Category: Movies

BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN Is First In Line
Warner Bros. has decided that BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN will be the first out of the gate in a new generation of DC Comics superhero movies. WB is hoping that BVS will reinvigorate the primary two characters so that the market will be open for an McG-directed SUPERMAN film and Darren Aronofsky’s BATMAN: YEAR ONE. Other projects on the plate for WB through 2010 include CATWOMAN, WONDER WOMAN, with George Miller possibly directing, and BATMAN BEYOND.

HE’S PHRASE-A-DELIC
HERE are some expressions Austin Powers has added to our vocabulary – and what they mean:
Bag: Something you like, as in, “It’s my bag, baby!”
Hop on the good foot and do the bad thing: Shagging
Jubblies: A woman’s chest (one of many such expressions)
S—- and giggles: The only possible explanation for doing something purely for the hell of it
Tops and tails: A full-frontal view of a naked woman
X zip it A: Shut up
Yeah, baby!: Austin’s signature line

‘Road to Perdition’ Tops Box Office
Tom Hanks’ gangster tale “Road to Perdition” took in $15.4 million to win a close race against “Stuart Little 2” for the weekend box-office crown.
“Stuart Little 2,” with Michael J. Fox providing the title character’s voice, grossed $15.1 million.
The two films switched ranks since Sunday, when preliminary estimates had “Stuart Little 2” in the No. 1 spot, slightly ahead of “Road to Perdition.”
The top 20 movies at North American theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. and Nielsen EDI Inc. are:
1. “Road to Perdition,” DreamWorks, $15.4 million, 2,159 locations, $7,139 average, $47.3 million, two weeks.
2. “Stuart Little 2,” Sony, $15.1 million, 3,255 locations, $4,644 average, $15.1 million, one week.
3. “Men in Black II,” Sony, $14.6 million, 3,641 locations, $3,997 average, $158.1 million, three weeks.
4. “K-19: The Widowmaker,” Paramount, $12.8 million, 2,828 locations, $4,519 average, $12.8 million, one week.
5. “Reign of Fire,” Disney, $7.32 million, 2,629 locations, $2,784 average, $29.2 million, two weeks.
6. “Mr. Deeds,” Sony, $7.3 million, 2,823 locations, $2,590 average, $107.6 million, four weeks.
7. “Eight Legged Freaks,” Warner Bros., $6.5 million, 2,530 locations, $2,563 average, $9.1 million, one week.
8. “Halloween: Resurrection,” Dimension, $5.5 million, 2,094 locations, $2,636 average, $22 million, two weeks.
9. “Lilo & Stitch,” Disney, $5 million, 2,127 locations, $2,338 average, $128.4 million, five weeks.
10. “The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course,” MGM, $4.7 million, 2,525 locations, $1,849 average, $18.7 million, two weeks.
11. “Minority Report,” Fox, $4.5 million, 1,672 locations, $2,666 average, $118.1 million, five weeks.
12. “Like Mike,” 20th Century Fox, $4.4 million, 1,786 locations, $2,449 average, $41.3 million, three weeks.
13. “The Bourne Identity,” Universal, $3.8 million, 1,629 locations, $2,335 average, $105.7 million, six weeks.
14. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” IFC Films, $2.5 million, 530 locations, $4,712 average, $30.9 million, 14 weeks.
15. “Scooby-Doo,” Warner Bros., $1.5 million, 1,302 locations, $1,169 average, $148.5 million, six weeks.
16. “Star Wars: Episode II ó Attack of the Clones,” Fox, $1 million, 562 locations, $1,816 average, $295.6 million, 10 weeks.
17. “The Sum of All Fears,” Paramount, $940,545, 913 locations, $1,030 average, $117 million, eight weeks.
18. “Windtalkers,” MGM, $833,136, 1,285 locations, $648 average, $40.1 million, six weeks.
19. “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” Warner Bros., $768,452, 572 locations, $1,343 average, $66.6 million, seven weeks.
20. “Space Station,” IMAX, $674,941, 61 locations, $11,065 average, $15 million, 14 weeks.

‘Y Tu Mama’ Helmer Gets Potter Film
Alfonso Cuaron, director of this year’s Spanish-language hit “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” has been picked to direct “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” the third movie in the film franchise.
Production will begin in England early next year, with the film scheduled for release in summer 2004, distributor Warner Bros. announced Sunday.
All key cast members are expected to return, including Daniel Radcliffe as boy wizard Harry.
Cuaron will take over from Chris Columbus, who directed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” last year’s biggest hit, and is finishing “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” due in theaters this November.
Columbus will be a producer on the third film based on the book series created by British author J.K. Rowling.
Born in Mexico, Cuaron made his directing debut in 1991 with “Love in the Time of Hysteria,” following with “A Little Princess” in 1995 and “Great Expectations” in 1998.
The “Harry Potter” tales have “captured the imaginations of many people, myself included, and I am so excited to join an amazingly talented cast and crew,” Cuaron said.

Jackson Derides Rap Crossover Trend
Samuel L. Jackson doesn’t think much of the trend that is turning rap singers into movie stars.
“To take people from the music world and give them the same kind of credibility and weight that you give me, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker ó that’s like an aberration to me,” Jackson said.
He won’t even look at a script that gives a rapper a starring role.
“It’s not my job to lend credibility to so-and-so rapper who’s just coming into the business.”
Jackson has appeared with rappers in supporting roles in films such as the upcoming “XXX,” and he applauds Will Smith as a rapper who has won some credibility as an actor.
But overall, he dislikes the crossover trend, he told the Sacramento Bee recently.
“I know there’s some young actor sitting in New York or L.A. who’s spent half of his life learning how to act and sacrificing to learn his craft but isn’t going to get his opportunity … because of some actor who’s been created,” he said.

YEAH, BABIES: A TALE OF AUSTIN’S LEADING LADIES
If it weren’t for the bodacious ladies he teams up with – both in the sack and on the crime-fighting front – Austin Powers would be nothing but a doofus with bad teeth and questionable style. Here’s a rundown of the kittenish sidekicks who keep Austin powered.
Actress: Elizabeth Hurley
Character: CIA agent Vanessa Kensington
Movie: “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery”
Most shagadelic moment: They playing Twister in their hotel room.
Wacky declaration: “Do I make you horny?”
Actress: Heather Graham
Character: CIA agent Felicity Shagwell
Movie: “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me”
Most shagadelic moment: They dancing to “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” at a London coffee shop.
Wacky declaration: “Felicity Shagwell – Shagwell by name; Shag-very-well by reputation.”
Actress: Beyonce Knowles
Character: CIA agent Foxy Cleopatra
Movie: “Austin Powers in Goldmember”
Most shagadelic moment: When Foxxy flips open her badge, she tells Austin he has “the right to remain sexy,” then kisses him on the cheek.
Wacky declaration: “You may be a cunning linguist, but I’m a master debater.”

Destiny’s Child Star in ‘Goldmember’
It must have been destiny.
Beyonce Knowles played it straight opposite comedian Mike Myers in her first audition for “Austin Powers in Goldmember.”
But when the Destiny’s Child singer got a callback, she was ready to show she could play Foxxy Cleopatra, a spy posing as a singer at a 1970s roller disco.
“I went back in wearing a Pam Grier-like catsuit, an Afro wig and had memorized every blaxploitation film ever made,” Knowles told Newsweek magazine in editions on sale this week.
Myers, whose third installment of the spy-comedy series opens this week, says Knowles worked hard on the part.
“She came to the set prepared in every way, every day,” he said.

Weekend Box Office
“Stuart Little 2,” the sequel about the lovable rodent with Michael J. Fox’s voice, debuted with $15.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. That was a whisker ahead of “Road to Perdition.” The Depression-era gangster tale starring Tom Hanks grossed $15.57 million in its second weekend.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
1. “Stuart Little 2,” $15.6 million.
1. “Road to Perdition,” $15.57 million.
3. “Men in Black II,” $15 million.
4. “K-19: The Widowmaker,” $13.1 million.
5. “Mr. Deeds,” $7.3 million.
6. “Reign of Fire,” $7.1 million.
7. “Eight Legged Freaks,” $6.7 million.
8. “Halloween: Resurrection,” $5.4 million.
9. “Lilo & Stitch,” $5.1 million.
10. “The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course,” $4.8 million.

Nostalgia fuels the fourth ‘Indiana Jones’
No one involved with the three Indiana Jones blockbusters ever really considered the idea of a fourth until the American Film Institute threw a tribute dinner for Ford in 2001, says producer Frank Marshall. The film’s principals “all saw each other backstage in tuxedoes, and it was a nostalgic moment where we got to talking and we found how much fun we had on these movies. But these days it takes us all a while to clear our schedules.”
“It’s going to be the same team: George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and me,” Marshall adds. “We are working on the film as we speak. I think production will start in 2004 for release in the summer of 2005. There are certain elements that are in all three movies that we will strive to maintain: the archaeology aspect, the fun of the movies and a little bit of the supernatural.”
Speaking of the supernatural, Marshall also is the producer of Signs, starring Mel Gibson and opening Aug. 2. Audiences won’t know too much of the plot before it opens, Marshall predicts. Even Touchstone Pictures’ advertising campaign for the latest film from writer/director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) is a red herring, he says. “It’s not a straight-ahead science-fiction movie,” Marshall says. “It’s about a lot more things than the advertising suggests, which is that it is about crop circles,” those mysterious rural images that are supposed to be UFO tracks but usually turn out to be hoaxes.
“Crop circles are really the tip of the iceberg,” says Marshall, mixing his metaphors. “I will say that it’s like Night’s other movies because it incorporates elements of the supernatural.”

Frakes Takes on THE THUNDERBIRDS
Jonathan Frakes (STAR TREK: TNG) has committed to directing a live action version of the 1960s “super-marionation” show, THE THUNDERBIRDS.
Set in 2065, the original show used puppets in the story of a top secret international rescue team comprised out of retired astronaut Jeff Tracy and his five sons, as well as several others.
The film has been in development hell for years, but recently Working Title Prods. took it back for reconceptualization to make it more like the original series. THE THUNDERBIRDS original episodes will begin airing on Tech TV on August 5.