Celeb News Aggregate
•
Universal has proved that there is always room for dessert.
American Pie 2 managed to hold on to the top of the box office charts two weeks in a row, which in this summer of one-week wonders is quite a fait accompli.
•
Following is a report on the box office figures for the weekend of Aug. 3 - 5. Mentioned titles actors include Jackie Chan Chris Tucker Rush Hour 2 Planet of the Apes Mark Wahlberg Estelle Warren Princess Diaries Anne Hathaway Julie Andrews Jurassic Park III Sam Neill America's Sweethearts Julia Roberts John Cusack Original Sin Angelina Jolie Antonio Banderas Legally Blonde Reese Witherspoon The Score Robert De Niro Edward Norton Cats & Dogs Jeff Goldblum Dr Dolittle 2 Eddie Murphy
•
The week of Dec. 14 proves to be yet another with less than usual fanfare as the holiday season continues its approach. The wave of Disney animated offerings takes a week off while the majors decide which sprinklings of recent films will make the grade with the usual catalog backdating.
Majors
Leading the relatively small list of major recent offerings is Paramount's special edition of Simon West's ("Con Air") "The General's Daughter" ($29.99 SRP). Featuring a running audio commentary by director West, as well as deleted scenes, trailers and a making-of featurette, the film about an army investigator's (John Travolta) search for the persons responsible for the rape and murder of a prominent base commander should be another big step in the right direction for Paramount DVD. With so many great films in its vast archive, many of its releases would do well to receive such tre
•
Box Office Analysis: July 29
•
Box Office Analysis: July 22
•
Hollywood opens its presents early this weekend with the arrival of a few deluxe-wrapped packages full of good holiday cheer.
"Anna and the King," a richly decorated version of the classic musical "The King and I" sans the music, should pique the interests of romantic moviegoers young and old. It stars Academy Award winner Jodie Foster and Hong Kong action icon Chow Yun-Fat.
Gifts for the kids come in the form of the studio movies "Stuart Little" and "Bicentennial Man." Based on a beloved children's novel, "Stuart Little" tells the live-action adventures of a pet mouse, with a voice provided by Michael J. Fox. In "Bicentennial Man," Robin Williams undergoes a different kind of transformation, playing an android who learns what it means to be human. "Mrs. Doubtfire" director Chris Columbus helms the film.
Other high-profile holiday films opening in limited release
•
From an artistic standpoint, it's easy to understand why Steven Spielberg declined to undertake a third trip to Jurassic Park.
•
Is anything scarier than "Jurassic Park III?" How about "JP IV?"
•
Moviegoers celebrated "Mummy's" Day this weekend with a record setting $70 million opening.
Universal's PG-13 rated adventure sequel "The Mummy Returns" kicked off Hollywood's pre-summer season with a staggering ESTIMATED $70.11 million at 3,104 theaters ($20,615 per theater). "Mummy" accounted for about 65% of the weekend's total key films gross of $107.5 million.
"Mummy" is well on its way to what looks like it could be a $200 million gross in domestic theaters. That would be about $45 million more than the first "Mummy" did domestically in 1999.
•
HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 10, 2000 -- Reclusive "Jurassic Park" actor Sam Neill might be shy, but he certainly ain't shy about sticking up for his land.
According to Reuters, the New Zealander has publicly declared war on the Queenstown, New Zealand, mayor Warren Cooper over development issues in the town. The actor charges that the rapid urbanization, as sanctioned by the mayor, would destroy the picturesque landscape and has taken his woes to the local press.
"The objective of the council and its planners should be to keep Queenstown as one of the world's most beautiful alpine resorts," Neill said in a letter published in the Christchurch Press on Friday. "This makes not only good ecological sense, but good commercial sense as well.
"Dodgy, ugly buildings in Queenstown, suburban tracts in rural areas, a haphazard scattering of houses over the countryside -- these things a
•
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 13, 2000 -- While the February sweeps generally adds up to TV putting its collective "best foot forward," it also means that the best shows of the year all run at the same time, so you'll still miss most of them.
It would be nice if the networks could spread the wealth throughout the year, but to make a long, complicated story that no one truly understands short, they don't -- and won't. So here's a heads-up for what's on the tube this week:
"HOMICIDE: THE MOVIE" (9 p.m., Sunday, NBC) is a curtain call for the recently departed series -- minus the goofy-sounding title "Homicide: Life on the Street." The original series stayed on the air by its fingernails for seven years, largely due to the fierce loyalty of fans who have undoubtedly already marked this one on their calendars. But for the rest of you -- those who might have he
•
SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 3, 2000 -- White House scandal, suburban weirdness, murder. ...
Nope, this isn't a rundown of the hourly news. It's some of the more juicy, ratings-grabbing tidbits the networks have masterminded for the famed (or infamous) February sweeps.
For the next 28 days -- from today until March 1 -- our TV nation will be bombarded with special programs concocted to induce ratings, the better to spike ad rates for the upcoming season.
From cameo appearances to splashy adventures to tabloid melodrama, the networks have pulled out all their stops to keep viewers complacently glued to the tube. Needless to say, the revolution will not be televised during the sweeps period.
Here are some of the sweeps hopefuls that caught our eyes:
TV MOVIES/MINISERIES:
"Sally Hemings: An American Scandal" (Feb. 13 and 16, CBS) -- The four-hou
•
HOLLYWOOD, June 28, 2000 -- Lest you think the "Jurassic Park" movies are an example of special effects being promoted at the expense of story or heart, an actual human being has been cast in the franchise's soon-to-shoot third installment. Sam Neill, who played cranky Dr. Alan Grant in the original flick back in 1993 (but sat out the 1997 sequel, "The Lost World"), will reprise the roll for "Jurassic Park 3," today's Hollywood trade papers say.
Production is expected to start by the end of next month, with a summmer 2001 release planned. Joe Johnston ("Jumanji") will direct in place of Steven Spielberg, who handled the first two.
Neill is expected to be joined in the cast by a bunch of computer-generated dinosaurs.