Weekend Box Office: July 30-August 1

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1. Inception - $27.5 million

2. Dinner for Schmucks - $23.3 million

3. Salt - $19.2 million

4. Despicable Me - $15.5 million

5. Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore - $12.5 million

6. Charlie St. Cloud - $12.1 million

7. Toy Story 3 - $5 million

8. Grown Ups - $4.5 million

9. The Sorcerer's Apprentice - $4.3 million

10. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse - $3.9 million

The double-punch of Steve Carell and Paul Rudd were no match for Inception's powerhouse combo of great word-of-mouth and repeat viewings as Christopher Nolan's thriller stayed at the top spot for the third straight weekend.

Inception dropped only 35% this weekend, and now stands at a $193 domestic total ($279 million worldwide).  It should cross the $200 million mark before next weekend.  Despite settling for second place, Dinner for Schmucks also opened well with $23.3 million, although it will likely face tough competition when Will Ferell's The Other Guys opens next weekend.

Of this weekend's other new releases, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore was mercifully DOA, coming in fifth place with just $12.5 million, and Zac Efron's Charlie St. Cloud finished along expectations with $12.1 million.  While that seems like a relatively week opening, Efron fans should take note that this was a much better opening than Robert Pattinson's Remember Me, which opened with just $8 million back in March, so Efron seems to be winning the battle of the teenage heartthrobs at the box office this year.

Angelina Jolie's Salt held up well in its second weekend, dropping 47% to earn $19.2 million.  It's earned $70.8 million in less than 10 days.  The insanely adorable Despicable Me also continues its great run, with another $15.5 million to bring its total to $190 million.  Grown Ups had another solid weekend with $4.5 million.

Toy Story 3 edges closer to the $400 million domestic mark this weekend with another $5 million, which must leave Disney somewhat relieved as The Sorcerer's Apprentice has failed to catch on at the box office, fading out of the top ten with just $4.3 million.  Better news for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which at $288 million is now likely to pass New Moon's $296 total.  

The battle of the new releases continues next weekend when The Other Guys and Disney's Step Up 3D arrives in theaters.  Stay tuned.

Rodriguez for Deadpool?

Rumors have been swirling for awhile now that Predators producer Robert Rodriguez would be tackling the planned Deadpool spinoff film starring Ryan Reynolds, with the LA Times reporting back in June that he had been given a copy of the script written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. 

Other than a strange outbreak of fake Deadpool posters turning up in New York City a few weeks ago (I actually saw a few of these on my way home from work one night and had no idea where they hell they had come from), there has been no official news since then.

Well now the LA Times is chiming in again to report that Rodriguez is officially negotiating with Fox to direct the film about the infamous Marvel mercenary who was introduced briefly in last year's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Both Rodriguez and Fox are still working on the finer points of the deal, most likely involving the film's rating, since Deadpool's love of manic carnage may be making the PG-13-happy studio nervous.  Plus there's also the matter of Rodriguez' schedule:  once he finishes his eagerly awaited film Machete, he starts work Spy Kids 4: Armageddon (seriously?  we're getting another one of those?).  So signing Rodriguez could depend on how soon Fox wants this Deadpool movie made.

I knew nothing about Deadpool when I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine last summer, so I was spared the devastation and outrage fanboys expressed when he was suddenly transformed in what looked like a Mortal Kombat character at the end, but I did think Reynolds was one of the best parts of the movie and and now that I've gotten the chance to read some Deadpool comics, I would love to see him get a spinoff.  Rodriguez sounds like a good fit for the movie, so I hope this deal gets made.

"The Oxford Murders" Opens August 6th In Portland, Oregon

Opening in Portland August 6th and San Francisco August 13th is Elijah Wood’s THE OXFORD MURDERS!

August 6, 2010:
Portland, OR: Living Room Theaters

August 13, 2010:
San Francisco, CA: Opera Plaza Cinemas 4

THE OXFORD MURDERS: When an elderly woman is viciously murdered in Oxford, her body is discovered by two strangers whose lives are immediately changed forever: Arthur Seldom (John Hurt), a prestigious professor of logic, and Martin (Elijah Wood), a young graduate student who has just arrived at the university hoping to be Seldom’s pupil.

It quickly becomes clear that hers is the first in a series of increasingly bizarre murders, with each victim’s corpse marked by strange symbols. Professor and student join forces to try and crack the code, setting into motion an elaborate game with the killer with ever-increasing stakes.  As Martin gets closer to the facts, he grows increasingly unhinged from his grasp on the world around him.

Based on Guillermo Martinez’s award-winning novel, THE OXFORD MURDERS is an edgy and intelligent thriller from cult-favorite director, Álex de la Iglesia.

Official Trailer

Official Site: http://www.magpictures.com/theoxfordmurders/

Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Oxford-Murders/

Stallone Interested In Possible ‘Rambo’ "Prequel?"

When it comes to legends in the film industry, it’s hard to come by a more larger-than-life figure than Sylvester Stallone.  If there’s one actor in Hollywood who has done it all, seen it all, and most of all, experienced it all, it’s Sly. 

While answering questions over at Ain’t It Cool News in promoting his upcoming action mantra ‘The Expendables,’ the actor-director-writer-producer-and pretty much everything else, was asked about his interest in doing a Rambo film set before the events of ‘First Blood.’  Stallone had this to say:

I certainly think this is worth pondering because it’s intriguing to find the whys and wherefores of how people have come to become what they are. The traumas, the loss and the tragedy of being in Vietnam would certainly be a great challenge for a young actor and it would be ironic that Rambo directs younger Rambo after having played it for 20 plus years.

Not too sure how I feel about this.  I mean ‘Rambo’ was a great finish for the franchise and it seems that taking the route of a prequel is more tacking on then actually necessary.  On the other hand, since Sly resurrected his career with ‘Rocky Balboa’ and been on a role in recent years, it’s hard to argue any career choice he makes at this point.  If he wanted to do it then I’d see it.  The guy’s probably the hardest working man I’ve ever read about so any project he takes on is going to be worth it.

And by the way…he ain’t casting Taylor Lautner

Cavill To Headline "Cold Light"

Henry Cavill -- yes, the guy who should play Superman -- is set to star in the kidnapping thriller, ‘The Cold Light of Day.’  The flick will be set around a young, arrogant Wall Street tycoon who takes an unwanted vacation with his family to Spain, only to be thrust into a government conspiracy when they are kidnapped.  In order to rescue them, he must face his father’s hidden secret and save the ones he loves.

Mabrouk El Mechri (the awesome Van Damme flick ‘JCVD’) will direct from Summit and Intrepid Pictures.  Filming starts in Spain Sept. 6th.

It’s nice to see Cavill starting to hit the big-time as his talent demands more starring roles.  Hopefully Chris Nolan will notice ;)

Visit Heat Vision for more on this story. 

First Image Of Ghostface On 'Scream 4' Set

Horror icon Wes Craven has presented the 1st image of Ghostface on the set of ‘Scream 4’ via Twitter.  Nothing too exciting to look at but is good to see the new supposed “trilogy” isn’t veering away from what made the previous three films great (well, not so much the 3rd one).

Little is known about the plot of this 4th installment in the horror franchise -- completely written by original scribe Kevin Williamson, NOT Ehren Kruger contrary to reports -- but photos from the set indicate the original three (Sidney, Gale, Dewey) are back in Woodsboro, the place where it all began.

New to the cast are Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Hayden Panettiere, Nico Tortorella, Adam Brody, Mary Shelton, and Anthony Anderson.

Here’s hoping a teaser trailer is released before the end of summer. Check out the picture below.

Live From New York...it's "30 Rock"

You know, this is how TV used to be done back in its early days.  Of course, they also used to explain how cigarettes were good for you during the commercial breaks, so...change isn't always a bad thing.

NBC announced today that the October 14th episode of 30 Rock will be aired live.  And not just once, either.  The cast will perform the show twice that night so that it will air live for both the East and West coast broadcasts.

This is not the first time NBC has gone the live broadcast route, having also aired live episodes of ER and Will & Grace in previous seasons. 

The live 30 Rock will be performed from the famous studio 8H at Rockefeller Center in New York, which is currently home to Saturday Night Live, and it also where the Emmy-winning series (which is usually taped at Silvercup Studios in Queens) takes place.  

Since the cast already boasts SNL vets like Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan, 15-time SNL host Alec Baldwin, and Broadway stage veterans Jane Krakowski and Cheyenne Jackson, performing the show live shouldn't be a problem for anyone.  In fact, considering the amount of camera-mugging antics that go on during a regular episode, it might be worth watching both live episodes just to see how the cast hams it up for this particular episode.

The live episode will air on October 14 from 8:30-9pm (7:30pm Central). 

The Other Guys Featurette

Those lucky bastards at Comic Con this last weekend got to see everything it seems. Lucky for us a lot of it has been released online, like this featurette for The Other Guys.

The film stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as a pair of desk-bound cops who decide to take on a major case and prove they’re as good as the department’s super-star detectives (played by Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson).

Detective Allen Gamble is a forensic accountant who’s more interested in paperwork than hitting the streets. Detective Terry Hoitz is a tough guy who has been stuck with Allen as his partner ever since an unfortunate run-in with Derek Jeter. Allen and Terry idolize the city’s top cops, Danson and Highsmith, but when an opportunity arises for the Other Guys to step up, things don’t quite go as planned.

If you don't find this hilarious you're broken. Check back this Wednesday for my review!

Terrence Howard Joins Law & Order Los Angeles

According to the hot shots over at TODJA! Terrence Howard is the latest cast member to join Law & Order Los Angeles. He'll be joining Alfred Molina, Skeet Ulrich and Corey Stoll.

Howard will play a new Deputy D.A.  who will work alongside Deputy D.A. Morales (Molina). It's also rumoured Howard and Molina will be splitting the workload, each appearing roughly in the half of the episodes thus allowing the show to feature big feature names and the actors to stay active in movies.

I never really cared for criminal intent or the flagship series, at least not until the latter's final season. However I've always loved Special Victims Unit. Stabler and Ice T are great to watch when they're kicking some rapist asshole's ass all over the place. No details have been revealed yet for the premise of Los Angeles, but I imagine I'll check it out.

Ulrich and Stoll play Detective Rex Winters and TJ Jaruszalski. Production on LOLA is slated to begin on Aug. 2 for a Sept. 22 premiere

LOTTERY TICKET Featurettes

Warner Bros. Pictures has released these featurettes, “Brandon T. Jackson Saves The World, ” “Bill Bellamy Du Rag Model,” and “Catfight,” for the upcoming LOTTERY TICKET. What would you do if you won the lottery?

Kevin Carson (Bow Wow), a young man living in the projects, wins $370 million in a nationwide lottery. When his opportunistic neighbors discover he has the winning ticket in his possession, Kevin must survive their greedy and sometimes even threatening actions over a three-day holiday weekend before he can claim his prize.

Check out the trailer below if you haven't seen it yet:

Directed by Erik White and and written by Abdul Williams, Warner Bros. Pictures’ LOTTERY TICKET will be in theaters August 20, 2010. Follow LOTTERY TICKET on Twitter and on Facebook.