Weekly Entertainment & Movie News

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Spider-Man 2 Trailer Debuts on The Apprentice!
Source: USA Today and Coming Soon


USA Today reports that the new 2 1/2-minute trailer for Spider-Man 2 will make its debut on Donald Trump's The Apprentice, airing this Thursday on NBC at 9pm ET. The clip will be shown around the 40-minute mark into the show.

"We've got to look at unconventional ways to get our message across," Geoffrey Ammer, head of worldwide marketing for Sony, told the newspaper. "Running your trailer in a theater is a great place because you've got a captivated, moviegoing audience. But if you want to reach a broader, more general audience, you need to go beyond the theater."

TV certainly has a wider draw than a theatrical trailer. Last week's episode of The Apprentice drew 22.8 million viewers. By comparison, a movie trailer attached to this week's No. 1 movie had an audience of about 4 million.

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Hellboy Heats Up the Box Office
Source: Coming Soon

The Coming Soon! Box Office Report has been updated with the studio estimates for this weekend. Be sure to stay tuned there for the final figures on Monday afternoon.

Writer/director Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy, a $60 million-budgeted adaptation of Mike Mignola's comic books, topped the box office with an estimated $23.5 million from 3,028 theaters. The Ron Perlman-starrer averaged a good $7,760 per location. Hellboy marks the third-biggest opening ever for a film in April, coming in behind 2002's The Scorpion King ($36.1 million) and last year's Anger Management ($42.2 million).

The Rock's Walking Tall opened in the second spot to $15.3 million from 2,836 theaters. The $56 million MGM feature averaged $5,394 per site.

Coming in close in third was last week's champ, Warner Bros.' Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which made $15.1 million from 3,312 theaters, for a two-week total of $50 million.

Disney's new animated comedy Home on the Range performed well in the fourth place, earning $14 million from 3,047 theaters, for an average of $4,594. "Range" has the biggest opening for an animated film in April.

Paramount romantic comedy The Prince and Me rounded out the top five with $10 million. That $22 million Julia Stiles film averaged about $2,898.

Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ made $9.9 million in its sixth week to push its massive total to $330.1 million. The $30 million-budgeted film has moved up to the 10th spot on the all-time domestic blockbuster list, just behind Finding Nemo's $339.7 million.

Tom Hanks' The Ladykillers added $7 million in its second weekend for a total of $23.4 million, and Kevin Smith's Jersey Girl garnered $5.1 million for a total of $15.8 million in two weeks.

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KELLY OSBOURNE Scores Drugs On Sunset Blvd: Photos Posted Online
Source: Blabbermouth

British tabloid News of the World has published the photos of Kelly Osbourne scoring drugs from a dealer in Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, last Monday (March 29) that prompted Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne to send the 19-year-old into rehab at Promises clinic in Malibu and announce the move on "Larry King Live" on Friday. Check out the pictures: Photo #1 and Photo #2.
According to News of the World, Kelly did the deal just two minutes from her Beverly Hills home. She drove her dad's £37,000 BMW (approx. $68,000) instead of her own Mini Cooper and parked up outside a Citibank to wait for the pusher.

He turned up a few minutes later and sprinted over to Kelly's car, where he leaned in through the window and discreetly handed her the drugs.

Smirking Kelly then sped home, sweeping past the police car stationed outside the house as security.

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More Kill Bill for Quentin Tarantino?
Source: Coming Soon

Empire Online talked to Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 writer/director Quentin Tarantino, who says he's up for more.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about revisiting the story in a couple of ways," he says. "I've been thinking about doing it as an anime feature that would tell the entire origin of Bill."

Quentin has also considered telling the story – possibly animated, possibly live action - of Nikki, the five-year-old whose mother was the Bride's first victim in the first installment.

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Producer Lloyd Levin Talks Watchmen
Source: Superhero Hype

Hellboy producer Lloyd Levin talked briefly to the Chicago Sun-Times about Watchmen...

"Hellboy" came in at No. 1, which means the producers of that film are busy getting another comic book adaptation to the big screen. "We're going to do 'The Watchmen,' '' says producer Lloyd Levin. "It's about a group of superheroes who reunite to figure out who is trying to kill them off."

No, it's not Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman. "It's different characters, but it's really a unique story because it deals with the spiritual aspect of being a superhero," he says.

Visit this link for more of the interview.

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Hurd & Arad Still Moving Ahead on Hulk 2
Source: Superhero Hype
About.com talked to producers Gale Anne Hurd and Avi Arad about The Hulk 2.

There will be a Hulk 2.Producers Gale Anne Hurd and Avi Arad both confirmed, with Hurd saying, "Right now we are meeting with writers to discuss the sequel. I think the key thing is come up with the right story."

For more on what the sequel will be like, hit this link.

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Fantastic Four Director Announcement Tomorrow?
Source: Superhero Hype
About.com talked to Marvel Studios' Avi Arad who indicated the director for Fantastic Four will become known on Tuesday.

Marvel producer Avi Arad put to rest several rumors of conflict over the hottest Marvel properties. First, on the notion that Fantastic Four has been plagued by constant battles between hopeful directors from Steven Soderbergh to Sean Astin, Arad confirmed he has decided on a director.

He just wouldn't say whom. "We have a director," Arad said. "I cannot tell you who he is until Tuesday."

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Man-Thing Story Details Revealed
Source: Superhero Hype

Scooper 'Spidersman' wrote in with a translation of the story for Man-Thing as listed on the funding company Screenland Movieworld...

I was surfing the net today looking for news on the upcoming movie Man-Thing and I came across a German site called screenland-movieworld.com, which is a funding company. They and Fierce Entertainment are helping Lions Gate Studios in producing Man-Thing. At this site there's a plot outline and the following is a rough translation:

"Kyle Williams saw his return as a sheriff to his hometown of Baywater as a career opportunity.

What he couldn't have foreseen was the reawakening of an ancient power in the swampy river branch - a power as old and horrible as the swamp itself. A spirit called "Mantokwe" by the natives - the MAN-THING.

Frederick Schist, owner of a resident oil firm, has lied and betrayed the local natives - and is now exploiting their land. To cover up his machinations, he has killed two men and left their bodies to the swamp.

Kyle must now choose between what is right and a career supported by Schit's great influence and power. He must find the power to face his past, the demonic MAN-THING and survive...

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More Zombie-Madness Coming to the Theaters

Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis
Source: Dark Horizons Director Ellroy Elkayem has replaced Tobe Hooper on the film set to start shooting in Romania in June. The story centers on a group teenagers who, in an attempt to rescue their friend from an evil corporation, end up releasing a horde of blood thirsty zombies.

Dead of Winter
Source: Horror Report


Exclusive:

The HORROR-REPORT is revealing concept art behind DEAD OF WINTER, a film by Anghus Houvouras, due to begin filming this fall...

Anghus Houvouras, who also has written op-ed pieces for the HORROR-REPORT, also created FEARSOME and most recently 20 FUNERALS, which starred DJ Naylor and Big Boi from OUTKAST...

DEAD OF WINTER is a retelling of Frankenstein set during the end of the second world war...the concept art vividly depicts that....

The story follows 6 American soldiers who come across an abandoned POW Camp. While there, they encounter a German Doctor who has conducted horrific experiments on the prisoners. The end result: a re-animated corpse who begins to hunt down the soldiers one by one....

The story sounds legitimately fresh and scary...Creating something innovative appears to be Anghus’ best quality...


Anghus told the HORROR-REPORT today, "This has been a project I’ve dreamed of doing for a long time. It's a horror film in the truest sense. A dark tale of man's inhumanity towards man and the weapons we create in times of war. I'm attempting to make something different, a cerebral horror film. Something that scares you senseless but also makes you think.”

xxx

Below: Revealed concept art for DEAD OF WINTER

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First Look at the New Bruce Wayne from "Batman Begins"

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Looks like Robin Williams is the co star eh? [img]images/smilies/icon_wink.gif[/img]

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Tarantino Up for a Casino Royale Adaptation
Source: Coming Soon


Sci Fi Wire spoke to Quentin Tarantino who says he has talked to Pierce Brosnan about adapting Casino Royale as Brosnan's fifth and final James Bond film.

Tarantino hopes that the offer of a low budget and Brosnan's return would convince the producers to approve a one-time-only return to the character-driven spy plots of the first several 007 films. "Wouldn't it be great to have a James Bond movie that didn't cost $115 million and only cost $40 million or something like that?" he asked. "You know it's going to make its money back, and we [would] all do good. Maybe we win the critics this time, then you're back in business the way you were before."

Although he feels there's only a slight chance he would win the project, you can read more of what he had to say at this link.

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New Book Alleges COURTNEY LOVE Had A Part In KURT COBAIN's Death
Source: Blabbermouth

NBC's Matt Lauer talked with authors Max Wallace and Ian Halperin and Tom Grant about their new book "Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain", where they allege Courtney Love had a part in the death of her NIRVANA husband. Watch the interview that aired on Monday morning's "Today" at MSN.com

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Paramount Will Catch Another Thief
Source: Coming Soon


Paramount has set up a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's romantic thriller To Catch a Thief with Original Film partner Neal Moritz (2 Fast 2 Furious, S.W.A.T.) producing and Todd Komarnicki writing, reports Variety.

The new version, set in Miami, will leave the basic storyline from Hitchcock's film intact. A reformed jewel thief scrambles to clear his reputation while being framed for a series of elaborate robberies from the super-rich.

The 1955 release starred Cary Grant as an American expat on the French Riviera who falls for a wealthy American, played by Grace Kelly, as a rash of jewel thefts breaks out.

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Star Wars: Episode III Set for May 19, 2005
Source: Coming Soon


Lucasfilm has announced that Star Wars: Episode III will be released to theaters in the United States and Canada, with a near-simultaneous release around the world, on Thursday, May 19, 2005.

In Japan, "Episode III" will be released in July, the traditional month for Star Wars premieres. Exact information for other countries outside of the U.S. and Canada will be coming shortly, so keep checking the official website for full details as May 2005 approaches.

In North America, May has been the traditional release date for Star Wars films since the first movie in 1977. The North American release dates for the previous films in the Star Wars saga are:

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope - May 25, 1977
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back - May 21, 1980
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - May 25, 1983
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - May 19, 1999
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones - May 16, 2002