'Entourage' Releases First Season 7 Promo

HBO releases the first trailer of "Entourage" season 7 which is premiering June 27 with the episode called "Stunned".

In the season premiere, the director of Vince's latest action film talks his star into doing his own driving stunt, agitating both Eric and Ari. Turtle's attraction to an under performing employee named Alex threatens to damage his fledgling car service business. Ari looks to add to his resume as "the biggest agent in the world" by eying an alliance with the NFL. Worried that his holding deal is about to expire, Drama pressures Lloyd, now his agent, to land him a project.

Jessica Simpson and porn star Sasha Grey are among the celebrity guests this season. The former is playing herself while the latter is taking the role as Vince's girlfriend.

As much as I love Entourage, and I've been looking forward to season 7, what was the point of this promo video? Absolutely nothing happens. If I had never seen the show before or I knew nothing about it, I'd think this looked ridiculous.

We're Being Screwed by 3D Ticket Prices!

Are consumers being ripped off by Movie Theatres? The short answer, yes.

Ever since the release of James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D went on to make 2.7 billion, Hollywood has been nuts about 3D, Studio’s are announcing at a rapid pace almost every new big budget project will either be shot in or converted to 3D. Is this because it better serves the presentation of each individual film, no, it’s because the cost for 3D tickets is as much as %60 percent more in comparison to General Admission in most markets.

There is a growing trend of adding a surcharge to ticket prices for anyone who wants to see a 3D movie of $3-$5. The owners of some theatres have raised prices 20-30 percent, citing "initial costs". Reportedly, it's costing between $7,000 and $8,000 to have a silver screen installed (they're needed for quality reasons). While more honest operators admit theirs only cost $4000.

Theatre owners and VP's have reported these costs, knowing they are untrue. I've looked into this, I've seen the paperwork, they're blowing it out of proportion wildly. You may also see reports of 3D Bulbs having a life of 1,000 hours and costing anywhere between $1,500 and $2,000 when they actually have a life of 2,000 hours and cost theatre owners/projectionists maybe $400 on a bad day.

Is the growing trend of 3D nothing more than a gimmick, absolutely, we’re to believe that the increased ticket prices, inflated to the amount they are, is justified by the cost of providing 3D to the consumer. With any business decision where you upgrade or add new features, you’re going to incur costs, but where do we as customers draw the line in just how much more we should be charged for something.

I’ve heard people compare the re-emerging of 3D to bringing sound to pictures like Warner Bros did in 1926, when every other studio said it was a trend, and it wouldn’t last. The inclusion of sound in film has obviously bettered the entire industry as a whole. Aside from films like Avatar, what has 3D done to increase the quality of individual films, its put more money into the pockets of studios and theatre owners.

When Warner Bros made the decision to release a post converted Clash of The Titans in 3D, it turned into a terrible presentation, and if anything took away from the overall experience, but if the execs at Warner could have done it differently would they, of course not the inclusion of 3D may have helped it's somewhat poor box office run that made that extra little bit.

Sadly we’ll be seeing the growing trend of 3D in Hollywood for as long as us the consumers are willing to pay for it. If you’re upset about the ticket prices now, I wouldn’t hold your breath for a change anytime soon. As much as I’m against 3D being in every movie, like it’s been as of late, I don’t expect to see it fade away soon, much like sound never did in the early 1920’s, regardless of the ridiculous prices we're being charged.

Murphy Writing Nutty Professor 3

Eddie Murphy is talking about a possible sequel to The Nutty Professor franchise, is anyone surpised.

Murphy played almost every character him self, in a large overwheight family inlcuding the main Character Professor Klump.

“You know what, there might be another ‘Nutty Professor,’” Eddie Murphy told Access Hollywood at the LA premiere of “Shrek Forever After” on Sunday, breaking the news of the possible sequel’s latest development. “We kind of wrote something that might be kind of funny.”

Whether or not the film hits theaters, he added, depends on just how funny it is.

“If the studios want to do it, we’ll do it,”

“If you don’t see it, the studio was like, ‘This isn’t funny.’”

News of a possible sequel was first reported in 2008, when The Hollywood Reporter noted that such a project was in the early stages of development.

1996’s “The Nutty Professor,” a remake of the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic of the same name, and the 2000 sequel “The Nutty Professor II: The Kumps,” were both a hit with viewers, each earning 273 million and 161 million respectively.

I think people are looking forward to this about as much as anyone wants to see Big Mommas House 3. The project I'd like to see Murphy re-visiting is Beverly Hills Cop, which is said to be in development with Brett Ratner set to direct.

Box Office Actuals May 14 - 16

This will likely be the last week that Iron Man 2 takes the top spot, coming in at 52 million, sightly higher then I'd predicted, but less then yesterday's estimate. Next week look for Shrek 4 to take the number one spot, and be sure to check back on Wednesday for my official review.

1. Iron Man 2 (Marvel/Paramount) - $52 million

2. Robin Hood (Universal) - $36 million

3. Letters to Juliet (Summit) - $13.5 million

4. Just Wright (Fox Searchlight) - $8.2 million N/A

5. How to Train Your Dragon (DreamWorks Animation/Paramount) - $5 million

6. A Nightmare on Elm Street (New Line/WB) - $4.6 million

7 Date Night (20th Century Fox) - $3.8 million

8. The Back-Up Plan (CBS Films) - $2.8 million

9. Furry Vengeance (Summit) - $2.2 million

10. Clash Of The Titans (Warner Bros) - $1.2 million 

Check back to TMT on Wednesday for this coming weekends Box Office predictions, and again on Sunday for the estimates from Jen.

Zoe Saldana in 'Colombiana'

HeatVision reports Zoe Saldana is in early negotiations to star in "Colombiana," a drama that Luc Besson is producing under his Europa Corp. The project is slated for late-summer start with Olivier Megaton ("Transporter 3") directing.

Written by Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, "Colombiana" is set in Latin America and the U.S. Saldana would play a young woman who, after witnessing her parents' murder as a child in Bogota, grows up to be a stone-cold assassin. She works for her uncle as a hitman by day, but her personal time is spent engaging in vigilante murders that she hopes will lead her to her ultimate target: the mobster responsible for her parents' death.

She most recently was seen in The Losers and Death at a Funeral, Next year she starts shooting the sequel to the JJ Abrams Star Trek sequel from 2009. If comulmbiana is as retarded as both her most recent films, she'll be three for three in the crap department, and in desperate need of the Star Trek sequel so we can forget about all the shit we've seen her in as of late.

LaBeouf Hated Transformers 2 and Indy 4

Shia LaBeouf is at Cannes promoting Wallstreet 2, the last time he was there He was promoting Indiana Jones 4. Shia recently spoke to the LA Times where admitted that he was in the majority in that he didn't like Transformers 2 or Indiana Jones 4 either.

He had the following to say about Transformers 2:

Shia LaBeouf says the second "Transformers" movie got too big for its own good - but the third one brings the heart back to the franchise.

LaBeouf, who starts work on the next "Transformers" sequel Tuesday, said the third installment will be the best one yet. The new script restores a human element that got lost in the second movie, LaBeouf said.

"When I saw the second movie, I wasn't impressed with what we did," LaBeouf said in an interview Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival, where his finance drama "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" is premiering. "There were some really wild stunts in it, but the heart was gone."

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" was a runaway commercial success but was drubbed by critics.

Michael Bay returns for the third time as director of the science-fiction franchise, which centers on dueling races of giant robots that bring their war to Earth. The next movie will have what the last one lacked - a sense of human consequences, LaBeouf said.

On the second movie, "we got lost. We tried to get bigger. It's what happens to sequels. It's like, how do you top the first one? You've got to go bigger," LaBeouf said. "Mike went so big that it became too big, and I think you lost the anchor of the movie. ... You lost a bit of the relationships. Unless you have those relationships, then the movie doesn't matter. Then it's just a bunch of robots fighting each other."

With "Transformers 3," the toll of the robot war will be grave for our planet, LaBeouf said.

"There's going to be a lot of death, human death. This time, they're targeting humans," LaBeouf said. "It's going to be the craziest action movie ever made, or we failed."

And on Indiana Jones 4;

"I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished," LaBeouf said, explaining that this upped the ante for him before he began shooting the "Wall Street" sequel. "If I was going to do it twice, my career was over. So this was fight-or-flight for me."

"You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg, who directed]. But the actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault. Simple."

LaBeouf said that he could have kept quiet, especially given the movie's blockbuster status, but didn't think the film had fooled anyone. "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you've made ... . And I think if you don't acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you're promoting a movie." LaBeouf went on to say he wasn't the only star on the film who felt that way. "We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn't universally accepted."

LaBeouf added, "We need to be able to satiate the appetite," he said. "I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate."

I have to say it's very refreshing to hear an actor actually own up to his failures, but I don't think we can blame Transformers 2 or Indiana Jones solely on Shia. With Transformers Michael Bay had a large hand in making that sequel as ridiculous as it was, and with Indiana Jones the biggest problem was George Lucas' awful script, Spielberg didn't help the situation either with shitty use of CGI and lackluster set pieces.

I personally like Shia, but my hopes for Transformers 3 being any better then the second one aren't very high. I really want Wallstreet 2 to be good, the original is one of my favorite films, but if it sucks will Shia just come out while pimping his next project and shit on that too?

Fox also going 20,000 Leagues Under the sea

Just yesterday we reported that Disney had hired Director David Fincher to diret their adaption of 20,000 leagues under the sea. Now comes news via Heat Vision, that Disney will have some competition.

Fox is prepping its own version of the classic Jules Verne tale with an equally pedigreed film making team. Producers Ridley and Tony Scott and their Scott Free Prods. are developing a "Leagues" project for the studio with a script by "Clash of the Titans" co-writer Travis Beacham. And they've been talking with director Timur Bekmambetov ("Wanted") about helming the big-budget adaptation, though there's no deal for Timur yet. 

It's likely the studio to release their version first will come out on top. Unfortunately for Disney the project underway at Fox is much further along. Disney is finalizing deals with Fincher and scribe Scott Z. Burns, who will then begin writing. Fincher will likely direct another movie before turning his attention to "Leagues."

"300" producers on Julius Caesar Trilogy

Producers Gianni Nunnari and Mark Canton, whose last toga pic was 300, will package and produce Exclusive Media Group’s new historical drama based on the early life of Julius Caesar.

The movie hopes to be the first in a trilogy based on Conn Iggulden’s bestselling Emperor book series. William Broyles (Flags of Our Fathers) has written the script. Nunnari and Canton are currently producing another historical epic, The Immortals, for Relativity Media and Universal.

Exclusive hopes to start filming within the next few months, although no director is yet attached.

If your not familiar Caesar was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. In 44 BC he was assassinated by his own people, they surrounded him outside The Theatre of Pompey, where it's said over 60 men helped in his murder, stabbing him as many as 23 times.

As long as they don't go with a green screen for the entire movie, like they did with 300, I think this could be a very cool trilogy. This is the kind of project Ridley Scott should be attached to, no more Robin Hood in re-written history.

Sargent working on Spider-Man reboot

83 year old Veteran screenwriter Alvin Sargent has been brought on board to fine-tune Columbia’s "Spider-Man" reboot being directed by Marc Webb.

The script he's working off of was written by Jamie Vanderbilt who wrote “Zodiac” and a draft of “Spider-Man 4” before the studio scrapped its plans for the sequel to re-start the series. Sargent is said to be doing a production polish as the studio is looking to start filming later this year.

 Sargent has worked on every single “Spider-Man” movie. He did un-credited rewrite work on the first “Spider-Man” and shared credit on “Spider-Man 2” and “Spider-Man 3.” He was in the middle of working on “Spider-Man 4” when the plug was pulled.

I can't tell if this is good news or not. Normally with a reboot you hire an entirely different team, and take a completely new approach to the character, hiring someone who's worked on the previous franchise somewhat defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

Warner Bros Now Suing 'Superman' Rights Lawyer

As originally posted on SupermanLives.net

Deadline reports:

Warner Bros has lost too many rights cases against its arch-nemesis, lawyer Marc Toberoff, especially the ongoing Superman litigation.

So recently the studio hired Daniel Petrocelli to come up with a new strategy to prevent the studio from losing the rights to Superman in 2013 as a court has previously ruled, and Petrocelli has obliged. His hardball tactic: to get rid of Toberoff entirely.

This morning, Warner Bros' new outside counsel is filing a lawsuit against Toberoff raising questions about his role as a financial participant in the Superman rights and not as the attorney for the Shuster and Siegel families fighting their Superman cases. The purpose of the lawsuit is to put Toberoff in a position where he may have to resign as the Siegel and Shuster attorney altogether. 

It's a hardball, and some might say despicable, tactic by Petrocelli and the studio, especially because it hinges on documents stolen from Toberoff's office by a Toberoff employee. (Warner Bros claims the documents mysteriously "arrived" on its doorstep and that the employee was a lawyer in Toberoff's firm and a "whistleblower". Toberoff has indicated that something much more nefarious may have happened.) 

What's also ironic about Petrocelli's tactic is that, when he defended Disney against the Slesinger family's Winnie The Pooh underpaid royalty claims, he was able to get the entire case thrown out of court by alleging that the Slesinger's were basing some of their documentation on paperwork "stolen" from a dumpster on the Disney lot.