Another 7 days has come and gone and left with us another slew of movie news, box office figures, new official websites for upcoming movies and new trailers. So let's get this party started with this week's Notables.

NOTABLES

"Touchstone Picks up Jennifer Garner's Sabbatical" - Monday, October 31

This sounds like an interesting vehicle for Garner. She's already proven her action and romantic comedy chops in previous years, now she appears ready to take on another genre: thriller. This kind of sabbatical is from a marriage, not from teaching. A bored couple decided to take a two-week hiatus from their marriage to inject some life back into them. When they go to meet up after the sabbatical has ended, she discovers that her husband has disappeared. Garner sounds like a really good choice for this kind of flick, as she certainly has the look and she's at a point in her career where she's surely ready to branch out. Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Weinstein Co Picks Up Star Wars Fan Boys" - Monday, October 31

Well, the Star Wars saga is now complete, so get ready for some movies to play off the phenomena. There is already a movie to be released next year dubbed 5-25-77, the exact release date of the first Star Wars flick, about a man determined to see Star Wars on opening day and all the hurdles he must overcome to do so. This flick, Fan Boys, is fairly similar. These Fan Boys don't just want to see the movies, as they've obviously done so many many times, they want to fulfill the wish of their dying friend by journeying to Skywalker Ranch to see the movies with their creator, George Lucas. This sounds fairly interesting, and, if cast right, could be a decent flick. Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Darren Aronofsky Directs Black Flies" - Tuesday, November 1

More work for Aronofsky is definitely good news. Although he's had a rough 21st Century so far, with his Batman Year One getting dumped for Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and his The Fountain getting sidetracked numerous times, before finally getting on track now for a 2006 release. But one only needs to rent his first two flicks, Pi and Requiem For a Dream to see his greatness as a writer and director. Aronofsky has an incredibly dark style to him and, from what we have here on the story, he sounds like a perfect match for this project. Best News of the Week Nominee.

"New Line Gets The Perfect Pet" - Wednesday, November 2

Those darn kids these days. They always wan't more, don't they? You just can't win their respect...unless you're a genetic engineer and produce the perfect pet to win their hearts...right? Umm wrong. New Line should get to work with some genetic engineers themselves to create the perfet writer, because if they keep picking moronic projects like this, they'll surely need one. Worst News of the Week Nominee.

"Alex Aja to Direct The Waiting" - Thursday, November 3

I was just blown away by Aja's horror flick High Tension this year, and this sounds like a pretty good project for him as well. His work in the stunning flick has obviously caught the eyes of American studios, as he has already shot a remake of The Hills Have Eyes, and rightly so. Aja has a wonderful visual style and this flick, surrounding a mourning mother who is convinced her dead son is haunting her, sounds right up his alley. Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Lindsey Lohan and Jared Leto to Star in Chapter 27" - Thursday, November 3

It seems that the lovely Ms. Lohan has historical murders on the brain, as she's signed onto this flick, about the murder of Beatles frontman John Lennon a week after signing on to Bobby, about the muder of Robert F. Kennedy. But, she said she wants to be a serious actress, and you can't get much more serious than murder, so there you go. This does sounds like a very interesting flick, though, with Lohan playing a die-hard Beatles fan who befriends Lennon's eventual killer on the weekend Lennon is murdered. We haven't yet seen her do the serious thing yet, our first taste of this to come next year with her Prarie Home Companion movie, but this sounds like a really interesting role for her and I think she'll do well. Best News of the Week Nominee.

"Rob Schneider Makes His Directorial Debut with Big Stan" - Friday, November 4

No, it's not April Fools Day and this is not one of Cynamatic's fake Underground Hollywood Headlines. This is sadly and amazingly real, folks, and this could be the worst news of the year so far. He's starring here too, as if matters couldn't be any worse, in a flick about an amateur con man, about to go to jail, who hires a martial arts expert so he can defend himself against the brutish cons who await him in the klink. My brain just can't function right now. I think I need a drink or nine. Rob Schnieder as a star/director. Unreal. There's no justice in this world, folks. None at all. Worst News of the Week Nominee.

"Seann William Scott and Topher Grace Set For Cockblocker" - Friday, November 4

Oh man, that would be just hilarious if this title held up. I am just imagining movie marquees all across America with "COCKBLOCKER" in big ol' type up there next to the other movie titles. That's entertainment in and of itself, folks. But the movie does sound pretty good too, and it's cast very well so far. This flick sounds like a version of There's Something About Mary, but focused more on the blockin' than the effect that Mary has on all those dudes. The flick has Grace meeting the girl of his dreams, only to find out her best friend, played by Scott, is her ex-boyfriend, and I'm assuming Scott is the biggest hurdle Grace must overcome to win her over. This also sounds a lot like Scott's Stifler character in American Wedding, where he's the sweetheart one second, and the conniving bastard the next. Grace and Scott sound like a great comic team here, and this sounds like a wonderful comedy. Best News of the Week Nominee.

BOX OFFICE CORNER

That little chicken was nothing but this weekend, out-clucking The Suck in a high-powered weekend. Chicken Little dominated at the box office this weekend, taking in just over $40 million in its first weekend ($35 million prediction). The Disney animated flick earned a hefty $10,960 per-screen average, showing in an equally-hefty 3,654 theaters. Regardless of the glorious praise they chose to show in the TV spots for this flick, the rest of the critics didn't think too highly of this, though, with only a 38% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which could spurn a big decline next weekend. The budget for this Disney animated flick wasn't released, but, with it's split with animation giant Pixar (for now; new boss Michael Iger has talked about bring Pixar back to the Mouse House), and previous non-Pixar Disney animated flicks tanking, this is some very good news for Disney, and hope for its animated wing.

The other main new release this weekend had some very mixed reviews, but still turned out a solid performance at the box office. Jarhead took the second spot at the box office this weekend, earning $27.7 million in its debut weekend ($29.7 million prediction). It actually had a better per-screen average than Chicken Little, with a $11,499 average from 2,411 theaters. The critics were kinder to Jarhead than Chicken Little, though, with a 58% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but this seemed like a love-or-hate movie to me with little middle ground. Regardless, this flick does have some heavy work to do if they plan to make back their $72 million budget if they want The Suck not to totally suck at the box office.

Box Office Predictions

I got all 5 flicks in all the right places this week! And I wasn't too far off in any of the grosses! It's not much, but I'll take it, baby! Let's see if I can make it two weeks in a row here...

1) Zathura: $29.6 million

2) Chicken Little: $18.3 million

3) Derailed: $12.5 million

4) Jarhead: $10.4 million

5) Saw II: $9.6 million

CLICK HERE to check out all my predictions from last week!

GOING LIVE

The Libertine: (weinsteinco.com/thelibertine)

Just another teaser site, folks. We just get the trailer and a very brief synopsis. Nothing much to see here, folks. The Libertine opens in New York and L.A. for an Oscar-qualifying run on November 25.

The Ant Bully: (www.theantbully.com)

Another stupid teaser site with just a synopsis and the teaser trailer. To its credit though, the synopsis is much more in depth than the previous site. It's actually more of a treatment than a synopsis, which is a good thing. Also, since this is an animated flick, set for release next year, I'm sure there will be much more added to this site. The Ant Bully opens on August 4, 2006.

Munich: (www.munichmovie.com)

Ahh this is the Week of the Teaser! Damn these teaser sites straight to hell! All we get here is a synopsis, another fairly decent one, and the trailer and a look at the probable one-shot. Put a decent site up dammit! Munich opens on December 23

BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK

I'm going with my favorite upcoming title (literally) of the year, Cockblocker for my Best News of the Week. What does suck about this is the iron fist of the MPAA will probably crush this title with one swift blow, and they'll probably resort to calling this "Blocker" or something like that. Besides wanting to see this on marquees all over the country for humor value, I want to hear that trailer guy say "Cockblocker" in that Vader-like voice of his. Besides all that, Scott and Grace are perfect choices here, Scott having the shifty, scheming dude role down to a science and Grace has that timid dorky dude down to a science as well. They should bounce off each other rather well, and I'm excited to see this new comic team.

WORST NEWS OF THE WEEK

I almost don't even need any more crappy news for the rest of the year because Rob Schnieder directing a movie is as bad of news as any movie fan could expect to receive. Schneider just simply isn't nearly as funny as he thinks he is and I don't know what kind of drugs he's doing these days to make him even think he can direct a movie. He doesn't even really have a hit starring in a movie yet, regardless of that gigawhore flick of his somehow warranting a sequel. Crack $100 million domestic on your own, not under Sandler's wing, and then maybe we'll talk directing. But until then, maybe learn how to read because these scripts you've been doing seem just too retarded for any literate person to want to do.

That's all for this week, folks. Surf on by next week for more box office goodies, new websites for upcoming flicks, new trailers and, of course, the best and worst news of the week. Take care, folks and always remember: if it looks like a good time, sounds like a good time and feels like a good time: it probably isn't free.