Filed under: Action & Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance, Thrillers, New Releases, Box Office Predictions

The power of the adolescent libido and the need for a good laugh were proven when the teen sex romp Superbad outdid all the competition on its opening weekend. Rush Hour 3 and The Bourne Ultimatum covered the two and three spots, with the fourth-place The Simpsons Movie clinging to the top five for the fourth consecutive week. When all was said and done, this is what the final tally looked like.

There are six five new contenders this week for the top five positions, so the competition should be fierce. Here’s what coming out on the weekend of August 24.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday
What’s It All About: Rowan Atkinson returns as the little-spoken Mr. Bean, who wins a church raffle for a vacation in Cannes, France.
Why It Might Do Well: Even if I’ve always preferred his Black Adder series to Mr. Bean, Atkinson is a comic genius.
Why It Might Not Do Well: 1997’s Bean scored only $2.2 million on its opening weekend, (though it should be noted that was for a limited release of only 242 theaters) and the British style of humor may not sit well with mainstream U.S. audiences.
Number of Theaters: 1,580
Prediction: $9 million.

The Nanny Diaries
What’s It All About: In this film based on the novel by Emma McLaughlin, Scarlett Johansson stars as a young woman hired to care for the child of a snooty New York City couple.
Why It Might Do Well: Paul Giamatti plays the upper crust dad, and he’s always worth watching (Big Momma’s House notwithstanding), and it should appeal to those who like their comedy on the heartwarming side. Ms. Johansson captured my heart in Lost in Translation, and I’m always game to see what she’s up to next.
Why It Might Not Do Well: That booger-eating joke in the trailer was enough to keep me away.
Number of Theaters: 1,800
Prediction: $8 million

Resurrecting the Champ
What’s It All About: Josh Hartnett plays a sports reporter who discovers a boxing legend (Samuel L. Jackson) living on the streets.
Why It Might Do Well: Dude, it’s Sam Jackson, and the film is sporting an 85% fresh rating over at rottentomatoes.com.
Why It Might Not Do Well: The title may fool the general public into thinking this is the world’s first zombie boxing movie.
Number of Theaters: 1,550
Prediction: $11 million

September Dawn
What’s It All About: A romantic drama set against the backdrop of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, which involved the deaths of over 100 California-bound Arkansas emigrants in southwestern Utah at the hands of Mormon settlers.
Why It Might Do Well: Jon Voight makes one scary-ass religious zealot.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Again, Jon Voight makes one scary-ass religious zealot.
Number of Theaters: 850
Prediction: $7.5 million

WAR
What’s It All About: War? Huh. Good God y’all. An FBI agent hunts down the assassin who killed his partner.
Why It Might Do Well: Things blow up and with Jet Li in the cast you can bet there will be spinning back kicks aplenty.
Why It Might Not Do Well: When I heard Jason Statham say “They killed my partner!” or words to that effect in the trailer, my cliché alarm went off and refuses to stop buzzing.
Number of Theaters: 2,200
Prediction: $15.5 million

Here’s how I reckon next weekend will turn out:
1. Superbad
2. The Bourne Ultimatum
3. War
4. Rush Hour 3
5. Resurrecting the Champ

Here’s how the last week’s competition ended up:
1. Matt: 12
1. Curt: 12
1. Porcalina: 12
1. Gregory Rubinstein: 12
1. Paul D: 12
1. Bubba8193: 12
1. El Borracho: 12
1. Withasong: 12
1. Andre: 12
2. Josh: 11
3. Anna07: 10
3. Rufus: 10
3. Mario: 10
4. Ethan Stanislawski: 8
4. Jasonsmusicpage: 8
4. Ray 8
5. Mike: 7
5. Blair: 7
5. Tangoeco: 7

Please post your prediction for the top five films in the comments section below before 5:00 PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie. Come on, make us proud.

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Horror, Casting, Remakes and Sequels

There’s nothing like mowing over some pedestrians to get the blood pumping. Way back in 1975, Sylvester Stallone and David Carradine starred in Death Race 2000, a B-movie where drivers ran over people for points. While many never saw and have no idea about the film, I think we’ve all talked about accruing points by hitting random things with cars. It would’ve been cool to re-visit the story for the actual year, but a few more have passed and we’re now getting the sequel — Death Race. As we’ve told you — Paul W.S. Anderson is writing and directing the film, Jason Statham is starring and Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane and Joan Allen of all people have also signed on to the cast. What else is there? A love interest, of course.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Natalie Martinez, a relative unknown who has only modeled for J-Lo’s clothing line and done a slew of episodes over the last few years on TV’s Fashion House and Saints & Sinners, is negotiating to co-star. This incarnation sees a future where prison inmates in America are forced to complete in death races. (This is reminding me of that one Angel episode…) Statham only has a few weeks left on his sentence when he’s got to take the wheel. Martinez would play a gal named Case, who is his navigator and helps him plan a prison escape. I’m guessing he’d rather escape than plow down people, otherwise the dude is quite dense to try and escape right before he’d be legally released. And it’s definitely a good cast for Martinez to hop onto. Where will the Death Race take her?

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Filed under: Action & Adventure, Thrillers, Casting

While Jan de Bont might not be having the best luck with his other projects, it looks like his next far-fetched action title, Stopping Power, is moving along nicely. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Jason Isaacs (aka Lucius Malfoy) and Melissa George (30 Days of Night) have joined John Cusack in the action thriller. Cusack stars as a single father whose family RV is hijacked by a criminal on the run while vacationing in Germany. To save his daughter, he is forced to act as a ‘decoy driver’ for the escaped con, becoming embroiled in a high-stakes police chase. George is set to play Cusack’s girlfriend, and Isaacs will play the criminal. That’s not much of a surprise; Isaacs’ resume is littered with “bad-guy” roles. Plus, if anyone can handle over-the-top villainy, it would be Isaacs; if you don’t believe me, take another look at his performance in The Patriot.

Back in May, Scott Weinberg told us that de Bont was promising Stopping Power would include a 51-minute chase scene. Remember de Bont before the lifeless Tomb Raider films and the lame remake of The Haunting; this was the same director who brought us Speed. So the man does know his way around “vehicular action.” The original draft of the script was written by The Hitcher scribe, Eric Red, but has reportedly undergone some rewrites from Richard Shepard (The Matador) and Skip Woods (Swordfish). With casting now in place, the production is ready to start shooting in Berlin this September. Stopping Power is scheduled to hit theaters in 2008.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Oi, say ‘ello to 12.8-mm thin LG KS20, the 3.2Mbps HSDPA cuz to their KU990 touchscreen hottie. Although the KS20 shares much of the looks of the KU990, they’ve actually trimmed back the display to 2.8-inches (compared to 3-inches on the KU990) while acing that 5.1 megapixel shooter for a skimpy, business-minded 2 megapixeler all riding atop a Windows Mobile 6.0 OS. Expected Q4 in Europe running on some of that Vodafone carrier action, at least. We’ll be sure to get up close and personal with it at IFA later in the week if that’s ok with you. Though so.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

The first ever Japanese magazine scans for the upcoming PS3-exclusive Disgaea 3 have surfaced on the internet. In them, we see the series’ trademark art style come into play again. The cast has changed from the previous two games. The forlorn individual at the bottom is Mao, and he looks to be a crazed scientist of sorts. The official site for Disgaea 3 will open on September 21st (isn’t that around the time of Tokyo Game Show?). Hardcore Disgaea fans will want to mark their calendars, knowing that trailers and screenshots are bound to shower upon them on that day.

[Via NeoGAF]

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While Nokia will be launching the N81 in London tomorrow, here are some images of what the future looks like. The N81 certainly looks extremely sweet, bringing 8GB of flash memory to truly make this a portable entertainment device in addition to voice call capabilities. Word on the street has it that the 8GB N95 along with a slew of XpressMusic handsets will also be paraded at the London event. Are those touch sensitive buttons in front, or is it just me eyes playing tricks on me?

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Filed under: Computers, Video Games

After initial trials with gamers (mostly involving stimulant abuse, sleep deprivation, and homophobic slurs) failed to produce any significant results, scientists are now using a Pac-Man-like computer game to better understand how the brain reacts to imminent danger.

Essentially, the scans show how the subjects used different regions of their brains as the level of “threat” in the game increased over time. It works via electric shock: As they move their blue triangle through a 2D maze, players must avoid the red dot “predator” (Halo 3 this is not, apparently). If the predator catches the triangle, the volunteer receives an electric shock.

The scientists found that as long as the predator was some distance away, blood flowed most strongly to the prefrontal cortex in the forebrain-active during periods of anxiety, and helps coordinate escape strategies to avoid the threat, he said. When the predator moved nearer, blood flow switched to the midbrain, which controls gut-level reflexes such as fight or flight.

So, what have we learned today? “We are probably better survival machines now,” said Dean Mobbs, on of the study’s authors.

From the BBC

Related Links:

• Scientists erase memories in rats
• Twelve-headed Jellyfish!

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Gaming

Researchers at University College London look to have taken a slightly unconventional approach in their studies on fear, with the BBC reporting that they’ve crafted a “Pac-Man-like” game that boasts the added risk of electric shock. Apparently, volunteers play the game while an MRI scanner monitors them, moving a blue triangle through a 2D maze while trying to avoid a red dot “predator.” If that dot catches them, they receive an electric shock. As that danger neared , the researchers found that players stopped using their their prefrontal cortex in their forebrain and instead relied on their midbrain area, which controls “gut-level reflexes.” At least that’s what they’re saying. We have a sneaking suspicion it may all just be an elaborate trick the researchers play on freshman students.

[Via The Inquirer]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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• GWT 1.4 release and out of beta
  The latest release of Google Web Toolkit is out, and this is the first release not marked as Beta! As usual, the release is full of must-have improvements, including fundamental improvements to application size and performance.
  (tags: java javascript google gwt software opensource )
• Plone 3.0 released!
  A major update to the venerable Python CMS based on the Zope framework , Plone 3.0 includes many powerful new features, including document versioning, inline (Ajax) editing, link checking, and tons more!
  (tags: python opensource software )
• 12 Things You Should Dislike About PHP
  Another impressive list of things you may not know about PHP, this time focusing on the annoying foibles of the language.
  (tags: php )
• 15 Cool Things About PHP That Most People Overlook
  Far from another lame collection of semi-obscure PHP functions, this list of language features will likely contain at least a few mind-blowing items for all but the most seasoned of PHP veterans.
  (tags: php )
• The IPhone Is IE4 Again (in a good way)
  Joe Hewitt (of Firebug and iUI fame) speaks out against those who decry the iPhone for encouraging the development of sites that only work on a single device. His point is well taken, but his attack against the standards community is a bit over the top.
  (tags: standards mobile ie )
• New Flash(R) Developer Center launched
  In addition to the respected YUI JavaScript library, Yahoo! has now launched its Flash Developer Center to host ASTRA: the ActionScript Toolkit for Rich Applications, including many useful Flash components and libraries.
  (tags: flash flex yahoo! opensource software )

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Filed under: Previews

Not a lot of people got into the private beta of Home, and the public beta has gone missing. Since the user base is so small, any inside information is really difficult to come by. One beta tester revealed to IGN, under a cloak of anonymity, a few details.

• So far, the beta just has four areas: your apartment, a lobby, the movie theater (with 10 rooms), and the game room (6 pool tables, 4 bowling lanes, 10 arcade machines).
• As of yet, no support has been utilized for in-Home game launches — that is, you can’t invite people to play games from Home yet.
• Facial creation is the most detailed, but hair and clothing is still limited. Recently, body size was added, but it’s not as detailed as the facial features.
• No music, movie, or photo integration with your apartment made it into the beta. There are some generic samples, but nothing you can upload yourself. Heck, TVs and stereos aren’t even available as pieces of furniture.
• You can walk into your apartment, but you need to get invited and warp into a friends’ place. That’s the only way to get into another player’s pad.
• Even though a lot of things are missing that are promised in the “final” build upon public release, what is there works wonderfully. The arcade games promote communication and placing furniture is simple. Physics work well.
• Home supports headsets and keyboard — you press/hold R2 to talk. Instead of having one standard volume, your voice is loud relative to the people around you. So if you’re in a crowded lobby, you can still have a one-on-one conversation while everyone else sounds like a murmuring crowd. That’s pretty cool.

While a lot of features seem missing, a cause of concern since the October launch is approaching fast (if that’s still the plan), Home is said to work well. It’s very open and easy to get into and talk to people. We’re glad to hear it, but we’d be a lot happier if Sony kept on top of updating the build so we could get some insight into the more advanced features detailed at E3.

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