Celeb News Aggregate
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A stuntman has been killed on the set of Face/Off director John Woo's latest film after a raging fire broke out during a crash scene.
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CBS defends firing CSI stars, Shyamalan documentary a hoax, Superman finds director, more...
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News, April 7: Brad Pitt To Host Radio Show, Queer Eye for the Straight--Gal?, Fantastic Four Finds a Director Sharon Stone Martin Scorsese Peter Jennings John Woo Danny Boyle Ed Harris Woody Harrelson Diane Lane Steven Zaillian
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New Line Cinema's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the third and final installment in director Peter Jackson's fantasy epic, continued its reign at the box office with a cork popping take of $51.2 million* over the holiday weekend. The Top 10: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Cheaper by the Dozen Cold Mountain Something's Gotta Give Paycheck Mona Lisa Smile Pter Pan The Last Samurai Bad Santa Elf
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The Walt Disney Co. has pulled the plug Monday on its Ben Affleck matrimonial comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past--just four weeks before it was set to begin production. Also: Jennifer Lopez Courteney Cox Arquette Dvaid Arquette Hollywood Film Festival Rob Howard Gore Verbinski Pirates of the Caribbean Johnny Depp Diane Lane Geoffrey Rush Alison Lohman Scarlett Johansson Orlando Bloom MPAA Mel Gibson The Passion of Christ Jim Caviezel Clay Aiken Elliott Smith Steve Buscemi Liv Tyler Casey Affleck
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Comedian Chris Rock, whose directorial debut Head of State hits theaters this weekend, wants fans to know that contrary to reports from media gossip Matt Drudge, he "never had any intention of bashing President Bush" for launching the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Also: Susan Sarandon Wanda at Large Madonna American Idol Trenyce Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Steven Spielberg The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Uma Thurman Paycheck Son of the Mask
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The box office predictions for the weekend beginning June 28. Mr. Deeds, Adam Sandler, Winona Ryder, Hey Arnold! The Movie. Minority Report, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Lilo & Stitch, Juwanna Mann, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Scooby-Doo, Matt Damon, The Bourne Identity, Nicolas Cage, John Woo, Windtalkers, Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Bad Company, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Ben Affleck, The Sum of All Fears, Eddie Griffin, Undercover Brother, Spider-Man, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron, My Big Fat Greek Wedding
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Martin Grove's box office analysis for the week of June 23, 2002.
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Martin Grove's box office analysis for the week of June 30, 2002.
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Minority Report Lilo & Stitch Pam Grier Newark Black Film Festival Friday Foster Bobby Brown Natasha Lyonne The Whole Nine Yards 2 Bruce Willis Jennifer Lopez Hactor Lavoe Marc Anthony John Woo Nicolas Cage Chow Yun-fat Land of Destiny Peter Pan Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick's Napoleon -- The Greatest Film Never Made
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The box office predictions for the weekend beginning June 21. Minority Report, Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg, Colin Farrell, Lilo & Stitch, Juwanna Mann, Miguel A. Nunez Jr., Scooby-Doo, Matt Damon, Doug Liman, The Bourne Identity, Nicolas Cage, John Woo, Windtalkers, Anthony Hopkins, Chris Rock, Bad Company, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Ben Affleck, The Sum of All Fears, Eddie Griffin, Undercover Brother, Spider-Man, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron, My Big Fat Greek Wedding
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Martin Grove's box office analysis for the week of June 16, 2002.
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Paul McCartney Heather Mills Woody Allen Jean Doumanian Jacqui Safra MGM Windtalkers Underdog Hugh Hefner Playboy After Dark Oprah Winfrey Oprah After the Show BMG Zomba Music GroupClear Channel Entertainment Grateful Dead Reunion
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News Roundup for April 17: David Fincher will possible direct the next Mission: Impossible installment with Tom Cruise to star Ben Stiller and wife Christina Taylor have their first child Josie Bissett and husband Rob Estes welcome second child Madonna's demands on her new play in London Clint Eastwood will join the park and recreation panel in Calif. James Gandolfini wants to play Ralph Kamden in Honeymooners film Destiny's Child singer Beyonce Knowles will star with Cuba Gooding Jr. in new movie Kelsey Grammer and Pamela Anderson will voice animated characters in new series for TNN David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar are going on tour.
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Fearing audiences would deem their content offensive, many Hollywood studios postponed the release of films after the Sept. 11 attacks on America. But as Disney's Big Trouble proved last week, the move seems to have hurt studios more than anything
Big Trouble Gangs of New York Windtalkers Collateral Damage Sidewalks of New York The Last Castle Training Day Spy Game Black Hawk Down Disney Miramax Universal MGM Warner Bros. Paramount Classics DreamWorks
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An impressive list of potential U.S. blockbusters has been announced for the 45th London Film Festival, scheduled for Nov. 7-22.
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American Pie 2 Chill Factor The Crow: City of Angels Knock Off Highlander Endgame American Outlaws Rat Race Colin Farrell Tigerland Minority Report Jim Carrey Matt Damon Phone Booth Edward Norton Hart's War Les Mayfield Young Guns Jon Bon Jovi Wild Wild West Bad Girls Will Smith Young Guns 2 Dino De Laurentiis It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Million Dollar Mystery Eddie Deezen Rat Race Cuba Gooding Jr John Cleese Jon Lovitz Roawan Atkinson Whoopi Goldberg Jerry Zucker Airplane Ghost Captain Corelli's Mandolin Penelope Cruz Tom Cruise Woman on Top All the Pretty Horses Nicolas Cage John Woo Windtalkers Louis de Bernieres Rush Hour 2 Shakespeare in Love Scary Movie Jackie Chan Chris Tucker Planet of the Apes Jurassic Park III The Princess Diaries Legally Blonde Garry Marshall Osmosis Jones Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Original Sin Bill Murray Spy Kids Antonio Banderas The Others Nicole Kidman
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HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 11, 2000 – There's really nothing new about another mob movie from Martin Scorsese, is there? How about this: It co-stars Daniel Day-Lewis. Word comes today, via Daily Variety, that the elusive actor, whose last film work was four years ago in "The Boxer," has joined the cast of Scorsese's forthcoming "Gangs of New York," which stars Leonardo Dicaprio. Day-Lewis will play the villain, Bill the Butcher, who tries to thwart gangster Leo's effort to unite the scrappy street gangs in late 19th-century Gotham.
Day-Lewis, of course, won an Oscar for "My Left Foot," and he was in Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence." But no one seems to know for sure what he's been doing for the past few years, or exactly how Scorsese lured him back into the fold.
Maybe it was the free trip to Rome, where "Gangs of New York" begins filming in August.
Here's a roundup
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Winners of the sometimes bizarre and always hip MTV Movie Awards.
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Jumping off cliffs and hanging from high altitude might get you an award. Stunt people from such films as Gladiator and Charlie's Angels were big winners in the first World Stunt Awards, held Sunday. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Arnold Schwarzenegger was honored as best-action movie star. "You have made me shine on the screen," he said. "You made me look heroic." MI:2 director John Woo won for best-action director, but he said he was not the one "jumping off a motorcycle or driving 150 feet through the air."
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HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 15, 2000 -- Surprise, surprise.
Just when you thought Steven Spielberg has picked up every single award there is, the "Saving Private Ryan" and "Jurassic Park" mega-helmer has been named the world's most bankable movie director in a survey of industry execs.
The poll was conducted by the trade mag The Hollywood Reporter. It asked industry top dogs to rank directors and directing teams around the world based on their marketability, bankability and clout.
After top dog Spielberg is "Titanic" titan James Cameron (No. 2), followed by "Star Wars" guy George Lucas (No. 3), erstwhile "Happy Days" geek Ron Howard (No. 4) and the upcoming "Planet of the Apes" helmer Tim Burton (No. 5).
Actress-director Jodie Foster, at No. 51, was the highest-ranking woman. And Spike Lee was the highest-ranked black director at No. 76 among the 800 directors named.
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Jim Carrey should be the personality splitting most of this weekend's box office.
Carrey and 20th Century Fox's R-rated comedy "Me, Myself & Irene," about a schizoid Rhode Island motorcycle cop, should speed into first place at 3,016 theaters with about $25 million.
"Among opening and released films, it has a 27% first choice," explains an insider. "It's 36% for males under 25 and 20% for males over 25. It's 31% for females under 25 and 23% for females over 25. So it's definitely young males."
A $25 million launch, this source says, "isn't the 'Liar Liar' opening, but I don't think it has the heat that 'Liar Liar' had." That Jim Carrey comedy opened via Universal to $31.4 million the weekend of March 21-23, 1997.
Should Fox be unhappy with a $25 million opening? "No," replies this insider. "$25 million is a huge opening. Who would be unhappy w
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"Gone In 60 Seconds" should have no trouble finding first place parking this weekend.
With a first-choice tracking of 27%, the PG-13-rated action thriller from Buena Vista/Touchstone is on track to steal $30-35 million at 3,006 theaters. Insiders point out that if it opens as well as "The Rock" - $25.1 million at 2,392 theaters June 7-9, 1996 ($10,481 per theater) - it would gross $31.5 million.
Who most wants to go to "Gone?" "It's very much young male," an insider says of the film's appeal. "The overall definite interest is 55%, but for young males (under 25) it's 69% and it's 46% for older men (over 25). It's 57% for young women and 48% for older women."
Look for "Gone" to drive Paramount's "Mission: Impossible-2" down one ramp to second place in its third week. The PG-13 blockbuster action adventure sequel's 19% first-choice tracking suggests "M:I-2"
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HOLLYWOOD, June 4, 2000 -- Really now, does anyone seriously think that the public would prefer watching Martin Lawrence in drag to Tom Cruise in leather?
To the surprise of no one, the obscenely lucrative "M:I-2" -- which opened to $70 million-plus dollars over the Memorial Day holiday -– continued to wow the viewing public, pulling in another $27 million in its second weekend of release, according to estimates from box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.
So far, the John Woo-Tom Cruise collaboration has grossed $130.7 million since opening May 24.
In what was an unusually quiet week for new theatrical releases, the weekend’s only major opener, the Martin Lawrence comedy "Big Momma’s House," came in at a close second with an estimated $25.6 million.
As to the rest of the Top Five: Disney’s computer-animated tale "Dinosaur" dropped one slot to No. 3
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Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 2" was saying, "mission accomplished" early Sunday morning.
"M:I-2" dominated Memorial Day weekend with an ESTIMATED $59 million in ticket sales from Friday through Sunday and $74 million for four days (Friday through Monday).
"M:I-2" easily out-performed the original 1996 "Mission." If the sequel comes in with a four-day gross of $74 million at 3,653 theaters ($20,257 per theater), it will be about 30% ahead of the first "Mission's" $56.8 million.
The sequel's ESTIMATED six-day cume (Wednesday-Monday) of $95 million is about 27% bigger than the original's $74.9 million, which also included Tuesday night previews.
Not surprisingly, "M:I-2's" per-theater average was the highest for any film playing in wide or limited release this weekend.
Speculation elsewhere that "M:I-2" would break or come close to
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Moviegoers accepted the mission of seeing Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 2" over Memorial Day weekend.
"M:I-2's four-day gross of an ESTIMATED $71.8 million at 3,653 theaters ($19,655 per theater) is 26.4% bigger than the first "Mission's" $56.8 million. It puts "M:I-2" into the record books as the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever.
The biggest Memorial Day opening, Universal and Amblin's 1997 launch of "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," did $90.2 million for four days (May 23-26), but opened on a Friday. "M:I-2's" Wednesday kick off diverted $21 million of ticket sales into Wednesday and Thursday, which might otherwise have bulked up its gross for Friday through Monday.
The sequel's ESTIMATED six-day cume (Wednesday-Monday) of $92.8 million is 23.9% bigger than the original's $74.9 million, which also included Tuesday night previews. "M:I-
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 2, 2000 -- "Storm" clouds unexpectedly dominated the July Fourth weekend box office skies, raining on what was expected to be Mel Gibson's parade.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of room in the holiday marketplace for both Warner Bros.' "The Perfect Storm" and Columbia and Centropolis Entertainment's "The Patriot" to do blockbuster business. "Storm" made big waves with ticket sales of nearly $42 million, while "Patriot" marched ahead, grossing nearly $22 million with very encouraging exit polls.
Despite expectations based on tracking scores that "Patriot" would capture the top spot, it was "Storm" that won the battle with an estimated $41.68 million at 3,407 theaters ($12,234 per theater). Its cume for the five days ending with July Fourth should be about $63 million.
"Storm's" per-theater average was the highest for any film playing in wi
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"Shaft" was the man this weekend, easily stealing first place at the box office from "Gone in 60 Seconds."
Paramount's R-rated urban appeal remake kicked off to a muscular ESTIMATED $21.1 million at 2,337 theaters ($9,029 per theater).
"Shaft's" per-theater average was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
"It's great. It's a good opening," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning.
"We're very pleased with it, obviously. Early on, we thought it would be $18-22 million, so it fell right in the range that we were looking at, and it's a little bit on the high side of it."
Asked who the film's audience was, Lewellen noted, "I haven't seen the exit polls yet. I think it must have played young, at least that's what our research told us up front. Young males are the primary audience. The p
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 24, 2000 -- Director John Woo has left Sony and signed a three-year movie and TV deal with MGM, according to Entertainment Weekly Online.
Woo didn't end up making any films with his resident studio, planning two other projects instead with MGM. The projects include "Wind Talkers," starring Nicolas Cage. For now, Woo's got another action flick on his plate: "Mission: Impossible 2," starring Tom Cruise, opens this summer.
SECRET AGENT MAN: John Dahl, who directed the noirish Matt Damon poker pic "Rounders," is in talks with Mandalay Pictures to direct "End Game," a spy flick starring Sean Connery, reports Daily Variety. Written by Adi Hassock and Stuart Kelban, Connery will play an old-fashioned CIA agent who goes on a special undercover assignment to expose illegal arms dealing. In the process, he discovers that he's been set up to take the fall