Showing Out

This came out of left field. In Quigley Publishing Company’s new 78th Annual Poll of Exhibitors, Sandra Bullock tops the chart as the highest earning celebrity of 2009, making her the first female to come in at number one since Julia Roberts in 1999 and the eighth woman chosen to reign at number one in the Poll’s 78-year history. Of course, this is clearly something that must be taken with a grain of salt, considering that the list is compiled by a group of voters who yay or nay an actor based on how much they suspect these celebrities make. Nonetheless, Bullock could have made the most money, considering she starred in two blockbusters (The Blind Side and The Proposal) and one flat-out dud (All About Steve). Hit the jump to see the top-10 list of suspected earners this year.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the lovely ladies from Crime Mob has decided to step out on her own. Diamond, one of the resident rapping betty’s in the clique, has just released the video for “Superbad” off her forthcoming debut album The Black Barbie, enlisting Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo to help out on the vocal tip. The clip, directed by Mr. Teeth, doesn’t actually feature His Greenness, but when there’s glamor shot after glamor shot of Diamond in the club, backed by a gang of ladies (we see you, Tiny Cottle) as they make all the dudes fall over themselves. We’d be falling over too, if it weren’t for the fact that we’re too entranced by her mile-long eyelashes. How do those joints stay on??

If you didn’t love Denzel already, here’s another reason to add him to your like list. Above is the behind-the-scenes featurette for the upcoming Book of Eli, directed by The Book of Eli is directed by brothers Allen and Albert Hughes (Dead Presidents, American Pimp. The film relies heavily on Denzel Washington’s ability to maintain his stamina, which he ceaselessly proves in the featurette. Throughout the film, he did all of his own stunts, going for minutes at a time during hardbody fight sequences (watch Albert and Denzel discuss the action in the featurette). The film, written by Gary Whitta, is slated for release on January 15th, and co-stars Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis and Tom Waits. Watch the trailer here, and enjoy.

Hollywood has been replete with big screen adaptations of toys, video games and classic ’80s TV shows. So it actually comes as a relief to know that the Thundercats movie has been kicked to the curb. According to ComicBookMovie.com, Warner Bros. has pulled the plug on the film version of Thundercats, a surprising twist of events considering that movies like Transformers and G.I. Joe have struck box office gold over the past few years. Though no explanation was given for why they aren’t going full steam ahead with the film, it’s a breath of fresh air, considering that movies based on classic pop culture staples like He-Man and Battleship are currently in the works. R.I.P. Thundercats - may you stay forever buried in the ’80s.

If Susan Boyle ever dreamed a dream, it probably wasn’t as spectacular as her current run on Billboard. The recent sales figures for this week have been released, and Boyle has once again edged out the competition for another week at number one, this time roping in an additional 510,000 copies of her debut album I Dreamed a Dream. Meanwhile, Mary J. Blige had a pretty impressive bow with her new joint Stronger with Each Tear, coming in at number two with 330K sold, while previous number two-holder Alicia Keys moves back to number three with Element of Freedom, moving an additional 280K copies. Young Money managed to finagle a number nine bow with their debut We Are Young Money, moving 142,000 copies to place it two spots ahead of Eminem’s Relapse: Refill, which enters at 11 with 128K sold. Boyle stays running the biz!

OK, so you probably don’t know what exactly the National Film Registry does, so here’s a quick breakdown: the NFR is the United States National Film Preservation Board’s selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. Got it? Good. The most recent news regarding the NFR is their recent addition of 25 films to preserve, with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video making the prestigious cut as the first music video to ever make it into the Library of Congress. Additional films added to the list were Dog Day Afternoon, The Muppet Movie, The Mark of Zorro, Under Western Stars and 20 others. ”By preserving the nation’s films, we safeguard a significant element of our cultural patrimony and history,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Hit the jump for the full list.

Read the rest of this entry »

Not too often that video game trailers make it onto this here site, but it’s a slow week - can you blame us? Above is the trailer for Mass Effect 2, which is slated for a January 26th release on Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The RPG, which is being released by Electronic Arts, is the sequel to the successful 2007 game, this time adding in a whole lot of new features like realistic damage modeling and downed enemies that still continue to struggle after they’ve been hit. Additionally, there are new vehicles, weapons, camera angles and even better graphics, as evidenced by the trailer above. Be on the lookout for when this jawn hits your local GameStop next month.

This is a surprising twist of events. Back in August, word got out that the X-Men Origins flick that focused on villain Magneto would be moving forward, but now, it looks as though that was all just premature chatter. In an interview with Bryan Singer, THR discussed his recent attachment to direct X-Men: First Class, pretty much confirming that it was a wrap for the Origins film on Magneto. The reason, of course, is because First Class is supposed to include some story line that focuses on a young Magneto and his involvement in the formation of the X-Men. “This story would probably utilize some of the Magneto story because it deals with a young Magneto, so it might supersede that because this would explore that relationship between a young energetic professor and a disenfranchised victim of the Holocaust,” said Singer. R.I.P. X-Men Origins: Magneto. We knew ye too little.

Back in early November, the first trailer for How to Train Your Dragon hit the net, and now, we get a second (albeit more lo-res) trailer for the animated flick. Dragon, adapted from Cressida Cowel’s novel, focusing on a boy that lives in a Viking village where fighting dragons is an everyday thing. But when the boy befriends a hurt dragon, his world gets flipped around. The film stars Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Craig Ferguson, Kristen Wiig and T.J. Miller in vocal roles in this cutesy family-friendly flick, an unsurprising image for a film considering that it comes from the same creators as Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. Look out for this one when it drops March 26th.

Word on Ghostbusters 3 has been relegated to brief, unsubstantial updates as of lately, with actor Harold Ramis discussing the threequel back in July and Bill Murray giving his two cents last month. Now, Ramis is discussing the film yet again, this time coming with some substantial news regarding the third installment of the film. In an interview with Heeb, Ramis talked about plans to move forward with the film, even going so far as to dishing a shoot and release date. “GB3 is progressing with plans to shoot next summer and release in 2011,” he said. Additionally, he’s got plans to include some new blood in the film. “We’ll introduce some new young Ghostbusters, and all the old guys will be in it, too. Think Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future.” As long as they don’t cast Robert Pattinson, we’re good to go.