‘Straight Outta Compton’ Wins a Third Straight Week At the Box Office, Edges Out ‘War Room’
The N.W.A. biopic got $13.2 million for a total of $134.1million over 17 days. Meanwhile, Sony’s faith-based War Room impressed with a solid 11 million opening, to finish second. Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and No Escape are essentially tied for third, with the final numbers coming out today set to sort out which was third and which was fourth. Meanwhile, Zac Efron’s We Are Your Friends opened with an anemic $1.8 million for 13th place. (BO)
Tom Ford Adds Armie Hammer To the Cast Of His Next Film, ‘Nocturnal Animals’
Focus Features is behind the production based on Austin Wright’s novel Tony and Susan, and Hammer has a key role in the that focuses on a woman (Amy Adams) who receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband, a man whom she left 20 years earlier, asking for her opinion. And then things take an interesting turn. Jake Gyllenhaal, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Shannon and Kim Basinger also star in the film, which starts shooting this fall. (SF)
It Appears That, At Long Last, Lee Daniels’ Richard Pryor Biopic Is Finally, Officially, Ready to Go
In the spring, Daniels hinted via his Instagram page that Eddie Murphy would be joining the cast of his film, which Mike Epps is attached to star in, as well as Oprah Winfrey and Kate Hudson. Now, The Weinstein Company production will see Murphy play Richard Pryor’s father, Winfrey as Pryor’s grandmother, and Hudson as Jennifer Lee Pryor, Richard Pryor’s 4th wife. As of now, that cast is officially set, and production is set to begin in March. (SAA)
Katherine Heigl Has a New Leading Man, as Stephen Pasquale Lands Lead In Retooled ‘Doubt’
Show, which narrowly missed a series pickup in May after going through development season as one of the most buzzy scripts, centers on Sadie (Heigl), a smart, chic, successful defense lawyer at a boutique firm who shockingly gets romantically involved with one of her clients who may or may not be guilty of a brutal crime. Pasquale will take over that role, a decent, altruistic pediatric surgeon recently accused of murdering a 15-year-old girl many years ago. (TLF)
Prognosis Negative: USA Has Had Enough ‘Complications’ and Cancels the Drama After One Season
The drama wrapped on Aug. 13th on something of a cliffhanger, but that was not enough to save the series. It debuted to 1.9 million total viewers and a 0.4 demo rating, but by the end of its run had slipped to 1.4 mil/0.3, and now the cable network has brought things to an end. (TVL)
Jonathan Demme Is Getting Back In the Concert Film Game, Will Helm a “Space Age” One For Justin Timberlake
Demme was asked to shoot the last show of Timberlake’s 20/20 Tour, which backed Timberlake’s recent double-album The 20/20 Experience. The filmmaker is currently editing the independently produced concert film, which comes 30 years after Demme’s seminal Stop Making Sense, starring the Talking Heads. (COL)
Having Played a Kingpin On TV, Vincent D’Onofrio Now Wants To Do It For Real and Will Direct His First Film
The project is called The Kid, a western from newcomer Andrew Lanham, who wrote the script. D’Onofrio will also star in the film alongside James Franco and Ethan Hawke, in a story about a young boy, whose uncle has murdered his father and turned his sister out onto the streets. The boy tries to rope Billy The Kid into avenging his father by killing said uncle, but finds his romantic notions of the gunfighting outlaw are false. He then finds a true hero in Pat Garrett. (EMP)
With This Year’s VMA’s Now In the Rearview Mirror, the Inside Story Of How the First One Created a Tradition Of Making Censors Sweat
For almost 35 years, MTV has been in the business of selling relevance. For artists, it’s been a place to get in front of the coveted 18-to-34 demographic. For those 18- to 34-year-olds, it’s been a place to stay on top of the pop culture zeitgeist, so as to have enough ammo to be considered cool by peers. And business has been good – MTV is a fixture, and its crown jewel has been the Video Music Awards. (UR)
Trailer Buzz: ‘Concussion’
Sony has released the first look at the upcoming drama starring Will Smith. The film is written and directed by Peter Landesman, based on the GQ article “Game Brain” by Jeanne Marie Laskas, and produced by Ridley Scott, Giannina Scott, David Wolthoff, Larry Shuman, and Elizabeth Cantillon, and hits theaters in December. (DH)
Screenwriters: Show Me the Love — Interspecies Love
Got Love? Got enough Love? Got the right kind of Love? No matter your genre or style, a good story needs some kind of Love to engage us emotionally. Too often people think Love is just the romantic or sexual kind. But wait – there’s more. (SM)