Last Spring, Forbes named Kristen Stewart Hollywood’s highest paid star, but the title of “most bankable star” is another matter altogether. Natalie Portman gives the best cash return, according to those denizens of wealth at Forbes, beating out the likes of Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Shia LaBeouf and Daniel Radcliffe.
[Related: Kristen Stewart Tops Forbes List of Highest Paid Actresses]
Portman’s films Black Swan, No Strings Attached and Your Highness were included in the formula that put the Oscar-winning actress over the top. Your Highness was, in fact, a flop, taking in only $25 million on an estimated $50 million budget, but that blemish did not derail her reign atop the list. Forbes also did not count Thor because Portman was a supporting actor in the title.
Forbes devised a calculation that includes an actors’ earnings, box office grosses and budget estimates that fixed the Black Swan star’s returns at $42.70 for every dollar she is paid.
Noted Forbes:
We looked at the last three films each actor starred in over the last three years that opened in more than 2,000 theaters, calculating the return on investment for the studios who pay his (or her) salary. We didn’t count movies where the actor was in a supporting or large ensemble role and we didn’t count animated movies. The actors who score well on this list tend to have small paydays and star in highly profitable movies.
Kristen Stewart ranked as Hollywood’s highest paid actress by Forbes last June and yet, she nevertheless placed second on the return list. Not bad considering she’s been paid $25 million for each of the last Twilight pics, but the overall franchise has brought in $3.3…
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While stars such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and perhaps even Harrison Ford have indicated they may make a return to Disney’s Star Wars, the narrow pool of once possible directors has narrowed more.
[Related: Will J.J. Abrams Or Jon Favreau Direct 'Star Wars: Episode VII?']
J.J. Abrams is the latest possible director to bow out of possibly leading Star Wars: Episode VII. Steven Spielberg said he won’t be heading to the director’s chair for the next round of the franchise, which Disney will spearhead via its $4.05 billion acquisition of LucasFilm in late October.
Abrams, who is directing next year’s Star Trek Into Darkness briefly discussed the idea with producer Kathleen Kennedy, according to Empire Magazine, but decided against taking on the project and will keep his focus on Star Trek.
[Related: Woody-Wan Kenobi? 'Toy Story 3' Writer Hired For Next 'Star Wars' Trilogy Treatment]
“There were the very early conversations and I quickly said that because of my loyalty to Star Trek, and also just being a fan, I wouldn’t even want to be involved in the next version of those things. I declined any involvement very early on. I’d rather be in the audience not knowing what was coming, rather than being involved in the minutiae of making them.”
Continuing he added, “I guess the franchises could go up against each other, but I’m not thinking that far ahead! I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, Empire and Jedi, and the idea of the world continuing is exciting and will be amazing. Kathy Kennedy is a friend and there are no smarter producers. It’s in great hands.”
[Sources: Empire, Coming Soon, Huff Post]
It’s impressive how much J.J. Abrams and the folks at Bad Robot manage to pack into the new teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness without revealing, well, the actual plot of the summer 2013 sequel. Space action! Benedict Cumberbatch! That darned hands-on-glass scene that just screams “I have been and always shall be your friend!” Watch the action-packed teaser below and let’s get to piecing together the puzzle.
The teaser is big on setting up an ambiguous adversarial relationship between Kirk (Chris Pine) and Cumberbatch, but Captain Pike’s voice over seems more telling of the themes Star Trek Into Darkness will hit: Kirk’s bravado, and the danger it poses to his crew. Despite the out of context flashes of intriguing set pieces — Star Warsian spaceship action, that leap off a cliff, that other leap off a building, and what appears to be the Enterprise crash-landing in water — the hands moment ends the tease with a clear nod to Wrath of Khan, although we can’t tell who’s on what side of the glass.
Still, something tells me there are more clues hidden in this teaser than we might think, like this brief shot of Noel Clarke’s as-yet unidentified character. As seen in the first nine minutes of the film, Clarke plays a man whose ailing daughter Cumberbatch approaches at a London hospital and offers to save. Here we see him in a possibly-Starfleet uniform as he appears to drop a thumble full of something into a glass of water — perhaps fulfilling his end of his deal with the Cumber-Devil?
What intriguing bits and clues do you see in the teaser? Chime in below.
Star Trek Into Darkness hits theaters May 17, 2013.
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Hi impact terror appears to be in store this May with Star Trek Into Darkness and Paramount bowed its teaser trailer with a menacing voice warning of vengeance in these “final moments of peace,” and it will be Captain Kirk to the rescue, of course.
The first full trailer will debut next week.
ENTV description:
The first official teaser trailer for Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013). After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Alice Eve, Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho and Anton Yelchin.
Watch the video on YouTube
We the People of the United States…are some weird dudes. A clever but clearly tongue-in-cheek petition to build a Star Wars-style Death Star isn’t the only petition that’s been started on the Obama administration’s much-debated We The People website.
That’s the place where ordinary citizens can log in and lobby for change. When a petition registered on the site gets 25,000 signatures, the administration issues an official response to it, which, you might guess, means that there are quite a few wackadoo proposals on the site.
In addition to the Death Star proposal, which needs more than 21,000 signatures before its Dec. 14 deadline, there is also a petition started by “Sean M” of San Francisco that seeks to establish a “new legal system of motorcycle riding ‘Judges’ who serve as police, judge, jury, and executioner all in one.”
If you saw Dredd 3D or are a fan of Judge Dredd comics, you’ll get the reference. If you’re like me, you’ll also start thinking of Karl Urban riding in formation with leather-clad Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg who also know how to scowl effectively.
And for you gamer fans, nathan p of Columbus, Ohio has petitioned the administration to build a statue of Halo hero Master Chief on the White House lawn, noting: ”He deserves more praise for what he has done.”
Compared to those last two petitions, the Death Star proposal at least has some satirical bite, nothing that its construction will “spur job creation…and strengthen our national defense.” It could also boost Disney’s stock.
It will be interesting to see if any of these petitions makes their 25,000-signature deadlines, which all fall at the end…
Full Story »Although Disney and LucasFilm remain officially mum, The Hollywood Reporter says Empire Strikes Back/Return of the Jedi screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and X-Men: The Last Stand/Sherlock Holmes scribe Simon Kinsberg have signed on to write Star Wars sequels following Michael Arndt’s Star Wars Episode VII.
Deadline first posted the rumor of Kasdan and Kinsberg’s involvement, but THR confirms with more from unnamed “sources.” Per THR, “the pair will write either Episode VIII or Episode IX — their exact division of responsibilities is yet to be determined — and they will also come aboard to produce the films.”
One of these two hires gives me great confidence in the future of the Star Wars franchise; the other one is more of a question mark. (Guess which is which?)
Not only did Kasdan co-write Episodes V and VI, he also nabbed sole screenwriting credit on Raiders of the Lost Ark, went on to write and direct Body Heat, The Big Chill, and Wyatt Earp, and gave us the gift that was The Bodyguard script, for which we should all be forever grateful.
Kinsberg, in a ten-year career so far, has earned sole screenwriting credits for Mr. and Mrs. Smith and xXx: State of the Union, and his most recently produced project was Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter — a decent-enough resume by Hollywood standards, but we’re talking Star Wars here. There’s a legacy at stake.
That said, if Kinsberg can get Tom Hardy, Chris Pine, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie to don Jedi robes, I’ll consider the slate wiped clean for This Means War.
[via THR]
Now under the guiding force of Disney, Star Wars‘ next director is becoming a source of intrigue. Last week one major rumored contender – Steven Spielberg – said he is a no-go and now two other front-running prospects have weighed in with their interest. The studio, which recently nabbed Star Wars creator George Lucas‘ Lucas Films recently for $4.05 billion and tapped Arndt to lead the way on Star Wars: Episode VII, which is set for 2015.
Spielberg, JJ Abrams and Brad Bird were reportedly sent extended treatments written for all three planned Star Wars installments. He is in talks to write Star Wars: Episode VII, which will go into production in time for its 2015 target release.
But the initial batch of front-running possible directors seem to be whittling down on their own volition, though the talk-downs may always be more about containing expectations than actual intent. But on the surface, J.J. Abrams appears to be bowing out, while another contender, Jon Favreau, is being less resigned to the prospect of taking on the reboot.
“I frankly feel that – I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series…,” said Abrams to HollywoodLife. “I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of Star Wars, but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!”
Favreau, however, walked the fence, noting that he’s worked on the Skywalker Ranch with Lucas on Clone Wars and Iron Man to great success, adding to HollywoodLife: “I am just giddy, first and foremost as…
Full Story »Prometheus writer Damon Lindelof may not be writing Star Wars Episode VII, but he can still suggest plot points. On Thursday, FirstShowing.net debunked some pretty rampant and persistent speculation that 1952, the science-fiction project that Lindelof and Brad Bird are writing for the new owner of LucasFilm, Disney, was the code name for a new Star Wars trilogy. But just two days earlier, when rumors were still making the rounds, Lindelof took to his Twitter feed to suggest some Episode VII ideas that were better suited to a Robot Chicken Star Wars special. 
“Chewbacca’s great-great grandson is named Drewbacca and he must overcome his allergies to lasers and meat,” wrote in one Tweet, which sounds just a tad more entertaining than the plot to the Star Wars Holiday Special.
In another, he suggested: “Yoda’s Ghost gets annoyed by Obi-Wan’s Ghost (too much whining) and they fight with Ghostsabers.”
Lindelof posted both with the hashtag “#IdeasForEpisodeVII”
On Thursday, he also alluded to reaction over his rumored involvement in the new Star Wars trilogy. Linking to a post by Ain’t It Cool News, Lindelof tweeted: “If I ever need a suicide note, I’ll just print out this comments section,” in which he gets a bit of a thrashing. Wrote one commenter: “Keep fucking Damon Lindelof away from this!”
In other Star Wars News, whatever you think about George Lucas’ decision to sell LucasFilm to Disney, it’s hard to take issue with his announcement that he’ll be giving a chunk of the $4 billion sale of his company to a foundation supporting education.
“For 41 years, the majority of my time and money has been put into…
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