Colin Firth has signed on to star opposite Ben Barnes in “Dorian Gray,” the retelling of the Oscar Wilde supernatural classic being directed by Oliver Parker, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Even though “The Dark Knight” recorded the biggest opening weekend in film history and also clocked in with the largest number of ticket sales in its first week, it is unlikely that James Cameron’s epic film “Titanic” is in any danger of loosing its top spot as the number one box office film of all time at $600 million.
Nintendo’s Wii video game console outsold Sony Corp’s PlayStation 3 by more than 3-to-1 in Japan in July, the Enterbrain game magazine publisher said. Nintendo sold 171,851 units of the Wii in the four weeks ending July 27, compared with 54,823 units of the PS3. In the handheld game market, Sony sold 256,765 units of its PlayStation Portable in the month, while sales of Nintendo’s DS came to 217,639 units, according to Reuters.
Speaking of games. The U.K. could give all computer games cinema-style age ratings to protect children from increasingly realistic and violent titles, the British government said on Thursday.
Is there such a thing as “Geek Power”? Hollywood thinks so. Producer Brad Fuller, told a Comic-Con audience in San Diego last weekend that filmmakers were “terrified” about how the franchise’s superfans might feel about their upcoming “Friday the 13th” reboot. Journalist Steven Zeitchik says that Paramount was nervous enough about geek reaction to its “Star Trek” prequel that it didn’t even show footage at Comic-Con out of concern that it wasn’t yet ready for discerning eyes. However, others in the industry think the “nerd factor” is over-rated and doesn’t equate to their movies appeal in the general public.
Now we know why Thomas Jane turned down his chance to continue as The Punisher for its next film. He will be starring in a new HBO dark comedy titled “Hung,” Jane will star as Ray, a well-endowed struggling middle-aged high school basketball coach who figures out a way to use his best asset. Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) is directing.