Russell Crowe and Darren Aronofsky are busy with Noah. Will Smith is apparently tackling the Biblical brother rivals Cain in Abel in his directorial debut. Paul Verhoeven is taking on the big man himself in Jesus of Nazareth and now his earthly mother will be getting a big screen focus. Mary Mother of Christ will show Jesus’ life up until about adolescence and the recently retired Peter O’ Toole is apparently coming out of retirement to join the project, which is being billed as a prequel to The Passion of the Christ . The project is still casting, based on a script by Benedict Fitzgerald, who co-wrote Mel Gibson’s bloody crucifixion pic and Barbara Nicolosi. 15 year-old Odeya Rush ( The Odd Life of Timothy Green ) will play the role of Mary. Peter O’ Toole is apparently heading out of retirement to play Simeon, who blessed the infant Jesus, and Julia Ormond will play the mother of John the Baptist, Elizabeth, according to The Guardian. Ben Kingsley, meanwhile is apparently eyeing to play the era’s evil monarch, King Herod and producers are apparently hoping Judi Dench will take the role of Anna the Prophetess, a widow between 84 and 105 years old. They are also going after Hugh Bonneville to play Satan. Texas-based televangelist/author Joel Osteen is executive producing the project, and Aussie filmmaker Alister Grierson, who directed James Cameron’s deep sea dive film Sanctum , will direct Mary Mother of Christ. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ made over $611 million worldwide and over $370 million domestically. [ The Guardian ]
Two newcomers, The Possession and Lawless topped the overall box office over Labor Day weekend, ending a summer that ended with not much of a bang. Overall, the Summer theatrical season fell nearly 3% from last year, winding up at $4.275 billion (vs $4.4 billion). The Expendables 2 , which had topped the box office for two weekends, made a landing in the third spot with only slightly less screens. Today’s grosses reflect a Friday through Monday Labor Day weekend numbers. The per cent change in revenue vs. the previous weekend only considers Friday – Sunday numbers. 1. The Possession Gross: $21.3 million Screens: 2,816 (PSA: $7,564) Week: 1 The end of the unofficial summer period proved softer than the beginning, though Lionsgate’s The Possession ended The Expendables 2 two-week reign atop the box office with a solid $21.3 million opener over the Friday through Monday Labor Day weekend. Last year, late summer arrivals Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Help gave an end of season push with those two films alone grossing $286.8 million to the 2011 summer box office through Labor Day. 2. Lawless Gross: $13 million (Cume: $15.14 million – Wed. opening) Screens: 2,888 (PSA: $4,501) Week: 1 The Weinstein Company opted for a wide roll out of John Hillcoat’s Cannes crime drama Lawless . Still with a bevy of stars including Shia LaBeouf, Jessica Chastain, Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce and Gary Oldman, the box office results weren’t particularly spectacular. 3. The Expendables 2 Gross: $11.2 million (Cume: $68.559 million) Screens: 3,334 (PSA: $3,359) Week: 3 (Change: – 34% vs three day gross of $8.9 million) After two weeks at number one, Expendables 2 skidded to the number three spot in its third weekend. The Friday – Sunday gross came in at $8.9 million for a 34% overall decline for the same days the previous weekend. The pic remained in nearly the same number of theaters vs. one week prior, which stood at 3,355 though the decline in screens likely indicates the title has piqued. 4. The Bourne Legacy Gross: $9,377,345 (Cume $98,375,785) Screens: 3,131 (PSA: $2,995) Week: 4 (Change: – 22% vs three day gross of $7,326,540) The Bourne Legacy settled at number four over Labor Day weekend after placing second the previous weekend. The Universal release lost 523 theaters though its screen average actually jumped over the previous week to $2,995 from $2,540 and its overall revenue drop was only 22% (in a straight Friday – Sunday comparison) despite the fairly steep loss of venues. 5. Paranorman (3-D, Animation) Gross: $8,817,758 (Cume: $40,292,002) Screens: 3,085 (PSA: $2,858) Week: 3 (Change: – 24% vs three day gross of $6,550,735) Paranorman lost 370 screens Labor Day weekend, but also saw its screen average rise to $2,858 over the previous weekend’s $2,473. In a straight Friday – Sunday comparison, the title was only down 24% from the previous Friday – Sunday gross, not bad considering the decline in capacity. 6. The Odd Life of Timothy Green Gross: $8.502 million (Cume: $38.38 million) Screens: 2,635 (PSA: $3,227) Week: 3 (Change: – 12% vs three day gross of $6,249,000) Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green held steady in the sixth position in its third weekend. The title added 37 locations and its Friday – Sunday revenue dropped only 12% from the previous Friday – Sunday period. 7. The Dark Knight Rises Gross: $7.93 million (Cume: $433,246,000) Screens: 2,187 (PSA: $3,626) Week: 7 (Change: – 16% vs three day gross of $6.1 million) 8. 2016: Obama’s America Gross: $7,086,686 (Cume: $20,253,719) Screens: 1,747 (PSA: $4,056) Week: 8 (Change: – 14% vs three day gross of $5,586,686) The anti-Obama doc took on a good amount of extra capacity over the holiday weekend, adding 656 theaters. It’s overall Friday – Sunday gross dropped 14% from the previous week. The title has now grossed more than Michael Moore’s previous effort, Capitalism: A Love Story , which totaled $14,363,397 domestically. 9. The Campaign Gross: $7.02 million (Cume: $74,597,000) Screens: 2,941 (PSA: $2,387) Week: 4 (Change: – 24% vs three day gross of $5,665,000) The comedy dropped from fourth to ninth place in its fourth weekend, also losing 361 locations over the prior week. 10. Hope Springs Gross: $6 million (Cume: $53,357,000) Screens: 2,441 (PSA: $2,458) Week: 4 (Change: – 18% vs three day gross of $4.7 million) Hope Springs landed in the top 10 over Labor Day weekend after placing ninth last week. The title added 39 screens.
Couple says they are ‘thrilled’ to have a sibling for Violet and Seraphina. By Jocelyn Vena Jennifer Garner Photo: FilmMagic Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are making room for one more baby. The couple confirmed that they are expecting their third child. They confirmed the news to The Associated Press, simply saying that they are “thrilled” to have another baby. The pair, who married in 2005 already have two daughters, Violet, 5, and Seraphina , 2. “She’s always wanted three kids,” a source told a href=”http://www.usmagazine.com/momsbabies/news/jennifer-garner-pregnant-with-third-child-2011228″ target=”_blank”> UsMagazine.com of Garner. “This was her plan all along.” In addition to a growing family, Garner and Affleck still have busy film careers to juggle. Garner, who recently starred in the “Arthur” remake alongside Russell Brand, has a number of films on her docket, including “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” which she just promoted at Disney’s D23 convention, and
