Weekend Movie News Wrap Up: September 21, 2008

This week:

There is a box office round-up and we check out Viggo Mortensen’s involvement in The Hobbit; Jude Law teams up with Sherlock Holmes; David Duchovny and Demi Moore keep up with The Joneses; Owen Wilson bites back in Blood Brothers and Jason Statham eyes The Grabbers.

Box Office

Samuel L. Jackson looks set to arrest the number one spot with the thriller Lakeview Terrace. The film should capture around $15 million over the weekend. If you thought that the film was good or if it looks interesting I’d recommend checking out Kurt Russell’s Unlawful Entry or the 1951 film The Prowler.

Meanwhile Burn After Reading should nestle in the number two position with around $11 million. The Coen brothers seem to be on a pretty good roll, with the George Clooney/ Brad Pitt flick having a total cume of $35 million. Word of mouth on Righteous Kill appears to be bad with a second weekend drop of 61%, which ain’t good for a non sequel, especially one starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. The Dane Cook/ Kate Hudson starrer My Best Friend’s Girl will have banked around $8 million come Monday morning – not too good. Meanwhile The Dark Knight should manage another couple of million over the weekend bringing it’s total cume north of $520 million. I wonder if Warner Bros. have called Chris Nolan yet?

Movie News

1. Although Ian McKellan is attached to The Hobbit and its sequel it seems that nobody has contacted Viggo Mortensen… yet.

“No Ego Viggo” had this to say to MTV:

“I haven’t heard anything. Ian is very proactive. He’s been banging that drum!. It was a very important project to all of us and especially to him I think. He wants to make sure Gandalf is in there and in there early! I’m going to cross that bridge when I get to it. Obviously, I would rather have the chance to play that role myself since I originated it on film than have someone else do it.”

I don’t think they’d ignore Viggo, as Aragorn is an important character in the Lord of The Rings franchise. If I was a betting man I’d say that a lot of the characters (and actors) from the first three films will appear to keep continuity. As they’ve only begun writing The Hobbit and it’s follow-up don’t expect any major casting news in the near future.

However, maybe Viggo could be Aragorn with the Wind.

Source: MTV

2. David Duchovny and Demi Moore have signed on to comedy-drama The Joneses.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

“The story, a social commentary, centers on a picture-perfect family that moves into a suburban neighborhood and immediately becomes the toast of the town, loved and envied by all. But the reality is they are a commissioned fake family put together by a marketing company as a way to introduce new luxury-level products to neighborhoods around the world.”

Amber Heard and Gary Cole will co-star in the film which will be directed by Derrick Borte.

If you’re a Duchovny fan you will be happy to know that he’s doing okay after overcoming his sex addiction and he’s getting ready for the second season of Californication which starts on September 28.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

3. Almost every male actor in Hollywood has been mooted for the part, but now it looks like Jude Law will be Robert Downey Jr’s sidekick in Sherlock Holmes. Law is in negotiations to play Dr Watson in the Guy Richie directed film.

It finally proves something we’ve always known – Sherlock Holmes has the Law on his side.

Source: Variety

4. Owen Wilson will star in and produce the comedy-vampire film Blood Brothers. The film is pitched as a buddy comedy film about a man and a vampire.

Lets just hope it doesn’t suck!

Source: Bloody Disgusting

5. Everybody’s favorite bald headed Brit, Jason Statham is currently developing a film written by David and Janet Peoples (Twelve Monkeys). Titled The Grabbers (which sounds like a teen sex comedy) the film (according to Statham) will be in the same vein as Humphrey Bogart’s classic The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

The Crank/Transporter star had this to say:

“We’ve got a movie we’re trying to do, written by David and Janet Peoples, in the vein of an old film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre . It’s not a remake or anything, but it’s a little bit like that, about relationships and how greed contaminates the relationships these three people have. The working title is The Grabbers.”

If Statham is involved I’d expect the action quota to be a bit higher than Bogart’s film.

Even if the film is bad the DVD will look fun beside Snatch.

Source: Empire

That’s it for another week. See you at the movies.

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