Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis have been offered the lead roles in the Lana and Andy Wachowki directed Jupiter Ascending. The Warner Bros project’s plot has been kept under tight wraps.

This is the first major science fiction film franchise that the Wachowkis have been involved in since The Matrix. Just like The Matrix trilogy, Jupiter Ascending is an original creation by the duo.

Channing Tatum is becoming a formidable leading man, particularly with his back-to-back box office successes The Vow and 21 Jump Street. Mila Kunis is also a strong draw as she is coming off of Black Swan and Friends With Benefits. She is also set to star in two much anticipated films in the Seth MacFarlane directed comedy Ted and  the Sam Raimi directed Oz: The Great And Powerful.

The Wachowskis have just finished production of the film Cloud Atlas. The Wachowskis hadn’t directed a film since the craptastic 2008 film Speed Racer. The duo were trying to find financiers for a different film script last spring. It was for a hard-R drama they wanted to direct about a gay relationship between a U.S. soldier and an Iraqi. Unfortunately for them, they had no luck finding the funding. There is speculation that the Wachowskis are doing this project for the purpose of funding this other project.

The Wachowskis are using the billions of dollars that the Matrix trilogy pulled in to get Warner Bros excited about this new project . The film is on track to start production later this year.

Following his success with Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky has made the ambitious decision to have a biblical epic as his follow up film. The film is Noah, which will center on the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark. Due to his estimated $130 million budget, Aronofsky is looking to find a bankable star to get backing on his passion project.

Originally, He wanted Christian Bale to star, but Bale passed. Aronofsky looked at Michael Fassbender as a good replacement, but Fassbender claimed to be too busy.  Now Deadline is reporting that Darren has finally found his Noah, and it is Gladiator star Russell Crowe.  Even though no deal has been officially signed, an agreement with Crowe is said to be in place.  With Crowe seemingly in place, Aronofsky is now searching for the villain of the film and has his sights set on Liam Neeson.  The villain will argue against Noah’s faith as he builds a massive ship to weather the impending flood.

Paramount and New Regency want to start shooting Noah this summer for a 2013 release.

Aronofsky has already told his version of the story of the Bible’s Noah through a graphic novel with artist Nico Henrichon. The story is not a direct interpretation of the original biblical tale but a more fantastical vision of the story. Aronofsky has been dreaming of bringing this story to life since he was 13 years old.

Now John Logan is re-writing the film’s script and various studios are getting interested in co-financing the ambitious project.  For a sneak peak at the graphic novel, see the video after the jump. Pardon the French.

With Footloose, the remake, now out in theaters, it seemed only appropriate to take a look at the top ten dance movies of all time. We all know and love them, regardless if we’ll admit it or not. And now, in the words of Kevin Bacon in the original Footloose, “Let’s dance!”

1. Dirty Dancing – In 1987, Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey had young girls everywhere swooning and begging their parents for dance lessons. There’s drama, edgy dance moves, and of course, steamy love scenes. Pack all this together, and you have not only one of the best dance movies of all times, but also one of the great love stories. After all, “nobody puts Baby in a corner.”

2. Footloose – If you were a teenager in the ‘80s, then surely you know the lyrics to the Kenny Loggins song, “Footloose,” by heart. That’s because Kevin Bacon and Lori Singer, not to mention young Sarah Jessica Parker and Sean Penn, danced their way into teenage hearts in 1984’s Footloose. It’s the classic case of good versus evil (or young verses old) with the end dance scene being one that has gone done in history as one of the best of the best.

This may be the biggest year for the Academy Awards, as some major Hollywood players are going up against some fresh newcomers. Eyeballs everywhere will be glued to ABC on Sunday, February 27th at 8PM E/5PM P when the awards show goes live. But before that, we decided to do some picking of our own with the staff’s predictions for each award.

For a full list of the nominees, check out our previous article on the subject. Now, on to the predictions.

Best Picture

Shannon Hood-The Social Network. It had early and consistent momentum all year, and the Academy appears to be trying to shake up their stodgy image. This would be the perfect film to put their money where their mouth is.

Matt Raub – True Grit. Not only are the Coens a regular in the “I Have an Oscar” club, but this testament to classic western films is definitely one for record books, between its all-star cast and gritty (no pun intended) visual style, this one definitely deserves the golden statue.

Chris Ullrich – True Grit. Even though this was a pretty great year for movies and there are many excellent choices in this category, True Grit stands on its own as my pick. As an example of pure movie storytelling, this Coen Brothers masterpiece excels on every level and delivers a pure entertainment experience you will want to revisit many more times in the future.

Cortney Zamm – The Social Network. There’s a lot of great films in this category, some of them from my favorite directors and starring my favorite people. But the one that combined all of the essential elements of filmmaking into a truly gorgeous, compelling, and memorable film was The Social Network.

We all love LEGO. Everybody grew up with them, so they all hold a special place in our collective hearts. Except for those who grew up with Mega Bloks, but nobody liked those kids growing up anyway.

The world of LEGO has been celebrated more lately as franchises like LEGO Batman and LEGO Star Wars have taken over our consoles. Now we get even more of this fully manifested world as one cinema fan has captured some of our favorite Oscar nominated films and turned them into LEGO.

The remade scenes come from LEGO artist Alex Eylar, who has tons of creations over at MOCPaged. This site is completely dedicated to people making stuff out of their favorite LEGOs so it’s particularly awesome.

While you try to ponder that business model, take a look at some of our favorite Oscar nominated scenes after the jump and comment with guesses on which films these scenes are inspired from. Good luck!

Welcome to another edition of  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 during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

Let’s get started!

• What if some of our favorite Oscar nominees had spot-on posters? Well, they may actually make money then…

• James Franco is such a good co-host, he’s even prepared to take Anne Hathaway down in case of an Oscar wardrobe malfunction.

• Nerdy shirts are all the rage these days, but when Star Wars meets Back to the Future, a purchase needs to be made.

• Some things need no introduction…so here’s a bunch of Muppets made out of balloons.

• You know what the world needs? A Russian MST3K ripoff. This is definitely why we won the war…

• Harry Hanrahan has brought us some pretty amazing supercuts in the past, but now….It’s Showtime!

• Why is it the US gets films like No String Attached and Just Go With It when other countries get films like Robot? It’s just unfair.

• And for your list of the week, The 10 Most Obscure Archer Jokes Explained. Enjoy!

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the  nominees for the 83rd annual award ceremony this morning. The King’s Speech was the front-runner with 12 nominations. Overall, there weren’t too many surprises.

Many were disappointed  that Christopher Nolan did not receive a best director nod, but as a consolation prize, Inception was nominated as a contender for best picture.
True Grit did quite well, with Hailee Steinfeld nabbing a best supporting actress nod, and nominations for best picture, best director(s), best actor, and best adapted screenplay. Winter’s Bone was recognized for best actress, best picture, and best adapted screenplay. Dogtooth, Jackie Weaver, and Javier Bardem were nice surprises.

Here are the nominees in the order that they were announced.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld True Grit
Jackie Weaver Animal Kingdom

Best Supporting Actor

Christian Bale The Fighter
John Hawkes Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner The Town
Mark Ruffalo The Kids Are All Right
Jeffrey Rush The King’s Speech

Natalie Portman continues to impress, as she has not one, but two films in the top ten this week.  The romantic comedy No Strings Attached, featuring Portman and Ashton Kutcher, nabbed the top spot at the box office over the weekend by selling about $20.3 M in tickets. The film is directed by Ivan Reitman, and is the first movie starring Portman to win the box office since 2006, when she starred in V For Vendetta. It attracted a mostly female audience, typical for a romantic comedy.

Black Swan, the psychological thriller, was her second film to place in the top ten. Coming in at number six, the movie picked up $6.2 M in its eighth week in release, bringing its box office total to $83.5 M. If the film picks up a few Oscar nominations (announced on Tuesday morning), it is sure to continue a steady march toward $100 M.

Last week’s winner, The Green Hornet, dropped off 46% from its opening week total.  It came in at number two this week with $18 M, bringing its two week total to $63 M.  It was a costly production to make ($120 M) so it still needs to sell quite a few seats to earn back its budget.

The Dilemma had an almost identical drop off, and made an additional $9.7 M. The King’s Speech is now in its 9th week of release, and only dropped 2% from last week. This is another film that will surely enjoy a boost from multiple Oscar nominations on Tuesday.

True Grit came in at number five with $8 M, making it the second highest grossing western of all time (Dances With Wolves holds the record).  The Housemaid, Barney’s Version, The Company Men, The Illusionist, and Another Year all fared nicely in limited release.

Despite some tepid reviews, Green Hornet ran away with the top spot this weekend.  The Seth Rogan comedy/action hybrid made about $34 M, which is good enough to be the third highest January opening ever. About 69% of the film’s take was from 3D screens. It was a pricey film to make ($110 M), so it will need to build on its opening weekend momentum.

Vince Vaughn’s latest film The Dilemma made about $17 M, placing it solidly in second place. True Grit only dropped 23%, and made an additional $11 M.  This $38 M film just passed the $125 M mark.  Kind of reaffirms your faith in movie audiences, doesn’t it?

If that tidbit of intel warms your heart, then wait for the next news: we had a trifecta of terrific movies occupying the top five this week.  In addition to True Grit, The Kings Speech and Black Swan had great weekends.

The King’s Speech actually surged 41% in its eighth week in release for a cool $9 M. It is still playing on less than 1600 screens, so those are some impressive numbers. Very quietly, the film has made $44 M to date.

Black Swan has also done remarkably well. Made on a shoestring budget of $13 M, Natalie Portman’s star vehicle now totals almost $73 M in box office receipts, without a 3D screen in sight. Gwyneth Paltrow has not been as lucky. Her movie Country Strong fell completely out of the top ten this week, coming in at number twelve. In four weeks, the movie has only made $13 M.

Barney’s Version opened on only four screens, but it managed to make $17,925 per/screen.

Today the Director’s Guild of America announced its nominations for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in feature films 2010. As the DGA nominations are traditionally considered an indicator of who might end up with the Oscar in the same category, these nominations, and the winner, are watched pretty closely.

The nominations are :

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

I’m a little surprised that the Coen brothers were not nominated for True Grit. They’ve won the award before three years ago, for No Country for Old Men, so I thought they may be nominated again this year. I would bet they were choice number six on the list and just didn’t make the cut. Besides, I think Fincher is a lock for this, and probably the Oscar as well, so it’s not such a bad thing.

The winner will be announced at the DGA’s annual awards dinner Jan. 29 at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland. Who do you think will win, and who do you want to win?

It’s very rare for a film to hit the number one spot at the box office several weeks after its release, but that is exactly what the Coen Brothers’ True Grit accomplished this weekend. The film finally shook the monkey (Little Fockers) off its back for a clear shot at the number one slot.

Grit made about $15 M over the weekend, and because it was a god-awful weekend at the box office, that was good enough for a first place finish.  Business was down almost 30% from last weekend. Entertainment Weekly reports that it could be the worst January weekend since 2000!

The good news is that the Coen Brothers just surpassed the $100M milestone for the very first time.  This is the first film they have made that has made it to into the club, so to speak.  Good for them. True Grit will surely continue to succeed in theaters, particularly if the film receives any Oscar nominations.

So yesterday, we ran part one of this post.  In case you missed it, here were my picks:

• Waiting for Superman
• Winter’s Bone
• The Company Men
• Rabbit Hole/Blue Valentine (tie)
• The Fighter

Now, without further ado, are the rest of my picks for best movies of the year.

5. The Kids Are All Right

This quirky drama won me over in no time. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a lesbian couple raising two children who were the product of an anonymous sperm donor. When the kids are old enough, they seek out and find their donor, who is played by Mark Ruffalo.

His character Paul is a perpetually laid-back restaurateur who drives a motorcycle and lives a bohemian lifestyle. The kids are instantly captivated, and develop a relationship with the guy, much to the chagrin of their uptight mom Nic (Bening).

I admire writer/director Lisa Cholodenko for her sensitive handling of the subject matter. A lesser director could have turned this into a slapstick farce, but ultimately the film is funny, touching, and wholly original.  It is also universally relatable.  Bening is a standout in the film for her performance.