Quantum of Solace Sets New Box Office Record

We already mentioned how Bond had his biggest opening day on Friday when Quantum of Solace opened wide in the U.S., and now 007 has set a new record with a $70.4 million opening weekend, the best ever for a Bond film.

Solace also grossed an additional $56.1 million overseas (where it bowed as early as October 31 in some territories), bringing its foreign total to $251.6 million and worldwide total to a whopping $322 million - over half of what Casino Royale made in its entire theatrical run.

Meanwhile, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa continued its strong run with a $36.1 million haul and brought its total north of the $100 million mark to $118 million. Universal's sleeper comedy Role Models continues to perform well with a $11.7 million take in its second weekend and $38.1 million total overall.

Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire opened strongly, grossing $350,000 across 10 screens for an impressive per-theater average of $35,000. IFC's A Christmas Tale, the other film starring Mathieu Amalric that opened this weekend, bowed with $65,400 across 7 screens, or $9,343 per theater.

Overall the news was good for Hollywood, with domestic totals up 50% from the same weekend last year.

Click here for the full weekend chart.

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New Revolutionary Road Trailer Hits Home

Variety has a new trailer for Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road.

The trailer makes effective use of Cat Power's cover of the Tom Waits tune "Sea of Love," turning the rather bittersweet version last heard onscreen in 2007's Juno into a darker and more sinister melody.

Based off the 1961 Richard Yates novel of the same name, pic reunites Titanic stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as man & wife struggling to keep their marriage alive as the clashing of dreams and reality slowly break them down in the quiet desperation of suburban life.

The film also marks the reunion of Mendes with some of his usual partners-in-crime, including one of my favorite living cinematographers, Roger Deakins (who became Mendes' go-to guy after Conrad Hall - one of my favorite cinematographers of all time - passed away), composer (and again, one of my favorites) Thomas Newman, editor Tariq Anwar, and Oscar-nominated costume designer Albert Wolsky.

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Quantum of Solace is Bond's Biggest Opener

Variety reports that Quantum of Solace hauled in $27 million on opening day, the best of any Bond film yet.

Solace blew away the previous record, held by 2002's Die Another Day, when it opened with $16.6 million. That film went on to make $47.1 million in its first weekend. In second place was the last Bond film, Casino Royale, which opened with $14.7 million and went on to earn $40.8 million for the weekend. Solace looks more than likely to outgross both of those this weekend.

Daniel Craig returns as Bond in the Marc Forster directed Solace, which has already grossed over $160 million in the overseas box office.

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Paula Abdul Checking Out? (Maybe Not)

OK! Magazine is reporting that Paula Abdul is seeking to leave American Idol, the hit reality series that has spawned a number of bankable stars and eats up ratings each year like nobody's business. Of course, many had to have seen this coming with the announcement earlier this year that Fox was adding a new judge, Kara DioGuardi, to the program, but did anyone see it coming this soon? OK! cites a source close to the former singer as saying that Abdul hopes to move on to other TV projects, particularly "a new secret venture that she’s really excited about.”

I can't say I'm a dedicated fan of the show, but I also can't deny the mainstream impact it has had over the last seven years. It looks like the once dependable staple is going through some aging pains. We'll see how this shakes up as the January 13 premiere draws closer.

**UPDATE**
UPI is now reporting that Abdul's publicist is denying these claims as nothing but rumors. So, there you go.

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Pinocchio Coming Alive With Gris Grimly And Guillermo Del Toro

Bloody-Disgusting reports that Guillermo del Toro is producing a stop-motion animated re-telling of Pinocchio, based on the 2002 Gris Grimly book. Grimly will serve as co-director with Adam Parrish King, who won a short filmmaking award at Sundance back in 2006. Grimly's version is said to be a darker and spookier take on the material. The story will find Pinocchio being magicked into a real child as in the original, but will have the titular character turn out to be a mischievous and devious little boy, playing mean tricks and being more or less evil until he eventually learns the value of being good. Del Toro does warn that the project is still very early on in its development, with the screenplay being worked on right now. The technical challenges of bringing the story to life would mean we wouldn't see this movie for at least a few more years.

The Jim Henson Company has been tapped to help make the film. Readers will remember them as the creators of The Muppets as well as the minds behind movies such as The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Recently, they helped put on the Dracula musical seen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and earlier this year we heard that Nick Stoller and Jason Segal have since been hired by Disney to write and direct the next Muppets movie.

The stop-motion puppeteering seen at the beginning of Hellboy II was pretty phenomenal, so I'm excited to see Del Toro return to the format, albeit in a producer's capacity. Still, the article does mention that Del Toro is planning a full-length stop-motion animated film of his own in the future, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that that project comes to fruition.

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Klosterman's Rock & Roll Road Trip Gets Picked Up

Variety reports that "Killing Yourself to Live," the Chuck Klosterman memoir about traveling to places across the country where rock legends have died, has been acquired by Half Shell Entertainment. Klosterman says, "The idea is to do a comedic road movie heavily based in rock 'n' roll."

And that sounds about right. I can't imagine this being a faithful adaptation; if anything, the themes and events of the book should merely serve as a backdrop to tell an original story.

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Thor Gets Animated

The Hollywood Reporter is telling us that Marvel Studios is planning a 26-episode animated series for their Norse god property. The cartoon would begin airing in 2010, soon after the theatrical run of Thor. Marvel is also planning cartoon versions for their other live-action films, including one dedicated to The Avengers (I wonder if Thor will feature in that one at all?).

Anyway, this is exciting news for me. I grew up watching X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman cartoons, and really haven't been too impressed by the recent super-hero offerings in an animated format. Hopefully, this will give kids something cool to chew on, giving the new generation of fans worthwhile interpretations of the material.

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New Spirit Trailer On Its Way

There's a new 30-second trailer up for Frank Miller's second directorial outing, The Spirit. Adapted from the Will Eisner comic, pic stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Eva Mendes, Dan Lauria, Paz Vega, Jaime King, and Scarlett Johansson.

The footage released thus far hasn't really blown me away, seeming to rely too much on the visual style Miller worked with in Sin City while employing dialogue that comes across as awkward and heavy-handed (though the one-sheets have admittedly been pretty damn cool). That said, this trailer has gotten me a little more excited. If nothing else, at least this will be the movie that gives us Samuel L. in a samurai outfit.

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Steve Urkel Returns To Hollywood!

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Jaleel White, best remembered for playing Steve Urkel on the hit 90's sitcom Family Matters, has penned a screenplay called Did You Get My Text that will be directed by My Big Fat Greek Wedding director Joel Zwick.

The Matthew Cooke-produced romantic comedy is about a young man who woos a girl via text messages from his friend's phone, and hilarity ensues (I'm assuming). No word on casting yet, but we'll update you if we hear anything.

The THR piece also mentions Adrien Grenier (Entourage's Vincent Chase) producing writer/director Cooke's new documentary Propaganda. Cooke produced Amy Berg's Oscar-nominated doc Deliver Us From Evil, and his doc will follow the "supression of free speech ranging from the Patriot Act to the removal of materials from the Web because of copyright law," according to the article.

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Edward Norton and Edward Norton Discuss Leaves of Grass

The good folks over at Ain't It Cool News have the first picture up from the Tim Blake Nelson film, where Edward Norton will pull double duty playing a pair of genius twins - one a college professor, the other a pot grower who has just created the perfect strain.

Leaves of Grass, which appears to be unrelated to the Walt Whitman collection of poetry, also has Susan Sarandon playing the boys' mother and Richard Dreyfuss as a drug lord, with Keri Russell and Melanie Lynskey rounding out the cast.

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Jake Gyllenhaal On the Set of Prince of Persia

ET has a video up from a set visit of Prince of Persia with the freshly ripped Jake Gyllenhaal, where awkward jokes are exchanged with ET reporter Thea Andrews, Bruckheimer compares the footage to Lawrence of Arabia (come on, you SAW that one coming, right?), and Jake exudes goofiness and general nice-guy vibes.

Based off the video game franchise of the same name, Prince of Persia co-stars Quantum of Solace bond girl Gemma Arterton (whom some of you may know from RocknRolla) as feisty princess Tamina, and Sir Ben Kingsley as a villainous nobleman.

Video game adaptations haven't exactly been successful in the past, but from what I'm hearing, Prince of Persia is showing some promise. We'll find out Memorial Day weekend, 2010.

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New Harry Potter Trailer Hits The Web!

A new full-length trailer has been released for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and things are starting to look a little epic.

The Harry Potter movies have gotten better and better as they've gone along, and judging from this new trailer, Half-Blood Prince seems likely to continue the trend. Check out the sweet shot towards the end of London's Millennium Bridge going all twisty on us... and it looks like they've brought back Quidditch!

Too bad Warner Bros. pushed the release date back from this week to next July.

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