Peter Berg confirms the 'Friday Night Lights' movie probably won't happen

As a Taylor Kitsch fangirl, I'm wiping away my tears as I write this: the "Friday Night Lights" movie probably isn't happening. Years after the series finale in 2011, after NBC dropped the series and brought it back, after cast members Kitsch and Kyle Chandler and Michael B. Jordan and Connie Britton and Jesse Plemons have all gone on to better things, the dream has died.

According to Peter Berg, who developed the show and whose Mark Wahlberg-starring film "Lone Survivor" comes out later this month and early next year, "There's not gonna be a movie." In a talk with Collider.com, Berg also went on to say that he, although initially wanting to do the film, has now "come to believe it's probably not a good idea and I seriously doubt it's gonna happen." This comes only a day after Kitsch told Vulture he was "never gonna be in that movie" because he thought the series ended in the right way.

And the other cast members? Well, Britton has talked before about wanting to do the film, but said back then that Chandler's growing film career - he's been all over the place recently, from "Zero Dark Thirty" to teen drama "The Spectacular Now" to the upcoming "The Wolf of Wall Street" - was holding up the project. Chandler never confirmed or denied that, but now Britton is on "Nashville," so she probably doesn't have time, either. And everyone else - Kitsch had a bad year in 2012 (remember the duds that were "John Carter," "Battleship," and "Savages"?), but he's in "Lone Survivor" and a few more high-profile projects; Michael B. Jordan has tons of work lined up after being so great in "Fruitvale Station" earlier this year; Plemons owned it on this last season of "Breaking Bad"; Minka Kelly is busy being Chris Evans's on-again, off-again girlfriend; and Scott Porter is on the CW's "Hart of Dixie," which is somehow still a show that gets good ratings! So the likelihood of this cast getting together again ... doubtful.

But was the dream of a "Friday Night Lights" movie even that worthwhile to begin with? As a crazy "FNL" fan, I have to agree with Kitsch that the show ended in the right way. All the storylines were effectively wrapped up. We saw the best marriage on television continue to be the best marriage on television. We saw Matt and Julie end up together (spoiler alert, whatever, watch the damn show). And we got to see Riggins say "Texas forever" one last time. Isn't that enough?! I would say Berg and Kitsch are right on this one. Five seasons, seventy-six episodes, of "FNL" was enough.

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Tops at the Box Office

1. The Roommate- $15.6M
The teeny boppers came out to enroll in the latest psycho thriller, but not in any overwhelming show of box office muscle. In fact this marked yet another slow week of grosses, even with the power of young adult favorites like Leighton Meester and Cam Giganet in the lead roles. Basically a PG-13 version of Single White Female, The Roommate actually surpasses that 1992 film's opening, but obviously trails way behind in actual attendance due to the lower cost of tickets. 
2. Sanctum- $9.22M
So James Cameron's name doesn't always equal success, eh? Sanctum, which boasted Cameron's name all over the place even though he's merely a producer, opened at over 3300 screens and still had one of the lowest 3D wide releases in recent memory. 
3. No Strings Attached-  $8.4M/$51.8M
Holding steady, only dropping a minuscule 37% from last week.

4. The King's Speech-  $8.31M/$84.1M
Slightly increasing it's theater count,  The King's Speech continues it's remarkable Oscar surge, only dropping 25% from last week.
5. The Green Hornet-  $6.1M/$87.2M
6. The Rite- $5.57M/$23.7M
7. The Mechanic- $5.37M/$20.1M
You suck, America. Get out there and support one of the better action films you'll see this year!
8. True Grit- $4.75M/$155M
 9. The Dilemma- $3.45M/$45.7M
10. Black Swan- $3.4M/$95.9M

 Three movies that saw big gains coming off the Academy Awards nominations: Biutiful, starring Best Actor contender Javier Bardem, jumped up 60% and now stands at a total gross of $1.5M Mike Leigh's Another Year also increased by 62% for a $1.7M tally. And finally, The Illusionist, nominee for Best Animated Feature, saw it's grosses jump up 53%.

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The New Wave: 2/4/11

James Cameron's name is plastered all over the ads for this spelunking adventure, but he's only producing and lending the use of his innovative 3D cameras. That alone will be enough to put a few butts in seats, but what they'll experience is closer to Ghosts of the Abyss than Avatar. My review of Sanctum can be found here.

The studio ran away in fear of our dredded pen, so The Roommate didn't screen for us? Booooo! Maybe its all the Single White Female jokes being hurled their way, but more than likely they know that the trendy cast(Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Cam Giganet) is going to lure the kids in whether the reviews stink or not. I literally just walked out of this thing, so expect a review on this Sunday's episode of Punch Drunk Critics Live!

Sylvain Chomet brings his beautiful handrawn style(last seen in The Triplets of Belleville) to an adaptation of French artist Jacques Tati's unproduced script. Swirling with controversy, the story is that Tati wrote The Illusionist, which features an animated version of himself as the main character, as a means of reconciling with his estranged daughter. Encompassing themes Whatever Tati's motivations, the story of a struggling illlusionist who meets a young girl and convinces her he's a real magician, has touched people the world over, and is one of the three movies nominated for Best Animated Feature at this year's Academy Awards.

The Housemaid turned a few heads at Cannes last year. A stylish thriller from South Korean director, Im Sang-Soo, it tells the tale of an au pair who takes a job with a wealthy couple, but soon enters into a sexual relationship with the husband. Not nearly as controversial Sang-Soo's The President's Last Bang, which imagined the assassination of the former Korean president. That didn't go over so well.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

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