The Morning Roundup: James Bond Records, Heroes Execs Fired, Nonexistent Game Film Adaptation
Written by: Phoebe Raven, CC2K Staff Writer
This morning we have all about James Bond breaking records, shake-ups in the real world and TV land, movies in development before their source material even comes out, sequels out of nowhere and new trailers you can indulge in. And if you're American, don't forget to vote today.
The box office delivered no surprises this weekend. The top spot remained unchanged from last week with High School Musical 3: Senior Year still reigning. Kevin Smith's new outing, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, managed to nab No. 2. What does CC2K think of this? Click here to find out. Saw V came in third.
Way more interesting though was the new Bond hitting theaters in the U.K., France and Sweden and breaking records. Quantum of Solace grossed more over three days in the U.K. than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire did, and also set a new record for Friday intake. See which movies lost out to Daniel Craig by following this link.
In a more devastating shake-up, Shakir Stewart, head of the Def Jam record label, died this weekend of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He took over the post from Jay-Z this June and was only 34 years old. No information was released on whether it was an accident or suicide.
And since we're on guns and violence: The public memorial service for Jennifer Hudson's deceased family also took place this weekend. The murder weapon has been found, but so far non one has been indicted for the murders of Hudson's mother Darnell Donerson, her brother Jason Hudson and her nephew Julian Hudson.
You sick of shake-ups yet? Because I have one more: given how measly Heroes' ratings are this season (compared to thier own previous outings), two execs were fired from the show on Sunday, Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb. Both of them had been with the show from the get-go and were in charge of day-to-day production. Amongst ratings struggles, apparently the show is also running over budget. Pretty tough to do when you have $4 million per episode. Yeah, you read that right. What exactly are they spending all this dough on?
Let's move on to better news:
Steven Spielberg's first Tintin film finally got some financial backing from Paramount and Sony, after the much talked about fallout with Universal and DreamWorks. Oh, yeah, Peter Jackson is also in on the project, which will be a 3-D picture based on the Belgian comics and probably/hopefully/eventually become a franchise with many installments. Urgh.
News of comic and video game rights being bought up for a run on the big screen won't stop coming in. Now Universal, after a bidding war with three other studios, bought the rights to a game that isn't even out yet, let alone announced to come out yet, EA's tentatively titled Dante's Inferno. The game could be released next year, the movie can't be that far behind. Are you excited?
Do you remember Road to Perdition? That movie with Tom Hanks BEFORE he starred in that Michaelangelo Code or whatever it was? Well, if you don't, no worries, Max Allan Collins will jog your memory. He wrote the original comics (yes, even back then we had comic book adaptations) and he has now been tapped to write two sequels to Perdition, named Road to Purgatory and Road to Paradise. Do these titles sound like a bad joke to you too?
Redeeming note: Road to Purgatory will be dedicated to Paul Newman. (Not that I am implying Newman is in purgatory, just saying he deserves someone dedicating something to him.)
Trailer Time!
Yahoo Movies has a trailer for Danny Boyle's (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, Sunshine) new film, Slumdog Millionaire. You can watch it here.
The Reader (based on a German bestselling novel)
The Unborn (Yellow Band trailer)