Kristen Stewart and New Moon, Jennifer Hudson, Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Moennig, Heather Locklear, Lorraine Bracco and Gretchen Mol lead this installment of the Hollywood Trade Roundup, a collection of hotties making headlines in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.
Moviegoers were attracted to doomsday as the week opened with 2012 taking the top slot at the weekend boxoffice with a total cume of $65 million for the John Cusack-Amanda Peet starrer. Awards season hopeful Precious, starring Mo'Nique and Gabourey Sidibe — who finds guidance from a lesbian teacher played by Paula Patton,continued to collect coin, rising to No. 3 for a total cume of $8.9 million.
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson will play Nelson Mandela's former wife in Winnie, and will tell the story of the complicated woman who was a steadfast supporter of her husband and who was jailed herself for campaigning for his release. The project is not related to the upcoming Invictus, where Morgan Freeman will play Nelson Mandela.
Helena Bonham Carter and Jennifer Ehle have joined The King's Speech, starring Colin Firth. Speech follows King George VI — the father of the reigning Queen Elizabeth II — has he reluctantly assumes the throne after his brother, Edward, abdicates.
For fans of Kate Moennig's Three Rivers, you can rest a little easier as there's still hope for the show. The Sunday night show hit a ratings high and CBS has opted to swap its time slot with Cold Case in a bit of network testing to help decide the fate of the show. … Meanwhile, ABC has reduced its order for the midseason comedy Romantically Challenged, starring Dodger fan and former Who's the Boss? Star Alyssa Milano, who meanwhile has landed a guest arc on the Nathan Fillion starrer Castle.
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In TV ratings news, the CW's reboot of Melrose Place received a shot of adrenaline in the ratings as Heather Locklear returned to reprise drama queen Amanda Woodward. The first-year soap was up 14 percent week-over-week. … The interview that everyone is talking about was good news for The Oprah Winfrey Show. The talk show diva's interview with Sarah Palin drew Oprah's best ratings since 2007. … Wanda Sykes' new talk show posted mild ratings declines as its second episode was down 14 percent from its premiere week.
Gretchen Mol has joined HBO's upcoming Martin Scorsese series Boardwalk Empire, where she'll play Gillian, a showgirl. The series is set in the 1920s and stars Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City who is equal parts politician and gangster.
Joe Wright, who directed Keira Knightley in Atonement, is in talks to direct Hanna, an action-thriller that is described as a mix of La Femme Nikita and the Matt Damon-led Bourne films. In the story, Hanna is a 14-year-old Eastern European girl raised by her father to be a killing machine who meets a French family and forms a bond with their daughter and goes through the pangs of adolescence. Sounds like it could be a little gay …
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Lorraine Bracco is going from The Sopranos to Rizzoli, a mystery drama centering on the crime-solving team of Boston police detective Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Maura (Sasha Alexander). Bracco will play Rizzoli's mother.
Mad Men's Abigail Spencer will co-star in NBC's drama pilot Rex Is Not Your Lawyer, where she'll play an ambitious attorney in Rex's firm, who also happens to be his fiancée.
True Blood's Stephen Moyer has a new co-star: Brittany Murphy has been tapped to star opposite our favorite good vampire in The Caller.
Anna Faris will join Robin Williams in Wedding Banned, where she'll play the funnyman's daughter in a romantic comedy revolving around a divorced couple who kidnap their daughter (Faris) on her wedding day in an effort to prevent her from making the same mistakes they did. The actress also recently signed on to star with Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake in Yogi Bear. Hey, Boo-Boo, where's my picnic basket?
Mary J. Blige has signed on to perform at TNT's Christmas in Washington special, where she'll join Neil Diamond, Sugarland, Rob Thomas and Usher on stage. Airing Dec. 20 at 8 p.m., the event benefits the National Children's Medical Center.
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Looking at the Billboard charts, Bon Jovi's "The Circle" debuts at No. 1 on the album charts, sending last week's topper — Carrie Underwood's "Play On" — down to No. 3. Meanwhile, Kanye West target Taylor Swift's "Fearless" jumps up a notch to No. 5. Music from Glee slides from No. 4 to No. 9, and the soundtrack to New Moon holds steady at No. 10.
Speaking of New Moon, the Kristen Stewart-Robert Pattinson starrer is one of three films opening in wide release this weekend, in case you hadn't heard the screams coming from the Westwood premiere. The vampire saga, co-starring Dakota Fanning, will face off with Sandra Bullock's The Blind Side and the animated Planet 51.
How much will New Moon capture? Check back soon!
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