Casting for the theatrical adaptation of the novel Hunger Games has been pretty interesting to watch as a lot of people have been trying out and making their name heard for various roles, though a lot of it depending on getting the right lead, which they did with Jennifer Lawrence. While we’ve seen a number of lesser known and new actors thrust into the various supporting roles, one that’s been in talks for a bit has been finalized as Elizabeth Banks will take on the role of Effie Trinket. Her character is described as a pink haired showbiz type who becomes the lead characters’ handler.

Production will be moving swiftly as the film has a March 23rd, 2012 release date planned with hopes for sequels based on the other volumes in the series by Suzanne Collins.

July 15th is just around the corner for those eagerly anticipating the final chapter of this franchise and Warner Bros. has released what they’re calling the final trailer. Which is probably true, though we’ll see a slew of TV spots coming up in the next few weeks to really ramp up the presence. The $250 million budget (which was spread across the first part as well) is pretty much already in the clear with the Part 1 release racking up just under a billion dollars worldwide in its theatrical run, making this pure gravy upon an already huge stack of gravy.

Plot summary: This is the final adventure in the Harry Potter film series. The much-anticipated motion picture event is the second of two full-length parts. In the epic finale, the battle between the good and evil forces of the wizarding world escalates into an all-out war. The stakes have never been higher and no one is safe. But it is Harry Potter who may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice as he draws closer to the climactic showdown with Lord Voldemort. It all ends here.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NYt1qirBWg?rel=0&hd=1&w=560&h=349]

Scheduling conflicts and a slow amount of progress on scripts has sent Paramount to change things up a bit with one of its more desired actors at the moment. While Chris Pine was previously set to roll into a new Jack Ryan movie that goes back to the characters younger days, working through his naval training and the accident that left him afraid of flying, the script hasn’t gotten to where it needs to be, according to Deadline New York . What that means for Pine is that he has to jump over to the JJ Abrams project with the sequel to his Star Trek quasi-reboot to take on the role of Captain Kirk again as that has a definite release date of June 29th, 2012. There’s a fairly tight window for that project though as it’s expected to go into production come this fall and that script is still being worked out as well, and it will definitely be special effects heavy.

Cowboys & Aliens has an advantage over other comic book movies this summer in that most people really won’t know it’s a comic book movie since it’s not exactly well known. This will definitely help it considering there are four big name ones out there already and the potential for fatigue is there, though they are all quite different in their own way. A third TV spot has debuted for the film that comes out a week after Captain America: The First Avenger with July 29th being the day that we get Daniel Crag and Harrison Ford together in a western. With aliens. You don’t want to wish away the summer, but you wish these movies were coming out sooner, especially after the slow start to the year overall. Check out the new spot with the peeks of new footage here and there below.

Plot concept: 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It’s a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents–townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors–all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

With Sylvester Stallone talking up the possibility of coming back together for another installment of The Expendables, you knew it was pretty much inevitable. The sequel now has been green lit with a release date of August 17th, 2012, which brings it to pretty much on target for two years since the first one which starred Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews and Steve Austin. Who will return for the sequel is very much up in the air at the moment but it’s likely we’ll see a decent chunk of them and potentially bigger roles for some, like Schwarzenegger and Willis, who basically did cameos in the first one due to various commitments at the time.

Did The Expendables do well enough to warrant a sequel? While it got plenty of decent buzz and some solid love from classic action fans, the $80 million project brought in $275 million worldwide just in its theatrical release. Add in VOD, PPV, rental and home video sales and that’s a nice chunk of change to try and see if you can make the magic happen twice.

News out of the new Ghost Rider movie has certainly been interesting the last couple of weeks and the films co-director is chatting up the project a bit more through an interview for a podcast, which you can see the video side of at the bottom. The clip covers a lot of material over the sixty minutes it runs total, but the Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance material can be culled down to a few key bits that definitely give some hope for a proper interpretation.

“We basically said, we want to do it, [would] absolutely love to do it, but it’s gotta be 100% different from the first movie, everything, except for Nic. We want the character to look different, feel different, sound different. The backstory of the character’s different, the origin of the story is expanded upon in ways that the first movie didn’t hint at, at all. The location’s different, the whole cast is different; the only thing that’s the same is Nic…It’s pretty much a reboot, only with the same actor, which makes it: a requel. Or a seboot, I can’t decide which one I like better.”

When talking about the first movie, they’re pretty clears about what they want to take from it, which is basically nothing other than Nic Cage himself.

“The first attraction was Nic and the second was the character and just how cool it could be. [I wanted to] kinda make the Ghost Rider movie that I wished I had seen before.” “The reports of the budget of Ghost Rider have been greatly exaggerated. It’s about the same as [Gamer]. We didn’t have a lot of money to make this film…but we’re pretty creative. It’s gonna look fuckin’ huge.”

And for those wondering when we’ll see more than some on-set shots and the like, with post-production gearing up now and special effects since all of the principal photography is done, it looks like Comic-Con is where it’s going to be at this year:

“[Blackout’s] a fun character. His powers are pretty cool, we did things with his powers that aren’t in the original comic books…We’re gonna do a huge splash at the Comic-Con. That’s when we really want people to see what the new, evolved Ghost Rider looks like as well as the first peeks at the villains.”

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X7FUt9_c7s&w=560&h=349]

Yep, there’s a lot to wrap your head around there based on this new exclusive report from Deadline New York . According to the site, the trio are set to come together for a movie with Sony Pictures. Originally it was a project that Smith was only going to produce, but events have turned and he’s now set to star with his son in it. The movie was talked about last fall a little bit when Shyamalan was still out there promoting The Last Airbender and at that time it was known as One Thousand A.E., but is now an untitled film as the project starts to come together with these new wrinkles.

Plot concept: The story takes place far in the future where a young boy has to navigate an abandoned planet on a space ship that has crashed. On board is his estranged father.

What more need be said?

Through the Marvel site and released to the general press today are a number of new images from X-Men: First Class which shows off some very nice concept artwork for a couple o f the characters and some new shots of January Jones herself as Emma Frost in a couple different outfits. With the film just over a week away and garnering lots and lots of attention with positive early reviews, the studio and Marvel are ramping up anticipation which certainly seems to be catching, though of course it also has the effect of pushing some folks away who are feeling bombarded with it. But with the film largely being viewed as a disaster in the making for many months of its production, everything seems to be coming together well at this stage and a few more insights into the production are certainly welcome. Click the images below for larger shots.

Plot Summary: Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names of Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

While at an event for The Beaver, the folks at Collider got in a couple of questions to Jodie Foster who will be starring in Neill Blomkamp’s second feature film, Elysium. The story for this one is very much under wraps and is an original piece by the District 9 helmer that’s due out in 2012 with Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and William Fichtner starring as well. Little has been revealed about the film other than it’s a science fiction film set on another world that will explore socio-political issues in the “wrappings of a Hollywood movie” according to Blomkamp. Foster hasn’t had too much to say overall about it, and she doesn’t add all that much here, but the enthusiasm is certainly apparent.

Question: The L.A. Times quoted you this week as saying that you would be playing “the head of an alien planet” in Neill Blomkamp’s next film, Elysium. Would you say that’s an accurate description of the role?

JODIE FOSTER: Yes. I hope I’m allowed to say that. I think I’m allowed to say that. That’s pretty vague.

Is there anything else you can say about the film?

FOSTER: Those sci-fi movies are all really hush-hush. I don’t even own a screenplay. They won’t even give me a screenplay. I’ve read it, but they won’t give me one to physically keep in my home ‘cause they’re so worried about everybody.

What was it about that project that appealed to you and made you want to get involved? Did you just want to work with Neill Blomkamp?

FOSTER: Yes, definitely. He did District 9, which I think is as close to a perfect movie as you can get. It’s just an extraordinary film. And, this film has a lot of that social commentary in it, but uses sci-fi to get there. It’s great.

The interesting monster property, I, Frankenstein, from DarkStorm Comics, has moved forward again. Originally a feature was planned back in 2009 when the screenwriter and director from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans were going to come on board the project, but things stalled out after awhile and the project seemed to move into development hell. Heat Vision is reporting some progress on that front though as Stuart Beattie is coming on board as the writer and director for the film. The original comic creator, Kevin Grevioux, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie, is moving to the role of an executive producer for it.

Grevioux was the co-creator of the Underworld series of films, which was also produced by Lakeshore Entertainment.

Plot concept: I, Frankenstein pictures a modern-day world where the classic literary monster stands between humans and a host of other supernatural creatures looking to rise up and take over.

Considering the lack of firm scheduling for the movie adaptation of R.I.P.D. and the continually busy schedule of Zach Galifianakis, it’s not much of a surprise to learn that he’s withdrawing from the project. Ryan Reynolds is set to start as the lead in the feature directed by Robert Schwentke, but Reynold’s schedule is pretty busy and he has a lot of uncertainty at the moment since if Green Lantern proves to be a hit, he’ll be running over to do that pretty quickly through his contract. Zach Galifianakis indicates that he still very much likes the project, but keeping that window open while other projects open up makes it untenable. He’s set to return to Hangover II in May and then has Southern Rivals to work on with Will Ferrell for Jay Roach, never mind the HBO series of his Bored to Death.

After the kind of lackluster clip that debuted during the week for Mortal Kombat: Legacy, web series director Kevin Tancharoen has let loose with a new image from the show that lets one of the slightly more costumed characters make an appearance with Sub Zero. The short form show is set to debut next week on the 12th via Machinima’s YouTube channel and stars Jeri Ryan as Sonya Blade, Michael Jai White as Jax, and Darren Shahlavi as Kano. Kevan Ohtsji is the gent who is taking on the role of Sub Zero.

DreamWorks Animation previously announced a very ambitious plan for its schedule for quite a few years into the future, but it pulled back significantly on it recently and has now sent out information about its plans through 2014, which feels a bit more realistic considering lead times with animation and all that’s involved. Fans of some of their bigger properties will definitely be excited by what they have in store though there’s a considerable wait for one of their biggest projects with How To Train Your Dragon 2 now hitting until 2014.

From their press release that breaks it down by title:

Kung Fu Panda 2 will be released on May 26, 2011. It is being directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda), produced by Melissa Cobb (Kung Fu Panda) and written by Jonathan Aibel & Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda). It stars Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong and Michelle Yeoh. In the sequel, Po is living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five. But Po’s life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu. Po must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins… only then will he be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed.

Puss In Boots will be released on November 4, 2011. It is directed by Chris Miller (Shrek the Third) and produced by Joe Aguilar (Merry Madagascar) and Latifa Ouaou (Monsters vs. Aliens). It is being written by Tom Wheeler (The Cape). Andrew Adamson (Shrek, The Chronicles of Narnia) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) are serving as executive producers on the film, which stars Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Way before he ever met Shrek, the legendary Puss In Boots goes on a heroic journey, teaming up with mastermind Humpty Dumpty and the street-savvy Kitty Softpaws to steal the famed Goose that lays the Golden Eggs. It’s the adventure of nine lifetimes!

Madagascar 3 will be released on June 8, 2012. It is directed by Eric Darnell (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and produced by Mireille Soria (Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa) and Mark Swift (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa). It is being written by Noah Baumbach (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and once again stars Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric The Entertainer and Andy Richter. Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, and Melman the Giraffe are still fighting to get home to their beloved Big Apple and of course, King Julien, Maurice and the Penguins are all along for the comedic adventure. Their journey takes them through Europe where they find the perfect cover: a traveling circus, which they reinvent – Madagascar style.

Rise of the Guardians, based on the forthcoming books by William Joyce, will be released on November 21, 2012. It is directed by Peter Ramsey (Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space) and co-directed by Joyce. The film is being produced by Christina Steinberg (Bee Movie, National Treasure) and Nancy Bernstein, long-time head of Production at DreamWorks Animation. Rise of the Guardians is being written by Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) and executive produced by Guillermo del Toro and Michael Siegel. It stars Chris Pine, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law. More than a collection of the well-known childhood legends, Rise of the Guardians is an epic adventure that tells the story of a group of heroes – each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world.

The Croods will be released on March 1, 2013. It is being written and directed by two-time Academy Award® nominee Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon, Lilo & Stitch) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) and produced by Kristine Belson (How to Train Your Dragon) and Jane Hartwell (Shrek). It stars Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman. The Croods is a comedy adventure that takes us back to a previously undiscovered era in the history of our planet known as the Croodaceous, when nature was still a work-in-progress… full of never-before- seen creatures and landscapes. Audiences will relate to the hilarious family antics as an imaginative and resourceful newcomer helps the Croods navigate their way through the fantastic world beyond their cave.

Turbo will be released on June 7, 2013. It is being directed by David Soren (Merry Madagascar), who first brought the project to the studio, and produced by Lisa Stewart (Monsters vs. Aliens). It is being written by Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After) together with Soren. Turbo tells the story of an ordinary garden snail with an impossible dream: to become the fastest snail in the world. When a freak accident gives him extraordinary speed, Turbo sets out to try to make this dream come true.

In Me and My Shadow, which will be released on November 8, 2013, the studio will pioneer a groundbreaking combination of both CG and traditional animation techniques seamlessly together throughout the film. The film is directed by Mark Dindal (Chicken Little, The Emperor’s New Groove) and produced by Melissa Cobb (Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2) and Teresa Cheng (Shrek Forever After, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron). It is being written by Tom Astle and Matt Ember (Get Smart). Me and My Shadow tells the story of Shadow Stan, an extremely frustrated shadow who yearns for a dynamic life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, the world’s most boring human. Finally pushed to the brink, Shadow Stan breaks the singular rule of the Shadow World – “They lead, we follow” – and takes control of Stanley!

Mr. Peabody & Sherman will be released on March 21, 2014. It is directed by Rob Minkoff (Stuart Little, The Lion King) and produced by Jason Clark (Monster House, Stuart Little) and Denise Nolan Cascino (Megamind). It is being written by Craig Wright (United States of Tara, Six Feet Under). Robert Downey Jr., Susan Downey, Bullwinkle Studio’s Tiffany Ward and Classic Media’s Eric Ellenbogen are serving as executive producers on the film, which stars two-time Academy Award® nominee Robert Downey Jr. Based on Jay Ward’s classic cartoon, Mr. Peabody is the world’s smartest person who happens to be a dog. He and his “pet” boy Sherman discover that someone has stolen their time traveling WABAC machine and is changing moments in history to disastrous and comical results. It’s up to this most unexpected of father-son teams to somehow put a stop to this villain before his actions destroy the space-time continuum in Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

How to Train Your Dragon 2, the sequel to the Academy Award®-nominated original film from 2010, will be released on June 20, 2014. It is being directed and written by Dean DeBlois (How to Train Your Dragon) and produced by Bonnie Arnold (How to Train Your Dragon). Also based on the book series by Cressida Cowell, the sequel is being executive produced by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) together with DeBlois. How to Train Your Dragon 2 again stars Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, TJ Miller and Kristen Wiig.

With all the crying about remakes of films that are ten or twenty years old, or even shorter than that in some cases, surely we can be happy about a remake of a movie from 1954, right? News has surfaced via Collider that the Weinsten Company’s remake of Seven Samurai has found itself a director in the form of Scott Mann, a British director who has worked mostly in short films while his first feature length picture was The Tournament back in 2009. The remake is being written by John Fusco, known for films such as Hidalgo, Young Guns and The Forbidden Kingdom. This new incarnation has a budget of $60 million and is intended to be set in the modern day Thailand by changing out the samurai for paramilitary contractors.

That’s right. Hold those Criterion Blu-ray editions a little closer to your heart, or go check out the anime series on Blu-ray, Samurai 7, which transposes it all into a far flung futuristic science fiction setting.

Original Plot Summary: One of the most thrilling movie epics of all time, Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) tells the story of a sixteenth-century village whose desperate inhabitants hire the eponymous warriors to protect them from invading bandits. This three-hour ride from Akira Kurosawa—featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura—seamlessly weaves philosophy and entertainment, delicate human emotions and relentless action, into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope

Empire Magazine has a new piece up showing off several new images from the X-Men: First Class movie, though they’re making the rounds in requesting sites take them down since they intend to have hi-res scans up soon, and they want people to grab the magazine. While there are some interesting pictures to be had, there’s some good information in there as well as producer Lauren Shuler Donner talks about the various X-Men properties and Deadpool as well.

Of particular interest is that while they’re going back to the 60′s with First Class, they intend to come back to the present with more X-Men as she says, “We took the treatment to Fox and they love it… And X4 leads into X5.”

The mag also asks her about The Wolverine, though it was prior to the Arronofsky exit, which has her stating, “It will have depth and a dramatic backbone.  And yet there’s more action in this one than in any one we’ve ever done. It’s such a good script. We have the great Christopher McQuarrie writing and it’s very true to the Japanese saga. This is Logan on his own…”

One area that should please fans is the potential for the Deadpool feature and how it will handle what has come before with X-Men Origins: Wolverine which left fans decidedly cold at best about that interpretation of the character: “[Deadpool will be] a total reboot. We’re either going to pretend that didn’t happen, or mock it, which he could do.”

“You’ll see all of them. You’ll see Wade Wilson, the good-looking Ryan Reynolds! You’ll see Deadpool in his costume and you’ll see the cancer-scarred face.”

After word surfaced about Fright Night director Craig Gillespie taking on the directing duties for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a trio of first images from Fright Night have availed themselves to the internet, courtesy of Cinematical . The film is set to open on August 19th with the cast of Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, David Tennant and Imogen Poots hoping to bring the 1985 to a new generation of potential fans, albeit with plenty of changes to be sure.

Plot summary: Senior Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all going on: he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the most coveted girl in his high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend. But trouble arrives when Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right—but everyone, including Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After observing some very strange activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on the neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself in this Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp of the comedy-horror classic.

After the first trailer leak lead to the arrival of the official Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice trailer on Friday, Warner Bros. and Zack Snyder are doing their main marketing thing today with the IMAX premiere of the teaser, which should be a pretty great experience for those getting to see it. Ahead of it, they’ve released two posters that juxtapose the character with their opponents symbol, worn down and not quite as pristine as we’re used to seeing. It’s basically putting you into a position of choosing sides, which certainly works.

Directed by Zack Snyder based on a screenplay by Chis Terrio, the film stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman, Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth. Ray Fisher and Jason Momoa will appear as Cyborg and Aquaman in minor roles. It’s set to debut on March 25th, 2016.

The main teaser:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpPb3PFqMBw]

With most of the focus this past week on the dead in the water project of At The Mountains Of Madness, there hasn’t been too much said about what Guillermo del Toro’s next project will actually be about other than it’s name. According to News in Film , they think they’ve got the goods on what the plot is for it.

“The first [world] is an alternate version of Earth in the near future, decades after an historic date in November 2012 when the first kaiju, a towering Godzilla-like beast, emerged from a hole in the Pacific Ocean and attacked the city of Osaka, Japan,” wrote News in Film. “The second [world] is The Anteverse, another universe on the other side of that gaping portal, 5 miles below our ocean’s surface.”

The site has more supposed details of what Pacific Rim will be about, with lots of gigantic monsters being hurtled out into the world, and lots of massive mechanized suits and weapons to defeat them, giving it all a very anime film since western movies rarely tend to do anything with “giant robots” outside of it being a comedy of some sort.

After the recent news of the film being retitled to actually fit in with all the previous film titles, something that may seem like a pointless effort but is one that fans do notice, 20th Century Fox has unleashed a new teaser bit of footage showing the motion capture results with how they intend to do the apes in this prequel style movie.

The feature has a theatrical release date of August 5th and the Facebook page is intending to do a behind the scenes look at it on Wednesday.

Plot summary: James Franco is set to play a scientist working on a cure for Alzheimer’s by testing on apes. When test subject Caesar suddenly begins to mutate rapidly, the scientist takes him home to remove him from the cruel lab doctors.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y1FiuZS1Ms?rel=0&hd=1&w=560&h=349]

While the summer films don’t really begin in earnest for another couple of weeks, things have been going pretty well recently, at least when it comes to the international market. This weekend saw the domestic release of Rio and while it didn’t do as well as expected, bringing in just $40 million, the film has brought in $169 million in international markets prior to coming to the US. Strong word of mouth, a non-US location for much of it and a spot on marketing campaign that hit numerous partners and ideas made it a pervasive, but not offensive push. I’d seen a lot of people saying that they expected Scream 4 to take the weekend, but that just shows they weren’t looking at the international market or looking at the fact that it’s spring vacation and lots of kids are about with parents looking for things to do with them.

Scream 4 did alright overall, bringing in just under $20 million, but it definitely fell short of expectations and is likely to slip further as time goes on as it’s not expected to have legs. Especially in the next two weeks where various vacations are in effect and films like Rio and Hop will do pretty well, as will the very, very successful financially Soul Surfer. Hop made it in for another $11 million this weekend with its standard 2D approach which means it had less revenue from ticket prices but Soul Surfer added another $7.5 million, bringing it to $20 million on a $10 million dollar budget. The domestic take has essentially brought it to breaking even and profitable with the marketing campaign and it will do pretty well this week as well, in addition to international markets.

The rest of the list is pretty dismal, for better or worse. Arthur didn’t have anywhere to go but down while Hanna is still adding more to its coffers with about a thousand fewer screens and some solid word of mouth. Your Highness dropped even further, adding only another $4 million for its second week, making it quite the disappointment. It likely won’t make most of its money back but I suspect it’ll find a good following on home video and through premium channels for awhile.

Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): April 15 – 17, 2011
Film	Weekend Gross	Screens	Avg./ Screen	Total Gross	Wk#
1	Rio	$40,000,000	3,826	$10,455	$40,000,000	1
2	Scream 4	$19,279,000	3,305	$5,833	$19,279,000	1
3	Hop	$11,167,000	3,608	$3,095	$82,609,000	3
4	Soul Surfer	$7,400,000	2,214	$3,342	$19,997,000	2
5	Hanna	$7,327,000	2,545	$2,879	$23,327,000	2
6	Arthur	$6,940,000	3,276	$2,118	$22,348,000	2
7	Insidious	$6,857,000	2,233	$3,071	$35,983,000	3
8	Source Code	$6,300,000	2,557	$2,464	$36,990,000	3
9	The Conspirator	$3,924,000	707	$5,550	$3,924,000	1
10	Your Highness	$3,895,000	2,772	$1,405	$15,952,000	2