The Help Tops The US Box Office Again

Colombiana shoots into secondIt was another bad week to be a new arrival at the box office in the US, as the fresh offerings had to contend with two very powerful forces - the audience appeal of The Help and the weather. Thanks to the arrival of Hurricane Irene, lots of cinemas were closed on the East Coast of America, which means takings were reduced for the week. That didn't seem to bother Tate Taylor's film, though, with The Help staying strong in its third week of release and adding $14. 3 million for a $96. 6 million total so far. The highest new entry was Zoe Saldana-starring revenge thriller Colombiana, which took second place and made $10. 3 million. Third was another newbie, the Guillermo del Toro-produced horror Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, arriving with $8. 7 million. Last week's second place film, former box office champ Rise of the Planet of the Apes, dropped to fourth, but still managed to make $8. 6 million. In fifth place, we find the week's other new arrival, with Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother underperforming for $6. 5 million. However, given that the movie was made for $5 million, it's not quite as big a problem as it might sound. Spy Kids: All the Time in the World slumped to sixth with $5. 7 million, while The Smurfs made $4. 8 million in seventh place. Conan The Barbarian took a nasty tumble down to eighth with $3. 1 million. Fright Night was ninth ($3 million) and Crazy, Stupid, Love clung on to 10th place with $2. 9 million. To get justice for the trouble that statistics have caused you, head on over to Box Office Mojo.

How Annoying Is Paul Rudd In 'Our Idiot Brother'?

From what we should learn about "Our Idiot Brother," which, honestly, relies exclusively on our a reaction to the trailers and also the reviews, Paul Rudd's modus operandi in the household comedy would be to pester his family and buddies, performed by the kind of Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Mortimer and Rashida Johnson (though inside a adorable, if slightly moronic way). Yes, we understand there's more towards the story, which because Rudd is really adorable, his character likely does not stay annoying for too lengthy. Then when MTV News swept up using the cast in the film's premiere lately, we requested them point blank: How annoying is Paul Rudd within this movie? Not surprisingly, the outcomes are exciting and funny. "[He's] less annoying as his Crocs," Rashida Johnson told us of 1 particularly offensive bit of her costar's wardrobe. "No offense to individuals who put on Crocs, theyre super comfortable, but seriously, not [to put on] away from home.Inch "On the scale of 1 to 10, hes an eight-and-a-half most likely," Elizabeth Banks accepted. "However in real existence hes a lot more like a four." In comparison, Zooey Deschanel does not think Rudd comes with an annoying bone in the body. "Hes not annoying whatsoever!" she protested. "Hes lovely. Which was a trick question." Rudd, however, was pleased to play ball, and offered just a little reenactment by means of getting into our camera to have an extreme close-up. "Nearly as annoying like me at this time,Inch he stated in reaction towards the 'How annoying are you currently?A question, before walking to think about the question seriously. "I believe [his behavior] is annoying to particular figures," Rudd stated. "Hopefully to not America."

Ricky Gervais Says the Golden Globes - and the Oscars - Want Him Again

Ricky Gervais — the troublemaking Golden Globes host who made callous, hilariously truthful jokes about such esteemed statesmen as Hugh Hefner, Tim Allen, and Robert Downey Jr. during his last hosting gig — claims he’s been asked back to the ceremony for a third straight year. And the Oscars, too. That’s fantastic. But is Gervais willing to take up the offers? The giggling imp explains. While Gervais claims the HFPA has reached out to him in The Guardian, he doesn’t sound optimistic about returning to the dais. Asked by interviewer Richard Bacon if he was considering the [Golden Globes] offer, Gervais replied: “I am but I shouldn’t do it. It’s a second encore. Don’t do a second encore. I don’t think I should do it. What am I going back as?” A hysterical host, that’s who! Speaking of last year’s furor, he added: “Just because you are offended doesn’t mean you are right,” Gervais said of his critics. “People fall into this myth that I’m a shock comedian. I’ve never been that. People say I crossed the line but I didn’t draw the fucking line, you did.” Once again, genius. And finally, Gervais explains sound reasoning for turning down the Oscars. The star, who gave the first preview of his new sitcom, Life’s Too Short, a BBC and HBO co-production which will air in the UK on BBC2, also revealed he had been approached about hosting the Oscars, a gig he said he would never accept. “They said to my agent would he like to be on our list. I couldn’t do the Oscars. It’s a thankless task for a comedian. They don’t want to hear jokes, they want to hear if they have won the most important award of their career,” he said. I concur, but that’s hogwash. All of Melissa Leo’s antics, Oscar-related or not, should be tagged with zingers. · Ricky Gervais Invited Back to Host Golden Globes [Guardian]

Woman In Black UK Teaser Poster Is Here

Daniel Radcliffe gets scary.... If you attended Empire Presents.... Big Screen you've already caught a sneak peek at this UK teaser poster for The Woman In Black - but if not, here it is in all its unsettlingly creepy glory. Former boy wizard Daniel Radcliffe may find himself wishing for a handy spell or two as he discovers things that go bump in the night. {Woman In Black Poster Exclusive}The plot, as those of you who have read Susan Hill's book or seen the stage adaptation may know, follows a young lawyer sent to wrap up a deceased client's affairs in a remote small town. Once there, however, he finds more than he bargained for, and things get a bit worrisome. For more on The Woman In Black, pick up the new issue of Empire. The film itself opens in UK cinemas on February 10, 2012 - and if you want to see Radcliffe before that, we highly recommend a trip to New York and tickets to see him in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. If you want a chance to win a Radcliffe-signed copy of this poster, head on over to the movie's facebook page right here.

Terra Nova Exclusive: On the Set of TV's Hottest New Show

Terra Nova There's an earsplitting boom and Stephen Lang hits the deck hard as the windows implode. "That's nothing," the buff 59-year-old actor says, removing his earplugs and brushing sawdust from his hair. "You wouldn't believe the stuff that happens around here." We're deep in the Australian bush on the set of Fox's new adventure series Terra Nova. In the scene filming today, a meteor has just exploded in the atmosphere above the prehistoric colony presided over by Lang's Commander Nathaniel Taylor, knocking out the power and throwing up yet another obstacle for the pilgrims from the future who are grappling with the past. It's clear from the size and permanency of the set that this megabucks Steven Spielberg-produced series, about a family from the year 2149 who travel back 85 million years to help reboot civilization, is a hugely ambitious project. With the two-hour premiere's budget estimated at $16 million, and the promise of showstopping visual effects each week, this is shaping up to be the most expensive TV show ever made. "I opened the script and I thought, 'There's absolutely no way this can be made,'" says series star Jason O'Mara (Life on Mars). "I've been doing television almost exclusively for the past eight years and I've done some very ambitious shows, but nothing like this. So that's pretty much why I wanted to sign up." At the center of the story is the Shannon family, part of the Tenth Pilgrimage to the past. They leave behind an Earth where pollution and overpopulation threaten mankind with extinction. Scientists have discovered a fracture in the time-space continuum, delivering a one-way ticket to an unspoiled Earth where humanity can start anew. Ex-cop Jim Shannon (O'Mara) has been jailed for breaking the 22nd century "family is four" law - limiting couples to two children - but manages a last-minute escape to join his surgeon wife Elisabeth (British actress Shelley Conn) and their teenage children Josh (Landon Liboiron) and Maddy (Naomi Scott), plus their illegal third child, 5-year-old Zoe (Alana Mansour), as they head into a brave new world. "We're trying to create a civilization here in the way the pioneers did in the old West," says O'Mara, as a low mist rolls in over the set and the silence is punctured by the eerie call of a whipbird. Here in the lush Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland in northeast Australia, a large ensemble and hundreds of extras are working long hours, but the mood is buoyant. They're shooting mostly on location, in a former cow pasture that now hosts the sprawling Terra Nova settlement, a football field-size colony ringed by majestic bushland. Everyone agrees that the landscape feeds into the authenticity of what they're creating on screen. "It feels prehistoric here," says New Zealander Simone Kessell, who plays Commander Taylor's sidekick Alicia Washington. "When you look up at that tree line, it feels like no one has ever been here before. It has this untouched quality." Even on the other side of the world, the buzz and expectations for the show are unavoidable. "We're telling this particular story on a scale for television that's never been done before," O'Mara says. "This set is the kind of thing you would build for The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings." Avatar star Lang agrees, calling this the most challenging production he's been involved in: "When you're dealing with computer-generated dinosaurs, with meteors and forces of nature, you feel like the stakes are raised." Oh, yes, did we mention the dinosaurs? We're promised roughly one new creature each episode - some benign, some petrifying, all of them spectacular. Created primarily with cutting-edge CGI, they stomp and chomp their way through the series, casting a long shadow. "It's so true when they say the show's really about the drama, about the people," says Lang. "Except... It is about the dinosaurs! Which doesn't mean that the dinosaurs have to appear in every frame, but the potential of them coming, the sound of them passing by always has to be thrilling and possible and when they do come, they just have to be magnificent." We'll meet a baby ankylosaurus incubated from an abandoned egg; rampaging, short-armed carnotauruses; and a pack of nicoraptors, which are like mangy, feral dogs. And in an episode that plays like an homage to Hitchcock's The Birds, the colony is encircled by scores of pterosaurs, nasty winged beasts the size of large crows. "Moments like that are not designed to electrify audiences with the beauty so much," says Lang. "They're meant to scare the pants off you." That will be up to the effects people. But Terra Nova's staying power will rest with its story line and character conflict, hence the marketing team's emphasis on family drama over sci-fi mythology. Exec producers Brannon Braga and René Echevarria describe it as an intimate epic - kind of Little House on the Prairie meets Jurassic Park. "The makings of the show are epic, but at the center of it all is this one family," Braga says from L.A., where he's writing upcoming episodes. For more on Terra Nova, pick up this week's issue of TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands Thursday, August 25! Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine now!

Wild Bunch makes 'Sinister' move

PARIS -- After hitting box office gold with "Paranormal Activity" and "Insidious," Gaul's Wild Bunch Distribution has acquired the latest Jason Blum production, helmer Scott Derrickson's "Sinister." " 'Sinister' will find an audience in France because it's in the same vein as 'Paranormal' and 'Insidious' but with a better-known cast that includes Ethan Hawke in the lead role," said Jean Philippe Tirel, managing director of Wild Bunch Distribution. Repped by IM Global, pic was picked up by Summit Entertainment for domestic distribution earlier this month. Penned by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, pic turns on a journalist who discovers film footage revealing why a family was murdered in the house he's just moved into. "Sinister" is produced by Blum's Blumhouse banner and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones' Automatik Entertainment. Production is expected to begin next month. Wild Bunch Distribution rolled out "Paranormal Activity," which grossed 6.52 million ($9.39 million) in France, and "Insidious," which took $4.12 million. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Puncture Trailer Online

Chris Evans needles the lawHe's been striding over the screen lately in Captain America, but Chris Evans clearly does not would like to be seen as an clean-cut, square-jawed hero. He's also keen to exhibit they have the chops to transport something just a little harder, like the legal drama Puncture, that has just shoved its first trailer out in to the world. You are able to have a look below. Puncture finds Evans as Mike Weiss, a youthful but brilliant and slightly oddball lawyer (take a look at his togs within the first scene) whose small firm catches what is probably the most lucrative situation of their brief existence - a nurse (Vinessa Shaw) who had been have contracted Helps after you have tied to a needle. In their work, they uncover that there are an invention prepared to test known as Safety Point that will put an finish to such accidents. But that is when things start getting just a little murkier: a large corporation with a few effective political connections is monopolising the brand new gadget and also the battle to obtain access to it could just destroy Mike, best friend/partner Paul (Mark Kassen) and everybody around them. Oh, and there is the little few Mike's drug habit to deal with...Kassen also co-directed the film with brother Adam, and although this is clearly designed to show another side of Evans, it's worth observing that Puncture continues to be finished for over a year and it is but now seeing the sunshine of day in america after he's hit it large using the Cap. Puncture is placed to reach on September 23 across water-feature, there is however no completed United kingdom release yet.

Palin docu fundraising for U.S. release

Nick Broomfield has placed his documentary "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!," on the crowd funding site Kickstarter to raise $30,000 for the documentary's upcoming North American release campaign. The docu will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and will be distributed this fall -- with specific release dates and markets to be announced shortly. Broomfield made the announcment Friday. "This film was made for the American people and Kickstarter now offers them a chance to be a part of the distribution process to directly support the documentary's national roll-out," he said. "We need help getting this out so voters gain a true understanding of the person who is asking for their political support." Content announced on Aug. 3 that it had acquired international rights to "You Betcha!" except for Channel 4's U.K. TV rights. Cassian Elwes is repping the U.S. rights for the project, which hasn't yet been set with a distributor. "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" is described as a journey across the icy midwinter snows of Alaska to meet Palin's school friends, family and Republican colleagues in order to try and discover the real Palin. Broomfield's credits include "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer," "Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam" and "Kurt and Courtney." He was awarded the BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Documentary. Broomfield directed "Sarah Palin: You Betcha!" with Joan Churchill. The film is produced by Marc Hoeferlin ("Battle for Haditha"). Another Palin documentary, "The Undefeated," was rolled out last month in limited released by ARC Entertainment. It will be available starting Sept. 1 on pay-per-view and video-on-demand; a DVD launch will include with a special edition for Walmart stores. In its opening weekend July 15-17 in 10 cities, the film averaged about $6,500 per screen. Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcnary@variety.com

RATINGS RAT RACE: Gordon Ramsay's Series Steady, 'Talent' & 'Wipeout' Slip

Fox (2.6/8 among adults 18-49, 6.2 million viewers) won Tuesday in 18-49 with Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen (2.7/9, 6.3 million) and MasterChef (2.5/7, 6.1 million), both flat vs. last week in the demo, while MasterChef drew its largest audience ever. The other originals last night were all down vs. last Tuesday: ABC's Wipeout (1.9/6), Take the Money & Run (1.8/5) and Combat Hospital (0.9/3) were all down a tenth. NBC' America's Got Talent (2.9/8) was down 6% to its lowest-rated Tuesday episode this summer but still ranked as the top program of the night in 18-49 and total viewers; It's Worth What? (1.1/4) was down 8%. For the night, NBC (2.3/7, 8.9 million) was second in 18-49 behind Fox and No. 1 in viewers. CBS (1.4/4, 8.2 million) aired all reruns but still managed to finish a close second in total viewers.

Bravo adds 3 news skeins to slate

Bravo has picked up three new unscripted series and renewed several shows, including "The Real Housewives of Orange County" for a seventh season. New shows include "Around the World in 80 Plates," a cooking competish show that follows gourmet chefs around the world as they compete in famous restaurants; "Paint the Town," which gives Bravo-ites a reality TV peek at the Gotham art gallery scene; and "Newlyweds: The First Year," about the nuptial challenges undergone by six couples from around the U.S. "Plates" and "Town" are both produced by Magical Elves, with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz as exec producers; Newlyweds is produced by Monkey Kingdom under e.p.s Will Macdonald and David Granger. Net also renewed "Top Chef Masters" for a fourth season and "Million Dollar Listing LA" for a fifth, along with announcing a premiere date for "Thicker Than Water: The Marinos" -- Sunday, Aug. 21 at 11 p.m. Contact Sam Thielman at sam.thielman@variety.com