Movie News Wrap Up – July 27, 2009

In the wrap up this week:

Harry Potter feels the G-Force at the box office; Mila Kunis is a Black Swan; Michael Keaton is “Ken”; Kurt Russell might be in Red Dawn. Then again he might not; David Cronenberg gets a haircut in Cosmopolis and Money Never Sleeps for Josh Brolin.

Box Office

Jerry Bruickheimer’s G-Force shot into the number one position this week with a weekend take of  $32 million. The Disney family film looks set to hit the $100 million mark giving Bruickheimer another century hit.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had to settle for second place over the weekend. Down 60% from last weekend, the wonderful wizard flick brought in another $30 million, giving the Warner Bros pic a magical gross of almost $222 million. Factor in the $405 million that the film has made elsewhere around the world, the latest Potter epic has conjured up an astonishing $627 million in just over two weeks! It looks like Harry Potter will grab the 2009 box office crown from Transformers 2.

The Katherine Heigl/ Gerard Butler romantic comedy The Ugly Truth also had an impressive opening of $27 million.

The Joel Silver produced horror film Orphan scared-up an average $12 million over the weekend. The budget should be low and DVD rentals and sales will be high, so anyone with profit participation should be happy in the end.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs melted over 50%, with a gross of $8 million. With $171 million in the bank this looks to be a strong franchise for Fox.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen banked another $8 million, giving the Megan Fox/ Shia LaBeouf starrer a huge total gross of $379 million. A final gross of $400 million is pretty much guaranteed. Ker-ching!

The Hangover keeps hanging around. The R-rated comedy laughed up another $6.5 million, giving the film a massive $247 total gross.

Sandra Bullock’s The Proposal also laughed up another $6.4 million. The film has so far grossed an impressive $140 million.

Michael Mann’s Public Enemies shot up another $4 million. With $88 million robbed from cinema-goers so far it looks like this will need all of Johnny Depp’s charm to hit $100 million.

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Bruno squeezed out just under $3 million, bringing its total to $56 million. A final gross of just over $60 million should be something of a disappointment for all involved, but not unexpected.

Movie News

1. Mila Kunis is set to star opposite Natalie Portman in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan.

The supernatural drama will follow Portman’s Ballerina whose rival may or may not be a figment of her imagination. Kunis will star as the rival Lilly.

Kunis has quite a few films on the way; the Mike Judge directed Extract with Ben Affleck and the Denzel Washington starring The Book of Eli.

Black Swan starts shooting this fall.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2. It has been known for quite a while, but now someone has confirmed it – Michael Keaton will voice Ken in Toy Story 3. Director Lee Unkrich announced the news at Comic Con.

Now somebody get the man a really good live action role. Please.

Source: Coming Soon

3. ComingSoon.net announced in an “exclusive” that Kurt Russell would be joining the cast of the Red Dawn remake, however the story has since vanished from the site.

Could the Big Trouble In Little China star be joining the Dan Bradley directed action flick?

At this point it could swing either way. Maybe the deal wasn’t closed and someone was worried that Russell might not follow through, or maybe it was total BS and Comingsoon dropped the story to save face.

Whatever the case once we know – you’ll know.

Source: Coming Soon

4. David Cronenberg will direct an adaptation of Don DeDillo’s  Cosmopolis. The film follows a 28 year-old billionaire who crosses New York for a haircut. I’m pretty sure there’s more to the plot than that, but you never know. The film will shoot in 2010, and no cast has signed…yet.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

5. According to the all knowing Nikki Finke Josh Brolin has been offered a role in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2. Javier Bardem was originally in the frame to play the “villain” role in the film, but it looks like Stone will be re-teaming with his W star.

It looks like 2010 might be another big year for Brolin as he also has Jonah Hex on the way.

Michael Douglas and Shia LaBoeuf will also star in the film that currently has the title Money Never Sleeps.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

That’s it for now. See you at the movies.