Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: May 3, 2009

This week:

Wolverine is Number 1! Keanu Reeves goes to Cartagena; Marcus Nispell captains The Last Voyage of Demeter; we learn about The Pale Horsemen; Jim Carrey likes The Beaver; Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson know Hesher and three more people jump into the Hot Tub Time Machine; And last but not least, The Road finally gets a new release date.

Box Office

Hugh Jackman proved that he’s still a draw as Wolverine as his X-Men franchise spin-off X-Men Origins: Wolverine clawed up somewhere in the region of $85-90 million over the weekend. The weekend take was pretty much in line with expectations, but the road ahead might be tricky as reviews weren’t particularly great so there might be a huge drop-off next weekend which is usual for this type of movie.

It looks like Jackman will be able to take Wolverine to Japan in the next installment of Wolverine and we might be seeing a Magneto prequel after all. I’m happy for Hugh Jackman as he really sold the hell out of the film and he needs a hit to stay in the Hollywood game.

Women got even more eye candy this week, in the form of Matthew McConaughey in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which came in number 2 at the box office. The counter programming romantic comedy should gross about $16 million over the weekend, which is about $6 million less than the usual opening for a “Bongos” McConaughey Rom-Com. Come on Matt get back into the action game with a sequel to Sahara 2!

The Beyonce Knowles/Ali Larter face off Obsessed was third with a gross of $12,5 million. With a reported budget of $20 million the film is happily in the black. The film has banked $47 million so far.

Zac Efron’s 17 Again was next with another $6 million in the bank bringing the body swap comedy’s total to $48 million.

Monsters vs. Aliens and The Soloist both made a around $6 million each with the Robert Downey Jr-Jamie Foxx team-up dipping 39% to give it a $19 million total.

Fighting and Earth both banked about $4 million a piece while State of Play’s total currently stands at just over $30 million – a real shame considering how good the film is.

Hannah Montana The Movie has conned movie goers out of a towering $70 million so far making somebody at Disney very happy indeed.

Movie News

1. Keanu Reeves is the new Clive Owen. The Matrix star will replace Owen in Cartagena.

The plot of the film details an undercover agent in Columbia who gets caught in a battle between drug dealers and international agents.

I guess that Owen had enough traveling with The International.

Source: Dark Horizons

2. Marcus Nispell is in talks to direct The Last Voyage of Demeter.

According to Variety:

“(The film) is based on a chapter in Bram Stoker’s Dracula describing the arrival of the vampire count in England on a cargo ship that has crashed into the rocks at Whitby with no crew and the dead captain lashed to the steering wheel. Stoker tells the story via the captain’s log of the voyage, which begins in Bulgaria and becomes increasingly disjointed as members of the crew disappear.”

Not that sounds pretty damn cool!

Source: Variety

3. One of the gentleman behind the Underworld films, Kevin Grevioux, will direct The Pale Horsemen. The film will be an adaptation of his own graphic novel.

“The Pale Horsemen is described as a supernatural thriller that revolves around a gang of hit men who are forced to work together to uncover who killed their mentor.”

Isn’t that just like Young Guns?

Source: Variety

4. Jim Carrey is circling The Beaver, a script that is seen as one of the best unproduced scripts in Hollywood.

“Beaver centers on the relationship between a man and a beaver puppet he wears on his arm, which he talks to and treats as a companion.”

Steve Carell was originally interested in the film when it was going to be directed by Jay Roach.

No director is attached yet but Jodie Foster is interested in directing the film. Cue multiple dirty minded headlines.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

5. Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Office star Rainn Wilson and will star in Hesher.

According to Empire:

“Gordon-Levitt play Hesher, a 20-something slacker who invades the life of an awkward 13 year-old. Said teen lives with his pill-popping father (Wilson), who’s trying to keep the family together after his wife’s death, and his grandmother. Portman plays the supermarket check-out girl the teen falls in love with after she saves him from bullies, while Hesher himself proves a mixed influence on the boy’s life.”

Portman will produce the film which I predict will not make Star Wars money.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt will next be seen in GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. That wont make as much money as Star Wars either, but it’ll still be a truckload.

Source: Empire

6. Crispin Glover, Sebastian Stan and Lizzy Caplin will star alongside John Cusack in the brilliantly titled Hot Tub Time Machine.

The film follows a group of middle-age men who go back to the ski lodge where they spent an eventful teenage summer. They are then transported back to 1987.

Cusack produces the Steve Pink directed film that started shooting last Monday.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

7. The Road, which has been delayed after originally being scheduled to release at the end of last year in Oscar season, finally has a revised release date.

The film which stars Viggo Mortensen and is based on Cormac McCarthy’s critically acclaimed novel will be hitting theaters October 16, 2009.

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