This week:

How to Train Your Dragon kicks Alice off the top spot; Tom Selleck returns in Reagan's Law! Kate Hudson has Something Borrowed; Carey Mulligan is a Fair Lady and will Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon saddle up for Paper Wings?

Box Office

Alice in Wonderland was finally slayed by How To Train Your Dragon. The 3D animated tale grossed a decent, if not spectacular $45 million. It should play well in the future and make a killing on DVD/Blu-ray.

How To Train Your Dragon movie image

Although Alice dipped to number two, it didn’t do too badly with a weekend take of $17.5 million. $293 million in the bank and a home video release in the near future means that Disney is going to have an impressive fiscal year.

John Cusack’s Hot Tub Time Machine was third with a disappointing take of $13 million. It was hoped that the film would open in the high teens. The time-traveling comedy probably won’t have great legs, but it should find a cult following on home video.

Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler’s The Bounty Hunter managed over $12.5 million for the three days, giving their action rom-com $39 million in the bank – about a million shy of its budget.

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid brought its total to a strong $37 million, while She’s Out of My League upped its cumulative total to $25 million.

Green Zone is still in the red after taking just over $3 million this weekend. The $100 million budget film has now grossed just $30 million.

Shutter Island did pretty much the same business as Green Zone on its sixth week. The thriller has now banked $120 million. Anyone else remember when a Martin Scorsese picture would top out at around $50 million after a good run?

Repo Men grossed $3 million from Friday to Sunday and upped its total to a pitiful $11.5 million.

Remember Me scored just under $2 million, bringing its total to $17 million. At least Robert Pattinson has a few more Twilight movies in him to keep those mortgage payments at bay.

Movie News

1. Look – I’ll admit it. I miss Tom Selleck on the television. A few Jesse Stone TV movies doesn’t do it for me. So, it’s good news to hear that Selleck is currently in negotiations to return in weekly hour long series called Reagan’s Law.

According to Deadline:

“Reagan’s Law (is) a drama about three generations of a stories New York cop family. Len Cariou will play the family patriarch, an ex-chief of police. Selleck will play his son Michael, a handsome widower who is the current NYPD chief of police. Donnie Wahlberg will play his son, a detective who returned to the force after a tumultuous stint as a captain in Iraq.”

Flex Alexander and Bridget Moynihan are also expected to get roles in the CBS pilot, which is to be helmed by Michael Cuesta.

Although Selleck has starred in the ill-fated sit-com The Closer and made appearances in Las Vegas, Boston Legal and Friends, it is the first time he has headlined an hour long drama since Magnum PI.

Source: Deadline

2. Kate Hudson and romantic films go together like... Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn. Therefore it’s no surprise that Hawn’s spawn has signed up to star in Something Borrowed.

Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski and Colin Egglesfield have also signed on to film which is based on Emily Giffin's debut novel, and will be directed by Luke Greenfield.

“Hudson will star as Darcy, best friend of Goodwin's Manhattan attorney who becomes involved with Darcy's fiancé following her 30th birthday.”

Hilary Swank and Molly Smith produce for Alcon Entertainment

Source: Variety

3. Whilst out shilling Nanny McPhee 2, Emma Thompson has stated that up and coming British actress Carey Mulligan (Wall Street 2) has been signed to the long in development My Fair Lady remake.

Quite a few stars (and directors) have flirted with the project, which has been written by Thompson.

No male lead has been cast yet – but Thompson has stated that she’d love Hugh Grant “to do it”.

I presume that by “do it” she means star as (tor?) mentor Henry Higgins.

Source: BBC

4. The LA Times has heard rumblings that Tom Cruise and Reese Witherspoon could soon be sharing the screen in Paper Wings.

"Paper Wings is a love story set in the world of rodeo that's being developed at Sony. Cruise would take the role of a rodeo champ who falls for an up-and-coming country singer, played by Witherspoon.”

Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment is producing the project for Sony and the favored director is currently Gabriele Muccino, who helmed the Smith starrers Seven Pounds and The Pursuit of Happyness.

The country singer role isn’t something new for Witherspoon, who won an Oscar for Walk the Line, while Cruise can do cocky man of action in his sleep – see Top Gun, Days of Thunder, any Mission: Impossible and er... everything that he’s pretty much starred in.

Cruise also got a western itch to scratch – a few years ago he was attached to 3.10 To Yuma, which was directed by his Knight and Day director James Mangold. Russell Crowe ended up starring in the flick opposite Christian Bale.

Cruise is notoriously picky about any film he does and he has Mission: Impossible 4 on the way. The stars would also have to align in the correct order for Witherspoon and Cruise to get their schedules to sync up. I’d imagine if any man could do that – it’d be Will Smith. I mean, that guy can do everything. Right?

Source: LA Times

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