The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Tropic Thunder" ($16.1 million)
#2 "The House Bunny" ($15.1 million)
#3 "Death Race" ($12.3 million)
#4 "The Dark Knight" ($10.3 million)
#5 "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" ($5.7 million)
The Olympics are over, the flame has been extinguished, and the winners and losers are going home. But didn't it feel as if it was the same people who kept winning over and over again: Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt ... Robert Downey Jr.?
Downey's "Tropic Thunder" earned $16.1 million, closing the book on the summer by narrowly beating "The House Bunny" and earning its second consecutive first-place finish. Also starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Tom Cruise, the war spoof brought its overall total to a healthy $65.7 million. Thanks to "Iron Man," it was also the fourth #1 finish for Downey in as many months. (He has four golds to Bolt's three.)
Largely written off before the weekend, "The House Bunny" performed above expectations to walk away with the silver medal, earning $15.1 million in its debut week. The Anna Faris comedy about a former Playboy Playmate turned sorority house mom is the fifth-highest opening of the actress' career, but the highest ever for a movie without "Scary" in the title. (Yes, she was in four installments of "Scary Movie.")
Then there was "Death Race," the Paul W.S. Anderson re-imagining that stalled at the starting gate with a third-place finish. The Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson action flick had [insert car metaphor] but [second car metaphor] meaning that it [third car metaphor] instead. It earned just $12.3 million.
In fourth place, "The Dark Knight" continued to be the most awesome cultural force of the summer, falling just 37 percent in its sixth week to walk away with another $10.3 million. Already the second-highest-grossing movie of all time, by next week it'll cross the half-a-billion-dollar mark domestically. Meanwhile, rounding out the top five, "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" continued to be , falling 61 percent in its second week to walk away with another $5.7 million.
Among other new releases, the Ice Cube-starring, Fred Durst-directed "The Longshots" was a true underdog, fumbling its way to $4.3 million and an eighth-place finish. And "The Rocker", totally bombed, good for just $2.7 million and a 12th-place finish. One wonders what will happen now to poor Jenna Fischer.
Remorseless assassin Joe (Nicolas Cage) is in Thailand to complete a series of contract killings for a crime boss called Surat (Nirattisai Kaljaruek) . He hires a street punk named Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm) to run errands for him, all the while planning to kill the youth at the conclusion of his assignment. Instead, Joe becomes Kong's unlikely mentor, and begins a tentative romance with a local shop girl. But, as Joe begins to let his guard down, Surat decides it is time to clean house.
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Charlie Young, Chakrit Yamnarm, Dom Hetrakul
Director: Danny Pang
Genres: Action Thriller, Crime Thriller, Gangster Film, Thriller
It's not easy being Bond.
Roger Moore, who starred in seven Bond films in the 1970s and 1980s, recounts his days as the dashing super-spy in his upcoming memoir, "My Word Is My Bond," and says things weren't always as they seemed.
"Jimmy Bond had a big jet boat chase in `Live and Let Die,'" writes Moore, now 80. "I did quite a few run-throughs to practice and whilst banking on one such run, the engine cut out. I had no steering! I therefore continued in a straight line ... directly into a wooden boat house."
He instantly catapulted from the boat into a wall, cracking his front teeth and twisting his knee.
"There I was, as a fearless 007, hobbling on a cane to my boat and then pretending to be indestructible for the cameras. Who says I can't act?"
Moore replaced Sean Connery in the 007 franchise in 1973. His films include "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Live and Let Die," "The Man With the Golden Gun" and "A View to a Kill."
The book, due out Nov. 4, also recounts the time Moore bumped into a young Steven Spielberg at a Paris hotel.
"He was a huge Bond fan and said that he would love to direct one of the films," Moore says. "He'd recently had great success with `Jaws' and `Close Encounters' and was considered a very hot property. I was rather excited at this news and went looking for (film producer Albert R. `Cubby' Broccoli) to tell him."
But Broccoli, who steered the Bond franchise over three decades, shook his head and asked, "Do you know how much of a percentage he'd want?"
"It's always been policy that no Bond director ever got a slice of the box office profits," Moore says. "So, Spielberg went off and made `Indiana Jones' who I reckon to be a period James Bond!"
Hong Kong action icon Michelle Yeoh stars alongside American muscle Vin Diesel in this science fiction thriller concerning a nun who is charged with the task of caring for a young girl who may be the carrier of a deadly virus. Based on author Maurice Dantec's Babylon Babies, this tale of genetic manipulation comes to the screen courtesy of director Mathieu Kassovitz. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
A mercenary (Vin Diesel) learns that the woman in his charge is carrying a synthetic virus.
Cast: Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Mélanie Thierry, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong
Director: Mathieu Kassovitz
Genres: Spy Film
When strait arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. Special Operations officer, Samir Horn (Don Cheadle). A mysterous figure with a web of connections to terrorist organizations, Horn has a knack for emerging on the scene just as a major operation goes down. The task force links Horn to a prison break in Yemen, a bombing in Nice and a raid in London, but a tangle of contradictoy evidence emerges, forcing Clayton to question whether his quarry is a disaffected former military operative - or something far more complicated. Obsessed with discovering the truth, Clayton tracks Horn across the globe as the elusive ex-soldier burrows deeper and deeper into a world of shadows and intrigue.
Cast: Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Neal McDonough
Director: Jeffrey Nachmanoff
Genres: Action Thriller, Unglamorized Spy Film, Thriller
Kiefer Sutherland stars as a former policeman-turned-security guard who discovers something sinister lurking in the mirrors of a crumbling museum in Haute Tension writer/director Alexandre Aja's menacing study in the origins of evil. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, Amy Smart
Director: Alexandre Aja
Genres: Thriller, Supernatural Thriller
Brad Pitt has closed his deal to star in Inglorious Bastards, the WWII drama that Quentin Tarantino will direct for the Weinstein Company and Universal, reports Variety.
Additionally, Nastassja Kinski is in early talks to play one of the sole female roles in the film. Kinski would play a German movie queen.
The trade says much of the dialogue is in French or German, and subtitles will be used, though Pitt will speak English in his role as a Tennessee hillbilly who assembles a team of eight Jewish-American soldiers to take on the Nazis.
Simon Pegg, David Krumholtz and B.J. Novak are also in talks to join the project. Pegg would play a British lieutenant, while Krumholtz and Novak would play Pitt's underlings.
The film begins production on October 13 in Germany. Tarantino, who wrote the script, is aiming to complete the film and have it ready for next year's Cannes Film Festival. Lawrence Bender is producing, with Erica Steinberg and Harvey and Bob Weinstein as executive producers.
Eli Roth will play Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, and Tarantino is locking in the other actors to play the soldiers who make up the Bastards team. Tarantino regular Tim Roth had been in contention to join the cast but couldn't work out the scheduling because of his upcoming TV series "Lie to Me."
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HOLLYWOOD - Morgan Freeman has undergone surgery on his left arm and is expected to leave the hospital later this week--just days after he was involved in a serious car crash.
Freeman and a female passenger had to be cut free from the wreckage and airlifted to the Regional Medical Center (The Med) in Memphis, Tennessee, on Sunday night, after the actor lost control of his vehicle on the highway near his home in Charleston, Mississippi.
The 71-year-old suffered a broken arm and shoulder when he flipped his car over in the crash.
And Freeman's publicist Donna Lee has confirmed the Dark Knight star is making progress and looking forward to returning home.
In a statement released on Tuesday, she says: "Morgan is doing well after his surgery last night to reconnect nerves and repair damage in his left arm and hand.
"The surgery last night lasted four and a half hours. He's visiting with family this morning. As of this morning he's up and walking around and looking forward to his release in a few days."
Freeman was said to be "in good spirits" on Monday when he arrived at the hospital before his surgery took place.
His passenger, Demaris Meyer--whose relationship to Freeman is unknown--is reportedly suffering from minor injuries but is "in good condition."
When Playboy playmate Shelley (Anna Faris) is unceremoniously evicted from Hugh Hefner's lavish mansion in order to make room for some younger beauties, her quest for employment finds her serving as den mother to an unpopular L.A. sorority in this Happy Madison production directed by Fred Wolf. Colin Hanks, Rumer Willis, Katharine McPhee, Monet Mazur, and Beverly D'Angelo co-star.
Cast: Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, Dana Min Goodman
Director: Fred Wolf
Genres: Comedy
Henry Poole just wants to disappear. Shattered by circumstances beyond his control, he offers full price on a cookie cutter house in a drab, middle-class, L.A. neighborhood through his perky realtor Meg. But, just as he settles in to his indulgent isolation with a case of vodka and all the junk food he can eat, his neighbor, a well-meaning busybody named Esperanza, drops by with a plate of homemade tamales and a whole lot of questions. Despite his desire for solitude, Henry can't help noticing Dawn, the beautiful young divorcée next door and her daughter Millie, an eight-year-old amateur spy who hasn't spoken a word since her parents' break-up. Henry's self-imposed exile is shattered when Esperanza discovers a mysterious stain on Henry's stucco wall that is seen to have miraculous powers. Although Henry remains skeptical, he finds himself gradually drawn back towards life, especially after his silent friendship with Millie brings him closer to Dawn.
Cast: Luke Wilson, Radha Mitchell, Adriana Barraza, George Lopez, Cheryl Hines
Director: Mark Pellington
Genres: Black Comedy, Comedy Drama
