Entertaining Posts

Sunday, March 13, 2011

"Battle: Los Angeles" claims box office victory

LOS ANGELES | Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:07pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Alien invasion film "Battle: Los Angeles" waged a successful campaign for North American movie supremacy over the weekend, collecting $36 million in a march to the No. 1 spot on box office charts.

The movie, which tells of a group of U.S. Marines defending the city from otherworldly beings, trounced two other new films in theaters, thriller "Red Riding Hood" and animated "Mars Needs Moms," which looks to be a costly flop for the Disney studios, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

"Battle: Los Angeles" also opened in 33 overseas markets, where it took in $16.7 million to boost its worldwide haul to nearly $53 million over its debut weekend in theaters.

"It hit the high end of our expectations," said Rory Bruer, distribution chief for the film units of Sony Pictures, which released the movie. He called the opening a "great result."

The same could not be said for "Red Riding Hood," a modern version of the classic fable about a girl, her grandmother and a bloodthirsty wolf. The Warner Bros. release collected $14.1 million, which was below pre-weekend forecasts of a debut in the neighborhood of $20 million, and landed in the No. 3 spot.

Last week's top movie, cartoon comedy "Rango," wrangled the No. 2 position on ticket charts with $23 million in sales for its distributor, Paramount Pictures, pushing its total receipts in two weeks at U.S. and Canadian theaters to $67 million.

Disney's expensive family film "Mars Needs Moms" mustered only $6.8 million after costing the studio a reported $150 million to produce and millions more to market.

"Mars" touched down at the No. 5 spot, well behind Universal Pictures' thriller "The Adjustment Bureau," which claimed the No. 4 position with $11.5 million in its second weekend.

Sony Pictures is a division of electronics giant Sony Corp.. Warner Bros. is part of Time Warner Inc, and Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. Universal Pictures is part of the NBC Universal media group controlled by Comcast Corp, and Disney's film studios are owned by The Walt Disney Co.

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Eric Beech)

Friday, March 11, 2011

"Twilight" cast evacuated in tsunami warning

By Mark Cina

Fri Mar 11, 2011 4:17pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and other actors filming the upcoming "Twilight" installment "Breaking Dawn" have been forced to evacuate the Vancouver Island beach area in British Columbia.

No one was injured, but the actors were transported out of the region for safety measures.

Filming also has been delayed.

On Friday, Tinsel Korey, 30, who plays Makah Emily Young, Tweeted dramatically: "They're evacuating us 4 a tsumnani warning. If this … is my last my tweet. I love you. The end. Hugz.

"If this is the moment. Then I've lived a good life," she later added. "And I'm thankful 4 everything I've been given."

Meanwhile, the cast and crew shooting CBS' "Hawaii Five-O" are fine, as tsunami waves there have not caused any major damage thus far.

Star Daniel Dae Kim Tweeted Friday: "Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers. My family and I have moved to high ground. Now we wait..." He later added, "Back at work, bleary eyed & heartsick, but very grateful. As far as I know, everyone is safe. Thx 2 all of you 4 your kind thoughts. Truly."

Jimmy Kimmel, who was vacationing in the tsunami zone in French Polynesia, was forced to flee the area early Friday.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Filmmaker Tom Shadyac: from "Liar" to truth seeker

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES | Fri Mar 11, 2011 3:19pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood movie director Tom Shadyac is best known for blockbuster comedies such as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective," "Liar Liar," "The Nutty Professor" and "Bruce Almighty" among other films.

But this Friday, Shadyac enters the world of documentary filmmaking with "I Am," which was inspired by a cycling accident that left him with Post Concussion Syndrome, in which symptoms of the concussion don't go away.

After facing death, Shadyac embarked on a quest for enlightenment, meeting with experts in science, philosophy and faith, among other areas. He spoke with the likes of David Suzuki, Noam Chomsky and Desmond Tutu, asking what's wrong with the world and what can people do to make it right.

The 52-year-old filmmaker, who sold his mansion and now lives in a mobile home community in Malibu, California, sat down with Reuters to talk about his personal transformation.

Q: Most filmmakers start off making low-budget independent films and graduate to big studio blockbusters. You're doing it backwards. Did your bike accident knock the sense into you, or out of you, for you to be doing this?

A: "It knocked me out of my head, but I think I called that into my life. I hit my head 'cause I had to get out of my head. What better way to get a person out of their head and into their heart than to make their head so filled with pain and noise? It dropped me into my heart. And that's why I did this movie because I faced my own death."

Q: What in your life did you feel needed changing?

A: "I looked at my life and how I was doing my own business. I was standing above and saying 'I'm more valuable, I'm the director, pay me more, give me more spoils.' That to me was break from the morality that I believe in."

Q: What do you believe in?

A: "We're all in this together. Nothing in nature takes more than it needs, yet I was participating in a system which valued the fact that I took as much as I possibly could."

Q: You are one of the reasons stars like Jim Carrey, Eddie Murphy and Steve Carrell are able to command high salaries because of the successful films you worked on together. Have any of them reached out to you since you began this journey?

A: "A lot of people didn't know that I had the accident. I was very isolated. Some people may have called, but I didn't call back. I couldn't even do a phone call. It was quite painful to even do that. So I don't blame them. They simply didn't know. And the film is only coming out now."

Q: If the bike accident led to this documentary, what led to the shift in your outlook and attitude?

A: "Morgan Freeman opened me up to all these ideas. After 'Bruce Almighty,' he shattered my paradigm by turning me on to certain authors. I came back to him and said, 'I'm seeing things differently now. What do I do?' He said, 'I have no idea, son.' I was like, 'Are you kidding me? You're going to shatter my paradigm and not give me a program?'"

Q: This coming from the man who played God in your movies.

"Biebermania" hits Liverpool, home of the Beatles

LONDON | Fri Mar 11, 2011 8:13am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - Move over Beatlemania. "Biebermania" hit the home town of the famous Fab Four when a noisy crowd of fans descended on central Liverpool to catch a glimpse of teenaged singing sensation Justin Bieber.

In scenes reminiscent of the hysteria that met the Beatles wherever they went in the early 1960s, police were called in on Thursday to control a large crowd of girls who had gathered outside the Hard Days Night hotel where Bieber was staying.

The 17-year-old Canadian pop star was in Liverpool ahead of a concert on Friday evening.

Merseyside Police, responsible for Liverpool in northern England, said they were called by hotel security staff early on Thursday afternoon.

They were forced to close a central city street to traffic, and were at the scene for around six hours before the fans eventually left.

Bieber took to his Twitter account to communicate with his followers.

"This is crazy," he wrote on the social networking site. "There are like thousands of people out there. Love everybody but gonna try and get some sleep. Please dont scream. lol."

A police spokeswoman denied media reports that Bieber had been threatened with arrest if he stepped out on to his hotel balcony to greet the crowd.

"We can confirm that Merseyside Police have at no time threatened to arrest Justin Bieber or members of his management team," she said.

Bieber is due to play at the Liverpool Echo Arena on Friday before heading to Newcastle on Saturday and to London for a series of gigs at the O2 Arena next week.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Police search home of actor Charlie Sheen

LOS ANGELES | Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:51am EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Police searched the home of Charlie Sheen on Thursday looking for firearms that would have violated a court order against him, but they found only bullets and an antique rifle, a lawyer for the actor said.

Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Officer Norma Eisenman said the search ended with no arrests being made.

"Mr. Sheen was very cooperative," she said.

The search was linked to a temporary restraining order filed against Sheen last week by his ex-wife, and it occurred on the same day the troubled actor filed a $100 million lawsuit against his former employers on the hit CBS sitcom "Two And A Half Men" claiming he was wrongfully fired this week.

Sheen had been the highest paid actor on U.S. TV in his leading role on the top-rated program, playing a hard-drinking, skirt-chasing bachelor loosely based on his own life.

Over the past year, Sheen has run into legal troubles and been in and out of rehab for drug and alcohol abuse. In the past several weeks, he has engaged in public rants against "Two And A Half Men" producer Chuck Lorre and Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show.

Last week, his ex-wife Brooke Mueller filed a temporary restraining order against Sheen to keep him away from their two children. Under that order, he was not allowed to possess firearms.

Outside Sheen's home on Thursday night an attorney for the actor, Mark Gross, told reporters an unidentified caller had phoned police with a tip that Sheen had a gun.

Gross said police found "a few bullets and an 1800s rifle" and Sheen thanked them "for being professional and courteous.

Officer Eisenman said police would not disclose what was uncovered in the search and no further details would be released.

Warner Bros. Television is a division of Time Warner Inc., and CBS is owned by CBS Corp..

(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Bob Tourtellotte)