Opening early overseas helped this week’s Battleship quietly amass $215 million before its domestic debut, and a few international markets (including Japan, Hong Kong, and New Zealand) may similarly see emphatic pre-U.S. openings for Sony’s July 3 tent pole The Amazing Spider-Man when it opens in countries like India days before hitting theaters stateside. Shall we call it, as one Sony Pictures India rep suggests, the “neener-neener” bump? “Each of the Spider-Man franchise films has broken records on its release in this territory. We are very confident that Indian audiences will enjoy the new reboot of the franchise even more because they are watching it before the U.S.” [ THR ]
A trailer for Tom Hooper’s upcoming Les Miserables film leaked onto the interwebs today, revealing looks at Hugh Jackman in action in the musical adaptation. But nevermind the handsome, jaunty period stylings of 19th century France in turmoil as envisioned by Hooper; get an earful of Anne Hathaway’s warbly voice singing a tearful rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream”… and sound off on her Fantine. Are you excited or worried, theater nerds? To be completely fair, this is the worst-quality video you could imagine for a trailer, which appears to have been filmed off of a computer. Even so, the footage looks great to me — sweeping shots, dynamic camera moves, Jackman’s Jean Valjean disappearing into the shadows. What’s most concerning is also the most important element of the film: The singing. According to reports from CinemaCon (where similar footage from the film was screened, including portions of Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” number), Hooper’s plan was to film most of the musical numbers with his cast singing live, which might explain why Hathaway’s voice sounds a bit unpolished. Or maybe that was intentional. Or maybe it’s just me. [Video removed at studio’s request.] Perez Hilton first posted the video today, along with fawning words for Hathaway’s performance: “If we had any doubts about this, they are GONE now!!!” Over at The Atlantic Wire , Richard Lawson called it “unsettling,” a reaction more in line with my own. My theater nerd pal (and Popular Mechanics editor) Erin McCarthy immediately sent over this video of stage goddess Lea Salonga singing the same number with a much stronger, yet still deeply emotional voice, but perhaps the comparison — or any comparisons, as the entire film’s cast is bound to suffer scrutiny — is unfair. Hathaway is a strong singer in her own right (see: The Oscars) but she’s probably deep in character as the desperate Fantine and her vocal interpretation may reflect that. Was it wise to film the largely sung-through story with live singing? That’s the biggest question so far as we await better looks at Hooper’s Les Mis , due in theaters December 14. [ Perez Hilton , Atlantic Wire ]
As The Weeknd emerged in 2011 with critically acclaimed projects like House Of Balloons, Thursday, and Echoes Of Silence; the comparison in styles between him and accomplished songwriter, The Dream grew . So when The Dream took his Cut The Lights Off tour through the media capital of the world, the Grammy-Award winning artist let his feelings known about numerous artists biting his style. Although The Dream never named names, all clues pointed toward the Canadian crooner… Continue
‘You will always remember where you were … when you heard the news,’ Simon Cowell says, echoing the sentiments after Jackson’s death. By Tomika L. Anderson Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston in 1988 Photo: WireImage Few people will forget where they were when they heard that the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, had died in June 2009. And now, the same can be said for 1980s and ’90s Queen of Pop Whitney Houston . The beloved, long-suffering singer died Saturday inside a Beverly Hills hotel room, hours before she was expected to attend a pre-Grammy Awards party thrown by her longtime mentor Clive Davis . And while the official cause of death is yet unknown — what’s been speculated so far is that Houston may have drowned in the bathtub after taking prescription drugs, including Xanax — given her very public struggle with substance abuse, depression and anxiety over the past decade, it’s hard not to conclude that some drug- or alcohol-related accident may have been to blame. It’s much like, most recently, British singer Amy Winehouse and the late, great Michael Jackson before her, who died after taking a fatal cocktail of propofol and two other drugs. Also like Jackson, Houston’s sudden death — at the age of 48 — has stopped the world in its tracks, an enormous, one-of-a-kind musical flame forever extinguished. Even Jackson’s brother, Jermaine — who was first introduced to Houston years ago by Clive Davis at the same Beverly Hills Hilton where the singer passed away — could not help but draw the comparison. In an interview with CNN overnight, he paid tribute to the two fallen musical giants. “They shared a lot of success in the late ’80s and they were great friends,” he said. “I’m happy and honored to have been a part of their lives.” And oh, what lives they led: Like Jackson — who died at just 50 years old, after years of struggling with personal demons — Houston, too, had an intensely profound and everlasting impact on the world of entertainment. Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and countless other chart-topping entertainers have all name-checked her as their musical mentor, icon and inspiration: To date, she is one of the best-selling artists of all time, with more than 170 million albums, songs and videos sold. In her lifetime, Houston achieved what precious few of them have or ever will — stacking an astonishing 415 awards, including six Grammys, two Emmys, 22 American Music Awards, 30 Billboard Awards. Her voice, in its prime, was a national treasure. “X Factor” mastermind Simon Cowell may have summed it up the best: On “Piers Morgan Tonight,” he said, “She was one of the greatest voices in our lifetime. Whitney was the number one singer that other singers want to emulate. People like that can’t be manufactured. They’ve either got, it or they don’t.” He added, “You will always remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news.” Like Michael before her, gone too soon. MTV News’ Sway and James Montgomery will be live from the Grammys red carpet tonight starting at 5 p.m. ET to get reactions from music’s biggest stars on the death of Whitney Houston. Watch reactions and remembrances at MTV.com. Share your condolences with Whitney’s family and friends on our Facebook page. Related Videos Whitney Houston: Life And Music Of An Icon Related Photos Whitney Houston: A Life In Photos Related Artists Whitney Houston Michael Jackson
In ‘Twilight’ Tuesday, Josh Hutcherson says he understands the connection, but ‘the challenges the characters face are very different.’ By Kara Warner Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence Photo: MTV News Disclaimer: This is not a story about warring fanbases, nor is it intended to instigate a fan war. This is about how the smashing success of “The Twilight Saga” has led to Hollywood’s search for another young-adult mega-franchise and the media’s tendency to compare every teen-targeted film to it. “Twilight” is its own magical, mysterious beast, the overwhelming success of which we will very likely not see replicated anytime soon. While there are indeed similarities between the Stephenie Meyer-created behemoth and other successful franchises like “Harry Potter,” they are very, very different. The latest “Twilight”-vs.-X conversation features the highly anticipated “Hunger Games” movie. In my opinion, there are only two comparable elements: They are both based on very popular young-adult novels and feature two romantic interests for the female protagonist. MTV News recently posed the comparison question to “Hunger Games” stars Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence, who both said they understand the link. “I get why people make the connections, because it’s a very popular book, especially amongst young people,” Hutcherson said. “However, I think it’s an entirely different world, and the challenges the characters face are very different.” Those of us who have read both series — and “Potter,” for that matter — likely agree with Hutcherson and know they are completely different stories. As long as the greater population at large can accept and understand these differences, I am completely OK with the many comparisons. Just don’t lump the two together for the sake of convenience. The best thing I’ve seen so far in the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” comparisons is the fact that Edward Cullen himself, Robert Pattinson, has read “Games” and is just as excited as we are to see the film — in addition to “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” of course. “I sort of came across it last year, and I didn’t realize it was the most enormous thing in the world,” Pattinson told Entertainment Weekly last year. “It’s good! It will be a good movie.” Now if I can just get a slightly out-of-touch colleague to stop harassing me with “But where are the sparkly vampires?” questions every time a new “Hunger Games” trailer or teaser premieres, I’ll feel as though we’ve made some headway on the subject. What do you think of the “Twilight” and “Hunger Games” comparisons? Tweet me @karawarner with your thoughts and ideas for future “Twilight” Tuesday columns! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Photos The Hunger Games
Before getting in the ring with Hugh Jackman, check out our handy guide. By Eric Ditzian Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly in “Real Steel” Photo: DreamWorks Shawn Levy was in the midst of editing “Date Night,” the Steve Carell and Tina Fey-starring comedy, when an unlikely call came his way: Steven Spielberg wanted Levy to helm “Real Steel,” a futuristic action flick about boxing robots. No matter that Levy had made his name capturing Ashton Kutcher making sure what happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas and Ben Stiller running through a magical museum. Spielberg wanted him, Levy had always wanted to make a sports movie, and so a new phase in his career began. That fresh cinematic direction hit theaters Friday with Hugh Jackman in the starring role and the #1 spot at the weekend box office virtually assured. Pretty nice work for a new guy. To fully understand how it all came together, let’s flash back to 2009 to learn everything there is to know about “Real Steel”: Training Spielberg, a producer on the film, signed Levy up for the directing gig, but at that point in ’09, they hadn’t nailed down who would play Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck ex-boxer in a future where machines now do the fighting and in which Charlie and his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) build a robot who just might be able to be a contender. Think “Rocky,” or maybe another Sylvester Stallone flick, “Over the Top.” Or, as many have scoffed, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots on the big screen. But the film is actually based on a short story by Richard Matheson, whose work has given rise to “I Am Legend,” among other Hollywood fare. That was a pretty good pedigree for Jackman, who entered into talks to play Charlie that October and officially signed on the next month . “Real Steel,” Levy said the next spring, is “a weird amalgam [of influences]. What it’s not is “Transformers” or “Terminator.” There’s definitely shades of that ‘Rocky’ paradigm. There’s shades of “Paper Moon,” in that it is a father/child road movie. And it’s really kind of a redemption movie. It’s got some humor, but it’s definitely not a comedy. It’s got a lot of action, really kind of muscular action, and a lot of … heart.” Entering the Ring Filming kicked off in June with co-stars Anthony Mackie (a boxing promoter) and Evangeline Lilly (um, just a friend of Charlie’s) coming along for the ride. The first look at the flick appeared just as filming began in the summer of ’10, showing off both slick futuristic robots and gritty dystopian environs. The first trailer had an undeniable “Transformers” vibe, despite Levy’s assurances that his movie is an entirely different (robotic) beast. But the comparison is hardly a negative one, especially considering the billions that Michael Bay’s franchise has garnered. And audiences were responding well — so well that Disney reportedly kick-started work on a sequel this past April. The Big Fight As October approached and another trailer appeared — this one focusing less on the “Transformers” actions and more on the “Paper Moon” emotion — we debuted a picture of the “Real Steel” boxing ring as part of our Fall Movie Preview and chatted with Levy, who spoke at length about his motion-capture robots. “This is motion capture with real fighters in a real ring, consulting in the ring with me and Sugar Ray [Leonard], wailing on each other in full contact,” he told us. “We took that captured fight as data and we converted it into robot avatars. That was a big thing. To do the movie as mo-cap instead of animation was a big choice. Mo-cap allows the director to direct a performance; it’s not left to the imagination of an animator that sometimes you don’t even meet. It was huge. Every day we were making sure the robots were cool-looking in terms of design and full-contact fighting.” So, sure, there’s a ton of brawling, but as Jackman told us at the red-carpet premiere recently, there’s also a ton of heart. “A lot people [say], “What is it, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots?” But it’s got a lot of heart,” he said. “This movie is really about the relationships of everyone involved, and I think it’s going to surprise people. I saw it with my mother-in-law, my wife and my kids at the same screening, and they all were crying at one point, laughing, and they really got into it.” Check out everything we’ve got on “Real Steel.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .
Which comes first, fasting or feasting? The disciples of John the Baptist were upset with Jesus’ disciples because they did not fast. Fasting was one of the three most important religious duties, along with prayer and almsgiving. Jesus gave a simple explanation. There’s a time for fasting and a time for feasting (or celebrating). (Matthew 21:21-33) Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you There also comes a time when the Lord’s disciples must bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord’s presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility and fasting and for mourning over sin. Do you take joy in the Lord’s presence with you and do you express sorrow and contrition for your sins? Jesus goes on to warn his disciples about the problem of the “closed mind” that refuses to learn new things. Jesus used an image familiar to his audience – new and old wineskins. In Jesus’ times, wine was stored in wineskins, not bottles. New wine poured into skins was still fermenting. The gases exerted gave pressure. New wine skins were elastic enough to take the pressure, but old wine skins easily burst because they were hard. What did Jesus mean by this comparison? Affirmation Of The Day:Live In The Present Moment. Are we to reject the old in place of the new? Just as there is a right place and a right time for fasting and for feasting, so there is a right place for the old as well as the new. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matthew 13:52). How impoverished we would be if we only had the Old Testament or the New Testament, rather than both. The Lord gives us wisdom so we can make the best use of both the old and the new. He doesn’t want us to hold rigidly to the past and to be resistant to the new work of his Holy Spirit in our lives. He wants our minds and hearts to be like the new wine skins – open and ready to receive the new wine of the Holy Spirit . Are you eager to grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s word and plan for your life? Minute Meditation: A Prayer For Peace
So you’ve met Mr. Right. (Or Mr. Right Now.) You’re a good girl, so you’ve waited the requisite amount of time and you just know that tonight is the night you’ve been dreaming of all year/month/week/minute. You look good, you smell good and you’re wearing the only matching lingerie set you own. All signs point to go. You’d think with this many green lights that there’s no way a lady could mess this up. Maybe you’d think that, but you’d be wrong. Here are just a few of the ways this could go south in a hurry: 1. Don’t depend on him for birth control. Yes, he should carry condoms, but ultimately it’s up to you — it’s your body and you need to keep yourself safe. I’m not saying that’s the way it should be, but the sad fact is, even the nicest seeming guy isn’t always as invested in keeping us disease and pregnancy-free. Even if you’re the kind of traditional lady who insists your date pay for everything (after all, you’re giving him the gift of your company), do not let stubbornness get in the way of your safe good time. And nothing ruins a good time like a below-the-belt itch or unplanned pregnancy. 2. For Pete’s sake, don’t cry. Some of us have a weird habit of occasionally bursting into tears during sex — it’s the rush of endorphins that does it, so blame biology! But, if there’s any way to pull yourself together the first time you make sweet love to your new boyfriend, try to. Waterworks will lead him to believe that either he hurt you–and in that case, will never again do that thing again — or he’ll think that you’re a mental case. Either way, you probably won’t be seeing him again anytime soon. 3. Leave the comparison talk at home. You know how almost every woman you know thinks she’s fat? Yeah, well most guys think they’re, ahem, less endowed than they actually are. Imagine if you thought a size zero was the way you thought you should look just because the model in Vogue was. Sigh. To read the other three no-nos, click here ! Celibacy In 2011: Does She Have To Give It Up? 5 Ways To Keep Your Man From Cheating
Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes and Bailee Madison star in Guillermo del Toro’s reimagined horror flick. By Terri Schwartz Katie Holmes in “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” Photo: Miramax There are few childhood fears more common than being afraid of the dark, but Bailee Madison’s character, Sally, in Guillermo del Toro and Troy Nixey’s reimagining of the ’70s horror flick “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” certainly has good reason to be scared. And she’ll likely never want to leave anything for the tooth fairy again. Del Toro loved the 1973 TV movie of the same name that terrified him as a small child, and set about remaking it. Hoping to scare the pants off a new generation, the “Pan’s Labyrinth” director co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film and handed it off to director Nixey. So will “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” have you leaving the lights on all night, or let you sleep like a baby this weekend? Here’s what the critics had to say: The Story “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” which puts Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes and young Bailee Madison in some serious stomach-churning, can’t-bear-to-watch-it jeopardy, is really, truly, very scary. … At least until about 30 minutes in, when you start to be distracted by the lack of logic in the storytelling and the fact that the nasty little gremlins responsible for all the bumps in the night can be offed pretty easily. Possibly a good sturdy broom would have been enough to clean them out along with the cobwebs in the corners of the Gothic manse where the film is set.” — Betsy Sharkey,
Apple’s newest iPhone and iPad mobile operating system, iOS 5, has already been jailbroken months before its scheduled release. On Monday (June 6), Apple sent out advance copies of the next-generation iOS 5 to software developers. The next day, a member of the iPhone hacking collective Dev-Team, going by the pseudonym “MuscleNerd,” tweeted that he Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : The Pulse of Mobile Tech Discovery Date : 08/06/2011 19:37 Number of articles : 3
