TOP 100 ACTOR SITES
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| Axle Whitehead suffers serious burns AXLE Whitehead was rushed to hospital after suffering serious burns while working on a car. news.com.au |
Avatar claims all-time Imax record James Cameron's sci-fi epic has taken $101.3m to eclipse 2004's The Polar Express and become the highest-grossing Imax feature everAvatar may not yet have reached the No 1 spot in the global box office that all film industry watchers are resigned to seeing it achieve, but there is one all-time record it can already claim as its own. James Cameron's 3D fantasy has become the highest-grossing Imax release of all time, taking $68m in the US and $33.3m overseas to make a combined total of $101.3m (ﾂ｣62.3m), and becoming the first time an Imax print has achieved blockbuster status in its own right.First demonstrated at the Osaka Expo in 1970 and originally confined largely to educational films and theme-park entertainments, the large-scale Imax format has become an increasingly popular alternative for Hollywood productions looking to exploit the visual spectacle of their films. The space film Apollo 13 was the first feature film to be remastered for Imax screens in 1995. Fantasia 2000 became the first feature to be premiered on the format. Thereafter the Matrix sequels, the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the recent Batman films were all given Imax presentations. The previous box-office record holder, however, was 2004's The Polar Express, an animated film that took $71m in both 2D and 3D Imax formats.Earlier this month the Canadian based Imax Corporation announced that takings for digitally remastered Hollywood titles more than doubled in 2009 to $270m, amounting to around 10% of the total box office for the average Hollywood title available in the format. Unsurprisingly, Avatar also holds the record gross for an opening weekend on Imax, taking $9.5m from 178 screens.Avatar is continuing to threaten other box-office landmarks too, as the all-time No 1 窶 Cameron's previous film, Titanic, which totalled $1.842bn 窶 is in its sights. Today, Avatar is expected to break through the $1bn mark in international (non-US) takings. (Titanic's international total was $1.24bn.) Last weekend Avatar played in over 15,000 screens in over 90 countries simultaneously, and averaged $9,800 per screen, taking over $150m. Its weekday average is around $20m, which would see it comfortably over the $1bn line by the end of the week.Its upward trajectory is also defying the usual pattern 窶 it is 5% up on the previous weekend, and looks set to continue its record-breaking business in China, where it took $5m on its first day, on 4 January. The only blot on its copybook is in its home territory 窶 it remains in fourth place in the US at $445m, well behind Titanic's $600.1m, and audiences there are finally beginning to tail off.Meanwhile, a storm is brewing in Italy, where a traditional preference for homegrown comedies over the holiday period meant that Avatar's release was delayed until today. Due to a quirk in the country's ratings system, the film will go out with an unrestricted certification, despite the copious amounts of onscreen war scenes.Moige (Movimento Italiano Genitori, or the Italian Parents' Movement) say "the decision represents a discrimination against the protection of Italian children".James CameronHarry PotterLord of the RingsAndrew Pulverguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Gabriel Byrne tells of childhood sexual abuse Actor says he was abused by Christian Brothers in Ireland, and while training in England to be a priestThe Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has revealed that he was sexually abused by Christian Brothers as a child.The actor also disclosed that at the age of 11 he went to England to train as a priest but was sexually abused by a member of the clergy there.Byrne said he had struggled with alcoholism and depression in the past, and that he had been "deeply hurt" over the abuse he endured as a boy.The star of films such Miller's Crossing and The Usual Suspects spoke openly about the abuse to Ireland's most famous broadcaster, Gay Byrne, on a new show, The Meaning of Life, on RTﾃ television."Unfortunately, I experienced some sexual abuse," he said. "It was a known and admitted fact of life amongst us that there was this particular man, and you didn't want to be left in the dressing room with him." "It took many years to come to terms with it and to forgive those incidents that I felt had deeply hurt me."Another priest sexually abused him when he was 11 at the English seminary. "It didn't go on over a prolonged period but it happened at a very, very vulnerable moment," Byrne recalled."Again, I didn't think it severely impacted me at the time. But when I think about my later life, and how I had difficulties with certain issues, there is the real possibility they could have been attributable to that."Byrne said he left the priesthood four and half years later because of his love of women."I went down to London during a break and we got on the bus and I walked up the stairs behind two girls in miniskirts and that was the end of it for me," he said.The actor, who has been open before about his experiences with alcoholism and depression, said he had gone through very black periods in his lifeHe believes alcohol is linked to depression and is shocked at the amount of alcohol consumed by young people in Ireland."I think we have a huge problem in this country with alcohol and depression. They are often intertwined," Byrne said."There is this plague of binge drinking, where the idea is to get as out of it as you possibly can, as quick as you can. That's alcoholism: part of the disease is to remove yourself from reality as quickly as possible."IrelandGabriel ByrneReligionHenry McDonaldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Andre to remember Jackson in upcoming tour Peter Andre's upcoming tour will feature a tribute to Michael Jackson. breakingnews.ie |
Voight: Brangelina split rumours 'nonsense' Jon Voight has branded rumours of an impending split between daughter Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as 窶從onsense窶. breakingnews.ie |