Archive for January, 2011

‘Tangled’ topples ‘King’s Speech’ at UK box office

Monday, January 31st, 2011
Tangled

Disney’s Tangled has ended The King’s Speech‘s three-week reign at the top of the UK box office.

Featuring the voice talents of Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, Tangled retells the classic Rapunzel fairytale and is Disney’s 50th animated feature film.

Tangled‘s impressive £5.1 million opening haul pushes Colin Firth’s royal drama – which earned £3.6 million – down into second spot. Ballet thriller Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, is in third place with £2.5 million.

Jason Statham’s latest action movie The Mechanic lands at number four on its first weekend on release, while comedy-drama The Dilemma completes the top five.

Elsewhere, the chart sees new releases Hereafter and How Do You Know bow at numbers seven and ten respectively.

The UK box office top ten in full:
1. (-) Tangled – £5,106,612
2. (1) The King’s Speech – £3,634,265
3. (2) Black Swan – £2,566,346
4. (-) The Mechanic – £921,554
5. (4) The Dilemma – £669,368
6. (3) The Green Hornet – £655,797
7. (-) Hereafter – £601,728
8. (5) Gulliver’s Travels – £585,250
9. (6) 127 Hours – £409,363
10. (-) How Do You Know – £374,933

Bond composer John Barry dies aged 77

Monday, January 31st, 2011

Composer John Barry, famous for his work on Born Free, Out of Africa and the James Bond films, has died in New York of a heart attack aged 77.

Born John Barry Prendergast in 1933, the York-born musician first found fame as leader of the John Barry Seven.

His arrangement of Monty Norman’s James Bond theme led to him composing scores for 11 films in the series, among them Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice.

His work saw him win five Oscars, while he received a Bafta fellowship in 2005.

Ke$ha grabs first UK No. 1 single

Sunday, January 30th, 2011
Ke$ha, We R Who We R

Ke$ha has scored her first UK singles chart number one with latest track ‘We R Who We R’.

The 22-year-old star, who previously reached a chart high of four with her 2009 debut ‘Tik Tok’, zoomed to pole position after selling over 90,000 copies of her fifth release as a main artist. The song peaked at 95 in previous weeks based on downloads alone.

Meanwhile, two new entries grace the upper section of the chart this week, Chase & Status’s ‘Blind Faith’ at five and ‘Yeah 3x’, the twelfth UK top 40 hit from R&B singer Chris Brown, at ten.

Elsewhere, positions 11-20 display risers aplenty, the most notable of which are Tinchy Stryder’s ‘Let It Rain’, which is up 11 places from 25, album chart champion Adele and her 2008 ballad ‘Make You Feel My Love’, up four to 15, while Taio Cruz and Kylie Minogue’s appropriately-titled ‘Higher’ lifts 20 places to 17.

Just missing out on a spot in the upper half of the chart is Pink, whose ‘Perfect’ is a new entry at 21, while Aggro Santos and Kimberly Walsh prove to be the lone exception to the largely unchanged top ten, as ‘Like U Like’ plummets to 22 after debuting at eight last week.

The top ten in full:
1. (-) Ke$ha: ‘We R Who We R’
2. (1) Bruno Mars: ‘Grenade’
3. (2) Adele: ‘Rolling In The Deep’
4. (4) Diddy-Dirty Money ft. Skylar Grey: ‘Coming Home’
5. (-) Chase & Status ft. Liam Bailey: ‘Blind Faith’
6. (3) Jessie J: ‘Do It Like A Dude’
7. (5) Wretch 32 ft. L: ‘Traktor’
8. (6) Britney Spears: ‘Hold It Against Me’
9. (7) Rihanna ft. Drake: ‘What’s My Name?’
10. (-) Chris Brown: ‘Yeah 3x’

Source: Official Charts Company

Jessie J shoots “larger than life” video

Friday, January 28th, 2011
Jessie J feat B.o.B 'Price Tag'

Jessie J’s new music video will be “larger than life”, according to its director.

The singer shot the promo for her new single ‘Price Tag’ last week, which has been described by director Emil Nava as a “hyper-real” world with a “fashion edge”.

In a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot, Nava said: “Basically I came up with the idea of thinking about things that are larger than life, but things that don’t matter.

“We’ve got a big teddy and a big chair and the money tree. It’s sort of a hyper-real toy world that Jessie’s bringing a fashion edge to.”

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‘King’s Speech’ holds off ‘Black Swan’ at UK box office

Monday, January 24th, 2011
Colin Firth in The King's Speech

Colin Firth’s The King’s Speech has topped the UK box office for the third consecutive weekend.

Despite four new movies opening on Friday, the royal drama took in £4.2 million – just £200,000 down from last weekend’s total – to emerge as the UK’s number one film. King’s Speech has now made an impressive £18 million after only three weeks in theatres.

Natalie Portman’s ballet thriller Black Swan bows at number two, while Seth Rogen’s 3D superhero adventure The Green Hornet is in third place with £1.1 million.

Vince Vaughn comedy-drama The Dilemma completes the top five, faring better than Harrison Ford comedy Morning Glory (number eight).

Elsewhere, Peter Mullan’s violent coming-of-age drama NEDS opens in tenth spot.

The UK box office top ten in full:

1. (1) The King’s Speech – £4,226,074
2. (-) Black Swan – £2,762,429
3. (2) The Green Hornet – £1,187,652
4. (-) The Dilemma – £1,102,798
5. (4) Gulliver’s Travels – £992,382
6. (3) 127 Hours – £805,418
7. (5) Little Fockers – £685,046
8. (-) Morning Glory – £524,356
9. (8) Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 1 – £346,787
10. (-) NEDS – £283,210

‘Glee’ cast break UK singles chart record

Monday, January 24th, 2011
Season 1 cast of Glee

The cast of Glee have become the fastest ever act to score 20 top 40 singles in the UK.

The stars of the Fox musical comedy first entered the chart 57 weeks ago with their January 2010 cover of Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’, and today notched up their 20th hit with ‘Toxic’, which scraped in at 40 following the UK premiere of a Britney Spears tribute episode last Monday.

The previous record holder, legendary rock and roll star Elvis Presley, took 88 weeks to achieve the same feat back in the 1950s.

Martin Talbot of the Official Charts Company said: “This is a quite amazing achievement by the Glee cast, to be in the same company as the likes of Elvis Presley – in fact, beating his 50-year-old record!

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Strokes announce first ‘Angles’ single

Monday, January 24th, 2011
Julian Casablancas

The Strokes have revealed the title of their first single in almost five years.

‘Under Cover Of Darkness’ will precede the band’s upcoming fourth album Angles when it is released in a few weeks’ time.

According to Clash, Angles will be a “back to basics journey” for the band, whose last album First Impressions Of Earth in 2006 received a mixed critical reception.

“It’s what the record sounds like,” guitarist Albert Hammond Jr told Rolling Stone, regarding their choice of album title. “It comes from five different people.”

Angles will be released on March 21, with ‘Under Cover Of Darkness’ expected to arrive next month.

Bruno Mars remains at singles No. 1 spot

Sunday, January 23rd, 2011
Bruno Mars 'Grenade'

Bruno Mars has topped the UK singles chart for a second week with sophomore song ‘Grenade’.

The Hawaii-born songwriter secured himself a rare chart double, after his debut LP Doo-Wops & Hooligans also exploded onto the album chart at pole position.

Mars becomes the first male solo artist to top both rankings since 2007, when Mika’s debut album Life In Cartoon Motion joined his mega-selling single ‘Grace Kelly’ at number one.

This week’s runner-up spot belongs to Adele and her comeback single ‘Rolling In The Deep’, while rap legend P Diddy and his R&B collective Diddy-Dirty Money enter at four with ‘Coming Home’.

Following immediately behind are new entries in the shape of Wretch 32’s ‘Traktor’ at five and ‘Hold It Against Me’, the record-breaking new release from pop icon Britney Spears, at six.

The mass of debuts in the top 10 come to an end with ‘Like U Like’, a collaboration between I’m A Celebrity star Aggro Santos and Girls Aloud’s Kimberly Walsh, which is straight in at eight.

However, just missing out on a single digit entry is Roll Deep guest vocalist Jodie Connor, who lands at 14 with Wiley reunion ‘Now Or Never’.

Meanwhile, the peak of the chart is reflected in the depths of the top 20, as Bruno Mars and Adele slip together to 18 and 19 with ‘Just The Way You Are’ and ‘Make You Feel My Love’. Neither can replicate the crash of X Factor champion Matt Cardle, who plummets 15 places to 20 with winner’s single ‘When We Collide’.

The top ten in full:
1. (1) Bruno Mars: ‘Grenade’
2. (-) Adele: ‘Rolling In The Deep’
3. (2) Jessie J: ‘Do It Like A Dude’
4. (-) Diddy-Dirty Money ft. Skylar Grey: ‘Coming Home’
5. (-) Wretch 32 ft. L: ‘Traktor’
6. (-) Britney Spears: ‘Hold It Against Me’
7. (3) Rihanna ft. Drake: ‘What’s My Name?’
8. (-) Aggro Santos ft. Kimberly Walsh: ‘Like U Like’
9. (4) Katy B ft. Ms. Dynamite: ‘Lights On’
10. (10) JLS ft. Tinie Tempah: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’

Source: Official Charts Company

Sophie Ellis-Bextor confirms new single

Thursday, January 20th, 2011
 Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Sophie Ellis-Bextor has announced the title and release date of her new single.

‘Not Giving Up On Love’ marks the second release from the singer’s upcoming fourth studio album Make A Scene, and is out on March 7.

The ‘Catch You’ star confirmed the news via her Twitter page with the message: “Spending the day talking to radio stations across uk about Not Giving Up On Love, out march 7th (sic).”

The song, which was produced by trance DJ Armin van Buuren, was released across Europe last August, where it earned a top ten placing in three countries, including a number one in Poland.

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Adele – Rolling In The Deep

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011