Brüno may have trumped its box-office competition on two continents last weekend, but if a cluster of developments around the Web are any indication, that disturbing Friday-Saturday drop of 40% left its patrons at Universal dizzily reeling at the controls.
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· Several weeks after 20th Century Fox put the brakes on Unstoppable, its runaway-train thriller combining Denzel Washington, Tony Scott, Chris Pine and a ballooning $107 million budget, Washington has grabbed his bags and walked away from the stalled project. The star reportedly denied the studio's requests to slim his $20 million salary, much of which Fox may yet pay to woo their leading man back and revive the project. But come on, Fox: Did you not learn anything from Taken? Can't Liam Neeson just do this after The A Team for $4 million and a few points? And $6 million for Tony Scott? Get Justin Lin or someone. What year is this? [Variety]
P.T. Barnum lives, Harper's Island dies and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
If you happen to be in the Los Angeles area this week, you can catch Outfest, one of the largest gay, lesbian and transBono'd film festivals in the country. In addition to a strong lineup of feature films and shorts offering a welcome, dildo-free alternative to the exploits of Brüno and friends, this year's fest hosts the Strand Releasing 20th anniversary program, as well as a variety of panels -- there's still tickets available for God Only Knows: A Look at 'Big Love' and A Li'l Bit of 'Glee,' for any polygamist showtune-lovers among you. (Insert Seven Brides for One Brother joke here.)
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The Jackie Chan/Jaden Smith remake of The Karate Kid is a strange case: Due to financial obligations that forced the film to shoot in China, the movie lost most of the cultural markers associated with the original film, like karate, Mr. Miyagi, and Sherman Oaks miniature golf. So why call it The Karate Kid still, amirite? Well, it appears the filmmakers have listened, christening the film with a new name.
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A lot of publications have bristled at Warner Bros.' opening-day review embargo for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but there's plenty we can talk about in the interim without breaking any rules. Like sexual tension at Hogwarts, for starters, or one of the other stimulating topics you're likely to hear a lot more about in the, oh, seven months to come: Is Potter worthy of consideration in an expanded Oscar race? And even if so, does it actually have a chance? A quick consideration -- WITH SPOILERS -- after the jump.
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In addition to being a respected actress, Natalie Portman is something of a geek muse, having traipsed through properties like Star Wars, V for Vendetta, Mars Attacks!, and the dystopian sci-fi fantasy Where the Heart Is. Now, she's been cast in another fanboy property (and no, it is not Asteroids, despite our best advice).
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· I don't remember this scene from the Brothers trailer!
· It's time to accept that Channing Tatum is not your boyfriend, as the actor married Jenna Dewan this weekend in Malibu.
· Richard Hatch was hoping to go on Survivor for roughly the billionth time, but a judge shot down his request. You're not out of the woods until someone arrests Jonny Fairplay, Probst.
· Maura Tierney is clearing the air about her absence from Parenthood: She's discovered a tumor in her breast and is preparing for surgery.
· I know, sad. But hey, Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow making prank phone calls!
Zooey Deschanel has long been something of an emo-dork wet dream for more than just her striking features, lilting voice and commanding screen presence. Since her 2003 breakthrough All the Real Girls, she has emerged as one of cinema's preeminent man-child foils -- an idealized romantic counterpoint to a roster of young, mopey, quirky, vulnerable men whose paths to self-actualization travel directly through her (and, usually, her character's vagina). This week's (500) Days of Summer is only slightly different, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a slight twist on the boy-meets-Zooey folklore.
Considering how difficult it can often be to parse this phenomenon -- with its emotionally stunted love interests, sidekicks, family and other variables of masculine inertia -- Movieline offers the following aid to help learn how we got here and determine where we (and Miss Deschanel) might be headed next:
How far Ryan Seacrest has come from his mostly inert Nacho Years, as the spray-tanned dwarf-mogul has signed a deal with Fox that could earn him $45 million for three years of Gokey-wrangling and Cowell-sassing services.
The deal, about which American Idol producers FremantleMedia North America and Fox wouldn't comment, was reportedly in the works for "the past several weeks" and would triple his current salary, which sees him pulling in $5 million per year. (This stands completely separate from his cable deal wtih Comcast and E!.)
It's a sizable raise, but it doesn't come without strings attached: Seacrest has been ordered to up the awkwardness factor considerably. So if you liked seeing him attempt to high-five a blind man in Season 8, just wait until you watch him pressure an armless war veteran not put through to the semi-finals into playing Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" on a grand piano in the lobby of the Orlando Hyatt.
Blunt and confrontational. Addresses every rumor, no matter how crude or politically incorrect. Dispenses advice like "poke a hole in the condom and lock him down." In short, she goes there more often and with less tact than anyone else in entertainment. Kathy Griffin? Joan Rivers? Tyra? No, it's Wendy Williams, and her nationally syndicated talk show premieres today on Fox. How you doin'?
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Mary Ellen Mark has documented some of cinema's most haunted, precocious and celebrated film sets in her 40 years as a stills photographer, including the fraught all-star environments of Apocalypse Now, Marathon Man (with Dustin Hoffman, pictured) and On Golden Pond. Her new book,Seen Behind the Scene recollects the stories behind the shots, a sampling of which are now available over at Vanity Fair. Go for the Fellini, stay for the three-way, mildly NSFW (or hardly anywhere else, really) Jack Nicholson/Candice Bergen/Art Garfunkel kiss from their Carnal Knowledge days. The Harry Potter kids will be imitating them before you know it. [VF.com]
· The fledgling Jack Kevorkian biopic You Don't Know Jack is turning into quite a prestige package for HBO Films: Susan Sarandon and John Goodman will join leading man Al Pacino and director Barry Levinson as a pair of Kevorkian's right-to-die allies. Sarandon's character is later assisted in her own suicide; Goodman's lab company provides the technology. Just give this its Emmys now if you think that'll speed up the broadcast in 2010. [THR]
Jason Statham returns to British B-thrillerdom, another Hollywood institution rebrands, and much more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
Vassup! Sick of Brüno yet? Tough. Universal spent $100 million marketing this thing, which means you're going to have to read about his farshtinkeneh kugelsack some more. How much of that did they make back? It's after der jump.
Brüno opened to a healthy $14.2 million Friday -- a little behind comedy-to-beat The Hangover, but well ahead of Borat's opening day. Still, Borat opened on far less screens and Brüno has the summer destruction derby to contend with, so it'll be interesting to see if Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy has smooth, freshly waxed legs. In other news, I Love You Beth Cooper rewarded Fox's meager investment with an equally half-hearted haul.
Friday figures after the jump:
It's official: Ryan Reynolds is Warners' pick to play Green Lantern, Comic Impact reports, beating out the likes of Justin Timberlake and Bradley Cooper as the actor destined to don the emerald leotard and magical, green-thing-making power ring on the big screen. We're paying top-dollar to anyone who can provide footage of the rumored Speedo walk-off that edged Reynolds past his competitors. [Comic Impact]
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