Cape worn by Elizabeth Taylor in "Cleopatra" sold

DALLAS (Reuters) - A gold cape worn by Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor in the 1963 film "Cleopatra" sold at auction for $59,375 in Dallas on Friday.

The cape had been wrapped in tissue and stored in a cedar closet for years, the female owner of the garment told officials at Heritage Auctions.

The owner, who asked not to be identified, said her mother had acquired the cape from the now defunct Western Costume company sometime after the film's premiere.

The woman's mother had worked in the couture fashion industry, Heritage officials saidountry's devastating January 2010 earth. The woman told officials at the auction house that she had never mentioned or showed the cape to anyone.

But after the actress died on March 23, 2011, she decided to reintroduce it to the world.

The cape was designed to resemble the wings of a Phoenixople displaced by the . It is constructed of gold painted leather with hand-stitched gold beads and sequinstcuts' id='lw_1332186542_3'. Taylor wore the cape in two scenes in the movie='lw_1332186542_3'Peace Su. The cape was expected to sell for $20,000 at auction.

"Taylor was featured in countless newspaper and magazine articles wearing this cape," Margaret Barrett, director of entertainment and music memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, said in a statement.

"This piece is the epitome of glamorous and it was worn by one of Hollywood's greatest leading ladies at the very peak of her fame, power and beauty," she said.

(Editing by Greg McCune)

Harry Potter and the "strange" case of Oscars snub

LONDON (Reuters) - One of the few places where the Harry Potter movies failed to weave their magic was the Oscars, and the blockbuster franchise's failure to win a single Academy Award in eight attempts still rankles with some key players.

The series, based on J.Kpaigner and humanitarian,' . Rowling's best-selling boy wizard stories, was nominated for 12 Oscars over its 10-year history, in the art direction, visual effects, makeup, cinematography, costume design and music categories.

Each time it went away empty-handed, to the growing frustration of the cast and crew that worked on one of the most successful film franchises in history.

The final chance came with the concluding installment "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2", released last year and shortlisted for art direction, makeup and visual effects.

In two of those categories it was beaten by Martin Scorsese's "Hugo", while the makeup award ended up going to Margaret Thatcher biopic "The Iron Lady".

"I think a lot of us look fairly wryly at the politics of the American Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), of which I am a member," said John Richardson, special effects supervisor on the Harry Potter movies.

"It does beg the question why did Harry Potter not get recognized at all for the last Deathly Hallows film?" he told Reuters at the press launch of the new Potter studio tour at Leavesden Studios just outside London.

"We got three nominations from the ..n tragedy, Britain's span class='yshort. Academy for probably one of the best-made and best-grossing films of the year, whereas a Martin Scorsese film, Hugo, which wasn't anything like as successful, won three awards, or was it four?"

In fact it was five -- art direction, cinematography, sound editing and mixing and visual effects.

Deathly Hallows - Part 2 earned $1.3 billion in global ticket sales, according to Boxofficemojo.com, making it the third biggest movie of all time before inflation is taken into account_1'Naomi Watts/span will play span clas. It was also a critical hit.

Nick Dudman, in the special makeup effects department, agreed that Potter films had been wrongly overlooked.

"We keep losing," he told Reutersn will start in Britain later this. "Potter has been very largely ignored by academies around the world, and it is slightly strange.

"But the work is its own reward in many waysf the royal family by her longtime bodyguard. We make fabulous things, we have a great time doing it."

Richardson said one reason why the Potter films failed to land any Oscars may have been the voting system, whereby the Academy's entire active membership can select winners in every category during the final ballot stage.

The BAFTAs, Britain's equivalent, differ in that all members can vote on eight main categories, but for every other nomination only those with specialist knowledge of that particular field can participate.

"The final (BAFTA) vote is a chapter vote, so the award is voted by your peers, if you like.

"It so happens that we won the BAFTA, but I think it gives a truer critique of the work rather than being voted on by, with due deference to everybody, a lot of people who don't necessarily understand the work or technology that's involved in creating the film."

Deathly Hallows - Part 2 won the special visual effects BAFTA, beating Hugo, although Scorsese's film did trump Potter in the sound and production design categories.

Richardson has been nominated six times for an Oscar, three of them for a Potter movie movies, Watts, last seen in 'J,E. He has won once, for "Aliens".

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

The fairy tale life of "Mirror Mirror" star Lily Collins

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - With her dark eyes, dark hair and pale skin, actress Lily Collins certainly fits the bill to play 'the fairest of them all' in the new retelling of classic Snow White tale in the upcoming film, "Mirror Mirror."

The movie, which comes out on Friday, sees an exiled Snow White teaming with seven rebel dwarfs and one prince (Armie Hammer) to defeat an evil Queen (Julia Roberts), take back her kingdom and restore it to its former glory before Snow White's father died.

Yet the 23-year-old Collins, whose previous acting credits include playing Sandra Bullock's daughter in "The Blind Side" and Taylor Lautner's love interest in "Abduction," learned she had a lot more in common with Snow than just looks.

"I feel like Snow and my experience paralleled a lot during the shoot," Collins told Reutersd, Now it's a matter of . "At the beginning of the story, she's very wide-eyed, innocent and unsure of what's happeningyear' Comic-Con, But perhaps . I started out very wide-eyed and excited, but unsure of what was going on."

As the "Mirror Mirror" story progresses, Snow White learns to stand up to her evil step-mother and fight for her rights when she becomes part of the dwarves' army.

Collins said she also became a fighter, both emotionally and physically, during the shoot and pre-production as she learned about the acting craft and studied fencing and sword fighting.

Snow White blossoms into a young woman who embraces life and love and believes in herself, leading to a deeper understanding of the world around her.

"I too became more open to living life to the fullest and believing that you can put your mind to doing anything and really accomplish it to spend a lot of time o. I left a very inspired young woman based on what I learned as Snow," Collins said.

SINGER, DANCER, JOURNALIST

Not that Collins needed much inspiration -- in the performing arts, anyway -- because showbiz already runs in her veinsle='' class='lzbg'LOS ANGELES (TheWrap,com) - I. Her father is Grammy and Oscar-winning British musician Phil Collins of Genesis fameedia/m/base/images/transparent-. Although the younger Collins was born in the U.K., her parents divorced when she was five, and she moved to Los Angeles with her mother, where she grew up.

In at least one way, "Mirror Mirror" proves that Collins is indeed her father's daughter unit director or a stunt. A Bollywood-style song and dance sequence during the end credits of the film showcases her singing talents.

"I didn't tell my dad I was singing in the movie because I wanted to shock him by playing him the song," said Collinseting campaign run by Sony and Marve. "He loved it! He made me replay it a couple times because he didn't believe it was me!"

Although Collins enjoys singing, she is not looking to pursue a career in music, saying that at the moment, "my heart and soul is in acting."

But that wasn't always the casea -- and a motorcycle going . As a teenager, journalism was her passionalso recalled watchi. She was published in Elle Girl and Seventeen magazines and in 2008, she worked as a journalist for kids network Nickelodeon, covering the U.Sal for a more leggy run, . presidential campaign.

She went on to begin studying broadcast journalism and communication at the University of Southern California, but she had to decide between school and acting when she found herself shooting "The Blind Side" in Atlanta and flying back to L.Arom the dead, (Edi. for examsking, Sony declined to talk about t. She has since deferred her schooling but plans on returning.

"That was grueling," said Collins, "but it was worth it because I was able to finish the semesterey fueled early interest in th. When I do go back, I want to be there fully and not think about what time I need to be at my next audition."

No matter what happens with school, Collins said she'll always be a journalist even as her acting career grows.

"Journalism is something I've always loved and continue to use everyday," she confessedel, which includes traditional tacti. "I'm a genuinely interested persont 'Ghost Rider,' 'The second thing is the 3D, w. I carry a notebookyshortcuts' id='lw_1329408487_6'Marvel/span a. I ask questions, and I'm socialther rival marketing executive told TheWrap that. In learning about character traits for roles, it's the best way to do researchl('http://l,yimg,com/bt/api/r. So I'm still going to be a journalist at heart."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Titanic in 3D cranks up experience, director says

LONDON (Reuters) - "Titanic" director James Cameron said the 3D version of his 1997 blockbuster, released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the luxury liner, "turns up" the experience of the original.

He also denied suggestions that the film, which hits U.Srted to Mars, has generated $184 million in tic. and British theatres on April 6, was a way of cashing in on the tragedy, which happened on April 15, 1912 with the loss of more than 1,500 lives.

"I just think it makes it more immersive," Cameron said of the 3D re-maketock Exchange, . "It kind of turns up the experience to 11 instead of 10," he told reporters late on Tuesday at the red carpet world premiere held at London's Royal Albert Hall.

Titanic, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, earned more than $1.8 billion at the global box office.

Before inflation is taken into account, it is second only to Cameron's 3D sci-fi adventure "Avatar", which grossed $2.8 billion, in the all-time ticket sale rankings.

Cameron, who has just returned from a solo dive to the deepest point in the ocean, defended his decision to re-release Titanic in 3D format.

"Look, there's always going to be people that can piss in the soup of anything good," he told reporters, when asked if he was capitalizing on the Titanic tragedy and its upcoming anniversary.

"But frankly I think that remembering Titanic, remembering the history -- that's what the film was there forened on March 9 and took . That's why I made it, you know.

"I was fascinated by the story, I was fascinated by the history, the people that were heroic, the people that lost their livesuld report an overall operati. I was genuinely touched by the tragedy when I was there at the wreck.

"I think the film is a good focusing agent for that at this time when we should be remembering the wreck and its message, the disaster and its message for all of us."

For British actress Winslet, who shot to fame after appearing in the original, the 3D experience was a strange one.

"It's weird," she told Reutersbefore the movie opened, Wall Street analysts ha. "I mean, it is like being forced to go through a photo album of your former self for three and a half hours solidlyast in a statement t. It's quite strange you know."

Asked how she felt about watching herself on screen in 3D during the film's more intimate moments, she replied:

"Oh terrible! Wouldn't you? I am not going to lookxpects mega-budget science-fiction mo. I'll be in the bar by that point I expect -- or on the floor!"

DiCaprio did not attend the premiere as he was shooting new movie "Django Unchained", directed by Quentin Tarantino, in the United States.

(Writing by Mike Collett-White)

"Lorax" statue stolen from California home of Dr. Seuss

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A 300-pound (136-kg) bronze statue of the Lorax, a character from the Dredish reporters why he. Seuss book and hit movie of the same name, has been stolen from the late author's San Diego estate, police said on Tuesday.

The 3-foot-high (1-meter) statue of the Lorax standing on a tree stump with his arms outstretched was reported missing from the hillside property on Monday morning, San Diego Police Lieutenant Andra Brown said.

Theodor Geisel, who wrote The Lorax and other best-selling children's books under the pen-name Dr Oskar appears to h. Seuss, died in 1991 at the age of 87.

His widow, Audrey, still lives on the estate in the San Diego community of La Jolla.

Brown said police were trying to determine if the theft was related to an animated film based on the book, voiced by Zac Efron and Taylor Swift, that is currently playing in theaters.

"We don't know if it's just a prank because of the recent release of the movie or if someone thinks it's going to be worth a buck or two because it's a lot of (metal)," Brown said.

"We're just hoping that the suspects return it," she said father dies, Horn t. "The Geisel family is just asking that it be returned and they don't want to pursue the matter any furthernd years in France, I decided I should reall. Which is not to say the police won't."

Brown said evidence at the scene suggests that the thieves rolled the statue down the hill to an adjacent property, where it was likely loaded onto a waiting vehicle.

She said the statue was one of two made by Geisel's stepdaughtercuts' id='lw_1328904620_3'New York/span b. The other was given to a museum.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Eric Beech)

'Hunger Games' star Josh Hutcherson nabs CinemaCon award

LOS ANGELES, March 27 (TheWrap.com) - "The Hunger Games" star Josh Hutcherson has nabbed CinemaCon's breakthrough performer of the year award.

Hutcherson, who plays Peeta Mellark in the hit Lionsgate film, will pick up his hardware at the annual trade show in Las Vegas on April 26.

"With an already impressive resume of films under his belt, Hutcherson is one of the most accomplished young actors of his time," CinemaCon's Managing Director Mitch Neuhauser said in a statementrack of feeling they have to be successful, They h. "With the release of 'The Hunger Games,' Hutcherson is poised to take the movie world by storm."

In addition to "The Hunger Games," Hutcherson has starred in the Oscar-nominated "The Kids Are All Right" and last February's "Journey 2: Mysterious Island."

He will be seen later this year in the action film "Red Dawn" and the horror comedy "Detention."

Hutcherson follows in the footsteps of Blake Lively, who received the award at last year's show.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

"The Deep Blue Sea": passion, torment in a cold water flat

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - World War II and the years immediately afterward were apparently the golden age of British infidelity, or at least for movies and books about themd and talked about,' . In classics like "Brief Encounter" and "The End of the Affair," repressed Brits met furtively to grasp fleeting moments of passion, usually in grim little rented rooms that probably smelled like cabbage.

Add "The Deep Blue Sea" to that list, as it sweeps us up into the amour fou of Hester Collyer (Rachel Weisz), who walks away from her comfortable but stifling marriage to Sir William (Simon Russell Beale), a judge many years her elder, and into the arms of the dashing but vapid Freddie (Tom Hiddleston), a former RAF pilot still clinging to his glory days of flying missions against the Nazis.

As this film and so many others have reminded us, post-war Britain was a grim place, with rationed food and a gray pall hanging over everything from outfits to dinner optionsonvinced the cosmic universe has . So it's easy to see why Hester would look for a little spice in her life, even with a man who can't begin to return her overwhelming affectionsent while your 'sons' have thei. When she attempts suicide after Freddie forgets her birthday - in the film's opening scene; it's not a spoiler to mention it - it's clear that Hester's life is in for another major shake-up.

Peeking into the trembling hearts hidden by British stiff upper lips is the specialty of playwright Terence Rattigan ("The Browning Version," "Separate Tables"), and his aesthetic meshes perfectly with that of director Terence Davies, who can paint melancholy and misery in as many shades as the Eskimos allegedly have words that mean "snow."

Whether he's showing Weisz conveying grief through some very meaningful cigarette smoking or finding the wistful undercurrents being masked by loud, boisterous pub singing, Davies is absolutely in his element here, creating a work that's of a piece with his "Distant Voices, Still Lives" and "The Long Day Closes" while being true to Rattigan's original vision as well.

Weisz brings more to the table than knowing her way around a Lucky Strike, mind you; whether she's enduring Freddie's callousness or holding her ground in a subtext-laden conversation with William's passive-aggressive mother (Barbara Jefford), Hester emerges as a real person, powerful and vulnerable, capable of loving others and able to destroy those who adore her.

Hiddleston has been somewhat ubiquitous of late - his 2011 screen appearances run the gamut from "Thor" to "War Horse" to "Midnight in Paris" - but he makes Freddie enough of a charmer and a rotter that you won't find yourself thinking about Loki or Fed brother, Pat (span class='yshor. Scott Fitzgerald when he's on screen.

"The Deep Blue Sea" is often languorous and occasionally tragic, but it builds to a resolution that's powerful without being melodramatic? A: . And for people keeping score, it delivers some of the year's best acting to date.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

'Hunger Games' gorges on $214 million global debut

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Post-apocalyptic action movie "The Hunger Games" opened with a staggering $155 million at U.Salifornia October 23, 2010, REUTERS/Fred Prouser. and Canadian box offices, beating Hollywood's lofty expectations and making history as the third-highest domestic film opening.

Internationally, the Lions Gate Entertainment drama about an oppressive society's teen death match added $59.3 million from 67 markets for a global haul of $214.3 million.

The massive U.Sn designing jewelry for. and Canadian debut for the film ranked behind only last summer's "Harry Potter" finale and 2008 Batman movie "The Dark Knight," Lions Gate said.

The movie's success brings the first blockbuster franchise to Lions Gate, a smaller Hollywood studio best known previously for the "Saw" horror series and comedian Tyler Perry's films.

"Hunger Games" set records for highest opening of a non-sequel film and biggest debut outside the summer blockbuster season.

"The first movie in a franchise, to post a number like this, is really insanels, California October 23, 2010, . There is no other word for it," said Phil Contrino, editor of Boxoffice.com.

"'Harry Potter' had seven movies before it got to that point, and 'Dark Knight' had years and years of building the Batman brandrtinez told the newspa. This movie comes and hangs with them in the same league," Contrino said.

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2" opened with $169.2 million domestically over its opening weekend, while "Dark Knight" took in $158.4 million, according to Hollywood.com.

"Hunger Games" is an action-filled survival drama based on the first of three best-selling young adult novels by Suzanne Collinsis would be the third marriage for Berry, 4. Jennifer Lawrence stars as Katniss Everdeen, a teen girl who fights in a televised battle-to-the-death ordered by her society's rulers6, the wedding would be his first, H. Everdeen becomes a beacon of hope for freedom against the totalitarian government.

Lions Gate executives got a sense of the huge appetite for "Hunger Games" when they ventured with director Gary Ross and producer Nina Jacobson to the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood late Thursday ahead of the first screenings just after midnight.

Fans packed the lobby for showings on multiple screens, with many of the book's devotees dressed as characters993 to 1997 and to singer Eric . Similar scenes occurred across the country#39;s native Paris, he said, The Mazlo jewel. By Saturday evening, executives went to bed thinking the film would finish the weekend with about $140 million domestically,com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-03-12T04504. But sales held up stronger than expected from Friday night to Saturday night, dropping just 25 percent instead of the typical 40 percent or more.

"To launch a franchise like this is incredibleom the actor's native Paris, he. It's above and beyond our expectations," David Spitz, executive vice president of domestic distribution for Lions Gate, said on Sunday Martinez arrive at the . "We're just going to enjoy the ride."

Going into the weekend, industry forecasters projected about $125 million in domestic receipts from Friday through Sunday4ed73daac4b2dc lzbg'LOS A. Box-office watchers compared the movie's drawing power to the "Twilight" vampire romance films, another franchise based on popular young adult books.

The "Hunger Games" blew past the domestic debuts for each of the first four "Twilight" films, which Lions Gate now owns after buying Summit Entertainment in January.

"Hunger Games" rung up an average of $37,467 at 4,137 domestic locations from Friday through Sunday.

Audiences applauded the film adaptation of the book, giving the movie an "A" grade on average in polling by survey firm CinemaScore.

"Hunger Games" appealed to more adults and more males than "Twilight," which banked a large chunk of its receipts from teenage girls, Contrino saidmages/transparent-95031,pn. Fifty-six percent of the "Hunger Games" audience was over age 25, and 39 percent was male.

The movie cost about $80 million to produce after tax creditsion of jeweler Rober. The studio pre-sold distribution rights in foreign markets other than Britain to cut its cost to about $30 million; Martinez told the . That reduced the risk but also limited the money Lions Gate will get from overseas sales.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING DRIVE

To reach the film's core audience of younger viewers, the movie's $45 million marketing budget made aggressive use of the Internet, including a game on Facebook, YouTube videos and a blog on the site Tumblr dedicated to the film's fashion.

Anticipation built among fans and on Wall Street, where Lions Gate shares jumped nearly 33 percent in the six weeks leading up to the film's Friday openingTP_2_PEOPLE-US-HALLEBERRY,JPG');' width='190'. Shares rose from $10.95 on February 8 to $14.53 on March 23.

Toy companies also are trying to score big off the movieier Martinez arrive at the Carousel o. Teen retailer Hot Topic Inc said last week it had sold out some "Hunger Games" merchandiseorvino and singer Kylie Minogu. Hasbro Inc and Mattel Inc also have licenses to market toys based on "Hunger Games."

To win the rights to make the film, Lions Gate beat out bigger and better funded rivals with personal appeals to Collins beginning in 2009.

At the same time, Lions Gate was simultaneously fending off investor Carl Icahn, who took a 33 percent stake in Lions Gate and launched an unsuccessful proxy fight to elect five board members to the studio's board of directors.

Icahn bailed out on Lions Gate in August 2011, selling his 44 million shares for $7 apiece and losing out on a $331 million profit based on Lions Gate's closing stock price on Friday.

Elsewhere this weekend, "Hunger Games" had little competition at the domestic box office3A7aD0xMzY7cT04NTt3PTE5. No other new movies were released nationwide.

Comedy "21 Jump Street" took second place for the weekend with $21.3 million, and animated "Drtinez arrive at the Carousel of Hope Ball i. Seuss' The Lorax" finished third with $13.1 million.

Rounding out the top five, Disney sci-fi adventure "John Carter" pulled in $5.0 million, and military drama "Act of Valor" grossed $2.1 million.

(Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Walsh)

Megabomb "John Carter" may be Hollywood's biggest loser

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ultra competitive movie studios rarely want to sit atop this box office lists been announced, Di. When the Walt Disney Co said on Monday that it expected its sci-fi movie "John Carter" to lose about $200 million, it very likely shot the intergalactic box office bomb to the top of Hollywood's biggest loser chart.

If so - and box office math is always a little tricky in Tinseltown - the megaflop would achieve iconic status by surpassing the 1995 Geena Davis-Matthew Modine pirate flick "Cutthroat Island" that the Guinness Book of World Records lists as the biggest bomb of all-timen's span class='yshortcut. That movie lost $147 million, according to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which also puts the MGM film at the top of its list.

Infamous misfires like director Ron Howard's "The Alamo," Eddie Murphy's "The Adventures of Pluto Nash", the Matthew McConaughey-Penelope Cruz action film "Sahara" and director Robert Zemeckis' 2011 animated film "Mars Needs Moms" all passed the dubious $140 million loss threshold, according to Wikipedia.

Of course, any movie box office list is subject to serious interpretation8814788_4'Britain/span's span class='yshor. The Wikipedia list, for instance, has converted the film's ticket sales to inflation-adjusted 2012 dollars, but includes only worldwide box office and not DVD or TV sales.

"Then there's the issue of Hollywood accounting," said Keith Simanton, managing editor of movie data site IMDbss='yshortcuts' id='lw_1328814788_1'Naomi Wat. "You never really know what a budget is for any of these films because Hollywood isn't very open with its numbersess for the first time allowed her to achi. Directionally, though, these are definitely near the top of any list of worst films."

Sometimes it's not revenues that sink a film glamorous life that ended in tragedy,. Director Andrew Stanton's movie has a reasonably strong $184 million worldwide box office, so far.

The key problem for "John Carter" was that it cost more than $350 million to produce and market, according to industry sources, who say even that number is likely understated.

There can be no doubt "John Carter" will go down in history as a box office bomb, and with its entrance into Hollywood's Hall of Shame, it is interesting to note that six of the top 15 movie misfires have been made since 2005, when Hollywood has been in high gear with pricey, special effects budgets.

In 2011 alone, there were two big loserspiness for the first time al. Disney released "Mars Needs Moms," for which it took a write-down of at least $70 million, on a film that had a worldwide box office of only $38.9 millionrtcuts' id='lw_13288147. Warner Brothers released its take on DC Comics' "Green Lantern," starring Ryan Reynolds as the keeper of the green ringstyle='background-image:ur. That film lost $108.6 million, according to the Wikipedia list.

"The studios are just spending too much money and there's just not the box office there to support it," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com.

"John Carter's' bloated budget would have required it to generate worldwide tickets sales of more than $600 million to break even, Dergarabedian said, a height reached by only 63 films in the history of moviemaking.

(This version of the story deletes a reference to Pixar in paragraph 6)

(Reporting By Ronald Grover; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Disney projects $200 million "John Carter" loss

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co shares fell 1 percent in after hour trading on Monday after the company said it expects mega-budget science-fiction movie 'John Carter' will lose about $200 million in the current quarter.

The company issued the forecast in a statement that projected the studio division would report an overall operating loss of $80 million to $120 million in the fiscal second quarter that ends March 31.

Disney shares dropped about 1 percent to $43 in after-hours trading from an earlier close of $43.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.

So far, the film about a former military captain who is transported to Mars, has generated $184 million in ticket sales worldwideve to do it,' (Reporting by Jo. That is far shy from the audience needed to earn back the movie's estimated $250 million production budget, plus tens of millions more that Disney spent on advertising.

Even before the movie opened, Wall Street analysts had projected 'John Carter' would lose tens of millions of dollars as industry tracking showed little interest in the film.

'John Carter' opened on March 9 and took in about $30 million over its first three days at U.Stous use of digital . and Canadian theaters, finishing the weekend in second place behind family film 'The Lorax.'

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; editing by Andre Grenon)

Kathy Bates to guest star on 'Men' as Charlie Harper

LOS ANGELES, March 19 (TheWrap.com) - Looks like 'Two and a Half Men' creator Chuck Lorre is getting in one more jab at his former cast member-turned-nemesis Charlie Sheen.

Sheen's character, Charlie Harper -- who was killed off on the season premiere of the CBS hit last fall -- is coming back to the show, albeit in ghost form_0'Fraser MacLean/span thin. And that ghost will be played by 'Harry's Law' star Kathy Bates.

Who is female animated characters in 1988's Who Fram. And nearly 20 years older than Sheen.

Bates will guest-star on the series' April 30 episode, playing Harper's ghost, CBS said Mondayabout the importance of the lay. In the episode, Jon Cryer's character Alan Harper suffers a minor heart attack, and is visited by Harper's ghost in the hospital.

After Sheen was bounced from the show after a spree of bizarre behavior and a string of insults hurled at Lorre, his jingle-writing character Charlie Harper suffered an off-screen demise which saw him falling in front of a train in France, with the strong implication being that he was pushed by his new bride Rose, after he was caught by her with another woman.

Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher, who plays heartbroken internet billionaire Walden Schmidt.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Disney projects $200 million 'John Carter' loss

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co shares fell 1 percent in after hour trading on Monday after the company said it expects mega-budget science-fiction movie 'John Carter' will lose about $200 million in the current quarter.

The company issued the forecast in a statement that projected the studio division would report an overall operating loss of $80 million to $120 million in the fiscal second quarter that ends March 31.

Disney shares dropped about 1 percent to $43 in after-hours trading from an earlier close of $43.44 on the New York Stock Exchange.

So far, the film about a former military captain who is transported to Mars, has generated $184 million in ticket sales worldwide that 'The Artist'. That is far shy from the audience needed to earn back the movie's estimated $250 million production budget, plus tens of millions more that Disney spent on advertising.

Even before the movie opened, Wall Street analysts had projected 'John Carter' would lose tens of millions of dollars as industry tracking showed little interest in the film.

'John Carter' opened on March 9 and took in about $30 million over its first three days at U.S' and the 2005 spoof surfer movie. and Canadian theaters, finishing the weekend in second place behind family film 'The Lorax.'

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; editing by Andre Grenon)

Sean Penn's Haiti work earns humanitarian prize

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Actor Sean Penn is being honored by a group of Nobel laureates for his relief work in Haiti following the country's devastating January 2010 earthquake.

Penn is to receive the 2012 Peace Summit Award at the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates The best entr. The event will be held in Chicago next month and is expected to draw such luminaries as Poland's Lech Walesa and the Dalai Lama.

Penn arrived shortly after Haiti's quake and established an aid organization now known as J/P Haitian Relief Organizationid='lw_1330564684_2'Japan/span in a Day,' . The group has provided schools, medical care and housing to thousands of people displaced by the quake.

The actor issued a statement Monday calling the award an 'extraordinary honor.'

How "Hunger Games" can make Lionsgate a major player

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - With the release of 'The Hunger Games' next week, Lionsgate is about to become a big Hollywood player.

It will still field a hodgepodge of mid-budget Tyler Perry and horror films, but its hotly anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins' bestselling novel will give the studio the kind of blue-chip franchise that can lift a minor company into the stratosphere, provided execs play their cards right.

'This is a game-changer for Lionsgate -- there's going to be huge box-office revenue, huge ancillary revenue and huge merchandising opportunities,' Marla Backer, an analyst at Hudson Square Research, told TheWrap.

Even without 'Hunger Games,' Lionsgate is riding high incident, Los Angeles police said it f. In January, the company acquired Summit, the studio behind 'Twilight,' for $412.5 millionvice, In . And it got activist investor Carl Icahn to abandon his hostile takeover attempts last year.

The Vancouver-based company, long eager to break through to the top Hollywood ranks, appears poised to finally do so after a bruising yearat actress span class. Lionsgate suffered through a string of flops in 2011, and was still shaking off the after-effects from its brutal proxy fight.

'Hunger Games' and Summit's final 'Twilight' installment have brightened the outlook considerably.

'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2' is scheduled to hit theaters next fall, the final episode in a series that has so far brought in over $2.5 billion worldwide.

The studio expects to generate $1 billion at the North American box office this year, more than double its previous high, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation.

But it's 'Hunger Games' that will put the studio on the map.

'Lionsgate could continue on the path that it was on of making smaller budget films with a nice return on investment, but instead this puts the studio on a completely different level,' Backer said.

Tracking for the film has been sizzling, with theaters from Ammon, Idaho, to New York City already reporting sell-out crowds for most midnight shows.

Rival studio executives anticipate that the film will draw north of $100 million from more than 4,000 locations over its opening weekend.

'Since the first day that tickets went on sale there's been no let-up,' Harry Medved, spokesman for movie-ticketing company Fandango, told TheWrap.

'Hunger Games' was produced for $80 million when tax credits are taken into account and marketed for roughly $45 million domestically, according to an individual with knowledge of the situationived a positive progr. That is about half of what most major studios typically spend to generate awareness for their tentpole offerings.

Despite the relatively tight budget, rival studio executives praised Lionsgate's marketing of the film, noting that while early tracking shows massive awareness among women, it also suggests substantial male interest and the potential for a four quadrant hit.

'This thing is tracking like a Marvel superhero movie with men,' one rival executive saidently received a positive progress report on her. 'It may top 'Twilight,' because those movies never had any men show up.'

Unlike 'Twilight,' Lionsgate also has its principle cast locked up for all of 'The Hunger Games' films, avoiding the kind of pricey re-negotiations that tacked tens of millions of dollars on to the budgets of the vampire romance series' later films.

Last year, without a breakout hit to call its own, the studio dwindled to fourth in domestic market share among the smaller independent players, behind Relativity, the Weinstein Cofrom her mistakes, She recently received a po. and Summit.

Lionsgate racked up a disappointing $175.7 million at the domestic box office last year -- a figure that 'Hunger Games' could conceivably pass on its own.

But Lionsgate's stock has not been badly bruised by that rough patch, or the fact that it is laying off staff as a byproduct of its merger with Summit731_1'drunk driving/. What has allowed the company's share price to nearly double in the past six months to over $13 was anticipation for 'Hunger Games,' analysts say.

'In the event that the movie didn't work, then the stock would be down very materially,' Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities, told TheWrap In the latest incident, Los Ang. 'At this point everyone has concluded they're going to do a huge opening weekend, so buying the stock is warranted.'

Thanks to its deal with Summit, Lionsgate has the potential to brand itself as the biggest player for young adult moviegoersr Porsche brushed his leg . It also can make good on a strategy advocated by CEO Jon Feltheimer of making more franchise pictures.

Though the studio plans to only bump up its annual slate of releases from roughly 10 to a little more than 15 films a year, more of the films that it produces will be sequelsi, (Reporting B. The company plans four installments of 'Hunger Games' over six yearsg she has learned from her . It also has franchise hopes for 'The Expendables, 'The Lincoln Lawyer,' and the Summit action comedy 'Red.'

''Hunger Games' is a once in a lifetime opportunity,' Ben Mogil, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus, told TheWrape being hurt, Lohan, 25, was rep. 'Given how successful the franchise seems likely to be, the question is what will they do with the cashReporting By Christine Kearney, editin. Will they buy some other transformative company or will they pay down their debt aggressively?'

In the short-term, Lionsgate will probably use profits to pay off corporate debt, including some $446 million in high-yield notes, but if the headiest projections come to pass and the studio finds itself with a lot more cash on its balance sheets, it could become a buyer, as well.

Welcome to the big leagues.

(Editing by Chris Michaud)

Man reports brush with Lindsay Lohan outside nightclub

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A man reported to police that actress Lindsay Lohan brushed his leg while driving away from a Hollywood nightclub early on Wednesday, police said.

The 'Mean Girls' actress, who is on probation after being convicted for drunk driving and theft, has made the rounds recently to various US media outlets and TV shows saying she has learned from her mistakeseft with a fairly dull story ab. She recently received a positive progress report on her court-ordered community service.

In the latest incident, Los Angeles police said it found no evidence of anyone being hurt9;re left with a fairly dull story ab. Lohan, 25, was reported to police by a man who said her Porsche brushed his leg as she drove away from a nightclub trying to avoid paparazzi.

(Reporting By Christine Kearney, editing by Patricia Reaney)

"That's What She Said" acquired by Phase 4 Films

LOS ANGELES, March 13 (TheWrap.com) - That's What She Said,' a raunchy comedy directed and produced by 'True Blood' actress Carrie Preston, has been acquired by Phase 4 Films, the company said Tuesday.

Kellie Overbey wrote the script about best friends DeeDee, played by Anne Heche, and Bebe, played by MarciaDeBonis, who have a misadventure in New York City.

The film premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

''That's What She Said' is part of the current wave of female driven raunchy comedies, with a trio of relatable anti-heroines behaving badly,' Berry Meyerowitz, president and CEO of Phase 4, said in a statement.

Phase 4 plans to release the film in theaters and on VOD later this year.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

"The Hunger Games" premieres Monday night in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, March 12 (TheWrap.com) - The world premiere of 'The Hunger Games,' Lionsgate's eagerly anticipated adaptation of Suzanne Collins' bestselling novel, will be held in downtown Los Angeles Monday night.

The movie will open to the general public in more than 3,000 theaters on March 23, and it looks to be huge.

'The Hunger Games' is on track to gross at least $95 million in its opening weekend, and a $100 million weekend is entirely possible.

That would be the biggest opening since the weekend of November 18, 2011, when 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1' opened to $138.1 million.

The latest tracking on 'The Hunger Games' shows that 83 percent of those surveyed by the firm NRG are aware of the movie like his father, while ch. Among women younger than 25, the number is 88 percent That was how he connected with us, . Among men in that demographic, the percentage is 85 percent.

Young women report overwhelming interest in seeing the movieked with LSD -- and t. NRG says that 74 percent of young women say they have 'definite' interest in seeing it, and 45 percent say it is their 'first choice.'

The numbers are slightly lower -- but still impressive -- for young men, 60 percent of whom say they have 'definite' interest in seeing 'The Hunger Games.'

Only 19 movies have ever opened to more than $100 million, and only 21 have opened to more than $95 million.

The PG-13 movie stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz and Donald Sutherland.

Monday night's premiere will be held at Nokia Theatre LA Live.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

French actor confirms engagement to Halle Berry: report

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - French actor Olivier Martinez has confirmed that he and Oscar winner Halle Berry are engaged to be married, the Miami Herald reported.

"Yes, of course it's true," Martinez told the newspaper in an article posted online on Saturday, referring to engagement rumors that have been swirling around the couple.

Martinez, who was in Miami for the opening of his South Beach restaurant, Villa Azur, also took the opportunity to set the record straight on the designer of the engagement ring Berry has been wearing since January.

Contrary to reports that the emerald ring is Gurhan-designed, it's the creation of jeweler Robert Mazlo from the actor's native Paris, he saidaward -- the most span class='yshortcuts' id='l. The Mazlo jewelers have been designing jewelry for "kings and queens for many centuries," Martinez told the paper.

Berry and Martinez have been dating since 2010, when they worked together on the film "Dark Tide," due for release this year.

This would be the third marriage for Berry, 45, who won a best actress Oscar for her role in 2001 film "Monster's Ball." She was married to former baseball player David Justice from 1993 to 1997 and to singer Eric Benet from 2001 to 2005_1'Razzie nominations/span for the worst films and. She had a daughter Nahla, who turns 4 this month, with French-Canadian model Gabriel Aubry.

For Martinez, 46, the wedding would be his firstNicolas Cage/span was nominated. He has been involved with a number of high-profile women, among them actresses Mira Sorvino and singer Kylie Minogue.

(Reporting by Sheri Linden: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

'Lorax' beats Disney Mars epic at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Drwing low box-office projectio. Seuss movie 'The Lorax' stayed firmly planted at Noal markets, Usually, st. 1 on box office charts over the weekend, easily trumping the debut of Walt Disney Co's expensive sci-fi flick 'John Carter.'

The animated 'Lorax' notched its second win in a row with $39.1 million in U.Srailers haven't exac. and Canadian ticket sales from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.

'John Carter' opened in second place with $30.6 million, a low number for a hoped-for blockbusterya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig . While the 3D space adventure grossed more than double that amount overseas, Disney is left with a big hole to fill just to break even in the $30 million range, . The film cost an estimated $250 million to produce, plus tens of millions more to market.

'John Carter' added $70.6 million from international markets, for a global total of $101.2 millionto win its second weekend easily, B. Movies typically take in their biggest haul over the first weekend and see sales slip by at least 40 percent the following weekard time, 'It's been at so many conventions,. Studios split box-office receipts with theaters.

Heading into the weekend, Wall Street analysts predicted Disney would lose tens of millions of dollars on the filmriends With Kids,' The R-rated comedy is direct. Evercore Partners analyst Alan Gould on Friday estimated a $165 million loss.

Audiences gave the movie a 'B+' in polling by survey firm CinemaScore, and domestic sales gained 25 percent from Friday to Saturday, said Dave Hollis, Disney's executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution.

While 'we appreciate the larger economics of the film, we are encouraged by how the film has been received' by audiences, Hollis said.

'John Carter' is based on a century-old book by Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzankend's new movies -. The movie stars Taylor Kitsch from TV's 'Friday Night Lights' as an ex-military captain who is transported to Mars and tries to end the planet's civil war.

'John Carter' is the first live-action movie from Andrew Stanton, director of Oscar-winning animated mega-hits 'Wall-E' and 'Finding Nemo' from Disney's Pixar unit.

Critics were split on the filmclass='yshortcuts' id='lw_133130881. Fifty percent gave the movie a positive rating on review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.

'The Lorax,' an environmental tale about a fuzzy orange creature that guards trees, held strong in its second weekendmuch like, 'Been there, done that,. The movie dropped 44 percent from a week earlierlw_1331308813_7'Movie Review Intell. Total worldwide sales for the big-screen adaptation of Seuss' 1971 children's book now stand at $123.7 million.

Overall North American (U.Scould generate some moment. and Canadian) ticket sales outpaced 2011 for the 10th straight weekend, beating the same frame last year by 8.7 percentat every word he utters shorten. Year-to-date ticket sales are running 18.3 percent ahead of 2011, according to the box office division of Hollywood.com.

Comedy 'Project X,' about three high-school kids who plan a party that spins out of control, pulled together $11.6 million domesticallyews it can find, Audience respo. That landed the movie in third place during its second weekend in theaters.

NEW FILMS MAKE LITTLE NOISE

Horror flick 'Silent House' had a quiet debut, pulling in $7 million and taking fourth placeaspires' to an opening in the. The movie stars Elizabeth Olsen as a young woman trapped in a lakeside house and unable to contact the outside worldles over 25,' he continued, 'For . A spokeswoman for distributor Open Road Films said the movie would be profitable for the company.

In fifth place, military drama 'Act of Valor' brought in $7.0 millionovie like this, you've got to drag your wif. The film has grossed $56.1 million after three weekends in theaters.

New comedy 'A Thousand Words' starring Eddie Murphy found little to talk about, opening with $6.4 million domestically and finishing in sixth placeillion animated feature in its second week of re. Distributor Paramount had forecast an opening around $5 million or $6 million for the movie, which was produced by Dreamworks with a budget of about $40 million.

The movie bombed with critics, earning 37 unanimously negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes Words,' which also stars Kerry Washington, Cl. Audiences gave the movie a 'B-' in CinemaScore polling.

Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures released 'Drreasonably strong: 75 percent of movie. Seuss' The Lorax.' Time Warner Inc released 'Project X.' 'A Thousand Words' was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inced too hard to get this on the r. 'Silent House' was released by Open Road Films, a joint venture between theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Incival favorite, at 18 locations, . Privately held Relativity Media distributed 'Act of Valor' in the United States, and Alliance Films released the movie in Canada.

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bill Trott)

Actor Michael Madsen arrested after alleged fight with son

(Reuters) - Actor Michael Madsen, known for roles in films such as 'Thelma & Louise,' was arrested for child cruelty after getting into a fight with his teenage son, authorities said on Saturday.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Madsen, 54, was arrested at his Malibu, California, home on Friday afternoon by deputies investigating a report of a family disturbance.

Madsen 'appeared under the influence of alcohol,' the sheriff's department said in a statementd in a statement, . He was arrested without incident.

The Chicago-born actor, best known for his roles in films such as 'Reservoir Dogs,' 'Thelma & Louise' and 'Kill Bill,' was booked and jailed on charges of cruelty to a child.

His bail was set at $100,000.

(Reporting by James Blight', the movie is thought. Kelleher; Editing by Greg McCune and Peter Cooney)

Disney space movie tests big-budget film strategy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - 'John Carter,' the 3D space adventure film that opens today, was supposed to be the Walt Disney Co's latest franchise movie, a blockbuster on par with 'Cars' and 'Pirates of the Caribbean' that generates profits beyond the film to television, books, and consumer products.

Instead, industry tracking suggests it will be the latest big-budget box office bust.

While Hollywood's hit-and-miss nature has always made it an inherently risky investment, the possible failure of 'John Carter' underscores the increased risk studios have taken in recent years by reducing the number of movies they produce to focus on big-budget films.

Betting on big-budget movies -- called 'tent poles' because they are meant to hold up the rest of the studio's slate -- is a high-risk, high-reward business' id='lw_1328736132_1'Bra. Winners pay hefty dividends for years with film sequels, toys, video games and even theme-park ridesher, Pitt is nominated twice, for h. A flop can cost tens of millions of dollars.

Evercore Partners analyst Alan Gould estimates 'John Carter' could lose $165 million.

Disney knows the cost of failure all too welling' in 2008, and had so. The company last year took a write-down of more than $70 million after its animated movie 'Mars Needs Moms' tanked won the Best Supporting Actress award for 'Gir. The poor performance of that film had repercussions beyond the studio division, dragging down the media giant's overall quarterly earnings to below analyst forecasts, sending its shares tumbling 3 percent.

'Green Lantern,' the silver screen version of the superhero comic book character, was supposed to be a franchise film for Warner Bros last yearr 'Girl, Interrupted' and kissed her br. Instead, Time Warner Inc Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, said it 'fell fairly far short' of expectations, pulling in just $222 million around the world on an estimated production budget of $200 million, according to website BoxOfficeMojo.com.

That figure excludes the tens of millions that studios usually spend to market and advertise a movie with a production budget of that size.

Sci-fi Western 'Cowboys & Aliens' also stumbledZmk9ZmlsbDtoPTU3O3E9ODU7dz05Mw--/http://d. The movie, from Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio and Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures, pulled in $175 million in ticket sales around the world on a production budget of $163 million, excluding marketing costs.

'I think you are seeing more misfires because, from a business strategy, the studios are green lighting more tent pole product. With more at bats, there is inherently more strike out potential,' said Amir Malin, former head of Artisan Entertainment and current managing partner at Qualia Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that has invested in film and TV libraries.

'It does not mean it's the wrong business strategy,' he added and kissed her brother, . 'Imagine if Disney had not produced 'Pirates.''

Indeed, studios have focused on franchise films in recent years because of the big rewards that can be reaped when one connects.

The fourth 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie, for example, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide last year, prompting Disney to begin work on a fifth Wednesday, Joli. 'Cars 2' brought in $554 million for the company last year and will sell more merchandise than the $2.8 billion from 'Toy Story,' Disney told analysts last yeart/yp/whoknew/19509/130194324,jpg');' width. Combined, the two franchises have grossed a total of $4.7 billion.

Big-budget movies 'are succeeding more than they are failing,' said Vincent Bruzzese, president of the motion picture group at researcher Ipsos MediaCTl, Interrupted' and kissed her. Two-thirds of last year's top 15 films were franchise movies, he said.

The promise of big rewards from franchise films has incited studio executives to climb over each other in search of the next 'Titanic,' said Bill Mechanic, who ran News Corp's 20th Century Fox when it co-financed the 1997 mega-hitn 2008, and had something of an eye-opening publ. 'Titanic' became the highest-grossing film ever at the time, with more than $1.8 billion in global sales Maya Rudolph and Kri. It was surpassed by another Fox film, 'Avatar,' which grossed $2.8 billion after its December 2009 release.

Mechanic, who now produces mid-budget movies through his Pandemonium Films, said one problem with the franchise film strategy is that there are now so many tentpole films that they compete against one anotherya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig, . A week after 'Cowboys & Aliens' opened, Fox released 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes.'

When that happens, 'one of the bigs isn't nearly as big,' said Mechanic.

Further, studios are churning out more franchise films at a time when movie attendance is in decline and sales of DVDs are crumbling, taking away a money-minting safety net for many films.

Even the big hits can no longer count on DVD sales to consumers and services like Netflix and Redbox, said Roger Smith, a former film industry executive and now a consultant with Roger Smith & Co in New York.

The 2006 film 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' generated home entertainment sales equal to 90 percent of its $282 million U.Srd for 'Girl, Interrupted'. and Canadian box office, Smith said2_4'Halle Berry/span to the lineup of Oscar pres. Last year's 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows -- Part 2,' the series finale, will equal less than 50 percent of the $381 million the movie grossed at domestic theaters.

At a recent investor conference, Disney Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said the 'melting ice cube of the DVD' had prompted a new look at the movie business:left;padding:0 5px 5px 0;'img src='http://l,yi. The company concluded that the 'highest, most likely return' would come from franchise films last nominated for 'Changeling' in 2008, . As a result, Disney cut the number of movies it produces each year to 10 or 12 from as many as 25, he said.

Even before 'John Carter' hit the screen, the movie's budget increased from $150 million to more than $200 million, according to a studio executive with knowledge of the projectv style='text-align:lef. From the outset, the film's special effects were a problemcademy Awards/span, when the won the B. Disney had the rights to do the film in the mid-1980s and had hired action director John McTiernan to direct. Disney held off because the technology wasn't yet ready to do the film it envisioned, said the executive, and eventually lost the rights to Viacom's Paramount Picturests' id='lw_1328736132_6'the Academy Aw. Disney came back into the picture in January 2007 when the studio bought the rights at the urging of Andrew Stanton, one of Pixar's most valuable executives and writer for animated hits 'Toy Story,' 'A Bug's Life' and 'Finding Nemo.' By 2009, Stanton had a three-part series ready to shoot, but Disney worried the price tag was rising too fast, said a studio executiven class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1328736132_7'. They asked for a new script, and in early 2009 Disney studio chief Dick Cook greenlit the film with directions to keep its budget under $200 millionce, for his lead role in 'Moneyball' and fo. The budget began grew after Cook left in September 2009ar-nominated husband span class='ys. Stanton started production in early 2010, three months after former Disney Channel executive Rich Ross took over the studio when the won the Be. Ross had canceled or delayed other Cook projects, including an expensive update of its 1954 Jules Vern tale '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.' Ross allowed John Carter to proceedpan announced on Wednesday, . The film was completed just as Disney's marketing chief MT Carney was leaving and was replaced a former Sony Pictures marketing executive Ricky Strauss.

With an estimated production budget of $250 million, 'John Carter' needs to generate at least $400 million in box office receipts to generate enough theater, home video and television revenue to cover the film's production and promotion costs, Davenport & Co analyst Michael Morris estimated.

So far, 'John Carter' has grossed $13 million since opening in some international markets on Wednesday and Thursdayyimg,com/bt/api/res/1,2/BR62A. Early Friday shows just after midnight brought in $500,000 in the United States and Canada.

Disney is hoping for a weekend domestic opening in the $30 million range, said Dave Hollis, executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution at Disney.

That would leave a crater-sized gap before the story of a former military captain who is transported to Mars could earn back its production and promotion costs, given the fact that movies typically score their biggest box-office hauls during opening weekend.

Despite the risks, major movie studios can usually weather a big lossroducing that Best Picture . When 'Green Lantern' stumbled, Warner Brosthe Best Supporting Actress award for 'Girl,. scored in the same quarter with 'The Hangover 2,' which earned $581.5 million around the world.

For conglomerates like Disney, 'film studios are a fairly small percentage of the total corporate earnings='lzbg'LOS ANGELES, Feb 8 (. They can make it up in cable or they can make it up in theme parks,' said Hal Vogel, a media analyst and head of Vogel Capital Management.

'Everybody is afraid to be the one who stops trying to take the plunge,' former Fox studio chief Mechanic said.

After all, no one wants to miss out on the next 'Star Wars.'

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine and Ronald Grover; Editing by Peter Lauria)

''Salmon Fishing'' film makes impossible seem possible

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - On its surface, new movie 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,' tells of a fishery expert tasked with creating a salmon-filled stream in the Middle East country's waterless desert, but underneath that description is a tale of making dreams come true.

The movie, which is based on Paul Torday's 2006 debut novel of the same name, opens in major U.S Another rival marketing executive to. cities on Friday with plans to expand around the United States in weeks to come.

Its star Ewan McGregor and director Lasse Hallstrom said they were drawn to the project, in part, by its tale of faith, hope and love, and after problems in production, it seems all three were necessary in bringing the tale to theaters.

'One of the observations of the script is that it is important to try to have faith and hope in making your most impossible ideas becoming possible,' Hallstrom told reporters recently.

McGregor portrays Fred Jones, a Londoner who is awakened from his gray, dismal life to help an Arab sheik pursue his dream of fly-fishing for salmon near his home in the desert.

Jones initially considers the idea an act of sheer folly, but as his adventure leads to love, he comes to understand that a task which at first seems wildly out of place can sometimes lead to a profound understanding of one's own life.

Swedish director Hallstrom said he knows how powerful faith can beeance/span' makes the movie look a whole lo. 'Moving to America, that was quite a leap,' recalled the director who gambled with his comfortable career back home when he moved to Hollywood on the heels of his 1985 breakout, 'My Life as a Dog,' to pursue a career making U.Svinced will resonate with younger vi. films.

Hallstrom went on to direct movies such as 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' and 'Chocolat,' and he earned an Oscar nomination for his 'The Cider House Rules.'

'You take leaps daily when you make a film,' he said cred, The duo crafted the film . 'You have to let the camera roll and just keep your belief that the magic moment might happen when you've almost given up on it.'

KEEPING THE FAITH

To hear Hallstrom and other members of the production tell it, they could have easily given up on trying to build their own stream in the desert for the movie.

The production encountered problems when unprecedented rains in Morocco's Atlas Mountains near where a set was built unleashed a flash flood that swept away the film's fishery.

Production raced to rebuild, but that construction also was hit by a midnight floodt an estimated $75 million to make, compared . After rebuilding a third time, seven days before the cast was due to arrive, a 12-foot wall of water swept the set away again.

But they were undeterred and rebuilt a fourth timent of the franchise, which ope. The entire experience left McGregor wondering about the 'impossible is possible' theme of the movie.

'I do believe that things are achievable,' said McGregor, the son of a school teacher and a physical education instructor who always assumed their son would settle down one day and pursue a real job outside of acting.

'I've never really listened to those voices,' said McGregor who is a bit of a dreamer himself.

In Spring 2004, he and friend Charley Boorman left London on motorcycles and traveled through Europe, Russia, Siberia and Canada, eventually winding up in New York Citya stuntman jumps off a cliff --'a very stee. McGregor said some people saw the journey as foolish, but it spawned a TV series, 'Long Way Around,' and a book by the same name.

Along the way, the two travelers chose to highlight UNICEF outposts such as one in Chernobyl that works with childhood leukemia and cancer sufferers who were victims of the nuclear disaster suffered by their parents.

Through that effort and other charitable work, McGregor said he has seen people achieve what others thought was impossible.

'We all choose work that we can put our heart and soul into that stands for something,' offered McGregor;s also been impressed with the ma. 'Even if it's just entertainment, maybe that's a worthwhile thing to do.'

Hallstrom added that 'if you have a passion for doing something, you have to go with your passion and fulfill it.

'You have to keep those impossible dreams alive and make them come true,' he declaredne and span class='yshortcuts' id='l. 'I think that's a wonderful message.'

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte)

"Friends With Kids" has laughs of an all-night crying jag

LOS ANGELES, March 8 (TheWrap.com) - For decades, the movies have encouraged us to dare to be different, to step out of our comfort zones, to strive for greatnessnguage and they're b. But now we have Jennifer Westfeldt as the patron saint of safety, conformity and the dominant paradigm.

Westfeldt, you may recall, wrote and starred in the wispy 'Kissing Jessica Stein,' a comedy about a young woman frustrated with the dating scene who flirts with becoming a lesbian before getting all 'hmm, no thanks' about itCEO John Fithian wrote, 'You re. Now she's putting the 'threat' in 'triple-threat' as the writer, director and star of 'Friends With Kids,' about a young woman who decides that she can have a baby outside of the context of marriage until she changes her mind and falls in love with the BFF who impregnated her.

And unless 'reticence' is high on your list of what makes filmmakers interesting, there's not much to like about Westfeldt's directorial debut, a shockingly unfunny comedy that wastes both a promising situation and an extraordinary ensemble cast that includes Adam Scott and a quartet of 'Bridesmaids' alumni: Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Jon Hamm (Westfeldt's real-life significant other) and Chris O'Dowd.

Young professionals Julie (Westfeldt) and Jason (Scott), platonic chums since college, have witnessed first-hand what parenthood has done to their coupled friends Ben and Missy (Hamm and Wiig) and Leslie and Alex (Rudolph and O'Dowd): sleep deprivation, frayed nerves, bed death and, horror of horrors, relocations to Brooklyn.

Deciding they can have an infant without it ruining their lives, Julie and Jason decide to matter-of-factly get pregnant, share the responsibilities, and eventually date other people once the little tyke is sleeping through the nighthe rating changed so that people younger th. But this is a Jennifer Westfeldt joint, and anyone attempting to be non-traditional is set up to be knocked over.

Cue the arrival of the romantic rivals: Jason falls for gorgeous dancer Mary Jane (Megan Fox), who we're supposed to hate because she doesn't want kids, while Julie becomes smitten with contractor Kurt (Edward Burns), a nice-guy single dad who's just too good to be truebut has seen its trailer, O. (Or, as played by Burns, too good to be interesting.)

You can pretty much map out every move that 'Friends With Kids' makes, which would be forgivable if the film generated enough laughs to distract you from the by-the-numbers plot the MPAA rate the d. But even worse than Westfeldt's acting -- she's so pretty but blandthat she'd make the ideal spokesperson for a makeup line called Tabula Rasa -- is her writinghear worse at school, ,,, Kid. There's a framework for a fun comedy here, but no one says anything witty and none of the characters (with the occasional exception of O'Dowd's laid-back Alex) emerge as anything resembling a real person with bigger problems than the kind of babies-are-a-handful stuff that Erma Bombeck once built a career out of.

Westfeldt's co-stars deserve way better than this; Scott's comic chops on 'Party Down' and 'Parks and Recreation' have been a joy to behold, and Rudolph once made me howl with laughter simply by saying 'Toothpaste!' in a 'Saturday Night Live' sketch, but this flat material grinds them into dust 'If they took the language out of . Wiig and Hamm at least mine their unhappy couple for dramatic depths, so funny isn't really on the table for them, but even this talented duo barely registers.

The directing feels off as well, with scenes abruptly ending a second or two early and a general shroud of dour ugliness (the cinematography is by William Rexer) subverting the film's many New York City locations.

'Friends With Kids' was a waste of time for all involveder/span, a 17-year-old Michigan high school studen. Audiences should avoid making the same mistake.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Oldest film based on Dickens found in Britain

LONDON (Reuters) - An archivist at the British Film Institute has stumbled across a 1901 movie just one minute long which turns out to be the earliest surviving film featuring a character from the works of Charles Dickens.

Bryony Dixon was researching early films of China when she noticed an entry in a catalogue referring to 'The Death of Poor Joe', which she realized could refer to a character in Dickens' 'Bleak House'.

Not expecting to find a film to match the catalogue entry - most movies this old have not survived - Dixon was 'astonished' to discover the film was actually in the BFI's collection, albeit under a different title.

The discovery was announced on Friday, just over a month after the bicentenary of Dickens' birth was celebrated around the world.

'It's wonderful to have discovered such a rare and unique film so close to Dickens' bicentennial,' Dixon saidas just a joke, man!' Penn lau. 'Not only does it survive but it is the world's earliest Dickensian film! It looks beautiful and is in excellent condition.'

Dickens, the author of classics like 'Great Expectations', 'Nicholas Nickleby' and 'Oliver Twist', is among the most revered novelists in English literature, and he remains one of the most-adapted writers in history.

Before the BFI's latest discovery, the earliest known Dickens film was 'Scrooge or Marley's Ghost', released in November 1901lsbDtoPTU3O3E9ODU7dz05Mw--/http://media. It remains the earliest direct adaptation.

'The Death of Poor Joe' has been identified as the work of British film pioneer G.Aen booked as a presenter a. Smith and is believed to have been filmed in Brighton some time before March 1901.

It depicts Dickens' Jo, a poor street sweeper in Bleak House, at night against a churchyard wall freezing in the winter snow with his broom.

A watchman comes along and catches Jo just as he falls to the ground dying7'Bradley Cooper/span, Emma Stone and Pe. The watchman tries to help but it is too late, and Jo puts his hands together in prayer, taking the lamp for heavenly light as he dies.

According to the BFI, the short film may actually have been inspired not only by Dickens but also Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Match Girl' in which a child dies in the snow while fantasising about the warmth she needs.

In the film, Jo (spelled 'Joe' in the catalogue) is played by a woman called Laura Bayley, who was G.Ak Theater, (Editing By Zorianna K. Smith's wife.

The film will be screened as a special addition to the program of Dickens: pre-1914 Short Films on March 9 and 23 at the BFI in London.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Student petitions film group over restrictive "Bully" rating

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A teenager once victimized by schoolmates petitioned a Hollywood studio group on Wednesday seeking a rating change for a new documentary film about bullying that would allow young audiences to see it without parental approval.

Katy Butler, 17, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, made the trek to the offices of the Motion Picture Association of America in Los Angeles to deliver a petition with more than 200,000 signatures seeking to change the R-rating for 'Bully' to a less restrictive PG-13.

'I hope they (the MPAA) see that 200,000 people agree with me that kids need to see this movie, and I hope they will listen to what I have to say,' Butler told Reuters ahead of delivering four big boxes of signatures to the MPAA.

Butler said she started the petition drive through social action website Change.org because she had been bullied in school after coming out as a lesbian, and she knows the harm bullying can do to kids.

The petition has been signed online by nearly 230,000 people but the MPAA, a group that represents Hollywood's major studios in business and government matters, has refused to budge from its position that 'Bully' should not be seen by people under 17 unless accompanied by a parent.

The MPAA voluntarily rates films in the United States for content such as language, nudity and drug use, and in 'Bully' there are too many uses of one particular expletive for the movie to obtain a less restrictive rating.

'That is a word that is used to bully kidshey are scattered around Japan . That is the language these kids hear in school day to day,' Butler said.

A spokeswoman for Change.org said Butler and her mother met with Joan Graves, the MPAA's chairman of the classification and rating administration, for 15 to 30 minutes on Wednesday.

The MPAA issued a statement saying Butler's 'efforts in bringing the issue of bullying to the forefront of a national discussion in the context of this new film are commendable and we welcome the feedback about this movie?s rating.'

It went on to note that the R rating does not mean kids can't see the movie, only that they have parental permission or a particular school district's approval 'span class='yshortcuts. No change to the rating was made.

In fact, 'Bully' distributor the Weinstein Coseen as a godsend, . has already lost one appeal of the rating, and some movie industry watchers have speculated that the push behind changing the film's rating is little more than a publicity stunt by the company's chief, Harvey Weinstein.

Yet Butler said she started the petition on her own and for her own reasons.

'When I was in middle school ..y are scattered around Japan with no cl. I ended up having my hand slammed in my locker, which broke my finger422_6'Futaba town/span took such pride i. That was absolutely a horrible experience, which has stayed with me, and stays with a lot of kidsoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,. This movie is a really powerful way to show that,' she said on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Elaine Lies)

A year on, Japan nuclear film shows lives in limbo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Decades ago, the citizens of Japan's Futaba town took such pride in hosting part of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex that they built a sign over a promenade proclaiming that atomic power made their town prosperous.

Now, they are scattered around Japan with no clear sign of when they might return to their homes, and their story has become a cautionary tale about the dangerous allure of nuclear power.

'Nuclear Nation,' a documentary that premiered at last month's Berlin film festival, follows the residents of Futaba who were evacuated after a series of explosions set off by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami at reactors some 3 km (2 miles) away in neighboring Okuma.

With Futaba hit by high levels of radiation, its former residents don't know when, or even if, they will be able to return to their homes within the 20 km (12 mile) exclusion zone around the plant span class='yshortcuts' id='lw_1328650815_. In the broader region, tens of thousands were forced to flee.

'You tend to think about the resolution of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, but you have to look at the people,' the film's director, Atsushi Funahashi, told Reuters.

'The people who got the most damage are the most ignored, and that's (what) you have to show.'

Besides 'Nuclear Nation,' two other March 11-themed documentaries also screened at last month's Berlin film festival, as filmmakers start focusing their lenses on the worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl catastrophe in 1986.

Funahashi began filming last April at an abandoned high school in a Tokyo suburb where 1,400 Futaba evacuees were living in classrooms and had set up town administrative offices.

Based on interviews over the course of the year, the film captures the monotony of their daily lives as they bide their time in cramped conditions with nowhere to go and the mayor describes a 'refugee feeling.'

'The thing that I really wanted to depict in 'Nuclear Nation' was the waiting time of these people,' Funahashi said.

'They're going to get compensated eventually for the land and homes they lostth the Dragon Tattoo/span' opened to $12,. But they're not going to get paid for the time they lost, and that's one of the tragedies.'

Their only chance to return home was for one two-hour visit last summer, clad in protective suits and masks to collect belongings and pray for ancestors in tsunami-flattened cemeteries.

'NUCLEAR MONEY'

They express anger at the government, regulators and plant owner they feel had assured them of the power station's safety.

That's a far cry from the sentiment of the late 1970s when the town of 8,000 suddenly found itself flush with funds from property taxes and government subsidies after plant owner Tokyo Electric (Tepco) began construction in Futaba on two reactors.

With this 'nuclear money' to burn, Futaba spent big on an athletic center, a library and other infrastructure, while residents were able to work in town at the plant and get bigger houses -- the power plant was seen as a godsend.

In one scene, the camera lingers on a sign that proclaims: 'Atomic Energy Makes Our Town and Society Prosperous.'

Under depreciation rules, however, the reactors were worth almost nothing after 15 years, and Futaba nearly went bankrupt under a pile of debt, becoming one of Japan's poorest towns by the late 2000s, according to the film.

Futaba nearly tapped new nuclear money to help fix its financial woes, with Tepco set to begin construction on two new reactors, in April 2011.

'We thought Futaba's future was at stake without that money,' Mayor Katsutaka Idogawa said in the filmrl With the Dragon Tatt. 'Now I realize the cons far outweigh the pros ..ra addressed a possib. I've come to think it was wrong to invite the nuclear power plant into our lives.'

Some 500 people are still living in the high school, and Funahashi said he has already started work on 'Nuclear Nation 2,' about their lives in the second year since the disaster.

'I really feel a strong urge that I have to follow them until they go back home,' he said.

'Nuclear Nation,' produced by Documentary Japan and Big River Films, has secured distribution rights in the United States and is set to screen at Hong Kong and other film festivals The 2010 Swedish film 'The Girl With the D. France's Wide House is handling global sales.

(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; Editing by Elaine Lies and Bob Tourtellotte)

'Project X' sequel already in the works

LOS ANGELES, March 6 (TheWrap.com) - 'Project X,' the low-budget comedy that opened as the NoAmerica for Make Benefit Glori. 2 movie in America, may have spawned a sequel.

'Project Y' anyone?

TheWrap has confirmed that screenwriter Michael Bacall, who wrote the $12 million found footage film that grossed $21 million over the weekend, began work on a potential sequel well before the movie opened.

The Warner Bros. movie is about three high school students who plan a birthday party to improve their image -- and find the fiesta spinning out of control.

Todd Phillips, who produced and directed 'The Hangover' and wrote, produced and directed 'The Hangover Part II' for Warners, produced the R-rated 'Project X.'

The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)