"The Romantics" Featured On J. Crew Site

THE ROMANTICS J.Crew Microsite is now live on jcrew.com!! Check out the photos, a behind-the-shoot video, J.Crew’s new fall collection and a chance to win a “Romantic” trip for 2 to New York!

Make sure to check out your fall J.Crew catalog for the more fun-fill photos from THE ROMANTICS cast!!!

THE ROMANTICS stars Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Jeremy Strong, Rebecca Lawrence, Dianna Agron and Candice Bergen.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles on September 10, and will expand throughout September.

Over the course of one raucous night at a seaside wedding seven close friends, all members of a tight, eclectic college clique, reconvene to watch two of their own tie the knot.  Laura (Katie Holmes) is maid of honor to Lila (Anna Paquin), her golden girl best friend.  The two have long rivaled over the groom, Tom (Josh Duhamel).  Friendships and alliances are tested and the love triangle comes to a head the night before the wedding, when the drunken friends frolic in the nearby surf and return to shore... without the groom. Based on the heralded novel by producer, novelist, director Galt Niederhoffer, THE ROMANTICS is a Zeitgeist love story and generational comedy that breathes new life into the genre and recaptures the camaraderie of youth. 

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For more info, visit: www.theromanticsmovie.com

Piranha 3D Is Getting a Sequel

It may have come in at a distant 6th place this weekend, but it appears Piranha 3D is headed somewhere that Snakes on a Plane never got to go:  a sequel, according to Entertainment Weekly.

Director Alexandre Aja and producer Mark Canton, who are reportedly thrilled with the great reviews (83% on Rotten Tomatoes, shockingly enough) and decent enough box office, confirmed that they are working with Dimension for yet another so-bad-you-need-to-see-it-in-3D gorefest.  No official word yet on what the plot will be, but Aja has suggested this as a possible winner several weeks ago:  "We had many ideas, like a full moon party in Thailand - a huge event with like 20,000 young people taking mushrooms and partying on the beach."

All righty, then.  I guess it could be worse.  They could have been announcing a 3D sequel to Vampires Suck.  Although if the Piranha sequel involves watching the cast of Jersey Shore being devoured by those little carnivores, I would totally see it.

WB Options David Goyer-Penned Trilogy

Warner Brothers has decideded to stay in the David Goyer business for the long-run. He's already involved with banging out Batman 3 and Superman: The Man of Steel – both under the control of the one they call Nolan and both for 2012 release.

"TOLDJA" reports the studio has purchased the film rights to Heaven's Shadow and its follow-ups Heaven's War and Heaven's Fall.

The thing is the first in this trilogy of books (authored by Goyer and Michael Cassutt) won't hit bookshelves until next July. The Brothers Warner nabbed up the rights thanks to Goyer's pitch and, most likely, because of their prior successful working relationship.

The books deal with an unidentified object hurtling towards the earth, the reaction from across the globe and, what else, aliens. Goyer will produce and in all probability have a hand in the writing process.

Adrien Brody & Jonathan Rhys Meyers in Contention for Fantastic Four Reboot

Can hiring quality actors for an admittedly silly comic-book movie (getting its third cinematic iteration) shut the nay-sayers up? No, but 20^th Century Fox is going for the gold anyway.

Our pals at Screen Rant report the studio is eyeing two actors for the egg-head, elastic leader of the Fantastic Four Reed Richards – Adrien Brody and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Both are indeed good actors. While neither pops out to mind as Reed, why not? It's just a thankless role I doubt would benefit either. Just ask Ioan Gruffudd who played the character in the two ill-received Tim Story-helmed Fantastic fests.

Their mole(s) also reveal the Fantastic Four Reborn title has been dropped in favor of...Untitled Fantastic Four Reboot, I guess. More assuming on my end with that last part, and the current target date is an unspecified summer 2012 date. As if that wasn't getting overcrowded as is – Batman 3, Star Trek 2, The Avengers, the Spider-Man reboot, Men in Black 3, etc.

Avengers Plot Details Revealed!

Joss Whedon recently spoke to The Sunday Herald-Sun about the upcoming superhero team up extravaganza The Avengers. Very little new info was actually revealed, but he did tell them Black Widow would not be the only female character in the film.

"It is true that the movie is only going to have one female avenger", Whedon said of Johansson's part. "But she will not be the only female character".

As far as plot details Whedon revealed that the film will be more a continutation on the current franchise plots as opposed to a direct translation of any individual comic.

"It will be a new story that has many things from different arcs of the comics in it. There is no one Avengers story that you can just do the way that you can do the origin of Spider-Man. You really have to cull from the original and The Ultimates, which is one of The Avengers titles."

The Avengers starts filming this february for a May 2012 release date.

Carey Mulligan To Drive with Ryan Gosling

Carey Mulligan, the pretty and talented actress who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in "An Education" is set to star alongside Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive" according to Risky Business.

"Drive" has been in the works for some time and originally was set to be a Hugh Jackman vehicle directed by Neil Marshal, but earlier this year it was all change as Bronson director Refn came on board and Gosling moved into the drivers seat.

The film is based on James Sallis novel about a stuntman (Gosling) who moonlights as a freelance getaway driver, Mulligan would play the girlfriend of an ex-con along for the ride when a botched bank heist leads to a contract being put out on the driver, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) is also in negotiations for a role.

The cast is certainly aiming for the hip and edgy as opposed to bankable side of things, both Gosling and Mulligan received Oscar nominations for indie films and Cranston is the lead in the "Dark and nihilistic" TV show "Breaking bad," plus director Refn is known for oddball and gritty indie films, but I wonder if Universal see this as a mainstream action film first and foremost, the plot is certainly pretty basic and from what I've read the film centers on big car chases.

Filming begins next month in Los Angeles and I am hoping things go well as Gosling, like Joseph Gordon Levitt, has the potential to head up the next wave of great actors, he just needs a film to really break him to the mainstream.

Weekend Box Office: August 20-22

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. The Expendables - $16.5 million

2. Vampires Suck - $12.2 million

3. Eat Pray Love - $12 million

4. Lottery Ticket - $11.1 million

5. The Other Guys - $10.1 million

6. Piranha 3D - $10 million

7. Nanny McPhee Returns - $8.3 million

8. The Switch - $8.1 million

9. Inception - $7.6 million

10. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - $5 million

Summer is definitely winding down when a useless spoof such as Vampires Suck actually comes in second for the weekend.  The good news about that was that at least it wasn't first.  That went to The Expendables for the second weekend in a row.  While it's certainly not a mega-blockbuster, it's performing strongly enough to be a solid hit for a cast of aging action stars.

Vampires Suck inexplicably came in at second place with $12.2 million ($18.6 when you include grosses since it opened on Wednesday).  It will go away by next weekend, so that's all that's worth mentioning about that.

Eat Pray Love did all right in its second weekend, with another $12 million.  Lottery Ticket also had a decent opening weekend, coming in fourth with $11.1 million.  Will Ferell has definitely rebounded from last year's disaster Land of the Lost, with The Other Guys beating out most of this weekend's new release to round out the top five with $10.1 million to bring it to an $88 million domestic total so far.

This weekend's other new releases didn't fare as well.  The intentionally bad Piranha 3D couldn't even scare off Snakes on a Plane's opening weekend total, even with 3D ticket sales.  Nanny McPhee Returns opened with $8.3 million, which was well off from the original film's $14 million opening weekend in 2006, but the sequel has already grossed $62 million overseas since it opened earlier this year.

No one seemed particularly interested in Jennifer Aniston's latest film (can anyone tell the difference between her films anymore?) either, with The Switch opening to not much notice with $8.1 million. 

Inception held on with another $7.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $261 million.  Its worldwide total now stands at an incredible (and well deserved) $619 million.

Despite being well-received by fans, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is fading quickly from theaters, barely staying in the top 10 with $5 million.  It may be a box office flop, but I'm still predicting cult-hit status for this one.

Stay tuned for next week, when The Last Exorcism and Avatar: Special Edition open in theaters. 

Deathly Hallows Test Screened in Chicago

Word spread quickly this afternoon on several Harry Potter fansites that an unnamed Warner Bros test screening happening in Chicago today was possibly an early screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I.  Both Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron are now confirming that it was indeed a screening of a rough cut of the film, and reactions are starting to pour in, as well as a few plot details and confirmations, including (SPOILER warning):

1. Although it was still a rough cut with unfinished special effects and music, the film clocked in at 2-1/2 hours.  A composer for Part II has not yet been chosen.
2. The Tale of the Three Brothers, which tells the story of the Deathly Hallows, will be an animated sequence.
3. "Part 1" was not part of the title card.
4. We will get to see Hermione's home, as well as when she modifies her parents' memories to keep them safe from Voldemort.
5. Both Dobby and Kreacher do appear in the film, Dobby in particular got a very warm response from the audience.
6. A death of one of the characters has been changed somewhat...but that character still dies.
7. The film will end where it was reported last week - with Voldemort getting his hands on the Elder Wand.
8. There will be flashback scenes regarding the Horcruxes and Hallows, and Dumbledore and Slughorn will appear in these scenes, among others.
9. The Seven Potters Death Eater sequence will now include a highway chase.
10. There will be a scene where Harry dances with Hermione (not in the book) in the tent to cheer her up during the Horcrux search, and a scene where they passionately kiss (don't worry, it's not what you think).

Reaction to the film itself has been overwhelmingly positive - granted, these reviews are from raving Harry Potter fans, so they're bound to be a little biased.  But as a raving Harry Potter fan myself, who just finished reading Deathly Hallows again this week (and who's also watching Goblet of Fire on ABC Family right now), it's sounds like they're staying very faithful to the book and they're not pulling any punches with this one, which is great, because the book didn't either.  It's dark and sad, and let's you know pretty much from the first chapter that all bets are off as to who is safe...essentially, no one.

It's also sounding good because the most of the major sequences we've seen in the trailers so far - like the dragon and the Battle of Hogwarts, are from Part II.  While Part I will mostly be a road movie with the trio pushing each other to their emotional limits searching for Horcruxes, it does have a good number of terrifying moments and action sequences to definitely earn the series' second PG-13 rating (after Goblet of Fire), and judging the reviews so far, it's all going to be there and more.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I opens in theaters on November 19th.

X-Men Headed to the 60s for First Class

Harry Knowles (AICN big-cheese) got some clarity from Bryan Singer on what to expect from X-Men: First Class. Not an unwise move on Singer's part since we'll be bombarded with leaked set-photos, plot details (real or fake), etc. from now until when this hits our multiplexes next June.

We're looking at a Sliver-Age 1960s set story. Coincidentally I've been catching up with Mad Men and you gotta think Singer and director Matthew Vaughn were fans and collectively looked at each other saying, "Well...there's Emma Frost!" when watching January Jones. Already having visions of Xavier and Magneto drinking scotch while teaching in the Danger Room.

Speaking of which, the technology being used for this Camelot-set prequel will approach that of the James Bond franchise of the time and more "comic bookish" looking costumes.

Oh, and Kevin Bacon is playing Sebastian Shaw and the Hellfire Club will be the big baddies for Xavier, a pre-homo-sapien-hating Magneto and their freshman class of mutties. Some jackasses were running around claiming Bacon was actually going to be Mr. Sinister. Typical fake-fuck "insiders," how you make us all laugh.

Still doesn't put me at ease, but at least this latest update gives some context to First Class.

Mutt Williams Promises a "Crazy" Fifth Go-Around with Indiana Jones

More non-news quotes regarding the hypothetical Indiana Jones 5 hits the presses and, of course, we have to cover it. Because it's about Indiana Jones, dammit!

This time, the source comes from Henry Jones III (i.e. the Brando-wannabe Mutt Williams) Shia LeBeouf speaking to Show Biz Spy:

"They're script writing right now. I got called into Steven's office and he pitched a little bit to me and it sounds crazy, it sounds really cool."

Such a quote implies his tenure as Steven Spielberg's certified Golden Boy isn't over yet. I have a feeling if we get another Indy adventure, the Beard will fast-track the bastard for summer 2012 (as if that slate isn't full enough as is) once his latest War Horse is in the can – which knowing his work regimen will be sooner than most productions.

And who knows? Maybe us nerds won't bitch and enjoy what they deliver this time?