Multi-platinum singer-songwriter and Grammy Award nominee KT Tunstall will perform live at a premiere party for the featured documentary The Last Mountain during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The celebration, hosted by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Harry Belafonte, will be held on Saturday, January…

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There’s a new matchmaker in Hollywood. Stepping to the stage Friday night in L.A. to accept the Best Actress prize at the Critics’ Choice Awards, Natalie Portman wasn’t about to stop at thanking Darren Aronofsky for directing her in ‘Black Swan.’ He also got credit for the on-set romance that led to Portman’s pregnancy. The guys of “Jackass” kicked off the festivities Friday night (January 14) with their own kooky rendition of the dream drama “Inception,” pretending to plant the idea in Steve-O’s head to bungee-jump in a portable toilet and get splashed with other people’s poo. Facebook film “The Social Network” became a big friend of broadcast critics Friday when it won several top Critics’ Choice Awards, including best film, in the race toward Hollywood’s Oscars. “You made me very skinny, and now you’re indirectly responsible for getting me fat….You introduced me to my love, Benjamin Millepied, who also choreographed the film, and I am so incredible grateful for that most special of gifts.” Portman, 29, also joked about her long friendship with her director. As for the fellas, Ryan Gosling and Andrew Garfield looked straight out of the pages of GQ. The actress, who won for her role in Black Swan, used her acceptance speech to thank the film’s director Darren Aronofsky for introducing her to her fiance, dancer Benjamin Millepied. He promises not to do a song and dance number. He then refers to the many years he spent in Sacramento as governor. French-born Millipied (a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, who took a pivotal role in the film after first being hired solely to choreograph) told Vulture about the star’s training: “‘Swan Lake’ is the most difficult thing to portray for a female ballet dancer; it really requires such specific qualities of articulation, agility, strength, and the arm work is something that takes a lot of training….Natalie was doing cardio every day, swimming in the morning. “The Hangover” star Ed Helms presented the Best Action Movie award to Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” applauding the film’s knack for “blowing sh– up.” Kim and Khloé Kardashian, minus their curvy sister Kourtney, presented Best Documentary Feature to “Waiting for Superman.” Filmmaker David Guggenheim aptly followed up the win with an impassioned plea for widespread access to quality education for all children.

Five people applaud. 9:07: Schwarzenegger makes a joke about being an unemployed actor. The camera cuts to Matt Damon, who is smiling charitably. 9:09: Schwarzenegger finally introduces a montage of the year’s best movies. 9:11: Ashton Kutcher arrives, with unkempt hair, to present best acting ensemble. The star famously lost a substantial amount of weight to play the crack addicted character. And in his acceptance speech, he dedicated the prize to Eklund, and said: ‘This feels great because I feel like he’s winning as well.’ Fighting win: Christian Bale paid tribute to his wife and daughter after winning tonight’s Critics’ Choice Best Supporting Actor Award. Jack gets to speak and is verklempt. “The King’s Speech” won Best Original Screenplay, while the Facebook drama “The Social Network” scored Best Adapted Screenplay. The Critics’ Choice Awards: kinda like a barmitzvah, but with hotter people and more trophies. 9:20: Eva Mendes and an exceptionally large over-the-shoulder, black lace bow are here to present best supporting actor. 9:21: And Christian Bale wins. Kimmel feigned disinterest in Damon’s efforts, quipping, “Sean Penn is actually in Haiti right now.” Damon playfully fired back when he took the stage, saying, “Jimmy, I literally have no idea why you’re here,” which prompted the talk-show host to stroll backstage mid-speech. He says Alice Ward is ill, and in fact earlier this week, was declared dead for 30 minutes and came back to life. What did you think of the 2011 VH1 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards?

She and Millipied, 33, have not announced a wedding date. But the star recently confirmed to People.com that she’ll be hitting the brakes on her career for a while once her baby arrives.

Organizers of the Austin, Texas, multimedia entertainment festival announced Thursday that “The Beaver” will be one of five films that will have their international premieres at the event, commonly known as SXSW. Jodie Foster directed and co-stars in “The Beaver,” which features Gibson as a troubled family man trying to cope with help from an unusual friend – a beaver puppet he wears on his hand. SXSW producer Janet Pierson says: “Each of these films really showcases an artist stretching his or her wings in some way, whether it be a late-night talk show host taking his act on the road, an actress-filmmaker carefully and beautifully tackling a heartbreaking subject in her finest work yet, or a successful photographer trying out a new medium in a new landscape.” It hits theaters everywhere else April 8th. The movies include big names such as Conan O’Brien , Jason Bateman , Kristen Wiig and Seth Rogen , but the name that is likely to attract the most attention is Mel Gibson . We’ll be VERY curious to see how it’s received at the festival! The doc follows Conan around on the 32-city tour he used to keep himself busy while his contractual obligations to NBC wouldnt allow him to be on television. SXSW film spokeswoman Rebecca Feferman said Foster will attend the premiere when it is shown in the festival’s “centerpiece” slot. Gibson’s publicist, Alan Nierob, said in an e-mail that he did not yet know whether the 55-year-old Academy-Award winner would make an appearance.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the massive annual expo in Las Vegas devoted to the hard sell of high tech, it’s just assumed that the next big thing is always better than what came before. That’s why director Oliver Stone managed to sound lonely in a crowded room Saturday when he suggested that, for cinema, the future just doesn’t look so bright. LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) – Praising the 3D format, director Baz Luhrmann told The Hollywood Reporter that he has workshopped his upcoming project “The Great Gatsby” in 3D, though he has not decided whether to shoot in the format. “It’s random,” complained director Baz Luhrmann of on-the-fly conversion. “The power of Blu-ray is so great, you have to be a bit conscious about misusing it,” he said, noting that with the increased resolution, more details are visible and therefore more choices are available in the restoring and remastering processes. “Don’t shoot a 3D movie unless you can afford it, otherwise you are putting yourself under enormous pressure, ” he warned. “Are you trying to recreate from your memory? “I find it sad, we are the last of the Mohicans, in way,” he said. The directors were part of a slightly greater emphasis on content at CES, but gear and gizmos really still ruled the four-day event that came to a close Sunday. Though it is offered, some believe it might instead serve more to bridge a gap offering consumers an increased amount of 3D until more native 3D productions become available. Does this mean he’ll go 3D for Capa ?

More than 2,700 technology companies came to sell themselves to 140,000 hard-wired professionals from 80 countries. “It’s not the same as native 3D. “This is about film preservation … it’s the last hardware, the best of the last hardware. There won’t be any other hardware now,” he said.

Typically, a movie studio would not want to risk curtailing sales of the DVD. An R rating restricts who can get in to see a film and thus its potential earnings. The critics reached overseas for the best actress honor, naming Italian star Giovanna Mezzogiorno for her role in “Vincere.” The film follows the rise to power of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with him abandoning his wife and child along the way.

“‘The Social Network’ has struck a chord with audiences around the world,” said Jeff Blake, chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony Pictures.

“‘The Social Network’ has struck a chord with audiences all around the world,” said Jeff Blake, Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures. Best nonfiction-film honors went to “Inside Job,” while ”Carlos” earned the best foreign language honor.  Best cinematography went to Roger Deakins for “True Grit.” A special category was added to the awards Saturday at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York: the best film still awaiting American distribution. This can have an especially damaging effect on the earning potential of independently made films, such as those mentioned above, which do not have access to the large advertising budgets at the disposal of the major studios — studios, which, as CARA’s record indicates, have received much more lenient ratings for similar content. Everyone, everywhere, can relate to the human motivations of the real-life people who are depicted in the film. Its North American domestic ticket sales are just more than $93 million, according to Boxofficemojo.com.

The movie that charts the rise of Facebook originally hit theaters on October 1, during a typically slow period for the industry.

Regina, Saskatchewan’s Leslie Nielsen was best known for his comedic roles in Naked Gun and Airplane!.

Nielsen started his career as a dramatic actor before moving into the world of comedy.

They include “Airplane,” the 1980 comedy that hilariously spoofed disaster films. Check out the press release below. Also on the list 1976′s “All the President’s Men,” which chronicled the Watergate break-in as seen through the eyes of journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. This year’s additions bring the list’s total figure to 550 movies. Check out the full list below: 1. These films are not selected as the “best” American films of all time, but rather as works of enduring significance to American culture. “The National Film Registry is a reminder to the nation that the preservation of our cinematic creativity must be a priority because about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90-percent of those made before 1920 have been lost to future generations.” Here’s the full list of films selected for the 2010 National Film Registry: Airplane! (1980) “Airplane!” emerged in 1980 as a sharply perceptive parody of the big-budget disaster films that dominated Hollywood during the 1970s. As the nations repository of American creativity, the Library of Congresswith the support of the U.S. Congressmust ensure the preservation of Americas film patrimony, said Billington.

About half the films produced before 1950 and 90 percent of those made before 1920 have been lost, Billington said. “The National Film Registry is a reminder to the nation that the preservation of our cinematic creativity must be a priority, because about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90% of those made before 1920 have been lost to future generations,” said the Librarian of Congress, James H Billington.

The most recent film to make the registry is Peter Hutton’s Study of a River, from 1996. It’s one of five selections from the 1970s. Far from being a blockbuster, it’s a beguiling examination of the life of the Hudson river as seen through Hutton’s camera lens. Veditz was one of the first to make motion picture recordings of American Sign Language, and in the film, he argues forcefully for the right of deaf people to sign instead of speak. “That was a great revelation,” Billington said. The most recent films chosen were “Study of a River,” an experimental 1996 film about the Hudson River, and “Malcolm X,” Spike Lee’s 1992 biography of the civil rights leader. Documentaries picked this year include John Huston’s “Let There Be Light” (1946), which the Pentagon banned from public distribution for 35 years because of its frank depiction of psychological trauma among combat veterans.

Billington’s pre-1950 choices included W. Joining the registry this year are his 15-minute student film Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB , made in 1967, which won a national student film festival award for its inventiveness, and the second in his classic Star Wars trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

When, in hundreds of years, the future of humanity scours the U.S. Library of Congress for clues as to how primitively we lived back in the early 21st century, the jive-talking granny in “Airplane!” could very well be integral to the study. That movie, a slapstick comedy from 1980, along with 24 other films will be added to the National Film Registry this year because they have been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” according to the National Film Registry Board . The 25 films selected this year include “The Empire Strikes Back,” the 1980 sequel to “Star Wars” that many critics and fans consider the best of George Lucas’ six “Star Wars” films.

“Empire” shocked moviegoers with the revelation that masked villain Darth Vader was the father of hero Skywalker. Fields comedy “It’s a Gift,” 1891′s experimental “Newark Athlete” and George Lucas’ 1967 student film “THX 1138 4EB,” which became the basis of his first feature – are considered to be “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” according to the Library of Congress, which announced its selections for the registry Tuesday morning. While Lucas didn’t direct “Empire” — he entrusted it to the late Irvin Kershner — he got another film selected for the registry: the student short “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.” Lucas’ “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti” are also among the 550 titles in the registry. To qualify, titles must be at least 10 years old and must have had some form of theatrical release. The internet activist and hacker has been the center of tremendous scrutiny after leaking and releasing confidential material about governments throughout the world. “I don’t want to write this book, but I have to,” Assange told the Sunday Times. “Anything more than 10 years old can be included,” said Billington, who added that the only criteria for selection are that a film be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. “People noticed there were a fair amount of ’70s movies this year, but there’s no sense of distributive justice,” he said.

While fans of popular acts like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber may not find find any relief in ticket prices, promoters are attempting to make some concerts a little more affordable. Film can rapidly deteriorate if improperly stored. “It’s the ones that I didn’t know about that thrill me the most,” he said, citing the landmark 1969 film “I Am Joaquin,” which helped forge and introduced the concept of Chicano cultural identity. The others are Robert Altman’s revisionist Western “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”; William Friedkin’s horror classic “The Exorcist”; “All the President’s Men,” Alan J. The selections date back to 1891, with one of the first motion pictures ever made: “Newark Athlete,” a short film of a teenager swinging Indian clubs, an exercise aid. Also among those to be immortalized on government shelves are the “Star Wars” sequel “The Empire Strikes Back,” “Malcolm X,” “All the President’s Men” and “The Exorcist.” Surely, it must be quite an honor for film makers and actors alike. Check out the full list below: 1.

div id=”article-wrapper” data-global-auto-refresh-switch=”on” readability=”35″> In the vaults …

Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/Lucasfilm A diminutive but wise teacher of the Jedi arts, a bumbling French detective and a charismatic but controversial African American leader can now rest easy — the movies they appeared in have been inducted into a prestigious list of “culturally significant” US films . Movie Videos & Movie Scenes at MOVIECLIPS.com  1. This year’s additions bring the list’s total figure to 550 movies. The 25 films selected this year include “The Empire Strikes Back,” the 1980 sequel to “Star Wars” that many critics and fans consider the best of George Lucas’ six “Star Wars” films. Selected titles include 1980′s The Empire Strikes Back and Airplane! , 1973′s The Exorcist , 1976′s All the President’s Men , and 1992′s Malcolm X for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. The selection spans almost the entire history of Hollywood film-making, from 1891 to 1996. This year’s selections bring the number of films in the registry to 550. “Empire” shocked moviegoers with the revelation that masked villain Darth Vader was the father of hero Skywalker. Blake Edwards, who died earlier this month, is honoured with the addition to the list of 1964′s The Pink Panther, the first of his Inspector Clouseau films.

While Lucas didn’t direct “Empire” — he entrusted it to the late Irvin Kershner — he got another film selected for the registry: the student short “Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB.” Lucas’ “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti” are also among the 550 titles in the registry. The 1980 comedy Airplane!, starring the late Leslie Nielson, also made the list, as did Elia Kazan’s first feature, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, from 1945. Hart’s first film and made him a star. Each year, the Library of Congress receives recommendations from the public as to which 25 movies ought to be included in the registry, which, with the 2010 crop, will include 550 films. Fields’ slapstick sensation It’s a Gift (1934) and the zany Airplane!  (1980) starring Leslie Nielsen. “Anything more than 10 years old can be included,” said Billington, who added that the only criteria for selection are that a film be culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. To be preserved for all time, these are not selected as the “best” American films of all time but rather as works of enduring significance to American culture. The film’s success, both commercially and cinematically, provides a rare example of a popular novel being ably adapted for the big screen.” 8. This year’s selections also include “Saturday Night Fever,” John Badham’s 1977 disco musical starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, the working-class youth known for his impressive moves on the dance floor at a Brooklyn nightclub.

For each title named, the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation works to ensure that the film is preserved for future generations, either through the Library’s massive motion-picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, studios and independent filmmakers. The campus is home to more than 6 million items, including nearly 3 million sound recordings. The selections date back to 1891, with one of the first motion pictures ever made: “Newark Athlete,” a short film of a teenager swinging Indian clubs, an exercise aid. The most recent film to make the registry is Peter Hutton’s Study of a River, from 1996. Far from being a blockbuster, it’s a beguiling examination of the life of the Hudson river as seen through Hutton’s camera lens.

This will be the first child for the 29-year-old actress. She and her sweetie married in May at their L.A. pad. So just who is the man who stole Portman’s heart? The Oscar-nominated actress portrays a woman who struggles to cope her grief over her daughter’s death and to connect with her stepson while facing interferences of her husband’s ex-wife. Having her film ” Black Swan ” still gracing theaters, Natalie Portman is going to make another strong performance in ” The Other Woman “. When doing press for the film, the mere mention of Millepied’s name to Portman triggered an automatic response: “I never talk about my private life.” But Swan director Darren Aronofsky did. “I have always kept my private life private but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience,” Portman gushed in a statement to Entertainment Weekly .

The actors were spotted walking and holding hands in Somerset, England. She released a statement to Entertainment Weekly yesterday saying, “I have always kept my private life private but I will say that I am indescribably happy and feel very grateful to have this experience.” Weisz and Craig connected on the set of their new film, Dream House . But her life soon takes an unexpected turn when their newborn baby is dead. This first premiered at the Toronto Film Fest back in 2009 but hasn’t seen a release yet. Emilia struggles through her grief to connect with her new stepson William (Charlie Tahan), but is finding it hard to connect with this precocious child. Millepied was invited to become a member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet in 1995. He was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1998 and to principal dancer in the spring of 2002. Our second set of celebrity infanticipators: California Lt. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and his wife, actress and filmmaker Jennifer Siebel, who will welcome their first son in June. Dad won’t be the only one with a new job next year. “You’re standing up next to those actors, like Natalie, and you’re like, (expletive). …I was blown away — especially by Natalie, who was amazing to watch.” Portman is expecting the couple’s first child in 2011.

Siebel’s documentary “Miss Representation” will debut at the Sundance Film Festival, according to Wikipedia. A source told the mag that, over the holidays the couple “had family and close friends in town who helped them celebrate.” Rimes, 28, and Cibrian, 37, met while filming the Lifetime movie Northern Lights. At the time they were both married to other people.

A deputy United States marshal, Rooster has attracted the interest of Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld, in a terrific film debut), a half-pint who, with her bloodlust and severely braided hair, is an authentic American Gothic . As she listens to Rooster recount his bloody deeds and high body count, her eyes shine with a true believer’s excitement. That 1969 film, a clunky, sentimental victory lap for John Wayne, was also a last gasp from an old Hollywood system quickly giving way to the industry’s young Turks. She then hires Rooster because she hears that he has “true grit,” a quality that mostly seems to entail a disregard for preserving the lives of his prisoners. That bleak but completely delightful Portis novel, in which a much older Mattie remembers the frontier West of the 1870s, has been charming and disconcerting people since it was published in 1968. The key reason is the vim and vigor of Mattie’s irrepressible narrative voice, which more than one critic has compared favorably to Huck Finn’s. It’s an old-time Western for the 21st century. If there’s one big difference between this version and the old, it’s in the attitude toward violence. Director of photography-lighting wizard Roger Deakins conjures a series of stunning Western tableaux, including an opening shot that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Filmed in the sere sepia tones befitting the 19th-century West, “True Grit” has the look, feel and sound of that era, its characters speaking in the courtly, declamatory style that can first strike the ear as mannered but soon takes on the cadence of folk poetry. What a far cry from the ’69 version, with director Henry Hathaway blasting triumphant Western music every time Wayne was about to kill somebody. Jeff Bridges – whose previous collaboration with the Coens produced cinema’s iconic stoner, Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski – plays Cogburn with eyepatch and baggy long johns, and with a gruff, grizzled conviction. Hathaway’s vision suggested that all this bloodletting was merely a symptom of a great nation’s growing pains, and to him these violent men, villains and heroes, were part of some bigger-than-life mosaic. The Coens, not known for softening anything, have restored the original’s bleak, elegiac conclusion and as writer-directors have come up with a version that shares events with the first film but is much closer in tone to the book — think of the original crossed with Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven.” Clearly recognizing a kindred spirit in Portis, sharing his love for eccentric characters and odd language, they worked hard, and successfully, at serving the buoyant novel as well as being true to their own black comic brio.

The Coens are crafty, and they know they’re dealing with a tale that crosses over from their usual art-house audience to a more family-friendly crowd. This is no country for young women but the kid holds her own, whether she’s shooting a rifle or threatening everyone with her Arkansas lawyer. Of course, if Rooster were to kill the guy outright, she wouldn’t really mind that, either. In many ways, Mattie is the spiritual great-great-grandmother of Marge Gunderson, who played the same kind of ethical center in the Coens’ 1999 masterpiece, “Fargo.” Like that film, “True Grit” evinces none of the snarky ironic distance that can sometimes mark and mar a Coen brothers production. Wearing jangling spurs and a luxurious mustache that sits on his lip like a spoiled Persian cat, LaBoeuf hopes to bag Chaney for a large reward. Dead or alive, everyone in this story — snaggletooth thief or boardinghouse owner — has a price either on his head or in mind, usually in the form of the dollars and cents one person hopes to extract from another. “Why do you think I am paying you,” Mattie asks Rooster, “if not to have my way?”

And in many ways, Hollywood hasn’t learned from this perfect marriage of game and film. At least, most of Hollywood. The weekend before Christmas is not the time when box-office hits are made, but it is when the early holiday flops are established. Among the trio of new movies that opened just ahead of the two most important moviegoing weeks of the year outside of summer, the big-budget sequel “Tron: Legacy” appears to have a solid chance at turning into a hit, while the kids’ cartoon adaptation “Yogi Bear” is a long shot, and the pricey adult dramedy “How Do You Know” is dead on arrival. Ticket sales fell for a sixth straight weekend, making it uncertain whether Hollywood will exceed last year’s record $10.6 billion in the U.S. and Canada. This year’s holiday films are up against a 2009 slate that included “Avatar,” the top-grossing film of all time, and “The Blind Side,” a surprise hit that generated $256 million in domestic sales, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. “We might actually barely exceed the $10.6 (billion), but it’s built on the back of higher ticket prices,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s box-office unit, said in an interview. “It will be a shallow victory.” “Tron: Legacy” continues the story of programmer Kevin Flynn, who has been trapped in a video game for 20 years. The Mark Wahlberg boxing story “The Fighter” raked in $12.2 million, while the psychological drama “Black Swan,” playing in fewer than half as many theaters as each of the other four movies, grossed $8.3 million. Disney’s “Tron: Legacy” is the biggest bet of the holiday season. It came in at No. 2 with $16.7 million, a few million dollars short of the expectations. Bailey said that gamers will be able to get quality time playing with all of the vehicles that are shown in the new film, as well as learn more about the back story of the key characters. On July 11, 1982, TRON opened to $4.8 million — light years behind the $13 million opening of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . The Darren Aronofsky film, pirouetting into the No. 7 spot, jumped to 959 theaters this weekend with an impressive $8.3 million haul. (Consider that “Black Swan,” which cost just $13 million, already has a cumulative gross of $15.7 million in three weekends of limited release.

In good news for Disney, most moviegoers liked the film, giving it an average grade of B+, and they were willing to pay extra to see it in the best quality: 82% of ticket sales revenue came from theaters playing “Tron: Legacy” in 3-D and 24% was for digital or large-format Imax. “When you use new technology to make something that is more compelling for the consumer, then they want more of it. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg. “The Tourist,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was fifth with $8.7 million. If it does, “Tron: Legacy” could gross $200 million or more domestically and the same overseas.

Ticket sales fell for a sixth straight weekend, making it uncertain whether Hollywood will exceed last year’s record $10.6 billion in the U.S. and Canada. This year’s holiday films are up against a 2009 slate that included “Avatar,” the top-grossing film of all time, and “The Blind Side,” a surprise hit that generated $256 million in domestic sales, according to researcher Box Office Mojo. “We might actually barely exceed the $10.6 (billion), but it’s built on the back of higher ticket prices,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s box-office unit, said in an interview. “It will be a shallow victory.” “Tron: Legacy” continues the story of programmer Kevin Flynn, who has been trapped in a video game for 20 years. – First the good news. “TRON: Legacy” raked in some thoroughly respectable numbers opening weekend, pulling in $43.6 million. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg. “The Tourist,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was fifth with $8.7 million.

In addition, two low-budget films moved from limited to nationwide release with strong performances. The CGI-assisted, live-action romp “Yogi Bear” debuted in second place, although it lagged far behind “Tron.” The contemporary take on the beloved kids cartoon, which features voice-over performances from Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake as the mischievous partners in picnic-basket-snatching Yogi and Boo Boo, nabbed $16.7 million.

Legacy did $10.3 million of its business on just 234 IMAX screens. The film, which features Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas, expanded to 950 theaters from 18. Having the movie in 3D and in IMAX 3D would certainly help boost the grosses, but no one was sure as to by how much. Audiences shelled out $12.4 million to catch the latest installment in Hollywood’s adaptation of the classic C.S. On July 11, 1982, TRON opened to $4.8 million — light years behind the $13 million opening of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial . The Darren Aronofsky film, pirouetting into the No. 7 spot, jumped to 959 theaters this weekend with an impressive $8.3 million haul. (Consider that “Black Swan,” which cost just $13 million, already has a cumulative gross of $15.7 million in three weekends of limited release. In good news for Disney, most moviegoers liked the film, giving it an average grade of B+, and they were willing to pay extra to see it in the best quality: 82% of ticket sales revenue came from theaters playing “Tron: Legacy” in 3-D and 24% was for digital or large-format Imax.

Having the movie in 3D and in IMAX 3D would certainly help boost the grosses, but no one was sure as to by how much. While no one was expecting Tron to match Avatar ($77 million a year ago this weekend), hopes were high that this film would at least clear the $50 million mark in its first three days.

The high-tech adventure, which stars Jeff Bridges and Garrett Hedlund, rang up $43.6 million in ticket sales. The 3-D animation/live-action hybrid “Yogi Bear” started with a soft but not terrible $16.7 million. Debuting on 3,515 screens to middling results in second place was Warner’s live action 3D comedy Yogi Bear with $16.7 million. “How Do You Know,” the big-budget, star-laden romantic comedy from James L. “Black Swan” grossed $8.3 million, a particularly impressive figure as it was playing at only 959 theaters, less than half the number of any other film in the top ten. Off 49%, the film took in $12.4 million from 3,555 screens for a ten-day take of approximately $43 million. The Darren Aronofsky film, pirouetting into the No. 7 spot, jumped to 959 theaters this weekend with an impressive $8.3 million haul. (Consider that “Black Swan,” which cost just $13 million, already has a cumulative gross of $15.7 million in three weekends of limited release. The studio had expected on opening weekend to get fanboys who remembered the 1982 original. While the film’s domestic gross may be a letdown, the foreign market is anything but: the first weekend’s take for the film overseas was a huge $83 million. “How Do You Know” cost north of $100 million, and at this rate will be lucky to make a quarter of that back in domestic grosses.) Oh “Yogi Bear,” you hoped more friends would show up to the picnic. In fourth place after a one-week limited engagement was Paramount’s critically acclaimed drama The Fighter, knocking out $12.3 million off 2,503 screens. Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp’s glossy thriller “The Tourist” landed in fifth place.

That’s a far cry from Squeakquel numbers, the “Alvin & the Chipmunks” period piece that opened to $48.8 million on last year’s Christmas weekend. The country-hopping caper, which was filmed in France and Italy and also features Paul Bettany, scored $8.7 million during its second weekend on screens. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg. “The Tourist,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was fifth with $8.7 million. Initial foreign grosses were a little more troublesome for Disney. “Tron” took in a so-so $23 million from 26 foreign markets, but bad weather in Europe left the studio hopeful the film would recover for a strong foreign run. Check out everything we’ve got on “Tron Legacy,” “Yogi Bear” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. The holidays should give the comedy a second wind that could help bring its domestic total into the $170-175 million range. Sales for the weekend’s top 12 films fell 1.8 percent to $127.5 million from a year earlier, according to Hollywood.com. But any prospects for it to be a breakout smash in the “Alvin and the Chipmunks” mode already have been dashed. Mark Wahlberg ‘s drama The Fighter continues to do well in limited release. It earned $12.2 million on 2,500 screens, good for fourth place, and lifted its total to $12.6 million in two weekends. “How Do You Know” will be a big money loser for Sony Pictures, which spent more than $100 million to produce the James L. The film cracked the Top 50 chart of all-time grossing films this weekend, surpassing 2002′s Chamber of Secrets in the process.

Rounding out the top ten was Fox’s Unstoppable which added $1.8 million to its $78 million total.

- First the good news. “TRON: Legacy” raked in some thoroughly respectable numbers opening weekend, pulling in $43.6 million.

But now, let’s cue a wet raspberry sound. The 21st century revisit of the 1982 sci-fi flick “Tron” owned the box office during its debut. Though analysts expected the Disney publicity machine to propel Legacy to the No. 1 spot, science fiction’s limited appeal led most analysts to project the film would take in $40 million. “How Do You Know,” the big-budget, star-laden romantic comedy from James L. The CGI-assisted, live-action romp “Yogi Bear” debuted in second place, although it lagged far behind “Tron.” The contemporary take on the beloved kids cartoon, which features voice-over performances from Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake as the mischievous partners in picnic-basket-snatching Yogi and Boo Boo, nabbed $16.7 million. As openings go this year, the massively hyped sequel to an obscure 1982 movie failed to crack the top-10, and observers have said it will need to rely on strong overseas business to break even. According to reports, the effects-laden update cost $170 million to make, and more than $100 million to market worldwide. And with a budget more than 10 times the 1982 original, the new filmmakers “could do some incredible things,” says Steven Lisberger, writer and director of the original. The Darren Aronofsky film, pirouetting into the No. 7 spot, jumped to 959 theaters this weekend with an impressive $8.3 million haul. (Consider that “Black Swan,” which cost just $13 million, already has a cumulative gross of $15.7 million in three weekends of limited release.

For the next year Disney was pretty hush-hush about the project. “How Do You Know” cost north of $100 million, and at this rate will be lucky to make a quarter of that back in domestic grosses.) Oh “Yogi Bear,” you hoped more friends would show up to the picnic. Slowly, it became apparent that the movie wasn’t a pipe dream. I had the pleasure of attending Comic Con each of the last two years.

The film’s total estimated tally now stands at $42.7 million. Critics trashed the film, which has occupied the attention of two Disney studio regimes in recent years. But at least it’s slightly better than “Marmaduke’s” fate, which opened in June to just $11.6 million. “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” headed south to No. 3 with $12.4 million, bringing its cumulative two-week gross to $42.7 million. The weekend number kicks the film’s total estimated haul to about $30.8 million dollars. The film, which features Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas, expanded to 950 theaters from 18. The fantasy film has earned $42.8 million in 10 days.

But the Time Warner Inc unit said it hoped the Christmas holiday would boost business among the film’s core family audience. This year’s domestic box-office sales total $10.07 billion, up 1.24 percent from a year earlier. The Tourist , the thriller starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp , was fifth with $8.7 million. As the trailers played, I forgot about all the bad reviews and allowed my excitement to build. If you’re like me and you loved the original, I believe you’re going to enjoy “Tron: Legacy.” Writing reviews of films, books, comics, etc. is not always easy. As a teacher, I constantly remind my students not to write what happened but use examples to show me why you liked/disliked the story. Together they battle a duplicate of the elder Flynn, who plans to invade the Earth with his program army.

Check back here next week for big Christmas weekend results. “True Grit” and “Little Fockers” open nationwide on Wednesday, December 22, with “Country Strong” hitting in limited release.

TRON: Legacy raked in some thoroughly respectable numbers opening weekend, pulling in $43.6 million. But now, let’s cue a wet raspberry sound. The follow-up to the cult film earned $43.6 million, according to studio estimates from box-office trackers Hollywood.com. The 21st century revisit of the 1982 sci-fi flick “Tron” owned the box office during its debut. Though analysts expected the Disney publicity machine to propel Legacy to the No. 1 spot, science fiction’s limited appeal led most analysts to project the film would take in $40 million. In the new film, Flynn’s son Sam is transported into the digital world while investigating his father’s disappearance.

Legacy did $10.3 million of its business on just 234 IMAX screens. And the costly Reese Witherspoon-Owen Wilson adult comedy “How Do You Know” turned out to be one of the year’s biggest flops, opening to $7.6 million. Audiences shelled out $12.4 million to catch the latest installment in Hollywood’s adaptation of the classic C.S.

“The Fighter,” starring Mark Wahlberg, took in $12.2 million. Other notable expansions and openers included yet another Oscar contender that expanded into wider release this weekend as Fox Searchlight’s twisted and audacious Black Swan waltzed into 959 theaters (up 869 from last weekend) to the tune of $8.67 million.  Given Natalie Portman’s bravura performance, director Darren Aronofksy incredible cinematic vision and the extremely strong buzz that has surrounded this movie, this strong performance should be no surprise. The talking bear flick came in at No. 2 with $16.7 million. “But we weren’t even dreaming of that stuff.” Certainly, he could not have dreamed of the financial returns of virtual reality. That’s a far cry from Squeakquel numbers, the Alvin & the Chipmunks period piece that opened to $48.8 million on last year’s Christmas weekend. The film’s total estimated tally now stands at $42.7 million. But at least it’s slightly better than Marmaduke ‘s fate, which opened in June to just $11.6 million. TRON would go on to earn a respectable-if-unspectacular $33 million.

The studio had expected on opening weekend to get fanboys who remembered the 1982 original. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader headed south to No. 3 with $12.4 million, bringing its cumulative two-week gross to $42.7 million. Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp’s glossy thriller “The Tourist” landed in fifth place. The country-hopping caper, which was filmed in France and Italy and also features Paul Bettany, scored $8.7 million during its second weekend on screens. The film was nominated for six Golden Globe awards, including best film drama and best actor in a drama for Wahlberg. “The Tourist,” a thriller starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was fifth with $8.7 million. Despite an unimpressive start for “Yogi Bear,” which cost $80 million to make, Warner is hoping families with young kids will turn out over the holidays. The fantasy film has earned $42.8 million in 10 days. Check back here next week for big Christmas weekend results.  True Grit and  Little Fockers open nationwide on Wednesday, December 22, with  Country Strong hitting in limited release. 1. Yogi Bear —$16.7 mil. 3.  The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — $12.4 mil. 4.

Awards Watch Roundtable: The Actresses Amy Adams, Natalie Portman, Annette Bening, Hilary Swank, Nicole K… For the last few days, MTV News has been taking you inside some of the coolest aspects of “Tron Legacy,” from the creative process behind Daft Punk’s violins-meet-synthesizers soundtrack to the generation of the film’s neon-pulsing motorcycles and warships . Now we’re going to take you behind the creation of the film’s single-most jaw-dropping visual effect: turning Jeff Bridges from 60-something Oscar-winner into the Bridges of 1984′s “Against All Odds.” We caught up with visual-effects supervisor Eric Barba, the driving force behind the CG work on “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” for which technicians both aged Brad Pitt into an old man and turned back time to capture the actor’s 20-something look. It’s been twenty-eight years since Tron, which of course means it is the perfect time to release a sequel. What they managed to accomplish was nothing short of astounding, and Barba won an Oscar for his efforts. Sure, the plot was lacking a lot of critical parts, character development was nowhere to be found, and it certainly hasn’t aged well.  But it holds a special place in my heart; the effects were revolutionary for the time and the world it created captivated thousands to create a cult classic to last for decades. But you can’t argue with one thing: TRON is one of the strangest movies ever made. Sequel offers little in the way of substance, but lots of pretty special effects. But it’s not all bad: He also lives with a smoking-hot babe in a body suit named Quorra (Wilde, from TV’s “House”).

Twenty years after his father, Kevin Flynn (Bridges), disappears, Sam (Hedlund) gets a message from him and enters the digital world known as The Grid. Keith Staskiewicz : I’m pretty sure we both enjoyed this movie a lot more than we were expecting, seeing as it pretty much perfectly fits the mold of a movie that you wouldn’t think would age well, i.e. special effects-driven, about technology, made in the Eighties. Sam must fight to find his father, return to the real world, and defeat CLU, a computer program his father designed that has gotten out of control. The original film, released in 1982, was at the forefront of technology at the time—and our smartest computers were still the size of our apartments. More specifically, he has turned into a geek-chic version of the Dude, the laid-back slacker character Bridges played in “The Big Lebowski.” Flynn spends much of “Tron: Legacy” meditating – he calls it “knocking on the sky and listening to the sound” – and addressing everyone as “man.” The best way to fight, he says, is to “do nothing, be still.” All that’s missing is a white Russian in his hand. When I am not in class I am working on videos or just being ridiculously geeky.

“All your questions will be answered soon,” he is told. But for those in the audience, it’s best to just sit back, drink in its virtual dazzle and not ask questions.

Garrett Hedlund is shown in a scene from the the Disney film Tron Tweet Digg In the Troniverse ? which is to say, the land in which the 1982 film “Tron” is hailed as a prescient classic rather than that legendarily bad Jeff Bridges movie where he wore a glow-in-the-dark wrestler’s helmet ? fans know that the direst of fates is to be “subject to immediate deresolution”. The elder Flynn vanished on the verge of a big discovery two decades before. Meanwhile, Sam has come to believe his dad is “either dead or chilling in Costa Rica or both.” There’s plenty more similarly unimaginative, even obfuscating, dialogue. Sam probes his father’s disappearance and is sucked into the same computerized world as the one his father invented. Director Joseph Kosinski, making his feature film debut, opens with a prologue set in 1989, in which Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges, the non-villainous youthful model) tells a bedtime story about his “Tron” adventures to his young son Sam. Though fierce-looking transportation devices materialize out of thin air, the path they race off on is predictable. The supposition is that he’s trapped within the Grid, the digital frontier which he continued to visit after the events of the first movie, pursuing a dream for mankind involving freedom, shared wisdom and technology ? kind of like Linus Torvalds, but with James Cameron’s ego. (See photos of James Cameron’s special effects.) A beeping page sent from Kevin’s long-disconnected number entices Sam to the arcade his father used to run. A portal opens and Sam steps in, anticipating seeing his father. And Kevin is indeed there, dressing in flowing white outfits accessorized with prayer beads and spending a lot of time on a meditation pillow, but before Sam can find him he ? like his father before him ? is forced to join a group of sacrificial programs playing gladiator-like games involving glowing Frisbees. Sam, a “user” in Tronspeak, yells “I am not a program” a bunch. It does not quite have the emotional heft of the Elephant Man telling us “I am not an animal.” I chalk this up to the fact that he and his opponents are dressed in skintight outfits that look uncannily like my set of Master Mechanics screwdrivers, which are also black and fetchingly trimmed with bright yellow. The film’s logic is too muddled to be engaging.

Alexandre Desplat tied with Reznor and Ross for the music award with his work on “The Ghost Writer.” Best supporting actress was awarded to Jacki Weaver for her work on the Australian crime saga “Animal Kingdom” as Smurf, a woman of entwined bubbly good cheer and ruthlessness. Niels Arestrup won best supporting actor for the French film “The Prophet.” Runner-up prizes went to Olivia Williams for “The Ghost Writer” and Geoffrey Rush, considered a favorite for the equivalent Oscar, for “The King’s Speech.” Matthew Libatique was recognized for his cinematography on “Black Swan,” and LAFCA gave the runner-up prize to Roger Deakins for his work on the Coen brothers’ ”True Grit.” Production-design honors went to Guy Hendrix Dyas for “Inception,” with Eve Stewart winning the runner-up prize for “The King’s Speech.” The documentary prize went to “Last Train Home,” which chronicles China’s migrant factory workers’ long trip home. Street artist Banksy was awarded the runner-up prize for “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” “Film Socialism” received the Douglas E. While its acting choices, particularly Arestrup, were well off the awards radar, the group’s choice for its screenplay award was decidedly mainstream: Aaron Sorkin won for “The Social Network,” while David Seidler took the runner-up spot for “The King’s Speech.” That last film was also runner-up for Best Supporting Actor, where Geoffrey Rush finished second to Arestrup. This year’s critics’ favorites include David Fincher ‘s The Social Network , Danny Boyle ‘s 127 Hours , Lee Unkrich ‘s Toy Story 3 , and Tom Hooper ‘s The King’s Speech . I still see Bale as the Oscar front-runner, but this does add a bit of a question mark to the equation. Critics’ awards also tend to go to smaller, even obscure films, though the Los Angeles group went mainstream two years ago and gave its best-picture prize to the animated blockbuster “WALL-E.” Among the group’s other awards this year: Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, “Black Swan”; runner-up, Roger Deakins, “True Grit.” Production design: Guy Hendrix Dyas, “Inception”; runner-up, Eve Stewart, “The King’s Speech.” Documentary: “Last Train Home”; runner-up, “Exit Through the Gift Shop.” The critics group will announce the best-picture, director and lead-acting honors later Sunday. Is it enough to move to the top of the Oscar predictions pack? We’ll see how the rest of the week shapes out. The rest of the wins so far are listed below as well as those categories yet to be announced. Also, please note that Alt Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors’/producers’ film prints.

LAFCA will release the second half of its awards later Sunday afternoon. Nicole Sperling.

- The romantic action caper is a genre that can seem almost decadent in its clockwork jauntiness its frantic, overstuffed eagerness to please.

“The Tourist,” starring Angelina Jolie as a hip-swiveling British agent fatale and Johnny Depp as the innocent American math teacher she ropes into posing as her underworld lover, is an attempt to take the stuffing out of the genre. Whenever they appear in public, a crowd gathers — a big one — which is news to no one, except perhaps director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who found himself trying to film a scene with them at a Venice train station before an audience of hundreds, maybe thousands, of spectators. The star wattage, in theory, could hardly get much hotter. This time, however, the director is Germany’s Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, doing his first Hollywood production after the art-house smash “The Lives of Others” (2007), his lacerating tale of political oppression in East Germany.

Henckel von Donnersmarck sets “The Tourist” in the ornate decaying maze of Venice, where he plays down the ultraviolence and mission-improbable stunt work.

It felt like being at a rock concert.” The two stars of The Tourist , opening today, are among only a handful of actors who count these days as global figures. It sidesteps the aggressive, wham-bam tone of cheeky-violent romps from “The Mexican” to “Knight and Day.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t come up with a whole lot to replace that energy. As the film’s producer Graham King ( The Departed ) says, they connect with people “whether it’s Venice, Calif., or Venice, Italy.” “To be successful in this business, you’ve got to have chemistry with the audience,” King says. You go into a movie like “The Tourist” hoping for a feast of personality from the stars. Part of the reason may be their wandering personalities — a nomadic tendency that may lend each of them a cross-cultural familiarity.

She’s a great image, but in “The Tourist” she never seems to be a real person. “(As actors) they have the ability to make that spirit visible.” USA TODAY talked with both Depp and Jolie about wanderlust, war zones and going incognito. JOHNNY DEPP: The observer has now become the observed. ”Why do you know how to do that?” That’s about as roused as he gets. It’s clear that Henckel von Donnersmarck adores his film’s popcorn tropes for the clichés they are. It sort of puts a damper on me being the observer.” When he visits a place, he says, “I still get the opportunity to at least soak up as much of the place and culture as possible and hang about and learn about it.” Mostly that involves trying to go unnoticed. I live wherever the location for the film demands. “It’s been a real nomadic ride this year.” The circus-like existence is “something I’ve always loved,” he adds. There was a huge revolution. Corazon Aquino had taken office, there were tanks in the streets, insurgents, bombs. And for a kid of 22 or something, it was like, ‘ What? And then of course, Oliver had us all driven into the jungle, where we dug our own holes and lived for like three weeks.” Part of Depp’s personality is being able to find the exotic in places that might seem anything but. “You just do what you can to blend in to not bring attention to yourself.” ANGELINA JOLIE : Family reflects world tourist’s passion.

I was always fascinated with Asia and Africa, and the deserts, the Sahara. … I’ve always felt at home out in the world somewhere,” she says, sitting in her trailer on the outskirts of Budapest on the set of a war drama she has written and is directing. Jolie and actor Brad Pitt , partners since they met on the set of 2005′s Mr. & Mrs. Smith , have six children. He’s not out to transcend the tropes he wants to get out of their way. But a filmmaker as gifted as he is should figure out soon that there’s a big difference in Hollywood between playing to crowds and pleasing them.

PARIS – He’s a long way from flashy, gold-toothed Captain Jack Sparrow. The challenge was to portray the ordinary, everyday man. ‘And to see this guy who has no particular highs or no particular lows in his life, he just kind of moves on like any pedestrian, and then to put him in a series of situations that are so radically outside of his hemisphere was great fun.” That’s because, Depp said, “Those people who are considered normal I find the most fascinating because they’re always really weird. ANGELINA JOLIE is calling for a new law to protect celebrities and their families from unscrupulous photographers who get too close to stars’ kids. Angelina Jolie has insisted that she likes having her kids on film sets with her. They have these routines teetering on like obsessive compulsive tics that I find fascinating.” To get into the role, Depp drew inspiration from two men he once knew. When it comes to choosing where to spend Christmas, even the most well-travelled people can find themselves with a dilemma – and this year, that’s certainly the case for Angelina Jolie. She told MTV News: ‘It’s always fun to have family on set. “Oh, of course,” Jolie told MTV News in Paris while promoting “The Tourist.” “I think every actor would be open to that. Because I think at some point it’s going to be clearer that it’s emotionally not healthy.

“If you think about it, Depp’s most successful roles have always had him playing oddballs.” In a caustic review, The Hollywood Reporter film critic Todd McCarthy opined: “Depp never has registered less effectively in his entire film career.” As for Jolie, her most recent outing came in July with the action thriller Salt, a $118 million domestic grosser. That someone turns out to be Frank, a community college math teacher from Madison, Wis., played with as much frumpiness as Johnny Depp can muster. We have our map books out and we’re looking for a country to go to. And they like to pack their bags and have new adventures.’ But the highlight for Jolie on her latest film was having the opportunity to play a ‘real lady’ in the form of English character Elsie Ward. Elise sits opposite him and bowls Frank over. Sony secured cover stories in USA Weekend, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue and Vanity Fair, helping to spread awareness of the film among prospective patrons. It’s hard to know when that script will be ready. ‘We’ve no plans at the moment,’ the actress said. I’d love to work with her.

That would be a good one.” Who do you think should star in Tim Burton’s “Maleficent”? And she discussed how the little ones cope with attention from the paparazzi. The holiday season generally produces a sleeper hit or two.

Frank, in the best Hitchcock tradition, is just another dopey American. She’s very down to earth. Also she’s a great mommy.”