American films not doing too good in France

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.

Trio of French films win the week in France

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.

National Movie Awards winners

The sond edition of the National Movie Awards were held a couple of days ago in London, with the musical Mamma Mia! winning two awards. The results are decided by popular vote, kind of like the Teen Choice Awards.

Best Action/Adventure Film: Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

Best Superhero Film: The Dark Knight

Best Musical: Mamma Mia!

Best Comedy: Juno

Best Family Film: Wall-E

Best Performance By A Male: Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Best Performance By A Female: Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia!

Special Recognition: Pixar

I agree with some of these choices, but this awards ceremony looks more like a joke to me, how did it get so prestigious in such a short time?

From Beetlejuice to Batman to Ken, the Barbie dude

Michael Keaton, best remembered for his lead role in Tim Burton’s two Batman films, has reportedly joined the voice cast of Disney/Pixar’s forthcoming Toy Story 3, directed by Lee Unkrich (co-director of Toy Story 2). Keaton will the voice Ken, aka the Barbie dude, and I guess he’ll logically be a love interest for the Barbie character voiced by Disney regular Jodi Benson. Now I’ve seen both Toy Story films and for the life of me I can’t remember Barbie being in it…but I guess that’s not the issue is it?

Disney had already started work on the picture by itself back in 2004, based on a script by Jim Herzfeld (Meet The Parents). The movie would have centered on Andy’s toys traveling to Taiwan in order to rescue Buzz Lightyear, who’s facing destruction following a massive recall of the toy’s product line. The premise sounds like it could have been interesting, but also very (too?) similar to Toy Story 2, with a simple, cheap role reversal.

After the Disney/Pixar merger in 2006, that version of the movie was cancelled and Pixar took control over production. Now written by Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) and Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), the film will chronicle the lives of everyone’s favorite animated toys, now staying at a day-care center as their former owner Andy has gone to college and is “too old for toys”.

The original voice cast returns for the film, which is slated for release in 3D in the US on June 18th 2010, following re-releases of the first two movies in 3D.

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