Melanie Thierry joins director Andre Techine's "Unforgivable"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Melanie Thierry, best known to international audiences for her starring role in the 2008 movie Babylon A.D., and recently won the César Awards for her breakthrough performance in "Le dernier pour la route," will star alongside Carole Bouquet "Trop belle pour toi" and Andre Dussollier "On connaît la chanson" in director Andre Techine's "Unforgivable (working title)."

The movie which is based on Philippe Djian's novel, tells of a successful writer in his 60s who struggles to carry on with his life after the death of his wife and daughter in a car accident.

Said Ben Said's Paris-based SBS will produce the movie, and TF1 International will sell the movie to buyers at Cannes. Theatrical release in France will be handled by UGC Distribution.

Shooting, which will take 10 weeks to complete, begins this week in Venice.

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Box Office May 7-9 Results

1 Iron Man 2 - $133,600,000
2 A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) - $9,170,000
3 How to Train Your Dragon - $6,760,000
4 Date Night - $5,300,00
5 The Back-up Plan - $4,345,000
6 Furry Vengeance - $4,000,000
7 Clash of the Titans (2010) - $2,305,000
8 Death at a Funeral (2010) - $2,100,000
9 The Losers - $1,800,000
10 Babies - $1,575,594

Source: Boxoffice.com
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Box Office May 8-9 Results (Japan)

1 ALICE IN WONDERLAND - Disney
2 Trick The Movie Psychic Battle Royale (JPN.) - Toho
3 Nodame Cantabile The Movie II (JPN.) - Toho
4 Detective Conan The Lost Ship In The Sky (JPN.Animation) - Toho
5 CLASH OF THE TITANS - WB
6 Gintama (JPN.Animation) - WB
7 Crayon Shin Chan 2010 (JPN.Animation) - Toho
8 SHUTTER ISLAND - Paramount
9 Miracle Girls Neva-da Stop Dreaming (JPN.) - Shochiku
10 THE BOX - Showgate

Source: Cinemanavi.co.jp
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"Iron Man 2" is No. 1 for the 2nd week at overseas B.O.

By Siewaun
Reference: thehollywoodreporter

Paramount and Marvel Entertainment's "Iron Man 2" sat comfortably on top for the second straight week at the International box office, with $57.2 million from 10,774 screens in 61 markets, and accumulated a total of $194 million overseas earnings, reports THR.

The Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow starrer earned an estimated $133.6 million in its domestic opening weekend, thus making the total of worldwide earnings to $327.6 million.

With the total earnings, the sequel is now $71 million short the total overseas earnings of the original "Iron Man," and chances are high that it will overtakes the original very soon.

"Iron Man 2," which debuted April 28 at overseas territories, got a huge earnings in China with $7.3 million from about 3,000 screens.

It also took the No. 1 ranking in France and U.K. by earning $4 million from 655 screens, and $4.9 million from 426 screens respectively. "Iron Man 2" drew a combined opening earnings of $3.88 million to take the No.1 spot in Germany and Austria.

Other countries where it also took the top spot are Korea with $4.7 million from 834 locations for a market earnings of $22 million, Australia, Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Italy and Mexico.

Disney's "Alice in Wonderland," which earned $12.5 million from 5,946 screens in 54 territories, took the No. 2 spot. Warner Bros.' "Clash of the Titans," came in third with $8.8 million earnings at more than 7,200 screens in 61 territories.

At No. 4 is Warners and New Line Cinema's "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and at No. 5 is 20th Century Fox's "Date Night," which scored $4.7 million from 2,750 screens in 50 territories.

DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" took the sixth spot with $4.5 million from 4,249 screens in 60 territories. Sony's "The Back-Up Plan" is No. 7 with $4.3 million from 1,360 screens in 24 territories.

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Spielberg to direct and produce "War Horse"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Steven Spielberg has finally decides to direct World War I epic "War Horse" after all.

Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks partner, Stacey Snider, have acquired the feature rights to Michael Morpurgo's novel "War Horse" last fall.

Screenwriters Lee Hall "Billy Elliot" and Richard Curtis has been hired to write the adaptation of Morpurgo's novel of the same name.

The movie tells of an the the extraordinary bond between a young boy named Albert and a horse named Joey that are separated but whose fates continue to be intertwined over the course of WWI.

Spielberg will co-produce the adventure drama with Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Revel Guest.

Spielberg was quoted as say, "From the moment I read (the book), I knew this was a film I wanted DreamWorks to make. It's heart and it's message provide a story that can be felt in every country."

"War Horse" is a children's fiction novel by Michael Morpurgo, first published in Great Britain by Kaye & Ward publishers in 1982, and was runner-up for the prestigious Whitbread Award in the same year.

The epic feature will be released by Disney and DreamWorks on the 10th of August, 2011.

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Ang Lee authorized to make movie on Teresa Teng

By Siewaun
Reference: english.cri.cn

According to CRI, Chinese website M1905.com reports that the life story Taiwan super star singer Teresa Teng will be put on big screen.

Director Ang Lee revealed that he was given the authorization by Teresa Teng's family to make a movie about her life.

Mainland Chinese actress Tang Wei was choosen by Lee to star as Teng because Teng's family says Tang Wei has a very similar face and temperament to Teresa Teng, and they consider Tang Wei to be the only actress who could play Teng.

According to M1905.com, the family has signed a contract with the investment company Polybona, and will wait until Lee completes his other project before starting with this project.

There have been other works in memory of Teresa Teng, whose 15th death anniversary is coming up in four days, which is on the 8th of May.

"Comrades, Almost a Love Story," a 1996 Hong Kong film starring Maggie Cheung and Leon Lai, and directed by Peter Chan, is about how Teng's song made a young couple fall in love. Hong Kong singer Faye Wong has also made records of all Teng's songs, with approval by Teng's family.

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Jones, Huston, Parsons have joined "The Big Year"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Rashida Jones "I Love You, Man," Anjelica Huston ("The Royal Tenenbaums," "When in Rome") and Jim Parsons "The Big Bang Theory" have joined Fox 2000 comedy "The Big Year." The movie stars Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson in the lead role.

Rosamund Pike, JoBeth Williams, Brian Dennehy, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Anderson and Tim Blake Nelson also joined in, while Kevin Pollak and Joel McHale are in negotiations.

Director David Frankel ("The Devil Wears Prada," "Marley & Me") will direct from script written by Howard Franklin, which was adapted from Mark Obmascik's 1998 novel of the same name.

"The Big Year" tells of three men (Martin, Black, Wilson) who try to outdo each other during a year-long competition to spot the rarest birds in North America.

Jones stars as the love interest of Black's character as an avid birder in the contest. Huston plays an avid birder who captains ocean-going expeditions. Parsons plays the author of a popular avian blog.

Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld, through their Red Hour Films banner are co-producing the comedy with Karen Rosenfelt and Deuce Three Productions' Curtis Hanson and Carol Fenelon.

Shooting which will be taking place in locations throughout Canada, begins today.

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Box office Apr. 30-May 2 Results

1 A Nightmare on Elm Street - $32,205,000
2 How to Train Your Dragon - $10,825,000
3 Date Night - $7,600,000
4 The Back-up Plan - $7,240,000
5 Furry Vengeance - $6,500,000
6 The Losers - $6,000,000
7 Clash of the Titans - $5,980,000
8 Kick-Ass - $4,450,000
9 Death at a Funeral - $4,000,000
10 Oceans - $2,621,000

Source: Boxoffice.com
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Richard Gere, Topher Grace going after "The Double"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Richard Gere and Topher Grace will star in Hyde Park and Imagenation Abu Dhabi's espionage thriller "The Double."

Michael Brandt, who co-wrote scripts for "Wanted" and "3:10 to Yuma" with Derek Haas, will be making his directorial debut with this thriller. Brandt also co-wrote the script with Haas.

Movie centers on a mysterious murder of a U.S. senator bearing the marks of a Soviet assassin code-named "Cassius," who was long thought to be dead. A retired CIA operative (Gere), who spent his career in direct confrontation with his Soviet nemesis, teamed with a young FBI agent (Grace) to hunt him down.

Hyde Park's chairman Ashok Amritraj and exec-VP of production Patrick Aiello are co-producing with Haas and Industry Entertainment's Andrew Deane. Imagenation's chairman Mohamed Khalaf Al-Mazrouei and CEO Edward Borgerding are executive producing.

Shooting is scheduled to begin in June in Detroit.

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Dwayne Johnson offers to give "Protection"

By Siewaun
Reference: Variety

Dwayne Johnson ("Race to Witch Mountain," "Tooth Fairy") is set to star in the leading role in Mayhem Pictures' indie action thriller "Protection."

Simon West ("Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," "When a Stranger Calls") will direct the $35 million budget movie from the script written by Brandon Noonan.

Movie follows a mercenary Mexico City security operative forced to smuggle the daughter of a threatened high-ranking judge and the judge's chief legal counsel across the border while being pursued by corrupt cops, drug lords and white-collar U.S. criminal forces.

Stuart Ford and Robert Lawrence, IM Global Founder and CEO, will co-produce with Mayhem Pictures' Gordon Gray and Mark Ciardi. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones will executive produce.

Shooting is scheduled to begin this fall in New Mexico.

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