NTSC User's News Page

Underworld: Awakening has topped this weekend’s US box office.

The latest instalment in the action horror franchise starring Kate Beckinsale took in over $24 million, and beat off competition from the George Lucas-produced Red Tails featuring Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Tom Hanks drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close rose from 36 to this weekend’s number four position, while Haywire entered at five, bringing in $9m.

Last week’s leader Contraband fell two places to three, while the rereleased Beauty and the Beast dropped to six.

The US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) Underworld: Awakening – $25,400,000
2. (-) Red Tails – $19,100,000
3. (1) Contraband – $12,200,000
4. (36) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – $10,545,000
5. (-) Haywire – $9,000,000
6. (2) Beauty and the Beast 3D – $8,556,000
7. (4) Joyful Noise – $6,075,000
8. (3) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $5,540,000
9. (5) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $4,805,000
10. (7) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – $3,750,000

Chuck Norris has reportedly insisted that The Expendables 2 receive a PG-13 rating.

The original Expendables was rated R, and the sequel was on track to secure the same rating, thanks to the profane language. However, Norris refused to join the film unless it was classified as PG-13.

“In Expendables 2 there was a lot of vulgar dialogue in the screenplay,” Norris told the Polish newspaper Gazeta.

“For this reason, many young people wouldn’t be able to watch this,” he continued. “But I don’t play in movies like this.

“Due to that I said I won’t be a part of that if the hardcore language is not erased. Producers accepted my conditions and the movie will be classified in the category of PG-13.”

(more…)

George Lucas has said that he is retiring from filmmaking.

The Star Wars creator, who will soon release World War II drama Red Tails, made known his decision to step away from Hollywood and producing movies through LucasFilm in a recent interview with The New York Times.

“I’m retiring. I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff,” he said.

Lucas’s long-time producing partner Rick McCallum said that the filmmaker has “done everything he’s ever wanted to do” and will soon have “completed his task as a man and a filmmaker”.

However, Lucas is reportedly leaving himself an “out clause” to make a fifth Indiana Jones blockbuster with Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford.

(more…)

Game of Thrones will return to Sky Atlantic on Monday, April 2.

The premiere has been scheduled for 9pm, meaning that it will broadcast in the UK less than 24 hours after it airs on HBO in the US.

Lena Headey, who plays Cersei on the fantasy drama, teased that the second run will be “even more crazy” and “exciting”.

Natalie Dormer, Liam Cunningham, Hannah Murray, Robert Pugh, Michael McElhatton and Patrick Malahide are among the actors who have signed up for this season’s instalments of Game of Thrones.

(more…)

Contraband has topped this weekend’s US box office.

Baltasar Kormákur’s action thriller pulled in more than $24m to outperform Disney’s rereleased Beauty and the Beast at the top end of the chart.

Joyful Noise was another new entry at number four, while last week’s chart-topper The Devil Inside fell to sixth.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol took third with $11.5m, with Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows rounding off the top five.

The US top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) Contraband – $24,100,000
2. (-) Beauty and the Beast (3D) – $18,490,000
3. (2) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $11,500,000
4. (-) Joyful Noise – $11,345,000
5. (3) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $8,410,000
6. (1) The Devil Inside – $7,900,000
7. (4) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – $6,800,000
8. (5) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked – $5,800,000
9. (6) War Horse – $5,607,000
10. (26) The Iron Lady – $5,386,000

AMC has confirmed premiere dates for new seasons of Mad Men and The Killing.

Mad Men‘s fifth season kicks off with a two-hour special on Sunday March 25, while the latter returns with an episode of the same length on April 1, E! Online reports.

Jon Hamm, who plays Mad Men protagonist Don Draper, previously let the premiere date slip during a chat with the Doug Loves Movies podcast, but the network has now offered confirmation.

Matthew Weiner’s lengthy negotiations with AMC over budget and episode duration pushed the fifth season back from its usual summer slot and extended the hiatus between the fourth and fifth series to 17 months.

(more…)

Avatar 2 could miss its scheduled release date, it has been reported.

The follow-up to 2009’s Avatar is currently scheduled for release in December 2014, with a third instalment set to arrive a year later.

However, Jon Landau, a producer on the film, has claimed that the sequel is “four years away”, according to Bleeding Cool.

Director James Cameron said earlier this year that the upcoming Avatar sequels will not round out a trilogy, insisting the two films will be able to stand alone.

(more…)

The Devil Inside has topped the US box office in the first week of 2012.

The exorcism thriller pulls in $34.5m over the weekend, despite receiving negative reactions from both critics and audiences. Meanwhile, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol falls to number two after holding first place for two consecutive weeks.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows comes in third, taking in $14.1m to bring its domestic total to $157.4m, while The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo climbs to fourth place, earning $11.4m.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked rounds out the top five.

The US top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) The Devil Inside – $34,500,000
2. (1) Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – $20,500,000
3. (2) Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows – $14,100,000
4. (5) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – $11,400,000
5. (3) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked – $9,500,000
6. (4) War Horse – $8,600,000
7. (6) We Bought a Zoo – $8,500,000
8. (7) The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn – $6,600,000
9. (-) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – $5,800,000
10. (8) New Year’s Eve – $3,300,000

NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt has admitted that the network suffered a “really bad” fall season.

In the latter half of 2011, the network cancelled new shows including The Playboy Club, Prime Suspect and Free Agents as ratings dropped by 11% to an average of 7.4 million viewers and a 2.5 adult demo.

“We had a really bad fall,” Greenblatt confessed at a press tour event. “[It was] worse than I had hoped for, but actually about what I expected.

“People keep saying the only place we have to go is up – which I think is true, but there’s a lot of work to do before we get there. We had few strong lead-ins – our most recent scripted hit, The Office, is six years old. Some of our older hits lost cast members.”

(more…)