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FILM/TV CLIPS: ‘Gang’ rules; J.Lo’s ‘Cantante’; ‘Vice 2?’; ‘Wire’ slam; ‘Survivor’ bust; ‘Big Black’ DVD; ‘Hippo-T Hopp.’
*Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s football film “Gridiron Gang” topped the weekend box office with an estimated $15 million in ticket sales, according to Exhibitor Relations Inc. The drama, based on the true story of a football team at a Los Angeles juvenile detention center, beat such competition as Brian DePalma’s “The Black Dahlia,” in second place with $10.4 million; and the animated film "Everyone's Hero," which took in $6.2 million.
*“El Cantante,” the film executive produced and starring Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony, picked up distribution in North America following a deal made at last week’s Toronto Film Festival, reports Variety. Following the film’s screening, Picturehouse offered J.Lo $4 million for all North American rights, marking the most lucrative deal struck at the festival. In the film, Lopez and Anthony star as the late Puchi and Hector Lavoe. Lavoe is considered the godfather of modern salsa; the Puerto Rican native achieved fame in the 1970's and '80's as he helped define a style of music, but was also plagued by problems with addiction.
*Word is Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell are actually pushing their “Miami Vice” director Michael Mann to film a sequel, despite its failure to impress critics or rake in big box office. An insider tells LifeStyle Extra: "Colin and Jamie really hit it off on ‘Miami Vice’ but they were disappointed the film didn't do better. They very much want to work together again and they both want another Vice. They feel there is scope for another story."
*HBO is promoting its current education-themed fourth season of “The Wire” with a contest for slam poets, hip-hop and freestyle artists to speak out about their education experiences. "The Wire Spoken Word Battle," hosted by Blastro.com and developed by interactive agency Deep Focus, asks participants to visit www.blastro.com/spokenwordbattle/ and upload a video of their poetry performance. Contestants will be judged on originality, creativity and appropriateness to the topic of education until a deadline of 11:59 p.m. CT Sept. 25. Several entries so far are available for viewing at the site. The grand-prize winner may be featured on HBO On Demand.
*Although the ratings were enough to win Thursday night, “Survivor: Cook Islands” and its little racial experiment wasn’t the slam dunk producers had expected, averaging. It’s 18 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, was the lowest premiere of a “Survivor” season in 13 runs. After several years of debut audiences topping 20 million viewers, "Survivor: Panama-Exile" launched in February with nearly 19.2 million viewers and "Survivor: Guatemala" opened with 18.4 million last fall. Meanwhile, the first casualty of “Survivor: Cook Islands” was Sekou a member of the African American tribe, Manihiki.
*“The Big Black Comedy Show Box Set,” showcasing the standup of America's most popular African-American comics, will be released on DVD Oct. 17 with sets from such stars as Mo'Nique, Joe Torry and Michael Colyar. The set features the previously-released four volumes packaged together, plus the all-new Volume 5 hosted by John Witherspoon and featuring Yvette Wilson, Wanda Smith, Scruncho and Tony Tone.
*A new rap-themed animated series, “The Adventures of Hippo-T Hopp,” is in the works from RDF Media Group and Cinemation, the production company owned by director Rob Minkoff ("The Lion King," "Stuart Little"). The 30-minute comedy stars rapper Hippo-T Hopp and his quest for stardom despite the machinations of his nemesis, Ton Def. The initial 26 episodes will air first in the U.K. RDF will begin shopping the series in the U.S. shortly, reports Variety.
