood liberal, I'm not," Caan said, also noting that he only watches Fox News. Go on?
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You think that your paycheck is unfair? Imagine being an Emmy-winning actress who's being out-earned by a 16-year-old. Or even worse, put yourself in the shoes of an accomplished Broadway and television star who pulls in just as much as a spray-tanned Jersey Shore personality who's best known for eating pickles drunk. TV Guide has put out a new list of TV's highest (and lowest) paid stars, and with that in mind, here are some of the worst paycheck injustices littering the airwaves.
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Oscar-nominated producer David Wolper, the man behind smash miniseries like Roots and The Thorn Birds as well as films including Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and L.A. Confidential, died at his Beverly Hills home last night at age 82. When your contributions to pop culture can be described both as "pertinent to a generation's understanding of slavery" and "scrumdiddlyumptious," you are one of a kind. [The Wrap]
· A bloodied, disheveled leading man? Zach Galifianakis toting something wacky? This may be the poster for Due Date, but I can't help but think I've seen these elements before. Click through for a bigger look and more Buzz Break.
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Conservative media outlets have finally picked up on the the Jennifer Aniston/Jason Bateman comedy The Switch, where a sperm donor mix-up causes romantic confusion. Yesterday, Bill O'Reilly made the hard decision to call Aniston "destructive to our society" for making a benign statement during her Switch press tour about how women can have kids without men. Can you handle the video? Will you?
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Actor and body-wash pitchman Isaiah Mustafa last week scored what was believed to be his second role in as many upcoming Tyler Perry films, supplementing his small part in For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf with more work in Madea's Big Happy Family. According to Mustafa, however, it's a full upgrade: Perry offered him his first-ever lead in Madea. The strapping, velvet-voiced sex symbol says he doesn't know what motivated the change. Ha. As Madea herself is always fond of yelping in disbelief: "Helllurrr!?"
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Esquire has a new multimedia feature profiling James Franco, and there are two highlights: when he admits to his actor brother Dave that he's never watched a single thing Dave has appeared in, and when he tells his Esquire interviewer that he's currently reading Twilight ("for a project," he clarifies). "It's crazy how much sexual tension there is," he says. "It just builds and builds. I mean it never stops. It's sort of explosive by the end. Crazy. Like they'll blow up with it. And of course, they don't. Which is the point too, I guess." [Esquire]
Also in this edition of Hollywood Ink: Channing Tatum forges ahead (literally)... Nepotism is alive and well at Fox... Paramount goes book shopping... and more.
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· Closing out Old-Timey Tuesday here at Movieline is this fan-made Avengers trailer in the vein of those B-movie riffs on Ghostbusters and Forrest Gump. You'll notice that Emma Peel is timelessly fierce. [YouTube]
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Helen Mirren was recently featured in our caption contests when she pulled out a Gatling Gun in the upcoming movie Red, but now she's fumbling around for another semi-automatic weapon on the set of Arthur, and it may be underneath the soap suds surrounding star Russell Brand.
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