Harry Potter Magic!

Harry Potter, the boy wizard has worked his magic again at the box office. Over the 3-day Thanks-Giving weekend "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" took in nearly 55 million dollars over the 3-day Thanksgiving weekend to remain the top movie in the country. The film's 10-day total now tops 201 (m) million dollars.

The Johnny Cash bio-pic "Walk the Line" remains in second place with nearly 20 million. Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo's family flick "Yours, Mine and Ours" overcame bad reviews to finish third with 17-and-a-half million. The animated tale "Chicken Little" held up strongly at number four, followed by the debut of "Rent," the adaptation of the Broadway musical sensation, in fifth.

The good news is that overall the box office receipts are up nearly 3% over last year's holiday weekend.

Life of Pi

For a long time (see our past posting ) we knew that Shyamalan was working on Yann Martel's 2002 Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi. This is a wonderful tale of a 16-year-old boy's voyage from India to Canada, on a ship carrying animals his father is transporting from a zoo. When the ship sinks mid-ocean, the sole survivor, the boy, is forced to share a lifeboat with a hyena, an injured zebra and a hungry tiger.

But in late October, Searchlight announced the film would go ahead with another director as Shyamalan was going to be busy for many months with the post-production work on his latest suspense film, Lady In The Water. French filmmaker Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who made the Oscar-nominated Amelie which grossed over $100 million worldwide four years ago, will now direct Life Of Pi. He has started working on the script too.

For some time Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron was seriously considered but after an exhaustive six month shoot on Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, he was not rushing into another film. All these changes mean one thing: Jeunet should be extra fast in getting his act together. The movie is set to start production after about six months, with or without the director.

Apocalypto

In a recent press conference, Mel Gibson talked in detail for the first time about his next directorial effort "Apocalypto". The project will be filmed in the Mayan dialect of Yucatec, and uses a cast of local actors to tell a story set about 600 years ago, before the Spanish conquest, in the midst of the mysterious decline of the Mayan civilization.

The plot of Apocalypto - a Greek word meaning 'new beginning' - concerns a Maya Indian family man who 'has to overcome tremendous odds to preserve what he values the most'. The action movie - directed, produced, funded and co-written by, but not starring Gibson - will employ relatively unknown actors along with hundreds of extras speaking the Mayan tongue of Yucatec.

Residents have given their support for the film to be based near where Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes first hit land in 1519. Gibson said the cast was "mostly indigenous," with actors culled from Mexico City, the Yucatan and even some U.S. Native Americans. Female lead is a young woman from Veracruz.The film is planned to be a summer 2006 tentpole for Disney. Gibson said Disney may get worldwide rights as well, but that was still to be decided. A five-month shoot, two in the jungle and three at a Mesoamerican ruin-inspired city that Gibson is building outside of Veracruz."Although (the Mayan culture) is an integral part of the story, what I am doing is creating an action-adventure of mythic proportions ... and I am a megalomaniac, so I like the position" says Gibson who also confirmed the film will be both gory and light on dialogue.