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RACING FOR SECOND Few analysts expect Warner Bros.’ Speed Racer to win the box-office race this weekend. The film – likely to attract mostly families with small kids – is expected to gross around $30-35 million. That’s about a third of what Iron Manearned a week ago, so if that film drops even 60 percent, it would remain at the top. Analysts suggest that such a plunge is unlikely, especially given last week’s exit polls indicating that it may even do considerable repeat business....

REDSTONE DECIDED TO DUMP FRESTON FIRST, THEN CRUISE Sumner Redstone had already decided to fire Viacom CEO Tom Freston a week before he got rid of Tom Cruise, according to reports that came to light Tuesday. Philippe Dauman, who was selected to replace Freston, told today’s (Wednesday) Daily Variety that he received an offer from Redstone three weeks ago. (Only a few weeks earlier, Redstone had told the Wall Street Journalthat “he could imagine ’no circumstance’ under which he would dismiss Mr....

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Although Saturday night is often regarded as a dumping ground for the television networks, with most of the shows drawing the lowest ratings of the week, CBS had no problem attracting a massive audience for its coverage of the NCAA basketball Final Four Doubleheader. The telecast opened at 8:00 with 13.48 million viewers tuning in and although dipping a fraction in subsequent half hours, it came back strongly at 10:30 p....

NBC IS THE BIGGEST LOSER NBC found itself besieged from all sides following its decision to air the Golden Globes presentation as a three-hour news special Sunday night. On the one hand, it was forced to cancel the original awards show when the Writers Guild of America threatened to picket it and when other entertainment industry unions said that they would observe the picket line. It was then attacked by numerous critics for tearing down the usual wall that exists between the operations of the entertainment and news divisions by insisting that the announcement of the winners at a news conference be covered live in primetime and that it be followed by a two-hour Datelineprogram in which the nominees would be interviewed....

AMERICA’S GOT TALENT – AND DANCING, TOO Fox and NBC went head-to-head against one another with talent competitions again on Wednesday at 9:00 and ended up with a draw. NBC’s America’s Got Talent average 10.9 million total viewers to Fox’s 7.67 million for So You Think You Can Dance, but Fox came out ahead in the crucial 18-49-year-old demographic. Fox’s Dance also came out ahead at 8:00 p.m. – when it aired opposite a rerun of NBC’s Talent –both in overall viewers and adults 18-49....

In December 2021, Makoto Shinkai released a teaser image for his upcoming film, Suzume no Tojimari, featuring a mysterious door. Now, the official TOHO Movie Youtube channel has opened the door, but just by a crack, in the form of a teaser trailer. That trailer can be viewed below. Shinkai rocked the world in 2016 when his film, Your Name, hit theaters and captured audiences worldwide. The film earned over $380 million and was an absolute smash hit with critics and viewers alike....

Mel Gibson, love him or hate him, is one talented person. While I am not saying this excuses certain aspects of his behavior, I feel that his most recent film Apocalypto is nothing short of extraordinary. Layered with many themes that are as applicable to the period the movie is covering as they are to now, Apocalypto is the kind of film that helps define the word epic. Taken from a place deep inside the filmmaker, we had the chance to see an early cut of his end of the Mayan civilization opus....

The Dark Knight’s iconic cape and cowl are not having the desired effect in the latest TV spot for The Batman. Far from it, in fact, as John Turturro’s Gotham gangster Carmine Falcone could not be less frightened of the costumed vigilante in the latest footage from the upcoming DC outing. Released courtesy of YoTube channel farrogh _ali, the footage gives us our first proper look at Falcone. “You think you’re gonna scare me with that mask and that cape?...

The DCU is clearly going to undergo some major changes, with tentpole projects such as Wonder Woman 3 now confirmed to be on the back burner. If not outright canceled. One element of the DC universe that will remain untouched by the creative hands of James Gunn and Peter Safran however is director Matt Reeves The Batman universe (via THR). Released in March this year, The Batman introduces an early version of The Dark Knight, picking up with a young Bruce Wayne just two years into his career as a crimefighter....

Dancing With the Stars has been running for a total of 31 seasons, and hopefully it doesn’t come to an end anytime soon. There have been some iconic celebrities that have competed on the show, and some that have been completely surprising. When Sean Spicer was announced to compete in the 28th season, it was met with a ton of backlash; but he was ultimately eliminated pretty early on in the competition....

With a total of four books in the original series, a graphic novel, and two re-tellings of the plot, Stephanie Meyer created a cult classic with the Twilight series. The four books include, Twilight (2005), New Moon (2006), Eclipse (2007) and Breaking Dawn (2008) and have over $100 million in sales, according to the Stephanie Meyer website. The story follows Bella Swan, an angsty teenager who recently moved from Arizona to Forks, Washington, to spend more time with her dad, while her mom travels across the states with her new husband....

A living legend of French cinema, Claire Denis is known for her dreamy, sensual, and deep films that often deal with themes of colonialism, eroticism, and alienation. Born in Paris but raised in colonial French Africa, Denis explores the colonial world in her key works, including the 1988 semi-autobiographical debut, Chocolat (not to be confused with the saccharine Johnny Depp movie). Apprenticed as an assistant to auteurs like Jacques Rivette, Jim Jarmusch, and Wim Wenders before making her own films, Denis never limits herself to a singular genre....

Jane Krakowski and Jack McBrayer have a laugh as they look towards this shows Second Season When you’ve received a bunch of Emmys, including one for best comedy series of 2007, people are gonna want to talk with you. 30 Rock has achieved that and more in its short time on the air. This show about the goings on behind a very SNL-like variety show is a favorite of many critics....

The Walt Disney Studios has made a deal with Apple Corps Ltd. to develop a new 3D performance capture adaptation of the 1968 hit animated film Yellow Submarine to be written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, it was announced today at the D23 Expo by Dick Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. The film will be created by ImageMovers Digital, Disney’s state-of-the-art performance capture animation studio operated in conjunction with Zemeckis and his partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, who will serve as producers on the project....

Anything is possible in the MCU, even dreaming of a Deadpool Christmas movie. At least that is what Ryan Reynolds is hoping as he revealed that he wrote a full festive movie featuring Deadpool four years ago, but it “got lost” when Disney and Fox merged. Now with Deadpool ready to make his MCU debut, will that movie be a future project for Reynolds’ popular character? He told Big Issue:...

Last year, at approximately the exact same time of this writing, I was sitting in a bar, drinking Jack and Coke, trying to wrap my brain about the phenomenal film a friend and I just saw, Saw. Normally, after I see a flick, I’d be strolling on home to write my review on whatever I saw that day, but Saw just totally warped my already-warped mind. So, does this year’s sequel, Saw II, lack the punch and insanity that would drive me to normalcy, and home to write this review?...

Blasting onto the silver screen with the intensity of its original release nearly 30 years ago, the pop culture phenomenon Scarface, starring Al Pacino and directed by Brian De Palma, returns to movie theaters in a one-night Fathom event on Wednesday, August 31 at 7:30 p.m. local time. Presented by NCM Fathom and Universal Studios Home Entertainment, audiences nationwide will get the opportunity to experience one of the most influential gangster classics ever made like never before - with all-new restored high-definition picture and enhanced audio....

Sean Patrick Flanery of Boondock Saints fame is heading to the small screen with the new TV movie Mongolian Death Worm, which premieres Saturday May 8th at 9PM ET on the SyFy Network. Flanery recently held a conference call to discuss his role in the new TV film and here’s what he had to say. With all the roles that you’ve had Sean this character role seems so different. How did you prepare for this role?...

The actor talks about this popular series, this last massive DVD set and a slew of future projects Only two men can say they’ve played the classic character Indiana Jones, and Sean Patrick Flannery is one of them. This guy named Harrison Ford is the other one. You might have heard of him… Flannery’s acting career was kickstarted when he won this coveted role of the younger Indiana Jones in the series Adventures of Young Indiana Jones....

Jessica Alba is known for kicking ass as the Dark Angel, and more recently as Susan Storm/ The Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four films. But now, she’s switching genre’s a little and heading to the dark side in the thriller/horror flick, The Eye, a remake of the 2002 horror by the Pang brothers (The Messengers). Jessica stars as Sydney Wells, a very talented concert violinist; what has her standing apart from others is she is blind....