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Katherine Heigl will join Ashton Kutcher in the Lionsgate thriller Five Killers. Heigl will play a woman who marries the man of her dreams while on vacation only to find her newlywed life threatened after learning the couple next door are assassins out to kill her and her hubby. The film will reunite Heigl with Robert Luketic, who directed her in the upcoming romantic comedy The Ugly Truth.

Leonardo DiCaprio has signed on to star in Inception, the first film post-Dark Knight for director Christopher Nolan. As with virtually everything Nolan does, the project is shrouded in secrecy, all that is known about it is that it’s a contemporary sci-fi action movie set within the architecture of the mind. DiCaprio has been attached to sci-fi projects before, notably the Kurt Vonnegut adaptation Cat’s Cradle, but this would mark his first official foray into the genre since Critters 3.

Sandra Bullock has signed to star in Warner Bros.’ football-themed dramedy The Blindside. According to Variety, Bullock will play the matriarch of a conservative, well-heeled suburban household that takes in a homeless teen who’s a top pick for the NFL draft.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Owen Wilson may have an expanded role in Little Fockers, the latest sequel in the blockbuster Meet the Parents franchise. He’s in talks to reunite with stars Ben Stiller, Teri Polo and Robert De Niro and reprise the role of Kevin Rawley, the Jesus-loving ex-boyfriend of Polo’s character. Jay Roach, who helmed the first two installments, will produce this time around. New directors being considered include Paul Weitz (About a Boy), David Wain (Role Models), and Peyton Reed (Yes Man).

Megan Fox will be taking a role in Jonah Hex, the sci-fi Western based on the DC character. Fox will take the role of Leila in the Jimmy Hayward-directed movie, a gunslinger who provides the love interest for Josh Brolin’s scarred bounty hunter. John Malkovich will play a voodoo priest who wants to raise an army of the undead with a view to liberating the South.

Fox will also be taking a role in the upcoming Fathom adaptation, based on the comic book of the same name by the late, great Michael Turner, reported to be one of Fox’s favorite comic book artists. Fox is set to star in that as Aspen, a young woman who finds out that she’s part of a race called The Blue, a group of humanoids who can control water.

Liev Schreiber is in final talks to aboard Columbia Pictures’ Salt, a spy thriller starring Angelina Jolie as a CIA officer who’s suspected of being a mole for the Russians. Schreiber would play her boss. Phillip Noyce (Patriot Games) starts shooting this month in New York.

According to Variety it seems that “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is moving forward. 20th Century Fox and Walden Media have announced a release date for Dec. 10, 2010. This will put the film back into the holiday season. Michael Petroni will write the screenplay.

Max Thieriot has joined the cast of Chloe, Atom Egoyan’s remake of the French thriller Nathalie. The film follows a doctor (Julianne Moore) who hires an escort (Amanda Seyfried) to test her husband’s (Liam Neeson) fidelity. Things start to heat up when her decision puts her family in danger. Thierot plays Moore’s son.

Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan are set to star in Kevin Smith’s upcoming detective comedy A Couple of Cops, about a team of cops looking for a stolen baseball card and dealing with a bunch of nasty gangsters. Robb and Marc Cullen wrote the screenplay.

Zack Snyder has lined up a all female cast for his next film, Sucker Punch. Mamma Mia!’s Amanda Seyfried set for the lead role. She’ll be joined by Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Evan Rachel Wood and Emma Stone. Set in the 1950s, Seyfried will play Babydoll, a girl confined to a mental institution by her evil stepfather, who plans to have her lobotomised in five days. Fellow inmates would include Blondie (Hudgens*), Sweet Pea (Cornish), Rocket (Wood) and Amber (Stone).To escape the pain, Babydoll retreats into a fantasy world (along with her companions) and there begins planning her escape before a “vile man” can rape her. The fantasy world is described as “Alice in Wonderland with machine guns” by Snyder, who co-wrote the script with Steve Shibuya.

Sources:
E!
Variety
The Hollywood Reporter
Empire Online

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Weekend Box Office For February 27 – March 1

#1 Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail from Lionsgate holds at #1 this weekend earning $16.5 million in 2052 theaters. Budget for Madea is unknown.

#2 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience from Buena Vista debuts at #2 this weekend earning $12.7 million in 1271 theaters. Budget for Jonas is unknown.

#3 Slumdog Millionaire from Searchlight climbs to number 3 this weekend earning $12.5 million, thats up 44% over last bringing total earnings to $115 million. Slumdog showed in 2943 theaters, thats 699 more screens than last week. Budget for Slumdog was $15 million.

#4 Taken from Fox drops to #4 this weekend earning $9.9 million, bringing earnings for Taken to $107.8 million, in 3089 theaters. Budget for Taken is unknown.

#5 He’s Just Not That Into You from Warner Bros. drops to #5 this weekend earning $5.8 million in 2858 theaters. Budget for Not That Into You is unknown.

Rounding out the top 10 are:

#6 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Weekend Gross: $5,600,000, down 17% / Theaters: 2698, down 137 / Gross $128,106,000 / Budget: $26 million

#7 Coraline Weekend Gross: $5,252,000, down 54% / Theaters: 2063, down 92 / Gross $61,145,000 / Budget: unknown

#8 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Weekend Gross: $4,650,000 / Theaters: 1136 / Gross $4,650,000 / Budget: unknown

#9 Confessions of a Shopaholic Weekend Gross: $4,490,000, down 33% / Theaters: 2534, up 27 / Gross $33,662,000 / Budget: unknown

#10 Fired Up Weekend Gross: $3,800,000, down 30% / Theaters: 1811, up 1 / Gross $10,137,000 / Budget: $20 million

A note on “Gross”: On average, studios will earn approximately 55 percent of the final gross.

Sources:

Box Office Mojo

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Back Seat Producers Season 03 Shows

BSP Episode 086: Summer '08 Super-Hero Spectacular

In this episode we discuss some of the big super-hero movies from last summer.  The Dark Knight isn’t included as we already spent an over-sized episode discussing it.  The line up for this episode is Hancock, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk.

Hear as we breakdown and rank each of these three films.

Also, be warned.  We spoil all three of them throughout.