While it isn’t exactly receiving the same attention as the Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes split, another famous couple has called it quits: Jamie Campbell Bower and Bonnie Wright are no longer engaged. The actor, 23, and the actress, 21, met on the set of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow s in 2010 and agreed to marry within five months of their introduction. “They have split but it is amicable,” an insider tells The Daily Mail , with Jamie – who also plays Caius in The Twilight Saga – admitting he is “heartbroken” by the development. Wright, of course, portrayed Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter saga and, in fictional life, is happily married to to that franchise’s title character. [Photo: WENN.com]
Superhero flick trails behind two James Cameron blockbusters in the first and second all-time-gross spots. By Terri Schwartz Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson in the “Avengers” Photo: Marvel Watch out James Cameron because “The Avengers” is coming for you next. Marvel’s all-star team of superheroes has officially become the number-three highest-grossing movie of all time in the United States as well as worldwide, besting “The Dark Knight” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” for the honor. As of June 1, the movie made $538 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide, placing it behind only Cameron’s “Titanic” and “Avatar.” That’s not the only number-three spot “The Avengers” is in. “Snow White and the Huntsman” has debuted with a strong $20 million Friday gross in its debut weekend, knocking “Men in Black 3” from its top spot last weekend. “MIB3” came in second on Friday with an $8.3 million intake, while “The Avengers” rounded out the top three with $5.7 million. In all likelihood, that ranking will be indicative of the rest of the weekend as well. Considering “The Avengers” has been in theaters for a month, that’s some pretty strong continued momentum. We’ll attribute some of it to fans wanting to support their favorite Avengers going into the 2012 MTV Movie Awards weekend. Captain America and Thor are facing off against each other in the Best Hero category, but they’ve got some stiff competition in the form of Harry Potter, Katniss Everdeen and “21 Jump Street” ‘s Jenko. There’s only a very slim chance that “The Avengers” will climb any higher on the all-time box-office charts. In the U.S., it would have to top $659 million to oust Cameron’s “Titanic” and cross $761 million to beat “Avatar.” And it seems even less likely that it will pass either of those movies worldwide, as it would have to more than double its international grosses. Still, not too shabby for Marvel’s group of superheroes. Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Avengers’ Related Photos ‘Avengers’ Snow White And The Huntsman
Fans can cast their vote in the new Best Hero category using hashtags on Twitter associated with the nominees — now through the June 3 show. By John Mitchell Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” Photo: Warner Bros. Fans of onscreen heroics should get their fingertips ready to tear up Twitter because that’s where they’ll be voting for their favorite onscreen do-gooder in the new category of Best Hero for the 2012 MTV Movie Awards . Beginning Tuesday (May 29) and right on through to the live show on June 3, fans can vote and track the nominees for Best Hero, presented by Sprint, via Twitter using hashtags associated with the nominees. Is your favorite hero a contender? Check out the nominees :
Emma Watson (who tweeted the news) will be on hand with Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller to present the sneak peek Sunday, June 3. By Kara Warner Emma Watson and Logan Lerman in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” Photo: John Bramley/Summit Entertainment We’re less than a month away from everyone’s favorite cinematic-themed awards show — the 2012 MTV Movie Awards — and with only weeks away from our June 3 show date, you can expect special announcements to start flooding in with teases of this year’s special guests, presenters and pre-show moments. Speaking of pre-show moments, we’re pleased to announce that the star-studded cast of “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” will be on hand to help present the trailer for the highly anticipated film during our pre-show. The lovely Emma Watson helped break the news via her Twitter account on Wednesday (May 16). “#PerksOfBeingAWallflower Trailer is going to show at the @MTVMovieAwards pre-show!” Watson wrote . “@LoganLerman and Ezra and I will be there to present. : )” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is based on the popular Stephen Chbosky novel of the same name. The story revolves around introverted high school freshman Charlie (Logan Lerman) as he slowly comes out of his shell thanks to new friends, siblings Sam (Emma Watson) and Patrick (Ezra Miller). Watson will not only be attending the show as part of the “Perks” trailer presentation, but will also be representing “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” for which the lovely actress is a double nominee in the Best Female Performance and Best Kiss categories. “Deathly Hallows, Part 2” has a chance to take home major Movie Awards gold given their six nominations but faces fierce competition from “The Hunger Games” and “Bridesmaids,” which are the most-nominated movies this year. The MTV Movie Awards will air live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, on Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Head over to MovieAwards.MTV.com to vote for your favorite flicks now! The 21st annual MTV Movie Awards air live Sunday, June 3, at 9 p.m. ET.
Johnny Depp wanted his and Tim Burton’s gothic vampire comedy Dark Shadows to be anything but Twilight . Mission accomplished, I suppose: The film fizzled into a very distant second place behind another jaw-dropping performance by The Avengers , which continued to rewrite the blockbuster history books in its second weekend. Your Weekend Receipts are here. 1. The Avengers Gross: $103,163,000 ($373,182,000) Screens: 4,349 (PSA $23,721) Weeks: 2 (Change: -50.3%) This week in record-breaking: En route to the $1 billion threshold — which it reached Sunday — Disney’s superhero juggernaut stole the distinction of best second weekend ever from Avatar (whose own mark was $75.6 million) and experienced the best-ever second-weekend hold by a film that opened to more than $120 million. (We’ll no doubt get obscurer and obscurer as this thing rolls on.) It also became the fastest movie to reach $300 million and then $350 million domestically. Most observers conclude that a top-three all-time berth is likely on the domestic front — displacing The Dark Knight — but perhaps more mind-blowing is the likelihood of Joss Whedon’s film to rocket all the way to No. 4 all-time globally — behind Avatar, Titanic and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 — within the the next week . And it’s still got Tuvalu’s GDP beat . What can one say, other than, “Good luck, Battleship “? 2. Dark Shadows Gross: $28,805,000 (new) Screens: 3,755 (PSA: $7,671) Weeks: 1 The long-gestating Burton/Depp reimagining of the ’60s/’70s supernatural cult-soap darling performed pretty much as well as you might expect a long-gestating Burton/Depp reimagining of the ’60s/’70s supernatural cult-soap darling to perform: Soft — at least soft by Burton/Depp standards , which have been good for at least twice Dark Shadows ‘ opening two of the last three times they got together (2010’s Alice in Wonderland and 2005’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ). Meanwhile, from atop its mountain of Avengers cash, Disney snickers knowingly in anticipation of the sixth installment of the lucrative Depp/Verbinski franchise it has on the way next summer in the way of The Lone Ranger AND the potential for Burton/Depp to rekindle their box-office fire with an Alice in Wonderland sequel. John Carter who ? 3. Think Like a Man Gross: $6,300,000 ($81,917,000) Screens: 2,052 (PSA $3,070) Weeks: 4 (Change: -22.3%) Meanwhile, how about that lucrative Tim Story/Taraji P. Henson partnership?! What? No? OK. 4. The Hunger Games Gross: $4,400,000 ($386,902,000) Screens: 2,531 (PSA $1,738) Weeks: 8 (Change: -21.3%) Gary Ross/Lenny Kravitz ? Ugh, fine . 5. The Lucky One Gross: $4,055,000 ($53,721,000) Screens: 2,839 (PSA: $1,428) Weeks: 4 (Change: -24.5%) Someone had to finish fifth. [Figures via Box Office Mojo ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
And… we have a new box office champion. The Avengers earned a mind-boggling $200.3 million on Friday and Saturday, blowing past Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ($169.2 million) for the biggest opening weekend in Hollywood history. The Avengers Super Bowl Commercial Backed by incredibly positive reviews – as well as successful quasi prequels such as Iron Man and last summer’s Captain America – The Avengers raked in $80.5 million on Friday and is on pace for a record Sunday, as well. “It’s not playing like just a superhero film,” says Dave Hollis, Disney’s executive vice president of distribution. “It’s playing like a huge, accessible-to-everyone, all-quadrant picture.” The film currently has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, an A+ from CineScore and is already ranked number-31 on IMDb’s user-ranked Top 250 Movies list. Here is your look at the top five films from the weekend: The Avengers : $200.3 million Think Like a Man : $8.0 million The Hunger Games : $5.7 million The Lucky One : $5.5 million The Pirates! Band of Misfits : $5.4 million
‘Deathly Hallows, Part 2,’ with six nominations, is up against ‘Twilight’ and ‘Hunger Games’ for Movie of the Year. By Josh Wigler Daniel Radcliffe in “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” Photo: Warner Bros. “The Boy Who Lived, come to thrive?” That could well be the case at the 2012 MTV Movie Awards . Just as Harry Potter bravely walked through the Forbidden Forest to meet his maker at Voldemort’s hands, so too does Team Potter approach its final chance at Golden Popcorn glory come the June 3 broadcast. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” the eighth and last film in the Warner Bros. fantasy series, has scored six nominations, including nods for Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, a Best Kiss nomination for Watson and Rupert Grint, and a coveted shot at Movie of the Year. Will this be the year “Potter” finally brings that top award home? With a big target out of the way, it just might be. For years at the Movie Awards, magic has succumbed to bloodsucking in the battle between “Potter” and “Twilight.” But with “Breaking Dawn – Part 1” netting only two nominations this year — one for Movie of the Year, another for Best Kiss — the path is considerably clearer for the boy wizard and his companions to make a run at the six awards for which it’s nominated. With a reduced “Twilight” presence at this year’s show, perhaps the odds are in Harry’s favor, to borrow a phrase from another fan-backed franchise. Then again, besting that franchise — “The Hunger Games,” if you’re one of two people who didn’t catch the reference — could prove trickier than destroying one of He Who Must Not Be Named’s Horcruxes for “Potter” fans. Breaking past $600 million at the global box office, “Hunger Games” brings both commercial and critical firepower to this particular race, leading the Movie Awards nominations with eight. The Jennifer Lawrence-led film managed second place during the MTV Movie Brawl 2012, scoring 1.7 million votes. “Potter” wasn’t eligible for that competition, of course, but it’s no slouch in the tournament department: Last year,
Superhero movie, due Stateside in early May, is already breaking records in foreign markets. By Kevin P. Sullivan Chris Evans as Captain America In “The Avengers” Photo: Walt Disney Studios The Avengers have already started to assemble overseas, and early box-office reports are spelling very good things for Marvel’s tentpole. The superhero movie that brings together Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and the Hulk has reportedly made $12.5 million in a handful of foreign markets and is already breaking records, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In Australia, ” The Avengers ” has already banked $7 million, a total that has only been beaten by ” Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 ,” which earned $8 million during its Down Under debut. The foreign rollout has proven lucrative elsewhere, too, as France added $3 million to the total. Early tracking estimated that “The Avengers” could make more than $150 million during its early May opening weekend in the U.S. That would put the film in the same class as “Spider-Man 3,” “The Hunger Games,” “The Dark Knight” and “Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” This could potentially mean the biggest debut for a Marvel Studios movie yet. ” Iron Man 2 ” currently holds that honor. The Robert Downey Jr. sequel opened to $128 million back in 2010. That’s followed by the first ” Iron Man ” at $98 million. “The Avengers” has the added advantage of higher ticket prices. The film is playing both in 3-D and in IMAX 3-D, so each individual ticket will add more to the final total. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2” saw a large bump in its record-breaking run thanks in part to higher prices attached to 3-D showings. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Avengers.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos Talk Nerdy Assemble Yourself For ‘Avengers’ Sneak Peeks
‘The Casual Vacancy,’ Rowling’s first adult novel, will be released on September 27. By John Mitchell J.K. Rowling Photo: Daniel Barry/Getty Images It’s been five long years since J.K. Rowling published “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” and now we finally have the name and release date for her first adult novel. “The Casual Vacancy” will be released by Little, Brown Book Group on September 27. When Rowling signed her deal with Little, Brown in February, few details about the novel were made public, but now we know it is the “blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising” tale of what happens in an idyllic English village after a parish councilmember dies unexpectedly leaving a hotly sought after seat on the town council open. “When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock,” the official synopsis reads , going on to describe “a town at war.” “Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?” At the U.K. premiere of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,” Rowling told MTV News that she had been writing actively since finishing the final “Potter” book, but wanted the film franchise to conclude before she moved forward with her writing career. “I’m writing, and I’ve done quite a lot since finishing ‘Harry,’ ” she said. “I also felt I wanted the last film out of the way before I made any moves on the publishing front. ‘Harry’ is so huge and I suppose my involvement with the world has still been quite intense. This feels like a new beginning to me.” The seven “Potter” books represent the best-selling book series in history, with more than 450 million copies in print, and inspired the most successful film franchise ever, grossing more than $7.7 billion worldwide. Scholastic published Rowling’s “Potter” books in the U.S. but does not publish novels for adult audiences. Little, Brown said the 480-page “Casual Vacancy” will be available as a traditional hardcover, but will also be sold as an e-book and audio download. Are you excited for Rowling’s first post-“Potter” novel? Let us know in the comments below!
Can you guess the most-rented DVD of 2011? Hint: It wasn’t the most-bought DVD of 2011, but you probably already knew that . Another hint: Despite all odds, it doesn’t star Danny Trejo . Give up? Don’t we all! Per the LAT : The Bruce Willis action-comedy Red was the most rented DVD of 2011 but wasn’t even close to the top of the sales charts. The most rented movies are a mix of films that largely enjoyed solid but not spectacular runs at the box office. They seemed to leave theaters with good word-of-mouth, leading people to sample the films via rental. Among the most bought DVDs, meanwhile, are many of the top-grossing hits of last year. Animated films sold particularly well. Since children often watch their favorite animated movies multiple times, making a purchase was more economical than rental. No. 1 on the list was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 , while other big sellers included Deathly Hallows: Part 2 , Tangled , Transformers: Dark of the Moon and The Help . The only film to make both Top 10 lists: breakout comedy Bridesmaids . So if there’s any doubt that the bulk of midgrade theatrical releases are just commercials for DVDs that studios don’t really want you to rent anyway, and/or that better blockbusters have the potential to influence stronger DVD sales, let it be put to rest. [ LAT ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
