Archive for March, 2008

Tiger Woods five strokes back and Australian Geoff Ogilvy clings to a two-stroke lead

Posted by Iflove Featured Stories on March 23, 2008 at 11:17 pm

Tiger Woods five strokes back and Australian Geoff Ogilvy clings to a two-stroke lead

Australian Geoff Ogilvy clung to a two-stroke lead while Tiger Woods was five strokes back on Sunday when darkness halted the final round of the World Golf Championships CA Championship.

With nine holes yet to play, Ogilvy stood on 17-under par, two ahead of Fiji’s Vijay Singh, who had nine to play, and American Jim Furyk, who had eight remaining, with Woods struggling in his bid to win his eighth event in a row.

“I’m sure he probably thinks he has a chance and we’ve seen him do crazy things before,” Ogilvy said of Woods. “But Jim and Vijay have won a fair few tournaments and there are some pretty tough players right up there.”

After 61 players were forced to complete the third round Sunday morning due to prior storms, golfers waited out a 2hr 50min weather delay before darkness fell with 24 in the clubhouse and 53 returning Monday morning for the finish.

“It was a long day,” Ogilvy said. “I warmed up four times. It’s no fun. It’s a bit fatiguing going out, warming up, getting in the van, driving all the way out, coming all the way back, coming in, sitting around. It was frustrating.”

Ogilvy opened with a birdie and added another at the sixth before taking his first bogey of the week at seven, ending a run of 60 holes at par or better.

“Had my first bogey, which is disappointing, but apart from that it wasn’t too bad,” Ogilvy said. “What are you going to do? You’re going to make one at some point.”

Woods was 12-under par with seven holes remaining, sharing eighth with Aussie Nick O’Hern, after four birdies and three birdies on the front nine and two back-nine pars.

Top-ranked Woods, trying to match his best last-round victory comeback from five back in 2000 at Pebble Beach, seeks a fourth consecutive title at Doral and fifth consecutive World Golf series triumph in his last Masters tuneup.

“He doesn’t only have to catch me. He has got to catch me and pass Jim Furyk and Retief Goosen and Adam Scott. It’s a pretty stellar leaderboard,” Ogilvy said. “I’ve got my work cut out just beating any of those guys.”

Woods, a 13-time major winner chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major titles, has 64 career wins to match Ben Hogan for third on the all-time list behind Sam Snead’s 82 and 73 by Nicklaus.

Ogilvy plans on making an aggressive start, hoping to slam the door shut before Woods or other rivals can close the gap.

“I’m sure it’s in my control if I go out and have three or four birdies early. It might discourage people,” Ogilvy said. “But if I go out and par three or four holes in a row then maybe they’re going to catch me because there’s so many birdies out there.

“I guess it’s in my control, but in some respects it’s not. There are some tough holes coming in but they can still be birdied.”

Woods had the worst showing so far in the round among the leaders after the worst third round of anyone in the top 30 when he made par on all seven holes Sunday morning to complete a par-72 round.

Furyk was 3-under on the round with eight holes remaining. He followed an opening birdie with two bogeys, then ran off four birdies in a row starting at the fifth hole to put pressure on Ogilvy, who led by four shots after 54 holes.

“I’m playing pretty good. I made a bunch of birdies and kind of got myself back in the tournament,” Furyk said. “If I want to win the golf tournament I’m going to have to make a bunch of birdies again tomorrow.”

Singh birdied the fifth and ended his front nine with back-to-back birdies just before the horn sounded. Players were allowed to finish the holes they were playing if they wanted.

“We’ve still a lot of golf to go,” Singh said. “I just hung in there. I’m looking forward to coming tomorrow with good light and ready to go.”

England’s Graeme Storm and South African Retief Goosen were at 14-under, three off the pace. Each was 2-under for the round, Storm with nine holes to finish and Goosen with eight remaining.

Steve Stricker was the clubhouse leader after a stunning nine-under 63 to finish on 13-under 275. The American’s bogey-free round matched the lowest of the week and proved there were strokes to be gained despite the downpours.

Stricker opened both nines with birdies and birdied the final five holes on the front side.

Aussie Adam Scott was 13-under after 10 holes, making par at the 10th after his approach slammed off the top of the cup and rolled off the green. He was 1-under on the round after birdies at the first and sixth and a bogey at nine.

Ogilvy had stretched his lead to four strokes after 54 holes Sunday morning, completing a four-under 68 third round.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever played 54 holes in a tournament without a bogey, definitely not the first 54 holes,” Ogilvy said.

Tiger Woods five strokes back and Australian Geoff Ogilvy clings to a two-stroke lead

Archived under American Golf Clubs, Australian Geoff Ogilvy, Golf Classes, Golf Clubs, Golf Superstars, Tiger Woods, World Golf Championships CA Championship Comments

Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett

Posted by Iflove Featured Stories on March 23, 2008 at 10:45 pm

The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett

The Judd Apatow brand is something. The Tyler Perry brand is something else.

The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns, starring Angela Bassett, was the Easter weekend’s biggest hit, theater for theater, grossing $20 million off about 2,000 screens, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.

Overall, the film placed second. Dr. Suess’ Horton Hears a Who!, playing on nearly twice as many screens, retained the No. 1 spot with a strong second weekend take of $25.1 million.

Drillbit Taylor, the latest comedy from the Apatow factory, meanwhile, sputtered to the weakest start of any of the major new releases: a $10.2 million take, and a fourth place debut.

At least Drillbit Taylor–a Freaks and Geeks meets The Bodyguard, starring Owen Wilson–was a few steps up the economic ladder from Apatow’s last producing effort, Walk Hard, the rock-biopic satire that basically did what satires are said to do: Close on Saturday night.

The prolific Apatow has now gone about seven months without a No. 1 hit, it was noted ironically.

The just as busy Perry has himself gone five months without a box-office topper. But Perry has been arguably more consistent than Apatow of late.

Of Perry’s five feature films, four of the five have opened with at least $20 million. Apatow’s last five features as producer have either debuted super big (Superbad, Knocked Up, Talledega Nights) or not so much (Walk Hard, Drillbit Taylor). Either label probably would have done Semi-Pro’s bellbottoms some good.

Elsewhere:

After 12 weekends–nearly 25 percent of the year–Hollywood still doesn’t have a $100 million hit. Horton, now standing at $86.5 million overall, should end the drought by next weekend.
Shutter (third place, $10.7 million), the latest redo of a Japanese horror hit, wasn’t The Ring or The Grudge. Frankly, it wasn’t even One Missed Call. On the upside, though, it wasn’t Dark Water, either.
Under the Same Moon (10th place, $2.6 million), the story of boy trying to find his illegal-immigrant mother in Los Angeles, cracked the Top 10 on the strength of only 266 theaters. Among the weekend’s biggest films, its per-screen average was second only to Meet the Browns.
Adam Carolla’s movie career is showing more promise than his dancing one. His new Rocky-esque comedy, The Hammer, did all right at 20 theaters, grossing $107,045.
Well, it was close but Will Ferrell’s Semi-Pro ($1.1 million; $32.3 million overall, per Box Office Mojo) ended up making more money than A Night at the Roxbury. Barely.
Saying goodbye to the Top 10 were: Doomsday ($2.2 million; $8.9 million overall); The Other Boleyn Girl ($2 million; $22.5 million overall); The Spiderwick Chronicles ($1.2 million; $67.8 million, per Box Office Mojo); and, the dearly departed Semi-Pro.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, $25.1 million
Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns, $20 million
Shutter, $10.7 million
Drillbit Taylor, $10.2 million
10,000 B.C., $8.7 million
Never Back Down, $4.9 million
College Road Trip, $4.6 million
The Bank Job, $4.1 million
Vantage Point, $3.8 million
Under the Same Moon, $2.6 million

The Perry-labed comedy-drama Meet the Browns starring Angela Bassett, Editing by Alice Zhan

Archived under Angela Bassett, Dr. Suess' Horton Hears a Who, Easter weekend, Hollywood Movie Stars, Hollywood Movies, Judd Apatow, Meet the Browns, Tyler Perry brand Comments

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Actors reunite at William S. Paley Television Festival

Posted by Iflove Featured Stories on March 23, 2008 at 10:22 pm

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Actors reunite at William S. Paley Television Festival

“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was resurrected for one night only. The cast of the popular supernatural series, which ran from 1997 to 2003 on The WB and then UPN, were in good spirits Thursday while reuniting for a panel discussion at the William S. Paley Television Festival. That doesn’t mean fans should expect the gang to get back together on screen.

“So many stars would have to align,” creator Joss Whedon said about the possibility of a new “Buffy” project.

For seven seasons, the slayer and company battled vampires, demons, werewolves, high school and other forces of darkness with tongue planted firmly in cheek. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” based on the movie of the same name, was never lauded with many awards, but it has been cited by many critics as being one of the most influential shows in TV history.

Sarah Michelle Gellar said she was surprised to find out moments before the reunion that her character recently had her first sexual tryst with a woman in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight,” a comic book series that picks up where the show ended. Gellar also reminisced about auditioning 11 times before landing the role of Buffy Summers.

“All my friends felt sorry for me because I was on a midseason replacement on a network no one had heard of on a show based on a movie that wasn’t all that,” the 30-year-old actress said.

Before the panel, audience members watched the fifth-season musical episode “Once More, With Feeling.” Other cast members at the reunion were Amber Benson, Nicholas Brendon, Emma Caulfield, Seth Green, James Marsters and Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s surprise sister Dawn and will join the cast of The CW’s “Gossip Girl” this fall.

The 25th Annual William S. Paley Television Festival will take place March 14 to 27, 2008, at a new location: the historic Cinerama Dome at the ArcLight in Hollywood, CA.

PALEYFEST is an extraordinary interactive pop culture event, connecting fans with the casts and creators of their favorite series as well as the icons who have changed or are changing the face of media. Named for William S. Paley, founder of both the Center and CBS, PALEYFEST continues its twenty-five-year tradition of celebrating the collaborative creativity behind making great entertainment content—from the genesis of an idea to that vital connection with audiences the world over.

Archived under American Movie Actors, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hollywood Movie Stars, Hollywood Movies, TV Programs, William S Paley Television Festival, movie actors, movie actresses Comments (2)

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who stands first at box office again

Posted by Iflove Featured Stories on March 23, 2008 at 10:11 pm

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who stands first at box office again

Audiences are still listening to Horton and his Who pals. “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who,” 20th Century Fox’s animated adaptation of the beloved children’s book, remained the top movie for a second straight weekend with $25.1 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, the movie raised its 10-day total to $85.5 million.

“Horton” fended off a rush of new movies opening over Easter weekend.

Lionsgate’s “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” about a single mom who connects with previously unknown kin at her late father’s funeral, opened in second place with $20 million.

It was the latest success for writer-director and co-star Perry, whose past hits for Lionsgate include “Madea’s Family Reunion” and “Why Did I Get Married?” Shot on modest budgets, Perry’s movies play to a built-in fan base.

“You kind of know what you’re going to get with Tyler Perry, and that’s a good thing,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “You want to be in business with this guy because he’s going to make you money every time.”

“Shutter,” 20th Century Fox’s fright flick about a newlywed couple tormented by a spirit whose image appears in their photos, opened at No. 3 with $10.7 million.

Just behind it at No. 4 was Owen Wilson’s comedy “Drillbit Taylor,” which pulled in $10.2 million. The Paramount release stars Wilson as a laid-back homeless guy who signs on as bodyguard for three bullied teenage nerds.

The acclaimed “Under the Same Moon,” a border tale about a Mexican boy trying to reunite with his mother in the United States, was No. 10 with $2.6 million, a record opening weekend for a Spanish-language film. Released by Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co., the movie has taken in $3.3 million since opening Wednesday and also took in $1.7 million in Mexico, where it debuted this weekend.

“Under the Same Moon” surpassed the previous Spanish-language record set by “Ladron Que Roba a Ladron,” which opened with $1.6 million last Labor Day weekend.

Both movies opened in far more theaters — “Under the Same Moon” at 266, “Ladron” at 340 — than typical Spanish-language films, which generally debut in a handful of cinemas before gradually expanding to wider release if they click with movie-goers.

“We thought this was a movie that could play as a commercial movie, not as an arthouse movie, to Spanish-language audiences,” said Peter Rice, Fox Searchlight president.

The movie started mainly in theaters catering to Spanish speakers. But it also enjoyed strong word-of-mouth publicity in cinemas dominated by English-language crowds, where business picked up strongly over the course of the weekend, said Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein, whose had found success with foreign-language films such as “Cinema Paradiso” and “Amelie” when he ran Miramax.

Fox Searchlight and the Weinstein Co. plan to gradually roll “Under the Same Moon” out to more theaters in the coming weeks.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who,” $25.1 million.

2. “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns,” $20 million.

3. “Shutter,” $10.7 million.

4. “Drillbit Taylor,” $10.2 million.

5. “10,000 B.C.,” $8.7 million.

6. “Never Back Down,” $4.9 million.

7. “College Road Trip,” $4.6 million.

8. “The Bank Job,” $4.1 million.

9. “Vantage Point,” $3.8 million.

10. “Under the Same Moon,” $2.6 million.

Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Rogue Pictures are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney’s parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.