It was another week full of interesting news bits from Hollywood. It looks like the sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean are following the new trend of shooting back-to-back. We got a rumored title for Star Wars: Episode III. And Hollywood goon Steven Seagal is apparently looking to do some comedy. God help us all… But that wasn’t all that went down in Hollywood this week. Let’s take a look, but first, let’s see who conquered the box office this weekend.

BOX OFFICE CORNER

The sequel to the blockbuster hit Shrek probably didn’t need the weekend all to itself to succeed, but it probably didn’t hurt much either. Shrek 2 was the overwhelming winner this weekend, taking in a whopping $104.3 estimated gross this weekend. The Dreamworks flick was released in the most theaters in history, the first to open in over 4,000 theaters (4,163, to be exact). It also took in an estimated $20.9 million from Wednesday and Thursday for a total gross of $125.2 million. It also snagged the second best May opening, right behind Spider-Man’s all-time record opening weekend of $114.8 million.

There were no other new movies out this week, but there has been a movie that has slowly been climbing up the charts, instead of falling. The documentary Super Size Me broke into the top 10 for the first time in its 3 weeks of release. The flick took the 10th spot with an estimated $975,000 for the weekend. It has slowly been released in more theaters (41 in its first weekend, 113 in its second and 148 this weekend), and it was 20th at the box office its first weekend, 12th place in its second, and 10th this weekend. While most movies fall off dramatically after its initial release, it’s nice to see a little indie film clawing up the charts. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see increases in theater count and box office gross for Super Size Me after this weekend.

GOING LIVE

Ocean’s 12: (oceans12.warnerbros.com) This site is up first, and while it does look pretty cool, like the teaser trailer for the movie, there just isn’t much here. There’s a neat little Flash intro with some slick music, but all you can really access on the site is the teaser trailer, and you can download the one-sheet. There is a section for photos, but it’s still under construction. This movie is still shooting right now, so I’d imagine we will see more on this site as we near its December 10 release date.

Maria Full of Grace: (www.mariafullofgrace.com) While the Ocean’s 12 site didn’t have much to look at, at least they tried, which I can’t really say for this site. All we have here is a picture of a girl who I would assume to be the aforementioned Maria, the title and the release date of July 16. Yeah. That’s it, folks. Oh wait. We do also find out that it has an R-rating, and there are links to HBO Films and Fine Line Features…but who cares.

Stander: (www.standerfilm.com) The first two sites I mentioned here could’ve learned a lot from this site. There is nothing really here, but they get creative with it, with a newspaper front page and news story about the main character, Andre Stander, and some brief footage of a car chase. This actually could be a real front page, since this movie is based on a true story. The only thing you can do here is submit your email for further updates, but it’s nice to see someone get creative with their movie’s website.

Seed of Chucky: (www.seed-of-chucky.com) While this movie looks just dreadful, I have to give them props for the site. Again, there’s not a whole lot here, after a long Flash intro, you can watch the teaser trailer, but that intro is very cool. You can also sign up for receive updates on the site, as well. But while the site lacks in content, it makes up for it in creativity.

Twist: (christalfilms.com/officialsites/twist/) Last up is this weird little site. At first look, you would probably think this is just another crappy site with nothing on it but the title. But if you click on the shadowy figures of two guys, the site launches. And here you can view the trailer and 4 clips for the movie, look at some production photos, and you can even download a Press Kit in Adobe PDF format. All in all, this site isn’t too bad at all.

TRAILER PARK

Seed of Chucky: This movie still looks retarded, but the trailer is kind of cool. All we really get is some images of what a plastic doll would look like in a “womb” and a little message about generations, and stuff. The tagline of Deliver Us Some Evil is pretty slick, I guess, but I guess we’ll have to wait for another trailer to see what this movie will actually look like. The flick opens, fittingly enough, on Halloween weekend this year.

Darkness: It doesn’t say at the beginning of this trailer, but I’m assuming this is a “red-band” trailer, which is only shown in R-rated movies, because they drop an f-bomb in the trailer. This trailer is O.K. but the movie doesn’t look very original – a family moving into a “haunted” house. Yeah, like I haven’t seen anything like that before… But this could be a pretty creepy movie, if you’re a horror fan. The movie opens on June 18.

Twist: This looks like a wonderful dark drama, based on Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist. It actually kind of looks like the Dickens story mixed with The Basketball Diaries. Nick Stahl looks to turn in a magnificent performance as Oliver Twist, and this just simply looks like a great movie. The film is in limited release right now, but it expands to a wider release on June 4. This looks like it will definitely be worth checking out when it comes to your neighborhood.

The Stepford Wives:This Nicole Kidman flick is up next, and it looks just wonderful. This remake has a marvelous cast (Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Christopher Walken, Glenn Close) a delightfully dark story and a great director in Frank Oz. This movie is opening on June 11, competing with the highly anticipated The Chronicles of Riddick, but this movie looks great and I’m sure it will hold it’s own against Riddick.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy:Last up is the new trailer for the new Will Ferrell laugh-fest. The first trailer for this movie, that has been playing in theaters for months now, is just hilarious, and this new trailer is hilarious as well. This movie will probably be the biggest comedy of the summer, and truly cement Ferrell’s place as a lead comedic actor. You can check this out in theaters on July 9.

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

My pick for best news of the week is Billy Bob Thornton and the ultra-hot Kate Beckinsale joining Fade Out. This sounds like a very interesting movie, and almost a cross between Adaptation and Secret Window. I loved both of those movies, and if this movie is as dark as it sounds like it will be, it should be a damn good movie. I guess it’s not totally original, but really, what is these days? And if you can take a concept that has worked before, and improve on it, well, what more can you really ask for? And besides, Billy Bob is a great actor, Beckinsale is a pretty good actress, and they always deliver. Sounds like a winner to me.

WORST NEWS OF THE WEEK

The landslide winner of the worst news of the week is the supposed advent of movie trailers shown on T-shirts. Yes, I said T-shirts. Unbelievable. Now, I love trailers as much as the next guy, but a T-shirt? How big of a retard are you going to look like if you’re walking around, showing everyone that you have a T-shirt that can show trailers? And, I assume, you have to buy different T-shirts for different trailers. And what about laundry? Dry clean? Is it a plasma screen? Do you have to buy a matching belt to get audio? Is there an insurance policy with the shirt that pays your medical bills for the massive beatings you will get from strangers who see you wearing this shirt? The only thing we can hope, is that all of these questions I’ve posed go unanswered, and we never ever EVER have to see someone wearing this...