Movie News Today

Ben Ripley, writer of "Source Code", has been pegged to write a remake of the "hit" thriller "Flatliners." I said it on Twitter this weekend but with all these awesome reboots and origin projects, how has "Robocop" been left out? That's a movie that could actually use a big money makeover. Come on, Hollywood!

Despite the fact that Billy Murray has repeatedly said he won't be in the film, Dan Aykroyd continues to shop his "Ghostbusters 3" script and insists the movie will happen. Here's the thing, Dan: Bill Murray IS "Ghostbusters." No one wants to see you a movie about Ray, Egon, and Winston and we CERTAINLY don't want a second generation "Ghostbusters" rip off. Either get Murray on board or let it go.

Flix Chatter gives an "Upcoming Flix Spotlight" to "Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy" which I again will only refer to as "The Movie Which Will Win Gary Oldman an Oscar." Have a look for a very nice primer.

Steven over at Movie Muse has a look at the best and worst of summer.

Matt at Cinema Slants finishes his Summer of Spielberg series. Excellent readings all summer.

I read two reviews this weekend that expounded upon the feelings and issues I had with a pair of films: Fast Film Reviews (a blog I just discovered) has a look at "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and A Life in Equinox takes "Limitless" to task. Check them out!

Weekend Box Office Results
This weekend the Lady of the Box Office and I went to the theater on Saturday. It was a "well we don't have anything else to do so why not" sort of drop in rather than the usual planned excursion. We decided to see "Our Idiot Brother" (review to come this week but SPOILER ALERT: it's bad) but I was SHOCKED to see a sign posted on the box office window saying that "The Help" was sold out. Despite not winning its own weekend, this film is still selling out screenings in its third week in release and took home a second straight box office win this week. I still haven't had a chance to check it out but of all the positive signs that a film can have going for it, selling out on its third week (albeit with limited competition) is about as good as it gets.

1. "The Help" - $14.33 million ($96.63 million total)
2. "Colombiana" - $10.3M
3. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" - $8.69M
4. "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" - $8.65M ($148.46M)
5. "Our Idiot Brother" - $6.59M
6. "Spy Kids 4" - $5.73M ($21.71M)
7. "The Smurfs" - $4.8M ($125.99M)
8. "Conan the Barbarian" - $3.1M ($16.58M)
9. "Fright Night" - $3.03M ($14.21M)
10. "Crazy, Stupid, Love" - $2.91M ($69.53M)