Josh Brolin Located In For Oldboy Remake

He's now starring.... His title continues to be from the film for some time now, but Josh Brolin has signed the contract to star in Spike Lee's planned remake of Oldboy. I'm Legend author Mark Protosevich modified the present script from Park Chan-Wook's 2004 original. Brolin will feature like a guy who's kidnapped on his daughter's birthday and held with a mystery villain in solitary confinement for fifteen years not understanding why. However when he's launched and handed the various tools to obtain revenge on individuals who stored him a prisoner, he soon discovers it's a part of a larger plan. And, naturally, violence develops...Lee takes over from Steven Spielberg, who initially nabbed the privileges to remake the film in 2008 and planned to possess Will Cruz within the lead. Now, though, Brolin would be the primary guy and there is apparently a deal to Christian Bale to experience the villain, though he's yet to create his mind up about any publish-Dark Dark night Increases work. Brolin's set for an active time within the next couple of several weeks: he's going to start focus on Gangster Squad before finding time for Oldboy after which Jason Reitman's next planned movie, Labor Day, which sees him playing a fugitive away from home who hides by helping cover their Kate Winslet. He'll next be observed in Males in Black 3, which finally arrives on May 25...

The Girl Who Aimed With Fire: Watch First Teaser for The Hunger Games

Jennifer Lawrence introduced a suspenseful, heavily forested preview of The Hunger Games at the tail end of MTV’s Video Music Awards in a pre-taped segment from North Carolina, where the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s bestseller is still being shot. And speaking of being shot: In the clip, Lawrence takes aim with a fiery arrow and artfully dodges some woodsy danger. Indeed, she’s the new goddess of the hunt. Watch after the jump. Get More: 2011 VMA, Music Short! Fire! For those wondering, that’s Liam Hemsworth as Gale providing the voice over. Also, as Movieline’s Jen Yamato points out, Rue’s whistling at the end sounds an awful lot like the X-Files theme song. The Hunger Games arrives in theaters on March 23, 2012. VERDICT: May the odds be ever in your favor. [via MTV]

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Hurricane Irene: Worst Movie Weekend Of 2011? The Help #1 Again, Colombiana #2, Afraid Of The Dark #3, Our Idiot Brother #5

FRIDAY PM/SATURDAY AMUPDATE: This is turning into the worst moviegoing weekend of 2011, in a race with only Super Bowl weekend, because of the expected miniscule $80M expected for total North American box office grosses.Theater chains like AMC, Regal, and Clearview Cinemas are closing, location counts are dropping, and major releases are finding cover.Hurricane Irene came ashore along theAtlantic Seaboard overnight starting in North Carolina and heading due north.”Landing Saturday night in New York? Couldn’t be much worse,” one studio exec complained to me. Said another, “Business is in the crapper right now. Any way you slice it business is getting creamed this weekend.” The storm described as bigger than the size of Europe created astate of emergencyup the East Coast from North Carolina to Massachusettsandwill depress box office by 10%, 20%, or more. Considering that this weekend’s 3 major opening movies were only expected todebut modestly even in fair weather, studios and distributorshave a Mother Nature excuse when their films underperformat the North American box office. So I can’t humiliate them. Drats! (Although one especially cynical studio exec rued, “Kinda too bad Shark Night 3D isn’t opening this weekend. Think of all the chum jokes we could make.”) Full analysis and refined numbers coming… 1. DreamWorks/Disney’s The Help is a lock again for #1 with $4.2M Friday and an estimated $13.5M weekend as the bestselling book-turned-pic enters its 3.5th week into 2,778 originally booked theaters. The estimated cume is estimated at $95.7M. 2. Sony Pictures/TriStar’s Luc Besson-produced and co-written actioner Colombiana starring Zoe Saldana did the best of the newcomers opening to $3.7M Friday and maybe to an $11Mweekend based on its original booking into 2,614 theaters. It earned an ‘A-’ CinemaScore from audiences. 3.FilmDistrict’s Guillermo del Toro-produced haunted house horror movie Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark, starring Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce was originally booked into 2,760 theaters. It debuted with $3.4M Friday and could make $9M this weekend. It earned an unfortunate ‘C-’ CinemaScore from audiences. 4. Fox’s Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes entered its 4th weekend in release earning $2.5M and an estimated $8.5M weekend for a $148.3M cume according it the originally booked 3,374 theaters. 5. The Weinstein Co’s raunchy R-rated comedy Our Idiot Brother showcasing Paul Rudd surrounded by Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel and Emily Mortimer originally booked into 2,555 theaters. It opened to $2.3M and maybe a $6M weekend. It earned adisappointing ‘C+’ CinemaScores from audiences. The rest of the Top 10 were holdovers: 6. Spy Kids 4D (Dimension/Weinstein Co) Week 2 (3,305 Theaters Originally Booked) Friday $1.5M (-59%), Estimated$5M, Estimated Cume $21M 7. The Smurfs - 3D (Sony Pictures) Week 5 [2,861 Theaters] Friday $1.2M, Estimated Weekend$4.2M, Estimated Cume $125.4M 8. Crazy, Stupid, Love (Warner Bros) Week 5 [1,577 Theaters] Friday $1MK, Estimated Weekend$3.2M, EstimatedCume $69.8M 9. Fright Night - 3D (DreamWorks/Disney)Week 2 [3,114 Theaters] Friday $960K (-69%), Estimated Weekend $3M, Estimated Cume $14.2M 10. Conan The Barbarian - 3D (Nu Imagine/Millenium/Lionsgate) Week 2 [3,015 Theaters] Friday $950M (-74%), Estimated Weekend $3.2M, Estimated Cume $16.7M FRIDAY: I’ve just learned that AMC which operates the Empire 25 in NYC’s Times Square — the top grossing theater in the country — is closing all New Jersey theaters Saturday at 6:00 PM for the weekend as well as a bunch in states like New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. Regal is leaving it up to individual managers to make the call unless otherwise instructed by local authorities but Hollywood distributors expect them to follow suit. Clearview Cinemas already announced all theaters are closed for Saturday and Sunday. Out of concern for the safety of our guests and staff, all Clearview Cinemas will be closed on Saturday August 27 and Sunday August 28. We plan to reopen on Monday August 29. Wishing you and your family a very safe weekend, read a statement on the circuits website.

Alexandra Maria Lara Joins Rush

And Daniel Bruhl is set as Niki LaudaEven while he continues to try to find both funding and a home for his huge Dark Tower project, Ron Howard is focusing on other, more manageable movies. He's now moving full speed ahead on racing pic Rush and has just cast German actress Alexandra Maria Lara in the female lead. It's not known exactly whom she'll play in the story, but Lara, who appeared in the likes of Control, Downfall and The Reader, will be starring alongside Thor's Chris Hemsworth and Inglourious Basterds' Daniel Bruhl. Rush focuses on the rivalry that sprang up in the 1970s on the Formula One racing circuit between British champion James Hunt (Hemsworth) and Austrian nemesis Niki Lauda (Bruhl). The competition between the pair became so intense that despite his nearly dying in a fierce crash, Lauda returned to the track after just six weeks in hospital to keep up the pressure on Hunt. Peter Morgan, who last worked with Howard on Frost/Nixon, is behind the script and Working Title is backing the film. According to Variety, it doesn't have a distributor just yet but you've got to figure that since Title and Howard's production company Imagine are both based at Universal, the studio will end up nabbing the rights. Yes, Even after the whole Dark Tower incident...

Wilkinson adopts 'Little Boy'

WilkinsonTom Wilkinson is in negotiations to join Alejandro Monteverde's historical drama "Little Boy," starring Ben Chaplin, Emily Watson and David Henrie from Los Angeles-based Metanoia Films.Funded by U.S. and Mexican investors, project is a family drama set in small-town America in the early days of WWII and revolves around an 8-year-old with developmental problems and his teenage brother, played by Henrie. His only friend is his father, and with his departure to war, the troubled boy is forced to confront the cruelty of schoolmates and others.Pic began an 11-week shoot Monday in Baja California. Metanoia is taking advantage of the state's new film promotion law that establishes a framework for films to work with the government and local industry.Wilkinson has recently wrapped on three films: Paramount's "Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol," IFC's "Burke and Hare" and Focus's "The Debt." He'd been in early talks to join "The Lone Ranger," which is now in limbo while Disney sorts out a smaller budget for the Western. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

Report: Jani Lane, Lead Singer of Warrant, Dead at 47

Jani Lane Jani Lane, the former lead singer of Warrant, was found dead on Thursday, according to TMZ. He was 47. Lane's body was found at the Comfort Inn Hotel in Woodland Hills, Calif. No cause of death has been determined. See celebs we lost this year Lane, born John Kennedy Oswald, joined the rock group, which also included Erik Turner, Josh Lewis, Jerry Dixon, and Steven Sweet, in 1986. It would, over the years, have a revolving lineup. Lane left the band in 2004, but rejoined briefly in 2008, before leaving again. Warrant's biggest hit was the double-entendre-fest "Cherry Pie" in 1990. Bret Michaels, who was in lookalike band Poison, tweeted about the death late Thursday night."We'd like to offer our deepest condolences to the family of Jani Lane regarding their loss. Respectfully, Bret and all at [Michaels Entertainment Group Inc.]."Lane, who appeared on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club in 2005, had a history with alcohol-related arrests. In 2009 he pleaded no contests to misdemeanor DUI and was put on probation for three years. In 2010, he was arrested for another alcohol-related incident and jailed for 120 days.

Rachel Weisz Discusses Her Heroic Role in 'The Whislteblower'

Actors don't often get to play heroic, awe-inspiring characters, particularly ones that are based on actual people. However, in 'The Whistleblower,' Rachel Weisz was lucky enough to do just that. In the film, the Oscar-winning actress plays Kathryn Bolkovac, a police officer hired by the UN for a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, who ends up investigating an underground sex trade that the people on her side are actively participating in. Weisz recently gave an interview with the Huffington Post, where she discussed her character, why she decided to take the role after initially turning it down and what it was like meeting the actual Kathryn Bolkovac. Check out a few choice quotes from the piece below, and head on over to HuffPost Entertainment to read the full interview. On her role as Kathy Bolkovac "If you ask Kathy why she did what she did, she didn't think she was saving the world or going to get a movie made about her, she literally said 'I was doing my job, I was investigating crime.' And she didn't think she was doing anything special. I was talking to someone earlier today and they said yeah, that's often what war heroes say... There's something so moving and extraordinary about that, I think that's drama at its most interesting." On taking the role after initially turning it down "I just couldn't get the story out of my mind, I was just very haunted by it ... and I just kept thinking about it and I just kept thinking about it and finally after two years, I just thought oh my god I just have got to find out about this project, so I called the producer and I said, 'Hey, remember that project, is it still around?' " * Image courtesy of Samuel Goldwyn