First Pics of THE NORMAL HEART AKA How Taylor Kitsch Got His Groove Back

 

To say 2012 was rough for "Friday Night Lights" star Taylor Kitsch is an under-statement. Battleship and John Carter were flops, and SAVAGES turned a decent enough profit; but none of them catapulted Kitsch into stardom or into, well, anything like they were supposed to.

Well, the first pics of the HBO film The Normal Heart have showed up online thanks to Mark Ruffalo's twitter, and Broadway World (via Collider)

A gay activist attempts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness during the early 1980s.

The movie, st to air sometime in 2014 on HBO, stars Taylor Kitsch (John Carter, Friday Night Lights), Mark Ruffalo (The Brothers Bloom, The Kids are All Right), Julia Roberts (Eat Pray Love, Mirror Mirror), Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory), and Matt Boemer (White Collar). The film is directed by "Glee" and "Nip/Tuck" creator Ryan Murphy 

Weekend Box Office: June 28-30

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

1.  Monsters University - $46.1 million

2.  The Heat - $40 million

3.  World War Z - $29.8 million

4.  White House Down - $25.7 million

5.  Man of Steel - $20.8 million

6.  This Is The End - $8.7 million

7.  Now You See Me - $5.5 million

8.  Fast & Furious 6 - $2.4 million

9.  Star Trek Into Darkness - $2 million

10.  The Internship - $1.4 million

At the box office this weekend, we learned that Pixar and Melissa McCarthy can do no wrong, that reports of Superman's demise were greatly exaggerated, and that one White House-siege movie per year is probably enough.

In the top spot again was Monsters University, which earned a healthy $46.1 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $171 million.  This is especially good news for Pixar, as not only will the prequel continue their streak of films earning more than $200 million at the box office, it will likely get there by the time Despicable Me 2 invades theaters over the upcoming holiday weekend.

So what do you get if you team up Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in an R-rated buddy cop comedy?  Lots of people show up to see it.  The Heat comes in second this weekend with an estimated $40 million, which is the highest opening weekend for both of the film's leading ladies.  Fox, which produced The Heat, reports that women made up 65% of the audience for the film this weekend.  With little R-rated comedy competition standing in its way amongst the minions, monsters, robots, superheroes, and Lone Rangers taking over the box office in the next few weeks, this should continue to play well for awhile. 

Remember how the over-budgeted, problem-plagued, the whole-ending-had-to-be-reshot World War Z was going to be a great big flop that we were all going to laugh over?  Well, that didn't happen.  Although it dropped around 55% in its second weekend, the zombie adventure still earned a solid $29.8 million, passed the $100 million mark, and could possibly surpass Mr. & Mrs. Smith as Brad Pitt's highest-grossing film.  Whether or not it will earn back that impossibly inflated budget is another story, but it does appear a lot of people like this movie.  Go figure.

Lost somewhere amidst the box office totals was White House Down, which really did get lost in theaters with just $25.7 million.  Blame it on poor scheduling, poor marketing, and the simple fact that Olympus Has Fallen, another White House takeover film, was just in theaters a few months ago and did quite well (and still in theaters - it ranked 29th this weekend).  Even Channing Tatum couldn't save it from that.

Man of Steel, which looked to be on shaky ground after a cringeworthy drop last weekend, seems to have found its footing, earning an excellent $20.8 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total up to $248 million.  That $300 million is still a ways off, but its entirely possible it could still happen.  He is Superman, after all.

Next weekend gets to an early start, with Despicable Me 2 and Disney's The Lone Ranger taking advantage of the July 4th weekend by opening on Wednesday.  Despicable Me 2 should easily dominate, but it will be an interesting weekend at the box office nonetheless.

'Seventh Son' moves to January 2014

It's never a good sign when a studio moves around a release date twice or more -- especially if it's to a dead-end month. Seventh Son, the 3D fantasy-adventure film starring Ben Barnes, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, and Kit Harington was supposed to debut February 15, 2013 before Warner Brothers pushed it to October 18, 2013. The movie was plagued with problems, like visual effects studio Rhythm & Hues going bankrupt and producer Legendary Pictures injecting an extra $5 million to get the shots completed. Then a batch of reshoots were underway last week, before Warner Brothers decided to push the movie back again to January 17, 2014.

A move like that signals that the studio feels the movie is a dud, and pushing it to the doldrums of January allows it to die a quick and painful death. Now, there have been exceptions to the January releases (Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Cloverfield and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters all did well), but only time will tell.

The movie will hit theaters in 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D January 17, 2014.

New Prisoners Trailer is OK, I Guess

The first trailer for Prisoners did a great job capturing the fear and helplessness of two couples (Hugh Jackman & Maria Bello and Terrence Howard & Viola Davis) as their little girls are missing and there is nothing to stop the lone suspect (Paul Dano) from leaving police custody. I'm seeing the movie based on the power of that trailer alone.

This new trailer falls more on generic thriller territory.

Maybe it's relying more on Jake Gyllenhaal as the lead investigator bugs me. Don't feel like I can get behind him. His character doesn't have anything at stake. The parents do, and who couldn't relate to them and their determination to get their children back at any costs?

Paramount Making Terminator Reboot For June 2015

Terminator: Salvation was meant to be a reboot, and the start of a new Terminator trilogy. Watch the McG-directed, Christian Bale-starring film and you'll see otherwise. That couldn't be the furthest thing away from a reboot. Executives and producers name-drop the term to look like the cool kids in the room, but don't bother grabbing a dictionary or Wikipedia in our Instant-Access-to-Everything environment.

Only now Paramount is doing a new Terminator and this time they swear it is a reboot. The press release they sent doesn't label it Terminator 5 but simply "rebooted Terminator movie." Alright, at least you got the terminology right on paper this time, Paramount. I grant you that.

"Skydance Productions, Annapurna Pictures and Paramount Pictures have jointly announced they will partner on a rebooted 'TERMINATOR' movie, to be released by Paramount Pictures on June 26, 2015.

The first in a stand-alone trilogy, 'TERMINATOR' will be produced by Megan Ellison of Annapurna and David Ellison of Skydance. Dana Goldberg and Paul Schwake of Skydance will serve as executive producers. Laeta Kalorgridis ('Avatar,' 'Shutter Island') and Patrick Lussier ('Drive Angry') are attached to write the screenplay.

Launched in 1984 with star Arnold Schwarzenegger as the title character, 'TERMINATOR' spanned 3 subsequent films, which have earned over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

David Ellison most recently executive produced, along with his partners at Paramount, 'World War Z,' 'Star Trek Into Darkness,' 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' and 'Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol'. A 5th installment of in the 'Mission: Impossible' franchise is in active development, along with a 3rd film in the 'G.I. Joe' franchise, among other films.

Megan Ellison most recently produced the Academy Award®-nominated 'Zero Dark Thirty,' 'The Master' and executive produced “Spring Breakers” via her Annapurna Pictures banner and has David O. Russell’s 'American Hustle,' Spike Jonze's 'Her,' and Bennett Miller's 'Foxcatcher' set for release later this year."

Not sure how that works out since (last I checked) Arnold Schwarzenegger is returning. My apprehension would ease in light of who directs. Megan and David Ellison could really reach to the starts for a "WOW, You got that guy?!" choice or a safe shooter to do whatever they're told.  

Two New "Red 2" TV Spots

In Red 2, retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they'll need to survive an army of relentless assassins, ruthless terrorists and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the next-generation weapon. The mission takes Frank and his motley crew to Paris, London and Moscow. Outgunned and outmanned, they have only their cunning wits, their old-school skills, and each other to rely on as they try to save the world-and stay alive in the process.

Two "Despicable Me 2" TV Spots

Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s worldwide blockbuster, Despicable Me, delighted audiences around the globe in 2010, grossing more than $540 million and becoming the 10th-biggest animated motion picture in U.S. history. In Summer 2013, get ready for more minion madness in Despicable Me 2. Chris Meledandri and his acclaimed filmmaking team create an all-new comedy animated adventure featuring the return of Gru (Steve Carell), the girls, the unpredictably hilarious minions…and a host of new and outrageously funny characters.

Vin Diesel to Meet with Marvel

"Never going to happen."

Those were the first words that came to mind when I read Vin Diesel posted on his Facebook page that Marvel had requested a meeting with him.

As great as it would be for an action star of Diesel's caliber to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I just don't buy Vin playing nice with the Marvel team.

If there's one thing you must know about Vin Diesel, it's that he is completely involved in every project he's in.  From the development of the script, to location scouting, to pre-production as well as post-production; the man demands input in every aspect because he is passionate about what he does and wants it done right.  It's why he's done nothing but Fast & Furious films the past 5 years along with another Riddick entry; Universal caters to his needs and allows him to have creative control over these projects because he makes them money with the one viable franchise they have.

Marvel on the other hand?  Are you kidding?  They basically tell every actor that walks into their offices that it's their way or the highway.  Just ask Terrence Howard, or better yet, any actor from The Avengers not named Robert Downey Jr.  They don't cater to anyone and won't allow scripts or whole projects for that matter to be altered to fit an actor's 'needs'.

Vin Diesel will probably take the meeting, but once he learns first-hand how rigid Marvel is with their films, give a polite, "Thanks, but no thanks."

Hey at least Marvel can say they tried.

Source: Facebook

Teaser Trailer for THE COUNSELOR Promises A Lot of Sexy People and Cameron Diaz

The teaser trailer for Ridley Scott's The Counselor found it's way online today, and it has all the making of something that people will go and say "that should win an Oscar!" and shit, It might, because they love them some Cormac McCarthy at the Academy, and everybody loves Fassy.

Cormac McCarthy provides his first original screenplay with this Ridley Scott-directed thriller starring Michael Fassbender as a lawyer who dabbles in trafficking drugs only to realize just how dangerous a situation he's stumbled into. Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, and Cameron Diaz head up the rest of thestarring cast.

Liam Neeson's Coming Back for 'Taken 3', Will Be Paid $20 Million

This is what happens when you get a good film that becomes a surprise hit.

Taken was a well-made action film that needed no further story.  A guy's daughter gets kidnapped, he saves her, the end.  No trilogy, no three-part series needed; just a solid action movie to be seen for years to come.

Hollywood, of course, doesn't see things that way.  They see money.  And when they see money, they will milk every last drop out of that one frickin cow until it is bone dry.  They don't care how diluted the product is.

This brings us to today's news that Liam Neeson is coming for a Taken 3.  Yeah, Taken 2 made a hefty amount of coin so it was pretty obvious a 3rd flick was going to get happen (just don't expect much of a box office after the poorly received 1st sequel; look no further than The Hangover Part III for proof.  What now Bradley Cooper, you Hollywood kiss ass?).

Word is that Neeson will be paid close to $20 million to reprise his role of Bryan Mills (after getting $15 million for the 2nd), the ex-CIA agent who used his 'certain set of skills' to save his daughter in the 1st film, then save his daughter and wife in the 2nd.  Maybe this time he'll have to save his parents too?

Production on the three-quel is set to begin in February with negotiations ongoing with Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen to return as Mills' daughter and wife, respectively.

You gotta hand it to Neeson though.  He may not enjoy playing the Hollywood game, but he's getting a shitload of money out of it.

More on this project as it becomes available.

Source: Deadline