Wolverine 2 May Break The Rules To Spring Start

EXCLUSIVE: The studio states itnever formally has because of the follow up a production condition date. Fox was searching in a Fall 2011 start date for that Christopher McQuarrie script forWolverine 2 starring Hugh Jackman and directed by James Mangold. However that could break the rules to Spring 2012. The script mostly happens in Japan. But studio associates tell usit’s hard finding just where you can shoot in Japan nowadays due to weather-related factors. The location mightswitch to Canada or become a mix of the 2 nations. Butwe’re also hearing thatthe start date will hold back until afterJackman finishes making L'ensemble des Miserables. There’s no question that20th Century Fox wants the pic badly and it has been looking to get its follow up towards the X-Males spinoffThe Wolverine moving for quite some time now. In June it arrived director Mangold after Darren Aronofsky bowed in March, ending probably the most competitive contests amongHollywood helmersfor a significant studio film. That setup the studio thinking that could begin production within the fall.

Box Office Report: 'The Help' Gains on 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes' 'Glee: The three dimensional Concert Movie' Sings Off Key

The Friday box office converted into an suddenly close race between holdover Rise from the Planet from the Apes and new entry The Assistance, with Rise from the Apes only holding a narrow lead. Preliminary estimations demonstrated twentieth century Fox's Rise from the Apes grossing $7.8 million, while DreamWorks and Participant Media's The Assistance gained $7 million to $7.5 mllion. Most box experts continue to be betting on Rise from the Apes to win the weekend, but when The Assistance--depending on Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel about Southern whitened ladies and their service personnel--is constantly on the overperform, the end result could change. Because it stands now, Rise from the Apes is anticipated to earn $25.5 million for that weekend, as the Assistance is likely to gross between $20 million and $22 million. Disney, that is disbursing the film, has been conservative in the estimate, and adhering to $20 million. Even at $20 million, that will place the The Assistance's five-day debut (the pic opened up on Wednesday) in a stellar $$ 30 million, much better than expected and reflecting strong person to person. Directed by Tate Taylor, the film received an uncommon A+ CinemaScore and it is playing especially well in African-American towns and trendy movie theaters, such as the ArcLight in La. Three other new films joined the marketplace on Friday to mixed results--Warner Bros./New Line's Final Destination 5, The new sony and Media Privileges Capital's R-ranked action comedy half an hour or Less and Fox's Glee: The three dimensional Concert Movie. Final Destination 5, launched in three dimensional, looked to gross $7 million on Friday, putting the pic on the right track to earn $18 million for that weekend, slightly under expected. The pic received a B+ CinemaScore, with males creating 54% from the audience. Ruben Fleischer's half an hour or Less and Glee: The Film both arrived less than expected, grossing an believed $4.5 million and $3 million, correspondingly, in the Friday box office. Generating a B CinemaScore, half an hour or Less has become forecasted to spread out to $13 million, verus the $15 million to $17 million that The new sony and MRC were wishing for. Males composed a complete 60% from the audience. Glee, that is only playing in three dimensional locations, may gross $7.5 million for that weekend, the weakest showing one of the recent crop of concert photos. What's promising: The concert pic, appealing heavily to more youthful women, received a b CinemaScore. Related Subjects James Franco Viola Davis Emma Stone DreamWorks SKG Rise from the Planet from the Apes The Assistance Final Destination 5 half an hour or Less Glee: The three dimensional Concert Movie

Home entertainment sales down 5%

Overall sales of home entertainment in the U.S. are off 5% for the first half of 2011, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, after last year's success of Fox's homevideo launch of "Avatar" propped up much of the biz.Disc and electronic sales and rentals across various platforms generated $8.3 billion during the first six months of the year, compared with nearly $8.8 billion last year.While DVD and Blu-ray sales fell 18.3% during the first half, the DEG is "encouraged" by signs of "stabilization" during the second quarter, which was down just 3.6% over the first quarter's 6.4% drop."Avatar" moved 12 million discs during the second quarter in 2010.But overall rentals rose nearly 11% to earn nearly $4.2 billion. Figure includes VOD, streaming, kiosk and other physical rentals.Broken out, subscription-based streams of rented fare through companies like Netflix rose 46% to collect nearly $1.6 billion during the first half of 2011. Kiosks exhibited the second highest growth at nearly 40% to earn $806 million.Electronic sales of films is still rising slowly at 4% during the first six months, earning $270 million, yet VOD is at $929 million, also up 4%.The DEG noted that Blu-ray sales are up 10% for the year so far -- notable given that the homevid industry is eager for Blu-ray to make up for the downturn in DVD sales, given their higher pricepoint and profit margin.The number of Blu-ray households has grown 13% this year over the same period in 2010, through the sale of 4.9 million Blu-ray players, including those built into PlayStation 3 consoles. There are now 31.6 million Blu-ray players in U.S. homes. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

Could the Brett Ratner Oscars Be a Good Thing?

The only way Tom Sherak and Dawn Hudson could have enraged the online community further with the selection of an Oscar co-producer for 2012 is if they hired Michael Bay. That’s the kind of vitriol newly minted Oscar producer — and apparent walking Old Hollywood Wikipedia page — Brett Ratner brings to the table. When it was announced late Thursday that Ratner would produce the Oscars next winter with Don Mischer, a cacophony of “What the fuck?” rose up from Twitter with the speed of one of Chris Tucker’s monologues in Rush Hour. It’s a terrible, no-good, off-the-grid idea! Except for the fact that maybe it isn’t. As mentioned earlier, neither the Oscars nor Ratner really have anything to lose in this scenario. For the director — whose upcoming Tower Heist will be his first full-length feature film since Rush Hour 3 in 2007 — he’ll either be lauded for making the Oscars merely OK (at this point is there any way that the Academy Awards telecast can be considered great?) or derided for living down to his hack reputation. For the AMPAS, it doesn’t actually seem possible that things can get worse than they were this year, when co-host James Franco sleepwalked through three hours of Anne Hathaway chirps and boring, uninspired montages, set pieces and speechs. Unless Ratner burns down the Kodak Theater in a stunt gone awry, the 2012 Oscars will likely be better than the 2011 version just by the sheer fact that they aren’t the 2011 version. There’s also the point that nothing the producer of the Academy Awards does really has much of an impact on the structure of the show; in Brian McNamee terms, it is what it is. As Ratner himself told Deadline, “I can’t change the Academy Awards because it’s an institution, but I can create a great show for everybody.” That is debatable — and, for some, unlikely — but let’s give him a shot. In this age of immediate Internet backlash — when every studio-approved publicity still is torn apart based on hair and setting — it’s always difficult to remember that until we actually see something, an early opinion isn’t necessarily the final word. (It’s tough even for professionals like myself.) Brett Ratner might produce the worst Oscars ever — or maybe he won’t — but piling on at this point feels a little bit like grabbing at low-hanging fruit. Besides, who doesn’t want to see how he gets Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan together on stage in the show’s first five minutes? [Photo: Getty Images]

Oren Peli taps director for FilmNation pic

EXCLUSIVE: "Paranormal Activity" creator Oren Peli has tapped commercials helmer Brad Parker to direct the untitled FilmNation genre project he's producing with Brian Witten.Peli wrote the script, which follows a group of friends who become stranded in a ghost town overrun by nature where they discover they're not alone.Project will be the first film to be fully financed by Glen Basner's FilmNation, which is also handling international sales. CAA and Linda Lichter are repping North American rights for the pic.Parker began his career in the early 1990s as an animator and art director at MTV, where he co-founded the company's digital animation lab. He joined Digital Domain in 1998 to work on visual effects for "Fight Club," "xXx" and "We Own the Night." During his tenure at Digital Domain, Parker collaborated with helmers such as Noam Murro and Mark Romanek, who tapped him as VFX supervisor for the Steven Spielberg-produced TV pilot "Locke & Key." Parker currently works for Bob Industries, where he's directed spots for Nike, Nintendo, Sony, Electronic Arts and several auto manufacturers. In addition to serving as 2nd unit director on Matt Reeves' vampire pic "Let Me In," Parker most recently directed ads for Molson Beer and Panasonic HDTV.Parker is repped by Paradigm and attorney Darren Trattner. Contact Jeff Sneider at jeff.sneider@variety.com

Peter Jackson holds himself back on Tintin

Producer Peter Jackson has admitted he has to reign himself in during post-production on director Steven Spielberg's Tintin, so he doesn't get carried away doing ever more ambitious shots."You can go back to get angles you didn't think of on the day," Jackson told Superhero Hype while discussing the freedom allowed by a totally CGI shoot.However, he described that option as both "a good thing and a bad thing"."You try to treat it as a real movie, to keep from going crazy with difficult shots, but sometimes you can't help yourself," he added. "You have to know when to stop."He was also happy to chat about the financial pros and cons of a shoot that takes place on a motion capture sound stage."On a live-action set you have hundreds of people working and if it clouds over or rains, which it does from time to time in New Zealand, they're just sitting there waiting for it to stop and it's costing hundreds of thousands of dollars," Jackson said.In comparison, Spielberg shot Tintin in just 32 days using a crew of around 50 people."But it's not cheaper than live action. Not at all," Jackson shared, citing the extensive time needed for both pre- and post-production.The Adventures Of Tintin is released in UK cinemas on 26 October 2011.

'Harry Potter And Also The Deathly Hallows Part 2' DVD May Be The 'Mega Edition,' States Tom Felton

FROM MTV MOVIES: Even though this year's large blockbuster box-office record-breaker, "Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2" continues to be spinning within the dough at theaters we are only in week three of their release, in the end it's rarely too soon to begin considering what may be about the DVD and Blu-Ray versions from the film when it is launched in November. MTV News swept up with "Potter" actor Tom Felton on Thursday in the premiere of his other film being launched this season, "Rise from the Planet from the Apes," to discover also of Draco Malfoy we may see about the DVD. Browse the full story at MTV Movies!