Maddox Makes Time for Mommy
Angelina Jolie had two visitors at 8 a.m. Saturday morningher older brother, James Haven, and son, Maddox.
“Since news broke that Angelina’s at the hospital, there’s now roughly 200 fans waiting outside on the pavement,” Rachel Roberts, who lives close to the Lenval maternity hospital in Nice, tells News.
“As soon as the car with Maddox in it pulled up, people were squeezing up against the windows hoping for a glimpse of him and taking photos. He must have been really scared, poor thing.”
Maddox was sporting a new mohawk with blond streaks (not pictured)similar to one he had before Shiloh was born in Namibia in 2006.
The pair stayed until just before 5 p.m. before returning home to see Pax, whom James, 35, has been helping to look after at the family’s château in Brignoles.
Brad Pitt, along with Shiloh and Zahara, are believed to have stayed at the hospital, where they have booked out four suites on the sixth floor, since they were pictured visiting last Thursday.
Bruno Goes To The Middle East
Sasha Baron Cohen is at it again with Bruno. Cohan/Bruno tricked Yossi Alpher, a former Israeli spy and Palestinian academic Ghassam Khalib into appearing in the film which they thought was a serious documentary on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At one point, Bruno compared the Middle East conflict to the battle between Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie over Brad Pitt, saying: ‘Your conflict is not so bad.’ He also said:
“What’s the connection between a political movement and food. Why hummus?” Cohen asked, later adding: “Yesterday I threw away my pitta bread because it was dripping hummus. And it’s too high in carbohydrates.”
It was too late to pull out because the two had already signed release forms and received payment for the interview. The way things are going Bruno could end up being just a great as Borat…maybe even better! So far there has been talk of Ben Affleck being interviewed by Cohen in character, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was also an incident in the lobby of Wichita Kansas Airport, where Bruno and his friend were caught stripping down to tight shorts.
Bruno Tricks Israeli Spy and Palestinian Academic
Sacha Baron Cohen strikes yet again. For his upcoming Borat follow-up Bruno, Cohen tricked Yossi Alpher, a former Israeli spy and Palestinian academic Ghassam Khalib into appearing in the film under the guise that it was a youth documentary. The Sun reports that Bruno mistook the militant Arab group Hamas for the food “hummus”, and commented that the Middle East conflict wasn’t nearly as bad as the feud between Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston.
“What’s the connection between a political movement and food. Why hummus?” Cohen asked, later adding: “Yesterday I threw away my pitta bread because it was dripping hummus. And it’s too high in carbohydrates.”
Cohen also made them hold hands while he sang a “crazy song about the war.” Thanks to reader Luke H for the tip. Bruno is scheduled to hit theaters on May 15th 2009. I smell a Cannes premiere.
Will Smith’s Superpowers Still Work
Will Smith did Hancock a solid.
Smith has star-powered the poorly reviewed superhero hybrid to a $66 million opening weekend, and a No. 1 finish, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
WALL-E, last weekend’s champ, stayed strong, grossing another $33.4 million, but finished a distant second.
Hancock goes down as Smith’s seventh straight movie to open No. 1. If you count Shark Tale, the 2004 animated comedy, as a Smith movie, his streak stands at eight straight.
Overall, Hancock has grossed $107.3 million since “previewing” on Tuesday night and “opening” on Wednesday.
Looking strictly at the movie’s first five days, Wednesday-Sunday, Hancock took in $100.4 million, per Box Office Mojo stats, far behind the pace of this summer’s two leading movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($152 million) and Iron Man ($112.1 million).
Among Smith movies, Hancock becomes his top Fourth of July opener, a testament to the star’s drawing power, yes, but also inflation.
Run the movie math (divide the opening weekend gross by the average ticket price), and the numbers show Independence Day, Smith’s signature Fourth of July hit, sold nearly two million more tickets in its opening weekend in 1996 than Hancock did this weekend.
It’s actually better not to run the movie math. Not if you want to enjoy the holiday weekend to the fullest.
Other box office notes:
- Where WALL-E remained hot and pushed its two-weekend total to $128.1 million, Angelina Jolie’s Wanted (third place, $20.6 million; $90.8 million overall) cooled off considerably, with business down 60 percent.
- In its third weekend, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the critically praised Abigail Breslin family film, opened wide and dieda doll-sized $3.6 million (eighth place) off nearly 1,850 screens.
- Speaking of the dearly departed, Mike Myers’ The Love Guru ($1.7 million) dropped out of the Top 10 after just two weekends.
- Looking on the bright side of a big giant bomb, The Love Guru, at $29.3 million overall, is the highest-grossing Justin Timberlake movie of all time. As long as you don’t count Shrek the Third as a Justin Timberlake movie. Which you really shouldn’t.
- The 1990s-nostalgia trip The Wackness, starring Drake & Josh’s Josh Peck, was the star in limited release, grossing $145,064 at six theaters. Its per-screen average of $24,177 was the tops for any movie of the weekend.
- Despite three movies taking in more than $20 million, the Hancock-led Fourth of July was 4 percent smaller than last year’s Transformers-led Fourth of July. The setback set 2008’s overall business once again behind 2007’s.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Hancock, $66 million
- WALL-E, $33.4 million
- Wanted, $20.6 million
- Get Smart, $11.1 million
- Kung Fu Panda, $7.5 million
- The Incredible Hulk, $5 million
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $3.9 million
- Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, $3.6 million
- Sex and the City, $2.3 million
- You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $2 million