Club Jade

Wolverine rules the box office. Naked Hugh Jackman and friends brought in a whooping $160M worldwide this weekend. Also interesting? 47% of the U.S. audience was female. (Hey, look: It had issues, but it was better than X3. Plus, naked Jackman.) Looks like there may be a sequel in the offing after all.

Next week’s shiny. Wolvie faces his first real competition with the release of the new Star Trek on Friday. Anticipation is high, and the reviews are almost ridiculously positive – 100% on Rotten Tomatoes at the moment. And if you must know, Geoff Boucher has the skinny on the film’s homage to ESB.

And on that note… Stephen King’s Dark Tower series may be next for J.J. Abrams.

Let’s not forget Fanboys. With the DVD out in a few weeks, Lightsabre talks to director Kyle Newman.

Only because I am obliged to post it. Pretty much nothing going on with Indy 5.

Your final comic book tidbit. The first picture from Iron Man 2.

Here’s Hugh Jackman to help you remember.

This has been around a while, but what the hell… It’s timely! And if you’re looking for something a tad less 2006: Wolverine: The Musical.

Well, it’s a nice trailer, I guess, but is it too little, too late for the X-Men franchise? Or I am just depressive today?

• The Wolverine panel – featuring a surprise visit from Hugh Jackman himself – looked to be a big hit with the crowds. Hopefully we’ll be getting an official look at that trailer soon.

• Richard Hatch and Bear McCreary talk Battlestar Galactica; io9 has a look at Bryan Singer’s 2001 take on the series.
• Inside Watchmen’s Owlship with MTV… Less hopeful? My Chemical Romance will cover Bob Dylan for the movie. Ugh.
• Doc Savage coming to the screen?
• Sam Raimi announced that Bruce Spence has been cast in the Wizard’s First Rule TV show, which will be called Legend of the Seeker.
• Also: Jim Butcher; Red Sonja; Tron 2; The Day the Earth Stood Still; The Jokers are swarming!

Hugh Jackman tells IESB that Wolverine script is ready. The interview mostly focuses on his upcoming film, Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige.

Raising the envy of Wantons everywhere, Michelle Williams not only scores Heath Ledger in her private life, but gets to star alongside both Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor in the upcoming film The Tourist.

It’s about a man who is seduced into joining a wild sex club and then framed for murder.

Vegas refuses to take bets on the odds that Ewan will end up naked in this one.

You know how Hollywood is; they love to repeat themselves. Now, (almost) everyone loves a sequel, but the worst trend is when two studios have competing versions of almost the same exact kind of movie. This year it’s magic, or rather, Victorian era stage magic that may be the real thing! Gasp! Yawn!

Your choices: Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, staring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman and Scarlett Johansson or The Illusionist with Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and my ever-evil Hollywood boyfriend Rufus Sewell.

To their credit, the trailers do make the films look as different as, say, Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love turned out to be. We can hope.

So no doubt you’ve learned now that Daniel Craig is going to play James Bond, right? You can’t go anywhere without seeing the horrible headlines. (Seriously, folks: Bond, James Bond? NO SHIT.)

Anyway, the rumor mill has gotten hold of a leaked “in-house memo” that gives reasons for not casting actors most people have actually heard of. Witness:

Hugh Jackman, it read, was “too fey”, Colin Farrell “too sleazy”, Eric Bana “not handsome enough” – and Ewan McGregor “too short” at 5ft10.

That’s just cold. Okay, we’ll give them Colin Farrell, ’cause the man personifies sleaze, and yeah, the Ewan excuse is lame, but is there any woman here who thinks of Hugh Jackman as “fey?” If Jackman is what Hollywood considers a sissy, we’re all doomed.