Movie News Page 1119

Robert Altman's screen adaptation of "A Prairie Home Companion" got the honor to open the 2006 South by Southwest Film Festival or known as the SXSW Film Festival, so the event's organizer has announced on Tuesday. "I can't think of a more perfect opening night film than A Prairie Home Companion," Matt Dentler, the producer of SXSW Film Festival, commented. "Not only do you have great masters like Robert Altman and Garrison Keillor involved, but it's also a celebration of entertainment and the creative spirit."

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Meryl Streep, and Lindsay Lohan, the movie will head to the theatres in June following its North American premiere at the festival.

Another score was made by "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" after the flick gloriously became the only movie that managed to collect over $300 million in a year and that was the title of 2005's Top-Grossing Movie of Top 10 Moneymakers list compiled by the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. Also mentioned as the Top-Grossing PG-13 Film, "Sith" was followed by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" on the second place and "War of the Worlds" on the third.

The Top-Grossing PG-rated Film, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", took the fourth rank while "Wedding Crashers" came next along with the title of Top-Grossing R-rated Film. Lining up behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Batman Begins" was "Madagascar" which made its way to be the Top-Grossing Animated Film. The last two movies on the list were "Mr and Mrs Smith" with $186.3 million and "Hitch" that scored $177.6 million throughout the whole year.

It's the time from those people behind the scene to finally show up as the Writers Guild of America has officially announced the nominees of its Documentary Screenplay Award on Tuesday. Slated to be held on February 1 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the event gave the nomination to the writers of "March of the Penguins", "Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room", "Cowboy del Amor", "The Fall of Fujimori", and "Street Fight."

Succeeded to take the top position after another fierce four-day holiday battle for the spot, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" finally managed to throw out "King Kong" to the second place in the box-office this week. Separated by only $1.2 million, Buena Vista's "Narnia" satisfyingly nudged out Universal's "King Kong" with an estimated income of $32.8 million it has collected from Friday to Monday earnings.

Sitting on number three, "Fun With Dick and Jane" scored with $21 million, followed in order by "Cheaper by the Dozen 2", "Rumor Has It", "The Family Stone", "Memoirs of a Geisha", "The Ringer", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", and "Munich."

Focusing on the story about the prejudices of intersecting characters, "Crash" delightfully has been placed number one on the Top Films of the Year list compiled by African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA). Also included in the list were "The Constant Gardener", "Good Night And Good Luck", "Brokeback Mountain", "Syriana", "Walk the Line", "Hustle & Flow", "Capote", "Batman Begins", and "North Country."

"The films selected for 2005 boldly reflect a bridge towards tolerance," said Gil Robertson IV, President of AAFCA, in relation of the selection of these ten compelling movies.

In the Take Seven critics poll conducted by New York's The Village Voice, thriller "A History of Violence" has been chosen as the Best Film of 2005. Moreover, the film's director David Cronenberg also is named as the Best Director.

The Survey held has involved over 100 film critics writing for alternative weeklies, online publications and film journals. The name of Heath Ledger also comes up as Best Performer for his work in "Brokeback Mountain." In the meantime, Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" is voted Best Screenplay.

The indie film "The Gardener of Eden" will star the likes of Lukas Haas, Giovanni Ribisi and Erika Christensen. While Kevin Connolly is set to make his directorial debut, working from a script by Adam Davis, Leonardo DiCaprio will serve as a producer via his Appian Way banner.

A dark comedy flick, "The Gardener of Eden" centers on a young man who accidentally saves a girl from a neighborhood assault and then decides his calling in life is to become a modern-day hero. Keep it here for more details on that film.

It's been 13 days since the flick "King Kong" first released. Earning an estimated $31.4 million from 3,576 theaters, the giant ape hanging onto the top position in the US box office for the second week in a row. The second best movie over the four-day Christmas holiday weekend is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" which scores another $30.1 million from 3,853 theaters.

The comedy "Fun with Dick and Jane" secures the 3rd place with $23.5 million, while "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" comes at No. 4 with $14.8 million. Rounding out the top 5 is "The Family Stone" taking in $10.9 million, and at 6th is "Memoirs of a Geisha" earns $10.2 million in its third weekend in theaters. Secures the 7th spot is the new comedy "The Ringer" earning $8.4 million from 1,829 theaters.

Empire Online bringing to the surface news mentioned that Paul Walker has joined Anthony Hopkins to star in the upcoming drama romance "Papa."

Adrian Noble will direct the Ernest Hemingway project.

Willing to treat moviegoers with something distinct and special of course, Fox is releasing a director's cut of action drama flick "Kingdom of Heaven," in which filmmaker Ridley Scott has added 45 minutes to the original's 145-minute running time.

The director's cut is about to be screened exclusively at the Laemmle Fairfax Theater in Los Angeles. To note, the original cut has become a breakout hit on DVD, where it topped both the DVD sales and rental charts its first week out in October.

Producers of the highly anticipated "Casino Royale" as yet desperate to find the perfect figure to play the next Bond's girl role. Shortly after Angelina Jolie and Charlize Theron turned down the offer to play female lead Vesper Lynd in the new film, they are now targeting the newly-single Jessica Simpson.

While rumors centering on Jessica's involvement in the movie has yet confirmed, British actor Daniel Craig surely will take the role of the 007 agent with the film set to start shooting next year.

The animation comedy genre "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" has been slated to hit theaters on March 31st, 2006. Meanwhile, a video game based on the 20th Century Fox's upcoming film is on work and scheduled for a spring 2006 release date.

Adding that information, Vivendi Universal announced Dec 22 that "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown" video game will be available in stores for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system, Xbox video game system from Microsoft, Nintendo GameCube(TM), Nintendo DS(TM), Game Boy® Advance and PC.

China, the country known for its typical limit on foreign film releases to about a dozen each year, finally approved the release of Disney's hit fantasy film "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" in its local theater in spring 2006.

The Walt Disney Co said on Thursday that the Chinese government has approved the release of the flick, which is expected to score great ticket sales as that it did earlier this month in US and international markets with $200 million in global ticket sales.

With shooting scheduled to take place in Vancouver in early 2006, the sequel "White Noise 2: The Light" has found the right person to give hand at directing. The man is Patrick Lussier.

A collaboration between Gold Circle Films and Brightlight Pictures, the film is written by Matt Venne.

"Skip Tracer," an upcoming action comedy of Columbia Pictures is on work. The studio has hired Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer to rewrite an earlier draft penned by Steve Franks.

In the meantime, Neal Moritz is in hand producing the flick through his Original Films production company alongside Brad Luff and Chris Henze.