“Marvel’s The Avengers” has reached another milestone. Last Sunday, the superhero ensemble flick hit the $1 billion mark worldwide. It did so in only 19 days, according to Box Office Mojo. Meanwhile, “The Avengers” clobbered the competition in the domestic box office over the weekend, by holding onto the number one spot with a haul of $103 million.

Far behind in second place, “Dark Shadows” with a debut of $29.6 million. This is a  take-off on the Gothic TV soap opera, “Dark Shadows,” but despite having Tim Burton as the director and Johnny Depp as its star, the film stumbled. The word is this horror comedy has some funny moments yet fails  because of a disjointed script.

Meanwhile,  the romantic comedy, “Think Like a Man,” is continuing to pack them in at theaters. The movie earned $5.8 million, good enough for third. In a month, “Think Like a Man” has collected $81.4 million. “The  Hunger Games” took fourth with $4.5 million, and rounding out the top five in the weekend box office derby, “The Lucky One” with $4.1 million.

Walt Disney Studio wasted no time in greenlighting a sequel to its mega-hit, “Marvel’s The Avengers.” Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed today what most suspected, that there will be a second teaming of “The Avengers” for the big screen. The superhero flick had a super opening weekend and has performed extremely well in foreign markets.  Deadline.com has more on “The Avengers 2,” plus some interesting comments about the blockbuster film and its sequel.

Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- Ticket holders for "Marvel's The Avengers" had to wait in specially designated lines at the AMC Burbank 16 May 04, 2012

“Marvel’s The Avengers” had an incredible weekend debut according to the final figures released yesterday. The superhero team-up of  Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the Hulk earned a record breaking $207.4 million last weekend — easily becoming the number one film in the country. The mega-hit centers on what happens when the Avengers assemble to fight Thor’s evil brother Loki who is trying to take over Earth. The stars include Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L. Jackson.

“Marvel’s The Avengers” captured the crown for the top grossing opening weekend. It smashed previous records for fastest film to reach $100 million, $150 million, and $200 million. More on the superhero flick’s monumental achievements since opening last Friday on Box Office Mojo.Oh, the film has quickly scooped up $447 million in foreign markets. The big question now is how quickly will “The Avengers” hit the one billion dollar mark worldwide?

As for the rest of the top five, the romantic comedy “Think Like a Man,” slipped from first to second place with $8.1 million — for a total of $73 million in three weeks at the domestic box office. “The Hunger Games” came in third with $5.58 million, followed closely by “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” $5.5 million and “The Lucky One” with $5.3 million.

Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- A very long line at the ticket window of the AMC Burbank 16 Friday evening May 4, 2012

As expected “Marvel’s The Avengers” is off to a very fast start at the domestic box office. Yesterday, opening day, the superhero ensemble film packed them in at the theaters across the nation to the tune of an estimated $80.5 million. Some of those moviegoers waited in long lines to see “The Avengers” at the AMC Burbank 16 over on East Palm Avenue in downtown.

“The Avengers’” is now second only to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ for opening day grosses. That Potter finale holds the record with $91.1 million on opening day.

Photo: FLLewis/Media City G -- Special lines were set up for "The Avengers" ticket holders at the AMC Burbank 16 Friday May 4, 2012

No doubt “The Avengers” will be the box office champ this weekend. The question is how much will the blockbuster earn? Estimates are running as high as $175 and even $200 million. Wow!

“Marvel’s The Avengers” is the big movie this weekend. The superhero ensemble flick reportedly raked in around $18 million at midnight shows last night. If you are not into comic books or you missed some of the other superhero movies like “Iron Man,” “Captain America,”  ”Thor,” or you just need a refresher on who’s who and what’s at stake — check out the witty guide on The Wrap called “‘The Avengers’: 5 Things You Need to Know If You Don’t Read Comic Books.” The post proves background on the bigger-than-life main characters and answers the important question of what is a tesseract?

The hot romantic comedy, “Think Like a Man” managed another slam dunk at the box office over the weekend. Based on comedian/entertainer Steve Harvey’s self-help relationship best seller, “Act Like  a Lady, Think Like a Man,” the film earned $17.6 million — holding on to the title of number one movie the country for the second straight week.

“Think Like a Man” has quickly snatched up an amazing $60 million at the domestic box office in less than two weeks. The budget for the movie was a mere $12 million. So “Think Like a Man” is on the way to becoming a major film success.

“Think Like a Man” will be forced to relinquish its crown this weekend, when the blockbuster, “Marvel’s The Avengers,” explodes on movie screens this Friday. After debuting in foreign markets, “The Avengers,” featuring a group of comic book heroes, has generated around $178 million. It’s expected to have a huge opening here this weekend.

Meanwhile, the new stop-action clay animation,  ”The Pirates! Bank of Misfits,” landed  in second place at the domestic box office over the weekend. “The Pirates” made $11 million.

“The Hunger Games” took third with $10.814 million, edging out “The Lucky One,” which had to settle for fourth with $10.808 million. And rounding out the top five, the new rom com, “Five-Year Engagement,” pulling in a disappointing $10.6 million. The film about  a couple’s engagement, which gets delayed by the unexpected events of life, was supposed to be this weekend’s box office champ. It stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt.  A lot of chatter today about what went wrong. Well, I think the “The Five-Year Engagement” trailer was only so-so funny and most likely that had something to do with the lackluster interest from moviegoers.

A surprise at the domestic box office. The big sci-fi hit, “The Hunger Games” got kicked to the curb this weekend by romantic comedy, “Think Like a Man.” After four consecutive weeks in the number one spot, “The Hunger Games” got dethroned by “Think Like a Man, ” which pulled in $33.6 million on its debut weekend, according to the final figures released today. “Think Like a Man” was produced on a small budget of $12 million.

“Think like a Man” is based on the runaway bestseller “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man,” by comedian Steve Harvey. The self-help relationship book, written for women about how to deal with men, was a  New York Times bestseller and a publishing phenomenon. It had broad appeal and apparently so does the movie it inspired. Opening last Friday on only 2, 015 screens, there were reports of sold out theaters for “Think Like a Man.” Also, this romantic comedy about the battle of the sexes had a very funny trailer, which is not always the case with the rom coms.

“Think Like a Man” centers on several women who shake up their relationships with men when they begin following the advice in Harvey’s book, “Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man.”  The cast includes Michael Ealy, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Gabrielle Union, Terrence J, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, and Romany Malco.

In second place, the new romantic drama, “The Lucky One,” starring Zac Efron, Taylor Schilling, and Blythe Danner. It opened with $22.5 million. “The Lucky One” is the adaptation of  the best seller of  the same name by popular romance author, Nicholas Sparks. In the movie, a U.S. Marine returns home from Iraq to search for a woman in a photo he found in the war rubble — a photo that became his good luck charm.

“The Hunger Games” landed in third with $14.6 million. In a month, the blockbuster based on the young adult novel by Suzanne Collins, has collected around $573 million worldwide.  In fourth, the new nature documentary narrated by Tim Allen, “Chimpanzee” with $10.6 million. The doc is about the adventures of a young chimpanzee named Oscar.

Rounding out the top five, “The Three Stooges” with $9.7 million.

The final numbers are out today and “The Hunger Games” turned out to be the hottest movie ticket over the weekend. The film adaptation of the bestselling young adult novel dominated the domestic box office with a final tally of $152.5 million — which ranks third on the list of best opening weekends. “The Hunger Games” is set in the U.S. following an apocalypse and involves a deadly game in which a young teenage girl must fight to survive against more than 20 other teens. The author of  ”The Hunger Games” series is Suzanne Collins.

“21 Jump Street” took fourth place with $20.4 million, followed by “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax”  $13.1 million, “John Carter” $5 million, and rounding out the top five  ”Act of Valor” $2 million.

The Best Picture Oscar is the most-coveted prize at this Sunday’s 84th Academy Awards ceremony. The odds-on favorite to win best picture is “The Artist,”  the homage to Hollywood ’s silent film era. However,  most Americans believe “The Help,” the story of two African-American maids living in Mississippi during the civil rights movement,  should walk away with that honor, according to a survey by The Harris Poll.

Last week, 2,239 adults were surveyed online by Harris and 21 per cent said “The Help” should win best picture. “War horse” got 9 per cent of the vote, “Moneyball 7 per cent, “The Artist” 6 per cent, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” 5 per cent, “The Descendants” 5 per cent, “Hugo” 3 per cent, and “The Tree of Life” 2 per cent.  Oh, 34 per cent were not sure who should win and 6 per cent said none of the nominated films should be the victor. Here are poll results for two more major categories.

Best Actor

George Clooney “The Descendants” 23%
Brad Pitt “Moneyball” 16%
Gary Oldman “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” 10%
Jean Dujardin “The Artist” 7%
Dimian Bichr “A Better Life”  1%

The rest did not know who should win or felt none of the nominated should get the award

Best Actress

Viola Davis “The Help” 23%
Meryl Streep “The Iron Lady” 22%
Rooney Mara “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” 11%
Michelle Williams “My Week with Marilyn” 7%
Glenn Close “Albert Nobbs” 4%

The rest did not know who should win or felt none of the nominated should get the award

Some good news for veteran host Billy Crystal and the Academy. Fifty per cent of those who participated in this poll feel Crystal will be better compared to host from the previous years.

The nation’s largest cable company, Comcast, announced  a sweeping deal today with four new minority-owned network with some famous names like Earvin “Magic “Johnson, Sean “Diddy”Combs, and filmmaker, Robert Rodriguez. Comcast did not suddenly decide to reach out to minorities. The deal was part of the conditions of last month’s controversial approval by the government of that mega-merger of Comcast/NBC Universal.

The Comcast press release, states the four proposals were selected from a field of over 100. Comcast agrees to distribute the selected networks on its cable systems between April 2012 and January 2014. Two of the networks have major African American owners and the other two,  have Hispanics as the majority owners.

Here are brief descriptions of the four networks:

Aspire: Headed by entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, in partnership with GMC TV. “Aspire will be a network that encourages and challenges African-Americans to reach for their dreams and will appeal to all generations. Aspire will celebrate our heritage, our groundbreaking achievements and the fearless talent that has shaped American culture. I’m most excited about Aspire creating opportunities for the new voices, new visions and the next generation of storytellers,” according to “Magic” Johnson.

REVOLT: Project from superstar and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs and MTV veteran Andy Schuon. Combs says, “… REVOLT will be live, like all great moments in television history.  REVOLT will also be immediate, like today’s social networks…”

El Rey by Hollywood movie director Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa. ”We are passionate about creating a wildly entertaining destination that we can be proud of by appealing to both Latino and mass market audiences,” said Robert Rodriguez and CEO of FactoryMade Ventures John Fogelman.

BabyFirst Americas proposed by Spanish language television veteran Constantino “Said” Schwarz. Constantino “Said” Schwarz, CEO and Chairman BabyFirst Americas explains, “BabyFirst Americas aims to bring the essential academic building blocks for kindergarten readiness into the home, making it accessible for families all across the U.S.”

David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation,“Comcast is committed to delivering programming that reflects the interests of our customers, and we look forward to integrating these great networks into our rich programming line-up.”

Photo from http://www.whitneyhouston.com

Today the entertainment world and music fans around the globe are mourning Whitney Houston — a phenomenal talent with a voice like no other.  The pop superstar was found dead in her Beverly Hilton hotel room yesterday afternoon.  She was 48. Details of her death are still sketchy. The Los Angeles Times has extensive coverage on its website. Also, photos, videos, and more on the official Whitney Houston website.  

Houston was once a powerhouse in the music industry as well as a succesful movie producer and actress, then personal struggles with addiction and erratic behavior derailed her career. Recently, there were indicators  the singer was attempting to clean up her act and was on the road to a comeback. Houston was in the Southland this week taking part in the events,  leading up to today’s 54th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Photo:Greg Harbaugh /©A.M.P.A.S. -- Academy Award nominees at the traditional Oscar luncheon, (center) Glenn Close, Jean Dujardin, George Clooney, February 6, 2011 Beverly Hills

A lot of smiles at the Oscar luncheon in Beverly Hills on Monday, February 6.  The traditional get together for Academy Award nominees includes a photo shoot. A series of pictures from that event  as well as video highlights  are on the official Oscar website.

The 84th Academy Awards ceremony will be broadcast live around the world later this month on Sunday, February 26, from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The silent French film, “The Artist,” begins the week with some extra Oscar heat. Last Saturday the feature, about an aging silent male film star and and a rising young actress, picked up the top trophy at the 23rd Producers Guild Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. In the past two years, the winner of the PGA honor for the best produced motion picture has gone on to win the Best Picture Academy Award. Last year, “The King’s Speech” — in 2010 “The Hurt Locker.”

Here are some of the big winners:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

 ”THE ARTIST”
Producer: Thomas Langmann

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

“THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN”
Producers: Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

The David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television:

“Downton Abbey” (Masterpiece) (PBS)

The Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Comedy:

“Modern Family” (ABC)
Producers: Paul Corrigan, Abraham Higginbotham, Steven Levitan, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Morton, Jeffrey Richman, Dan O’Shannon, Brad Walsh, Bill Wrubel, Danny Zuker

The Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama:

“Boardwalk Empire” (HBO)
Producers: Eugene Kelly, Howard Korder, Stephen Levinson, Martin Scorsese, Rudd Simmons, Tim Van Patten, Terence Winter

A complete list of the winners on the Producers Guild of America website.

“Jumping the Broom, “The Help, “Pariah,” and Tower Heist” among the films receiving multiple nominations for the 43rd NAACP Image Awards. The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization. The Image Awards celebrate the accomplishments of people of color in the fields of television, music, film, and literature as well as honoring individuals or groups who promote social justice through creative endeavors.  The nominees were announced yesterday.

Here are the major film nominations for the 43rd Image Awards:

Outstanding Motion Picture

“Jumping the Broom”

“Pariah”

”The First Grader”

“The Help”

“Tower Heist”

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture

Eddie Murphy “Tower Heist”

Laurence Fishburne “Contagion”

Laz Alonso “Jumping the Broom”

Oliver Litondo “The First Grader”

Vin Diesel  “Fast Five”

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture

Adepero Oduye “”Pariah”

Emma Stone “The Help”

Paula Patton “Jumping the Broom”

Viola Davis “The Help”

Zoë Saldana  “Colombiana”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture

Anthony Mackie “The Adjustment Bureau”

Charles Parnell “Pariah”

Don Cheadle “The Guard”

Jeffrey Wright “The Ides of March”

Mike Epps  “Jumping the Broom”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture

Bryce Dallas Howard “The Help”

Cicely Tyson “The Help”

Kim Wayans “Pariah”

Maya Rudolph “Bridesmaids”

Octavia Spencer “The Help”

For the complete list of nominees go to the NAACP Image Awards website. The winners will be announced during a live broadcast on NBC, February 17 . The show begins at 8 p.m.

The entertainment industry’s awards season is in full bloom. This past week, the Directors Guild of America released a slew of its nominations for television, feature films, and documentaries.

Here are the nominees for the prestigious outstanding directorial achievement in feature films for 2011.

Woody Allen  “Midnight in Paris”
Fifth nomination. He won in 1977 for “Annie Hall”
David Fincher “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Third nomination.
David Hazanavicius “The Artist”
First nomination.
Alexander Payne  “The Descendants”
Second nomination.
Martin Scorsese  “Hugo”
Ninth nomination. He won this award in 2006 for “The Departed”

The DGA Award for feature film directing is a pretty good barometer for who is going to walk away with the Academy Award for Best Director. The DGA Awards began in 1948 and since then, only six times has the DGA Award winner not picked up the Best Director Oscar as well.

The winner will be announced at the 64th Annual DGA Awards gala later this month on Saturday, January 28 at The Grand Ballroom in Hollywood.

For the DGA Award nominees in television go here and for documentaries here.  Also, the winners in these categories will be announced at the DGA Awards dinner and ceremony on January 28.

Photo courtesy Guest Blogger Jean Youn

It’s been quite a while since the film, “Back to the Future,” hit movie theaters in 1985. Many of us probably have, at some point or another, thought about the idea of the ability to go back and forth in time from past, present, and future.

Many things have indeed changed throughout the course of time. Things that might have been unimaginable many years ago are a reality today. However, time travel is still just something that’s fun to think about, but not a reality.

People have varying levels of wealth, abilities, and power, but there is one thing that we all have been blessed with equally — time.

We all get 24 hours of time every day. Also, we’ve all been given a fresh new year.

This year, I would like to do everything I can to make my cleaners the best in quality of work and also the best in delivering honest service among cleaners in our area.

I hope that you would use this time to make 2012 your best year thus far and continue to make each year following even better.

###

Jean Youn is the owner of Value Village Cleaners at 912 West Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale 91202. For details on services, coupons and more, check out the Value Village Cleaners website  here.

“Little White Corvette”  — Action/comedy screenplay by Michael Diliberti reportedly sold in a deal worth a cool million bucks to GK Films. It’s about money-strapped siblings who set out to peddle a load of cocaine discovered in the trunk of their late father’s white corvette. Diliberti wrote the story with David Branson Smith. Script is on the Black List 2011, a collection of unproduced screenplays favored by Hollywood executives. Emma Stone is attached to star and will executive produce along with Diliberti. Both Stone and Diliberti are repped by WME. Stone is managed by Anonymous. Diliberti managed by New School Media.

“Cult”   — A mystery crime drama from sci-fi writer/producer, Rockne S. O’Bannon, has been greenlighted by the CW Network. TV series revolves around an inquisitive female production assistant on a popular TV show called “Cult,” who teams up with a journalist blogger to investigate copycat crimes which appear to be perpetrated by zealous fans of the show. In a strange twist in the deal, the CW ordered the pilot after rejecting it six years ago. O’Bannon is the creator and executive producer of the sci-fi series “Farscape.”

The Writers Guild of America has put out the rest of its list of nominees for 2012 awards. Yesterday, the WGA West and East, revealed the nominations for outstanding achievement in writing for the big screen during 2011.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Pictures

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemming; Fox Searchlight

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian; Based on the novel by Stieg Larsson, originally published by Norstedts; Columbia Pictures

The Help, Screenplay by Tate Taylor; Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett; DreamWorks Pictures

Hugo, Screenplay by John Logan; Based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick; Paramount Pictures

Moneyball, Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin; Story by Stan Chervin; Based on the book by Michael Lewis; Columbia Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Better This World, Written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega; Loteria Films

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Written by Marshall Curry and Matthew Hamachek; Oscilloscope Pictures

Nostalgia for the Light, Written by Patricio Guzmán; Icarus Films

Pina, Screenplay by Wim Wenders; Sundance Selects

Position Among the Stars, Script by Hetty Naaijkens-Retel Helmrich, Leonard Retel Helmrich; HBO Documentary Films

Senna, Written by Manish Pandey; Producers Distribution Agency

The winners will be honored on Sunday, February 19, 2012, during simultaneous ceremonies in Hollywood and New York.

The Producers Guild of America’s list of best motion picture producer nominees of 2011 include some of the year’s most talked about films. Yesterday, the PGA released the names of the nominees for the Producer of the Year Award in theatrical motion pictures, animated theatrical motion pictures, and in long-form television. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were releaved by the Guild last month.

Here are the nominees for The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures:

THE ARTIST
Producer: Thomas Langmann

BRIDESMAIDS
Producers: Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel, Clayton Townsend

THE DESCENDANTS
Producers: Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Scott Rudin

THE HELP
Producers: Michael Barnathan, Chris Columbus, Brunson Green

HUGO
Producers: Graham King, Martin Scorsese

THE IDES OF MARCH
Producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Brian Oliver

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
Producers: Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum

MONEYBALL
Producers: Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz, Brad Pitt

WAR HORSE
Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg

Also, Steven Spielberg will received a special honor — the David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures. All 2012 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced later this month, on January 21, during a gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

More of the nominees and selected award winners  here on the PGA website.

“Jadoo”  by writer/director, Amit Gupta, has a deal and is now on the really fast track.  That’s a great start to the new year for one filmmaker.  Done Deal Pro reports Gupta is repped by Abram Nalibotsky over at Gersh.

Based on Gupta’s family experience, the story revolves around  two feuding twin brother chefs who set up rival restaurants across from each other, leaving it up to a daughter, 20 years later, to try to bring them back together to cook her wedding feast.

AIR productions greenlighted the comedy feature and Nikki Parrot of Tigerlily Films is co-producing. The cameras are set to roll on “Jadoo” in March, according to Variety.