James Cameron has shored up his position as king of the worldwide box office.
Cameron's 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" sailed beyond the $2 billion mark in lifetime ticket sales, thanks to a 3-D re-release of the film that was timed to the centennial of the ship's sinking.
Only one other movie has topped $2 billion, and it's also Cameron's. His 2009 sci-fi smash "Avatar" earned $2.8 billion worldwide.
The "Titanic" reissue took in about $100 million this weekend – $11.6 million domestically and a whopping $88.2 million in 69 overseas markets. That included a $58 million debut in China and put the re-release total worldwide at $190.8 million.
Added to the film's $1.84 billion haul in its original release, "Titanic" now stands at $2.03 billion worldwide.
Is there anyone having a better year than Adele? First, she topped the Sunday Times Rich List of England's youngest stars -- after making more $31.8 million in the last year -- and now, her global smash album 21 is poised to take back the top spot on the U.S. chart.
If you've been counting, that's 24 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. While it's too early to tell how many copies the album will sell by the end of the week, Billboard is reporting that anywhere in the range of 110,000 to 130,000 is possible.
Adele's good news comes just days after Madonna's MDNA album sales plummeted, resulting in the biggest sales drop for a No. 1 album in Billboard history.
Perhaps even more impressive than spending 24 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, is that if Adele's 21 does return to the head of the charts, it will become one of only eight albums to spend six months leading the list. Prince and the Revolution's 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack was the last album to lead the charts for 24 weeks.
The West Side Story soundtrack, which was released in 1962, holds the record for the most nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, with 54 weeks. Holding down the No. 2 spot is Michael Jackson's iconic Thriller album, which spent 37 weeks out front.
21 has now sold 8.64 million copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Rihanna has officially thrown her hat in the ring for the role of Whitney Houston if there is ever to be a biopic and a role to be played.
Reports recently abounded that record label executive Clive Davis was heading up efforts to make a biographical film to honor his close friend, but Davis has since denied the rumors.
Rihanna was reportedly being considered for the role, but she recently revealed that she would "love" to portray the legend.
"That would be something that I would have to give my entire life to do because I would want to really pull it off," Rihanna told The Press Association. "That's a huge, huge role and whoever does it has to do a good job."
Rihanna was on the short list of contenders for the role, along with Jennifer Hudson, Vivica Fox and "Sparkle" star Jordin Sparks. Brandy was also mentioned in some reports.
Though Rihanna may lack acting experience compared to the other candidates, she's not completely new to the industry. The Talk That Talk singer is set to debut her acting abilities in her first film, "Battleship," alongside Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Liam Neeson. The sci fi thriller will be released in the U.S. in May.
But for Rihanna, portraying Whitney is not so much about acting experience, but about the chance to represent her musical inspiration on the big screen.
"My first song that I remember falling in love with was a Whitney Houston song -- 'I Will Always Love You,'" Rihanna said. "It was really inspiring and it made me develop a passion for music, so really she's partly responsible for me being here in this industry."
"Start drinking...now," says Alec Baldwin as club owner Dennis Dupree in the new trailer for "Rock of Ages." Good thinking, Dennis!
Not that you needed any further proof that Adam Shankman's adaptation of the famed jukebox musical was the party event of the summer, but the newest tease for the film highlights Tom Cruise's pet monkey. Yes: this is one of those movies.
Based on the Tony Award-nominated musical, "Rock of Ages" follows a small town girl living in a lonely world (Julianne Hough) who comes to Los Angeles with stars in her eyes and hairspray in her purse. There, she meets a good-hearted dreamer (Diego Boneta) and gets wooed by the rock-and-roll lifestyle, embodied by Stacee Jaxx (Cruise). Russell Brand, Paul Giamatti and Catherine Zeta-Jones are along for the ride too, as are covers of your favorite '80s songs -- ones that Ryan Murphy thankfully hasn't touched on "Glee" just yet. (Let's hear it for "Wanted Dead or Alive" as sung by Cruise!)
It all looks perfectly goofy, which is fitting since "Rock of Ages" is perfectly goofy. After all, there aren't many Broadway shows that sell Coors Light by the can.
Watch the trailer above, and check out a gallery of the best hairstyles "Rock of Ages" has to offer below. If you'd like to report a hair crime, call your local chapter of the wig police.
According to Variety, film studio Annapurna has dropped out of its commitment to finance Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's upcoming psychodrama thriller, "Side Effects." According to the Playlist, the studio balked at Soderbergh's rumored casting of Blake Lively as a pill-addicted woman at the center of a love triangle between her doctor and ex-con husband. The two men, according to recent reports, will be played by Jude Law and Channing Tatum, respectively.
The film is still set to be distributed by Open Road Films, but will need to find new cash for production; Variety reports that it should be able to do so at Sundance.
Both Law ("Contagion") and Tatum ("Magic Mike," "Haywire") have worked with Soderbergh before, but this would be Lively's first time with the director. Then again, as producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told The Huffington Post this week while talking about his new film "Man on a Ledge," the casting was just a rumor -- and, as is now evident -- rumors can often hurt a film in pre-production.
"We don't have any cast set yet. We're definitely very interested in those actors, but there's nobody set," he said. "It's a little frustrating because it can often spoil the process a little bit. When things become public in general, they're harder to manage. As a producer it becomes more complicated. A lot of the rumors are false and people are disappointed when you actually hire the person you wanted. It's a little problematic, it's something you have to live with."
Variety reports that Annapurna dropped out of the film Friday, days before di Bonaventura denied the concrete casting, making clear the tangible effect on production that can be wrought by the rumor mill. That the casting rumors started weeks ago, without a public correction, is less an accident than a now-damaging concession to the web's insatiable appetite.
"I used to try to correct it all the time, but no one cares when you try to correct it in my experience," the producer said. "Whatever the better story is, I guess if the correction is the better story, they'll go with that, but if they like the rumor better than your correction, they're going to stick with it."
Soderbergh has always made sure to make films his own way, and Lively would be one of his less off-kilter leading lady choices. She is an accomplished screen actor, with a starring role in "Gossip Girl" and supporting parts in dramas like "The Town," while the director has cast porn star Sasha Grey in an art film, and his current film, "Haywire," stars Gina Carano, a former MMA star.
