NTSC User's News Page

JJ Abrams’ latest science fiction epic Super 8 has topped the US box office in its opening weekend.

The film, which stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning and Kyle Chandler, overtook last week’s box-office topper X-Men: First Class by taking $37 million, compared to the Matthew Vaughn prequel’s $25 million.

Comedy sequel The Hangover Part II falls to third place with $18.5 million, but officially became the highest-grossing film of 2011 earlier this week.

Animated family film Kung Fu Panda 2 falls one place to fourth taking $16.6 million, while Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides rounds out the top five films with $10.8 million.

This week’s US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) Super 8 – $37,000,000
2. (1) X-Men: First Class – $25,000,000
3. (2) The Hangover Part II – $18,500,000
4. (3) Kung Fu Panda 2 – $16,635,000
5. (4) Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides – $10,845,000
6. (5) Bridesmaids – $10,154,000
7. (-) Judy Moody – $6,267,000
8. (8) Midnight in Paris – $6,146,000
9. (6) Thor – $2,370,000
10. (7) Fast Five – $1,714,000

J.J. Abrams has admitted that Star Trek 2 may not be completed by its scheduled release date.

The Super 8 director spoke to Collider about his progress on the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek, revealing that the follow-up may not be ready in time for its June 2012 release date.

“I care much more that it be good than it be ready,” Abrams said. “We’re obviously doing everything we can to make sure that schedules don’t get screwed up, but I don’t think anyone wants a movie on time that’s not worth your time.”

Abrams went on to say that he is unsure whether Star Trek 2 will be shot in 3D.

“I’m not yet considering it,” he added. “But I haven’t gotten that threatening phone call from people in suits saying, ‘If you know what’s good for you…'”

(more…)

Warner Bros has revealed that it intends to alter Ed Helms’s character’s facial tattoo for the home video release of The Hangover Part II.

In April, Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist S. Victor Whitmill sued Warner Bros over the use of Tyson’s facial tattoo in the sequel, filing an injunction to attempt to halt the release of the movie.

Whitmill claimed that the film used the tattoo without requesting his permission, citing that the use infringes the legal rights that he has over the design.

Although Whitmill failed to delay the release of the film, Warner Bros has now agreed to digitally alter the tattoo for the home video release of The Hangover Part II in order to prevent Whitmill’s request for an expedited trial, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

(more…)

Matthew Vaughn’s Marvel Comics prequel X-Men: First Class has topped the US box office in its opening weekend.

The film, which stars Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy as a young Magneto and Professor Xavier, took $56 million domestically, taking the top spot from last weekend’s big release The Hangover Part II, which itself took $32.4 million.

The Jack Black-led animated sequel Kung Fu Panda 2 took $24.3 for its second weekend of release, while Gore Verbinski’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides earned $18 million.

Rounding out the top five films of the weekend is Paul Feig’s comedy Bridesmaids with $4.2 million.

This week’s US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) X-Men: First Class – $56,000,000
2. (1) The Hangover Part II – $32,445,000
3. (2) Kung Fu Panda 2 – $24,300,000
4. (3) Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides – $18,010,000
5. (4) Bridesmaids – $12,128,000
6. (5) Thor – $4,200,000
7. (6) Fast Five – $3,240,000
8. (7) Midnight in Paris – $2,916,000
9. (8) Jumping the Broom – $865,000
10. (9) Something Borrowed – $835,000

Jim Carrey has said that he is considering returning to some of his most popular roles in a number of new projects.

While promoting his new film Mr Popper’s Penguins, Carrey confirmed that he would definitely be interested in starring in sequels to his 1994 breakout comedy Dumb and Dumber, as well as the 2003 hit Bruce Almighty.

“We’re talking about maybe returning to some old characters that everyone has been asking about,” Carey revealed to Coming Soon. “There’s Bruce Almighty and we’re talking about maybe another Dumb and Dumber.”

Both films spawned significantly less successful sequels which Carrey himself was not involved with.

(more…)

Alyson Hannigan has revealed details about the forthcoming American Pie sequel American Reunion.

The How I Met Your Mother actress, who plays Michelle in the comedy series, disclosed that her character now has a child with Jason Biggs’ Jim Levenstein.

“We’re still married, and we have a child. So we’re navigating the waters of parenthood and how that changes the dynamics of a relationship,” she told Entertainment Weekly.

“But also they’re going back to their high school reunion and so there’s some nostalgia there of, ‘Aw, remember what we were like when we first met?’ That kind of stuff. It’s really nice. I really love that relationship and they’ve stayed true to it.

(more…)

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner has claimed that the delay of the show’s fifth season is “part of the network plan”.

He told reporters at the LA Times: The Envelope Emmy panel in Los Angeles that cable channel AMC had always intended to hold back new episodes until 2012.

“The scheduling of the show [and it] not being on this year, that’s part of the network plan,” he claimed. “[Fellow AMC series] Breaking Bad was always going on in the summer. That’s the way they do things.”

Discussing his recent contract issues with AMC, Weiner admitted that the dispute was “bad, but it worked out”.

“It was public, and there was no reason for that,” he argued. “But that’s what happens. The most important things for me are that after it’s over, I get to go back to work and that we get to do three more years of the show.”

(more…)

Angelina Jolie has spoken of her determination to ensure that her take on Cleopatra is not seen as a “sex symbol”.

The Oscar-winning actress, who was cast in a big-screen adaptation of Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra: A Life last June, pledged to make her interpretation of the Egyptian legend deeper than the “great beauty” of Elizabeth Taylor’s iconic performance in the 1960s.

“She has been very misunderstood,” she told Stella Magazine. “I thought it was all about the glamour, but then I read about her and she was a very strong mother, she spoke five languages and she was a leader.

“My performance will never be as lovely as Elizabeth’s. We are trying to get into a different truth about her as a pharaoh in history and not a sex symbol, because she really wasn’t.

“Even this idea of her having many lovers – it was possible that it was only two. She is very interesting, but she wasn’t a great beauty.”

(more…)

The Hangover Part II has topped the US box office in its opening weekend, taking an estimated $86.4 million over the past three days.

The comedy sequel opened on Thursday, taking its overall domestic revenue so far to a reported $118 million.

Reuniting almost the entire cast of the 2009 box office hit The Hangover, including Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, The Hangover Part II moves the film’s setting to Bangkok, Thailand.

Family animation sequel Kung Fu Panda 2 enters in second place taking $48 million for its opening weekend, followed by last week’s box-office topper Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with $39.3 million.

The Paul Feig comedy Bridesmaids follows in fourth place with $16.3 million, while Marvel Studios’ latest Thor rounds out the top five with $9.3 million.

This week’s US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) The Hangover Part II – $86,480,000
2. (-) Kung Fu Panda 2 – $48,000,000
3. (1) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $39,320,000
4. (2) Bridesmaids – $16,370,000
5. (3) Thor – $9,365,000
6. (4) Fast Five – $6,698,000
7. (-) Midnight in Paris – $1,919,000
8. (7) Jumping the Broom – $1,900,000
9. (8) Something Borrowed – $1,845,000
10. (5) Rio – $990,000

(more…)

Green Lantern director Martin Campbell has said that he was initially reluctant to use 3D technology in the DC Comics adaptation.

Campbell revealed that he was concerned that it might detract from the film rather than adding to it, and added that he personally dislikes most 3D films.

“There was little talk of 3D when we started,” he told Total Film recently. “It does nothing for me.”

Campbell said that despite admiring James Cameron for his clever use of 3D in the 2010 box office hit Avatar, films like Clash of the Titans made him realise how damaging the technology can be to an audience’s experience.

(more…)