June 16, 2008

Who is the one who profited the most from the incredible success of "Iron Man"? With the casting speculations circulating around him in the past month, it seems apparent that the answer is Robert Downey Jr.. Since "Iron Man" scored big on the box office, the actor has been rumored to be reprising his role in "The Avengers" as well as to be considered in depicting Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner in "Playboy". Now, the acclaimed actor is reported to be eyeing another movie project.

The "Zodiac" star has been said to be in final negotiation to star in a developed action fantasy movie entitled, "Cowboys and Aliens". Hence, it means that the Academy Award-nominated actor is almost certain to portray a former Union Army gunslinger called Zeke Jackson. If the negotiation goes through, the part will be Downey Jr.'s first deal made after the success of "Iron Man" since no confirmation has been thrown out regarding his role in "Avengers" and "Playboy".

It was just last week that Tommy Lee made public his reunion with ex-wife Pamela Anderson. It, nevertheless, doesn't take a longtime for him to show his love to her. The rocker reportedly has given up meat in a bid to make his relationship with the outspoken vegetarian and animal rights activist works.

"I just went vegetarian," the Motley Crue drummer declared. He went on saying, "I dig it, I feel lighter, I like it. I figured that this is something I hadn't done yet but wanted to. At this point in my life, I'm down to trying anything I haven't done yet."

"Ninja Assassin", the Warner Bros. Pictures' movie inspired by the ninja fighting sequences in "Speed Racer", has fallen into production earlier. And, like many other movies in production, it cannot stop the leaking out of the movie's stills before it is officially launched.

Following the posting of pictures showing Rain training for his leading role in the movie by YeinJee.com, another series of photos in relation of the film got out. Posted by Slash Film, the four pictures exposed what appears to be the action movie's stills. Three of the photos outed display allegedly parts of the film's opening scenes in which a Yakuza boss, Hollywood, threatening an old Japanese man with a gold gun, whereas the other one shows Naomie Harris' character in supposedly an interview scene. All the four pics can be seen via Slash Film.

Legendary singer Lionel Richie prepares to reunite with his former group the Commodores for another tour. The singer hinted to the press about the reunion plan saying, "We better do it now, or in the next ten years nobody would care."

Lionel also expected that the reunion tour could be done within two years time. He also insisted that they won't hold back any longer from two years because it could be too late and another members of the band pass away. The singer's statement referred to the recent death of the band's guitarist Milan Williams in 2006.

Louis Leterrier's latest superhero movie "The Incredible Hulk" has just received an amazing success by pulling in about $54.5 million over the past weekend and standing atop the North American box office chart. With that in mind, a new question is raised, what kind of feature film project the filmmaker will next tackle.

The latest report regarding the matter noted that the French director is negotiating to develop and helm an action thriller by the name of "Strays". If the talks go well, the helmer of "The Transporter" and "The Transporter 2" will handle the production of the movie for Summit Entertainment and film the tidbit using Michael Ross' script.

Another trouble comes from Kanye West regarding his concert, as the rapper reportedly has upset his fans at his gig at the Bonnaroo Festival on Sunday, June 15. The reason for the crowd's rage over Kanye, was fumed by his late appearance at the event.

Kanye was actually scheduled to hit the stage at 2:45 A.M. but it was then informed that the show would be delayed and started at 3:15 A.M. Unfortunately, the rapper's appearance on the stage took longer then the re-scheduled time as it wasn't until almost two hours later, which was at 4:25, until he finally took the stage.

It appears that career is everything for Jared Padalecki now that he has become a household name in Hollywood entertainment industry. The "House of Wax" actor is reported to have ended his engagement to longtime girlfriend Sandra McCoy.

Padalecki confirmed his engagement to McCoy, a dancer and actress, in late March. He provided no further details though.

Rumor has it that George Clooney has found a new love. The movie hunk, according to various reports, has already moved on from his split from Sarah Larson and even dated another woman even before he dumped her.

Report on Clooney's broken love relationship with the former cocktail waitress surfaced late last month. Word on the block is that he knew for a long time that he was going to finish with now ex-girlfriend Larson but wanted to wait for her to get her modeling career more established before dumping her.

Legendary rockers The Rolling Stones are on the verge of making a big decision for their musical career as the band reportedly are about to sign a mega deal. Latest report suggested that the band will be signing a contract with famous concert promoters Live Nation and leaving their current label EMI for good.

Moreover, according to Guardian.co.uk's The Observer page, the deal is almost done and details for it would be announced in the next few days. The deal reportedly will be giving Live Nation a rights to market the Stones' back catalog which worth about 3 million pounds per year. Not only that, reports also said that the tour promoters would also control the rockers touring and merchandising in the future.

It looks like Hollywood beauty Eva Mendes is going to once again share the big screen with her "Ghost Rider" co-star, Nicolas Cage, but not by reprising the Roxanne Simpson character in "Ghost Rider 2". The depicter of Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear's love interest in "Stuck on You" is eyeing for a chance to star in a crime drama starring Cage, "Bad Lieutenant".

Mendes, who firstly caught the attention of both moviegoers and movie critics through her performance in "Training Day", reportedly is in talks to play in the film to be directed by Werner Herzog. What part the 34-year-old is negotiating for is yet to be revealed, but if she indeed cast, she will be joining the filming that is scheduled to start sometime in late summer.

Her young age apparently couldn't stop Emma Watson from piling more dollars. The young actress, famous for her starring role as Hermione Granger in "Harry Potter" films, reportedly has signed a two-year contract with Chanel to replace Keira Knightley as brand ambassador for its Coco Mademoiselle fragrance.

The deal Watson signed with the perfume giant, according to reports, worth $6 million. "Emma has been excitedly telling friends that she is going to be taking over from Keira," a source told British newspaper The Mail on Sunday.

A surprising and great news comes from veteran English punk rock band Sex Pistols as they have just stated to the press that they might release a new studio album. The news was hinted out by the band's lead singer, Johnny Rotten, in an interview with the press at the band's latest gig on Saturday, June 14 at the Isle Of Wight Festival.

Speaking about the band's plan to release a new LP, Johnny said, "There could be a new record. That would be nice." Moreover, he also explained that the band won't be rushing in making the new album stating, "But I won't do anything in a patronising way. The music, the subject and the attitude all have to be right at the same time. Everything has to be from the heart."

In support of the promotional campaign for the upcoming Walt Disney/Pixar's "Wall-E", a bunch of video footages in relation to the animation movie have been outed. The footages include two featurettes, which are entitled "A Space Journey in Sound" and "Pixar Goes Space Age", and five new Brazilian vignettes.

As its title, the first featurette "A Space Journey in Sound" brings the viewers closer to the making of "Wall-E" from the sound effects side. It focuses on the importance of the sci-fi sound needed to make it realistic and it exposes how Ben Burtt, the Oscar-winning sound editor for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and the man behind the voice of R2-D2 robot in the "Star Wars" films, works to get every sound for "Wall-E".

Are they or aren't they? There's no truth to the wedding rumors that hit celebrity couple Joel Madden and his baby's mother Nicole Richie. The Good Charlotte frontman put the false wedding reports to end, addressing the gossip on the band's blog.

Joel posted an entry that was begun with the statement, "We Did It! Nicole and I Finally Got Married!!" He then went on writing, "CHECK OUT MY BLOG FOR A PICTURE OF ME AND MY BEAUTIFUL BRIDE. ALL I CAN SAY IS I AM SO VERY HAPPY.......CONGRATULATIONS TO ME!!"

She has been dubbed the next Amy Winehouse. She has had a number one album in U.K. at the age of 19. She doesn't need to fit in the ideal music industry weight to be in the mainstream. She is Adele, a British new sensation that has been dubbed the 'It' girl of soul, and it's easy to see why.

With distinctive voice, Adele comes up right on track as one of the most promising music acts Britain has. With the budding interest on soul and jazz sounds that have been mapped out by Winehouse, her single "Chasing the Pavements" easily slips to people's ears as catchy and notable. The single went straight to #2 on U.K. Singles chart on downloads alone. When the album "19" was released in U.K. in January 2008, the sale went wild that it debuted at #1 on the Albums chart and went on selling more than 300,000 copies.

For those who still can't get enough of "Wanted (2008)", Universal Pictures have brought out an extended clip of the Timur Bekmambetov's action movie. The latest video footage outed to promote the tidbit is timed at 7:24 and shows much of the film's spoiler.

The clip displays the scene in which Fox played by Angelina Jolie approaches Wesley Gibson portrayed by James McAvoy for the first time in the supermarket. It exposes the gun fight battle between Fox and an unknown man supposedly sent to kill Gibson. The gun fight then continues with the full amazing car chase sequences which bits of them have been shown earlier through other video footages.

British singer M.I.A. announced a surprising news to her fans as in her concert at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on Friday, June 13, she hinted her retirement. The singer mentioned her statements about three times during her performance at the concert saying, "This is my last show."

Making her retirement statements clearer, on one occasion during her set after saying "this is my last show", she also added, "and I'm glad that I'm spending it with all my hippies!". Beside announcing the surprising decision at the concert, M.I.A. even let some of her fans, who broke through the barricades and climbed on the stage, to stay with her from the midway of the event until most of her songs.

The wedding bells ring again for Sara Evans. The country music star married her fiance, former University of Alabama quarterback Jay Barker, Saturday evening, June 14 in an outdoor ceremony at a Franklin, Tenn., farm near her home. The marriage is the second for both.

There were about 145 guests witnessed the black-and-white-themed wedding ceremony. The couple's seven children served as attendants, with Evans' son walked his mother down the aisle, preceded by her two daughters, Olivia, 5, and Audrey, 3. Barker has four children from his previous marriage.

Finally the full winners of the 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards has been announced and the last and coveted awards, the People's Choice categories have got their winners. Winning the People's Choice award for Favorite Canadian artist is rock chick Avril Lavigne with "When You're Gone", making it her second win in a row after grabbing the same prize in 2007.

Beside Avril other musicians that also win the People's Choice categories, are Simple Plan who grabbed the Favorite Canadian Group for "When I'm Gone" and Fall Out Boy who took home the Favorite International Video for "The Take Over, The Break's Over".

Shante Taylor, the wife of Grammy-nominated rap artist Snoop Dogg, was booked on suspicion of DUI. The mother of three was pulled over by police near Highland and Orangethorpe avenues at about 12:15 A.M. Saturday, June 14.

Fullerton police Lt. Craig Brower said Shante was then arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. Was taken to Fullerton City Jail, she was booked, issued a citation to appear in court before then being released.

Back in mid-May, disturbing report concerning the slacker superhero "Hancock" has surfaced. At the time, the action drama movie starring Will Smith has been speculated to perhaps unable to be finished on time for its theatrical release because it still has to undergo several re-shooting. But, to the surprise of many, it is now said that the tidbit is coming out even earlier than its previous schedule.

According to Slash Film, Columbia Pictures have taken a major decision to move "Hancock" release date a day before its original plan. Hence, it means that the drunken superhero film will be coming to theaters on Tuesday, July 1 instead of on Wednesday, July 2 and it will be having a six-day holiday weekend showing which is going to be kicked off as early as 7:00 P.M. Still, on the contrary to the latest news and posting a big question mark on it, the film's official site is still listing "Hancock" on July 2 for the North American release date.

Kid Rock had to be hospitalized suddenly just minutes before he was supposed to take the stage at a music festival in England, Friday, June 13. The rock star was forced to pull out of a scheduled performance at the Download Festival, a three-day British music concert, after suffering from stomach cramps and dehydration.

Rock initially was tapped to perform on the festival at around 3.30 P.M. At the last minute, announcers told the audience that he was unwell and wouldn't perform. "We've had the curse of Download. Kid Rock is not very well, we've had to rush him to hospital in Nottingham. He apologizes to his fans," so the announcers told the crowds.

The 2008 MuchMusic Video Awards, held in Ontario Canada, has announced some of the winners. Among the early winners are two famous names on the music scene, they are Rihanna and Linkin Park.

Rihanna managed to grab home the award for Best International Video for Artist, with her "Don't Stop the Music" beating the likes of Alicia Keys, Stacy Ferguson a.k.a Fergie, Flo Rida, Kanye West, Madonna, Usher and some other famous musicians. Linkin Park on the other hand took home the prize for Best International Video for Group with "Bleed It Out".

The 6th annual TV Land Awards was a star-studded event Sunday, June 15. The awards show, which was held at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, honored the best movies, and some good TV shows. Singer-songwriter and actress Vanessa Williams, who served as host, sang "I'm Flying" from the 2003 adventure flick "Peter Pan."

Comedians Mike Myers and Jonathan Winters were among the honorees. Myers received the Lucille Ball-Legacy of Laughter Award from Justin Timberlake, his co-star in "The Love Guru." Winters, elsewhere, was bestowed the Pioneer Award.

With the disappointing performance of the earlier "Hulk" still fresh in the memory of box office watchers and moviegoers alike, all eyes are focused on "The Incredible Hulk" when it opened in theaters across the country on Friday, June 13, wondering whether it could deliver great performance on the weekend box office. Now, it seems that the Louis Leterrier-directed movie has finally broken out from the stigma put on by its predecessor by debuting strongly at the number one spot of the ticket sales tracker and at the same time smashing its competitors with more than $20 million surpluses.

Earning $55.4 million on its first weekend of screening, the Edward Norton-starrer film pushed "Kung Fu Panda" off the top slot and denied "The Happening" from its glory. The Marvel Entertainment movie hit its aimed target by attracting 60% of male viewers which 52% of them age 25 and older. Commenting on the impressive result garnered by this Universal Pictures' tidbit, David Maisel, the chairman of Marvel Entertainment division Marvel Studios believed that the movie has given a solid answer to the question circulating around it so far stating, "It seems like 'Hulk' has smashed those questions to pieces." Additionally, Paul Dergarabedian, the president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers gave out similar remark about it saying, "The Hulk got a second chance, got angry and came back with a vengeance."