Elizabethtown News

Two major directors couldn't get past a remake and a clay rabbit this weekend, as the latest movies from Cameron Crowe and Tony Scott failed to ignite. Instead, Revolution and Sony's "The Fog," a remake of the 1980 frightener "John Carpenter's The Fog," unexpectedly snatched the frame's box office crown, claiming $12 million from 2,972 theaters. Meanwhile, Paramount reported "Elizabethtown," Crowe's first film since 2001's "Vanilla Sky," ended the weekend with $11 million from 2,517 theaters, which placed it at No. 3 behind "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit's" second weekend figure of $11.7 million. The tight spread between the studio estimates between the top three films -- just $1.2 million separate them -- means that the order of finish may change when final numbers are tallied on Monday. On the limited front, "Capote" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" continued to do brisk business as the Oscar season has kicked off in earnest for arthouse releases. Rounding out the rest of the top five movies, Disney's durable plane thriller "Flightplan" held on to the No. 4 spot with $6.5 million, which is down 40% in its fourth week. The total on the Jodie Foster title has now reached $70.8 million. At No. 5 was 20th Century Fox's "In Her Shoes," which drew $6.1 million in its sophomore session, down 39% from its opening.

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While the fall has yet to produce a blockbuster like last year's "Shark Tale," this season's crowded marketplace of mid-level successes has kept the B.O. buoyant. "Shark Tale" grossed $161 million after bowing with $47.6 million on Oct. 1. This year, it's been titles such as "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Flightplan" that have been this season's savior ... so far. No one's expecting any giant openings from the three new wide releases this weekend, but respectable if not spectacular performances should help continue the autumn's lead over box office in the year-earlier season. Paramount is opening Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown" at 2,517 theaters over the frame, while Sony bows frightener "The Fog" at 2,927. New Line debuts Tony Scott's model-turned-bounty hunter tale "Domino" at 2,223.

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Gondola loads of Chinese and Far East features and a slew of star-studded U.S. movies -- albeit fewer from the Hollywood majors -- fill a slimmed-down lineup at the upcoming 62nd Venice Film Festival. Fest director Marco Muller's slate also includes more European fare than last year. Muller, an Asian specialist who speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese, has sandwiched the event between Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's opener "Seven Swords" and Thai-born Peter Ho-sun Chan's closer "Perhaps Love," a romantic triangle set during the making of a Chinese musical. It's the first time movies set in mainland China will open and close a major European fest. Films from the Weinstein brothers play a prominent role in the competition, with Terry Gilliam's long-in-the-works "The Brothers Grimm," with Matt Damon and Heath Ledger, and John Madden's "Proof," based on David Auburn's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Anthony Hopkins, both in the running for the Golden Lion. Focus Features is bringing Ang Lee's gay Western "Brokeback Mountain," co-starring Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and counting as a Canadian production, and Fernando Meirelles' John Le Carre adaptation "The Constant Gardener," starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. From Warner Independent Pictures comes George Clooney's sophomore helming outing, "Good Night. And, Good Luck," a black-and-white, cinema verite depiction of the evils of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, also looking to be Lionized. John Turturro's contemporary musical "Romance and Cigarettes," toplining James Gandolfini with an ensemble cast including Kate Winslet and Christopher Walken, also is in the main Venice 62 section. Out-of-competition titles being tubthumped by the majors include Tim Burton's stop-motion animated "Corpse Bride," starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, scheduled by Warner Bros. for an October U.S. release; Cameron Crowe's Kentucky-set "Elizabethtown," starring Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst and Susan Sarandon, from Paramount; John Singleton's crime action movie "Four Brothers," also from Paramount; and the European launch of Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man," from Buena Vista Intl.

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Paramount has tapped Alec Baldwin to round out the cast for Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy "Elizabethtown," starring Kirsten Dunst, Orlando Bloom and Susan Sarandon. "Elizabethtown" centers on an unexpected romance that develops against the backdrop of the elaborate memorial for a Kentucky patriarch. Baldwin will portray the boss of Bloom's character.

Paramount has enlisted Susan Sarandon for Cameron Crowe's romantic comedy "Elizabethtown," starring along with Kirsten Dunst and Orlando Bloom. Sarandon is in talks to portray the role of the mother of Bloom's character for the project.

Orlando Bloom has emerged as the leading candidate to replace Ashton Kutcher in director Cameron Crowe's "Elizabethtown." The "Lord of the Rings" star is in negotiations to star opposite Kirsten Dunst in the drama, portraying a suicidal young man who returns to his small Kentucky hometown of Elizabethtown following the death of his father.

Mindful of director Cameron Crowe's track record of career-making roles, Hollywood's young leading men are lining up to take advantage of an expected casting change in "Elizabethtown." Ashton Kutcher had been set to star opposite Kirsten Dunst in the movie, but a scheduling conflict may force him to withdraw from the role.

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