'Jaws' movie shark finally hunted down

by Liana Maeby

The star of "Jaws" has been found resting in a Los Angeles junkyard.

No, not Richard Dreyfuss -- the shark! With the 35th anniversary of Steven Spielberg's classic blockbuster just around the corner, an NPR reporter set out to track down the mechanical beast that struck fear into the hearts of so many.

In order to maximize their control over the creature, the "Jaws" filmmakers built three sharks for their 1975 movie. All created from the same mold, the sharks were dubbed "Bruce" after Spielberg's lawyer, Bruce Ramer. The gigantic metal creatures were 25-feet long and weighed hundreds of pounds. The heads alone came in at 400 lbs. apiece, with jaws the size of a small human.

When reporter and "Jaws"-enthusiast Cory Turner set out to track down Bruce's whereabouts, he went straight to the source -- the movie's director. A spokesman for Steven Spielberg explained that the original Bruces had all been destroyed, as no one had thought to save them.

But theories circulated on a Facebook page for the famous shark that another Bruce might be out there. After a little research, Turner discovered that a fourth shark had indeed been cast from the original mold, just months after its brothers were constructed. The baby of the Bruce family was created for display at Universal Studios Theme Park, where it hung by its tail for fifteen years.

In 1990, the shark was taken down and shipped out to destinations unknown. Turner picked up the phone and started dialing junkyards. He finally found the creature in a yard in the Sun Valley area of Southern California -- just minutes away from Universal. Turner brought the team who built Bruce -- art department members Joe Alves and Roy Arbogast to verify the shark's authenticity.

"It's the real one," Arbogast told Turner after examining the creature. "It's just kinda' nice to see it again after 25 or 30 years. It's amazing that it's still here."

Bruce's discovery couldn't come at a better time. There's talk that Universal might be considering a 3D "Jaws" remake -- with comedian Tracy Morgan in the shark-hunter role. Perhaps Bruce will find his way onto the silver screen once again.
Source:http://sports.yahoo.com

Push for a black Spider-Man sets Web abuzz

by Lindsay Robertson

Could the movies soon have the first African American Spider-Man?

If thousands of Twitter users get their way, the star of Sony's upcoming reboot of the franchise will be Donald Glover, best known from his role on NBC's "Community." This weekend the Twitter hashtag "donald4spiderman" became the #3 trending topic in the U.S., and the campaign is still gaining steam.

The origins of this latest attempt by social media users to influence casting decisions occurred last week. After surveying the five mostly unknown white actors said to be vying for the role, Marc Bernadin, a writer for the sci-fi site io9.com, called the choices "bland" and asked, "In this day and age, why does Spidey have to be a white guy?" In response, commenters threw out Donald Glover's name as a possible contender, and a Twitter campaign was born.

A unique aspect of this latest fan campaign is its wholehearted support by the subject in question. Glover seems to like the idea (though he makes it clear on his Twitter page that he's interested in auditioning, not just being handed the role without first having to prove his worthiness). While he had nothing to do with its inception, Glover himself has been promoting the campaign, instructing fans to tweet the #donald4spiderman hash tag at strategic times to keep it trending.

In years past, an Internet petition of this kind might not be given much credence, but given the overwhelming success of the recent social-media uprising to get Betty White a hosting gig on "Saturday Night Live," this could be Glover's ticket to director Marc Webb's tryout room. He and his fans will have to act fast, though: The Hollywood Reporter is already forecasting the five most likely contenders for the role, and Glover is not on the list

Glover, a comedian and former writer for "30 Rock," has starred in only one movie so far: "Mystery Team," a comedy he co-created with his sketch comedy team, Derrick Comedy, which came out in 2009.

One hurdle Glover's fans will have is in his presumed bankability as a movie star: "Mystery Team" brought in a meager $89.4 thousand in domestic box-office sales.
Source:http://autos.yahoo.com

'Shrek' bows to $71.2 million; 'MacGruber' sinks

Who knew the appetite for Shrek would abate so significantly in just three years? Whereas Shrek the Third bowed to over $121 million back in summer 2007, Shrek Forever After, which boasted a slew of expensive 3-D screens, opened this weekend to just $71.2 million. (IMAX screens accounted for 7 percent of the total.) The PG-rated animated flick from Dreamworks Animation generated a solid A Cinemascore from audiences, which bodes well for the movie’s staying power, but the opening is still far beneath what the third and even second installment in the uber-successful franchise opened to. In fact, the only Shrek movie that opened weaker than Shrek Forever After was the original in 2001, a completely unique concept at the time that opened to $42 million.
The other new wide release of the frame was the Relativity Media financed R-rated comedy MacGruber. Unfortunately for this property, based on the Saturday Night Live skit, the concept was widely rejected by moviegoers. Earning only $4.1 million for the weekend and a C- from Cinemascore, MacGruber may find it challenging to earn back the meager $10 million it cost to make the film. From producer Lorne Michaels, and starring SNL castmates Will Forte and Kristen Wiig, MacGruber opened in sixth place.
The majority of the remaining top 10 films were holdovers, with both Iron Man 2 and Robin Hood dropping less than 50 percent for the weekend. Iron Man nabbed the second slot for its third weekend in theaters. The Robert Downey Jr. starrer grossed an additional $26.6 million to put its total cume at $251.2 million. Robin Hood fell 48 percent its second weekend in theaters. From director Ridley Scott, the PG-13 rated epic tale starring Russell Crowe grossed $18.7 million for a total two-week gross of $66.1 million. As expected, the film has outperformed internationally, where the total gross stands at $125 million.
Letters to Juliet had the best hold of the weekend among the top 10. The Amanda Seyfried-starring, Tuscan-set romance dropped only 33 percent its second weekend for an additional $9 million. The film, well-liked by audiences, has now earned $27.4 million. Spot five went to the Queen Latifah-starring romantic comedy Just Wright, which in its second weekend of release lost 47 percent of its value. Adding $4.2 million to its gross, the film’s cume stands at $14.6 million.
Date Night took the seventh spot, earning $2.8 million to put its total seven-week gross at $90 million. Nightmare on Elm Street held on to spot eight, earning another $2.2 million to put its four-week cume at close to $60 million. And How to Train Your Dragon grabbed the ninth slot. The other animated flick from Paramount and Dreamworks Animation grossed $1.8 million its ninth weekend in release, for a total cume that stands at $210 million. Spot 10  went to the new Indian film Kites. Opening in only 208 theaters, the Bollywood film from Reliance Big Pictures grossed $1 million, pushing both The Back-Up Plan and the Babies documentary out of the top 10.
The box office as a whole was down compared to last year at this time, which was the Memorial Day holiday frame. That should all change next weekend when Sex and the City 2 opens on Thursday and Disney bows its Jerry Bruckheimer adventure starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Prince of Persia, over the holiday weekend. Stay tuned.

Source: http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com

James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola clash

Cameron, the director of Avatar, said on Thursday that 3D would replace 2D as the standard format for film in "a couple of years".

Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron - Directors Guild of America Awards, Feb. 1999

However, Coppola, director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, described 3D films as "tiresome".

Viewers will soon not only enjoy films in 3D cinemas but all forms of entertainment, including sports and music shows on TVs and laptops, Cameron said at a technology forum in Seoul.
Cameron directed the 3D epic "Avatar," which won three Oscars and is the highest grossing film in history.

"Avatar" has proved that 3D technology is not just a fad but a revolution changing how the audience chooses to consume media and entertainment content, the 56-year-old director said in a speech to the Seoul Digital Forum, an annual technology and media gathering.
"Quite simply, where they had a choice, the audience was selecting for the best possible way to see the movie," he said. "And they saw 3-D as the premium viewing experience."

Cameron likened what he called the "3D renaissance" to the advent of sound and colour in motion pictures. But he said full adoption of the enhanced format will require less time than the 25 years it took for colour movies to become standard.

                                                                                      James Cameron's 3D epic Avatar was one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Pointing to the popularity of 3D films, Cameron envisions the film, technology and consumer electronics industries rapidly moving toward mass adoption of the enhanced format.

That could come as soon as "in a couple of years," but "definitely less than the 25 years it took colour movies," he told reporters at a press conference after the speech.
Coppola reportedly said: "I don't see why a movie is better in 3D. I personally do not want to watch a movie with glasses. It's tiresome."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk