“Friends the movie 'gets green light' - News.com.au” plus 4 more

Friends the movie 'gets green light' - News.com.au
'Meatballs' Sticks To Movie Menu Top With $24.6M - CBS News
Polanski arrested on U.S. request in sex case - AZCentral.com
'Meatballs' stays at top of movie menu - Gloucester Daily Times
Jackson sneak peek screenings sell out in 2 hours - KLTV

Friends the movie 'gets green light' - News.com.au

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 10:24 PM PDT

THE cast of Friends is to be reunited in a film version of the long running television series, reports say.

According to the Daily Mail, Warner Brothers have given the green light for the project which will bring Rachel (Jennifer Aniston, 40), Monica (Courteney Cox, 45), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow, 46), Joey (Matt LeBlanc, 42) and Chandler (Matthew Perry, 40) to the big screen.

Buoyed by the box office success of the recent Sex and the City film, producers are reportedly prepared to pay big fees to secure the five stars, who have had varying levels of success since the show finished in 2004.

Aniston has made the best fist of a post-Friends career, with hits like The Break Up and Marley and Me, while Matt Le Blanc has done little since his spin off series, Joey, was cancelled after two series.

It is believed the film, which will be released in 2011, will be written and produced by the show's creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman.

"Friends: The Movie is definitely on," said James Michael Tyler, who played Central Perk coffee shop oddball Gunther.

"I still keep in touch with a lot of the cast and they say that they are really keen."

However, not all are apparently convinced that the adaptation will be a sure-fire success, even though the recent Sex and the City movie took over $481 million at the box office.

"Our show was not like Sex and the City - ours was multi-camera, in front of a live audience," Kudrow said.

"It's a completely different feel. You'd have to bring the tone down, and I don't know how it would be."

While the practice of making TV shows into movies has been a popular practice over the past few decades, figures show that it not all make a successful transition.

For every Star Trek (the recent JJ Abrams-directed remake) or Mission: Impossible, there's a Mod Squad or Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

Despite the fact that many of these shows had proven audiences on the small screen, the film versions of them have flopped.

A recent example of a high-profile TV show bombing at the box office is the last X Files movie, which failed to recoup its production costs.

SMALL TO BIG SCREEN

Best
Star Trek (Box office $445 million, Production budget $174 million)
Mission Impossible II (Box office $633 million, Production budget $145 million)
The Fugitive (Box office $427 million, Production budget $50 million)
Mission Impossible (Box office $530 million, Production budget $93 million)
Sex and the City (Box office $481 million, Production budget $75 million)

Worst
The Mod Squad (Box office (US) $15 million, Production budget $56 million)
Serenity (Box office $45 million, Production budget $45 million)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (Box office $5 million, Production budget $12 million)
The Honeymooners (Box office $15 million, Production budget $31 million)
X Files: I Want to Believe (Box office $24 million, Production budget $35 million)

Source: boxofficemojo.com, the-numbers.com

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'Meatballs' Sticks To Movie Menu Top With $24.6M - CBS News

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 11:50 PM PDT

(AP) Movie fans lined up for a second helping of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," which took in $24.6 million to remain No. 1 at the box office for a second straight weekend.

The Sony animated tale raised its domestic haul to $60 million after 10 days in theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" fended off Bruce Willis' action thriller "Surrogates," a Disney release that debuted at No. 2 with $15 million.

Opening in third place with $10 million was MGM's "Fame," a new take on the 1980s music and dance hit about students at a school for performing arts.

Michael Moore's documentary "Capitalism: A Love Story" opened strongly in limited release with a $240,000 weekend haul in just four theaters, raising its total to $306,586 since premiering Wednesday. The Overture Films release expands nationwide Friday.

Overall business dipped, with Hollywood's total domestic gross at $100.5 million, down 4.5 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Eagle Eye" opened at No. 1 with $29.2 million.

While it was generally quiet for new movies, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" held up strongly, its receipts dropping just 19 percent from a $30.3 million opening weekend. Revenues for many films fall 50 percent or more in their second weekends.

"We've seen that not only families but teens seem to be embracing it, as well," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "To only drop 19 percent, it's just one of those movies that's playing to everybody."

Some Hollywood analysts had expected "Surrogates" to open in first place. With a production budget reported at $80 million, the movie's $15 million weekend was a blow to Disney.

"Unfortunately, I don't think this was a great moviegoing weekend, for whatever reason," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "I'm disappointed we're not No. 1, but very happy we beat the other films we opened against."

While "Fame" opened even lower, it cost far less to produce, with a budget of just $18 million.

"Do I wish it was better? Yeah. But are we going to lose money? No," said Erik Lomis, head of distribution for "Fame" distributor MGM.

"Capitalism" opened in four theaters in New York City and Los Angeles, its big weekend putting it on track to become the latest documentary hit from Moore ("Fahrenheit 9/11," "Bowling for Columbine").

With "Capitalism," Moore examines the roots of the economic meltdown, mixing interviews from people losing jobs and homes with his trademark stunts, such as wrapping crime-scene tape around Wall Street.

"People are frustrated, and I think Michael points some things out that are pretty thought-provoking and pretty eye-opening," said Kyle Davies, head of distribution for Overture. "It's timely. People want to see what's going on, but the movie's funny and entertaining at the same time. Michael's one of the unique people able to point to some topical issues and make it extremely interesting."

Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," $24.6 million.

2. "Surrogates," $15 million.

3. "Fame," $10 million.

4. "The Informant!", $6.9 million.

5. "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself," $4.8 million.

6. "Pandorum," $4.4 million.

7. "Love Happens," $4.3 million.

8. "Jennifer's Body," $3.5 million.

9. "9," $2.8 million.

10. "Inglourious Basterds," $2.7 million.

___

On the Net:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

___

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is TheWalt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.

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Polanski arrested on U.S. request in sex case - AZCentral.com

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 11:43 PM PDT

ZURICH - Director Roman Polanski was arrested by Swiss police as he flew in for the Zurich Film Festival and faces possible extradition to the United States for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl, authorities said Sunday.

Polanski was scheduled to receive an honorary award at the festival when he was apprehended Saturday at the airport, the Swiss Justice Ministry said in a statement. It said U.S. authorities have sought the arrest of the 76-year-old director around the world since 2005.

"There was a valid arrest request and we knew when he was coming," ministry spokesman Guido Balmer told The Associated Press. "That's why he was taken into custody."

Balmer said the U.S. would now have to make a formal extradition request.

Polanski fled the U.S. in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girl. The director of such classic films as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby" has asked a U.S. appeals court in California to overturn a judges' refusal to throw out his case. He claims misconduct by the now-deceased judge who had arranged a plea bargain and then reneged on it.

The Swiss statement said Polanski was in "provisional detention for extradition," but added he would not be transferred to U.S. authorities until all proceedings are completed. Polanski can contest his detention and any extradition decision in the Swiss courts, it said.

Polanski has lived for the past three decades in France, where his career has continued to flourish, and he received a directing Oscar in absentia for the 2002 movie "The Pianist."

Polanski has not been extradited from France because his crime reportedly was not covered under treaties between the United States and France.

He has avoided traveling to countries likely to extradite him. For instance, he testified by video link from Paris in a 2005 libel trial in London against Vanity Fair magazine because he did not want to enter Britain for fear of being arrested.

In Paris, Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was "dumbfounded" by Polanski's arrest, adding that he "strongly regrets that a new ordeal is being inflicted on someone who has already experienced so many of them."

Those comments referred to the fact that Polanski, a native of France who was taken to Poland by his parents, escaped Krakow's Jewish ghetto as a child and lived off the charity of strangers. His mother died at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp.

Mitterrand's ministry said Sunday that he was in contact with French President Nicolas Sarkozy "who is following the case with great attention and shares the minister's hope that the situation can be quickly resolved."

Polanski worked his way into filmmaking in Poland, gaining an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 1964 for his "Knife in the Water." Offered entry to Hollywood, he directed the classic "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968.

But his life was shattered again in 1969 when his wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four other people were gruesomely murdered by followers of Charles Manson. She was eight months pregnant.

He went on to make another American classic, "Chinatown," released in 1974.

In 1977, he was accused of raping the teenager while photographing her during a modeling session. The girl said Polanski plied her with champagne and part of a Quaalude pill at Jack Nicholson's house while the actor was away. She said that, despite her protests, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy on her.

Polanski was allowed to plead guilty to one of six charges, unlawful sexual intercourse, and was sent to prison for 42 days of evaluation.

Lawyers agreed that would be his full sentence, but the judge tried to renege on the plea bargain. Aware the judge would sentence him to more prison time and require his voluntary deportation, Polanski fled to France.

The victim, Samantha Geimer, who long ago identified herself publicly, has joined in Polanski's bid for dismissal, saying she wants the case to be over. She sued Polanski and reached an undisclosed settlement.

Zurich Film Festival organizers said Polanski's detention had caused "shock and dismay," but said they would go ahead with Sunday's planned retrospective of the director's work.

The Swiss Directors Association sharply criticized authorities for what it deemed "not only a grotesque farce of justice, but also an immense cultural scandal."

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'Meatballs' stays at top of movie menu - Gloucester Daily Times

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 09:56 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Movie fans lined up for a second helping of "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," which took in $24.6 million to remain No. 1 at the box office for a second straight weekend.

The Sony animated tale raised its domestic haul to $60 million after 10 days in theaters, according to studio estimates yesterday.

"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" fended off Bruce Willis' action thriller "Surrogates," a Disney release that debuted at No. 2 with $15 million.

Opening in third place with $10 million was MGM's "Fame," a new take on the 1980s music and dance hit about students at a school for performing arts.

Overall business dipped, with Hollywood's total domestic gross at $100.5 million, down 4.5 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Eagle Eye" opened at No. 1 with $29.2 million.

"We've seen that not only families but teens seem to be embracing it, as well," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. Some Hollywood analysts had expected "Surrogates" to open in first place. With a production budget reported at $80 million, the movie's $15 million weekend was a blow to Disney.

While "Fame" opened even lower, it cost far less to produce, with a budget of just $18 million.

"Do I wish it was better? Yeah. But are we going to lose money? No," said Erik Lomis, head of distribution for "Fame" distributor MGM.

Estimated ticket sales are for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," $24.6 million.

2. "Surrogates," $15 million.

3. "Fame," $10 million.

4. "The Informant!", $6.9 million.

5. "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself," $4.8 million.

6. "Pandorum," $4.4 million.

7. "Love Happens," $4.3 million.

8. "Jennifer's Body," $3.5 million.

9. "9," $2.8 million.

10. "Inglourious Basterds," $2.7 million.

———

On the Net:

http://www.hollywood.com/boxoffice

———

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue Pictures is owned by Relativity Media LLC; Overture Films is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp.

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Jackson sneak peek screenings sell out in 2 hours - KLTV

Posted: 27 Sep 2009 09:49 PM PDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Michael Jackson is still playing to sellout crowds.

Advance screenings to the music documentary "Michael Jackson: ThisIs It" sold out within two hours early Sunday as fans who began lining up three days earlier snapped up all 3,000 tickets to the Los Angeles shows.

The documentary opens nationwide Oct. 28, but fans will get a sneak peek the night before in screenings at the new Regal Cinemas Stadium 14. For the theater's grand opening, the cinema will show "This Is It" on all 14 screens that night.

Directed by longtime Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega, "This Is It" draws on hundreds of hours of footage as Jackson prepared for a series of London concerts for which he was rehearsing before his death on June 25.