Who are Hollywood's most bankable stars?

Forbes released their annual list of the most bankable actors in Hollywood. Not just the actors who make the most money, but the ones that give their studios the most bang for their dollar. Remember a few years ago when everyone was obsessed over who the next big $20M a flick actor was? Well, nobody gives a crap about that anymore. Now it's about profit margin, and pinching pennies where you can. It's about finding actors who put butts in seats for the lowest possible price.  Not surprisingly, Shia Labeouf is the clear cut winner for the 2nd year in a row. For ever $1 that studios spent on him, he reels in $81 in profit. That's not a bad investment.  Check out the rest of the Top 10 below...

1. Shia LaBeouf (Transformers films, Indiana Jones 4) - $81
2. Anne Hathaway (Alice in Wonderland, Bride Wars) - $64
3. Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter films) - $61
4. Robert Downey Jr. (Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man) - $33
5. Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Robin Hood) - $27
6. Jennifer Aniston (The Bounty Hunter, He’s Just Not That Into You) - $21
7. Meryl Streep (Mamma Mia, It’s Complicated) - $21
8. Johnny Depp (Alice in Wonderland, Public Enemies) - $18
9. Nicolas Cage (Knowing) - $17
10. Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City) - $17

Punch Drunk DVDs

Marmaduke
Maybe one of you can tell me, but is Emma Stone an actual human person in this lousy looking adaptation of the comic strip series? Or is she just voicing a cat or something? Owen Wilson is voicing the mammoth Great Dane, and I know George Lopez is lurking around there somewhere. I avoided the last Owen Wilson flick about dogs(Marley and Me), and have done a pretty darn good job of not learning a single thing about this one, too. I intend to keep it that way.







Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?
All that Michael Jai White good will after last year's Black Dynamite is flushed down the toilet.  You all know me by now. I have a strict No Tyler Perry policy firmly in place. This sequel reunites all the broadly defined folks from the last T.P.(how appropriate) feature length soap opera. Honestly the only reason I can think why anybody would need to see or buy this is if they're a Janet Jackson completist.








Harry Brown
When Michael Caine shows up on your doorstep with that sneer underneath his grandfatherly eyeglasses, it's probably best to just give it up. Harry Brown is the thinking man's vigilante flick, with the always perfect Caine starring as a former member of the British Royal Army who's sick and tired of seeing his neighborhood go to hell thanks to the neighborhood thugs. Pair this up with Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino for a night of geriatric revenge fun.







Red Riding Trilogy
Some people might take issue with the somewhat plodding pace of Red Riding's dense story, chronicling a multi-year search for a serial killer leaves the lives and careers of many people in it's wake. You hae to remember that this was originally a TV mini-series, so the need to speed along clearly wasn't there. It's that deliberate pace that makes Red Riding so hard to forget, as each installment, told in a specific year of the investigation, lingers and buries itself in your subconscious. Characters you've grown to love in one installment have aged and changed completely into the next, until the time comes at the final leg of the story that you feel like you've been beaten down by this crime just like the rest of them. It's a unique experience, and one that I hope people will take the time to invest in. A superb, noir thriller.

Takers prequel in the works? Wha??

Ok, so I know that Takers surprised a lot of folks by stealing the #1 spot away from The Last Exorcism at the box office yesterday. Now that the star-studded, ultra cool heist flick has proven to be a success, it's looking like another film is already in the planning stages.

Talking to Black Entertainment Television, Rapper T.I. says that a prequel to the film is imminent...

"I just got off the phone with the director, writer, the head of Screen Gems and the label heads over at Sony," he revealed to BET. "We are working not a sequel, but a prequel to tell the back story of the characters."

Anyone who saw Takers knows why they aren't pushing a sequel. A prequel gives the chance to reunite all of the principle cast members, which were the main reason why the film was such a success to begin with. I'm completely in favor of this idea. Takers is a good but not great heist flick with some seriously slick action sequences, but the highlight is all those seemingly random characters paired together like a modern day version of the Rat Pack. Seeing the roots of this group's formation could be hella cool.

Has Warner Bros. found the guy to redeem Clash of the Titans?

Yesterday we had the story that Jonathan Liebesman(Darkness Falls) was the lead contender to helm the sequel to Clash of the Titans. Now it's been confirmed that he has snagged the job, and I don't envy him one bit.

The script is being written by Greg Berlanti and David Leslie Johnson right now. Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton will be back on board. Let's hope they have something better to work with this time. The plan as of now is to shoot the film in 3-D, which is exactly what they should've done last time. As anybody who was able to see through the murky post-converted mess of the first film can attest, shooting in the 3-D format is always a plus.

I don't know enough about Liebesman work to judge the man's ability. I do know that I wasn't a fan of Darkness Falls or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. I'm hearing a lot of buzz about his upcoming flick, Battle: Los Angeles, but that's all it is right now is buzz. Titans shot itself so badly in the foot right out of the gate that I don't know if anybody other than a big name director can redeem it. It failed in every conceivable way. The script was laughably bad. The special effects were cheesy, and not in the good and lovable way like the 1981 Clash film. It's never a good sign when your prime actor(Worthington) is upstaged by a supporting character(Mads Mikkelson), nor when the centerpiece of the entire production is a massive creature who spends more time getting out of the water than he does actually causing havoc.

Liebesman's got a lot on his plate making Clash credible.

Piranhas not deadly enough? How about Shark Night 3-D

Here comes the deluge. David Ellis, the guy who directed the abysmal joke action flick, Snakes on a Plane, is back and this time he's looking to the sea for predators of choice. He's already hard at work assembling the cast for Shark Night 3-D, signing the first four potential victims already. Sinqua Walls(Friday Night Lights), Chris Carmack(The OC), Alyssa Diaz(Red Dawn), and Joel David Moore(Avatar) have signed on for major roles. The only one I recognize is Moore, who most will remember as Sam Worthington's buddy in Avatar. He also has a recurring role on Fox's TV series, Bones.

The flick is about a group of seven friends spending a week long vacation at a lake house in Louisiana. Their trip turns into a nightmare when they suddenly come under attack by hellish sharks, unheard of in freshwater lakes. 

The sharks are being developed by Walter Conti, the same guy responsible for the ferocious fish in Deep Blue Sea.  I still maintain that the scariest shark movie isn't Jaws, but 2004's Open Water. Not saying it's better than Jaws, just more realistically terrifying.

I hope this isn't the start of a deluge of campy horror flicks like this. Snakes on a Plane was a terrible movie by any measure. Even those of us who hoped it'd be a fun, self aware flick were disappointed. Piranha 3D worked, but I'm betting it was the exception and not the norm.

Bradley Cooper & Ryan Reynolds team up for buddy cop comedy

So who's gonna play the hot, hunky guy? Seriously, the thought of Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper teaming up on anything probably has more than a few ladies reaching for a new pair of undies. For me, it seems a little redundant.

The duo are set to star in a Lethal Weapon style action comedy from writer Sheldon Turner, who gained critical acclaim for adapting Up in the Air last year. The film is a reworking of Blowback, an action flick he was pushing a few years ago but was never picked up. It was set to star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson at the time.

Reynolds and Cooper will star as long time friends who just so happen to be cops. Both of their fathers were partners in the police force as well, and are forced out of retirement to help their sons solve a major case.

Ok, so why isn't The Rock in this version also? I don't like the idea of Cooper and Reynolds together unless their characters are wildly different.  The Rock and Cooper would've been a better combinaton, with Cooper's pretty boy look and The Rock's imposing demeanor.

No other information is available at this point. The film is still untitled, and the Dads haven't been cast of yet. This one has potential, given Turner's writing ability and the actors involved. It's going to be hard for them to match the hilarity of The Other Guys, though.

Aronofsky to direct Wolverine 2? Rodriguez not directing Deadpool? What's going on here??

Deadline's been dishing the dirt on arguably the three biggest new franchises operating today, and frankly it's all got me scratching my head.

First, Hugh Jackman is apparently keen to work with his The Fountain dirctor, Darren Aronofsky.  He's been taking to the auteur about possibly taking on the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine. David Slade was reported to be the frontrunner just last week along with Robert Schwentke. It appears that Schwentke is now out of contention.

Those who scoff at the idea of Aronofsky tacking a bare knuckled comic book sequel might want to consider how strange it sounded when we first learned he'd be directing a film about pro wrestling. And he pulled it off in spades. I know that 20th Century Fox is notorious for being control freaks and alienating their directors, but Jackman has an unprecedented level of control over where this franchise goes. You think if he negotiates for Aronofsky that he won't give him the widest latitude possible?

Next up is Robert Rodriguez, who is sounding less and less likely to be directing Deadpool. As I'm sure I mentioned when the story first broke, Rodriguez's schedule is simply ridiculous. He seems to be adding new projects every other week, so it's no surprise that time constraints seem to be the culprit here, too. He says...

“We haven’t really gotten into the discussion, but they are trying to make a certain small window that’s going to be tough because of Spy Kids… If they push it back, it would be a lot better for me.”

I'm nearing the point where I think Deadpool is going to be one of those highly anticipated, eagerly awaited films that never happens. Or it'll happen years after everybody's stopped caring.

Lastly, Jonathan Liebesman appears to be the top choice to replace Louis Letterier in the next installment of Clash of the Titans. Liebesman is probably best known as director of Darkness Falls and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning.  I don't care about either of those films, nor am I looking for a Clash of the anything sequel. Let it die. 

Bruce Willis as The Thing in Fantastic Four reboot? Director soon to be named?

Suddenly Fox has really started ramping up the search to fill out the cast of it's upcoming reboot of the Fantastic Four franchise. I don't see the rush, since it likely won't go into production until late next year, or whenever X-men: First Class winds down. Now we're learning that they've got hopes of having Bruce Willis act as the human side of Ben Grimm, aka the Thing.

Bear in mind that "they've got hopes" only means he's who they want. It doesn't mean anything about his interest level. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he accepted it. The role would likely be minor, since Thing will be in rock form most of the time. And Willis won't have to endure hours of make-up each day. Plus the guy just made Surrogates, another less successful comic book adaptation.

Fox has also narrowed down their list of directors they're high on to direct the potential franchise, and it's a pretty oddball combination: David Yates(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix); Joe Carnahan(The A-Team); and James McTeigue(Ninja Assassin).

A decision is expected soon with an offer to follow shortly thereafter. Again, this doesn't mean the directors want to helm FF. Out of these three I can see McTeigue being the most likely to accept, with his penchant for wild, colorful gigs. He would probably bring the most far out style to the film, which I think it desperately needs. McTeigue is a former disciple of the Wachowski Brothers, and it's shown in his past work. While I have not been a fan of either V for Vendetta or Ninja Assassin, his technique would be vastly different from the stale, almost Silver Age approach of the last two films.

Tops at the Box Office

1. The Last Exorcism- $21.3M
The Eli Roth produced horror got off to a strong start, beating out the last film in The Exorcist series, 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning by nearly $3M. It's also a better opening than both of Eli Roth's Hostel films, nearly tripling the opening of Hostel 2.
2.  Takers- $21M
Takers stole a hefty  $21M in it's opening weekend, which is about par for most heist flicks. Although, when compared to the very closely related Armored from a few months ago, it more than triple it's $6M opening. The interesting tidbit is that the audience for this was 52% female, meaning that chicks were lining up to get all googly eyed over the virtually all-male cast.
3. The Expendables- $9.5M/$82M
The heavyweight champ fell two slots, slipping 44% from last week. It should hit $100M in no time.
4. Eat Pray Love- $7M/$60.7M
5. The Other Guys- $6.6M/$99.3M
6. Vampires Suck- $5.3M/$27.9M
This is what it should've made last week. I'm still upset with you, America.
7. Inception- $5.11M/$271M
8. Nanny McPhee Returns- $4.74M/$17M
The original Nanny McPhee may took in over $120M worldwide, but only $47M of that was domestic. The sequel isn't going to come close to even matching that.
9. The Switch- $4.66M/$16.5M
Really something of a shame. Can we send some of that Vampires Suck money this way?
10. Piranha 3D- $4.31M/$18.3M