With most of Hollywood taking the day off to observe Labor Day, the short week wasn't shot on big headlines, Ellen DeGeneres joined American Idol as its fourth judge, while President Obama's mother, Whitney Houston, Halle Berry, Lacey Chabert, Katie Cassidy and Sharon Stone lead this installment of the Weekly Casting Couch, a collection of hotties making headlines in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.
The shortened holiday week opened with moviegoers turning their noses up at the three new wide releases, voting The Final Destination sequel the week's top film for the second frame in a row. The scream-fest collected $15.4 million during the extended weekend, while Quentin Tarantino's Brad Pitt starrer Inglourious Bastards finished second with a take of $15 million. Newbie All About Steve, starring Sandra Bullock finished third with $13.9 million.
The Labor Day frame, which traditionally marks the end of summer at the boxoffice, saw a 4 percent gain over last year's total cume, with admissions declining 1.5 percent. The season was topped by the Megan Fox/Shia LaBeouf co-starrer Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $400 million boxoffice cume.
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On the small screen, the fall TV season kicked off with the return of the CW's 90210 and premiere of Melrose Place 2.0, which disappointed in its initial airing by drawing 2.3 million viewers to catch a peek at bisexual character Ella, played by Katie Cassidy.
Former Mean Girl and Party of Five star Lacey Chabert has been cast in the Hallmark telefilm Elevator Girl opposite Ryan Merriman. The TV movie revolves around a lawyer (Merriman) and an artist (Chabert) who fall in love after being trapped in an elevator together. It premieres next year.
President Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, is getting the documentary treatment. "Stanley Ann Dunham: A Most Generous Spirit" will depict how Dunham raised a young Obama in Indonesia and Hawaii as well as her work in Third World microfiance, which assists small entrepreneurs — mostly women — in developing countries. The filmmakers are reaching out to secure Obama's participation and begins filming next year in Indonesia, Hawaii and Washington.
Tyler Perry has signed on to adapt the 1975 play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf for the big screen. The play, which revolves around a series of poems that deal with issues including love, abandonment and abortion from the female perspective, was adapted into a 1982 telefilm. The multihyphenate hopes to assemble an all-star cast and begin filming in November in Atlanta. The film will hit the theaters next year.
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Basic Instinct's Sharon Stone has been tapped to receive the Outstanding Achievement in Acting award at next month's Hamptons International Film Festival.
Former Catwoman Halle Berry is in talks to join the action thriller Dark Tide, which revolves around a diving instructor who returns to the deep after a near-fatal incident with a shark.
Mandy Moore has been tapped as the voice for Disney's 3-D animated adventure Rapunzel, which is inspired by the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Zachary Levi, who stars on NBC's Chuck, will provide the voice of her handsome bandit who finds himself on the road with Rapunzel. The film arrives in theaters around the holidays 2010.
It's musical chairs at NBC's Saturday Night Live, as Michaela Watkins and Casey Wilson are leaving the show, with Jenny Slate from the Upright Citizens Brigade and Nasim Pedrad from the L.A. Groundlings joining the cast.
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Looking to the Billboard 200 Albums chart, Whitney Houston returns with a vengeance as the diva's first album in seven years, I Look To You, bows atop the charts with sales of 305,000 copies. Look is Houston's first No. 1 since the soundtrack for The Bodyguard spent 20 weeks at the top spot in 1993. Colbie Caillat's Breakthrough, last week's No. 1 album, slips to No. 5 this week, while Taylor Swift's Fearless continues its stay in the top 10 at No. 9.
Opening this weekend at the boxoffice, the animated 9, which opened Wednesday and features a voice cast that includes Jennifer Connelly, goes head to head with the Kate Beckinsdale thriller Whiteout, the horror film Sorority Row (starring Rumer Willis, Audrina Patridge and Carrie Fisher), and Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which stars Taraji P. Henson.
Find past Weekly Casting Couch posts and other entertainment features from Lesley here!
