Men in Black 3's production is not easy. (Image: Sony Pictures España (CC) via Flickr)

The film almost never saw the light of day; it had to go through some rough challenges during production.

One of the problems involved choosing a director, which eventually went to the original director Barry Sonnenfeld. Sony considered other directors, but Barry was able to convince the executives that he had envisioned something strong for “Men in Black III” despite previous disputes regarding “Men in Black 2.”

Movie production was rushed during the fall of 2010. According to Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, “obviously, going into production without a finished script was not ideal. But … we’re not going to wait forever.”

Will Smith also had concerns with parts of the story set during 1969 when Agent J time-traveled to meet the younger version of Agent K. Rewrites have been done, adding millions of dollars to the extravagant budget.

Men in Black III’s challenges did not end after production, as the 250 million dollar-worth film has to consider the fact that the last sequel was shown ten years ago; most of its younger movie goers may have never seen the first two Men in Black movies.

According to Jeff Sagansky, former top executive for Sony, “to come back to a franchise after 10 years and try to recapture the spirit of the original from 15 years ago is very unusual and requires you to be bold creatively.”

Despite these trials, Sony believes that “Men in Black III” will be a huge hit. Surveys from all across the United States, Europe, Brazil and Russia show solid support for the movie.

"The Avengers" is expected to reach global sales of 1 billion dollars by its 19th day of release. (Image: paperfairy (CC) via Flickr)

“The Avengers” is expected to reach 1 billion dollars in worldwide sales by Sunday, according to Walt Disney Studios.

The movie previously beat the highest debut for domestic box office records with 207.4 million dollars.

Furthermore, it’s 103.2 million dollars figures for the second week of release is another domestic box office record. Currently, it has earned around 628.9 million dollars worldwide.

According to Robert A. Iger, chief executive and chairman of Disney, “we’re obviously thrilled with the global success of ‘The Avengers.’ It is a fantastic movie and an extraordinary franchise that will continue with more great stories and compelling characters for years to come.”

“Avengers Assemble,” featuring Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor and Captain America, along with other superheroes is apparently a colossal movie. As such, Disney plans to make a sequel.

Disney’s success translates to the success of the United States movie industry in general.

For the first quarter alone, U.S. box office earned 2.3 billion dollars, a 46 percent improvement from last year’s first quarter earnings. To be fair, last year’s movie earnings was the worst for the U.S. in sixteen years.

The future looks bright as well for the U.S. movie industry, with surefire hits in “Men in Black III,” “Brave,” “The Amazing Spider-Man,” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”

The success of “The Avengers” was preceded by another highly successful movie, “The Hunger Games,” which took 155 million dollars in its opening weekend.

Brendan Fraser Taking 'William Tell' Producers to Court. (Image: David Shankbone (CC) via wikipedia)

Brendan Fraser is suing the makers of “William Tell: 3D” for not giving him the promised compensation of $2.25 million as his acting fees. The principal photography of this William Tell biopic hasn’t even started yet but the actor is still demanding the payment, as according to him, the 3D movie’s production delays are a fault of the producers and therefore, he should get paid.

Celebrity news website TMZ has obtained the paperwork of Fraser’s lawsuit and in those legal documents, he claims that he gave up several other movies in order to maintain his affiliation with “William Tell: 3D.”

According to the terms of his agreement with the movie’s producers, he was supposed to receive his payment of $2.25 million in October 2011 irrespective of the fact that the shooting had begun or not. But he did not receive anything from them and the date passed by, after which Fraser decided to take legal action against the movie’s producer Todd Moyer and his partners.

The delays in the movie’s production were a result of financing difficulties, although Moyer claims that those issues have now been sorted out. He explained: “This is the first I have heard of this lawsuit. As we told Mr. Fraser’s reps, we are ready, willing and able to make the movie for the September 3rd start date. [Producer] Julius Nasso and I have the movie fully financed.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Fraser does not seem to be interested in making the movie as a 2D film as the producers intend to do. This is not a contractual decision Mr. Fraser has the ability to make.”

The “George of the Jungle” star is seeking a total payment of $3 million in acting fees and damages.

MTV President Stephen Friedman expressed what may be interpreted as hopeful optimism regarding Brand’s performance as host of its annual movie awards event, to be held on June 3^rd, in the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California: “With his amazing ability to span the full spectrum of comedy from the most high to low brow Russell’s smart, unpredictable wit uniquely connects him to our audience.”

British actor/comedian will host the 21st annual MTV Movie Awards on June 3 (Image: CC Flickr, M'aidez)

Russell will join a growing list of accomplished comedians who have hosted the annual MTV movie awards including Dennis Miller (1992), Eddie Murphy (1993), Will Smith (1994), Ben Stiller (1996) and more recently, Mike Myers (2008), Aziz Ansari (2010), and Jason Sudeikis (2011).

Thirty-eight year old Brand, who is also well known for his short marriage to pop singer Katy Perry, in 2004 hosted a spin-off of the popular British reality game show “Big Brother”, called “Big Brother’s Big Mouth”, earning him national fame in Britain.  Brand’s first significant acting role was in the movie St. Trinian’s (2007) and he played rock star Aldous Snow in the movie “Forgetting Sarah Marshal” (2008), winning him an American audience.

Brand again played Aldous Snow in the movie “Get him to the Greek” (2010) but this time he starred in the film, earning high praise from movie critic Roger Ebert, who, speaking of the friendship between the movie’s two main characters Aldous and Aaron said: “The reason the friendship works is because Russell Brand and Johan Hill are good actors.”  Ebert said “Russell Brand is convincing as a rock star, imperious, self- destructive, smarter than he seems, measuring out wretched excess in survivable portions.”

Brand, with the help of other and more famous actors like Charleze Theron, Mark Whalberg, and Mila Kunis, will be measuring out recognition and praise when he presents golden popcorn statuettes to the winners on June 3^rd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ivQXyfYxIU

Russell Brand Lands MTV Movie Awards Hosting Role. (Image Eva Rinaldi (CC) via wikipedia)

MTV has chosen Russell Brand as the host of the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. The British comedian, whose career in the US reached a whole new level after he hosted the MTV Video Music Awards back in 2008 and 2009, has been handpicked for the MMAs duty because of his part-time affiliation with rock and roll music.

In MTV’s official press statement, which was released earlier today, Brand said: “This MTV Movie Awards will be more impressive than ‘The Avengers,’ and you won’t have to wait an hour for someone to Hulk out.”

The MTV Movie Awards’ executive producer will be Jesse Ignjatovic, under whom Brand worked during his VMAs stint. About the Essex-born funnyman, Ignjatovic said: “He brings the funny but he also has that rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic.”

MTV President Stephen Friedman also chipped in by saying: “With his amazing ability to span the full spectrum of comedy from the most high to lowbrow, Russell’s smart, unpredictable wit uniquely connects him to our audience. His rock-n-roll sensibility and fearlessness give us the perfect partner with whom to take a leap of faith with as we meld the worlds of movies and music together on one very special night.”

This year’s MMAs are scheduled to take place at Universal City’s Gibson Amphitheatre. MTV will broadcast the show live on June 3.

Johnny Depp says he is upset with the fan sites about his 12 year old daughter Lily-rose (Image: gataloka2009 (CC) via Flickr)

According to Johnny Depp, Lily-Rose is “a little girl who’s quite sophisticated, quite beautiful and a lot of fun. But she’s a little girl and she’s a student. She just happens to be our kid but there’s a fan page and a fan site for her. She certainly finds it weird. I find it bizarre and somewhat ugly.”

Lily-Rose is Johnny Depp’s and Vanessa Paradis’ daughter. They also have a ten year old son named Jack. Depp is protecting his kids from rumors circulating in the internet. He said, “these days, my kids have access to the Internet. They are able to read truths, lies, fiction and rumors… I’ve decided to just stay hush-hush about anything and everything. If the rumors spin, let the rumors spin.”

One rumor is the alleged split-up between him and Vanessa. For that rumor, Depp mentioned he had to sit down and talk with his kids, explain to them that this is part of the “occupational hazards” of being an actor.

Another rumor involves a house he allegedly bought in England. Depp joked about it, saying “I’ve been buying houses all over the globe for years now and I haven’t seen one of them.” He says he hasn’t considered buying a house in the UK, but admits it would have made sense if he did because he made so many films in the country. Depp’s family has a property in France. He says he still goes there a lot.

Fox Movie changes "Neighborhood watch" into "The Watch" in light of Trayvon Martin's death (Image: via hitfix.com)

The new title is “The Watch.” Fox released a new trailer for the movie, which is a science fiction comedy about suburban fathers hunting for aliens.

According to the movie studio, “as the subject matter of this alien invasion comedy bears no relation whatsoever to the recent tragic events in Florida, the studio altered the title to avoid any accidental or unintended impression that it might.”

The original title, “Neighborhood Watch,” brings to mind George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman was not arrested initially because he said he only shot Martin for self defense. However, evidence later showed that he committed second degree murder.

“The Watch” stars Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill, and Vince Vaughn. It is directed by Akiva Schaffer, written by a couple of writers including Jared Stern and Seth Rogen, and produced by Michael Ewing and Shawn Levy. The movie will be released in theaters across the United States this July 27.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2X-R_PR6xs

Scarlett Johansson Talks about Black Widow Spin-Off Movie. Image: Sgt. Michael Connors (CC) via wikipedia

Kevin Feige, the producer of “The Avengers,” had recently confirmed that plans to make a separate movie on super heroine Black Widow have already been finalised.

“We have already planned her next appearance and where to take the character because we believe in it and we believe in her in a big, big way. When will there be a standalone? Both is what we’re heading toward,” he told Movieline.

And now Scarlett Johansson has come forward to divulge some more info about the spin-off project. In a recent promotional interview for “The Avengers,” ScarJo, who plays the role of Black Widow on this superhero series, revealed that the proposed film would be a prequel and it will focus on her character’s origin.

“I love her origin story. I think it’s just such a riveting one…It’s just steeped in history and the richness to shoot in Russia, perhaps… I hope that the fans’ voice is loud enough and they want to see a Widow origin story, I know Marvel would be happy to entertain that. We’ve spoken a lot about it,” Johansson said.

The 27-year-old actress had appeared as Natasha Romanoff in 2010′s “Iron Man 2″ too, and she then talked about how her character is different in “The Avengers.” “[In Avengers] you see a little bit about how Natasha joined and it’s not that she’s fighting for the greater good of humanity. She was almost salvaged by S.H.I.E.L.D. and so she’s loyal to that group, to that agency, but only as sort of paid debt,” she added.

For the seven kids portrayed in this documentary, ballet is more than just a hobby. In fact, the kids and their families spend a majority of their time, money and emotion towards the competitive art. They are truly in love with ballet, and they are not just competing for the recognition, but to carve out the future path of their lives. The seven participants have similar traits, including enthusiasm, and being perfectionists.

The Youth America Grand Prix starts out with five thousand participants, and ends with just 300 remaining for the finals. The contest doesn’t end with just one winner; in fact, there are several awards in the form of trophies, company contracts and scholarships.

One of the kids featured in this movie is Aran Bell, an 11 year old American who lives with his family in Italy. Aran says he loves “ballet so much it hard to explain.”

Another story is that of Michaela DePrince, 14 years old, who came from Sierra Leone as a war orphan. She was adopted by a Philadelphian family. Back in Sierra Leone, she mentioned that “everywhere you looked, you saw someone die for no reason.” She also has to constantly struggle against the “black girls can’t dance ballet” prejudice.

The movie currently has no MPAA rating yet. It runs at an hour and thirty minutes.

Avengers Assemble is probably the best Marvel's movie ever made (Image: via thehollywoodnews.com)

Movies based on comic books usually have similar plots, and Marvel’s “Avengers Assemble” is not an exception. However, where “Avengers Assemble” stands out is its first-class acting, special effects, and wits. Just like any great comic book movies, this film gives fans and moviegoers alike a lot of fun.

“Avengers Assemble” stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark slash Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff slash Black Widow, newcomer Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner slash the Hulk, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Samuel L. Jackson as the S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury.

Mark Ruffalo has a noteworthy acting performance in this film, wonderfully portraying how it feels like to be unable to control himself as the Hulk. Together with Robert Downey, Jr., their relaxed acting compliments the formal conduct by Evans and Hemsworth.

Avengers Assemble doesn’t have an overly aspiring plot and the ending is rather predictable. But the superhero team mash-up is so enjoyable that the viewing experience is of high quality. Much of the movie’s success can be attributed to Joss Whedon, the film’s direction and writer.

Joss Whedon is known more for directing TV series such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” but he was given the task to direct Avengers Assemble because he is capable of juggling a huge casts of characters. In addition, he knows a lot about Marvel comics, having written “The Astonishing X-Men.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPoHPNeU9fc