Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: February 1st, 2009

It’s February and Sunday and that means it’s Wrap Up time.

This week:

We look at the box office and Mickey Rourke sees Broken Horses; a Watchmen star watches women; Puss in Boots shuffles forward and Bryan Singer says Logan’s Run is slow.

Box Office

Liam Neeson’s Taken surpassed expectations and shot up an impressive $24 million over the weekend – despite the Super Bowl.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop arrested another $14 million bringing its total to $84 million.  I’m guessing that at some point somebody will start talking sequel.

The Uninvited grabbed $10 million, while New In Town was pretty much ignored with a $6.5 million weekend. Looks like Rene Zellweger will be talking about Bridget Jones 3.

Gran Torino crossed the $100 million milestone and made another $8.5 million. Looks like Clint is going  out on a career high.

Oscar hopeful Slumdog Millionaire made $7 million and managed to come within spitting distance of $70 million. $100 million is now almost a given.

Movie News

1.  Mickey Rourke is in negotiations to star in Gangster film Broken Horses.

Indian director Vidhu Vinod Chopra  will direct.

I’m guessing that the producers will offer Rourke more than $250,000.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

2.  Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan will star with Hilary Swank in The Resident. The Hammer Horror film will be directed by Antti J. Jokinen.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The story centers on a young doctor (Swank) who moves into a loft in Brooklyn where mysterious occurrences lead her to suspect that she is not alone in her home. She discovers that her seemingly charming landlord (Morgan) has developed a dangerous obsession with her, resulting in a terrifying game of cat and mouse. “

The last horror film that Morgan and Swank starred in was PS I Love You.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. Shrek fans rejoice! The Puss In Boots film has got a writer. Tom Wheeler will write the Shrek spin off. In the meantime Shrek Goes Fourth opens on May 21, 2010.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

4. If you’ve been looking forward to Bryan Singer’s Logan’s Run then you might be unhappy to learn that the film is far away. If it’s even in the distance.

Also, it looks like Superman isn’t on Singer’s plate either as the director plans to take some time off. Speaking to LA Times writer Chris Lee Singer said:

“At the moment, I haven’t decided. I really don’t know. I’m taking a genuine break. The last four years have been really busy with the miniseries, the TV and the movies. I’m taking a few months to collect myself and figure out what I’m going to do in that regard. We did a lot of development on that movie and a lot of work. To start it up again, I wouldn’t start it up again without a full commitment. So I have decisions to make. Right now, that’s just hanging around.”

Source: LA Times

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