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X-Men Origins: Wolverine has shot straight to the top of the US box office, breaking the opening weekend record for 2009.

The Hugh Jackman-led superhero prequel takes in $87 million to secure the number one spot, the second highest debut for an X-Men movie behind 2006's The Last Stand.

The box office runner-up, romantic comedy Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past, is a way behind with a $15 million bow.

Last week's chart topper Obsessed slips to number three, while 17 Again and Monsters Vs. Aliens complete the top five.

1. (-) X-Men Origins: Wolverine - $87,000,000
2. (-) Ghosts Of Girlfriends Past - $15,325,000
3. (1) Obsessed - $12,200,000
4. (2) 17 Again - $6,355,000
5. (6) Monsters Vs. Aliens - $5,800,000
6. (4) The Soloist - $5,600,000
7. (5) Earth - $4,184,000
8. (3) Fighting - $4,173,000
9. (8) Hannah Montana: The Movie - $4,075,000
10. (7) State Of Play - $3,655,000

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Tom Hanks has defended his upcoming film Angels & Demons against claims that it is anti-Catholic.

The movie, based on the best-selling novel by Dan Brown, was reported to have angered the Vatican because of its content, and was banned from using certain church properties for filming.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, Hanks said: "People will see there’s nothing sacrilegious about it at all. Yes, we had a few things go on that are completely fictionalised. But there’s no reason to have a big hurly-burly over what is essentially a whodunit.

"There’s no major theological discussion that goes on, other than science versus faith. There’s no winner in that argument. I just solve the murder."

Last month, the movie's director Ron Howard was also forced to defend the follow-up to 2006's The Da Vinci Code, describing the movie as an "exciting mystery, set in the awe-inspiring beauty of Rome".

Angels & Demons, which sees Hanks reprise the role of Robert Langdon, revolves around a secret brotherhood called the Illuminati and a plot to destroy the Vatican. It hits cinemas on May 15.

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Ben Stiller has signed on to direct forthcoming drama Help Me Spread Goodness, reports Variety.

The story revolves around a Chicago banker who is conned by an internet scammer claiming to be a Nigerian prince.

Based on a script by Mark Friedman, the project will be developed by Participant Media and produced by Stiller as well as his Red Hour partner Stuart Kornfeld, alongside Jeffrey Kramer.

The screenplay is also thought to discuss the current plight of Nigeria and other African nations.

Production on Goodness will reportedly depend on the progress of Aaron Sorkin's The Trial Of The Chicago 7, which Stiller will helm following the departure of Steven Spielberg.

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Christian Bale has reportedly revealed that he sliced off the top of his finger in an accident earlier this year.

According to WENN, the Dark Knight star suffered the injury while dirt-biking, and has been left with a scarred left index finger.

"I chopped it off at the end. You have something as extreme as that - you've lost the end of your finger - but it didn't hurt," he is quoted as saying.

"I just kept looking at it, going, 'Why is that not hurting?' The body's amazing. It [the finger] looks horrible. Everyone else almost faints looking at it."

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Nicolas Cage's latest movie is already a smash hit in New York. And that's bad news.

A car chase stunt sequence for Oscar winner's new flick, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, went awry last night in Times Square, with a vehicle careening into a pizza parlor and injuring two bystanders.

The accident occurred around 1 a.m. as a Ferrari darted down Seventh Avenue to keep pace with a Mercedes, whose stunt driver apparently lost control and ended up plowing into the entrance of a Sbarro's.

Although the street had been closed for filming, plenty of pedestrians were watching the action unfold—some too close for comfort...

"The Ferrarri took a sharp right to the left and lost it, swerving across the lanes, taking out a lamppost and a newsstand," British tourist Mark Watkins, who was stationed atop bleachers at the new TKTS booth, told the New York Post,. "One lady was knocked to the ground and a lamppost landed directly on top of a chap."

One of those victims was an onlooker. It's unclear whether the other person was affiliated with the production. Both were taken to a hospital and reportedly treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

A rep for the New York City Film Commission confirmed the crash, but did not have any additional information. No word whether Cage was on set at the time of the mishap.

Disney's Sorcerer's Apprentice puts a live-action spin on the Mouse House's classic cartoon segment from Fantasia. Reuniting with his National Treasure director Jon Turteltaub, the 45-year-old Cage plays a wizard who leaves his workshop in the hands of a college student. It's slated to be released next summer.

SOURCE

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Angels & Demons director Ron Howard has accused the Vatican of deliberating obstructing the filming of the movie in Rome.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Howard claimed that church officials had "exerted some influence" in order to make it more difficult for him to film certain outside sequences.

"When you come to film in Rome, the official statement to you is that the Vatican has no influence," he explained.

"Everything progressed very smoothly, but unofficially a couple of days before we were going to start filming in several of our locations, it was explained to us that through back channels and so forth that the Vatican had exerted some influence.

"Was I surprised? No. Am I a little frustrated by it at times, sure."

However, a representative for the Vatican later told The AP that Howard's accusations had been made purely to publicise the movie, despite earlier reports that the church had banned production from certain holy buildings.

Based on the novel by Dan Brown, the follow-up to 2006's The Da Vinci Code sees Tom Hanks return as symbologist Robert Langdon on a quest to uncover a plot to destroy the papacy.

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Donald Sutherland has reportedly teamed up with his son Rossif for the first time in forthcoming rom-com Love Child.

The father and son partnership will headline the project which already includes Rebecca Romijn and Sarah Roemer, according to Variety.

The movie will centre on an ex-con who plans to live life on the straight and narrow, until a loan shark whom he owes a great deal of money to halts his plan.

Risa Bramon Garcia, who directed 200 Cigarettes, will helm the project written by Michael Melski.

Love Child is currently being filmed in Toronto.

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Tom Hardy and Ken Watanabe are the latest stars to sign on for Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller Inception, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Bronson actor Hardy and Watanabe, who appeared in Nolan's Batman Begins, will join Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page and Marion Cotillard in the Warner Bros movie.

No plot details have yet been revealed for the film, only that it is set "within the architecture of the mind" and that DiCaprio will portray a company CEO.

Nolan and Emma Thomas will share producing duties on Inception, which is scheduled to begin shooting this summer for a 2010 release.

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Christina Aguilera will make her movie debut in Screen Gems musical Burlesque.

The project centres on a girl from a small town who finds success in a Los Angeles burlesque club, says Variety.

Steven Antin will direct the movie from a script he wrote with Erin Brockovich's Susannah Grant.

"I couldn't be more excited, as this was a project written with her in mind," said Screen Gems president Clint Culpepper of Aguilera's involvement.

The pop singer previously lent her voice to the DreamWorks animation Shark Tale, though her role was uncredited.

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Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey's shelved sci-fi comedy Used Guys is being revived with Stiller and Reese Witherspoon in the lead roles.

The initial project, which was to be directed by Jay Roach, centred on cloned men who were traded by women. Stiller and Carrey were to play obsolete models who go in search of 'Mantopia', but the film was cancelled as the budget spiralled past $100 million.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, studio 20th Century Fox is moving forward with the film again, changing the story to focus on the relationship between Stiller's character and Witherspoon's clone owner.

Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine) are in talks to direct. Dave Guion, Michael Handelman and Mickey Birnbaum wrote the script.

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The nominations for this year's MTV Movie Awards are led by Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire.

The teen vampire flick is up for seven awards, including Best Film, Best Female Performance for Kristen Stewart and Best Breakthrough Male Performance for Robert Pattinson.

Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire has taken six nominations, including Best Film and Best Breakthrough Male and Female Performances for Dev Patel and Freida Pinto.

Other films up for gongs at the awards in Los Angeles, California, include The Dark Knight, High School Musical 3: Senior Year and Iron Man.

The host of this year's ceremony has already been revealed as Saturday Night Live comic Andy Samberg, while Eminem has been booked to perform at the show.

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Hugh Jackman's Seed Productions has started work on a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The follow-up to the box office hit will be inspired by a samurai storyline from Marvel's X-Men comic books, reports Variety.

The superhero sequel is one of several projects Jackman's Seed firm has set up with Fox. Also on the Australian actor's plate are Personal Security, a thriller about a cop who acts as a bodyguard to a teen heiress; race car drama Drive, which Jackman has likened to a Steve McQueen film; and Carousel, a big screen adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Jackman is also eyeing a return to Broadway in 2010, leading the cast of Danny Elfman-scored musical Houdini.

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Matthew McNulty has admitted that he hated co-star Eric Cantona when he played for Manchester United.

The Little Ashes star, a fan of United's local rivals Manchester City, told DS that he had to put his feelings to one side when starring alongside the former footballer in upcoming movie Looking For Eric.

McNulty said: "I'm a City fan. It was difficult, it was harsh! Because there's a United theme throughout it. I just had to kind of get over that and I did. But it's a good film so it was well worth breaking my rules!

"As much as I hated Cantona as a player, I think to work with him was great. It was just a great film from an actor's point of view, because there's no director like Ken Loach for giving actors freedom."

He added: "Ken doesn't work in a conventional way. For him it's not about the aesthetic of the shot, it's about the reality of the performance and the situation."

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Matthew McNulty has said that the presence of Robert Pattinson in the lead role of new Salvador Dalí biopic Little Ashes will attract people to the film.

The actor, who plays filmmaker Louis Buñuel in the movie, told DS that he was not concerned that it would be overshadowed by the Twilight star's nude and sex scenes.

McNulty said: "If people want to judge [the film] before they've actually seen it and judge it on the fact that there's a teen heartthrob playing the lead then that's more fool them.

"I think that the film has got the merit of its own through it's writing and and the cinematography, so hopefully word of mouth will dispel any of that."

He added: "A lot of people that will now see this film because of Rob Pattinson will be able to form a fresh opinion of surrealism."

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McG has revealed that the proposed sequel to Terminator: Salvation may take place in the present.

The new film will be contingent on the success of latest instalment Terminator: Salvation, which is released this month.

"I strongly suspect the next movie is going to take place in a [pre-Judgment Day] 2011," he told Film Journal.

"John Connor is going to travel back in time and he's going to have to galvanise the militaries of the world for an impending Skynet invasion. They've figured out time travel to the degree where they can send more than one naked entity."

The filmmaker also said that the futuristic machines known in the film series as hunter killers, transports and harvesters will do battle with modern-day military war machines.

McG added that he would feature former T-1000 Robert Patrick in the fifth film as a scientist doing stem-cell research.

Terminator: Salvation is released in the US on May 21 and the UK on June 5.

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Christian Bale's name has emerged in connection with J.J. Abrams's proposed Dark Tower movies.

According to Frost/Nixon actor Michael Sheen, Bale may be playing the role of antihero Roland Deschain in director Abrams's big screen adaptation of Stephen King's fantasy book series.

Asked by a Twitter follower what King character he would like to play on film, Sheen responded: "Roland of Gilead but I'm not right for it. I heard Christian Bale is playing it for J.J. Abrams."

Abrams recently revealed to IGN that it will be some time before he and Damon Lindelof begin work on the ambitious project.

"We got the rights for [Dark Tower] as a film," Abrams said. "Damon is obviously still on Lost and we've been working on Star Trek together. As soon as Lost is done, hopefully we'll begin tackling that."

The first Dark Tower novel follows Deschain, the last "gunslinger" of his kind, as he journeys across a desert in search of his adversary Randall Flagg.

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Tom Hanks has admitted that he would be on board for another Da Vinci Code movie.

According to Access Hollywood, the actor revealed that he is game to play puzzle-solving symbologist Robert Langdon for another instalment.

"If it makes sense I’ll be happy to," he said. "It doesn’t come down to where it takes place or what the character is. It really comes down to... is it going to examine a theme that’s going to be worthy of making another movie?"

Hanks also said that he has given author Dan Brown "hints" about a possible location and events for third book The Lost Symbol, due out in September.

He added: "Nothing wrong with an adventure in the Bahamas!"

Angels & Demons, the prequel to The Da Vinci Code, is released in the UK on May 14 and the US on May 15.

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Daniel Craig has reportedly criticised the quality of scripts that he is offered.

The Quantum Of Solace star said that he is unhappy with some of the projects suggested to him, according to STV.

The actor insisted that his portrayal of 007 has afforded him more film opportunities but many of the scripts coming his way are not of a high enough standard for consideration.

He said: "I do get more offers. Or at least I get to see more scripts. But they're just as c**p as they were before. There are only so many good scripts out there, genuinely."

Craig added that he has no plans to start up his own production company in order to ensure securing the roles that he wants to play.

"If I was going to produce a film, then I'd form one. But it sounds like I'd need an office. I didn't get into acting to have an office," he said.

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Wilmer Valderrama and Jason Ritter have joined the cast of The Dry Land.

The actors have signed on for the independent drama, currently being filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film, originally called American Tragic, centres on a young soldier who returns to his small-town life after a tour of duty only to realise that he has outgrown his previous rural existence.

Ryan O’Nan will portray the soldier, while America Ferrera stars as his wife and Melissa Leo plays his mother.

Valderrama is cast as a military friend of O’Nan’s character and Ritter will play the hometown pal entrusted with watching after the soldier’s wife in his absence.

The Dry Land is the directorial debut for Ryan Piers Williams, who also wrote the screenplay.

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Rachel Weisz has signed up to star in political drama The Whistleblower.

The movie will centre on a Nebraska police officer who serves as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and later exposes a sex trafficking scandal covered up by the United Nations.

Larysa Kondracki and Ellis Kirwin based the script on the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, a U.N. peacekeeper who went to Bosnia in 1999. Kondracki is making her directorial debut on the project, reports Variety.

Weisz's upcoming roles include con caper The Brothers Bloom, Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and historical drama Agora.