While the Movie News Cheat Sheet is generally geared towards brightening up your work or school week with the best in movie news, this time around, utilizing the info will be that much more fun as you’ve still got a whole day left of the weekend. When your mouth isn’t full with Memorial Day BBQ fare, you’ll have all the latest in film news to keep the conversation flowing.

Of course everyone will be talking about the hottest thing in theaters this weekend, The Hangover Part II, but you can take it one step further by learning the stats in the Box Office section of the piece. And how about the latest in upcoming productions? Not only do we have the goods on a few that are right around the corner like 50/50, Shark Night 3D and Happy Feet 2, but ones to keep an eye on for the future including the next in the Friedberg and Seltzer spoof series, The Biggest Movie of All Time, and the fourth American Pie film, American Reunion.

Want the juicy details? Check out this week’s Movie News Cheat Sheet …

1. The Friedberg & Seltzer Spoof Series Continues: They brought us Date Movie, Epic Movie and Vampires Suck amongst others and despite generally dismal reviews and often less than stellar box office performances, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are at it again. Icon Entertainment will back their next production, The Biggest Movie of All Time, which takes aim at just that, James Cameron’s Avatar. According to the press release, nothing is off limits including “its overly simplified message of ‘big corporations = bad; tree hugging environmentalist = good,’ to the broadly drawn characters like the buffed out Colonel who’s in a perpetual ‘roid rage to the very colorful, glowing and … come on, totally stony world of Pandora.” (via Coming Soon)

2. The Hunger Games Cast Grows By Seven: As the highly anticipated book-to-film adaptation rolls into production in Shelby, North Carolina, Lionsgate is still busy filling out the massive cast. Recently the rolls of Portia, Peeta’s stylist, and Octavia, a green-skinned member of Katniss’ prep team, have gone to Latarsha Rose and Brooke Bundy, respectively. News has also arrived announcing Toby Jones’ casting as Claudius Templesmith, the announcer of the Hunger Games, and Amber Chaney’s casting as an Avox who crosses paths with Katniss in the Capitol. There’s also the additions of Kimiko Gelman and Nelson Ascencio who’ll take on the roles of Venia and Flavius, rounding out Katniss’ prep team. But of course, what’s a Hunger Games prep team without a leader? This one’s been a long time coming, but finally, it’s been confirmed that Lenny Kravitz will play Katniss’ stylist Cinna. (via Lionsgate’s Hunger Games Twitter Feed)

3. The Little Mermaid To Swim Into Darker Seas: While the trend of creating darker retellings of classic fairytales already has one strike against it courtesy of Red Riding Hood, I’m still interested in more and, lucky for me, so is Hollywood. Sony recently picked up the rights to Carolyn Turgeon’s book Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale. Country Strong’s Shana Feste will write and direct with Tobey Maguire and Jenno Topping on board to produce. Unlike Hans Christian Andersen’s original tale, this one “centers on a princess who, in order to save her ravaged kingdom, sets out on a dangerous journey to marry the prince of her rival kingdom, not knowing that a beautiful mermaid has fallen for the same man and has sacrificed everything to be with him.” Now let’s just hope the double dose of Snow White retellings and Maleficent don’t expire the interest in this breed of films before the new Little Mermaid even arrives, and the new Wizard of Oz movies for that matter. (via THR)

4. Megan Fox Wants To Play Carrie: Just recently news arrived that Stephen King’s Carrie is to return to the big screen. MGM and Screen Gems are joining forces so that Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark playwright, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, can pen a new version of King’s book for the big screen. Apparently Megan Fox was paying attention to the newfound buzz because, as a huge fan of the 1976 original, she’s eager to claim the lead role for herself this time around. Someone close to Fox revealed, “She’s 25 now but she’s sure she could still do justice to teenage Carrie. She’s told her people to make it happen.” (via THR and Showbiz Spy)

5. Bridesmaids Outtakes: Sometimes, even if a comedy isn’t all that funny, the outtakes can still earn a laugh. Well, in the case of Bridesmaids, we win big because not only are the bloopers downright hilarious, but the final cut of the film is, too. Considering it’s holding on quite strong at the box office, we likely have a ways to go until the DVD drops, but, thanks to Funny or Die, we can get a taste of a handful of on-set oops featuring John Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Melissa McCarthy and Ellie Kemper.

6. Alan Rickman Says Bye Bye To Harry Potter: With the conclusion of the Harry Potter film franchise on the horizon, everyone’s getting a little sentimental, including the films’ stars. Just after wrapping his last moments working on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Alan Rickman shed Severus Snape’s tough exterior to show his softer side through a thank you letter to J.K. Rowling. Rickman recalls the start of it all with pre-teen Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint on the set of Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone all the way up to seeing a 21-year-old Radcliffe on Broadway in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Check out the letter in its entirety, straight from the pages of Empire magazine right here. (via Cinema Blend)

7. Uglydolls Go Hollywood: With a Stretch Armstrong and Ouija film on the way, it should come as no surprise that Illumination Entertainment looks to do the same with the popular plush toys, Uglydolls. With the help of Universal Pictures, Illumination is working with writer Larry Stuckey to build a story around the dolls designed by David Horvath and his wife, Sun-Min Kim. Right off the bat, the group is revealing that the film adaptation is merely step one and they hope to expand the effort through other media opportunities. As Illumination Entertainment president Chris Meledandri notes, “The characters have a cult following.” He added, “Most importantly, the strength cuts to the heart of our strategy, which is, to start from the perspective of characters we feel have unique appeal to audiences, regardless of age.” I smell something along the lines of Monsters Inc. on the horizon, and I like it. (via Deadline)

8. American Reunion Set Photos: It’s one thing to simply hear the gang’s getting back together for a fourth American Pie film, but it’s particularly exciting to actually see some shots from the set. If you’re not already following Jim himself, Jason Biggs, on Twitter, you should because the actor’s been busy giving his followers an inside look at the making of American Reunion. We’ve got a shot of Biggs with the film clapboard as well as one with his on screen dad, Eugene Levy. Then, if you head on over to the feed of American Reunion helmer, Jon Hurwitz, you can catch a glimpse of his director’s chair as well as an all too familiar portion of the set. These are two feeds to keep an eye on as, thanks to their enthusiasm, more is likely to come. (via Jason Biggs and Jon Hurwitz)

9. Trailers: 50/50, Shark Night 3D, Happy Feet 2: We got quite a few new trailers this week, but my favorite of the bunch is, by far, the trailer for 50/50, that notorious cancer comedy. There was quite a bit of doubt surrounding the project as it begs the question, can cancer be funny? Well, based on the material here, it looks as though it can, all while still respecting the severity of the situation. Perhaps it’s my natural love for campy horror flicks, but the new trailer for Shark Night 3D has me psyched to dive in come September 2nd. Not only does it look like a heck of a good time, but, unlike Piranha 3D, Shark Night’s got some serious talent leading the way, that of Sara Paxton. Now, how about one I’m not a big fan of? As sweet and heartwarming as Happy Feet is, the teaser trailer for the sequel is incredibly irritating. It looks as though it’s going to turn the novelty and joy of the original into a mere gimmick.

10. Box Office: Sure enough, Warner Bros. is laughing all the way to the bank. Despite lackluster reviews, The Hangover Part II amassed an $86.5 million three-day total. Tack on its Thursday earnings and that puts its grand domestic total at a whopping $118.1 million. Unfortunately, the well-reviewed Kung Fu Panda 2 is not having as happy of a holiday weekend only pulling in $48 million this weekend as compared to the original’s $60 million start. As expected, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides took a hard week-two fall, losing 56.4% and coming in with about $39.3 million. On the other hand, even with the strong comedy competition, Bridesmaids is holding on, losing a mere 21.6% in week three, adding another $16.4 million to its bank account. Rounding out the top five is Thor, which took in another $9.4 million, putting it in the green by $9 million based on its domestic total alone. (via Box Office Mojo)

By Perri Nemiroff

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