News

As expected, after two weekends of box office dominance, New Line Cinema's It remake was finally dethroned. While it came in far lower than most projections, 20th Century Fox's Kingsman: The Golden Circle took the top spot at the box office with $39 million. Also as expected, Kingsman 2 easily beat its fellow newcomers The Lego Ninjago Movie and Friend Request, although they both came in far lower than most projections.

Box Office Mojo reports that Kingsman 2 opened in 4,003 theaters for a solid $9,743 per-screen average. While some had projected it to open in the $50 million range, the Kingsman sequel still managed to out-gross its predecessor, which opened with $36.2 million en route to a $128.2 million domestic debut and $414.3 million worldwide from an $81 million budget. The sequel was produced under a $104 million budget, but with its $61.2 million foreign debut, for a worldwide tally of $100.2 million, it's already very close to breaking even.

While the It had no trouble repeating atop the box office for a second straight frame in a row last weekend, it doesn't seem that it will be going for a three-peat, with three new movies vying for the crown in wide release, 20th Century Fox's action-packed sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Warner Bros.' Lego Movie spin-off The Lego Ninjago Movie and Entertainment Studios' horror-thriller Friend Request. While it very well could be a close race, we're predicting that Ninjago will come out on top with $55.6 million, while Kingsman 2 will follow just behind with $52.4 million.

Box Office Mojo reports that both Kingsman 2 and Ninjago will be released in roughly 3,900 theaters, with Friend Request opening in roughly 3,000 theaters. All of those movies will still fall short of the 4,138 theaters that the blockbuster It remake was playing in last weekend, but after a record-breaking opening weekend, and a normal second-weekend drop,...

Author: Zehra Phelan

A number of new set images have been doing the circuit for Emily Blunt’s upcoming Mary Poppins reboot, Mary Poppins Returns showing what looks like a bicycle chase across the streets of central London including some atmospheric shots outside of Buckingham Palace. See the gallery of images below.

Related: Mary Poppins Returns First Images

Gordon Harrold, Royal Butler to Prince Harry and historical TV and Film advisor, took to twitter to tweet two eerie and atmospheric shots of the set.

Wonderfully atmosphere filming Mary Poppins Returns outside Buckingham Palace today. Scale of filming is breathtaking. #marypoppinsreturns pic.twitter.com/owKRnxIIP1

— Gordon Harrold (@TheRoyalFootman) April 2, 2017

Mary Poppins Returns doesn’t release onto the big screen until December 2018 but the buzz surrounding the Disney reboot is phenomenal. Looking at the gallery of images to see London transported back to the hazy fog-filled days of yesteryear there is no...

Biggie Smalls was a hip-hop legend.

Stars in the music community and at large took to social media on Thursday to pay their respects to the Notorious B.I.G. -- the "Hypnotize" artist widely credited as one of the most influential rappers of all time -- on the 20th anniversary of his death, when he was shot and killed in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997. He was only 24.

Sean "Diddy" Combs posted several tweets remembering the late rapper, writing, "20 years ago today we lost the greatest rapper of all time, The Notorious B.I.G. #WeMissYouBIG."

Watch: Diddy Gets 3rd Knee Surgery in a Year, Was Told He'd 'Never Run Again'

Diddy also shared a heartfelt video honoring Biggie (real name: Christopher Wallace), whom he acknowledges, "has fed a lot of families, made a lot of people dance."

Shortly thereafter, the rapper and producer encouraged fans to post their favorite Biggie lyrics, writing, "Share your favorite Big verses using the hashtag...

Disney has released the first photo of Emily Blunt in the role of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns. I always thought she was a perfect choice for the role, and after seeing this photo it solidifies the fact that it was inspired casting. Yeah, I know it's just a little photo tease but she looks great, and I'm sure it will spark some excitement among Mary Poppins fans.

The film is currently shooting in London and has a great cast that includes Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Moana), Ben Whishaw (Spectre), Emily Mortimer (Hugo), Julie Walters (Harry Potter films), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), and Meryl Streep (Florence Foster Jenkins). Even Dick Van Dyke is in the film! He plays Mr. Dawes Jr., the chairman of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank. It was also recently announced that Angela Lansbury will play the Balloon Lady, a character from Pl Travers’ original children’s books.

Author: Zehra Phelan

Over the weekend, Disney made a couple of important cast announcements for both of their hotly anticipated offerings, The Lion King and Mary Poppins. Disney had already created a buzz with the announcement of these two remakes which has now skyrocketed for these re-imagined childhood favourites. The stakes are high for Disney, so only the best acting talents will do.

In the case you have been living under a rock of late, The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau will be taking the helm of the all new live-action reimaging from Disney, The Lion King. After the huge success of The Oscar-nominated The Jungle Book last year which saw critics and audiences salivating over the Favreau’s visually stunning production it was a complete no-brainer that he should be leading the pack.

Related: Jon Favreau on The Jungle Book

We couldn’t be happier to hear the great...

Angela Lansbury has joined the cast of Mary Poppins Returns, the all-new sequel to Disney’s 1964 film “Mary Poppins” currently filming at Shepperton Studios. She will feature as the Balloon Lady, a treasured character from Pl Travers’ series of Mary Poppins children’s books. The film is scheduled for release December 25, 2018.

A five-time Tony Award winner and the recipient of an honorary Academy Award, three Academy Award nominations and bestowed with numerous other accolades, Angela Lansbury’s career encompasses more than 70 years. She is a beloved member of the Disney family and starred in “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and voiced Mrs. Potts in the animated classic “Beauty and the Beast.”

Her roles in film, television and theater range from “Gaslight,” “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Death on the Nile” to “Murder, She Wrote,” “Mame,” “Blithe Spirit,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” and “Gypsy.”

Directed...

Production on Mary Poppins Returns, the all new sequel to Disney’s 1964 film “Mary Poppins,” has commenced at Shepperton Studios.

The film, which stars Emily Blunt (“The Girl on the Train,” “Into the Woods”) and Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda (“Hamilton,” “Moana”) and is directed and produced by Oscar nominee, Emmy and DGA Award winner Rob Marshall (“Into the Woods,” “Chicago”), is scheduled for release December 25, 2018.

The film also stars: Ben Whishaw (“Spectre”), Emily Mortimer (“Hugo”) and Julie Walters (“Harry Potter” films) with Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and Meryl Streep (“Florence Foster Jenkins”).

In addition, Dick Van Dyke plays Mr. Dawes Jr., the chairman of Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, which is now run by William Weatherall Wilkins (Firth).

Mary Poppins Returns introduces three new Banks children, played by Pixie Davies (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”), Nathanael Saleh (“Game of Thrones”) and newcomer Joel Dawson.

The sequel to Disney's 1960s classic, Mary Poppins, is currently underway as filming has officially started. We already knew Emily Blunt was playing the titular role, along with Lin-Manuel Miranda as a co-star, but the rest of the stacked cast has been revealed with today's announcement. Come inside to learn more!

Frankly speaking, it's still a little odd to be writing about a sequel to Mary Poppins. It's not something I thought would ever happen, but lo and behold...Mary Poppins Returns already started filming. Today Disney brings the announcement for the start of production, giving us some more insight into the sequel's story as well as the impressive cast they've assembled.

“Mary Poppins Returns” is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in Pl Travers’ additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up,...

Since any New York cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Museum of Modern Art

The Mark Lee Ping-Bing retro has its last weekend, with titles including Hou Hsiao-hsien‘s Dust in the Wind and his rarely screened The Puppetmaster.

Museum of the Moving Image

“David Bordwell: How 1940s Critics Changed American Film Culture” offers a crash course in one sliver of film history. Citizen Kane...

The Hollywood Pantages, a Nederlander Theatre, has announced the smash Broadway musical, "Hamilton" - with book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda - will make its premiere Los Angeles engagement next summer, and anchor the 2016-2017 season. Los Angeles audiences will also be treated to the direct-from-Broadway premieres of two recent Tony Award-winners for Best Musical Revival: "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and the Lincoln Center production of "Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The King and I." The 2016-2017 Season will also include the Tony Award-winning "An American in Paris," direct from the West End...

Lin-Manuel Miranda‘s hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” will make its Los Angeles debut in the summer of 2017, the Hollywood Pantages theatre announced Tuesday. “Hamilton” will anchor the 2016-17 season at the Pantages on Hollywood Blvd. Other musicals set to play during the season include “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” “The King and I,” “An American in Paris,” “The Bodyguard,” “Finding Neverland” and the return of “Book of Mormon.” “The exceptional shows we have in store for next season is the type of lineup that reminds us all why we Love theatre,” general manager Martin Wiviott said in a statement. “We come.

It's so tough to keep up with other movie stuffs during precursor week. So here are several news items, essays, montages to help up catch us all up. Ready. Set. Go...

News

i09 One sorcerer supreme is not enough for Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch. He's also signed on to play Jasper Maskelyne, a Nazi-fighter War Magician

The Wrap Universal's Mummy reboot will swap the gender of the monster. Sofia Boutella (Kingsman: Secret Service) will star

Film Stage George Clooney's next directing job is the noir Suburbicon. He's lining up an all star cast and Julianne Moore just joined

Playbill Lee Daniels creating a girl band tv series for Queen Latifah (Empire was such a succcess that there are  lot of music industry series about to hit or in development)

/Film Ang Lee's Thrilla in Manila, a boxing drama is said to be eyeing Ray Fisher as Muhammad Ali...

Winners for the 65th annual Outer Critics Circle Awards were revealed on May 11. Honorees will be feted at Sardi's on May 21. (Read full report here.) Best Broadway Play The Audience X - Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Wolf Hall -Break- Best Broadway Musical X - An American in Paris It Shoulda Been You The Last Ship Something Rotten! The Visit Best Off-broadway Play X - Between Riverside and Crazy The City of Conversation The Nether Rasheeda Speaking The Village Bike Best Off-broadway Musical A Christmas Memory Disenchanted The Fortress of Solitude X - Hamilton Lonesome Traveler Best Revival Of A Play (Broadway or Off-Broadway) The Elephant Man Fashions for Men The Heidi Chronicles Skylight X - You Can't Take It With You Best Revival Of A Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) Into the Woods X - The King and I On the Town On the Twentieth Century Side Show Outer Critic.

Catch up on the week's biggest stories from Broadway and beyond in BroadwayWorld's 'This Week in Pictures,' featuring coverage of press events, rehearsals, opening nights, and more. Highlights this week include coverage of the opening nights of An American In Paris, It Shoulda Been You, Finding Neverland, and The King And I, a first look at Something Rotten, the cast of Hamilton's tribute to A Chorus Line, and more...

James Cameron is, in case it has escaped your attention, the most successful filmmaker in history. The Canadian director hadn't exactly been starved for box-office smashes early in his career, but his last two films, "Titanic" and "Avatar," have hauled in nearly $5 billion between them, and are currently the number one and number two hits of all time. He's also the man behind the "Terminator" franchise, helmed one of the best-liked of the "Alien" series, has become a deep-sea explorer, and, uh, gave the world flying piranhas.

This week sees "Titanic" back on screens in post-converted 3D form, and given that we're still at least two years away from seeing the filmmaker's next work ("Avatar 2" and "Avatar 3" are currently targeted for around 2014/2015), it seemed like a good opportunity to look back on his career and see how he went from a visual effects whiz on "Escape From New York...

Vegas was made for the movies. What a backdrop … and what a cast: everyone from Elvis to Sinatra, James Bond to Hunter S Thompson have starred in Sin City films, writes John Patterson

• As featured in our Las Vegas city guide

Ocean's Eleven, Directed by Lewis Milestone, 1960

"One for all – and all for Kicks!" The original Rat Pack movie: Frank, Dino, Sammy, Joey and their finger-poppin', all-drinking, all-smoking coconspirators are present and politically incorrect, alongside a Dames' auxiliary comprised, swooningly, of Shirley MacLaine and Angie Dickinson. Eleven former paratroopers assemble to rob five Vegas casinos in a single night, carrying the loot away in garbage trucks. The cast filmed all day and schticked it up onstage at the Sands hotel nightly, so the movie has a tired, hungover feel to it, but the vanished Vegas of 1960 – the old Sahara and Riviera Hotels, and Bugsy Siegel's own Flamingo – shines forever on celluloid.

Last week's #1, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' drops to #4.

By Ryan Downey

Photo: Universal

"Hop" (featuring the voice of outrageous jokester Russell Brand as an Easter Bunny who poops candy) had the strongest opening weekend of any movie released thus far in 2011. The holiday-themed kids' movie enjoyed a $38.1 million opening, which is just a hair (or "hare"?) more than the $38 million debut of "Rango" five weeks ago.

Both flicks are rated PG. "Hop," which co-stars James Marsden ("X-Men") in the lead human role, earned the rating for some mildly crude humor, whereas "Rango," featuring Johnny Depp voicing a cartoon lizard, has some crude humor, a bit of cowboy action and characters who smoke.

"Rango" remains the better reviewed of the two, with 89 percent of critics finding it worthwhile, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which collects reviews from critics. "Hop" sits at just 20 percent on the Tomatometer at press time.

Last week's #1, 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' drops to #4.

By Ryan Downey

Photo: Universal

"Hop" (featuring the voice of outrageous jokester Russell Brand as an Easter Bunny who poops candy) had the strongest opening weekend of any movie released thus far in 2011. The holiday-themed kids' movie enjoyed a $38.1 million opening, which is just a hair (or "hare"?) more than the $38 million debut of "Rango" five weeks ago.

Both flicks are rated PG. "Hop," which co-stars James Marsden ("X-Men") in the lead human role, earned the rating for some mildly crude humor, whereas "Rango," featuring Johnny Depp voicing a cartoon lizard, has some crude humor, a bit of cowboy action and characters who smoke.

"Rango" remains the better reviewed of the two, with 89 percent of critics finding it worthwhile, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which collects reviews from critics. "Hop" sits at just 20 percent on the Tomatometer at press time.

Audiences were expected to increase slowly. But older viewers have flocked to The King's Speech, and while they haven't patronised the concession stall, they have tipped off the youngsters

The favourite

In the UK, the assumption has always been that the older audience takes its time to embrace a film, unlike younger cinemagoers who are much more apt to show up for the latest blockbuster on opening weekend. But when The King's Speech opened with £3.52m, analysts scratched their heads: the older upscale audience was, after all, capable of rushing out in the first three days of a film's release. This particular title, the consensus agreed, probably wouldn't perform like The Queen, whose slow-burn success finally delivered a cumulative total that was 11 times its opening weekend of £856,000.

Now all the calculations are changing once again. Despite the stellar opening – unprecedented for a British period drama – The King's...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The King of Pop is going back on tour. Sort of.

It was announced today that Cirque du Soleil will launch “Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour,” which will be written and directed by Jamie King. The show will combine Jackson’s music and signature choreography with Cirque du Soleil’s visual creativity for a series of live performances.

Here’s the release, in part:

A riveting fusion of visuals, dance, music and fantasy that immerses audiences in Michael’s creative world and literally turns his signature moves upside down, Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour unfolds Michael Jackson’s artistry before the eyes of the audience. Aimed at lifelong fans as well as those experiencing Michael’s creative genius for the first time, the show captures the essence, soul and inspiration of the King of Pop, celebrating a legacy that continues to transcend generations.

There’s a simple formula for taking material and translating it to a different medium - involve people who not only know the work, but also love it. I’m not sure how this very simple dictum escapes Hollywood, but all too often it seems to. Thankfully, we have shining examples like Superman: The Animated Series to show us how it works. More after the jump.

Fresh off the success of Batman: The Animated Series, Bruce Timm and Paul Dini got their shot at the other mainstay of the DC Comics Universe - Superman. For those unfamiliar with the character (and really, where have you been?), Superman is a strange visitor from another planet (Krypton) empowered by Earth’s yellow sun to have abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman is the ultimate immigrant story. Superman’s space craft landed in Middle America (Smallville, Kansas). The alien orphan baby...

Mother and Child

Opens: 2010

Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington

Director: Rodrigo Garcia

Summary: A tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done by the most important person missing in their lives while a young African-Americn woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the adoption process.

Analysis: Scoring rave reviews in Toronto, the $7 million latest effort of Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her") once again shows off his skill at weaving multiple narratives together in clever and unexpected ways. At its heart it's an emotional family drama, but Garcia excels with his female characters which makes the involvement of Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and especially Annette Benning thrilling.

The few criticisms levelled at the film were toward some pacing and credibility issues in the last act, but otherwise praised it for not...

Mother and Child

Opens: 2010

Cast: Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington

Director: Rodrigo Garcia

Summary: A tale of a mother and daughter, separated at birth, who struggle with the damage done by the most important person missing in their lives while a young African-Americn woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy and the adoption process.

Analysis: Scoring rave reviews in Toronto, the $7 million latest effort of Rodrigo Garcia ("Nine Lives," "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her") once again shows off his skill at weaving multiple narratives together in clever and unexpected ways. At its heart it's an emotional family drama, but Garcia excels with his female characters which makes the involvement of Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and especially Annette Benning thrilling.

The few criticisms levelled at the film were toward some pacing and credibility issues in the last act, but otherwise praised it for not...

Gone with the Wind is set to hit both DVD and Blu-ray in a new five disc 70th Anniversary box set on December 1st. Here is the official press release from Warner Home Video:

Winner of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture, and still history's all time domestic box-office champion ($1.5 billion), Gone with the Wind has long been considered the most celebrated motion picture of all time. On November 17, Warner Home Video will honor the romantic epic with a stunningly restored and remastered version, available for the first time on Blu-ray. Gone with the Wind [70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition] is sure to be a "must-have" for collectors of classic films, available both in Blu-ray as well as on DVD.

The highlight of this new Blu-ray version of Gone with the Wind is how it looks and sounds. As they've done with Wizard of Oz, Warner Home Video continues to maximize what the Blu-ray format...