Post-Peeta, the actor has a horror/comedy film and ‘Red Dawn’ on the horizon. By Kara Warner Josh Hutcherson in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate Those of you who’ve seen “The Hunger Games” will more than likely agree with our sentiment that there are a number of things to love about the weekend’s box-office dominator . The film’s success is first and foremost due to author Suzanne Collins’ brilliance, followed by director Gary Ross’ sleek and stylish take on the adaptation and, of course, the performances of the very talented cast. One of those standout performances is Josh Hutcherson’s portrayal of loyal and lovable boy with the bread Peeta Mellark. He’s so good in the film we just can’t wait to see what he does with the character’s arc in “Catching Fire.” Unfortunately, we have to wait about 20 months until that happens, so in the meantime, here’s a look at where and when you can see more of Hutcherson’s work on the big screen. First up is the R-rated teen horror/comedy film “Detention,” which hits select theaters April 13. In the uniquely twisted and slightly outrageous film, Hutcherson plays Clapton Davis, a student of Grizzly Lake High School just trying to make it through the school year when slasher-movie killer Cinderhella descends on the school and goes on a killing spree. “Detention” played at last year’s South by Southwest film festival and received many surprised-but-delighted reactions . It also stars Dane Cook, Shanley Caswell and Spencer Locke. After watching a different side of Hutcherson’s skills in “Detention,” look for the coming-of-age drama “Carmel,” in which Hutcherson plays an artistically gifted teenager who is abandoned by his drug-addicted mother and ends up in the small seaside town of Carmel, California, where he is introduced to the art-forgery community. Hayden Panettiere and Alfred Molina also star. According to the film’s Facebook page, the release date for the film will be sometime in June, to be timed with the DVD/Blu-ray releases of “Hunger Games” and “Journey 2.” In November, we’ll get to see more of Hutcherson’s action-movie skills in the remake of the 1984 film “Red Dawn,” the release of which has been long-delayed due to the studio’s financial troubles. The story revolves around a group of teenagers who resist the occupation/invasion of a foreign army in their town. Hutcherson stars alongside Chris Hemsworth, Josh Peck, Adrianne Palicki and Isabel Lucas. After “Red Dawn” comes out, we very likely won’t see Hutcherson on the big screen again until next year, when “Catching Fire” is released November 22, 2013. Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: Josh Hutcherson Related Photos ‘Hunger Games’ Cast Hits NYC The Hunger Games
From Ned’s beheading to Tyrion’s tumultuous journey, we recount the key moments to remember heading into Sunday’s premiere. By Josh Wigler Lena Headey in “Game of Thrones” Photo: HBO Swords, kings, dragons and things (and by things, we mean an absurd amount of sex and violence): Where else but “Game of Thrones” can you get all that and then some? Those who’ve been thirsting for blood and fire are about to get plenty of both when “Thrones” returns for its second season this Sunday, but considering how much time has passed since poor Ned lost his head, you’d be forgiven for not remembering much of what happened all the way back in season one. Well, never fear, true believers; that’s what we’re here for! Keep on reading for everything you need to remember about “Game of Thrones” season one before returning to Westeros later this week. “Winter Is Coming” The words of House Stark echo all throughout “Game of Thrones” season one, beginning with King Robert Baratheon’s royal visit to old friend and war buddy Eddard Stark all the way north in Winterfell. Robert all but commands Ned to take on the role of Hand of the King — the ruler of Westeros’ right-hand man — and Lord Stark begrudgingly accepts. His reason: to investigate the death of the pervious Hand, Jon Arryn, an old mentor of Ned and Robert’s, who he believes was murdered by Queen Cersei and members of her wicked family, the Lannisters. Kids These Days Ned’s investigation does not go smoothly. After arriving in King’s Landing to serve as Robert’s Hand, Ned learns that Robert fathered many bastard children and that his own supposedly trueborn heirs — Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen — were not his trueborn children at all, but bastards of Queen Cersei’s incestuous relationship with her twin brother, Jaime. Robert dies from a freak injury before Ned can tell him the truth, and Ned takes it upon himself to see that the late Baratheon’s younger brother, Stannis, is the next man to sit upon the Iron Throne, as is his right. Hopeless, Headless Ned Once again, Ned’s plan does not go well. When Lord Stark attempts to persuade the court to recognize Stannis’ claim to the throne, newly minted King Joffrey and Queen Regent Cersei have him arrested for treason. A deal is later brokered where Ned will confess to his treachery and recognize Joffrey’s claim, in exchange for the safety of himself and his children. But after he publicly confesses to his “crimes,” Joffrey pulls a fast one on everyone — characters and audience included — by ordering Ned’s beheading . With one stunning stroke, the main character of “Game of Thrones” was dead, before the season finale, no less. Stark Reality While they still have their lives, the Stark children aren’t faring much better than poor Ned. The youngest son, Bran Stark, is pushed out of a window and subsequently paralyzed after catching twins Cersei and Jaime doing the nasty. Ned’s two daughters, Arya and Sansa, are left in very different and very awful positions following his death too. Arya is posing as a boy, traveling north with a group of young men to join the Night’s Watch; she’s to be dropped off at her home in Winterfell before reaching the Wall. Sansa, meanwhile, is still in King’s Landing and still betrothed to the wicked boy king Joffrey, who abuses her physically and emotionally with brutal regularity. The King in the North Lord Eddard Stark’s eldest son, Robb, on the other hand, is in a position to actually do something about his father’s death. Robb has called upon House Stark’s bannermen in the northern part of Westeros to wage war on Joffrey and the Lannisters. His goals are threefold: the safe return of his sisters, the official succession of the North from the Seven Kingdoms’ purview, and vengeance for Ned. Robb becomes known as the King in the North, an ancient title not held by anyone since Torrhen Stark bent the knee to Aegon the Conqueror nearly 300 years earlier. Here a King, There a King … Robb Stark is not the only man in Westeros calling himself king. There’s Joffrey Baratheon, of course, who sits on the Iron Throne. Three other men have their eyes on the crown as well: Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands and the two remaining Baratheon brothers, Stannis and Renly. Though Renly is a charismatic and well-liked figure in Westeros, he is also the youngest Baratheon, making his claim weaker than the less-beloved Stannis. It won’t matter which Baratheon has the better claim, of course, if one of the other three kings vying for power has their say. … And There a Queen There’s another player in the game of thrones, and that’s exiled princess Daenerys , the last surviving member of House Targaryen, the clan who ruled over Westeros for nearly three full centuries. Dany spends the entirety of season one across the Narrow Sea among the Dothraki, a barbaric people who pride themselves on war and horses. Bad things happen to all “Thrones” characters, but Dany has a particularly rough go of it in season one: Her husband, Khal Drogo, and their unborn son both die, as does her brother, Viserys. (Indeed, that guy is super dead.) On the other side of all that tragedy, Dany is now the proud owner of three brand-spanking-new dragons, the first of their kind in hundreds of years. That’s a plus! The Perks of Being a Wallflower Elsewhere, in another remote area of this fantasy world, Ned Stark’s bastard Jon Snow serves as a man of the aforementioned Night’s Watch, an ancient order of warriors who patrol the great ice Wall to protect the people of Westeros from the dangers lurking further north. Shortly after becoming a sworn brother of the Watch, Jon saves Lord Commander Mormont from dying at the hands of a reanimated corpse (zombies, ftw!), the latest and most dangerous evidence yet that the Others — a long-forgotten force of evil with unspeakably cold crystal swords and voices that sound like crackling ice — still exist beyond the wall. To investigate further, Mormont takes Jon and other members of the Watch beyond the Wall, where they’ll continue to explore throughout season two. Paying Their Debts Clearly, season one was crazy busy for Ned Stark and his family, but how about House Lannister? Though Cersei’s son sits on the Iron Throne as she had always hoped, the queen suffers a severe blow in the capture of her brother and lover, Jaime, at the hands of Robb Stark. Jaime remains in the northerner’s captivity. Meanwhile, the third Lannister sibling — the imp Tyrion Lannister — went through hell and back again as well: He starts in Winterfell as part of Robert’s royal party, ends up on the Wall for a time, is captured by Ned Stark’s wife Catelyn for his suspected role in Bran Stark’s paralysis, is brought to the miles-high Eyrie to pay for his crimes, is eventually liberated from his fate with the help of his own cunning wit and the talented sellsword Bronn and ultimately relegated to the frontlines of lord Tywin Lannister’s war against the Starks. As King Joffrey’s Hand, Tywin can’t exactly win a war and worry about the goings-on of Westeros at the same time. Accordingly, he temporarily passes off his duties as Hand to Tyrion, who is about to prove that a very small man can cast a very big shadow. A Dink and a Nod Speaking of very big shadows, you heard about Peter Dinklage’s Best Supporting Actor wins at the Emmys and the Golden Globes this past year, right? Well, given what happens to his character in “A Clash of Kings” (the novel that the second season of “Thrones” is based on), Dinklage has only scratched the surface of Tyrion’s enormously satisfying arc. If he’s as smart as his character, the gifted actor has left some room on the shelf for a few more trophies come the end of the new season. Are you all caught up for “Thrones” season two? Let us know in the comments section below, or chat with me more on Twitter @roundhoward! Related Photos ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season Two
Batman and Katniss duke it out to be champion of the 2012 box office, in The Weekly Rising. By Kevin P. Sullivan Tom Hardy in “Dark Knight Rises” Photo: Warner Bros. What is going on with “The Dark Knight Rises” and its lack of a marketing campaign? We’re four months out from what is supposed to be the biggest movie of the year, but all we have to show for it are two trailers and new theater standees . This past weekend’s box-office domination of Jennifer Lawrence and “The Hunger Games” stands as a testament to the power of a strong marketing campaign when you have a rabid fanbase helping to carry the load. Warner Bros. has so far taken an entirely different route when it comes to promoting the final film of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It’s no secret that “The Dark Knight Rises” is coming out and that everyone wants to see it. The mania around “The Dark Knight” established a subculture of raspy-voiced Batman parodies and every male teen attempting Heath Ledger’s Joker makeup and ensured a huge box-office take for the eventual third film. But with so much of the movie industry now focused on “The Hunger Games” and its “bigger than we could have imagined” success, can “The Dark Knight Rises” afford to coast into theaters in July without a similarly mega-huge marketing campaign? And how high can a big-budget movie like “The Dark Knight Rises” fly without the increasingly common deluge of marketing? Box-office experts weighing in on the success of “The Hunger Games” give credit to the balance of a hard marketing push and dedicated fanbase. Lionsgate got the word out early and often that “The Hunger Games” was a phenomenon that wouldn’t and couldn’t be missed. For the most part, the campaign fit the property. The three best-selling books had a huge following, but Katniss Everdeen wasn’t exactly a household name heading into last weekend. If a 30-year-old guy didn’t know the Suzanne Collins novels, the commercials could have been enough to entice him. The approach to marketing “The Dark Knight Rises” should be different. No one needs to be told who Batman is. Everyone and their English butler went to go see “The Dark Knight” in 2008 and would probably be interested in seeing a third film. But what’s new? Fans can look forward to Bane, Catwoman and the Batwing, but there isn’t a news hook like Ledger’s death that makes it something more than the next big movie to see. When the returns from “The Hunger Games” rose and rose and crept ever closer to the record previously held by “The Dark Knight,” there may have been a slight panic from Batman fans. What if 2012 has already seen its biggest weekend at the box office and Katniss Everdeen has already been crowned the champion? It would be ignorant to suggest that “The Dark Knight Rises” can’t succeed without an all-encompassing viral marketing campaign and commercials airing every other minute, but what “The Hunger Games” may have proven is that without those elements, Batman might have to settle for second place. Are you disappointed with the level of marketing/images/previews/trailers from “The Dark Knight Rises”? Hit me up on Twitter @KPSull and we’ll discuss later in the week over on the Movies Blog ! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Dark Knight Rises.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer Decoded! Related Photos On The Set Of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Bobby Brown Arrested For Driving Under The Influence If you thought Bobby Brown’s legal problems were a thing of the past, think again. According to TMZ reports : Bobby Brown has just been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Los Angeles … TMZ has learned. Law enforcement sources tell TMZ, Bobby was pulled over in Reseda, CA at 12:20 PM PST for allegedly driving while talking on a cell phone. We’re told 43-year-old Bobby is currently in custody in Van Nuys jail. It’s unclear what substance cops believe Brown had been using before he got behind the wheel. Whitney Houston’s ex-husband already has a DUI conviction on his record stemming from an arrest in Georgia in 1996. He eventually pled guilty to DUI and served 8 days in jail. Update: 1:54 PM PST — Sources close to the singer tell us … Bobby’s “people” are en route to the jail to bail him out. SMH… What were you thinking Bobby??? All you had to do was lay low and let Raffles Van Exel and Ray J catch all the heat surrounding Whitney and now you gotta go and remind everybody what a fawk-up you are! More On Bossip! No Isht Sherlock: Kat Stacks FINALLY Admits That She Is A Dirty, Shady, Deceitful Hoe That Lied About Soulja Boy’s Cocaine Use! Eff A Geraldo: A Gallery Of Lovable, Wholesome White People Rocking Hoodies…Should They Get Shot, Too?! Celebrity Seeds: Eddie Murphy’s Beautiful Daughters Seen Getting Their Nails Done In Beverly Hills [Photos] Strong Or Stupid? Women That Stayed By Their Men Despite TONS Of Cheating Rumors
Twitter Exposes Racist Hunger Games Fans Via Their Tweets About Rue And Thresh “The Hunger Games” made a shatload of money this weekend at the box office ($155 million) but unfortunately a great film is almost being overshadowed by the overwhelmingly RACIST attitude some fans of the book have taken toward the casting of black actors in several of the main parts — even the ones who were described as having dark or brown skin in the book! Now as you may know, Katniss, the main character in the book and film, was described as having “straight black hair” and “olive skin.” It’s a post-apocalyptic world, so she could be a mix of things, but some pictured a Native American. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed Jennifer Lawrence won the part and dyed her hair dark. But when it came to the casting of Rue, Thresh, and Cinna, many audience members did not understand why there were black actors playing those parts. Cinna’s skin is not discussed in the book, so truthfully, though Lenny Kravitz was cast, a white, Asian or Latino actor could have played the part. But. On page 45 of Suzanne Collins’s book, Katniss sees Rue for the first time: …And most hauntingly, a twelve-year-old girl from District 11. She has dark brown skin and eyes, but other than that’s she’s very like Prim in size and demeanor… Later, she sees Thresh: The boy tribute from District 11, Thresh, has the same dark skin as Rue, but the resemblance stops there. He’s one of the giants, probably six and half feet tall and built like an ox. Dark skin. That is what the novelist, the creator of the series, specified. But there were plenty of audience members who were “shocked,” or confused, or just plain angry. The tumblr Hunger Games Tweets has collected a smattering of Twitter postings, with the goal of exposing “Hunger Games fans on Twitter who dare to call themselves fans yet don’t know a damn thing about the books.” What people are saying is disappointing, sad, stomach-churning, and just plain racist. Check out some of the tweets collected below: We saw the movie this weekend and loved it — Amandla Stenburg (Rue) and Dayo Okenyiyi (Thresh) were two of our favorite actors and we think it’s a damned shame that haters are gonna hate as usual. Source More On Bossip! No Isht Sherlock: Kat Stacks FINALLY Admits That She Is A Dirty, Shady, Deceitful Hoe That Lied About Soulja Boy’s Cocaine Use! Eff A Geraldo: A Gallery Of Lovable, Wholesome White People Rocking Hoodies…Should They Get Shot, Too?! Celebrity Seeds: Eddie Murphy’s Beautiful Daughters Seen Getting Their Nails Done In Beverly Hills [Photos] Strong Or Stupid? Women That Stayed By Their Men Despite TONS Of Cheating Rumors
‘I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November!’ Cyrus tweeted on Monday in response to rumors. By Christina Garibaldi Miley Cyrus at her Pilates class in Beverly Hills Photo: Splash News Miley Cyrus is putting those engagement rumors to rest. On Monday (March 26), the Internet was abuzz that Cyrus and her “Hunger Games” star boyfriend Liam Hemsworth were going to tie the knot after photos surfaced of her wearing a large sparkler on her ring finger. I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November! People just wanna find something to tal about! It’s a topaz people! — Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 26, 2012 But Cyrus took to Twitter on Monday to shoot down the rumors, saying, “I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November! People just wanna find something to [talk] about! It’s a topaz people!” Speculation began last week after Cyrus tweeted a photo of her new manicure and the ring. Most recently, she was spotted sporting the large stone on Saturday as the two posed for pictures on the red carpet at Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night XVVIII in Phoenix. Even though they won’t be planning a wedding anytime soon, the couple, who have been dating on and off since 2009, have a lot to be excited about. “The Hunger Games” had the third-biggest opening weekend of all time, beating out all of the “Twilight Saga” movies when it raked in $155 million. Hemsworth and Cyrus will next be seen together on an upcoming episode of MTV’s “Punk’d,” where the former “Hannah Montana” star tells her boyfriend that two naked people have locked themselves in her car, a prank Hemsworth doesn’t seem to be too fond of. “I knew she was doing the show. I honestly thought she had enough respect for me not to do me, and she got me really good,” Hemsworth recently told Ellen DeGeneres. “Your girlfriend comes running around and she’s yelling hysterically and you see two naked people in your car… I think my instincts were pretty right.” Related Artists Miley Cyrus
‘I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November!’ Cyrus tweeted on Monday in response to rumors. By Christina Garibaldi Miley Cyrus at her Pilates class in Beverly Hills Photo: Splash News Miley Cyrus is putting those engagement rumors to rest. On Monday (March 26), the Internet was abuzz that Cyrus and her “Hunger Games” star boyfriend Liam Hemsworth were going to tie the knot after photos surfaced of her wearing a large sparkler on her ring finger. I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November! People just wanna find something to tal about! It’s a topaz people! — Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) March 26, 2012 But Cyrus took to Twitter on Monday to shoot down the rumors, saying, “I’m not engaged. I’ve worn this same ring on this finger since November! People just wanna find something to [talk] about! It’s a topaz people!” Speculation began last week after Cyrus tweeted a photo of her new manicure and the ring. Most recently, she was spotted sporting the large stone on Saturday as the two posed for pictures on the red carpet at Muhammad Ali’s Celebrity Fight Night XVVIII in Phoenix. Even though they won’t be planning a wedding anytime soon, the couple, who have been dating on and off since 2009, have a lot to be excited about. “The Hunger Games” had the third-biggest opening weekend of all time, beating out all of the “Twilight Saga” movies when it raked in $155 million. Hemsworth and Cyrus will next be seen together on an upcoming episode of MTV’s “Punk’d,” where the former “Hannah Montana” star tells her boyfriend that two naked people have locked themselves in her car, a prank Hemsworth doesn’t seem to be too fond of. “I knew she was doing the show. I honestly thought she had enough respect for me not to do me, and she got me really good,” Hemsworth recently told Ellen DeGeneres. “Your girlfriend comes running around and she’s yelling hysterically and you see two naked people in your car… I think my instincts were pretty right.” Related Artists Miley Cyrus
One box-office watcher tells MTV News the book adaptation was ‘the hottest party around and nobody wanted to be left out.’ By Kevin P. Sullivan Wes Bentley as Seneca Crane in “The Hunger Games” Photo: Lionsgate We all knew “The Hunger Games” would debut to enormous opening-weekend numbers, but few could have predicted just how quickly the fire would spread. The YA adaptation opened to an incredible $155 million weekend, passing up “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Spider-Man 3” to have the third-highest opening weekend behind “The Dark Knight” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.” Early predictions had “The Hunger Games” opening at a respectable $70 million, not even half the actual total and in range of this year’s “The Lorax,” another recent box-office surprise. As the release drew nearer, analysts bumped up the predicted total to a range of $125 million to $130 million. The reason for the initially low prediction lies with another YA series, according to Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations . “Many people were comparing this to the original ‘Twilight’ film, which grossed $69 million its opening weekend,” Bock said. “Even though the book series was a huge success, many other young adult novels have been translated to film recently and failed to produce the next ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Twilight,’ so, as an unproven commodity, expectations were tempered a bit with ‘The Hunger Games.’ Even Lionsgate was estimating that the film would debut with a three-day weekend gross of $75 million earlier in the week; they certainly didn’t expect it to nearly eclipse that number on opening day.” Wanna win a Hunger Games special edition HP laptop from MTV News? Click here to enter! The strong push out of the gate came from a combination of an aggressive marketing campaign by Lionsgate and groundswell created by fans of Suzanne Collins’ best-selling books. Gitesh Pandya of Box Office Guru said it was a precise combination of those key factors that led to such an explosive opening weekend. “The record opening was driven by the loyal fanbase, which is humongous, along with a carefully crafted marketing push that intrigued them and also drew in new audiences in time for the movie’s release,” Pandya said. “Marketing was a key component to the massive debut, as the film wasn’t over-promoted to the point of repelling people. Lionsgate turned the opening weekend of ‘Hunger Games’ into the hottest party around and nobody wanted to be left out.” Lionsgate is certainly not wasting any time in trying to repeat the magic of their biggest hit to date. Production on the sequel, “Catching Fire,” is scheduled to begin this summer with a release tentatively set for November 2013. Pandya believes the next adventure of Katniss Everdeen could even go bigger. “Studios knew to stay out of the way of ‘Hunger Games,’ which is why no other film opened wide this weekend. But now they know how big of a juggernaut it is, and if history is any indicator, the opening of ‘Catching Fire’ will be even bigger in November 2013,” Pandya said. “And unless Disney changes its superhero date, we’re going to see a big-brother battle as Liam Hemsworth’s ‘Catching Fire’ will open just one week after Chris Hemsworth’s ‘Thor 2.’ ” What did you think of The Hunger Games? Give us your review on Facebook ! Check out everything we’ve got on “The Hunger Games.” For young Hollywood news, fashion and “Twilight” updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Hunger Games’ Related Photos Inside ‘The Hunger Games’ Capitol ‘Hunger Games’ Cast Hits NYC
Camille Grammer will not return to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills for season three. But was this departure really a mutual decision reached by the reality star and Bravo producers? It doesn’t sound that way. Asked about the exit at the opening of a new Blizz Frozen Yogurt at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday night, Camille told Us Weekly : “I’ve had so much fun with the franchise, but I guess the producers and I couldn’t come to an agreement.” Maloof and Kyle Richards were also at the event, with the former referring the six original castmates as a “great combo” and the latter saying it will be “sad not having [Grammer] on the show.” But at least Camille has a new man on her arm to guide her through these rough times. She kissed boyfriend Dimitri Charalambopoulos (pictured) on the red carpet and said of the relationship: “Everything is great. We get along really well… I care about him very much and we’re enjoying each other’s company.” Will you miss Camille Grammer on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?
After 18 years of being utterly ordinary, I finally found that I can shine. So states Kristen Stewart, as Bella Swan, to open the first official trailer for Breaking Dawn: Part 2 , which hit the Internet this morning and which, we must say, is pretty darn awesome! It centers on Bella’s transformation and features the reaction of both Jacob and Edward to their now-immortal acquaintance. We see Bella with red eyes and pale skin, caressing Edward one moment and then stalking a deer in the woods the next moment. Check it out now and then sound off: Can the final installment of The Twilight Saga outearn the record-breaking numbers established this weekend by The Hunger Games ?
