Tom Hanks is a multiple-time Oscar winner who is beloved for such roles as Forrest Gump and that dude in Castaway. Ellen DeGeneres is an Emmy-winning talk show host who has emceed awards shows and judged American Idol. But to most kids around the world, Hanks is simply known as Woody from the Toy Story franchise, while Ellen is known as Dory from Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. Yup, both of these stars are members of the Pixar family. So when Hanks stopped by Ellen on Friday afternoon, he had no choice but to challenge the comedian to what we think is the first-ever Pixar-Off. At least we think this was the first-ever Pixar-Off. Feel free to tell us we're wrong. Who came out on top?!? It wasn't really that sort of competition. Instead, Hanks had audience members close their eyes and pretend they were in a room with Woody and Dory. Yes, that means you, woman in the audience! Close your eyes! What would their exchange be like? Woody would be all worked up and Dory would be very forgetful. Hanks, who is working on Toy Story 4, also talked about the stresses of voice acting, such as the constant clenching of one's diaphragm. It's not exactly fun to say the same words and phrases over and over, either. No, these aren't the biggest complaints on the planet. But the following exchange does provide some insight into the whole voiceover universe. Earlier in the week, Ellen cracked us up when she visited a mall with Britney Spears… … and moved us to tears when she helped bring Katy Perry together with an Orlando nightclub shooting survivor: We adore Ellen. She's the best. Check out her latest celebrity back and forth below:
Most children may have the attention span of Dory from Finding Nemo – quickly losing interest within minutes, which is why we need to have a few crafts up our sleeves to keep them entertained. Why buy what you can make? Check out these homemade crafts for kids that will keep the fun times rolling. More…
Finding Dory is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated sequels in recent memory. Finding Nemo was hugely popular with both children and adults and the sequel is bound to be as successful. However, it now appears that the movie we all see in the theaters will not end as originally planned thanks to the orca documentary, Blackfish . Check out the story below! Finding Dory Ending Changed So Dory and friends were originally going to end up in a marine park. Now they’ll be able to leave the marine park if they so desire. There were a few stories of kids flushing things down the toilet to send them to “the ocean” like in Finding Nemo so maybe workers in marine parks should be on red alert when Finding Dory comes out in 2015. I can just see the headlines now… “Child Attempts to Take Home Puffin From Marine Park”. It should be noted that Disney has made no official statement regarding the altered ending.
Only weeks ahead of its world premiere as the opening film at AFI Fest comes a glimpse of Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren starrer, Hitchcock . Like the festival’s closing night counterpart, Lincoln , the title will no doubt be an awards-season heavy-weight. The legendary filmmaker and his wife Alma Reville (Mirren) take the focus in the Sacha Gervasi-directed feature, which is set against the backdrop of filming Hitchcock’s Psycho in 1959. The trailer opens with Hopkins talking about violence and horror and he’s just a man “behind the scenes with a camera.” Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel, Vera Miles, James D’Arcy, Danny Huston and Toni Collette also star in the film, which spans from the time of Wisconsin murder Ed Gein, the inspiration for Psycho ‘s Norman Bates character, to the release of the lauded film in 1960. Hitchcock and Reville’s marriage comes under strain due to the filmmaker’s determination to complete the film. Fox Searchlight, which will release Hitchcock beginning November 23rd, will likely have a multiple Oscar-nominated pic on its hands if the trailer is any indication. What do you think?
I guess it’s not surprising that a movie franchise that relies on Randy Newman for its theme music would discover rave culture a couple of decades late. Then again, this Pixar Toy Story short is about a dinosaur. Partysaurus Rex finds the Wallace Shawn -voiced dinosaur Rex discovering a whole new group of wet and wild hipster friends when, after being deemed “Party-Pooper Rex” by the old gang, he’s spirited off for some tub play by Andy. If you didn’t catch this Mark A. Walsh-directed short when it ran at cineplex screenings of Finding Nemo 3D , you can watch it in its entirety here. Who said it ain’t easy being green? Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Thrash metal god Frank Bells says Penn Badgley nailed his portrayal of the late singer Jeff Buckley in Greetings From Tim Buckley — and he’s one to know. As unlikely as it may seem, the Anthrax bassist, who plays punk icon Richard Hell in the movie, is, as he put it, “a Jeff Buckley diehard forever.” And after seeing the film for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday night, Bello was singing Badgley’s praises. At a post-screening dinner at Bloke & 4th on King Street, Bello told me he was initially skeptical when he learned the Gossip Girl actor would be playing the sui-generis singer, but any lingering doubts he had were dispelled in Toronto. “I hadn’t seen any dailies or anything before tonight, and Penn blew me away.” Bello said. The Anthrax bassist added that he was particularly impressed by what will probably become the most talked-about scene in the movie: in which Badgley does an extended octave-jumping a cappella singing improvisation in a New York City record store. “When Penn did that record-store scene, I was like fucking go for it dude. And he literally went for it. He let go. He became that character, ” Bello said. “And, as a Buckley fan, that’s all I could ask of somebody who played him. Penn went for it. And he got it.” Directed by Daniel Algrant ( People I Know ), Greetings From Tim Buckley is about Jeff’s attempts to get out from under the shadow cast by his late father, singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, who’s portrayed by Ben Rosenfield in the picture. Buckley pere died from a drug overdose at the age of 28, but, despite his short life, left behind a substantial, mostly critically acclaimed body of work, including nine studio albums. Jeff Buckley was working on his second album in Memphis, Tenn. when he drowned while swimming in the Wolf River there. He was 30. Toronto festival goers who attended the screening gave it a big round of applause at the end, but saved their most raucous cheering for Badgley, who gives a break-out performance in this picture. At the party, Bello, who also makes memorable use of his screen time in Greetings , told me that his plan is to do more acting next year when Anthrax will be off writing a new album. “I always wanted to be a character actor,” the theatrically trained Bello told me. “I love the process.” Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Woe is the poor, lonely Henry Cavill actioner Cold Light of Day , which opened in wide release and climbed its way to the bottom (well okay, #13) with a paltry $1.8 million take. As in, TOTAL. Not screening a film and giving it virtually no promotion will do that, even with the future Superman holding a gun and Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver posing like the T-800 on the poster. But it was also a terrible movie-going weekend all-around, with the bleakest numbers in recent memory spreading across all comers. Hit it for the Debbie Downer of Weekend Receipts and let’s all look to Finding Nemo and Milla Jovovich’s leather pants next week for salvation. 1. The Possession Gross: $9,500,000 (Cume: $33,349,000) Screens: 2,834 (PSA: $3,352) Weeks: 2 (Change: -46.4%) Lionsgate’s supernatural horror-thriller held the top spot with just $9.5 million in receipts – yikes. Expect the Jeffrey Dean Morgan – dybbuk picture to drop next week when real competition from genre sequel Resident Evil: Retribution muscles its way into the box office. 2. Lawless Gross: $6,002,000 (Cume: $23,520,000) Screens: 3,138 (PSA: $1,913) Week 2 How refreshing to see a movie for grownups zooming up the charts! Even with a less-than-stellar $1,913 per-screen take, the violent, sweater-filled Shia LaBeouf-Tom Hardy period drama is still director John Hillcoat’s biggest opener to date, behind 2009’s The Road ($8.1M gross) and 2006’s The Proposition ($1.9M gross). 3. The Words Gross: $5,000,000 Screens: 2,801 (PSA: $1,785) Week: 1 Despite a concerted marketing push, CBS Films notched a dud with this Bradley Cooper drama about a writer and a book and his lady and something something something … which goes to show that if your target audience doesn’t quite get what your film is about, they won’t show up in droves to see it. The Words was acquired at Sundance for $2 million, so at least it’s not a huge wash, but don’t expect this one to break out in the coming weeks. 4. The Expendables 2 Gross: $4,750,000 (Cume: $75,417,000) Screens: 3,260 (PSA: $1,457) Week: 4 (Change: -47.4%) Sly Stallone & Co’s old dudes kicking ass sequel made a splash this summer but suffered a -47.4% drop off. Could it be the testosterone-seeking set stayed home to watch beefy men hit each other on the football field instead? 5. The Bourne Legacy Gross: $4,000,000 (Cume: $103,700,000) Screens: 2,766 (PSA: $1,446) Weeks: 5 (Change: -44.7%) At least the terrible weekend put Bourne Legacy into the $100 mil club. (Worldwide take to date: $165 million.) Just a few weekends more and Universal should make back its costs + P&A! 6. ParaNorman Gross: $3,830,000 (Cume: $45,098,000) Screens: 2,856 (PSA: $1,341) Weeks: 4 (Change: -41.7%) The technically amazing (but pretty damn dark ) stop motion/CG kids tale earned some of the highest critical praise of late, matching The Dark Knight Rises with an 87 percent Tomatometer ranking. Fingers crossed more kids and parents seek it out next week as the much fluffier Finding Nemo 3-D re-release barrels into theaters. 7. The Odd Life of Timothy Green Gross: $3,650,000 (Cume: $43,007,000) Screens: 2,717 (PSA: $1,343) Weeks: 4 (Change: -41.8%) The tree-child-made-of-wishes picture suffered its biggest decline in week 4, on par with most of the weekend’s contenders. Was this odd fantasy not what children everywhere were jonesing for as they began their intrepid march back into the classroom? Did parents the nation ’round not clamor to see a weird-ass movie about infertility and magical babies as they re-acclimated to the grinding realities of sending their young back to school?? 8. The Campaign Gross: $3,530,000 (Cume $79,473,000) Screens: 2,542 (PSA: $1,389) Weeks: 5 (Change: -38.2%) Well, we had more interesting ( and comical ) political entertainment to watch on TV last week. 9. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $3,285,000 (Cume: $437,849,000) Screens: 1,987 (PSA: $1,653) Weeks: 8 (Change: -46.3%) I love it when huge blockbusters with record-breaking box office tallies still sneak their way into the Top 10 with tiny returns. Are these repeat viewings or first-time TDKR -watchers? Who waits two months to see The Dark Knight Rises ?? So many questions. 10. 2016 Obama’s America Gross: $3,281,000 (Cume: $26,088,000) Screens: 2,017 (PSA: $1,627) Weeks: 9 (Change: -41.5%) Despite a significant -41.5% drop-off from last week (when it ranked #9), the polarizing partisan doc has reached its widest release, hitting 2,017 theaters nationwide. It’s now the longest in-theater release in the Top 10, with a $26 million cume to date. — 13. The Cold Light of Day Gross: $1,800,000 Screens: 1,511 (PSA: $1,191) Weeks: 1 WOW. Despite starring Bruce Willis, Henry Cavill, and Sigourney Weaver, poor little Cold Light of Day – the first wide release of its kind to not be screened for critics in a while – opened in wide release outside of the Top 10. The cold shoulder from Summit Entertainment helped the thriller on its way to an early theatrical grave. [Source: Box Office Mojo ]
Stereo supervisor Bob Whitehill shares his 3-D conversion secrets with MTV News for our Fall Movie Preview. By Kevin P. Sullivan A scene from “Finding Nemo” Photo: Disney
I’m sure Channing Tatum ‘s real life high school reunion was just like yours: Equal parts awkward, fun, and harrowing, with a few Step Up -style dance-offs. Watch Tatum and a deep cast of fellow millennials like Anthony Mackie, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Ari Graynor, Rosario Dawson, and Jenna Dewan in 10 Years and be thankful that your totally ’90s yearbook photos are safely tucked away in a dark, safe place and not being put on blast in a movie trailer. Ten Years marks the directorial debut of writer Jamie Linden ( We Are Marshall , Dear John ) and is produced by Tatum and his Magic Mike partner Reid Carolin. With Tatum and offscreen wife Dewan playing his onscreen girlfriend, this is a Step Up reunion of sorts… and a Mackie/Brian Geraghty Hurt Locker reunion… and a We Are Marshall reunion… and a What’s Your Number reunion… and a Dear John reunion… Verdict: Vicariously living through other people’s high school reunion > attending your own? Synopsis (via Yahoo ): In this ensemble comedy, 10 Years follows a group of friends on the night of their high school reunion who, a decade later, still haven’t quite grown up. Channing Tatum plays Jake, who is deeply in love with his girlfriend (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and ready to propose—until he runs into his high school flame (Rosario Dawson) for the first time in years. Jake’s friend Cully (played by funnyman Chris Pratt) married his cheerleader girlfriend (Ari Graynor), and has been looking forward to the reunion so he can finally apologize to all the classmates he bullied in high school. However, after a few too many drinks, the jock-turned-family man ends up reverting back to his old ways instead. Meanwhile, longtime rivals Marty (Justin Long) and A.J (Max Minghella) spend the night picking up right where they left off, vying to impress the hottest girl in class (Lynn Collins). The famous one of the group, Reeves (Oscar Isaac) is now a rock star, but is still too shy to talk to his high school crush (Kate Mara.) Written and directed by Jamie Linden, and produced by Channing Tatum, 10 Years also stars Brian Geraghty, Ron Livingston, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Porter, Aaron Yoo and Nick Zano. 10 YEARS hits theaters September 14, 2012 .
I’m sure Channing Tatum ‘s real life high school reunion was just like yours: Equal parts awkward, fun, and harrowing, with a few Step Up -style dance-offs. Watch Tatum and a deep cast of fellow millennials like Anthony Mackie, Justin Long, Kate Mara, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Ari Graynor, Rosario Dawson, and Jenna Dewan in 10 Years and be thankful that your totally ’90s yearbook photos are safely tucked away in a dark, safe place and not being put on blast in a movie trailer. Ten Years marks the directorial debut of writer Jamie Linden ( We Are Marshall , Dear John ) and is produced by Tatum and his Magic Mike partner Reid Carolin. With Tatum and offscreen wife Dewan playing his onscreen girlfriend, this is a Step Up reunion of sorts… and a Mackie/Brian Geraghty Hurt Locker reunion… and a We Are Marshall reunion… and a What’s Your Number reunion… and a Dear John reunion… Verdict: Vicariously living through other people’s high school reunion > attending your own? Synopsis (via Yahoo ): In this ensemble comedy, 10 Years follows a group of friends on the night of their high school reunion who, a decade later, still haven’t quite grown up. Channing Tatum plays Jake, who is deeply in love with his girlfriend (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) and ready to propose—until he runs into his high school flame (Rosario Dawson) for the first time in years. Jake’s friend Cully (played by funnyman Chris Pratt) married his cheerleader girlfriend (Ari Graynor), and has been looking forward to the reunion so he can finally apologize to all the classmates he bullied in high school. However, after a few too many drinks, the jock-turned-family man ends up reverting back to his old ways instead. Meanwhile, longtime rivals Marty (Justin Long) and A.J (Max Minghella) spend the night picking up right where they left off, vying to impress the hottest girl in class (Lynn Collins). The famous one of the group, Reeves (Oscar Isaac) is now a rock star, but is still too shy to talk to his high school crush (Kate Mara.) Written and directed by Jamie Linden, and produced by Channing Tatum, 10 Years also stars Brian Geraghty, Ron Livingston, Anthony Mackie, Aubrey Plaza, Scott Porter, Aaron Yoo and Nick Zano. 10 YEARS hits theaters September 14, 2012 .
