NTSC User's News Page

The Grey has dominated this weekend’s US box office.

The Liam Neeson film took in $20m, surpassing studio estimates. The movie’s opening was on par with Neeson’s previous action films, including Taken and Unknown.

Katherine Heigl’s latest movie One For the Money opened to a mere $11.8m, while the weekend’s other new release Man on a Ledge pulled in an underwhelming $8.3m. However, both films were bolstered by Groupon and LivingSocial deals, as the websites were selling discounted tickets.

Underworld: Awakening fell to second place, earning $12.5m in its second weekend. Meanwhile, Red Tails took fourth place, adding $10.4m to its overall total.

The US box office top ten in full (studio estimates):
1. (-) The Grey – $20,000,000
2. (1) Underworld: Awakening – $12,500,000
3. (-) One For the Money – $11,750,000
4. (2) Red Tails – $10,400,000
5. (-) Man on a Ledge – $8,250,000
6. (4) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – $7,145,000
7. (16) The Descendants – $6,550,000
8. (3) Contraband – $6,532,200
9. (6) Beauty & the Beast 3D – $5,345,000
10. (5) Haywire – $4,000,000

McG’s upcoming spy comedy This Means War will undergo some last minute changes in order to gain a PG-13 rating in the US.

20th Century Fox recently came to an agreement with the Rating Appeals Board to cut out some of the film’s raunchier jokes to lose an R rating.

The more lewd parts in question are said to come mostly from Chelsea Handler’s character, who makes several sexually explicit jokes throughout the film.

The film stars Tom Hardy and Chris Pine as best friends and government operatives who end up vying for the affections of the same woman, played by Reese Witherspoon.

This Means War is due for release on February 14, 2012.

Disney has picked up a science fiction project based on a screenplay from Chronicle writer Max Landis.

The untitled film apparently sees a brother and sister setting out on an adventure, though specific details are yet to be revealed, Variety reports.

Landis, the son of Blues Brothers director John Landis, has several projects in the pipeline. He has allegedly pitched new takes on Frankenstein and the Pied Piper to major studios, with Fox expressing interest in the latter.

Real Steel helmer Shawn Levy was previously linked with the director’s chair on the Frankenstein project, though there has been no movement since last summer.

(more…)

Terminator 5 will be given an R-rating, according to series rights holder Megan Ellison.

Ellison, whose studio Annapurna Pictures beat Lionsgate to the licence, confirmed the certificate when addressing fan questions on Twitter.

“We can’t really tell you guys anything about Terminator BUT it will be an R-rated film as God and James Cameron intended,” she wrote in response to a query from TheTerminatorFans.com.

Terminator 5 is rumoured to be a series reboot in the vein of JJ Abrams’s Star Trek. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to be involved in the project in some capacity.

(more…)

Elfquest has been dropped by Warner Bros.

The studio pulled the plug on the comic book adaptation because it did not wish to compete with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Rawson Marshall Thurber was to direct Elfquest, which was greenlit back in 2008. The project was based on the 1978 comic by Wendy and Richard Pini.

“After close to four years of suspense – and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support – the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is ‘no’,” Wendy Pini wrote on the Elfquest Facebook page.

(more…)

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…)