French cinema was triumphant this past week in its home country as the first foreign film, Mamma Mia!, settled in 5th place and the first American film, Lakeview Terrace, took the 7th spot. The latest Golden Palm winner, The Class (original title Entre Les Murs) retained the top position in its second week, while the new release Go Fast took second place. Rounding out the top five are the dramedies Paris 36 (original title Faubourg 36) and Client (original title Cliente) in the third and fourth spots respectively.
Full top 20 with number of moviegoers after the jump. Continue reading →
French cinema proved its strength this past week in its home country by taking over the whole top 3. The latest Golden Palm winner, The Class (original title Entre Les Murs) rushed to the top, while another new release, Paris 36 (original title Faubourg 36) took the second spot. The third place was filled by the comedy Let It Rain (original title Parlez-Moi De La Pluie) in its second week of release (check it out at the New York Film Festival on October 10th). The British musical Mamma Mia! came it at number four and the first American film, The Forbidden Kingdom, got fifth place.
Full top 20 with number of moviegoers after the jump. Continue reading →
Peter Webber (Hannibal Rising) will direct The Spider’s House, a romantic drama following two ex-lovers who meet again in 1950s Morocco, on a backdrop of growing tensions between freedom fighters and French colonials. It is adapted by newcomer Laurie Cooke from a novel by Paul Bowles (The Sheltering Sky).
The 1987 classic supernatural thriller Angel Heart is getting the remake treatment. The original film was written and directed by Alan Parker (The Life Of David Gale), based on a book by William Hjortsberg (Legend), and stars Mickey Rourke (Stormbreaker), Robert De Niro (Righteous Kill) and Charlotte Rampling (The Duchess) among others. Watch the original’s trailer below.
Jack Black (Tropic Thunder) will star in an untitled spoof of the Bourne films, from the screenwriters of Kung Fu Panda, Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Black will play an amnesiac who’s convinced he must be a spy…FYI, this movie was already made last year into the very unfunny Code Name: The Cleaner.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War) will voice Max in Mary And Max, a claymation film about two penpals, an 8 year old Australian girl and a 44 year old Jewish New Yorker dude. In the meantime you’ll be able to catch him in the incredible looking films Synecdoche, New York (see the trailer) and Doubt (see the trailer).
British actor Michael Sheen (Blood Diamond) just signed onto two films: the new Alice In Wonderland movie from director Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street) and the terrorism-themed thriller Unthinkable from Australian director Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly), also starring Samuel L. Jackson (Lakeview Terrace) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Disturbia).
Director Martin Scorsese (The Departed) is set to reunite with regular star Robert De Niro more than 13 years after the mob flick Casino. The new film will be based on the non-fiction book I Heard You Paint Houses from author Charles Brandt, as adapted by multi-award winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian (American Gangster).
We already knew that Rusell Crowe (American Gangster) will play the Sheriff of Nottingham aka Sir Robert Tornham in Nottingham, the new take on the Robin Hood tale courtesy of acclaimed director Ridley Scott (American Gangster), but it turns out he’ll play the prince of thieves as well! Why? Simply because in the script, the Sheriff and Robin Hood are actually one and the same.
Duo Ethan Reiff & Cyrus Voris (Kung Fu Panda) and Brian Helgeland (Man On Fire) wrote the screenplay of the film, which will also star the currently despised Sienna Miller (Stardust) as Maid Marian. No word on when the highly anticipated film will start filming, but it is set for release in November 2009.
The Movie Planet 
