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With Bryan Singer recently announcing his directing return to the X-Men franchise after leaving LAST STAND hanging to take on SUPERMAN RETURNS, the fans are back in! Now he’s giving us a small nugget of info as to what we should expect in the next X-MEN ORIGINS flick, FIRST CLASS:

“This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where their [sic] relationship took a wrong turn. There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from ‘X-Men’ will figure into the plot, though I don’t want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain.“

Based off that statement, it looks like Singer and new writer Jamie Moss (STREET KINGS) will be moving away from what we’ve previously heard from Fox producers about what FIRST CLASS will be. It sounds as though they’ll be focusing on (young) Xavier & Magneto and their forming of the school more so than the actual “First Class”. That bringing us to the point of Singer adding “new mutants” into the mix rather than just the original X-Men: Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Beast (according to the current franchise, maybe Storm?).

Word is Singer will be continuing on with his fairy tale adaption JACK THE GIANT KILLER before returning to the mutant world, so now we’re left to wonder about the new, younger cast that will make up FIRST CLASS.

It’s weird being all grown up yet still loving the same things you did a decade ago. TOY STORY is not only my favorite Disney movie, but my favorite animated movie and ranks high on my all time best list. I think the sequel had a hard time living up to the original and ended up being an inferior film, especially since it focused on new characters rather than those we loved from the original.

That said, the trailer for 3 looks great. The toys we grew to love are on a new adventure, and I think we get just enough of a look to get excited without being given too much. June is pretty far off, I’m sure we’ll being seeing a lot more footage in the future. Until then check out the trailer below!

It was over a decade ago the first time I laid my eyes on who would become my favorite wrestler of all time, The Rock. And after years of watching him lay the smack down on every Jabroni that walked into the ring with him, I had to deal with him leaving wrestling for the shiny bright lights of Hollywood.

It started off great, THE SCORPION KING, THE RUNDOWN, and WALKING TALL made Rocky into an action star! Then as time passed ‘The Great One’ turned into Dwayne Johnson and we got THE GAME PLAN and RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, and hell I’ll admit I actually enjoyed the former of the two, but this might just be the end. Read the description, watch the trailer, wipe your tears, and hope this is the last time we see The Rock in a tutu…

Johnson is Derek “The Tooth Fairy” Thompson, a hard-charging minor league hockey player whose nickname comes from his habit of separating opposing players from their bicuspids. When Derek discourages a youngster’s hopes, he’s sentenced to one week’s hard labor as a real tooth fairy, complete with the requisite tutu, wings and magic wand. At first, Derek “can’t handle the tooth” - bumbling and stumbling as he tries to furtively wing his way through strangers’ homes…doing what tooth fairies do. But as Derek slowly adapts to his new position,he begins to rediscover his own forgotten dreams.

The man himself, Michael Bay, has given word today (via MichaelBay.com) that pre-production on the next TRANSFORMERS flick is officially underway. Bay says that not only do they have a “great story” ready, but that the release will be moved up a whole year from summer 2012 to July 1st, 2011!

“Today is Day One. This morning started with an ILM meeting for five hours in San Francisco. Currently I’m flying with writer Ehren Kruger to Rhode Island to talk to Hasbro about new characters.“

This all coming off the recent talk of Bay not returning for TF3 or holding out until after making another (non-blockbuster) picture, PAIN AND GAIN, which will now be postponed until directly after TF3. Also looks like the recently announced BAD BOYS 3 will have to be put on hold, which was a shaky project anyways.

Finally, everyone has heard/read the shots Megan Fox took at Bay and the consequential shots back from the TF production crew, well hopefully that will all end after MB gave her this little shout out on his post…

“P.S. Megan Fox, welcome back. I promise no alien robots will harm you in any way during the production of this motion picture. Please consult your Physician when working under my direction because some side effects can occur, such as mild dizziness, intense nausea, suicidal tendencies, depression, minor chest hair growth, random internal hemorrhaging and inability to sleep. As some directors may be hazardous to your health, please consult your Doctor to determine if this is right for you.“

So, Bay is in! Fox is in! Lets just quit all the bickering and second guessing and just make an awesome record breaking blockbuster!

It’s been quite a while since we’ve gotten any official news on the next sequel in the MEET THE PARENTS/MEET THE FOCKERS franchise. Last we heard director Paul Weitz (ABOUT A BOY, AMERICAN PIE) was helming with screenwriter John Hamburg returning to script the flick titled, LITTLE FOCKERS. This is what Hamburg had to say about the film earlier this summer:

“It’s Ben Stiller, Bob De Niro, Owen Wilson. They’ve all moved on with their lives and at the beginning of the movie, Greg and Kevin — Ben and Owen’s characters –- are in a good place,” Weitz said of the plot. “Ben has earned [De Niro's character] Jack’s respect, and it’s about no matter how you’ve moved ahead in your life, there’s still anxiety and insecurity around the corner for you…

At the end of the last one they were getting married, and in this one [Stiller] has a couple 5 year olds. They have 5 year-old twins,” Weitz said of the title. “This was an opportunity to work with a bunch of actors who I think are fantastic; it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

I’m a huge fan of this franchise, and Hamburg not only wrote both previous films, but also ALONG CAME POLLY, I LOVE YOU MAN, and ZOOLANDER so I can see the potential this project has. Unknown is if Hoffman and/or Streisand will be returning as the Focker parents.

Today news hits that Jessica Alba (FANTASTIC FOUR, GOOD LUCK CHUCK) is in talks to join the LITTLE FOCKER cast. The source says:

“The actress is in negotiations to join the Ben Stiller-Robert DeNiro comedy “Little Fockers.” She’d play the role of an attractive pharmaceutical rep whose looks wreak havoc on male characters in the story.”

Alba has tried her hand at comedy before, and say what you will about her acting, but it seems like they’re just looking for a hot chick to fill out the role, and she’s that if nothing else. Surrounded  by a great comedic cast of Stiller, DeNiro, and Wilson this could actually work. I’m psyched, but we’re left with only a flimsy summer/fall 2010 release date.

It was cloudy once again this weekend at the theaters as MEATBALLS beat out all new releases to defend it’s #1 spot and pull in another $24.6M to bring itself to a $60M total in just 2 weeks, a big score for Sony Pictures Animation who is trying to compete with Disney/Pixar and Dreamworks Animation.

This weekends new releases all fell well below expectations. The biggest new release was Bruce Willis’ SURROGATES which brought in only $15M of it’s $80M budget. The next HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL wanna-be, FAME, filled the 3rd spot with a $10M total, likely hurt from the continued success of CLOUDY. PANDORUM, the last new wide release this week couldn’t even crack the top 5 with a total of only $4.4M.

There were also two limited releases this weekend. Michael Moore’s CAPITALISM managed to pull in $60,000 off of only four theaters, and next week will be released into another 1000 theaters. While a film getting good buzz from multiple film festivals, the scream fest PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, opened in 12 theaters and raked in $80,000.

Meanwhile, last weeks releases aren’t fairing to well, other than THE INFORMANT! which added another $7M to total up at just under $21M. Aniston’s LOVE HAPPENS along with Megan Fox’s JENNIFER’S BODY will be lucky to gain back their budgets with only $14.7M and $12.3M respectively.

Next week is once again packed with something for everyone. The likely weekend winner ZOMBIELAND, the Woody Harrelson horror/comedy (SHAUN OF THE DEAD-esque). Along with the re-release of TOY STORY 1&2 in 3D, and two comedy flicks with Ricky Gervais’ THE INVENTION OF LYING and Drew Barrymore & Ellen Paige in the roller-derby centered WHIP IT. Which new release are you most excited to see? Comment below!!

Today we get our first official trailer for the new A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, starring Jackie Earle Haley (WATCHMEN) as Freddy Krueger and produced by Michael Bay (TRANSFORMERS, BAD BOYS). The flick is a re-imagining of Wes Craven’s original 1984 horror flick which started a slasher franchise that span almost 2 decades including 5 sequels and 2003’s FREDDY VS JASON.

The trailer gives us a complete glimpse of how Haley’s new Krueger will look, which is slightly different than how we all remember Robert Englund’s classic look. It’s worth noting that the flick is being directed by Samuel Bayer, who up until this point has only directed music videos. The film won’t hit theaters until April 30th 2010, so we have quite a wait to see how the film turns out.  Until then check out the trailer and leave your thoughts below!

My favorite part of this summer’s WOLVERINE was the 30 seconds of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) flinging swords and kicking ass. Then of course everyone knows, we ended up with a half assed, decimated abortion of Deadpool. The good news was that it was almost immediately announced that Deadpool will be getting his own film, one that does justice to the character and gives the nerds…fans… what they want from the Merc with a Mouth.

Today comes news from Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld via Twitter, released throughout the afternoon about a meeting he attended with X-MEN producer Lauren Schuler Donner…

“Walking into Deadpool movie meeting!!! Yowza!

Great Deadpool movie meeting! Lauren Schuler Donner and her team are headed in the right direction!

Deadpool movie checklist- DP in costume-check! Breaking 4th wall-check! Loads of killing-double check!

Deadpool movie- YES! Ryan Reynolds is on board!!!

Also excited to discuss possibilities of Cable in future X-films!!!”

A lot of great news coming out of this that fans, myself, are definitely excited for. If all is fact, we’ll be getting the real Deadpool this time, a costumed killing lunatic who knows the fact he’s in a movie. But more importantly is the reassuring news that Ryan Reynolds will still be starring despite his GREEN LANTERN ties.

On a last note, it’s interesting that he mentions that Cable (son of X-Men Cyclops & Jean Grey) will be popping up in the X-franchise at some point in future. A lot of possibilities of as to where or when that could be. On the slate along with DEADPOOL are two other X-MEN ORIGINS titles, MAGNETO & FIRST CLASS, and the chatter of X4 and a NEW WARRIORS flick.

Animated films scored a huge win this weekend, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS had a sunny opening beating out three other films starring three pretty big stars. Jennifer Aniston, Matt Damon and Megan Fox couldn’t even combine to beat out the newest 3D kids flick, this time coming out of Sony Picture Animation (OPEN SEASON & SURF’S UP). Now after it’s $30M opening, $18M from 3D screens, the only thing left is to come up with a good name for the sequel!

Now even though the other films didn’t make a huge box-office splash, none of them will be considered busts. Damon’s THE INFORMANT opened in the 2nd place spot with $10.5M, his lowest opening since 2006 (THE SHEPHERD). LOVE HAPPENS, Jen Aniston’s latest chick flick outing also fell short of her standards bringing in a mediocre $8.5M, her lowest opening since RUMOR HAS IT in 2005.

Finally, and sadly for me, fending the worst was Megan Fox’s JENNIFER’S BODY. With only $7M and a 5th place spot, this will make a lot of studios/producers weary of having Fox as the lead in their next big flick without any CGI robots fighting in the background. Maybe the fact every printed media Fox had done lately has had a bitchy undertone or the recent comments on the film industry and Michael Bay in particular. We’ll see if the movie can pick up next week, but look for JENNIFER’S BODY to be a cult hit after the DVD release.

Making room for the new releases, 4 movies had to get booted from the top 10 including, GAMER ($19M), DISTRICT 9 ($112M), JULIE & JULIA ($88M) and WHITEOUT ($8M). While Tyler Perry’s I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF continued bringing in the bucks and only fell to the 3rd place spot, and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS officially became Tarantino’s highest grossing film.

Next weekend we’ll be seeing another four new releases. Bruce Willis’ sci-fi flick SURROGATES, where everyone in the future uses a robot clone to do every day activities. Another sci-fi film PANDORUM starring Denis Quaid, which I couldn’t be more uninterested. A movie getting great buzz from film festivals, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, a ‘BLAIR WITCH’ type flick. And finally FAME, another dance movie, ugh. I don’t think any of these will be topping the box-office next week, so which new flick are you most excited to see? Comment Below!

It’s weekends like this that make being a movie fan hard. Not only were all four new releases horrible looking, but Tyler Perry and his even more horribly titled I CAN DO BAD ALL BY MYSELF finished well above the rest in first place with $24M. This was Perry’s 2nd biggest opening as writer/director/actor, after MADEA GOES TO JAIL ($41M), and made more than all three other new releases combined.

The “biggest” new release 9, only managed a 2nd place opening with just under $11M, while the other two flicks didn’t do so well. SORORITY ROW and WHITEOUT finished in 6th & 7th place respectively cashing in with just over $5M each. In more bad news, GI JOE ($144M), THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE ($59M), HALLOWEEN 2 ($30M) and EXTRACT ($9M) all fell out of the top 10 this week.

Still doing well is INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and DISTRICT 9. BASTERDS is set to become Tarantino’s highest box-office success, sitting at only $3M behind PULP FICTION. While D9 , which only cost approximately $30M to make, is on the verge of crossing the $110M mark after just 5 weeks of release.

Next weekend sees another packed schedule with four new flicks being opened. First is Matt Damon’s nerd-spy THE INFORMANT, which will be the weekend bomb IMO. This week’s chick flick will be Aaron Eckhart romancing Jennifer Aniston in LOVE HAPPENS, and the kids (and I) get CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS in 3D starring the voice of one of my favorite comedy actors Bill Hader, among others. And saving the best for last, JENNIFER’S BODY will finally be hitting screens. This will be Megan Fox’s chance to show she can actually hold a movie on her own, or even act for that matter, which could be either helped or heathered with a script written by JUNO’s Oscar winning Diablo Cody. So which flicks will come out on top? Comment below!