Weekend Box Office - 5/13/12

1. The Avengers - $103.16 million ($373.18) - 2 wks (BV) -50.3%
. . . 4349 screens / $23,721 per screen
2. Dark Shadows - $28.81 - 1 wk (WB)
. . . 3755 / $7671
3. Think Like A Man - $6.3 ($81.92) - 4 wks (SG) -22.3%
. . . 2052 / $3070
4. The Hunger Games - $4.4 ($386.9) - 8 wks (LG) -21.3%
. . . 2531 / $1738
5. The Lucky One - $4.06 ($53.72) - 4 wks (WB) -24.5%
. . . 2839 / $1428
6. The Pirates! Band of Misfits - $3.2 ($23.1) - 3 wks (Sony) -41.8%
. . . 3079 / $1039

The Avengers has passed $1 billion worldwide.

Friday's Box Office - 5/11/12

1. The Avengers - $29.12 million ($299.14) - 8 days

2. Dark Shadows - $9.72 - 1 day

3. Think Like A Man - $1.58 ($77.19) - 22 days

4. The Lucky One - $1.29 ($50.97) - 22 days

5. The Hunger Games - $1.2 ($383.7) - 50 days

Dark Shadows should in the $27-30 million range for the weekend, signifying a disappointing pairing of Depp & Burton.  It could still get to $100 million, but will more likely finish in the $80-90 million range domestically.

The Avengers, of course, kicks butt and will probably the second-highest grosser behind Avatar when all is said and done.

TV Renewals & Cancellations

Here's the latest on which scripted TV shows have been renewed or cancelled by the networks:

NBC
Full-season pick-ups

Grimm
Law and Order: SVU
The Office
Parenthood
Parks and Recreation
Smash
Up All Night
Whitney

13-episode pick-ups
30 Rock
Community

Cancelled

Are You There Chelsea?
Awake
Bent
Best Friends Forever
Free Agents
The Firm
Harry's Law
Prime Suspect

CBS
Full-season pick-ups

2 Broke Girls
The Big Bang Theory
Blue Bloods
Criminal Minds
CSI
The Good Wife
Hawaii Five-0
How I Met Your Mother
The Mentalist
Mike & Molly
NCIS
NCIS: Los Angeles
Person Of Interest
Two and a Half Men

Cancelled

A Gifted Man
How To Be A Gentleman
NYC 22
Undecided
CSI: Miami
CSI:NY
Rob
Rules of Engagement
Unforgettable

ABC
Full-season pick-ups

Body of Proof
Castle
Don’t Trust The B—- In Apt. 23
Grey's Anatomy
Happy Endings
Last Man Standing
The Middle
Modern Family
Once Upon a Time
Revenge
Scandal

13-episode pick-up

Private Practice

Moving to TBS

Cougar Town

Cancelled

Charlie's Angels
GCB
Man Up
Missing
Pan Am
The River
Work It

FOX
Full-season pick-ups

American Dad
Bones
The Cleveland Show
Family Guy
Glee
New Girl
Raising Hope
The Simpsons
Touch

13-episode pick-up

Fringe

Cancelled

Alcatraz
Allen Gregory
Breaking In
The Finder
I Hate My Teenage Daughter
Terra Nova

Undecided

Bob's Burgers
Napoleon Dynamite

The CW
Full-season pick-ups

90210
Hart of Dixie
Nikita
Supernatural
Vampire Diaries

11-episode pick-up

Gossip Girl

Cancelled

The L.A. Complex
Ringer
The Secret Circle

Random Movie Stuff - 5/8/12

- Sharlto Copley (The A-Team), Miranda Richardson (Harry Potter's Rita Skeever), Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter's Dolores Umbridge), Lesley Manville (Another Year) and Sam Riley (Control) are joining Angelina Jolie in Walt Disney's live-action Maleficent.  Elle Fanning (Super 8) will play Aurora.


- Jessica Chastain will not be joining Iron Man 3 after all, saying she couldn't work it into her busy schedule but hoped she could be in a Marvel movie in the future.

- George Lindsay, best known as Goober from The Andy Griffith Show, has died at age 83.


- Maurice Sendak, children's author best know for Where the Wild Things Are, has died at age 83.

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax - Movie Review

Starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Betty White, Rob Riggle, Jenny Slate and Nasim Pedrad.  Directed by Chris Renaud.

★★½

Saw it at the $2 theater.

For those who haven't read the book, what's wrong with you? For those who have, the 1972 animated short is more faithful to the spirit of the book than this 2012 update. But it has its own pleasures.

Since the movie's 80 minutes instead of 25, we get a lot more fleshing out of the characters. We get a whole family for the boy who goes to ask the Onceler. We get to see the Onceler and his transformation from bright-eyed entrepreneur to the sinister unseen being telling the tale from his boarded-up house. Not much fleshing out for The Lorax, which I appreciated.

Chris Renaud got his big break with directing Despicable Me, and it shows. The bears and fish (?) of the forest serve the same function as the minions from Despicable Me, chattering and muttering and going physical gags on the sides of the screen.

The pro-environmental anti-corporate message is delivered with the velvet subtlety of a jackhammer, and most of the songs are more annoying than catchy. It made me smile a few times, and I like this trend of animating Seuss's stories, even if this one isn't as good as Horton Hears A Who. At least this wasn't a live-action treatment starring Mike Myers, amIright?

Avengers breaks box-office records

Marvel's The Avengers has easily broken the record for highest-opening weekend of all time, previously held by Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 2's $169 million.

For the weekend of May 4-6.

1. The Avengers - $200.3 million - 1 wk (BV)
. . . 4349 screens / $46,057 per screen
2. Think Like A Man - $8 ($73.03) - 3 wks (SG) -54.6%
. . . 2010 / $3980
3. The Hunger Games - $5.7 ($380.73) - 7 wks (LG) -47.3%
. . . 2794 / $2040
4. The Lucky One - $5.51 ($47.92) - 3 wks (WB) -49%
. . . 3005 / $1834
5. The Pirates! Band of Misfits - $5.4 ($18.56) - 2 wks (Sony) -51.5%
. . . 3358 / $1608
6. The Five-Year Engagement - $5.1 ($19.2) - 2 wks (U) -51.9%
. . . 2941 / $1734
7. The Raven - $2.51 ($12.05) - 2 wks (Rel) -65.6%
. . . 2209 / $1135
8. Safe - $2.47 ($12.87) - 2 wks (LG) -68.7%
. . . 2271 / $1088
9. Chimpanzee - $2.4 ($23.01) - 3 wks (BV) -54.2%
. . . 1531 / $1564
10. The Three Stooges - $1.8 ($39.64) - 4 wks (Fox) -65.2%
. . . 2174 / $828


Opens Friday
DARK SHADOWS with Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Moretz.

13 Assassins - DVD Review

Starring Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya and Goro Inagaki.  Directed by Takashi Miike.

★★★½

The samurai movie is tried and true, and I'm sure we in the US don't get to see most of those made. So here comes one that revisits a familiar formula (think the Seven Samurai, but with another six guys) but does it in skilled, entertaining fashion.

The time is 1844, and the brother of the Shogun is an evil man slaughtering innocents. One noble enlists an old friend to assassinate the villain before he's given more power and destroys the kingdom. The first hour establishes the plot, the gathering of the thirteen, and then they find a city to fortify. The villain, after all, has 200 soldiers with him as he travels. 13 vs. 200. But at least the 200 are marching into a booby-trapped town.

The final 40 minutes are one big action sequence, and it's a credit to the filmmakers that we never really get lost in the action and we've had an hour to get to know these characters so it matters when they start dying. The 13 anyway. The 200 might as well be orcs.

NBC Thursday Sitcom Recaps - 5/3/12

COMMUNITY - After last week's brilliant Law & Order send-up, the Greendale 7 need to deal with the repercussions of the death of Alex "Starburns" Osbourne. But more importantly, they have to deal with Professor Kane resigning and their biology class getting cancelled. It wasn't as good as the L&O sendup, or Abed and Annie digging into virtual reality, but it was a solid entry thanks to the riot and Chang going the fascist route to control it.

30 ROCK - A "reality show" episode follwing around Tracy's wife Angie (Sherri Shepherd, a sneaky-good member of the recurring cast.) It skewered everything wrong with all those Bravo reality shows. Liz Lemon feuds with a baby, Kenneth feuds with a cord, and Jack has learned Avery is coming home from North Korea. It had its moments.

THE OFFICE - Best episode in a while. Mad genius that Robert California is, he decided during late night of drunkenness to close down one of the branches. Jim and Dwight, the top two salesmen who've hit their commission caps, are taking advantage of the new branchless clients by making sales for "Lloyd". Chris Bauer (True Blood) shows up as an angry Syracuse salesman who wants them to stop taking all the clients. I liked it when they recruited Toby to be Lloyd, how Jim & Dwight worked together to keep landing the big clients, and the energy Bauer brought in his role. (If his Sheriff Andy doesn't survive this summer's season of True Blood, he'd be a good addition to the Office next year.) I also liked the twist at the end that sets up nicely for Robert's departure and the possible directions next season could take.

PARKS & RECREATION - Brilliant! The campaign is winding down and there continue to be "gaffes" thanks to Pawnee's horribly biased press. I love Kathryn Hahn's ruthless campaign manager. Also loved Andy's codenames for everyone. "I am Eagle One. Ann is Been There Done That.  April is Currently Doing That.  Donna is Once In My Dreams. Chris is If I Had to Choose One. Ben... is Eagle Two."

Random Movie Stuff - 5/2/12

- Due to positive reactions to Mark Ruffalo's take on the Hulk, Marvel's considering doing a stand-alone movie with him.

- Adam McKay (The Other Guys) is planning on remaking Uptown Saturday Night with Will Smith and Denzel Washignton.  The 1974 original had Sidney Poitier and Bill Cosby as two normal men who get mugged, but then one learns he had the winning lottery ticket in his wallet.  They brave the criminal underworld to get the wallet back.

- Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team) will star in Open Grave, about a man who wakes up in a grave filled with dead bodies and no idea how he got there.  He's also signed to play the villain in Spike Lee's Oldboy remake, which'll star Josh Brolin as a man who's kidnapped and left in isolation for 15 years, then let go without explanation.

- Tom Cruise is going to star in a Van Helsing movie.

Dream House - DVD Review

Starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Elias Koteas and Marton Csokas.  Directed by Jim Sheridan.

★½

Yeesh, what a mess.

This movie rolls through several haunted-house cliches, with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz as a mom and dad who move into a house where the previous occupant murdered his family. And just when it feels like it's getting too bogged down in contrived jump-scares, it throws in a twist at the 45-minute mark that a few movies have used as their final reveal.

So after that game-changer, it becomes more mournful and ponderous. It's as if the makers realized they only had 45 minutes, so they stall for another 40 minutes before the credits mercifully arrive.

Friday's Box Office

1. Think Like A Man - $5.5 million ($48.37) - 8 days
2. The Lucky One - $3.91 ($32.51) - 8 days
3. The Five-Year Engagement - $3.5 - 1 day
4. The Hunger Games - $2.97 ($364.18) - 36 days
5. The Pirates! Band of Misfits - $2.75 - 1 day
6. Safe - $2.55 - 1 day
7. The Raven - $2.52 - 1 day
8. Chimpanzee - $1.6 ($15.3) - 8 days
9. The Cabin in the Woods - $1.42 ($31.58) - 15 days
10. The Three Stooges - $1.3 ($33.04) - 15 days

No good news for the new kids in the field.  Theater owners are just waiting around for The Avengers to get here.

Martha Marcy May Marlene - DVD Review

Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Brady Corbet and Hugh Dancy.  Directed by Sean Durkin.

★★★

There's a few things going on here. First, there's the great performances from the leads. Elizabeth Olsen, younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley, is a very natural performer, and Sarah Paulson and John Hawkes (Deadwood alum unite!) are very good in their roles too. Olsen plays Martha, a young woman who has fled from a backwoods cult. She finds her older sister Lucy but she won't tell her what she's been through.

The movie then jumps back and forth between the past and present, where we see Martha get drawn tighter into the cult, and then the present where Lucy has to deal with the weirdness of her sister. Martha seems to have forgotten how to function in normal society.

The movie draws you in with the quiet menace, particularly from cult-leader Patrick (Hawkes), who at best may be like one of the brothers from Big Love but is more likely the next Charles Manson. And so even with back "in the real world" Martha's always looking over her shoulder, wondering if they're going to come back to kidnap her.

At the same time, it's so quiet that it does have its slow parts. In fact when the movie ended, the closing credits jarred me; I had to rewind and make sure that yes, that was the note it wanted to end on. And it wasn't until the next day that the implication of the ending hit me.  So it's good as far as a first film from a new voice, but don't let yourself get overhyped.

Summer 2012 Box-Office Predictions

Each summer has question marks, because each summer never quite goes the way we think it will. The studios take some risks, but more reliably double-down on sequels and reboots, and based on results, who can blame them?

Last summer I thought Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2 would be bigger than they were. I also thought Cowboys & Aliens, The Zookeeper, The Change-Up, Priest and Larry Crowne would do better than they did. I was also surprised at how well The Hangover II, The Help, Bridesmaids and The Smurfs did.

So this is how I see this summer going:

Box-Office Predictions:

1. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (7/20) - $350 million - It may not have the instant hook of Heath Ledger's Joker, but with Christopher Nolan's Inception, audiences have demonstrated In Nolan We Trust.

2. THE AVENGERS (5/4) - $340 million - Should have an opening about as big as Hunger Games, even if it has a steeper drop-off. Early word's been pretty favorable so far.

3. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (7/4) - $250 million - Not as much buzz now, but I anticipate once we get into June, excitement will build for this fresh take on Spidey.

4. ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DIVIDE (7/13) - $220 million - I figure one of the animated titles will pass $200 million but I'm having a hard time guessing which one, so I'll go with the one that comes last. The preview showed more promise than the past couple sequels.

5. MEN IN BLACK III (5/25) - $210 million - I don't really think there's much clamor for this, but it's just nice to see Will Smith working again after that Seven Pounds fiasco.

6. BRAVE (6/22) - $199 million - It's Pixar. It should be awesome. Despite Cars 2.

7. MADAGASCAR 3 (6/8) - $180 million - Kids everywhere will move it move it.

8. BATTLESHIP (5/18) - $175 million - This stepchild to the Transformers looks terribly derivative, but hey, it's summer and it's in good position for a huge opening, deserved or not.

9. SNOW WHITE & THE HUNTSMAN (6/1) - $160 million - That trailer made the movie look miles better than anyone could have guessed. I'm genuinely looking forward to this.

10. PROMETHEUS (6/8) - $145 million - I can't tell if I'm lowballing or overestimating this unofficial prequel to Alien. I just know I'm excited to see it.

11. NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH (7/27) - $138 million - Ben Stiller opened Zoolander shortly after 9/11, and now he has this movie opening on the heels of the Trayvon Martin case. But Ben and Jonah Hill and Vince Vaughn should be a good comedic combination.

12. ROCK OF AGES (6/15) - $130 million - Should follow in the tradition of Hairspray and Mamma Mia! as far as musicals opening in the summer.

13. THE CAMPAIGN (8/10) - $125 million - Will Ferrell and Zack Galifianakis in a political comedy. Sounds good to me.

14. THAT'S MY BOY (6/15) - $117 million - Looks terrible, but Adam Sandler's shtick in the summer is bulletproof.

15. DARK SHADOWS (5/11) - $112 million - I don't know how much more appetite there is out there for Depp/Burton weirdness.

16. WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING (5/18) - $110 million - My list doesn't look like there are enough chick flicks on here. So here. Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Rock, etc. should be able to at least do Think Like A Man business, shouldn't they?

17. TOTAL RECALL (8/3) - $106 million - Looks like The Fifth Element doing an Arnold movie impression, but the effects looks good, so if the positive reviews are there, this could be a sleeper hit.

18. G.I. JOE 2 (6/29) - $100 million - I never understood why the first one was such a hit, and now the sequel kills off most of the characters so Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis can be brought in to replace Channing Tatum and Dennis Quaid. Okay.

19. THE BOURNE LEGACY (8/3) - $90 million - Yeah, it's a brand, but I don't know if Jeremy Renner is a big enough name to get people to see this without Matt Damon.

20.  THE EXPENDABLES 2 (8/17) - $85 million - Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture and Terry Crews are back; Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis return as well, with bigger roles; and then you throw in Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme, well, that's just too cool a collection to not make the Top 20.

Other possible hits:

Ted - It does open in the Horrible Bosses slot, but how many hit comedies have Mark Wahlberg top-billed?

The Dictator - I've heard positive things, but will audiences be willing to give that guy from Bruno another chance?

ParaNorman - Loved Coraline, and this looks right up that alley.

Hope Springs - Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell are the stars, but it's about marriage counseling.

Seeking A Friend At the End of the World - Steve Carell's fairly bankable these days, but a romantic comedy about the end of the world? Ehh...

Lawless - This comes at the tail end of summer, but the trailer looked good.

Predicted Bombs:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Just not seeing it catch on.

Magic Mike - Channing Tatum may be hot right now, but I expect this movie to cool that off.

Savages - Oliver Stone's high-octane shoot-em-up has some colorful supporting actors (John Travolta, Benecio Del Toro, Salma Hayek) but I don't have faith in the leads (Taylor Kitsch, Aaron Johnson) getting people interested.

People Like Us - Chris Pine's squandering his Star Trek karma.

Other Titles That'll Have An Audience:

Tyler Perry's The Marriage Counselor, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Step Up Revolution, To Rome with Love, Premium Rush, Moonrise Kingdom, Piranha 3DD, The Chernobyl Diaries, The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The Apparition, Hit & Run, Sparkle

Random Movie Stuff - 4/25/12

- Some updates regarding Disney & Pixar. James Bobin will be back to direct a sequel to The Muppets. Pixar has three new titles on its slate. The Good Dinosaur is set to be released May 30, 2014, and it features a modern story set in a world where the cataclysmic asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs never actually hit the Earth. Inside the Mind is set for June 19, 2015, and it takes place inside the human mind. Dia De Los Muertos doesn't have a release date but it will center on the Mexican holiday. Pixar's Brave opens in June.

- Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Debt) is in talks to join Iron Man 3. She'd play a sexy scientist whose brain rivals Tony Stark's. She'd be joining Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce.

- Ben Kingsley will also star in the indie film Cut Bank. It's about two men trying to escape a town frozen in time. Armie Hammer (Mirror Mirror), John Malkovich, Michael Sheen and Teresa Palmer co-star.

- Gina Carano (Haywire) is in talks to join Fast & Furious 6, starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson. She'd play a member of Johnson's team, seeking to take the car thieves down.

- Owen Wilson will star in the thriller The Coup, about a family visiting southeast Asia who get caught in the middle of a violent military coup of the government.

- Mel Gibson will be joining the cast of Machete Kills. The sequel will star Danny Trejo and be directed by Robert Rodriguez.

The Three Stooges - Movie Review

Starring Sean Hayes, Will Sasso, Chris Diamantopoulos, Jane Lynch, Sofia Vergara, Larry David, Jennifer Hudson, Craig Bierko, Stephen Collins, Kirby Heyborne, Kate Upton and Isaiah Mustafa. Directed by Peter & Bobby Farrelly.

★★★

This movie is about as good as one could make it, if it's to be true to the spirit of the Stooges and yet stretch the shenanigans out to a full-length feature.

The original plan had been to have Benecio Del Toro, Sean Penn, and a weight-gaining Jim Carrey as Moe, Larry and Curly. While I would have loved to have seen that movie, I also liked the fact that they just found three actors really good as their Stooge impressions, and oddly enough, they bring just a whiff of depth to the guys. Sean Hayes (Will & Grace) nails the vocals of Larry, Will Sasso (MadTV) embodies the oblivious glee of Curly, and Chris Diamantopoulos (24) gets into the skin of Moe. The movie, in its way, explains the origins of Moe's anger and why he feels compelled to be the leader.

It plays as three episodes, though they're all linked so it does wind up being a whole movie. The boys must go raise $830,000 to save their orphanage, and they get caught up in a murder plot. It's goofy, silly, and it's filled with the childish slapstick of old. The Farrellys do justice to the Stooges. Now let's see them do Laurel & Hardy.

Some side notes:

Conservative watch: the villain (Sofia Vergara) who wants her husband killed pointedly reads a Weekly Standard in bed.

Liberal watch: in its own way, it makes an argument against euthenasia.

What-did-we-do? watch: demonizes foster care.

The Cabin in the Woods - Movie Review

Starring Kristen Connolly, Chris Hemsworth, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford, Brian White and Amy Acker.
Directed by Drew Goddard.

★★★½

Anyone who's seen a horror movie knows the rules in a horror movie. And like Scream in 1996, this movie turns those rules on its head. This movie wasn't made. It has simply manifested itself in the universe. It's evolution.

Joss Whedon wrote and produced this little gem about five young people heading off to the proverbial cabin in the woods, the deadliest place for young people in movies. The movie lets you know right away there's another level going on. We meet two white-collar guys (Richard Jenkins, Bradley Whitford) who are manipulating events in a control room. There's an entire industry built on taking kids and running them through horror-movie tropes. But why?

Oh the answers come, and it's not what I expected. It's a terrific yanking of the rug.

Weekend Box Office - 4/22/12

1. Think Like A Man - $33 million - 1 wk (SG)
. . . 2015 screens / $16,377 per screen
2. The Lucky One - $22.81 - 1 wk (WB)
. . . 3155 / $7228
3. The Hunger Games - $14.5 ($356.9) - 5 wks (LG) -31.3%
. . . 3752 / $3865
4. Chimpanzee - $10.21 - 1 wk (BV)
. . . 1563 / $6529
5. The Three Stooges - $9.2 ($29.36) - 2 wks (Fox) -45.9%
. . . 3482 / $2642
6. The Cabin in the Woods - $7.75 ($26.98) - 2 wks (LG) -47.4%
. . . 2811 / $2757
7. American Reunion - $5.2 ($48.3) - 3 wks (U) -50.4%
. . . 3033 / $1714
8. Titanic 3D - $5 ($52.83) - 3 wks (Par) -58.1%
. . . 2515 / $1988
9. 21 Jump Street - $4.6 ($127.07) - 6 wks (Sony) -29.9%
. . . 2427 / $1895
10. Mirror Mirror - $4.11 ($55.21) - 4 wks (Rel) -39.9%
. . . 2938 / $1400

The Hunger Games has finally been toppled, and while the $400 million may be tricky to get to domestically, no matter what happens in the summer, this movie is the story of 2012.

Think Like A Man, the ensemble "urban" comedy, I think successfully broadened its appeal to its battle-of-the-sexes premise.  The Lucky One did about as well as one could expect.

Random Movie Stuff - 4/21/12

- Guy Pearce (Memento, Lockout) is set to join the cast of Iron Man 3.  He'd play geneticist Aldrich Killian, who sells nanotechnology to terrorists to help them spread a virus.  Ben Kingsley's also on board, and returning are Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle.  It's scheduled to open May 3, 2013.  Pearce can be seen in this summer's Prometheus.

- Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) is in talks to direct Wish List, about a girl who makes ten wishes on a coin and throws it into a magical fountain.  Unbeknownst to her, the coin got tstuck and didn't make it to the bottom, but twenty years later it gets unstuck and hits the bottom, causing all ten wishes to suddenly come true and disrupt her life. It stars Reese Witherspoon.

- Sin City: A Dame to Kill For is finally moving forward, and the first two confirmed returnees are Mickey Rourke and Rosario Dawson.

- Jonathan Frid, who played vampire barnabas Collins on the original Dark Shadows sopa opera, has died at age 87.  He did film a cameo in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows, which opens next month.