MICHAEL DOUGLAS IS KING OF THE BOX OFFICE STILL

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

He's still got it.  Michael Douglas is King of the Box Office with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 23 years after being debuting in third in December 1987 with its predecessor.  Despite some negative reviews, the follow-up to the Oscar-winning Oliver Stone film brought in a total $19 million this weekend from 3,565 theatres.  Although some of this could be coming from sympathy support for the actor after his recent Cancer announcement, here's to hoping for a quick recovery to the legendary Douglas from one Cancer survivor to another.

Warner Bros.' Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole 3-D boasts an all-star cast including Helen Mirren, Abbie Cornish, Joel Edgerton and Ryan Kwanten, but doesn't boast the big numbers of its $100 million budget.  Still though, it's enough to land it in second spot this weekend with $16.3 million.  I'd expect this will perform much better overseas.

Although The Town slips to third spot this weekend, its drop is only minor as it still was able to pull in $16 million this weekend.  In only two weeks, it has pulled in $49.1 million.  The same applies to Emma Stone's star-making Easy A which debuted in second last week but slips to fourth this weekend with $10.8 million.  Both The Town and Easy A's commercial success have also matched their critical success.

Disappointing though is Disney's You Again which I loved, but only managing to debut in fifth spot with $8.3 million.  Despite poor reviews, I can't agree that the negative remarks actually mean that this  is not worth a visit to the theatre.  

Miraculously, Inception is still hanging onto the Top Ten at the bottom end with $1.2 million from 907 theatres.  Shall we see if it hangs on for a twelfth week?

CAREY MULLIGAN TO STAR IN U.S. VERSION OF "THE GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO"

Can I spot a star or what?  The radiant and talented Carey Mulligan has signed in to star in all three film adaptations of Stieg Larsson's trilogy starting first with The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo.  I reviewed the original Swedish version of the film here last week and overall wasn't wowed, but hopefully the U.S. version will make a few modifications. 

It will be interesting seeing the sweet and soft-spoken (I can confirm after meeting her in-person) Mulligan transform into the dark role of Lisabeth Salander who gets tortured, raped and ultimately fights back.  Brad Pitt is rumoured to play the male lead role of disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist.  One thing I'm sure of in the very least is that the names will probably be changed to Liz and Mike for the American adaptation:p  And things aren't looking like they're slowing down any time soon following a star-turning role in An Education last year. 

Mulligan will also be appearing in Wall Street 2: Money Never Dies which opens this September alongside Michael Douglas and boyfriend Shia LaBeouf.  She's it.  (Photo credit: Mr. Will-W.)

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL TITLES ANNOUNCED

Director Doug Liman's Fair Game will be among many future Oscar-contending films at this year's 63rd Cannes Film Festival  to be held May 12-23, 2010.  The film stars Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, who will be appearing together yet again after garnering critical success in The Assasination of Richard Nixon and 21 Grams previously.  The political drama is about CIA agent Valerie Plame, who is exposed by White House Officials after he wrote a New York Times piece with incriminating evidence against the Bush administration and its decision to invade Iraq.  Heavy stuff. 

The story inspired 2008's Nothing But The Truth starring Vera Farmiga and Kate Beckinsale, but Liman's film is the actual real deal.  Watts has a second film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which also is the latest film from legendary Woody Allen.  It also stars Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto and Josh Brolin.  Hmm, gee... I wonder who will be cast as the Tall Dark Stranger in this one?  Could it be sexy MANtonio?