So this was the deal: For $50, you got to see Brad Pitt's hotly anticipated zombie thriller "World War Z" before all your friends. You also got 3D glasses to keep, popcorn and sodas, a poster, the DVD when it comes out, and an intimate dinner with Brad.

Just kidding! No dinner with Brad.

But hundreds of fans did pay $50 for the other stuff last week in a small-scale marketing experiment in five theaters – and the studio, Paramount Pictures, says it worked well. With all the recent talk about future movie ticket prices climbing into the stratosphere, is it a harbinger of things to come?

Before you scoff, it's worth noting that premium pricing happens all the time: in Broadway theaters, where you could get second-row seats for Tom Hanks in "Lucky Guy" this week if you paid $300 a pop, or at concerts, where you could pay well over $1,000 for, say, a Rolling Stones VIP package. At Yankee Stadium, a top-tier Legends seat can also top $1,000 per game, but season holders can get perks like a free trip to spring training.

Still, the idea of $50 for a movie strikes a lot of fans the wrong way.

"That's possibly the craziest thing I've ever heard," said Dillon Mahoney, 19, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, waiting in line for a regular "World War Z" showing. "I have a hard time paying 50 bucks for a Phillies game!"

"That's my dinner," noted another Philadelphia moviegoer, Cheyanne Farmer, 15. "That's my allowance," added Rahyaan Hall, her friend. "For a month."

In New York though, one fan did some quick calculating and saw a reasonable value. "With the DVD and all those other things you mention, it probably comes to more than $50," said Alex Leighton, 24, who'd just bought tickets to "World War Z." "So you're getting more than the movie."

That's the point that Paramount wants to make.

"This ended up being a headline that didn't really represent what the offer was," says Megan Colligan, the studio's president of domestic distribution and marketing. "These people stepped up and made their commitment to us, and we gave them a great experience."

That experience, which involved just one show each at five theaters across the country, included not merely seeing the film two days early and the free stuff; the "mega-ticket" buyers also got to bring friends along at regular price and they got a party atmosphere, including a DJ and photo booths.

Colligan says that four of the theaters sold out – they averaged 250 seats each – and one was 80 percent full. She wouldn't get more specific in terms of revenue, but said: "It was a fun, positive experience for everyone."

The offer might have gone largely unnoticed, had it not been for its timing: The special showings came just a few days after Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, speaking at the University of Southern California, issued dire predictions about the future of movie prices, with Lucas estimating tickets could end up at "$50, maybe $100, maybe $150," and Spielberg predicting differentiated pricing according to a film's budget – with the next "Iron Man" costing $25 perhaps, but the next "Lincoln" costing $7.

Here's one of the pull quotes cited in the new trailer for "Adore": "Provocative and troubling, sensual and scandalous." Fasten your seat belts, et cetera.

Directed by Anne Fontaine and written by Christopher Hampton ("Atonement"), "Adore" focuses on two mothers (Naomi Watts and Robin Wright) who fall into sexual relationships with each other's sons. This movie is real. Here's what Vulture's Kyle Buchanan wrote after "Adore," then titled "Two Mothers," premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January:

    Literally 95% of the movie is comprised of the following: swimming, staring, and sex-having. (Often, some of those actions are combined or follow each other in rapid succession.) The dialogue is terse and feels more like it was pulled from foreign language subtitles than anything resembling actual conversation. A pivotal exchange between Lil and Roz, scripted by Oscar winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton, after the two women have just learned that they're, you know, boning each other's sons: "How are you feeling?" Long pause. "Good." Long pause. "Yeah. Me too." In the next scene, all four of them are hanging out together and having a blast. Well, glad that's settled!

As Buchanan notes, "Adore" is a "doozy." So is his piece, which you should read immediately after watching the "Adore" trailer above.

"Adore" is out on in theaters and available via on-demand services on Sept. 6.

What more could the "Millionaire Matchmaker" need than a black bikini and her boyfriend? Before heading to her pal and fellow Bravo star NeNe Leakes' wedding that evening, Patti Stanger spent Saturday soaking up the sun in Atlanta with her man David Krause. The couple were in town for the purpose of attending the nuptials that night, but that didn't stop Stanger from getting her tan on before heading to the ceremony in a stylish navy blue gown.

The 52-year-old recently lost nearly 30 pounds over the course of the past two years using the weight loss system Sensa and confidently showed off her slimmer figure while relaxing poolside with her 44-year-old mortgage broker beau. The two met in March 2012 and after lounging around for the day, the pair glammed it up in attire that Stanger joked would give even 007 and his girl a run for their money. "James Bond n Pussy Galore look out," she captioned with the photo of them ready to go

Don't go running to mummy just yet: the spooky movements of this Egyptian statue probably have a logical explanation, even if museum curators are in de-Nile about it.

Staff at the Manchester Museum in Manchester, England say the 4,000-year-old statue, recovered from a mummy's tomb, has been spinning without anybody moving it, NDTV reports.

The 10-inch tall statue of a man named Neb-Senu was originally an offering to the god Osiris and has been in the museum for 80 years.

Up until a few weeks ago, the statue had appeared to be stationary.

"I noticed one day that it had turned around," curator Campbell Price, 29, told NDTV. "I thought it was strange because it is in a case and I am the only one who has a key."

Price told the Sun this week that "most Egyptologists are not superstitious people," and said when he first noticed the object had moved, his first instinct was to wonder who moved it.

“But the next time I looked, it was facing in another direction — and a day later had yet another orientation," he told the Sun this week.

Price returned the statue to its original position and set up a time-lapse video, which he says shows the statue moving without the help of humans.

WATCH THE VIDEO (story continues below):

According to Price, "ancient Egyptians believed that statuettes such as these could act as an alternative home for the spirits of the people they represented, should the body be damaged or destroyed."

Nevertheless, even the Egyptians didn't expect these statues to move on their own.

TV physicist Brian Cox thinks he might have a scientific explanation for the spooky movement, according to the Daily Mail: differential friction.

"Cox suggested that two surfaces, the serpentine stone of the statuette and glass shelf it is on, cause a subtle vibration which is making the statuette turn," Price told the Daily Mail.

Cox's theory is supported by the fact that in the video, the statue appears to only be moving when visitors are in the museum.

Price, however, is skeptical of this theory, since the statuette has been on the same surface for 80 years and has never moved before.

Maybe the mummy's curse will actually be a blessing for the museum, as Price urges the public to visit and try to figure out the mystery for themselves.

Because the world can never have enough Beyonce, the singer has added additional stops to her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour.

Originally scheduled to wrap at the end of the summer, The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour will now continue through the fall. New concerts were added to Bey's schedule this week, including stops in South America and a return to North America for shows in November and December. Beyonce's tour will now end in Boston, Mass. on Dec. 20.

The tour has been highly profitable for Bey, who grossed $9.7 million in ticket sales from the six shows she played in London alone.

Check out the remaining stops on Beyonce's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour below.

June 28: Los Angeles, Calif.
June 29: Las Vegas, Nev.
July 01: Los Angeles, Calif.
July 02: San Jose, Calif.
July 05: Oklahoma City, Okla.
July 06: Dallas, Texas
July 07: New Orleans, La.
July 09: Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
July 10: Miami, Fla.
July 12: Atlanta, Ga.
July 13: Nashville, Tenn.
July 15: Houston, Texas
July 17: Chicago, Ill.
July 18: St. Paul, Minn.
July 20: Detroit, Mich.
July 21: Toronto, Ontario
July 22: Montreal, Quebec
July 23: Boston, Mass.
July 25: Philadelphia, Penn.
July 26: Atlantic City, NJ
July 27: Charlotte, NC
July 29: Washington, DC
July 30: Washington, DC
July 31: East Rutherford, NJ
August 2 Uncasville, Conn.
August 3: Brooklyn, NY
August 4: Brooklyn, NY
August 5: Brooklyn, NY
August 17: Chelmsford, England
August 18: Staffordshire, England
August 31: Philadelphia, Penn.
September 8: Fortaleza, Brazil
September 11: Belo Horizonte, Brazil
September 13: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
September 15: Sao Paulo, Brazil
September 17: Brasilia, Brazil
September 20: Caracas, Venezuela
September 26: Mexico City, Mexico
September 28: San Juan, Puerto Rico
November 30: Vancouver, B.C.
December 2: San Jose, Calif.
December 3: Los Angeles, Calif.
December 6: Las Vegas, Nev.
December 7: Phoenix, Ariz.
December 9: Dallas, Texas
December 10: Houston, Texas
December 12: Louisville, KY
December 13: Chicago, Ill.
December 14: St. Louis, MO
December 16: Toronto, Ontario
December 18: Washington DC
December 19: Brooklyn, NY
December 20: Boston, Mass.

Zosia Mamet, who plays straight-laced Shoshanna on our beloved "Girls," hit the red carpet on Sunday wearing a mini dress that could have probably doubled as a shirt -- i.e., the "pantsless" look. Mamet styled the white dress elegantly with understated hair, neutral makeup and flat shoes.

The cute look gave us serious flashbacks to the "pantsless" outfit Lena Dunham wore on the red carpet last fall (you know, the one that had the media all in a tizzy).

We're going to assume that Zosia, just like Lena, didn't actually forget her pants but simply liked the loose, laidback look of the dress. Are you digging the ultra-short hemline as much as we are?

Melissa McCarthy has been thrust into a new kind of spotlight since busting out onto the Hollywood scene in 2011's "Bridesmaids." But with all that attention comes a lot of criticism.

McCarthy has been called out for her weight over the years, most recently by movie reviewer Rex Reed, who said she was "tractor-sized" and "a gimmick comedian who has devoted her short career to being obese and obnoxious with equal success.”

Still, it sounds like those kinds of comments don't affect McCarthy, who says that she's not as sensitive as she once was. In the July/August issue of More magazine, the star of "The Heat" admits that with age comes a newfound respect for yourself.

"I've been every size in the world," she says. "Parts of my twenties, I was in great shape, but I didn't appreciate it. If I was a 6 or an 8, I thought, why aren't I a 2 or a 4?"

"I bought into it -- I should be taller, thinner, have better hair. But I think that's part of being young," the now 42-year-old star continues. "Now, especially with kids, you lose any sense of time or energy to worry about all the little stuff."

The mother of two -- McCarthy has two daughters, Vivian, 6, and Georgette, 3, with husband Ben Falcone -- has been open about her weight struggles, but refuses to let harsh remarks bother her. After Reed's review was released, McCarthy spoke out about his choice of words, telling the New York Times, “I felt really bad for someone who is swimming in so much hate. I just thought, that’s someone who’s in a really bad spot, and I am in such a happy spot. I laugh my head off every day with my husband and my kids who are mooning me and singing me songs.”

When Jade Beall published a series of self-portraits of her semi-nude postpartum body online -- and a followup semi-nude photo of a friend that got thousands of "likes" and shares from her photography studio's Facebook page -- she realized she’d struck a nerve. Hundreds of mothers wrote to her, hoping Beall would be willing to take portraits of them "just as they were" as well. The photographer, and mother of one, was so moved by these intense reactions that she complied, in a big way.

Now, these women’s photos (Beall has captured more than 50 moms and counting), and written accounts of their journeys from self-doubt to body confidence, will appear in "A Beautiful Body," a book that Beall is bringing to fruition via crowd-funding and help from volunteers. Put together, these images are meant to show mothers as they really look, imperfect but no less beautiful for what society might consider their physical "flaws."
Story continues with more photos below.

beautiful body project

The photographer, whose baby boy Sequoia is now 16 months old, says the concept has roots in doubts that have haunted her throughout her life -- and hit her particularly hard after she gave birth. She explained to HuffPost over email:

    As a teenager I suffered from feelings of deep unworthiness. I had acne and I was unable to look in a mirror for nearly three years, unless it was by candlelight. ... I gained 50 pounds with my pregnancy and that added to my personal history of oppressive self-loathing in a culture that praises mostly photoshopped images of women in media.

The project is volunteer-driven, and Beall does each photoshoot for free. She writes on Kickstarter that she plans to use some of the extra money she has raised to help people travel to her studio in Tucson, Arizona.

"We are facing an epidemic of women who feel unworthy of being called beautiful," Beall told HuffPost, describing a world in which "nearly all of us struggle to feel beautiful in our own skin." And the expectations faced by women who have given birth are particularly harsh. "Shaming mothers for not 'bouncing back' after childbirth can cause feelings of failure when being a mother is challenging enough and when a big number of us have already lived a life of feeling un-beautiful prior to giving birth," she says.

For a glimpse into the experience on the other side of Beall's camera, yoga therapist Michelle Marks (featured on slide 16 of the gallery below) wrote about her journey from terror to exhilaration on Offbeat Home. Marks says the final product made her cry:

    I had exposed myself to Jade -- not just my flesh, and typically hidden parts, but the angles, and lines and aspects of me that came with being a mother. The exposure called to light remembrances of how my body changed shape over two different pregnancies, and two births, and the stories that my body has stored from the act of surrender to motherhood and the unexpected life that has become mine since taking the leap of faith into motherhood.

Beall -- who describes her photography as "medicinal" -- intends her book as balm not only for the women who volunteer to be photographed, but also the society whose expectations she's hoping to heal.

Ultimately, she hopes to channel her passion into more than a single book. Future volumes she’s thinking about may tackle themes like aging, cancer and eating disorders. She'd like to photograph men as well as women -- and possibly even expand to other media, such as magazines and film. "My dream is to be a part of a movement of being kind to ourselves and to others and witness a generation of young people that no longer waste years of precious life on self-loathing like I have because they think they are un-beautiful," Beall said. AAX

Danniella Westbrook has revealed she was once drugged and raped whilst being held captive by a group of men for three days after failing to pay drugs money.

The former EastEnders star made the disturbing revelation during an interview on This Morning ahead of the release of her autobiography.

She said: "I'd left EastEnders and was with a guy in a boy band and had split up with him, and it was a terrible time anyway. I was really heavily into drugs and moved away from everybody where I grew up and moved to South London.

"I had a few different people that I used to get drugs from and, obviously being on TV, everybody thinks you're really rich... and I'd used that as a drug addict to my advantage.

"One of the guys I owed the money to sent their people to get the money [£5,000]... and I just knew the moment I open the front door and there were these three guys standing there."

Explaining how she couldn't see a way out, Danniella said: "When it was clear that I didn't have the money, they said 'get ready, you're coming with us' and I thought I was going to get taken somewhere and get beaten up and dumped somewhere... and I wished it had of been that."

She continued: "I knew if I shouted out it was going to make it worse - these people are not scared of the police or anyone else. They are there to do what they've got to do and they took me to a rented flat and gave me vodka, drugs and what I thought was ecstasy, but it was rohypnol and I was there for nearly three days.

"It was a case of them raping me and doing what they wanted to do with me and that was the start of my nightmare really."

Following the attack, Danniella said: "I just went home and thought 'I'm a drug addict' if I tell anybody they'll just say it was what I deserved.

"I blocked everything from that day out. I felt pretty worthless anyway being a drug addict but from then on my life just got worse. I just had this secret that I didn't want to tell anyone."

On telling her husband and her mum, she said: "Telling my husband was really really difficult - he's the closest person to me in the world and always has been and I just thought that this fantastic man who has gone through every single drama that I'd had in my life would never want to be with me and it actually wasn't like that.

One actress exits "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and another enters. After it was revealed earlier this week that Shailene Woodley's role in the movie had been cut, "Cosmopolis" actress Sarah Gadon announced on "Entertainment Tonight Canada" that she will take on an unnamed part in the franchise.

Woodley was slated to portray Mary Jane Watson, with her departure prompting rumors that another actress, 26, would take on the classic role instad. But director Marc Webb told Deadline.com that the character was being placed on hold until "The Amazing Spider-Man 3," rendering Gadon's impending contributions to the movie unknown. The Wrap's Jeff Sneider confirmed "100%" that Gadon will not take on the Mary Jane role.

The actress even took to Twitter herself to clear up the speculation:

Despite Woodley's exit, Gadon joins a bang-up cast that includes Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Martin Sheen and Chris Cooper. Gadon, who has been acting since she was 10, previously starred in "A Dangerous Mind," "Dream House" and "Cosmopolis."