Who would have thought Arthur, a much maligned and in no way funny comedy starring Russell Brand would lead the pack of new movies this weekend. The only consolation is that its $12.6 million premiere was only good enough for second place. The bad news, his even less amusing animated effort held number one for the second week in a row. Hop added $21.6 million to its now $68.1 million tally putting it right on level with Rango.
The Heat Vision blog of The Hollwyood Reporter claims that actor Josh Pence–who played Armie Hammer’s body twin in The Social Network–has been cast…as Ra’s Al Ghoul.
Well Deadpool fans, the good news is The Merc With the Mouth is still getting a movie! The rough news is it won’t be helmed by Robert Rodriguez, a director seemingly born to do a film on a wisecracking mercenary with over-the-top abilities. Deadline is reporting that X-Men Origins: Deadpool has found a director in Tim Miller. Who? That was our reaction as well.
Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot, currently in the pre-production stage, has been the subject of numerous casting rumors, definitely more so than usual. When we first learned that General Zod would be in the picture, Viggo Mortensen quickly hit the rumor mill as one of the top contenders for the role.
Alas, he won’t be playing the iconic Kryptonian villain, but we finally know who’ll step into the role. IGN reports that Michael Shannon has signed on to play the character in the film, now titled Man of Steel. Snyder had this to say about the Oscar-nominated actor:
Hanna is a 1 hour and 51 minute thrill ride featuring adept acting, fast pacing, and a pitch perfect film score to back it up. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is a special teenager with extraordinary strength, stamina and intelligence thanks to her father Erik Heller (Eric Bana), who raised her to be the ultimate assassin. He sends his daughter on a mission for the first time to kill a ruthless intelligence operative Marissa Viegler (Cate Blanchett) but has to go run across Europe. Alone, Hanna starts to explore her own existence and humanity.
Now we honestly didn’t see that coming but in hindsight, it’s not that surprising. Deadline reports that both Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix trilogy, Memento) and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) have both joined the cast of Michael J. Bassett’s upcoming Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.
Anne Moss, who recently had a pivotal voice role in last year’s Mass Effect 2, joins the cast as a character named Claudia Wolf, while McDowell will play Leonard Wolf. This only further demonstrates how the sequel to the 2006 film is based largely on the game Silent Hill 3, as both Claudia and Leonard appear in the game along with Heather Mason, who will be played by Adelaide Clemens (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) in the film.
Deadline is reporting that after a long vetting process, Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) is sealing the deal to play Roland Deschain in the film/TV adaptations of Stephen King’s “The Dark Tower” series. Director Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon) is in the stages of pre-production, preparing to start filming in September and is also slated to direct the first season of the planned TV series, which is slated to be released between the planned film trilogy.
