Coen brothers' True Grit remake generates some serious awards buzz

The original 1969 movie won John Wayne his Oscar.

And now the film's remake, due out later this year, is sparking fresh excitement regarding the films awards worthiness.

The first trailer for True Grit was revealed yesterday and already movie pundits are discussing the likelihood of the film and its all-star cast receiving any of the coveted golden man statuettes.

Oscar worthy: Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon in the Coen's brother's remake of 1968 film True Grit

Western hero: The original film starred John Wayne who won a Best Actor Oscar for his role

In the new Coen brothers (No Country For Old Men and O, Brother Where Art Thou?) directed film, Oscar winner Jeff Bridges reprises John Wayne's role playing one-eyed Marshall Reuben 'Rooster' Cogburn.

Rooster is hired by a stubborn young girl to help track down her father's murderer, played by Josh Brolin, and avenge his death.

The girl insists on accompanying Cogburn, against his wishes, and the pair set out on a journey into the Indian nations.

The pair are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, played by Matt Damon, who has ulterior motives for hunting down the unsuspecting killer.

The role of the young girl, Mattie Ross, is played by 14-year old Hailee Steinfeld and this film is set to be her breakout role.

The film, which is released on Christmas Day in the U.S. is set to go up against The Social Network and The King's Speech in the Oscars race.

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Old drunk: Bridges plays Marshall Cogburn, an aggressive drunk who is hired by a young girl to track down her father's murderer

Texas Ranger: Matt Damon dons some serious facial hair as LaBoeuf

Bad man: Josh Brolin plays the sinister murderer Tom Clancy

Old cast: Kim Derby as Mattie Ross and John Wayne as Marshall Cogburn

New �Resident Evil� rules world box office

�Resident Evil: Afterlife,� the fourth film in a zombie franchise starring Milla Jovovich, topped the worldwide box office during its first weekend, but could not prevent overall sales in North America from hitting their lowest level in two years.

The videogame-derived film earned US$73.2 million (RM234 million), of which US$27.7 million came from the United States and Canada where it was the only major new release, distributor Screen Gems said yesterday.

Even with earnings boosted by premium pricing for 3D engagements, the gross handily beat forecasts and the openings for the previous films in the series.

Internationally, �Afterlife� earned US$45.5 million from 29 markets, opening at No. 1 in most of them, including Japan (US$15.5 million), Russia (US$9.5 million), Spain (US$3.4 million) and Britain (US$2.9 million).

Jovovich reprises her starring role in the latest instalment for the �Resident Evil� franchise




The previous film, �Resident Evil: Extinction,� opened to US$23.7 million in North America, and US$17.4 million in those same 29 markets two years ago. It ended up with US$146 million worldwide.

Screen Gems, the mid-budget arm of Sony Corp, collaborated on development and production with German producer Constantin Film. The new one cost Sony about US$52 million. It was written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, Jovovich�s husband, who originated the franchise in 2002.

In North America, �Afterlife� earned more than the combined total of the next six films as overall sales slumped in the weekend following the Labour Day holiday, the traditional end of the lucrative summer movie-going season.

Sales for the top 12 films totalled about US$68 million, according to the box office analysis division of Hollywood.com. This ranks as the lowest total since the September 5-7 weekend of 2008, when the top 12 pulled in just US$50 million.

Screen Gems also claimed the No. 2 movie in North America as the heist thriller �Takers� earned US$6.1 million, rising one place; its total stands at US$48.1 million after three weekends.

Last weekend�s top film, Focus Features� George Clooney assassin drama �The American,� dropped to No. 3 with US$5.9 million, for a 12-day haul of US$28.3 million.

Rounding out the top five were the violent exploitation homage �Machete� with US$4.2 million, and Drew Barrymore�s latest romantic comedy bomb �Going the Distance� with US$3.8 million. Their respective 10-day totals rose to US$20.8 million and US$14 million.

Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co�s NBC Universal. �Machete� was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. �Going the Distance� was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

New �Resident Evil� rules world box office

�Resident Evil: Afterlife,� the fourth film in a zombie franchise starring Milla Jovovich, topped the worldwide box office during its first weekend, but could not prevent overall sales in North America from hitting their lowest level in two years.

The videogame-derived film earned US$73.2 million (RM234 million), of which US$27.7 million came from the United States and Canada where it was the only major new release, distributor Screen Gems said yesterday.

Jovovich reprises her starring role in the latest instalment for the �Resident Evil� franchise




Even with earnings boosted by premium pricing for 3D engagements, the gross handily beat forecasts and the openings for the previous films in the series.

Internationally, �Afterlife� earned US$45.5 million from 29 markets, opening at No. 1 in most of them, including Japan (US$15.5 million), Russia (US$9.5 million), Spain (US$3.4 million) and Britain (US$2.9 million).

The previous film, �Resident Evil: Extinction,� opened to US$23.7 million in North America, and US$17.4 million in those same 29 markets two years ago. It ended up with US$146 million worldwide.

Screen Gems, the mid-budget arm of Sony Corp, collaborated on development and production with German producer Constantin Film. The new one cost Sony about US$52 million. It was written and directed by Paul WS Anderson, Jovovich�s husband, who originated the franchise in 2002.

In North America, �Afterlife� earned more than the combined total of the next six films as overall sales slumped in the weekend following the Labour Day holiday, the traditional end of the lucrative summer movie-going season.

Sales for the top 12 films totalled about US$68 million, according to the box office analysis division of Hollywood.com. This ranks as the lowest total since the September 5-7 weekend of 2008, when the top 12 pulled in just US$50 million.

Screen Gems also claimed the No. 2 movie in North America as the heist thriller �Takers� earned US$6.1 million, rising one place; its total stands at US$48.1 million after three weekends.

Last weekend�s top film, Focus Features� George Clooney assassin drama �The American,� dropped to No. 3 with US$5.9 million, for a 12-day haul of US$28.3 million.

Rounding out the top five were the violent exploitation homage �Machete� with US$4.2 million, and Drew Barrymore�s latest romantic comedy bomb �Going the Distance� with US$3.8 million. Their respective 10-day totals rose to US$20.8 million and US$14 million.

Focus Features is a unit of General Electric Co�s NBC Universal. �Machete� was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp. �Going the Distance� was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Time Warner Inc.

�Aftershock� closes in on all-time record

Director Feng Xiaogang�s earthquake epic Aftershock is closing in on China�s all-time box office record � but rather than rejoicing, the production house behind the film is starting to sweat.

Such has been the unprecedented interest in the fortunes of the film � following the director�s boast last year that it would become the first-ever Chinese production to surpass 500 million yuan (RM233 million) � that producers and co-distributors the Huayi Brothers are remaining tight-lipped about just how and where the money is coming from.





Aftershock � which follows the fortunes of a group of survivors of China�s 1976 Tangshan earthquake � opened on around 4,000 screens around China on July 22 and has now collected more than 400 million yuan overall.

That figure includes receipts from China�s IMAX theaters which � for the very first time � opened a film at same time as regular cinemas.

IMAX screens picked up 4.3 million yuan on the film�s opening weekend � from its overall 160 million yuan. But Huayi Brothers have this week refused to be drawn on the make-up of the film�s now-400 million yuan, telling the film industry website Film Business Asia it had become a �very sensitive subject.��

There has been some controversy over Chinese box office figures in recent years � for both local and foreign releases � with some studios being accused of inflating numbers to grab more headlines. The raw data, meanwhile, is usually released by the Chinese government.

The previous highest-grossing Chinese film was last year�s The Founding of a Republic � made to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of China�s People�s Republic � which took in an estimated 410 million yuan. Avatar sees the all-time record for any film released in China by earlier this year raking in around 1.3 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood box office smash Inception � which has now collected an estimated US$370 million (RM1.16 billion) worldwide has had its mainland China release date brought forward by almost a month � to September 2 � to avoid running into local productions which will be released for the country�s �Golden Week�� of holidays which begin with the October 1 National Day.

The period is traditionally a peak time for films in China as families gather for a week of feasts and celebrations.