Finally, in its 8th weekend of release, Avatar was knocked from its perch atop the box office by Dear John’s surprising $30.5 million opening.

Avatar came in second with a solid $22.9 million, but Dear John’s counter-programming on Super Bowl weekend worked wonders as its 84% female audience breakdown led it to become the second-highest grossing Super Bowl opening ever, behind only the Hannah Montana concert film. Meanwhile, James Cameron’s latest declined by a mere 27% to bring its domestic total to $629.3 million (its worldwide total is north of $2.2 billion, by the way), so I don’t think anyone’s worried about this particular coup.

From Paris with Love proved a little too crazy for most audiences, coming in 3rd with an underwhelming $8.2 million. Edge of Darkness plummeted 60% in its second weekend, falling to 4th place with $6.9 million and bringing its total to $28.9 million in 10 days. Tooth Fairy rounded out the top 5 with $6.6 million. More»

The first (green-band) trailer for Kevin Smith’s Cop Out was a huge letdown. I’ve been a fan of Smith over the years but his recent fare hasn’t especially impressed me, and it looked like Cop Out wasn’t going to be bucking any trends. But now MySpace has released the red-band trailer for the film and you know what? It’s pretty damn funny. It’s not breaking any new comedy ground and relies almost entirely on penis-related jokes, but the oddball chemistry between Tracy Morgan and Bruce Willis plays great, and even Sean William Scott elicits a good laugh.

I still don’t know if this is going to be the movie that completely restores my faith in Smith, but it finally has my attention now. I’m genuinely looking forward to it, and I’m hoping the final product will more closely reflect the red-band trailer rather than that boring green-band one.

Hit the jump to see the trailer.

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M. Night Shyamalan is one of the most divisive directors we’ve had in recent years. While he proved that he’s a talented filmmaker with movies like The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, his other works have either been mixed bags (I loved Signs and really enjoyed The Village, but I know plenty who hated both) or outright disasters (Lady in the Water wasn’t good; The Happening was just an utterly puzzling experience). Still, that kind of talent doesn’t just suddenly disappear, right? Everyone can fall into a slump — it doesn’t mean they’re incapable of returning to form.

So when Shyamalan signed on to adapt Nickelodeon’s extremely well-regarded series Avatar: The Last Airbender for the big-screen, fans were understandably worried. On the one hand, Shyamalan’s a big name and bound to get the kind of budget and studio support other directors can’t. He has the potential to deliver a truly great film. On the other hand, this was the guy who just put out The Happening. The early teaser seemed to earn some excitement, but, for the most part, didn’t sway anyone one way or the other. Now we get a second and better look at the film via UGO’s premiere of its Super Bowl Ad. The result? Pretty impressive.

Check it out, plus our thoughts and some posters, after the jump.

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The West Coast is just waking up, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has already finished announcing their nominations for this year’s Oscars. It’s the first year since 1943 that there are 10 nominations for Best Picture, and it’s refreshing to see some films that might usually get overlooked receive some much-deserved kudos.

Most of the list is nothing surprising though, as the usual suspects that have been picking up noms and wins throughout the awards season are the ones filling out the categories for the Academy Awards. Leading the pack are James Cameron’s Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker, with 9 nominations apiece. There are still a few surprises here and there, though, so be sure to check out the full list of nominees after the jump.

Here are your nominees…

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To utterly no one’s surprise, Avatar won the weekend yet again in its 7th week of release. Pulling in $31.3 million, the sci fi epic’s total reached $595.8 million and is mere days away from surpassing Titanic’s $600.8 million mark to claim the title of highest domestic gross of all time.

James Cameron’s box office juggernaut brought its foreign total to $1.45 billion and crossed the $2 billion worldwide mark, where it already has claim to to highest worldwide gross (though not the highest attendance – remember, a large part of Avatar’s box office receipts come from inflated 3D ticket pricing). Meanwhile, Mel Gibson’s return to acting Edge of Darkness made a very average debut at the box office, pulling in $17.2 million for 2nd place. When in Rome, the other new wide release, came in 3rd with a similarly unremarkable $12.4 million. The Tooth Fairy showed an above-average resiliency, falling 28.6% in its second weekend to take 4th place with $10 million. The Book of Eli rounded out the top 5 with a $8.9 million gross, bringing its total to $74.5 million. More»

A new trailer has hit the nets for The Losers, the big screen adaptation of the Vertigo comic series by Andy Diggle and Jock, and boy does it look like all kinds of fun.

We were pretty excited when news about the fantastic casting first started rolling out for The Losers, being big fans of the comic, but the involvement of heretofore unproven director Sylvain White (whose most notable movies are Stomp the Yard and the direct-to-video sequel I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer) kept us from getting our hopes too high. Well, judging by the footage from this first trailer, it looks like we may have had nothing to worry about all along. The trailer is snarky, fun, and action-packed, exactly the sort of genre cocktail that we hoped would carry over from the comics.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Idris Elba play pretty wonderfully off each other, and is there any actress whose geek heat-meter is rising faster than Zoe Saldana’s? After a year that included roles in Star Trek and Avatar, it looks like the talented actress is in for another hell of a year. And for the borderline campiness that is Jensen, Chris Evans pulls off some of his more ridiculous lines with a solid amount of aplomb. He continues to be one of my favorite young actors working today.

MSN has the trailer, which you can check out after the jump: More»

Avatar won the weekend yet again, pulling in $34.9 million for its sixth consecutive first-place finish at the box office and bringing its domestic total to $551.7 million.

Avatar has now passed The Dark Knight’s $533.3 million domestic total to become the second-highest grossing movie of all time. However, with James Cameron’s latest still chugging along healthily at the theaters, Avatar should exceed Titanic’s $600.8 million total in a matter of weeks. Overseas, Avatar has already accomplished that, its foreign total of $1.29 billion over $50 million more than Titanic’s previous biggest foreign gross record of $1.24 billion. With its worldwide gross now at $1.838 billion, Avatar is only a hair’s breadth away from Titanic’s all-time worldwide record of $1.843 bilion. So, expect history to be made soon.

Meanwhile, the rest of the domestic field had a so-so outing. The angel-themed apocalyptic thriller Legion bowed in the number 2 spot with a healthy but average $17.5 million, while The Book of Eli held on to 3rd place with $15.7 million in its second weekend. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s family comedy The Tooth Fairy opened in 4th place with $14 million, considerably less than the debut of his other family fare. Extraordinary Measures, the other new wide release, fell flat as it opened in 8th place with a disappointing $6 million. The Lovely Bones rounded out the top 5 with an $8.4 million weekend. More»

If you caught The Book of Eli this past weekend, you were treated to Denzel Washington unleashing some righteous ass-whoopings. Good times all around.

But The Book of Eli was a lot more than your run-of-the-mill action flick. It had atmosphere and heart, and pulsated with grimness and hope. Part of what made it such a potent vision of faith in a post-apocalyptic future was Atticus Ross’ haunting and powerful score. If you haven’t seen the film yet, you can get a taste of Ross’ music here.

We’re excited to host another giveaway here at c, vt, this time centering around the amazing film that is The Book of Eli. Hit the jump to see what’s up for grabs, and how you can win!

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REVIEW:

(500) Days of Summer, one of the year’s most refreshing and endearing romantic comedies, has arrived on DVD and Blu-ray, and it’s just as good as it ever was when we saw it in theaters. The whimsical love story of Tom Hansen and Summer Finn is an original and fun spin on traditional movie romances as the film chronicles 500 days of the relationship between Tom, a consummate believer in love, and Summer, the skeptic girl of his dreams.

Music video director Marc Webb makes his transition into the feature world and he, along with writers Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, populate the world of (500) Days with a cast of quirky and relatable characters. Set to a catchy pop soundtrack, and indeed Webb calls this a “pop movie,” the film nevertheless avoids being over-sentimental to the point of saccharine, nor is it so self-aware as to be disingenuous. It navigates that fine line perfectly, finding a successful harmony of off-the-cuff quips and emotion-loaded looks. The performances are universally wonderful, led by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, culminating in one of the year’s best films. More»

In case you missed it, yesterday night was the 2010 Golden Globes Awards ceremony. The show was pretty zippy, though the seating arrangements were kind of awkward in that a lot of the award winners seemed to take a while to get from their tables to the stage. I guess that’s what you get for putting your A-list celebrities in the front rows, instead of your actual nominees. Avatar was definitely the big winner of the night, though that isn’t too surprising considering how much the foreign press has been loving it up. The Hurt Locker got the worst snub of the night, getting shut-out completely, though (500) Days of Summer and even Inglourious Basterds, to an extent, should’ve gotten more love.

Ricky Gervais was pretty awesome as host. He really doesn’t give a damn, and all his bits were biting and hilarious. At one point, he quips that a Golden Globe can’t be bought, not officially, anyway, following it up with “what the hell, I’m not going to do this again anyway.” His joke at the end of the following clip was the comedic highlight of the night, and the funniest one I’ve heard at an awards show, maybe ever:

Catch the video and full winners list after the jump. More»

In addition to picking up a couple Golden Globes in the Best Director and Best Picture – Drama categories, Avatar earned another $41.3 million and took the top spot at the box office for the fifth weekend in a row.

The picture dipped only 18% to bring its domestic total to $491.8 million, while its worldwide box office reached a staggering $1.6 billion, putting it in position to surpass Titanic as the highest grossing film of all time over the next couple of weeks. At this rate, breaking the $2 billion mark isn’t entirely out of the question either.

Meanwhile, there was plenty to go around over the MLK holiday weekend, with The Book of Eli coming in 2nd with a strong $31.6 million start. That’s Denzel Washington’s second best opening weekend ever, behind only 2007’s American Gangster. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones also expanded wide to a surprisingly decent $17 million weekend, good enough for 3rd place (though not nearly good enough to begin earning back its $100 million budget). Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel moved past Sherlock Holmes into 4th place, earning $11.5 million, while the picture starring Golden Globe-winning Robert Downey, Jr. came in 5th with $9.8 million. New release The Spy Next Door opened flatly to a 6th place debut, pulling in $9.7 million and (hopefully) urging Jackie Chan to consider some better fare. More»

Editor’s note: We never reviewed Jennifer’s Body on c, vt, so as opposed to a mini review, we’re running a longer one for the Blu-ray release.

REVIEW:

Jennifer’s Body was a script that received a lot of attention when it first began circulating through Hollywood, though with good reason. For starters, it was Diablo Cody’s first script since she won an Oscar for Juno. It also revealed itself to be a hip ode to the brand of 80’s horror-comedy probably best represented by Sami Raimi’s work of the period. It also hinted at some interesting themes, chiefly having to do with teenage female relationships. The fact that it was funny and chock full of gore didn’t hurt its case either. All it needed was a good cast and a competent director, and one could easily imagine it becoming the next cult classic.

Fast forward four months from its theatrical release, and few would try to argue Jennifer’s Body as a crucial addition to the canon of horror-comedies. It’s easy to say why — the movie turned out to be a moderately entertaining film that didn’t have any glaring lows, but also failed to hit any cinematic highs. It’s got a semblance of good energy, but never really finds its stride. It certainly understands the genre, but fails to bring anything notably new to the table or improve on the old formula in a significant way. Put simply, it’s an acceptably diverting movie that has all the right ingredients to be special — strong themes, great visuals, a good story — but never gets them to pop.

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There’s just no stopping James Cameron. Avatar once again topped the box office in its fourth month of release with a $50.3 million weekend, showing only the slightest signs of slowing in the post-holiday frame. It set the mark for biggest fourth weekend gross, handily unseating the record previously held by Titanic’s $28.7 million.

Avatar’s domestic total now sits at $430.8 million, becoming the second-fastest to $400 million behind only The Dark Knight. It also officially became the highest grossing film released in 2009, besting Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s $402.1 million mark. Internationally, Avatar performed even better than last week thanks to a record-setting opening in China that saw it claim both opening week and single day records. Its $150.5 million international haul brings its foreign total to $910.8 million, and paired with its domestic gross, Avatar now has a spectacular worldwide tally of $1.34 billion. That’s still $500 million shy of Titanic’s $1.84 billion all time mark, but Avatar is certainly making it seem at least feasible that a succession could happen.

Back in the domestic picture, Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel continued their dead heat for next place, bringing in $16.59 million and $16.57 million, respectively, for a 2nd-3rd place photo finish. Daybreakers debuted in 4th place with a so-so $15.1 million, though the other two new wide releases struggled out of the gate. Leap Year came in 6th place with $9.2 million while Youth In Revolt limped to a 9th place finish with $6.9 million. It’s Complicated rounded out the top 5 with an $11 million take. More»

Latino Review reported late last month that the search for Green Lantern’s female lead had been narrowed down to five actresses: Eva Green, Keri Russel, Diane Kruger, Blake Lively, and Jennifer Garner. Now, The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision blog is reporting that the role has been cast, with Lively being the one who has ultimately won the role in the Martin Campbell-directed film.

Lively will star opposite Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan as Carol Ferris, a woman who runs her father’s aerospace company, and the one who hires Reynold’s cocky and fearless test pilot character. In the comics, Jordan goes on to become the titular intergalactic policeman and his romance with Ferris becomes complicated when an opposing alien race bestows her with the power of a crystal called the Star Sapphire. Though the character called for someone older, Lively reportedly impressed the studio and filmmakers with a strong audition, as well as with her work in Ben Affleck’s The Town.

Hit the jump for some more details and our thoughts.

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Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick wrote an awesome script when they pumped out Zombieland last year. They have some intriguing projects in the pipeline as well, what with their work on Venom and Earth vs. Moon. Now it looks like they’re really stepping into the big leagues, tackling two studio tent poles.

Reese and Wernick have been hired to pen Fox’s Deadpool, which is set to return Ryan Reynolds to the role he originated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The two have already proven they know how to blend action and humor with Zombieland, and it’s something they’ll have to do very well to pull off a faithful Deadpool movie. Though no director is yet attached, and a timetable for production to begin is still unknown given Reynold’s involvement with Green Lantern, I remain optimistic about this project, especially now that Reese and Wernick have come aboard.

Hit the jump to see what other big franchise Reese and Wernick have been hired to write.

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