Celeb News Aggregate
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Mean Girls opens in the number one spot at the box office, followed by Man on Fire 13 Going on 30 Laws of Attraction Godsend Envy Kill Bill Vol. 2 The Punisher Home on the Range Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
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Box Office Analysis, Dec. 14. Top Ten Something's Gotta Give The Last Samurai Stuck on You Love Don't Cost a Thing The Haunted Mansion Bad Santa Elf Honey Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat Gothika
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Box Office Analysis: Oct. 20 The Ring Sweet Home Alabama Red Dragon My Big Fat Greek Wedding The Transporter The Tuxedo
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The box office preview of the weekend beginning Feb. 22 We Were Soliders Mel Gibson Randall Wallace Sam Elliott Chris Klien Greg Kinnear 40 Days and 40 Nights Josh Hartnett Shannyn Sossamon Kevin Costner Dragonfly Aailyah Stuart Townsend Queen of the Damned Denzel Washington John Q Bruce Willis Hart's War Britney Spears Crossroads Return to Never Land Super Troopers Arnold Schwarzenegger Collateral Damage Big Fat Liar Frankie Muniz Mandy Moore A Walk to Remember Kung Pow: Enter the Fist The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Peter Jackson Black Hawk Down Ridley Scott A Beautiful Mind Gosford Park
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NEW YORK, NY, June 5, 2000 -- No one knows this yet but there's a new musical that will land on Broadway very soon and it will be a huge, huge hit.
How can we be so sure? Yes, the spankin' new musical comedy version of the smash indie "The Full Monty" opened last Thursday at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre to great reviews, including one in Monday's Variety, but this column has always been a little, uh, skeptical of critics.
But one of the theater world's most seasoned professionals (now a major force on the West Coast after having cut his teeth in New York for years) caught a preview early last week and declared "The Full Monty" an "unequivocal smash" and "howlingly commercial."
Yes, playwright Terrence McNally ("The Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Master Class," "Love! Valour! Compassion!") uncharacteristically breaks no new ground here, but he and novice musical comedy
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NEW YORK, NY, June 5, 2000 -- No one knows this yet but there's a new musical that will land on Broadway very soon and it will be a huge, huge hit.
How can we be so sure? Yes, the spankin' new musical comedy version of the smash indie "The Full Monty" opened last Thursday at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre to great reviews, including one in Monday's Variety, but this column has always been a little, uh, skeptical of critics.
But one of the theater world's most seasoned professionals (now a major force on the West Coast after having cut his teeth in New York for years) caught a preview early last week and declared "The Full Monty" an "unequivocal smash" and "howlingly commercial."
Yes, playwright Terrence McNally ("The Kiss of the Spider Woman," "Master Class," "Love! Valour! Compassion!") uncharacteristically breaks no new ground here, but he and novice musical comedy
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 14, 2000 -- So, today's Valentine's Day, and there are many reasons to be bitter. (Being single one great reason to be bitter).
So, it didn't help that Blockbuster, that rental behemoth, last week released its Top 10 list of the most romantic films of all-time. Of all-time? Oh, really.
Consider:
10. "The Wedding Singer" (1998) 9. "My Best Friend's Wedding" (1997) 8. "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968) 7. "Jerry Maguire" (1996) 6. "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) 5. "Chasing Amy" (1997) 4. "Sixteen Candles" (1984) 3. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961) 2. "Pretty Woman" (1990) 1. "As Good As It Gets" (1997)
So, OK, claws are out, and it's now open season.
How the heck does any movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore (Isn't her Gosh-I'm-So-Earnest-Act Old Yet? "Never Been Kissed" should've never been watched.) qualif
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CANNES, May 14, 2000 -- How can the festivities get any hotter than they already are? The weekend has arrived which means there are even more parties and more outfits. And oh, yes, there are now even more hordes of Cannes fans. They start camping out (some of them fully equipped with collapsible benches and gourmet picnics) in front of the red carpeted Palais as the sun comes up and wait more than 12 hours to catch a glimpse of the stars and the auteurs and their muses (if they can get them in.) It's all about access. Not a single ticket is for sale.
While veterans like two-time Oscar winner Michael Caine have parties thrown for him (on Friday night his new movie, "The Shiner," was the subject of a fete at the Riviera Hotel), others have to wrangle tickets. This weekend, movie producers, buyers and hangers-on were vying for Saturday night's coveted MTV party invitation (which ha
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CANNES, May 12, 2000 -- Large gray clouds loom over Le Grand Cannes. It adds to the drama, the chaos, the delayed plane flights … But that isn't stopping our favorite heroes -- Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman -- from bursting on the scene today for the out-of-competition screening of "Under Suspicion." Yes, the Cannes Film Festival gets serious today with the unfolding of some tres (there's that French again) tough dramas.
A rundown:
British director Ken Loach is famous for getting to the emotional heart of prickly social issues and is very popular in Europe (with many American fans, too.) "Bread and Roses," his in-competition entry here, is an against-all-odds true story is based in Los Angeles (which he shoots in sequence!), and the first film he's set in America.
In the same deep vein, "The King Is Alive" takes place in Africa and is directed by the Danish Kr
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2000 -- Acting ability aside, you have to admire Madonna's tenacity when it comes to putting herself time and again in front of the lens, raw and intrepid -- as if she's never heard of seriously bad flicks such as "Body of Evidence," "Who's That Girl" and "Shanghai Express." The list goes on and on.
"Next Best Thing" So this Friday finds the M One going at it all over again with "The Next Best Thing" (opening nationwide). In her continual quest to prove that she's a legit screen actress, Madonna tackles the role of a straight woman who forms an alternative household with her gay pal (played by her real-life gay pal Rupert Everett) and their son, whom they conceived on a night of drunken stupor.
The idea of a gay man living with a straight woman living with their kid may have been intriguing (or even provocative) a couple years back. But
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MTV icon Carson Daly will host NBC's late night talk show Later.
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 27, 2000 -- Warner Bros.' "The Whole Nine Yards" easily held on to first place despite tracking studies that had projected Dimension Films' opening of "Reindeer Games" would be the weekend's big winner.
"Reindeer Games " Although the tracking data had pointed to an opening of $10 million to $12 million for "Reindeer," no film managed to crack double digits last weekend. "Reindeer" wound up an embarrassed No. 3 for the weekend with a red face and nose. The weekend's only other wide opening, Paramount's "Wonder Boys," lived up to tracking expectations, finishing out of the Top Five, in seventh place, with a grim estimated $5.85 million.
The best-performing film of the bunch continued to be "Yards," Morgan Creek and Franchise Pictures' R-rated comedy. "Yards" continued laughing atop the chart in its second weekend with an estimated $9.61 million
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Actor Greg Kinnear and wife Helen Labdon lost the baby they were expecting this summer, a spokeswoman for the couple told USA Today on Wednesday.
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A rich "Parents" opening turned the box office green after two months of lackluster grosses.
Universal's PG-13-rated comedy "Meet the Parents" met with greater success than insiders had anticipated. Rather than the $18-22 million range that many Hollywood handicappers were expecting, "Parents" opened to a sizzling ESTIMATED $29.11 million at 2,614 theaters ($11,135 per theater).
"Parents'" international release is through DreamWorks Pictures, which co-financed the film and will share equally in its success. "Parents" had the highest per-theater average for any film playing in wide release last weekend.
The film set records as the biggest October opening ever and the biggest openings ever for its stars Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller, according to a Universal spokesman. It is Universal's fourth consecutive film to open in first place, following "Nutty Professor II:
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Denzel Washington scored a box office touchdown, finally giving Hollywood some ticket sales to "Remember."
Buena Vista/Disney's PG-rated football drama "Remember the Titans," from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, kicked off in first place with a muscular ESTIMATED $21.2 million at 1,865 theaters ($11,383 per theater).
"Titans" had the highest per-theater average for any film playing in wide release last weekend.
"Titans" marks the first $20 million-plus since the arrival of Columbia's "Hollow Man" last Aug. 4. It ranks as Denzel Washington's biggest opening, out-performing the $18.6 million that "Crimson Tide" kicked off with in May 1995.
Despite the strong performance by "Titans," key films in the marketplace continued to under-perform compared to a year earlier. Overall, the marketplace was down over 27% from last year.
Asked what accounted for "Titan
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 24, 2000 -- Horror was the word this weekend, both on screen and off as Hollywood suffered yet another under-performing weekend.
Columbia's R-rated horror sequel "Urban Legends: Final Cut" from Phoenix Pictures took the biggest slice of box office pie, placing first with an energetic estimated $8.8 million at 2,539 theaters ($3,466 per theater).
Insiders had anticipated a double-digit launch by "Urban." It was the third consecutive weekend in which the film placing first did not gross $10 million or more.
"The original opened to $10.5 million and went on to do $38 million. We certainly hope we can get to the $25-30 range, which would make it very profitable for us. It's a $14.6 million production cost, so we make money for sure," Sony Pictures Releasing president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning.
Asked about pre-weekend indust
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 21, 2000 -- Suburban teens should help cut "Urban Legends: Final Cut" the biggest slice of box office pie this weekend.
"'Urban Legends' can actually do double digits," one insider observes. "It'll be nice to see that again, won't it?"
"Urban," an R-rated horror sequel opening from Columbia Pictures at 2,539 theaters, is heading for first place with $12-13 million.
"Teens, particularly, have to be hungry for something to go see," says a distribution executive. "I think it's got a shot at $12 million."
Directed by John Ottman, "Urban" stars Jennifer Morrison.
Second place should go to DreamWorks and Columbia's critically-acclaimed "Almost Famous," which will expand to about 1,200 theaters in its second week. The R-rated comedy drama should do $7-8 million.
"They're in theaters where it ought to do business," a
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 17, 2000 -- There was lots of Olympic Gold but very little box office gold this weekend.
Insiders had anticipated low grosses and a close race for first place, and that's exactly what they got. With ticket sales down over 33 percent from this time last year, it took only $5.7 million for Universal's "The Watcher" to nail down the top spot.
Key films in the marketplace - those grossing $500,000 or more for the weekend - did approximately $47.58 million. Distribution sources said Sunday morning they believed that was the lowest total since the weekend of Sept. 11-13, 1998, when key films took in $48.85 million.
Was it the Olympics that killed the movie business this weekend? Key distribution executives share some thoughts about that in today's report (see OLYMPICS IMPACT below).
The weekend's biggest success story was DreamWor
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 14, 2000 -- Hollywood will suffer from the box office blahs this weekend.
In fact, insiders anticipate so little moviegoer enthusiasm for the weekend's new wide releases that it won't take much to capture first place.
Warner Bros. and Castle Rock Entertainment's R-rated action comedy "Bait" has the best shot at topping the chart thanks to a very wide opening at 2,352 theaters and its likely appeal to urban moviegoers.
"I'm sure it's going to play well to African-Americans, but after what happened to 'Turn It Up' last week (you can't expect much)," a source points out. "Bait' is probably $6-8 million, just because it's going out so wide and should have strong black appeal. Depending on what happens to 'The Watcher,' either film could be number one."
"I would say 'Bait's got a shot at number one. I would say in the high end of
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 10, 2000 -- Moviegoers' eyes were on "The Watcher" as Hollywood's fall season got off to an unexciting start.
Box office levels across the board were considerably less than insiders had anticipated going into the weekend. With many studio executives out of town attending the Toronto Film Festival, few insights were offered as to what went wrong. Overall, key films were estimated to have grossed about 22 percent less than this time last year.
With televised coverage of the Olympics expected to provide stiff competition from Sept. 15 through Oct. 1, Hollywood is holding back on opening high-profile films in September. That will almost certainly be reflected in ticket sales for the month.
"With the Olympics and everything else, I think it's going to be a lousy fall," predicted one insider.
"Watcher," an R-rated psychological th
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HOLLYWOOD, Jan. 23, 2001 -- Never underestimate the power of the Golden Globe Awards.
Just ask Robert Downey Jr., who walked off with a renewal stint on "Ally McBeal" merely two days after winning the best supporting actor Globe for the Fox series.
The embattled actor has been entangled in criminal charges stemming from his drug arrest late last year, throwing the future of his career in much speculation. But The Hollywood Reporter is saying today that the actor has sealed a deal with the Fox legal-eagle show to reprise his role for as many as 11 additional episodes, beyond the 10 shows he had already completed this season.
According to the report, the actor could head back to the set as early as next week when production of "Ally McBeal" begins.
The actor is currently free on $50,000 bail and will go back to court on Monday for a scheduled hearing.
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HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 11, 2000 -- Looks like Kate Hudson won't settle for being just almost famous. The current It Girl, whose breakthrough was her part as the naïve groupie in Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous," has signed on to the war drama "Four Feathers," Daily Variety reports.
Hudson will join the red hot cast including "The Patriot's" Heath Ledger and "American Beauty's" Wes Bentley.
The film, based on a novel by A.E. Mason, concerns a British officer in Sudan who seeks to disprove his cowardice by infiltrating enemy territory and rescuing his captured comrades.
'DINNER' IS SERVED: The Hollywood Reporter says that Greg Kinnear, who was last seen as the soap opera stud in "Nurse Betty," will possibly star in the HBO cable movie "Dinner With Friends." The film is an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by Donald Margulies.
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HOLLYWOOD, June 1, 2000 -- Nothing like bad taste to make you some bucks. The Rock -- aka the World Wrestling Federation guy from UPN’s "Smackdown!" -– is in talks to star in two films: one a good guy/bad guy flick, and the other, an untitled big-budget sci-fi flick, today's Daily Variety says.
But wait: There's more: Variety says the wrestler will get about $5 million per pic.
For your viewing pleasure, Mr. Rock (real name: Dwayne Johnson) is also hooked up for the sequel to 1999's action-horror hit "The Mummy."
STILL GOING STRONG: Today's Hollywood Reporter says Gene Hackman is negotiating to star in the drama-actioner "Behind Enemy Lines." Directed by commercial director John Moore, Hackman will play a veteran Marine who, along with a young Navy pilot, must fight to survive after they’re stranded in enemy territory.
Reese Witherspoon
GOING BL
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His dudeness Keanu Reeves is slated to star in Columbia's "The Ottoman Empire," a political parody penned and directed by Andrew Bergman ("Isn't She Great").
The flick tells the story of an erstwhile porn star (played by Reeves) who's blackmailed into providing certain vocation service to the first lady of the United States.
No word yet on when the film will go in front of the camera. Trade papers reported that the project will probably begin shooting some time between the Reeves vehicles "Sweet November" rolling this spring and back-to-back "The Matrix" sequels set to go into production this fall.
"GIFT" LOOKING SWANK: Hilary Swank, who was just named ShoWest 2000's female star of tomorrow, is set to begin work on "The Gift," the Sam Raimi film which principal cast includes Keanu Reeves and Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi, and Greg Kinnear.
Swank will pl