Celeb News Aggregate
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Movie beauty Thandie Newton forced director Guy Ritchie to fake a sex scene between her and RocknRolla co-star Gerard Butler.
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Amanda Peet is set to play the female lead in Roland Emmerich's epic disaster project 2012, says The Hollywood Reporter. She joins an ensemble cast led by John Cusack that includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover and Oliver Platt.
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Jaws star Richard Dreyfuss is in negotiations to complete the all-star cast of Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic--and play Vice President Dick Cheney.
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Oliver Stone's new movie chronicling President George W. Bush's time in office has been hit by a leaked script--despite movie bosses' best efforts to keep the plot secret.
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Welsh actor Ioan Gruffud is set to play former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the new Oliver Stone movie W.
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The woman who inspired Thandie Newton's character in Will Smith's new movie The Pursuit of Happyness is furious she has been portrayed as a sex-obsessed and cruel mother in the film.
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Most moviegoers' mission Memorial Day weekend will be to see Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 2."
The PG-13-rated action adventure sequel -- known for short as "M:I-2" -- got off to a flying start with its Wednesday opening to $12.5 million at a record-setting 3,653 theaters ($3,422 per theater).
"It's a 37% first choice in the tracking," an insider points out, predicting blockbuster business for the long holiday weekend. Looking back, he adds, the original "Mission" was a 27% first choice when it opened, and last year's "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace" was a 43% first choice.
"M:I-2's" Wednesday gross compares very favorably to the original "Mission: Impossible's" opening day total of $11.8 million for Wed., May 22, 1996, at 3,012 theaters ($3,918 per theater). That gross actually included pre-opening Tuesday night preview showings as well
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Clint Eastwood's Mystic River has won the first major prize of this year's film award season. Also: Louis Horvitz 76th Academy Awards Michael B. Seligman Carrie Fisher The Empire Strikes Back Barbra Streisand Ray Romano Raymie, Dickie, and the Bean: Why I Love and Hate My Brothers Ray Liotta Murder Inc. Irv Gotti Irv Lorenzo David Hemmings Sandra Bullock Brendan Fraser Matt Dillon Ryan Phillippe Don Cheadle Crash Naomi Watts Peter Jackson King Kong
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Brown Sugar, Barbershop, Antwone Fisher, Drumline and John Q were among the nominees announced Thursday in the motion picture category for the 34th annual NAACP Image Awards. The awards honor people and companies that support positive change for blacks in arts and entertainment.
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Box Office Analysis: Oct. 27. Jackass: The Movie The Ring Ghost Ship Sweet Home Alabama My Big Fat Greek Wedding Punch-Drunk Love The Truth About Charlie Paid in Full Frida
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Elton John tells British prime minister to shape up. Puls: Angelina Jolie Kirk Kerkorian Steve Bing Lance Bass Adam Sandler Penelope Cruz Fanfan la Tulipe Jamie Foxx Shade Josh Hartnett Wicker Park Martin Scorsese Gangs of New York The Greatest American Hero Paul Hernandez Disney Eminem The Eminem Show Worls Stunt Awards The Fast and the Furious Jackie Chan Buddy Van Horn
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"Harry Potter" becomes Britain's fastest-selling video and DVD.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Madonna Nicole Kidman Tobey Maguire OJ Simpson Sylvester Stallone Thandie Newton Gabriel Byrne Stuart Townsend Damian Nieman RKO Pictures Shade Mattew Perry Paramount Pictures Ludacris MTV Films Skip Day Jerry Bruckheimer CBS Johnny Carson Richard Karn Family Feud Paul O'Neill Bono Harrison Ford
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 1, 2000 -- It won't just be difficult, it will be virtually impossible to evict "Mission: Impossible 2" from first place this weekend.
After opening to nearly $92 million for the six-day Memorial Day holiday period, Paramount's "M:I-2" is certain to hold on to the top spot on the chart in its second week.
The PG-13 action adventure sequel did $96.3 million its first seven days in theaters vs. the original "Mission's" $79 million. The sequel cracked $100 million on Wednesday, its eighth day in release, and is heading for $200-250 million in the U.S. and Canada. It should do $300-350 million in international theaters, giving it a likely worldwide cume of $500-600 million, compared to the first film's $465 million.
"'Mission' will be number one," promises one insider. "The first one dropped 52 percent in its second weekend. This one did $57
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HOLLYWOOD, Sept. 21, 2000 -- "M:I-2" actress Thandie Newton gave birth to a baby girl Sunday at her London home. Newton, 27, and her husband, "An Ideal Husband" helmer Oliver Parker, opted for home birth due to her high tolerance for pain (oh, baby!) and the horror stories she had heard about anesthetics during labor.
The couple named their girl Ripley, USA Today reports.
In other baby news, "Coyote Ugly" and "Duets" actress Maria Bello, 33, is preggers, according to the New York Daily News. Bello and boyfriend Dan McDermott, head of DreamWorks' television department, will welcome the child into the world in February.
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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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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., May 25, 2000 -- Most moviegoers' mission Memorial Day weekend will be to see Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 2."
The PG-13-rated action adventure sequel -- known for short as "M:I-2" -- got off to a flying start with its Wednesday opening to $12.5 million at a record-setting 3,653 theaters ($3,422 per theater).
"It's a 37 percent first choice in the tracking," an insider points out, predicting blockbuster business for the long holiday weekend. Looking back, he adds, the original "Mission" was a 27 percent first choice when it opened, and last year's "Star Wars: Episode One -- The Phantom Menace" was a 43 percent first choice.
"M:I-2's" Wednesday gross compares very favorably to the original "Mission: Impossible's" opening day total of $11.8 million for Wed., May 22, 1996, at 3,012 theaters ($3,918 per theater). That gross actually included p
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HOLLYWOOD, May 10, 2000 -- This is what happens when TV anchors are allowed to speak extemp ... extemp ... er, without a script. On Tuesday's edition of "Later Today" on NBC, guest gossip expert Nancy O'Dell (blonde anchor fixture on TV tab "Extra") inadvertently dissed beloved "Brady Bunch" mom (and "Later Today" co-host) Florence Henderson.
What happened was this: O'Dell and Henderson colleague Jodie Applegate were babbling about Tom Cruise and the star's "Mission: Impossible 2" leading lady, Thandie Newton. The conversation veered off and suddenly O'Dell was happily noting that before ol' Flo could be considered for such a plum role, she'd have to take acting lessons. Ouch.
If O'Dell meant to get snippy, it didn't show. (Neither did Henderson's reaction -- she was off-camera.) O'Dell went on with the rest of her "report" -- as sunny at the end as she was at the beginn
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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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"Shaft" should have moviegoers shouting "Right On" at this weekend's box office.
Look for Paramount's R-rated urban appeal remake starring Samuel L. Jackson to open to a cool $20 million-plus at 2,337 theaters.
"Shaft" is a powerful 19% overall first choice in studio tracking studies, with its strongest appeal to men, especially those under 25.
"They're up from 15% first choice earlier in the week to 19%, so they're looking stronger than they did," an insider explains. "They'll do $20 million, maybe more."
"$22-25 million would be the number to me," predicts another studio source. "$10,000 a theater gives you $23 million."
Directed by John Singleton, "Shaft" stars Samuel L. Jackson and Vanessa Williams.
"Shaft" should give Buena Vista/Touchstone's "Gone In 60 Seconds" the first place heave-ho. The PG-13-rated action thrill