Georgia is now considered one of the top five states in the country for film and TV production with more than 274 projects shot in the state since July 2010, reports the AJC.com . TV shows shot in Georgia include BET’s “The Game,” MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” the Discovery Channel’s “Auction Kings” and AMC’s critically-acclaimed hit shot “The Walking Dead,” which is currently filming its second season in metro Atlanta. “The Walking Dead” is also set in Atlanta. Movies filmed in the Georgia are premiering throughout the summer and fall. They include this weekend’s “X-Men: First Class” to October’s remake of “Footloose.” Other Georgia-based films slated to be released include “The Change-Up” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman and “Wanderlust” with Jennifer Anniston and Paul Rudd. The economic impact of the filming is estimated at $2.1 billion. Read the full story here. RELATED: Tracee Ellis Ross Heads To BET With New Series To Be Shot In Atlanta! RELATED: UPDATE: Council Approves Lakewood TV/Film Studio Deal
Georgia is now considered one of the top five states in the country for film and TV production with more than 274 projects shot in the state since July 2010, reports the AJC.com . TV shows shot in Georgia include BET’s “The Game,” MTV’s “Teen Wolf,” the Discovery Channel’s “Auction Kings” and AMC’s critically-acclaimed hit shot “The Walking Dead,” which is currently filming its second season in metro Atlanta. “The Walking Dead” is also set in Atlanta. Movies filmed in the Georgia are premiering throughout the summer and fall. They include this weekend’s “X-Men: First Class” to October’s remake of “Footloose.” Other Georgia-based films slated to be released include “The Change-Up” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman and “Wanderlust” with Jennifer Anniston and Paul Rudd. The economic impact of the filming is estimated at $2.1 billion. Read the full story here. RELATED: Tracee Ellis Ross Heads To BET With New Series To Be Shot In Atlanta! RELATED: UPDATE: Council Approves Lakewood TV/Film Studio Deal
On Friday, July 14, 2000 , Bryan Singer’s X-Men earned $20.7 million at the box office, on the way toward an opening weekend of $54 million. Just shy of eleven years later, Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class earned $21 million on Friday night, and should be on course for an opening frame totaling $53 million. Symmetry! Elsewhere, The Hangover Part II dropped 65 percent from Friday to Friday, but the record-breaking sequel still earned $11 million last night. That kind of scratch buys plenty of smoking monkeys . Your Friday box office is here.
‘McAvoy and Fassbender are a casting triumph,’ EW ‘s Lisa Schwarzbaum writes. By Terri Schwartz Michael Fassbender in “X-Men: First Class” Photo: Murray Close Now that we’ve introduced you to the mutants of “X-Men: First Class,” movie reviewers are saying you might want to take that relationship to the next level. Heralded as the best installment in the franchise since the Bryan Singer-directed “X2,” Matthew Vaughn’s take on the “X-Men” story is said to be both smart and action-packed. At the top of the pile of praise are leads James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender, whom reviewers are commending for their roles whether they liked the film or not. The rest of the supporting cast, from Jennifer Lawrence to Kevin Bacon, are receiving plenty of love as well. Dissenters might find flaws with the movie’s pacing or the way it strays from the previous films’ and comics’ mythology, but the underlying message is that this is the summer blockbuster that fans have been waiting for. The Story “Fortunately for the film, the missile crisis puts an end to the dramatic lull. As soon as war threatens, ‘X-Men: First Class’ regains its momentum, and then some, with Strangelovian twists — a circular war room, a rogue vessel that can’t be reached — and a climax that uses newsreel clips of President Kennedy on TV to lend credibility to an exuberant rearrangement of history. This fifth episode in the series isn’t a masterpiece — one puzzlement is the uneven cinematography — but it’s summer entertainment of a very high grade that leaves you with an appetite for more of the same with the same core cast. And a couple of uncredited cameos turn the neat trick of being revenants from the future.” — Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal The Leads “To get to the headline immediately, McAvoy and Fassbender are a casting triumph. These two have, yes, real star magnetism, both individually and together: They’re both cool and intense, suave and unaffected, playful and dead serious about their grand comic-book work. I hope movie-studio telepaths reteam the two in the future.” — Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly The Legacy “In fact, roughly the first half of this massive and very well-cast origins extravaganza is arguably the best hour of Marvel Comics-derived filmmaking among the torrent of it that’s cascaded across screens in recent years. Audacious, confident and fueled by youthful energy, this is a surefire summer winner for a wide global audience.” — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter The “Bond” Connection “In all but name, ‘First Class’ is a Bond movie, from the Cold War scheming of rival superpowers to the script’s plethora of glamorous or treacherous locations — right up to the end, with an animated credits sequence very much in the spirit of Maurice Binder’s work on the Bonds. Above all, it [features] a handsome, platinum-jawed agent: Erik [Lehnsherr, portrayed by Fassbender], with Sean Connery’s aplomb and Daniel Craig’s ruthless determination. (In this context, the more thoughtful, sedentary Charles Xavier [McAvoy] is M to Erik’s Bond.)” — Richard Corliss, Time The Final Word “It’s remarkable how many things ‘First Class’ gets right, whether it’s the decision to have characters speak different languages as the film’s frequent globe-trotting dictates, or the casting of Fassbender and McAvoy, who bear no resemblance to their respective older counterparts (Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart) but perfectly capture Charles and Erik’s symbolic might-vs.-right dynamic.” — Justin Chang, Variety Check out everything we’ve got on “X-Men: First Class.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘X-Men: First Class’ Exclusive ‘X-Men: First Class’ Character Bio Clips Related Photos ‘X-Men: First Class’ Premieres In NYC ‘X-Men: First Class’
In X-Men: First Class , Kevin Bacon assumes the role of Sebastian Shaw, a villainous scientist hellbent on world domination. How did Bacon transform himself onscreen from a small-town teen who just wants to dance to sneering supervillain in the sexiest comic-based film yet ? You can always trace a direct line through a few important roles to illustrate what led to an actor’s current success. As such, let’s look at nine pivotal performances that track the evolution of Kevin Bacon.
The good news: Jessica Biel got her chance to work with Oscar-nominated director Darren Aronofsky ! The bad news: It was for a Revlon commercial about lash-plumping mascara. And, well, it’s no Black Swan ; now there’s a movie that knew its way around a make-up brush. Watch Biel pout and bat her lashes in soft focus in Aronofsky’s least-daring work to date after the jump.
X-Men: First Class wants to be five movies at once, and it occasionally succeeds at being a few of them: One minute it’s a stylish James Bond-style retro pleaser, the next a bitter-edged revenge melodrama, the next your boilerplate “embrace individuality” empowerment brief. It is also, of course, a movie based on a comic-book franchise — in this case, Marvel’s long-running, multi-tentacled X-Men saga — and for that reason alone, it comes with a million other expectations attached. I don’t know what director in his right mind would want to take on such a project, but I admire Matthew Vaughn for trying.
We have an entire summer to prepare for the scares of Guillermo del Toro’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark , the horror movie with a truly creepy, whisper-filled trailer and good-looking victims like Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. The new poster for the film (which comes out Aug. 26) indicates that some of those whisperers may have ghastly arms and fingers that can grab us in the dead of night. Click ahead for the spooky!
Some loyal Star Wars fans believe that the only possible explanation for George Lucas’s disappointing prequels is that the actual director was kidnapped and held hostage while an evil impostor George Lucas directed Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman in the less-than-enthusiastically received trilogy. Now, those fans have made a trailer for a fake film called George Lucas Strike Back , in which the director escapes his jail cell and avenges Episode I with the help of Steven Spielberg, Chewie and Princess Leia.
Exciting X-Men: First Class news arrives on the eve of the Marvel comic film’s premiere: cast members Michael Fassbender and Zoe Kravitz are dating! At least that is what Us Weekly is reporting , and, why not? How could sparks not fly on that sexually-charged set ? In honor of this new duo, let’s brainstorm nicknames for First Class ‘s first (alleged) power couple.
