The price is right for The Dark Knight. Over America's Labor Day weekend holiday, the latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight became the 2nd movie in Hollywood history to pass the $500 million dollar mark. According to Warner Bros. studios, The Dark Knight has made over $502.4 million from domestic American ticket sales.

The Dark Knight is a huge hit in America, but not everyone loves Bruce Wayne's alter ego. The Japanese obviously don't like Batman at all. The Dark Knight bombed in Japan and made only a little over $8 million.



So what's the other movie to break the $500 million mark in American ticket sales? James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, which made $600.8 million and still remains at #1.

In related news, sales of The Dark Knight comic book by Frank Miller (Sin City, 300) have also skyrocketed. The Dark Knight is currently ranked #63 out of all book sales on Amazon.com.

Not bad for a comic book mini series that was released in 1986.


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Labels: Movies

One of the best commercials that aired during the Super Bowl was a preview for Angelina Jolie's latest action flick entitled Wanted. You may remember the clip for the awesome special effects sequence where Angelina changes the path of a bullet by just looking at it. Wanted marks a return to the action genre for Jolie, where she has already had major successes with both Tomb Raider and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

Starring in the film with Angelina will be the talented James McAvoy and legendary actor Morgan Freeman. Wanted tells the story of a young man (McAvoy) who discovers that his long lost father works as an assassin for an organization. After his father was murdered Jolie plays an assassin who trains McAvoy to take on the people who murdered his dad. You can expect plenty of lip locking between McAvoy and Jolie throughout the film.

We also hope to see plenty of skin from the foxy Angelina, who is said to be pregnant with yet another of Brad Pitt's spawns. Wanted is based on a comic book of the same name written by Mark Miller. The movie is due to hit theaters on June 28, when we expect this flick to be one of the summer's major blockbusters.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TRAILER FOR WANTED



The PimpWiz.com Bottom Line: Angelina Jolie returns to the action genre with Wanted

A PimpWiz Exclusive by Scott Bernstein


RANDOM ADD MOMENT:
Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive"

Labels: Angelina, Movies, Scott Bernstein

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The most anticipated movie of 2008 has to be Righteous Kill, a suspense film that teams up actors Robert De Niro and Al Pacino for the first time since 1995. De Niro and Pacino star as two veteran detectives who hunt a vigilante killer that might be one of their own. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson makes his return to the screen as the vigilante killer. Jon Avnet directed the film, which is slated to hit theaters on April 18th.

Righteous Kill marks Professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek's film debut. The extremely attractive Carla Gugino joins the cast as De Niro's love interest. Also starring in the film will be Frank John Hughes, John Leguizamo and Donnie "New Kid on the Block" Wahlberg. Veteran actor Brian Dennehy, best known to us as Big Tom from Tommy Boy, rounds out the incredible ensemble.

The idea for the film originated from Robert De Niro and Al Pacino's desire to work with each other again. De Niro and Pacino first starred together in The Godfather: Part II, but they never actually shared the screen at the same time. They finally got a chance to actually work at the same time for 1995's Heat. Yet they only performed two scenes together, so Righteous Kill marks the first time they will act together for a whole film. We can't wait to see what these guys have in store.

Righteous Kill may have a 60 million dollar budget, but it's actually an indie film. The production was put together by Nu Image's Millennium Films and Emmett/Furla Films. Nu Image is one of the few indie houses capable of delivering a studio-esque production thanks to over 15 years in the biz. The trailer looks amazing, so check it out yourself.

A PimpWiz Exclusive by Scott Bernstein

Labels: Movies

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The 22nd installment of the James Bond series started filming this week. If you think like we think the first question that entered your mind was who's the new Bond girl? For Bond 22 the producers went with newcomer Gemma Arterton. The gorgeous 22 year old hails from England, and most recently starred in the British film St. Trinians. She has been called the next Keira Knightley with similar looks and charisma.

Bond 22 picks up where Casino Royale left off, so it will be interesting to see how the main character recovers from the loss of his true love. We have no doubt Gemma Arterton's character, who will be named "Fields," will try to win Bond's affection. Rumors of Gemma's participation have been swirling on the blogs for months, but the producers only confirmed her role last week.

Swiss born director Marc Forster plans to offer a more cerebral Bond, a bit of a change from Casino Royale director Martin Campbell's take on the smoothest man in the history of the world. Thankfully Daniel Craig, the sixth man to play James Bond, returns in the lead role. Mathieu Amalric and Joaquin Cosio will play the bad guys this time around. Look for Bond 22 to hit theaters later this year, and be sure to keep your eyes out for Gemma Arterton.


A PimpWiz Exclusive by Scott Bernstein

Labels: Bond, Movies, Scott Bernstein

Batman" star Christian Bale is in negotiations to headline the fourth installment of the "Terminator" movie series.

In "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," the Welsh actor would play the John Connor role originated by Edward Furlong in 1991's "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" and continued by Nick Stahl in 2003's "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

Charlie's Angels" director Joseph "McG" Nichol is in negotiations to shoot the movie, which will be distributed by Warner Bros.

Bale is currently filming "The Dark Knight," a sequel to his debut 2005 Batman outing "Batman Begins."

Labels: Movies

Writer-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, the team behind Crank, will do it again for Crank 2: High Voltage for Lionsgate and Lakeshore Entertainment. Lionsgate and Lakeshore also are partnering to distribute Neveldine and Taylor's thriller Game.

Jason Statham will reprise his Crank role of hitman Chev Chelios in Crank 2. In this story, Chev faces a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered artificial ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working. A chase begins through Los Angeles.

Lakeshore's Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi, Skip Williamson and Richard Wright will produce.


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Labels: Movies

With the impending release of The Darjeeling Limited, Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) fans everywhere can get a taste of what's to come with his short film Hotel Chevalier.



The 13-minute short film is a prequel for Darjeeling stars Natalie Portman and Jason Schwartzman who play estranged lovers that meet one last time. Hotel Chevalier is a free download on iTunes (US).

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Labels: Itunes, Movies

Good news for Tron fans. According to the Hollywood Reporter, commercial director Joseph Kosinski is in final negotiations to direct a sequel to the 1982 cult movie classic. Steven Lisberger, who co-wrote and directed the original film, has signed on as a producer.

Kosinski, who last month signed on to the remake of "Logan's Run" for Warner Brothers, will oversee the visual development of the project and have input on the script, which is being written by "Lost" scribes Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Story details are being kept secret.

In case you didn't see the original film or have forgotten the plot (after all it's 25 years-old now), Tron was about a computer programmer who gets sucked into a virtual world and forced to fight in his own video games. In 1982, the special effects used in Tron were groundbreaking. It was the first movie to use computer generated images (CGI) in conjunction with live action. Sources also say that visual effects personnel, for many of whom Tron was an inspiration to enter the business, are already are jockeying to work on the film.

Before Disney green lighted Lisberger to make the original film, he had to shot a test reel, financed by the studio, of the deadly Frisbee battle. It looks like Kosinski will have to do the same thing, but this time the studio wants to see a test sequence involving the movie's Light Cycles. I can see why. The arcade game based on the Light Cycle scene was so popular in the early 1980's that it earned more money than the movie.

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Labels: Movies

Since his breakthrough performance as " TURBO" in Breakin', Breakin 2 Electric Boogaloo and the new Breakin 3. ," Chambers has established himself within the Film and Television industry, working nonstop in numerous film and television projects.

Chambers has been acting for over 25 years, playing many diverse roles in television shows including "ER," "THE SIMPSONS," "FAMILY MATTERS," and "THE FUN HOUSE."

However, it was his iconic portrayal of " TURBO" that has made him an international superstar. Pictures of "TURBO" in character can be found on T-shirts being worn by people of all ages everywhere around the world. Simply by appearing at events on college campuses ensures that thousands of students will converge for a glimpse of their hero.

At young age 14, Chambers dance style got the attention of Lionel Ritchie, went on tour with Ritchie and was featured in the MTV hit video "All night long." Chambers music videos include Chaka Khan's "I Feel for You," The Gap Bands "Party Train," Paula Abdul 's award winning "Opposites Attract," (playing MC Scat Cat) and Sugar Ray's "Fly." In addition, Chambers choreographed a video for The Simpson's "Doing the Bartman," was recently featured in Queen Latifah's, " Bringing down the House" and in an episode "ER."



"The King of Pop" Michael Jackson hired Chambers from 1983 to 1991 as his personal dance instructor working on various popping and street dance. Some of Michael Jackson's signature dance moves were taught and developed by Chambers including the moonwalk. First Lady Nancy Regan invited Chambers to the White House to take part in the "Stop the Madness" Anti-drug campaign and was the lead actor in the film that included Whitney Houston and Arnold Schwarzenegger . Chambers is honored to be the first hip hop entertainer invited to the White House. Hollywood continued to cast Chambers and his signature dance style know as "Liquid Animation" opposite Keanu Reeves in "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," playing, good robot Bill and as Urkel-bot for the hit sitcom Family Matters. Michael Chambers has also toured the world as a singer with a fan base in United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Africa, Israel, Italy and Mexico.

"If your gliding like Michael Jackson or floating like Usher you're really doing early Boogaloo Shrimp, when he picked up that broom in Breakin' he changed the course of dance forever –Xavier Ramirez, director of The forthcoming Boogaloo Shrimp's documentary.

The PimpWiz Spin: We hear from our boys at H&H that they are trying to get Boogaloo Shrimp to grace us with his presence in NYC. Wow, talk about bringing it back!

Labels: Movies

Dane Hanson and Mike Heim point out all the ways that Top Gun looks a little less than straight.

This was made to open their live stage show "Gay Top Gun" that has been performing live in Los Angeles since 2005. www.myspace.com/gaytopgun

The Tarantino clip is from "Sleep with Me".

Labels: Movies, Top Gun

US Weekend Gross: $71,850,000

According to the La Times:
Twentieth Century Fox's big-screen adaptation of the long-running animated TV sitcom grossed an estimated $71.9 million in its first weekend in the U.S. and Canada. The surprisingly strong haul showed the versatility and durability of a pop-culture franchise that has poked fun at Middle America for two decades.

The opening blew past industry expectations of $45 million. The movie, from a creative team including writer-producers Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, also opened strong abroad, hauling in $168 million worldwide from 73 countries including the U.S.

"I had been saying this is America's No. 1 comedy family, but forget the 'America' part — this is the Earth's No. 1 comedy family," Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at Fox, said Sunday.


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Labels: Comedy, Movies

Vietnam veteran John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has survived many harrowing ordeals in his lifetime and has since withdrawn into a simple and secluded existence in Thailand.
In Bangkok, he spends his time salvaging old PT boats and tanks for scrap metal. Even though he is looking to avoid trouble, trouble has a way of finding him.



A group of NGO members, led by Michael Burnett and Sarah Miller, are made prisoners in the neighboring Myanmar. As you may now Karens and minorities are persecuted by the Burmese government.

So Rambo is called to lead a rescue effort. With five young and highly diverse mercenaries at his disposal, Rambo has to travel back up the river and liberate the survivors from the clutches of Major Tint in what may be one of his deadliest missions ever.

Labels: Movies

According to Yahoo News:
LOS ANGELES - The shape-shifting robots of "Transformers" have taken on a new form: Huge piles of cash.

The sci-fi saga "Transformers," DreamWorks and Paramount's big-screen take on the Hasbro toys, debuted with $67.6 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. That gave it $152.5 million since opening with preview screenings Monday night.

If the weekend figures hold when final numbers are released Monday, that would give "Transformers" the biggest first week revenues ever for a non-sequel, surpassing the $151.6 million of 2002's "Spider-Man." But factoring in today's higher ticket prices, "Spider-Man" drew more people in its first week, about 26.1 million, compared to 22.5 million for "Transformers."

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Labels: Movies

It premiers in 10 weeks, but the writers, animators and director of "The Simpsons Movie" are still working out the basics... including the storyline. It's hard to believe, especially since they first started working on the screenplay in late 2003. The deadline is going to be pretty tight, but the writers and animators of "The Simpsons" have assured audiences that "The Simpsons Movie" will be released on July 27 (US) no matter what.



What can we expect to see in the movie? Judging from snippets of movie trailers, news releases and Internet chatter, the plot seems to involve the town of Springfield dealing with an environmental disaster that Homer accidentally starts. Further details are scarce, but look for a giant mob scene that will include every Simpsons character ever. Also, apparently Homer has a pet pig in the movie.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with before July 27th.

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Labels: Movies

If you are a regular reader of Entertainment Weekly, then you might have seen the first photo of the upcoming Iron Man film they published last week. The picture got such a huge fan reaction in the blogosphere that Paramount decided to release a high resolution version of the photo.

Jon Favreau (Swingers) will direct Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. (Less Than Zero) has the lead role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges have also been cast in the film. Iron Man is slated to hit theaters on May 2nd 2008.

The high rez photos are definitely worth checking out.

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Labels: Movies

Bad news Browncoats! Last week Joss Whedon has pulled himself from the Wonder Woman film project. He was both the writer and director.

Whedon who made his fame with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly had always cast his female character in a very positive and empowering light. So when the opportunity to write a script for Wonder Woman came his way, it just seemed like a natural fit. However after several months Whedon decided to pull himself from the project.

“I had a take on the film that nobody liked,” said Whedon. Another factor was that he and the film’s producer Joel Silver “just saw different movies."

Anyone who knows Joss Whedon and his writing style is likely disappointed at this news. At least Joss is keeping busy. He just directed an episode of The Office for NBC. I saw this Whedon/Office clip on YouTube and thought my fellow Browncoats would enjoy it.

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Whedon's next project is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book series. Personally I’d rather see him do more TV and film. Wonder Woman is still expected to debut sometime in 2007.

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Labels: Movies

Boiler Room is a 2000 U.S. drama, written and directed by Ben Younger, and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel and Nia Long.

Other characters in the film were played by Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin and Jamie Kennedy.

According to Amazon.com:

Borrowing heavily from Wall Street and Glengarry Glen Ross, Boiler Room is at its best when dealing with matters of money, and powerful scenes of Davis learning to be a "closer" showcase the significant talent of Ribisi, Nicky Katt, and Vin Diesel. The movie flounders when developing the relationship between Davis and his father, becoming sentimental and trite. However, as a fable of modern society and a nostalgic vehicle about the days of yuppies past, Boiler Room is right on the money.



Shout out to Sinnel Sandoval for reminding us not to forget the lessons learned from this flick

Labels: Movies, ReelDeal

Irish screen star Colin Farrell is in line to play the part of Detective James “Sonny” Crockett in the movie of the 1980s cop classic, Miami Vice.

Universal is in talks with Farrell and Jamie Foxx, who is being targeted to play Detective Ricardo Tubbs, according to Hollywood trade paper, Variety.

The film could even pave the way for the show to return to the small screen.

Miami Vice followed the lives of the two detectives from the Miami Police Department’s vice squad."

Labels: Miami Vice, Movies

Leandro Firmino as Zé Pequeno (Li'l Ze) in "City of God"

Li'l Zé's real name is never mentioned in the movie. Instead, as a child, he was known as Li'l Dice (Dadinho). Like Rocket, he grew up in the favela City of God. His best friend is Benny (Bené), who is Shaggy's (Cabeleira) younger brother. As a child, Dice wishes to be the boss of bosses in the City of God when he grows up. He and Benny hang around the Tender Trio, which consists of Goose (Marreco), Rocket's (Buscapé) brother, Clipper (Alicate), and Shaggy.

Chris Walken as Frank White in "King Of New York" drug lord Frank White (Christopher Walken) is released from Sing-Sing prison after serving a number of years for drug trafficking. He is reunited with his former gang, led by the ruthless Jimmy Jump (Laurence Fishburne), as well as his personal bodyguards, Raye (Theresa Randle) and Melanie (Carrie Nguyen), and his lover/legal analyst Jennifer (Janet Julien).

Appalled by the crime and poverty that have infected his old neighborhood, White makes a bid for redemption by eliminating his competitors and using their money to finance a new South Bronx hospital for the needy. He becomes a hero to the poor, as well as target for a group of overzealous cops, led by corrupt detective Roy Bishop (Victor Argo).

Welsey Snipes as Nino Brown in "New Jack City"

Nino Brown (Wesley Snipes) and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers, become the dominant drug ring within New York City when crack cocaine is introduced to the city streets during the 1980s and early 1990s. They convert an entire apartment complex ("The Carter") into a crack house. Undercover cops Scotty Appleton and Nick Peretti (played by Ice T and Judd Nelson) try to convict the gang with evidence of the drug dealing. They recruit Pookie (played by Chris Rock), a former stick-up kid turned recovering crackhead, to work undercover at "The Carter" to help them gather incriminating evidence against Nino and the Cash Money Brothers. Eventually, megalomania separates Nino from his gang and is the catalyst for their downfall.

Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante in "Carlito's Way"

Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in "Pulp Fiction"

Al Pacino as Tony Montana in "Scarface"
"In the spring of 1980 the port at Mariel Harbor was opened, and thousands set sail for the United States. They came in search of the American Dream. One of them found it on the sun washed avenues of Miami... wealth, power and passion beyond his wildest dreams. He was Tony Montana, but the world will remember him by another name... Scarface".

Robert Deniro as Vito Corleone in "Godfather Part II"
Vito is the head of the Corleone crime family, one of the most powerful Mafia families in New York. He is depicted as an ambitious Italian immigrant to Little Italy who builds a mafia empire, yet retains (and strictly adheres to) his own personal code of honor. His youngest son, Michael Corleone becomes the Don upon his death at the end of the novel. He has two other sons, Santino "Sonny" Corleone and Fredo Corleone, and a daughter, Connie Corleone, all of whom play major roles in the story.

Kevin Spacey as Kaiser Soze a/k/a 'Verbal' Kint in "Usual Suspects"
In the film, Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have a legendary, even mythical status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike.

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in "Wall Street"
Gekko has since become a symbol of 1980s corporate greed. While the producers of the movie Wall Street clearly intended to portray this character as a villain, ironically enough, thanks to this movie, Gordon Gekko became a source of inspiration for countless number of investment bankers around the world. It has often been suggested that Wall Street turned out to be a most effective recruitment tool for the investment banking industry. As well, Gekko's diatribe against corporate mismanagement is just as relevant in the 21st century as in the 1980s. Gekko made the argument against well-entrenched corporate managers, saying they were taking advantage of shareholders. He contrasted the role of early American business leaders like the Carnegies and Mellons who only managed businesses in which they had significant investments with that of well paid company senior executives who owned very little of a company's stock, and hence had little stake in the company's performance.

Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus in "The Matrix"

Morpheus was the captain of the Nebuchadnezzar, a hovercraft of the human forces of the last human city, Zion, in a devastated world where most humans are grown by sentient Machines and kept imprisoned in the Matrix, a virtual computer-generated world. Morpheus was once a human living inside the Matrix until he was freed earlier in life. The name he may have had while a human in the Matrix is not known.

Morpheus is apparently a very popular public figure in the city of Zion. He is also known in the Matrix, but as a dangerous terrorist wanted by Agents (who are actually sentient programs that patrol the Matrix, eliminating any human that is a threat to the secret of the Matrix or dispatching programs that exile themselves in the Matrix to avoid their deletion).

Like other hovercraft crews, Morpheus and his crew are dedicated to the protection of Zion and the freeing of humans from the Matrix.
[A PimpWiz Exclusive]

Labels: Movies