Superman Reboot Getting the Dark Knight Treatment
After taking the Caped Crusader to the dark side, Christopher Nolan is looking to do the same for the Man of Steel.
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Dark Knight director has agreed to "mentor" development on a new Superman movie for Warner Bros., per Deadline Hollywood. Nolan will oversee the Supes reboot while he continues working with brother Jonah Nolan and David Goyer on the script for the highly anticipated third Batman flick, due out in 2012.
But can even Nolan's considerable talents save Superman from box-office kryptonite?
No, New Moon Absolutely, Positively Didn't Beat Dark Knight
Twi-hards, you were right: New Moon's Sunday box office was bigger than estimated.
Twi-hards, you were wrong: New Moon wasn't big enough to dethrone The Dark Knight as Hollywood's all-time opening-weekend champ. (Or, for that matter, to displace No. 2, Spider-Man 3.)
Final numbers, released today, show the Twilight sequel finished the weekend with a spectacular $142.8 million, up from the, well, spectacular $140.7 million of first reports.
In the end, New Moon made $72.7 million on Friday, $42.3 million Saturday and $27.8 million on Sunday.
Twi-hards, take note: Next time, the Dark Knight-beating number you're looking for on Sunday (assuming the other returns stay the same) is $43.5 million. Lotsa luck, Eclipse.
Saturn Awards Keep Spotlight on The Dark Knight
The Oscars have been awarded and DVD sales have already gone through the roof. But, in the alternate reality known as Hollywood, it's never too late to bestow yet more hardware on the best films.
The Dark Knight had a leading five wins, including one for Best Action-Adventure Thriller, at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards, presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films.
Heath Ledger was again honored posthumously as Best Supporting Actor, and the Batman sequel also took trophies for its score, script and special effects.
The CGI-enhanced Iron Man won three Saturns, as did The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which beat out Twilight as Best Fantasy Film.
Tilda Swinton was the supporting actress of choice for Benjamin Button, while Iron Man's Robert Downey Jr. and Changeling's Angelina Jolie were honored for their leading roles.
On the small-screen side, Battlestar Galactica was top syndicated or cable series and Lost was named Best TV Series overall.
MTV Movie Award Nominations Pit Twilight Against Dark Knight
Gone is the Superbad funny business of yesteryear. Teenage romance and men in masks are what the 2009 MTV Movie Award are all about.
That swoony, mushy love stuff—we're lookin' at you, Twilight, High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Slumdog Millionaire—and the studly superheroes—Iron Man, The Dark Knight—square off in the Best Movie category…and just about every other competition as well.
HSM3 Dominates, Miley Cries at Slimy Kids' Choice Awards
It wouldn't be an awards show if a winner didn't cry.
While the 22nd Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards had few of the same ingredients of an Oscars or Grammys telecast, Miley Cyrus made sure the tradition stayed alive.
After shouldering losses for everything else with her name attached—Selena Gomez took the slimefest's Favorite TV Actress gong and iCarly swiped Favorite TV show out from underneath Hannah Montana—the starlet scored a win for Favorite Female Singer. Despite having taken home the orange Blimp in the same category last year, she got surprisingly choked up.
"I really thought I was going to lose, so thank you guys," she wept.
Those High School Musical kids—Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale and Corbin Bleu, to be precise—were considerably more cheerful. The graduating class of East High took home one of the event's highest honors, Favorite Movie, beating out the likes of Iron Man and the Dark Knight. High School Musical 3: Senior Year's prom queen, Hudgens, also took home Favorite Female Movie Star.
Sadly, the Wildcats, as well as the "Climb" singer, managed to walk away from the Pauley Pavilion on UCLA's campus completely slime-free. Many others were not so lucky...
Fangeek Smackdown: Dark Knight vs. Twilight
Sure, The Dark Knight got dissed by Oscar. But the Gotham City crew exacted some justice today, dominating the nominations today for the 35th Annual Saturn Awards.
Christopher Nolan's box-office bonanza racked up a whopping 11 nominations from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror, including a nod for Best Action, Adventure or Thriller Film.
Stars Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal each scored in the appropriate acting categories, while Nolan is also up for Best Director.
The Academy Awards for the geek set also embraced Oscar also-ran The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which had nine noms, as well as Iron Man (eight), Valkyrie (seven) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (six).
The Dark Knight Breaks a Billion
It's not going to snag 11 Oscars, but The Dark Knight—Christian Bale and all—is nipping at Titanic's heels in the court of public opinion.
The 2008 blockbuster has surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros. announced late Friday.
Oscar Watch: Secret Stars Align for Hugh Jackman
First, the Good News, Hugh Jackman: Your chance of being hailed as an Oscar savior is good, thanks, in part, to great timing. You have consented to host an award-show telecast in the same year that audiences are liking award-show telecasts again.
The TV ratings don't lie. The People's Choice Awards was up. The Golden Globes was up. The Grammys was up. True, the Screen Actors Guild Awards was down, but that's because it went up so much last year because it was the one well-attended show of the writers' strike. On the flip side of the SAG Awards, last year's Oscar numbers were so depressed—a record-low 32 million viewers—it's a stretch to think they'll sink further. Um, doesn't it…?
Batman Franchise to Stay Dark at Least Two Years
Holy bad news, Batfans. Looks like a Dark Knight sequel is at least two years away.
Director Christopher Nolan has inked a deal with Warner Bros. to helm Inception, based on his own screenplay. The sci-fi action film "set within the architecture of the mind" aims to begin shooting this summer and hit theaters in summer 2010, according to studio.
In case anyone's forgotten, Knight was a box-office monster, scoring the second-highest gross of all time. Additionally, deceased star Heath Ledger has scored a Best Supporting Actor prize in nearly every award show this season, with only the Oscars to go.
Batman lovers should be used to exercising patience though. Three years passed between the first Christian Bale-fronted venture, 2005's Batman Begins, and last year's The Dark Knight. During that span Nolan released the fantasy thriller The Prestige, starring Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival magicians.
SAG Repicks Slumdog Millionaire, Mad Men, Heath, Tina & Alec
Actors typically don't want to be typecast. But apparently they don't mind a little repetition.
At points it seemed as if the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards was following the same script as a certain spherical-themed film- and television-honoring award show that took place two weeks ago, but tonight's ceremony did feature a few variations—despite the fact that Slumdog Millionaire, Heath Ledger, Kate Winslet, Mad Men and 30 Rock still won a whole new slew of shiny trophies.
As Slumdog Millionaire continued to bust out of its little-film-that-could shell by winning the evening's final award, Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Ledger and Winslet racked up more supporting-actor ammo heading into next month's Academy Awards.
Winslet was honored again for her role as a former concentration camp guard who has a lusty affair with a teenager in The Reader (a role for which she's competing in the Best Actress Oscar race), while Ledger seemingly cemented his Oscar-frontrunner status for his still-resonating performance in The Dark Knight.
Oscar Watch: To Write Off, or Write In, The Dark Knight?
Batman Lives?! After The Dark Knight was shut out of the Best Picture race yesterday, we emailed an Academy voter for reaction. "The fact it and Chris Nolan weren't nominated is a shame," the voter replied. "And I plan on casting a write-in vote for it on the final ballot."
Write-In?! In the early days of the Oscars, write-in campaigns were common, the Academy's Teni Melidonian tells E! News. In 1936, a successful write-in campaign brought an award to the unnominated Hal Mohr for his cinematography on A Midsummer's Night Dream.
So, Maybe There's a Chance for The Dark Knight, After All?! Yes. In one of the eight categories it drew a nomination.
Best Picture, however, is a lost cause.
Ledger's Sisters: Oscar Nod Makes Anniversary of Heath's Death "Also a Day for Us to Celebrate"
It's hard to believe it's been a year since Heath Ledger so suddenly, shockingly and tragically passed away.
On the first anniversary of his death, the now two-time Oscar nominee's three sisters spoke out in their native Australia about their brother, his legacy and how deeply they still feel the loss.
"Today is the anniversary of Heath's passing," sister Kate Ledger told Australian media Thursday in a written statement. "To us (his family) it seems like merely yesterday and we are still all nursing broken hearts. Like anyone who loses a family member, it has opened our eyes to the intense suffering and painful journey that is death.
"We feel truly blessed to have Heath's beautiful daughter, Matilda and her lovely mom, Michelle," in our lives. And although we are physically challenged at times by the tyranny of distance, we are always in constant contact and take every opportunity possible to catch up. Michelle is doing an amazing job with 'our girl' and together we will cherish every moment of her steps through life."




