The Flickcast – Page 700 of 1030 – Stuff Nerds Love

Box Office: A Weekend of Blahs

Killers over Splice?  Really?  What’s wrong with movie audiences? It was another dismal weekend at the box office, and Hollywood executives might be feeling the first pangs of panic over the Summer’s box office potential (or lack thereof.)  Audiences just don’t seem to be into anything that is out in theaters right now, and a three week holdover beat out four new releases for the number one spot.

Shrek Forever After nabbed the top spot with $25 Million, beating out Killers, Splice, Marmaduke, and Get Him to the Greek.  Shrek is still playing on over 4,300 screens, so even though its per-screen total was pretty week ($5,000) it still only dropped about 40% from last week.

Coming in at number two was Get Him to the Greek, the Jonah Hill/Russell Brand comedy produced by Judd Apatow.  The movie was a spin off of Brand’s character from Saving Sarah Marshall.  Interestingly, both movies made almost identical amounts of money on their opening weekend.  Saving Sarah Marshall made around $17.7 Million, and Get Him to the Greek made $17.4 Million (per Box Office Mojo.)

Killers, the “we’re not screening it for critics because we want them to experience the movie along with everyone else” movie managed to make $16.1 Million.  The reviews have started rolling in, and it stands at a proud 14% on Rotten Tomatoes.   For the life of me, I don’t know who was clamoring to see this movie, because merely watching the trailer made me want to gouge my eyes out.

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Third Dimension Revealed for ‘Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions’

Okay, Spider-Man: Friend or Foe wasn’t exactly an impressive showing for the mighty Marvel franchise. It was actually pretty much a kids game when it comes down to it. Spider-Man: Web of Shadows however reignited the Spider-Man franchise with more grounded gameplay reminiscent of the style and strategy used in Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Now, right before E3, Activision has unofficially had some screens leak for the third dimension of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the next iteration of the franchise. Already revealed have been the Amazing universe featuring Kraven the Hunter as its villain and the Noir universe with the Goblin and Hammerhead as the lead antagonists. Now, it looks like the world of Spider-Man 2099 will be featured in a game for the first time.

For those who don’t know, the 2099 world came about in the mid-nineties with visions of Spider-Man, Doom, the X-Men and various other characters who were based on historic entities from the Age of Heroes. The longest running of this line was Spider-Man 2099 who encountered future versions of the Vulture and Venom in his tenure. Miguel O’Hara, Spider-Man 2099’s alter ego, has made various recent appearances in Marvel comics while others from this period have been forgotten.

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Jeremy Renner In Final Negotiations To Play Hawkeye in ‘The Avengers’

It seems like Marvel can do no wrong with casting and news for their upcoming Avengers flick. First, fanboy superstar Joss Whedon is announced as the director, and now it seems fan favorite Jeremy Renner will be taking on the role of Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye.

Speculation started a few months ago that the Hurt Locker actor would join the upcoming Joss Whedon-helmed Marvel pic, The Avengers, but not much evidence came through to make us believe it was going to happen. It seems that it was true all along, as Jeremy Renner is currently finalizing the deal with Marvel Studios to carry the bow-and-arrow. From THR:

Renner’s involvement was initially rumored last fall, although the actor, who was in the middle of the awards derby with his war thriller “The Hurt Locker,” was at the time more taken with Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled drama and was being heavily courted by Universal for “Battleship.”

Renner never joined “Battleship,” and while he still has definite interest in Anderson’s film, that project is still cobbling financing and has seen its start pushed back several times.

Renner saw a chance to take on work in a role that, while key, is not starring in nature and will allow him to slide into Anderson’s film if it should come together.

The actor will be joining an already full cast of Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Sam Jackson, Don Cheadle, Chris Hemsworth, and Scarlett Johansson. If you are one to believe IMDb’s rumored casting, that group also includes Malin Akerman as The Wasp and Nathan Fillion as Ant Man.

Joss Whedon’s The Avengers is currently set for release on May 4, 2012.

The Flickcast’s ‘On The Radar’

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something.

• Megan Fox is out of Transformers 3. Who will take her place? Heidi Montag or Ben Kingsley? Your guess is as good as ours.

• Speaking of replacing Megan Fox (only in the movie, not in our hearts) it looks like it may actually be this Victoria’s Secret model. Wonder what she had to wash to get the part?

• Patton Oswalt + Firefly + Comics = a nerdgasm the likes of which we’ve never seen.

• Who wouldn’t want to watch a video about Gwyneth Paltrow’s Shrimp Taco? There’s no further explanation necessary.

• Ever wonder what video games your favorite porn stars like to play? Well, wonder no more.

• What the hell is going on with Owen Wilson’s career? Pajiba breaks it down for us.

• NBC Exec Jeff Zucker runs a once-great network into the ground, and then gets a $30 million severance package. Ain’t life sweet?

• Finally, a comprehensive list of The Best and Worst Vampires in Film History…take that, shiny Robert Pattinson!

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Catch a Sneak Peek at Tonight’s ‘Stargate Universe’ and ‘Merlin’

It’s Friday after a holiday weekend last week and that means we’re back with brand new episodes of Stargate Universe and Merlin on Syfy. And, as we do each week that new episoees come out, we’ve got previews for tonight’s show for you right here.

First up on Stargate Universe, those pesky Lucian Alliance foks force Dr. Rush to help stage an assult on the Destiny. Which, if you’ve been following the show so far, he really doesn’t want to do but probably has no choice. Or, so it would seem.

Next on Merlin, the boy wizard has a friendship with a young Druid that could endanger all of Camelot. You know those Druids, it’s always something with them.

Check out both previews after the jump. Stargate Universe airs tonight at 9/8C followed by Merlin at 10/9C only on Syfy.

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Review: ‘Get Him To The Greek’

In 2008, Russell Brand appeared in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as his alter ego Aldous Snow, a cocky, obnoxious rock star who nabs hottie Kristen Bell from her long time boyfriend. Brand nearly stole the movie out from a cast of gifted comedy heavy-weights. Brand reprises that role in Get Him to the Greek, a comedy/road-trip/buddy movie in which he is paired with Jonah Hill.

Jonah Hill is quickly becoming my go-to guy when it comes to comedy. Although he is usually relegated to supporting character status, I find him to be a welcome addition to any ensemble cast. Now, he gets to flex his muscles (the acting sort, there are none to be found on his actual body) and take a jab at leading man status. With his doughy physique Hill makes an unconventional leading man, but he is strangely endearing and relatable.

As odd as this pairing might seems, it works exceptionally well. Also unexpected, but equally hilarious, is the casting of Sean Combs as an ego-maniacal record executive who provides some of the film’s biggest laughs, believe it or not.

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Christopher Nolan Gives ‘Batman 3’ and ‘Superman’ Reboot Updates

It shouldn’t come as a surpise that pretty much everyone here at The Flickcast (and most of the civilized geek world) is anxiously waiting for more news on the third Batman film. With The Dark Knight pretty much being the ultimate treatment of the character and his world, any info about the third installment of the franchise, so artfully executed by Christpher Nolan and his team, is a very exciting development indeed.

Well, hold onto your seats because news of  the third Batman film is just what we’ve got right now. But wait, there’s more. We’ve also got some news on the Superman reboot too. How’s that for awesome?

Speaking to Empire Magazine during an interview for his upcoming film Inception (which also loooks awesome, btw) Nolan gave some much needed updates on the Batman 3 production as well as some new info about his level of involvement with Superman.

According to Nolan, he still hasn’t officially signed on to direct new Batman movie. “No I haven’t. There is a point where you’re just being precious about it and people get annoyed, but the God’s honest truth is I work on one movie at a time. I’m only capable of doing that, so my head will continue to be firmly in [‘Inception’] for another few months.”

There are some things, though, that Nolan can confirm. “My brother is working on the screenplay. We came up with a story that we are very excited about. We particularly like where we are taking the characters and what the ending is… There are things for me to be very excited about in addressing the characters again. But ultimately it always comes down to the script, and can we make a great film from this?

That’s something I will firmly be turning my attention to figuring out fairly soon.” It will be, he said, “the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up the balloon and expanding the story.”

Empire also asked whether the villain could be a returning (and recast) Joker. “No,” said Nolan resisting to elaborate, “I just don’t feel comfortable about it.”

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Starz Announces Cast for New ‘Camelot’ Series

You might have been able to tell that we’re big fans of the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand here at The Flickcast. So, obviously we’re going to be very interested in whatever new series the network decides to come up with. Case in point is the new Camelot series just announced which includes, among other things, a pretty awesome cast and a new take on the Arthur legend.

The series, which will star Joseph Fiennes as Merlin, Eva Green as Morgana, Jamie Campbell Bower as Arthur and Tamsin Egerton as Guinevere, will cover Arthur’s rise to power and eventual problems dealing with being king, the round table and the quest for the Holy Grail. To be honest, the inclusion of Fiennes doesn’t thrill me quite as much as knowing Eva Green will be in this. Her work in Casino Royale was a bright spot in the film and she certainly has the looks to play the temptress Morgana.

Also, it would be awesome to see the Arthur story taken in a similar creative direction to Spartacus. Camelot: Blood and Sand? Heck yeah, count me in.

Production begins in June on the 10 episode series. It is set to make its U.S. debut in Early 2011 on Starz.