First off, the good news: Movieline will be attending Comic-Con 2009 from July 23-26, with Kyle and myself covering every square inch of that G8 summit of fanboydom dressed as Bib Fortuna and Harry Knowles, respectively. Expect tons of scoops, interviews, exclusives and local color, as well as live streaming of this year's Slave Leia All-Star Gelatin Wrestling Tournament, brought to you by Star Wars Insider and Royal Gelatin desserts.
more »
In a bygone era, the highest-grossing films of all time were well-reviewed, iconic pictures: Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, E.T., Titanic (sorry about that last one, Kenneth Turan). Nowadays, though, it seems that the waxing of the global market coupled with the waning influence of film critics has produced a scenario where just about any heavily-marketed sequel can dominate the worldwide box office, no matter the reviews. Slashfilm decided to investigate, devising a formula that would pit a film's cash haul against its Rotten Tomatoes score in order to find the worst-reviewed movie that nevertheless boasted the biggest box office.
more »
"When I was 23," Lindsay Lohan will eventually sing at the Vegas cabaret act that will mark the dusk of a long but sporadic career, "It wasn't a very good year / It wasn't a very good year for starlet girls / Who lived at the Palms / With all their spray-tan lawsuits / And missed hit comedies / When I was 23..."
She'll be referring, of course, to two stories that broke in the summer of '09: The first involves a lawsuit brought against her for having allegedly stolen an instant-tanning formula. (How she might have gone about doing that I have no idea. Maybe it was inside a fur coat left on some bed a party at the Nokia Malibu Party Hutch.) The second is the story of how she passed on The Hangover, and it's after the jump.
more »
· Tobey Maguire has replaced James McAvoy as the lead in The Details, a dark indie comedy featuring him and Elizabeth Banks as a couple whose declining marriage turns murderous when raccoons infest their backyard. Think of it like a spiritual cousin to his much heavier Brothers, except with mischievous yard critters where the brooding, Natalie Portman-bedding Jake Gyllenhaal is supposed to go. [Variety]
WME downsizes (literally), Natasha Richardson's swan song is a turkey, and much more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
more »
Michael Jackson was an innovator who married the language of cinema to the music video format, collaborating with directors like Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, and Francis Ford Coppola on some of the most iconic short-form classics the medium has ever known.
Too bad, then, that his final film credit is the absolutely insane, T&A-filled spoof Miss Cast Away, (which, coincidentally, was also the final film credit for Bob Denver and Pat Morita). Let's investigate this lost gem, shall we?
more »
· Those pants are entirely too high-waisted, Clint. Stop embarrassing Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, and Bruno.
· Michael Bay forced Megan Fox to wash his Ferrari as part of her original Transformers audition. At least she got off easy compared to Skids, who became a blubbering wreck when script sides forced him to reveal his robo-illiteracy.
· "I'm the nurturing mom, Simon [Cowell]'s the disapproving dad, and Randy [Jackson]'s the cool brother," explained Paula Abdul to People before then muttering under her breath, "...and Kara's the Cousin Oliver."
· Rich at FourFour presents the 2009 installment of "I'm Not Here to Make Friends."
· 45 images from Antichrist and nary a talking fox to be found. Sadness.
Even before he directed the box-office record holder Titanic, James Cameron worked with the impunity and swagger of a man who knew someday he would rise to the top of his craft. Today, with a new batch of adjusted numbers culled from the Hollywood record books, he can return to that underdog position -- at least until Avatar arrives this fall to restore his crown. But it has a long, long way to go to catch up with the Southern belle who surpassed him.
more »
This Is It. Yes, that was the title of Michael Jackson's farewell tour, and, sadly, it proves as fitting a title for our final goodbyes to him at Downtown L.A.'s Staples Center -- a decade-old venue synonymous with tasteful funeration. The tone is "subdued" inside the arena, reports NBC news, where the stage is bathed in dark blue lights and a projection using a font not unlike our own declares "In Loving Memory of Michael Jackson King of Pop 1958-2009." Join us now as we chronicle this historic ceremony, minute by minute. HEE HEE.
more »
We're just minutes away from the Michael Jackson Memorial of the Century, which we understand will cost Angelenos their public swimming pools and the 710 bus line, but will give them an unforgettable broadcast starring Justin Timberlake and Ne-Yo that they can share with their children and grandchildren. We're also told the body itself is currently traveling along the Ventura Freeway towards the Staples Center in downtown L.A., and will be on display during the ceremony. (Maybe this is just denial, but we're still holding out hope -- however infinitesimal the chance -- that a pyrotechnics display will culminate in the singer leaping out of his casket at the very last minute, for the most spectacular tour-kickoff stunt the world has ever seen.)
more »
Presuming you weren't one of the lucky, ghoulishy overjoyed few to score a ticket to today's Michael Jackson Memorial and Propofol Singers Revue, no sweat, There's still time to arrange a plan B! Sort of. The digital exhibition company Cinedigm has arranged to broadcast the show's high-definition feed in dozens of movie theaters nationwide at 10 a.m. PT, helping offset the California taxpayers' burden offering free, first-come-first-served tickets to those who want a little more sense of occasion and community from their day of mourning. Alas, for those of you in some of America's biggest urban centers, there's a minor catch.
more »
· Having coaxed more than $1.5 billion to date from its two Transformers trysts with Hasbro, DreamWorks has hopped into bed with Mattel for a movie based on its action-packed, 3-D View-Master toy. In a comment since removed from his Twitter feed, screenwriter Brad Caleb Kane likened the project to "the old '80s Amblin movies: Goonies, Young Sherlock ... in that vein," thus triggering a garage-sale gold rush around Hollywood for the next discarded children's activity and the 50-cent VHS tape that will influence its monumental big-screen adaptation. [THR]
Leonardo DiCaprio dares to make a film without Martin Scorsese, Paramount dares to make Baywatch a comedy, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
more »
· Is there any area that isn't overrun by armies of stroller-pushing Pug parents, gurgling on incessantly about doggie-kindergarten waiting-lists and how their puppies are "so advanced for their age?" If so, let us know. We'd like to move there. [via YouTube]
more »
California is a lovely, cash-strapped state where public workers are rewarded with heavily slashed paychecks while our governor spends his own money on Humvees and life-sized replicas of himself. In short, California is the perfect place to host the Michael Jackson memorial because like the entertainer itself, it is famous and it's already spent all of its money. And yet this Jackson service will be a costly affair, indeed. How much will it drain from already-empty state coffers?
more »
If you entered the online lottery to win tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial service at Staples Center tomorrow, you've most likely received one of these e-mailed notifications of regret. Otherwise -- congratulations! You are one of the few to earn precious access to the momentous ceremony, joining such other fortuitous mourners as Espen Eckbo and Stein Johan Grieg Halvorsen of Norway (top left), Dont'e Zierway of Buffalo, N.Y. (lower right), and Augustus Gloop of Düsselheim, Germany (upper right), who breathlessly told us of how we was once banned for life from The Marzipan Museum in Szentendre, Hungary for attempting to devour their life-sized Jackson sculpture made entirely of white chocolate.
more »
