Jerry Bruckheimer, Dwayne Manley Sell Wrestling Drama to NBC

NBC has purchased a wrestling drama from Jerry Bruckheimer. Dwayne Manley, the wrestler-switched-actor formerly known by his ring title "The Rock," can also be attached being an executive producer about the imaginary drama project, with a put pilot commitment in the network. It's occur the field of wrestling within the eighties. The main one-hour project, which originates from Jerry Bruckheimer Television in colaboration with Warner Bros. Television,counts Brent Fletcher(Spartacus: Bloodstream and Sand, Spartacus: Gods from the Arena) and Seamus Kevin Fahey(The Forgotten, Spartacus: Gods from the Arena) as co-executive producers and authors, withKristieAnne Reed (Chase, Dark Blue)aboard like a co-Air. Bruckheimer TV'sJonathan Littman will join Bruckheimer and Manley being an executive producer. Manley is repped by WME. Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com Twitter: @LaceyVRose Related Subjects Jerry Bruckheimer NBC

9/11 lessons: A time for restraint

Released in the winter of 2002, Spike Lee's overlooked drama '25th Hour,' starring Ed Norton, delivered a mournful elegy for post-9/11 New York.The year 2006 was an important one for 9/11 cinema. April saw the release of Paul Greengrass' "United 93," which was followed three months later by Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" -- two respectful and eminently respectable pictures that, for all their visceral terror and immediacy, ushered us tentatively in the direction of hope. "United 93" spun a heroic narrative of American lives not sacrificed in vain, while "World Trade Center" consoled us that a few good men were pulled safely from the rubble. For obvious reasons, I count both films among the more sobering moviegoing experiences of my lifetime -- worthy and scrupulous but (more to my disappointment than to my surprise) not terribly difficult to shake. Which is not something I could possibly say about 9/11. Watching both films, it was hard not to sense a certain hesitation on the part of the filmmakers, as if they'd sublimated their darkest artistic impulses to a reflexive posture of decency and restraint (particularly in the case of Stone, whose politically incendiary streak was little in evidence). They seemed to believe, instinctively, that the full devastation of what they were trying to represent would simply be too much for moviegoers to bear. They were right. It's telling that neither Greengrass nor Stone opted to re-create the image that leaps most readily to mind when we reflect on that terrible day. To depict the Twin Towers burning and collapsing would not only have been reductive, obscene and self-defeating, it would have exposed the essential inability of our motion pictures to reckon with a real-world crisis of this magnitude. Those who once carelessly likened the visuals of 9/11 to "something out of a movie" were wrong: The stark, undoctored horror of those low-grade TV images defeated any setpiece a Hollywood studio could concoct. In a brilliant 2009 essay for Salon, critic Matt Zoller Seitz advanced the provocative notion that 9/11 haunts us not just because of the unthinkable loss of life it represents, but because of the perverse showmanship with which it was executed. It wasn't a movie; it was designed to grip us in a way no movie could. "The response to 9/11 by painters, novelists, poets, journalists, essayists, songwriters, composers, filmmakers and graphic designers has amounted to an enormous collective attempt to answer one looming artwork with countless smaller ones," Seitz wrote, arguing that 9/11 is not just a tragedy for our nation to mourn but an image for our artists to grapple with. To be sure, the past 10 years have seen a number of independent efforts, from the 2003 omnibus "September 11" to the recent nonfiction chronicle "Rebirth," which have valiantly attempted to make sense of a senseless catastrophe. One of the decade's standout documentaries is a 9/11 film by omission: James Marsh's "Man on Wire" makes no mention of the attacks, yet its account of Philippe Petit's 1974 tightrope walk erects a shrine to the Twin Towers that is poignant beyond words. Five years after "United 93" and "World Trade Center," Hollywood has yet to confront the trauma of 9/11 directly with any comparable degree of ambition or courage. The reasons are largely commercial; audiences aren't exactly lining up for a depressing hit of reality. When studio filmmakers have explicitly addressed the topic, they've tended to trivialize or exploit it -- a passing reference in "Love Actually" and "Final Destination 3," or a ghoulish plot device in "Remember Me." It's dispiriting to recall that in the immediate wake of 9/11, the industry responded not with a burst of artistic inspiration but a self-serving campaign of damage control. Warner Bros. postponed the October release of the Arnold Schwarzenegger actioner "Collateral Damage," which emerged four months later with a hijacking scene duly excised. Disney pushed its Tim Allen comedy "Big Trouble" from September to March, fearing negative reaction to its nukes-on-a-plane climax. Posters and trailers featuring the Lower Manhattan skyline were hastily altered to reflect our troubling new reality. And for at least five years afterward, any film that took on 9/11 was met with earnest clucks of "Is it too soon?" -- as if an artist's response to a national tragedy were something to be timed and prepared under carefully monitored conditions, like a Jell-O mold. "No poetry after Auschwitz" seemed to have been joined by a fresh Hollywood epitaph: No blockbusters after Ground Zero. Ten years later, all that well-meaning sensitivity has evaporated. We once thought we'd never again laugh at the preposterous sight of aliens blowing up the White House in Roland Emmerich's pre-9/11 blockbuster "Independence Day." Yet after a decade of Emmerich disaster epics and Michael Bay's "Transformers" movies (this year's model featured Shia LaBoeuf treating a collapsing skyscraper like a giant Slip 'n Slide), the studios have clearly shed their qualms about offending our delicate sensibilities. That's not intended as a knock on Emmerich and Bay, who boast an uncanny if unsubtle knack for tapping into our collective doom-laden fantasies. To enjoy these movies is, perhaps, to experience some superficial catharsis, to savor the masochistic spectacle of our own destruction from a safe distance, and to persuade ourselves that such worst-case scenarios remain comfortably in the realm of big-budget fiction. Yet reassurance requires that one turn a blind eye not only to history, but also to the fact that any contemporary film offering up a scenario of mass annihilation is, like it or not, a 9/11 movie.The best of these, to my mind, have approached the subject obliquely, channeling our memories of that day in a way that doesn't preclude thrills, but goes on to provoke moral and intellectual engagement. A year before "United 93" and "World Trade Center," Steven Spielberg unleashed his own 9/11 diptych with "War of the Worlds," an apocalyptic sci-fier as trenchant and disturbing as any in modern movies, and "Munich," whose final shot of the World Trade Center speaks volumes about the futility of trying to rationalize violence. Serious-minded fantasy films such as Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the later installments of the "Harry Potter" series (both franchises hit theaters in 2001) are informed by a sense of evil palpable yet elastic enough to invite a host of allegorical readings. And Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is a movie profoundly shaped by 9/11, conjuring a jagged, menacing modern metropolis where no civilian is safe. Directors like Spielberg and Nolan have shown that popular filmmaking can also be intensely personal, but the movie that strikes me as the cinema's most wrenching, deeply felt response to 9/11 came and went all too quietly. Released in winter 2002, Spike Lee's "25th Hour" was an elegy for New York that somehow managed to wrest meaning from the ashes. While Lee never once mentions the event that hangs over the story like a shroud, his images -- an opening sequence of the city's Tribute in Light memorial, a conversation framed against the gaping hole of Ground Zero -- speak eloquently and despairingly to our collective anguish. Yet the film isn't embalmed by grief; it's an angry, bristling, exhilarating piece of work that insists on rage and profane humor as essential expressions of human resilience. Suffused with death even as it pulses with life, "25th Hour" reminds us of everything we lost on 9/11 and, improbable as it seems even 10 years later, everything we still have to live for. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com

Josh and Mike

Josh and Mike are two siblings facing change, their mother is going to marry a French accountant and also the children are delivered to go accept their father in Florida. Meanwhile Josh informs Mike that he's a "S.A.M." that's likely to be delivered to Africa to battle inside a war which Canada is really a safe place for just about any S.A.M. reluctant to battle. The mix-country journey starts once the 2 boys think they wiped out a drunk and steal his vehicle on the way to Canada where they encounter The Freedom Maid. Will Josh & S.A.M. reach Canada or can they wish they ought to haven't left home.

Tree of Life' wins Fipresci Prize

"Tree of Life"MADRID -- Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" has added to its Cannes Palme d'Or win this May by taking the Grand Prix for film of the year, awarded by the Intl. Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci). It's comforting to discover so many generous hearts that encourage myself and all those who work with me to continue forging ahead," Malick said in a statement. The prize will be presented Sept. 16 at the opening gala of the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival, where "The Tree of Life" opens the fest's Zabaltegi-Pearls section. The prize will be collected by an exec at Tripictures, the Spanish distributor of the film, the San Sebastian fest announced Friday, scotching major speculation that pic's stars Brad Pitt or Sean Penn will pick up the award. Malick is unable to attend the gala, the festival said. Known for his shyness, Malick did not attend the Cannes prize ceremony either. The Grand Prix prizes a film that has premiered since July of the past year. It is awarded to honor overall artistic quality. More than 200 critics voted for the latest Grand Prix, giving Malick a "clear victory," Fipresci confirmed Friday. Malick's "Badlands" won San Sebastian's top Golden Shell in 1974. The Spanish fest has hosted the Fipresci Grand Prix award since 1999. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

'Watch the Throne' tops album chart

Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Watch the Throne" makes a princely and predictable bow at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart this week with the second-best debut sales of the year.Rap superstars' Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam/Roc Nation collaboration shifted 436,000 units out of the box, according to Nielsen SoundScan data for the week ending Aug. 14. Only 2011 release to outdo that figure is Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," which topped the chart after a 1.1 million-unit week in June.Thanks to a four-day exclusive window at iTunes, "Throne" racked up 290,000 digital units, breaking a one-week record set at the Apple store by Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" in 2008.However, absence of a physical package for most of the set's debut week may have eroded overall sales, for album failed to match debut numbers for last solo projects by either Hova or Yeezy.It's been a pleasant week for the Shawn Carter clan: Jay-Z's missus Beyonce climbs to No. 7 with her former No. 1 entry "4" (Columbia). Set tracked 27,000 (down 22%) for the stanza, still good for a one-slot gain.Distant runner-up on this week's chart is Luke Bryan's "Tailgates & Tanlines," which arrives at No. 2 with 145,000 sold. Georgia-born country singer's previous best came in 2009, when "Doin' My Thing" reached No. 6. Bryan displaces fellow Capitol Nashville artist Eric Church, whose "Chief" falls three notches to No. 5 on a 37,000-unit week.The 39th edition of compilation "Now That's What I Call Music" rides in at No. 3 with 110,000 moved. Capitol-distributed package contains chart hits by Gaga, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, LMFAO and others.In the face of heavy competish, perpetual contender Adele's "21" (Columbia) drops to No. 4 from No. 1 with a 73,000-unit count (down just 4%).Week's only other major debut is rapper Ace Hood's "Blood Sweat + Tears" (We the Best/Def Jam), which arrives at No. 8 on sales of 26,000. Florida-born member of DJ Khaled's posse previously peaked at No. 23 with 2009's "Ruthless."Other top 10 holdovers include Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" (No. 6, 36,000 sold, off 13%), Jackie Evancho's "Dream With Me" (No. 9, 26,000, up 53%) and "Kidz Bop 20" (No. 10, 25,000, down 32%).Next week's debuts will include a highly publicized set by actor-singer Jeff Bridges. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Nicole Kidman, Robert P Niro Put into Toronto Selection

TORONTO -- Robert P Niro, Jason Statham, Clive Owen, Rob Fiennes, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman and James Gandolfini on Tuesday became a member of the star-studded selection for that approaching Toronto Worldwide Film Festival.Fest coordinators introduced British Author/director David Hare's "Page Eight" will close TIFF having a Roy Thomson gala following a debut only at that year's Edinburgh Worldwide Film Festival.Hare's spy thriller stars Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Rob Fiennes and Judy Davis.As Toronto ongoing Tuesday to create its Roy Thomson selection with another eight galas revealed, French director Christophe Honor's "The Beloved" was handed a higher-profile gala here following a Cannes bow for that sixties Paris and contemporary London drama that stars the actual-existence mother and daughter Catherine Deneuve and Chiara Mastroianni.And Jennifer Hudson and Terence Howard will walk the red-colored carpet with director Darrell J. Roodt into Roy Thomson Hall for any world premiere of "Winnie," the Canada/South African co-created biopic about Winnie Mandela, the wife of Nelson Mandela.Toronto also reserved Roy Thomson Hall slots for "The Awakening," from British director "Nick Murphy," a mental thriller that stars Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton, and director Tanya Wexler's "Hysteria," an intimate comedy top-lined by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Hugh Dancy, Jonathan Pryce, Rupert Everett and Felicity Johnson.Additionally, there are star-driven world debuts for Gary McKendry's "Killer Elite," a globe-trotting action film starring Jason Statham, Robert P Niro and Clive Owen looking for a September 23 theatrical release Marc Forster's Machine Gun Preacher," which stars Gerard Butler within the true-existence role of criminal-switched-kidnapped child saving idea Mike Childers and Joel Schumacher's "Trespass," which stars Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman.Another 18 game titles were put into the Special Presentations sidebar Tuesday, including Italian director Ermanno Olmi's "The Card board Village," which stars Michael Lonsdale and Rutger Hauer U.S. filmmaker Whit Stillman's "Damsels in Distress," the Greta Gerwig-starring comedy which will close Venice and Irish author/director Ian FitzGibbon's "Dying of the Super hero," which stars Andy Serkis and Thomas Brodie-Sangster and is dependant on Anthony McCarten's novel.Additionally, there are world bows for "The Very First Guy," by Italian director Gianni Amelio, an adaptation of Albert Camus' autobiographical last novel Agnieszka Holland's "In Darkness," a Holocaust drama starring Robert Wiekiewicz and Benno Frmann already acquired by The new sony Pictures Classics and "Burglars," by The spanish language director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and starring Clive Owen.Toronto also reserved a United States premiere within the Special Presentations sidebar for Hong Kong director Johnnie To's "Existence Without Principle," a drama around three figures in desperate necessity of money which will screen competing in Venice.Also Toronto-bound for any United States debut is "Low Existence," by French company directors Nicolas Klotz and Elisabeth Perceval, which just tested in Locarno, while there is a world premiere for Indian director Pankaj Kapur's "Mausam" (Seasons of affection), a turbulent love story starring Shahid Kapur, Sonam A Kapoor and Anupam Kher.Other world premieres: Anne Fontaine's "My Worst Nightmare," starring Isabelle Huppert fellow French director Mathieu Kassovitz' "Rebellion," and U.S. director Geoffrey Fletcher's "Purple & Daisy," a movie about two women plus some guns that stars Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel and James Gandolfini.Toronto also reserved United States bows for Hong Kong director Ann Hui's "An Easy Existence," which reunites Asian screen star Andy Lau together with his godmother Deanie Ip because they perform together while watching movie camera the very first time in 23 years, and Australian director Julia Leigh's "Sleeping Beauty," which stars Emily Browning and Rachael Blake.Fest developers also gave an worldwide premiere to "Terraferma," from Italian director Emanuele Crialese and United States bows to Philippe Garrel's "That Summer time," which stars Monica Belluci and also the French director's boy, Louis Garrel the epic film "Players from the Rainbow: Seediq Bale," from Taiwanese director Wei Te-Sheng and Andrea Arnold's "Wuthering Levels," which stars James Howson and Kaya Scodelario.Toronto's Contemporary World Cinema section added another 51 game titles, including world bows for that latest films by Nancy Savoca, Xiaolu Guo and Nacho Vigalondo.And there is United States bows for brand new films by company directors Andrey Zvyagintsev, Gerardo Naranjo, Sono Sion, Asghar Farhadi, Karim Ainouz, Ole Christian Madsen and Cristin Jimnez.U.S. director Joshua Marston brings "The Forgiveness of Bloodstream," an Albanian family feud drama to Toronto following a Berlin bow and French director Vincent Garenq brings the justice drama "Presume Coupable" (Guilty) following a Venice debut.And there is world premieres for Italian director Stefano Chiantini's "Islands" "Juan from the Dead," by director Alejandro Brugus, in regards to a zombie outbreak in Cuba "Always Brando," by Tunisian director Ridha Bhi, and "Bloodstream of my Bloodstream," by Portuguese director Joo Canijo.The Near Future Forecasts sidebar of moving image installation features a collaboration by James Franco and Gus Van Sant, titled "Reminiscences of Idaho (1991 2010 and 2011)," and artworks by Peter Lynch, Nicholas and Sheila Pye, Mr. Brainwash and David Lamelas.And also the Visions program of avant-garde films features a United States premiere for Julia Loktev's "The Loneliest Planet," as well as an worldwide premiere for Darlene Tucker Green's "Random."The Toronto Worldwide Film Festival is placed to operate from September 8 to 18. The Hollywood Reporter

I Never Sang for my dad

Hackman plays a brand new You are able to professor who desires a general change in his existence, and intends to got married to his girlfriend and proceed to California. His mother knows his want to get away, but alerts him that moving to date away might be difficult on his father. Right before the marriage, mom dies. Hackman's sister (that has been disowned by their father for getting married to a Jewish guy) recommends him to reside their own existence, and never let themself be controlled by their father.

Exclusive: International Film Star Takes on Dominique Strauss-Kahn for Law & Order: SVU

Franco Nero Franco Nero will guest-star in the Law & Order: SVU season premiere as an Italian dignitary accused of rape, evoking the Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrest, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively. A source close to the show told TVGuide.com that the episode was inspired by the DSK case. (But a spokesperson for Wolf Films wants us to be sure to mention that the show is entirely fictional.) VIDEO: SVU''s Diane Neal says Season 13 has a gritty feel The case also may be the first for the new detectives, played by Danny Pino and Kelli Giddish, who will be introduced this season. Strauss-Kahn, who was head of the International Monetary Fund and considered the front-runner in the French presidential election, was accused of sexually assaulting a maid at a midtown Manhattan hotel in May. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, although he quit his IMF post, and his candidacy was derailed. Subsequently, the case has been shaken as prosecutors said his accuser admitted to lying to a grand jury about events surrounding the attack. Law & Order vet Linus Roache to reprise role on SVU The 69-year-old Nero - who was discovered by legendary filmmaker John Huston - is best known for the '60s spaghetti Western Django, 1990's Die Hard 2, (as the villainous Gen. Esperanza) and the 1967 adaptation of the musical Camelot, on which he met future wife Vanessa Redgrave. The two co-starred together last year in Letters to Juliet. Besides Nero, other guest stars on deck for SVU's new season include Kyle MacLachlan, T.R. Knight and Law & Order vet Linus Roache, who will reprise his role as Michael Cutter in the season opener. Law & Order: SVU returns Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 10/9c on NBC.

One-on-one

Henry Steele is really a basketball phenom at his small town senior high school, however when he matriculates to some large city college on the scholarship, soon realizes he has couple of abilities outdoors the activity. Expected by his coach to lead considerably towards the team, Henry is overcome through the demands on his time, the ȫig business" facet of college sports, cheap he never fully learned to see. Things look bleak for Henry when Jesse Hays, quite a graduate student, is designated as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry from his doldrums just over time to fight the coach, who tries to rescind Henry's scholarship.

Avengers' Cleveland shoot to end with a bang

The Cleveland shoot for Marvel's The Avengers is planning to end with a bang, according to a press conference held this morning.Executive producer Patty Whitcher promised "six days of mayhem on this street with lots of explosions and car flipping" at a press conference held earlier today."We have to keep people back a bit for safety reasons," she added. "There will be explosions. But [fans] will be able to see the actors and their favourite Avengers on the street during the filming."Cleveland's East Ninth Street is currently being transformed to look like 42nd Street in New York City for the battle scene, which begins shooting on 15 August.Filming will then take place on a number of streets in the area until the end of August.Written and directed by Joss Whedon, The Avengers opens in UK cinemas on 4 May 2012.

Report: Plummeting Disc Sales Depress Home Video Business in 1H 2011

A spokesman for DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group says the trade organization didn't deliberately choose a Friday afternoon to release its dreary new report about consumer spending on home entertainment in the first half of 2011. Butfrom a PR perspective it probably doesn't hurt to bury news that shows VOD and electronic distribution still can't make up for the collapse in sales of DVDs.The headline number is that consumer spending on all forms of home video -- including DVD and Blu-ray disc sales and rentals, VOD, and online -- fell 5.1% vs the first half of 2010 to $8.3B. Last year spending fell3.3% in the first half of 2010.DEG says this year's drop isn't so bad becauselast year included Avatar. (It seems that the blockbuster was good enough to includelastyear when it made sales look strong, but is supposed to be treated as an anomaly now that it makes comparisons look weak.) Still,there's no getting around the steep decline for DVDs. Consumers bought nearly $3.9B worth of DVD and Blu-ray content, down 18.3% vs the first half of 2010. At this time last year disc sales were off 7.1% vs. 2009. DVDs are the culprit: Although DEG only reports figures for "packaged goods," it notes that Blu-ray sales are up more than 10%. Meanwhile the rental business saw a few milestones in 2Q as sales at bricks-and-mortar rental stores like Blockbuster -- which Dish Network recently bought out of bankruptcy -- plummeted 29% to $393M: For the first time consumers spent more at subscription services such as Netflix ($808.1M, up 24.4%), kiosks including Redbox ($403.7M, up 36.7%) and VOD ($455.9M, up 0.3%). DEG managed to find some reasons for cheer. The trade group's release notes that total home entertainment spending only fell 3.6% in 2Q, an improvement from the 6.4% decline in 1Q. It also says that the industry "is extremely optimistic about the second half of the year" when home video providers will offer Paramount's Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, Warner Bros' Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2, and Disney's Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Michael Kors Verifies Engagement

Michael Kors Michael Kors and longtime partner Lance LaPere received their marriage license Wednesday in the City Clerk's office in Manhattan, the designer/Project Runway judge's repetition confirmed to TVGuide.com. Project Runway returns "Lance and that i are extremely excited to finally have the ability to possess the chance to marry within our home condition after a period together. We now have no plans for any major party, but we are marriage independently," Kors stated inside a statement. Louise Matarazzo, girlfriend intend to get married in New You are able to The storyline was initially reported by Existence & Style depending on an eyewitness account. "These were both very delicately outfitted," the origin told playboy. "He really was nice allow the women in the office take his picture."

CSI Welcomes Ted Danson, Prepares to Say Goodbye to Marg Helgenberger

Marg Helgenberger, Jorja Fox, Ted Danson The addition of Ted Danson to the CSI cast won't be the only change taking place on the veteran CBS drama in Season 12.Danson's character, D.B. Russell, is a family man who was raised by hippies and has a healthy relationship with his work. As such, producers suggest that the new season will feature a sunnier tone. "Last season we were chasing a serial killer ... that arc has come to an end," executive producer Carol Mendelsohn said at CBS' fall TV previews. "With the introduction of our new CSI supervisor who has his own process, I think you can say it's a lighter season."Danson replaces the departing Laurence Fishburne, whose character was last seen being investigated for the revenge killing of serial murdered Nate Haskell (Bill Irwin). Danson's character comes in to wrangle the Las Vegas CSIs, many of whom are suspected of manipulating the evidence to clear Langston's name."He's kind of like Phil Jackson coming in to handle a group of people who are on a slippery slope," Danson said. "He's brought in to make the team work as good as possible. He's trying to hold a crazy group of people [together]."Danson, perhaps best known for his role on the comedy Cheers, likened his new role as a crime-solver to his days of trying to get laughs. "A sense of humor, looking for funny, takes a certain kind of intelligence," Danson said. "And it's the same brain that looks for clues and solves things. I feel at home in a funny way, even though I'm not doing jokes. I feel I've walked into a perfect situation for me."Despite the excitement surrounding Danson's arrival, series veteran Marg Helgenberger insisted that this season would be her last on the show. ("That's what she says," Danson joked.) Helgenberger initially planned to walk away at the end of last season, but said she was convinced to stick around for Danson and to give the character a proper send-off. "[I was] having a hard time letting go," she said. "I'm not done playing this character."CSI returns Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 10/9c on CBS.

'Smurfs' Fight 'Cowboys & Aliens' to Photo Finish: Box Office Report This summer 29-31

Exactly what the smurf? 'Cowboys & Aliens' rode into the city, guns a-blazin', basically sure to lasso the very best place in the box office a few days ago. However the gunslingers and extraterrestrials found an suddenly equal foe within the wee blue folk using the floppy caps. The end result: an astonishingly strong showing by 'The Smurfs' that left both movies inside a virtual tie when early studio estimations were released on Sunday. There's barely a Smurf's price of difference within the stated figures for that two movies: $36,206,250 for 'Cowboys' versus. '$36,200,000 for 'The Smurfs.' This is a difference of less than 800 moviegoers. So, while 'Cowboys' keeps the slimmest of edges on Sunday, 'Smurfs' could end up in the saddle when final figures are launched on Monday. How did this happen? Most commentators expected 'Cowboys' to spread out above $40 million and 'Smurfs' to spread out around $20 to $25 million. In the end, 'Cowboys' appeared a foolproof summer time movie, a large-budget action spectacle genre mash-track of a wonderfully explanatory title, produced by the director of 'Iron Guy,' starring Indiana Johnson and Mission Impossible, and amped with a stable-filled with IMAX tests among its 3,750 screens. Within the other corner, 'The Smurfs' appeared made to please kids while offending parents (using its terrible reviews) who fondly appreciated the small men from eighties TV. It had three dimensional in the holster but no large celebrities, in addition to a more compact release (3,395 screens). But, when Friday's amounts arrived on the scene, it had been the Smurfs who have been riding tall and also the cowboys who appeared Smurf-sized. 'The Smurfs' - Trailer No. 3 On Saturday, 'Cowboys' required the pole position, while 'Smurfs' fell behind. That brought to Sunday's expected photo finish, though Sunday business has a tendency to favor family movies. Weak reviews did not help 'Cowboys,' while 'Smurfs' created quite strong word-of-mouth. 'Smurfs' also appears to possess been timed well, launched as 'Cars 2,' 'Zookeeper' and 'Winnie the Pooh' fade, and opposite a slew of movies targeted toward teenagers and grown-ups. The three dimensional factor assisted a great deal too, accountable for 45 percent from the 'Smurfs' haul. Which live-action/CGI hybrid cars did perfectly recently, even without large human stars - see 'Hop,' 'Yogi Bear,' and also the 'Alvin and also the Chipmunks' movies - while previous western/fantasy/sci-fi mashups have incorporated such equine-apples as 'Jonah Hex' and 'Wild Wild West.' 'Smurfs' continues to have a lengthy approach to take to create up its believed $110 million budget, but there will not be lots of family competition for that relaxation from the summer time, therefore the small blue military may go the length. However, it's searching just like a lengthy shot for 'Cowboys' to recoup its believed $163 million budget, especially with a brand new genre contender, 'Rise from the Planet from the Apes,' tossing a blueberry peel in the path next weekend. Last week's champion, 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' fell hard from the cowboy/alien/Smurf onslaught. It gained an believed $24.9 million, lower 62 percent from the debut the other day, landing in third place. (Commentators had expected another-week drop around 50 %, to about $32 million.) The film has a solid 10-day total of $116.8 million, but an autumn that steep indicates that supersoldier Steve Rogers' legs aren't that strong. In 4th place, 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2' created an believed $21.9 million. In the third weekend, it fell 54 percent, by what was expected. Its domestic total up to now is $318.5 million. Overseas, it's gained $645.3 million, for any worldwide total of $963.8 million. It's only a few days prior to the film beats the $974.8 million worldwide gross gained by 'Harry Potter and also the Sorcerer's Stone' in 2001 (still the franchise's greatest hit) and before it might be just the ninth movie ever to create a lot more than $1 billion. 'The Smurfs' wasn't the only real new movie to outshine anticipation. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love' opened up in fifth place by having an believed $19.3 million, beating forecasts close to $16 to $18 million. Even though movie opened up inside a market saturated with adult-oriented comedies, that one boasted decent reviews, the star energy of Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling's abs. Overall, the 2010 box office is gradually making up ground to 2010's earnings. The space between 2011's year-to-date grosses and also the same figure this time around last year is lower to five.2 percent, or $$347.8 million. The This summer outperformed last This summer by $78.3 million, up by 5.9 percent. 'Cowboys & Aliens' - Trailer The entire top ten: 1. 'Cowboys & Aliens,' $36.206 million (3,750 screens), era 2. 'The Smurfs,' $36.200 million (3,395), era 3. 'Captain America: The Very First Avenger,' $24.9 million (3,715), $116.8 million total 4. 'Harry Potter and also the Deathly Hallows, Part 2,' $21.9 million (4,145), $318.5 million 5. 'Crazy, Stupid, Love,' $19.3 million (3,020), era 6. 'Friends With Benefits,' $9.3 million (2,926), $38.two million 7. 'Horrible Bosses,' $7.a million (2,510), $96.two million 8. 'Transformers: Dark from the Moon,' $6. million (2,604), $337.9 million 9. 'Zookeeper,' $4.two million (2,418), $68.7 million 10. 'Cars 2,' $2.3 million (1,763), $182.a million Follow Gary Susman on Twitter: @garysusman.