Archive for February, 2010
‘Shutter Island’ Scares Up Another Box-Office Win
by on Feb.28, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
New releases ‘Cop Out’ and ‘The Crazies’ settle for second and third, respectively; ‘Avatar’ continues record-breaking streak.
By Josh Wigler
Leonardo DiCaprio
Photo: Larry Busacca/ Getty Images
#1 “Shutter Island” ($22.2 million)
#2 “Cop Out” ($18.6 million)
#3 “The Crazies” ($16.5 million)
#4 “Avatar” ($14 million)
#5 “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” ($9.8 million)
For the second weekend in a row, “Shutter Island” topped the box office with a respectable $22.2 million intake. Director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s latest thrilling collaboration has already earned $75 million domestically in two weeks, now just a stone’s throw away from making back its production budget of $80 million.
Failing to capture the first-place slot, major newcomers “Cop Out” and “The Crazies” turned their sights on second place instead. Both films entered Saturday morning with a mere $5,000 difference, but it was director Kevin Smith’s buddy-cop comedy that ultimately emerged as the silver medalist with $18.6 million, marking the single greatest opening weekend ever for Smith. His previous best was an $11 million weekend debut for “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.”
While “Cop Out” finished the weekend in better standing, Overture Films enjoyed a greater return on its investment with “The Crazies,” which earned $16.5 million by Sunday’s conclusion and only cost $20 million to produce. “Cop Out,” in contrast, was filmed on a $30 million budget.
Director James Cameron’s “Avatar” continued its record-breaking warpath, becoming the first film in history to break past $700 million at the domestic box office. The $706.9 million tally puts “Avatar” more than $100 million past “Titanic,” currently sitting at an all-time second-place record of $600.8 million.
Fox’s “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” brought in $9.8 million, just barely out-grossing the $9.5 million earned by “Valentine’s Day.” Director Garry Marshall’s romantic comedy took a tough tumble from last weekend’s second-place result to this weekend’s sixth-place finish.
The best per-screen average of the weekend belonged to embattled filmmaker Roman Polanski’s “The Ghost Writer” with $20,233 theater-for-theater.
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“Avatar” meets its first major 3-D competition in the form of Disney and Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” starring Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. The crime genre takes a dramatic turn from the comedy of “Cop Out” with “Brooklyn’s Finest.”
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Lil Wayne Talks Seven New Videos, Including One For Drake, In Pre-Jail Clip
by on Feb.28, 2010, under Lil Wayne
Rapper also shows off his awards and Twitter T-shirts in exclusive video.
By Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Rahman Dukes
Lil Wayne in “Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers” part 2
Photo: Courtesy Nino Brown
Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 2
On Saturday night, Lil Wayne and DJ Scoob Doo sent in a video clip featuring footage they shot that afternoon. Among other things, Wayne said it was time to party before he begins his expected one-year prison term at New York’s Rikers Island.
But in fact he was doing the exact opposite. Wayne was back at work, filming several more music videos before his sentencing on gun charges on Tuesday.
“I’m shooting seven videos today,” Wayne said in an exclusive new clip, shot in his trailer on the Miami video set.
One of the videos of the night was for the Rebirth track “Runnin’.”
“I’mma show y’all the [work] ethic of a true artist,” Wayne says in the clip. “You know what I’m talkin’ about? Seven videos. I shot 10 in two days before. Now we about to do seven in one night. ['Runnin' '] was one. Next we about to do Drake’s song called ‘Afrika Boombatta.’ ”
The New Orleans Fireman then began mulling over his wardrobe for Drake’s shoot. He was deciding between one of his brand-new tees promoting his Twitter account, @liltunechi, or a funky interpretation of deceased legend Marilyn Monroe.
“Gotta wear one of my @liltunechi shirts on there,” Wayne said. ” ‘Cause that song is a fun song. So I could wear that. Then again it’s Drake, so you might wanna get a little fly for his sh–.”
Wayne then pulled out a T-shirt featuring Monroe with tattoos all over her arm.
“Yeah, that’s stupid,” the Birdman Jr. said of the Monroe shirt. “I might have to rock that.”
This latest clip of Wayne starts with the acclaimed performer showing off all the BET Hip-Hop Awards in his house. Later he says he needs more VMAs.
“I got a house full of BET Awards,” Wayne said with a grin. “I got one MTV award. MTV, holla atcha boy now. I’m not gonna mess up your function. I’m just gonna come get my award, thank God, thank my ‘hood, thank my fam. I ain’t gotta perform.
“Give me an award for nothin’,” he continued with a chuckle. ” ‘The award for nothin’ goes to Lil Wayne.’ That’s all I need. MTV award for nothin’, man.”
Wayne and DJ Scoob Doo are also filming the reality DVD “The Nino Brown Story Part 3.” The first two installments are available at DJ Scoob Doo’s Web site.
Check back with MTV News for more of Wayne’s “Road to Rikers.”
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‘Remember Me’ Stars Robert Pattinson, Emilie De Ravin On Being Self-Critical
by on Feb.28, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
‘You can never be a character, that’s the one thing I’m sort of starting to realize,’ RPattz said of acting.
By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Emilie de Ravin and Robert Pattinson
Photo: MTV News
“Remember Me,” the drama starring Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin due out March 12, is a film focused more on character than plot. And when the actors sat down with MTV News, they discussed how difficult it was to not be too critical of themselves in a film that focuses so heavily on acting.
“I’m always quite self-deprecating, I suppose,” de Ravin said, stealing the term so often used to describe Pattinson. “I’m trying to get out of that and trying to look at something from a removed point of view.”
She said it’s not just hard not to be critical of her own acting but also of the other actors she works with.
“It’s even hard watching people, you know, in a role,” she said. “Even if they’re fantastic, you know that person so well that it’s hard to sort of separate it.”
Pattinson faced a different challenge, one he has been working on overcoming since the first “Twilight” film. Back then, he had delved so deeply into the character of Edward, it worried some of the cast and crew, and he was told not to take the character so seriously. Two years later, he said the lesson is starting to sink in.
“You can never be a character, that’s the one thing I’m sort of starting to realize,” he said. “I always thought that, you know, you look at ‘Raging Bull’ and stuff and think, ‘Wow, De Niro, he’s become someone else.’ And I was completely convinced that there is some way that you can actually become someone else for three months.”
He added, “I’m gradually starting to realize it’s more about performance rather than actually some kind of physical [transformation], and it’s taken me quite a long time to realize that.”
Check out everything we’ve got on “Remember Me.”
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Ben Stiller Wants ‘Zoolander 2′ To Include Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell
by on Feb.28, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
How will male models Derek and Hansel return to the runway, 10 years later?
By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Ben Stiller
Photo: MTV News
Since 2001, comedy lovers have eagerly anticipated the further adventures of fashion icon Derek Zoolander, the dimwitted but goodhearted protagonist at the center of Ben Stiller’s “Zoolander.” Now, a decade later, the really, really, really good-looking model is set to stroll down the theatrical catwalk once more, as Stiller has confirmed to MTV News recent reports suggesting that a “Zoolander” sequel is in the works.
“Yes, it is true,” Stiller said in an exclusive interview with MTV. “We’re in the process of getting a script written, so it’s in the early stages. But yeah, it’s going to happen.”
According to Stiller, “Zoolander 2″ will focus on how the fashion industry has changed in the 10 years since moviegoers last saw Derek.
“In the fashion world, if you go away for a year, it’s changed — it just happens so quickly,” he said. “I think the idea in the beginning of the movie is that it’s 10 years later, and Derek and Hansel [Owen Wilson's character] are literally forgotten. Nobody remembers who they are, so they have to reinvent themselves.”
In addition to Wilson’s character, Stiller said he’s hoping for the return of Mugatu, the original film’s villain played by Will Ferrell. “If Will says yes, he definitely has to be part of it,” said the comedian. “To me, Mugatu is one of the classic screen villains of all time.”
While “Zoolander 2″ will explain what Derek and Hansel have been up to over the years, many of the film’s fans have wondered why it’s taken so long for a sequel to emerge. Stiller said that he’s tried for years to figure out how to proceed with another installment, noting that the death of “Zoolander” co-creator Drake Sather in 2004 was a difficult obstacle to overcome. “For a long time, that was the hardest thing for me to figure out how to move forward through,” he said. “Now, I think we have.”
The “Zoolander 2″ breakthrough owes thanks not just to Stiller and “Tropic Thunder” writer Justin Theroux, who is possibly directing the developing sequel, but also to other collaborators including original “Zoolander” writer John Hamburg and “Get Him to the Greek” director Nick Stoller.
“We’re going to take the best of what we have,” Stiller said of the current “Zoolander” game plan. “We have a new story idea that we feel excited about, and we’re going to try to go forward.”
Have a brilliant idea for the “Zoolander” sequel? Share it in the comments below!
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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‘Shutter Island’ Wins Again In The Sunday Box Office Report
by on Feb.28, 2010, under MTV Movies Blog
1. “Shutter Island” ($22.2 million)
2. “Cop Out” ($18.6 million)
3. “The Crazies” ($16.5 million)
4. “Avatar” ($14 million)
5. “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” ($9.8 million)
The ghosts of “Shutter Island” continued to haunt the box office this weekend with another first place finish. Having already won the top spot last weekend and on Friday, director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio’s most recent collaboration remained in front of the pack by Sunday’s conclusion with $22.2 million. With a domestic gross of $75 million and a foreign intake of $4.6 million after two weeks in theaters, Paramount’s latest thriller is a stone’s throw away from earning back its $80 million production budget.
New releases “Cop Out” and “The Crazies” battled it out for the weekend’s second place slot, having a mere $5,000 difference between them going into Saturday morning. Ultimately, director Kevin Smith’s latest comedy, which stars Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan as a pair of mismatched police officers chasing down a petty thief played by Seann William Scott, bested “The Crazies” by a $2.1 million margin. Although business could have been better, “Cop Out” and “The Crazies” enjoyed successful weekends due to the relatively inexpensive production costs for both films, with Breck Eisner’s horror remake already well within reach of its reported $20 million budget.
James Cameron’s “Avatar” stayed strong in its eleventh weekend in theaters. With a fourth place finish worth $14 million, the science fiction adventure has officially broken past $700 million in domestic ticket sales. “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” meanwhile, took the final spot in the top five, causing Friday’s fifth place finisher “Valentine’s Day” to drop to sixth place.
Tell us what you think of the box office results in the comments and on Twitter!
Robert Pattinson On ‘Bel Ami’ Sex Scenes
by on Feb.28, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
‘In Paris, everybody was just going nuts. It was like the 1980s,’ ‘Twilight’ star says of era depicted in film.
By Terri Schwartz, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Robert Pattinson
Photo: MTV News
While the steamy sex scenes in “Remember Me” (March 12) might seem like a big shock to Robert Pattinson fans used to the chaste kisses seen in the “Twilight Saga,” the 23-year-old Brit said that they are nothing compared to the sex scenes he filmed for the drama “Bel Ami,” due out in 2011.
“There’s a lot of sex in ['Bel Ami'],” Pattinson warned.
Some of the previous rumors surrounding the film’s sex scenes are dubious, but recent reports that say Pattinson will be filming an orgy sequence for the movie all tie back to the fact that there is going to be a lot of explicit sex in “Bel Ami.”
“It’s a totally amoral character,” Pattinson said of the role in an interview with Variety, adding that he’s playing a different kind of character than his fans are used to seeing.
In “Bel Ami,” Pattinson plays journalist George Duroy in an adaptation of the 1885 Guy de Maupassant short story. Duroy climbs the ranks of Parisian society by seducing influential women, particularly Uma Thurman’s Madeleine Forestier and Christina Ricci’s Clotilde de Marelle.
“[The film] is like the complete antithesis of what you normally think period dramas are about,” Pattinson said, explaining that the era, Paris in the 1890s, is what dictates the different views on sex. “In Paris, everybody was just going nuts. It was like the 1980s. Sex was a kind of a weapon and a tool, and it’s odd.”
Pattinson added, “It’s incredibly different. The [sex scenes] in ‘Remember Me’ are pretty tender, and in ‘Bel Ami’ there’s something very mercenary about it in a lot of ways.”
Check out everything we’ve got on “Remember Me.”
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Exclusive: Lil Wayne’s New Pre-Jail Video — Check It Out Here!
by on Feb.28, 2010, under Lil Wayne
Wayne plans to release lots of videos before he goes to jail on Tuesday — check out ‘Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1.’
By Shaheem Reid
Lil Wayne in “Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1″
Photo: Courtesy of Nino Brown
Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1
“Three days, y’all — let’s party!” Lil Wayne said on Saturday (February 27). Now that his dental surgery is done, Weezy is expected to begin serving his year in jail on weapons charges Tuesday, but he’s making sure he’s seen and heard before his departure. Of late, Weezy has taken to Twitter (much more on that in a minute) and Ustream to communicate with fans. On Saturday evening, Weezy and his favorite videographer, DJ Scoob Doo, sent MTV News a clip we’re going to call “Nino Brown: The Road to Rikers, Part 1″ (as in Rikers Island, the New York jail that Wayne’s heading to).
In the clip, Wayne promises to grant fans a look at what his life is like as he prepares to go to jail.
Shot Saturday afternoon in the guest house of his Miami home, Wayne had the Tennessee vs. Kentucky NCAA basketball game playing in the background on his big-screen TV.
“This is for my real fans,” Wayne said. “People who wanna know what I be doin’. I’mma let y’all in.”
From there, Wayne, who recently tweeted that he was giving up Twitter (although he’s tweeted since then), urged his fans to follow him at his page, “@liltunechi.”
“I just opened that up,” Weezy said. “I got almost 200,000 followers. I need more followers. I saw Drake had like 400,000 followers. I need more followers than Drake.”
Wayne then gave background on his nickname.
“My nickname is Lil Tune — my grandmother named me that,” he explained. “She’s passed. My grandmother, her name was Mercedes Carter. She named me Lil Tune. We just threw the ‘Chi’ on there. Like Gucci, I say ‘Tunechi!’ ”
The clip ends with Weezy shouting out all his children, their mothers and his own mom.
Wayne will be shooting footage right up until he goes to court on Tuesday — check back with MTV News for more!
Wayne and Scoob Doo recently released the DVD “The Nino Brown Story, Part 2.” It can be found on djscoobdoo.com.
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Robert Pattinson On 3-D, Two-Part ‘Breaking Dawn’
by on Feb.27, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
‘I remember 3-D movies from when I was a kid, and I can just picture it giving me a headache,’ actor said.
By Terri Schwartz
Robert Pattinson
Photo: MTV News
Despite the many rumors circulating about “Breaking Dawn,” the final installment in the Twilight saga, it seems as though no progress has been made on the movie’s production in the three months since “New Moon” was released. And while the movie’s stars seem just as clueless about the big production decisions as everyone else, there seems to be a similar trend in their line of thinking.
The biggest question surrounding “Breaking Dawn” — and the first decision that needs to be made in order for contract deals and production to begin — is whether the story will be split into two films. Despite numerous rumors that seem to lean one way or the other, everyone’s opinion seems to depend on the script.
While promoting his upcoming film “Remember Me,” leading man Robert Pattinson said he still doesn’t know whether “Breaking Dawn” will be made as one film or two. As to his preference, Pattinson answered that “it really just depends on the script, either way.”
This echoes his co-star Kristen Stewart’s opinion on the matter, which she offered while promoting “The Runaways” at the Sundance Film Festival in January. “I haven’t seen a script, but I’m not alone in really, really wondering how they’re going to handle that,” she said at the time.
“Twilight Saga” scribe Stephenie Meyer also voiced similar sentiments back in mid-January when there was a rumor that she was against “Breaking Dawn” being two movies. “Two or one, whichever way fits the story best is fine by me,” Meyer announced on her Web site. “And everyone I’ve spoken with at Summit seems to feel the same way.”
Pattinson also addressed the rumors about “Breaking Dawn” being filmed in 3-D and, as Stewart indicated in an interview for “The Yellow Handkerchief,” was against the idea.
“The 3-D thing confuses me,” Pattinson said. “I haven’t seen ‘Avatar’ or any of these 3-D movie things yet. The idea of it … I remember 3-D movies from when I was a kid, and I can just picture it giving me a headache.”
Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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Robert Pattinson, Emilie De Ravin Discuss ‘Remember Me’ Love Scenes
by on Feb.27, 2010, under MTV Movies Headlines
‘Allen gave us this whole kind of lecture about how to feel ’safe,’ ‘ Pattinson said of the director’s attempt to make the stars comfortable while shooting.
By Terri Schwartz
Robert Pattinson
Photo: MTV News
“Twilight” fans are lucky to see a few chaste, sexy kisses between leading man Robert Pattinson and his onscreen love Kristen Stewart during one of the saga’s films. But anyone going to go see his more adult — and less supernatural — new film “Remember Me” should expect many more steamy moments.
The film, which opens March 12, is a drama focused on Pattinson’s character, Tyler, and the relationship he forms with costar Emilie de Ravin’s character, Ally. Needless to say, the film doesn’t shy away from its PG-13 rating, as there are a few intimate scenes between Tyler and Ally.
When MTV News got a chance to sit down and talk with the stars of the film, Pattinson was quick to answer that he was more nervous about filming the sex scenes than his co-star. De Ravin seemed a bit shocked by his answer, to which he responded with a laugh, “Yeah, you were, like, fine!”
And according to Pattinson, there was a bit of a wardrobe mishap when Pattinson and de Ravin were set to start filming one of their scenes. He was supposed to be wearing a “modesty patch” to cover his personal areas, but apparently the costume department didn’t have one available for either him or de Ravin. So they ended up having to take half a bra and finding a way for it to stay on his body.
“They had to, like, tape it and stretch it around into my ass crack. It was quite funny,” Pattinson said, barely managing to tell the story through his laughter. “It’s all very glamorous,” de Ravin added.
And director Allen Coulter apparently went out of his way to make the two comfortable with being faux-intimate with one another by playing a prank on them before one of the scenes.
“Allen gave us this whole kind of lecture about how to feel ’safe,’ ” Pattinson explained. ” ‘We’ve just got a couple of things which, you know, you can use them or don’t use them, fine, if it just makes you feel better about it.’ And we walk into the bedroom, and laid out on the bed, the art department had got all these things like handcuffs and improvised sex toys made out of hair dryers and things, and every single thing from the costume department, like a top hat and little silk things.”
While those objects didn’t make it into the final cut of the film, Pattinson and de Ravin’s chemistry and comfort with one another did. But de Ravin did state that there wasn’t going to be a “Basic Instinct” NC-17 cut of the film coming out any time soon. What audiences see in the theaters is all there is.
“There’s no sodomizing, I don’t think,” she joked.
Check out everything we’ve got on “Remember Me.”
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
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‘Shutter Island’ Keeps The Lead In The Saturday Box Office Report
by on Feb.27, 2010, under MTV Movies Blog
1. “Shutter Island” ($6.7 million)
2. “Cop Out” ($5.975 million)
3. “The Crazies” ($5.97 million)
4. “Avatar” ($3.1 million)
5. “Valentine’s Day” ($2.9 million)
Friday initiated a relatively quiet start to the weekend as director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio’s “Shutter Island” continued its first place lead at the box office with $6.7 million. With Friday’s intake, Paramount’s latest thriller now boasts a cumulative total of $59.5 million from domestic ticket sales and an additional $4.6 million at the foreign box office. It’s likely that “Shutter Island” will recoup its production budget of $80 million by the weekend’s conclusion.
Second and third place was a tight battle between the weekend’s new releases, director Kevin Smith’s comedy “Cop Out” and Breck Eisner’s remake of “The Crazies.” The Warner Bros. buddy cop flick ultimately took the silver medal, but just barely outgrossed “The Crazies” by a mere $5,000. The two films could easily switch positions before the weekend is over.
Fourth and fifth place belonged to “Avatar” with $3.1 million and “Valentine’s Day” with $2.9 million, with James Cameron’s science fiction epic currently on pace to cross the $700 million margin by Sunday’s end. “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” and “The Wolfman” slipped from the top five to sixth and eighth place respectively.
One reason for Friday’s relatively slow business was the massive snowstorm that pummeled the American east coast, discouraging several would be moviegoers from checking out the weekend’s new releases. If weather clears up on Saturday and Sunday, expect a bit of a boost in the box office’s numbers.
Tell us what you think of the box office results in the comments and on Twitter!
