“Iron Man 3” may have made the most money at the box office this year, but he didn’t star in the most-searched movie.  

Google released its annual Zeitgeist list of most-searched for terms. Lists released range from most-searched athletes and events to movies and car companies. 

The movies most searched for in the US included a lot of scares.

Here are the films people wanted to know about most. 

10. “Mama”
9. “Pacific Rim” 

8. “The Purge”
7. “Despicable Me 2”
6. “The Great Gatsby” 

5. “The Conjuring”

4. “Jobs”

3. “World War Z"

2. "Iron Man 3"

1. "Man of Steel"

NOW: Learn what you don't know about "Anchorman" before you see the sequel

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Every year, hundreds of movies deserving of time on the big screen don't make it into production.

The Black List revealed their list of top screenplays that haven't been made into movies this week.

If you're not familiar, The Black List was made to help bring attention to great screenplays that haven’t been made into films and to connect filmmakers with those scripts.

Some of the best movies ever made have come from The Black List — "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The King's Speech" are among Oscar winners to come from the compilations. Even last year’s “Argo” came from the list.

This year, submissions were received from more than 250 film executives who sent in names of up to 10 favorite scripts. To make it onto the list, a script must be mentioned by execs at least six times.

In 2013, 72 scripts made the cut.

The black list likes to emphasize it’s not a “best” list, rather a list of the “most liked” unproduced screenplays Hollywood has to offer.

We've compiled the ten most-liked scripts from this year:

[TIE] 9. "Reminiscence" (Votes: 20)

Synopsis: "An 'archaeologist' whose technology allows you to relive your past finds himself abusing his own science to find the missing love of his life."

9. "Pox Americana" (Votes: 20)

Synopsis: "In the Old West, a group of soldiers go on a mission to slaughter a peaceful tribe in retaliation for another tribe's attack on a white settlement, only to suffer at the hands of a devastating disease."

8. "Shovel Buddies" (Votes: 22)

Synopsis: "Over 24 hours, four teenage friends try to complete the 'Shovel List' (a will/bucket list) left for them by their best friend before he died of Leukemia." 

[TIE] 7. “Sovereign” (Votes: 24)

Synopsis:“A man goes to space to destroy the ship that, upon going sentient, killed his wife.” 

[TIE] 7. “Hot Summer Nights” (Votes: 24) 

Synopsis:“A teenager’s life spirals out of control when he befriends the town’s rebel, falls in love, and gets entangled in selling drugs over one summer in Cape Cod.”

5. “The Special Program” (Votes: 25) 

Synopsis: “The true story of Jack Goldsmith, a young attorney who took charge of the White House’s Office of Legal Counsel, then courageously took on Vice President Cheney and his powerful inner circle when he discovered they were running a number of illegal activities through their so-called ‘Special Program.’” 

4. “A Monster Calls” (Votes: 27) 

Synopsis: “An adolescent boy with a terminally ill single mother begins having visions of a tree monster, who tells him truths about life in the form of three stories, helping him to eventually cope with his emotions over his dying mom.” 

3. "Frisco" (Votes: 39)  

Synopsis: “A forty-something pediatric allergist, who specializes in hazelnut and is facing a divorce learns lessons in living from a wise-beyond-her-years terminally ill fifteen-year-old patient when she crashes his weekend trip to a conference in San Francisco.” 

2. "Section 6" (Votes: 44) 

Synopsis: "An exploration of the formation of Great Britain's secret intelligence agency, Military Intelligence, Section 6, known more commonly as MI6." 

1. "Holland, Michigan" (46 votes) 

Synopsis: When a traditional Midwestern woman suspects her husband of infidelity, an amateur investigation unravels.

Worth mentioning:

"1969: A Space Odyssey or How Kubrick Learned to Stop Worrying and Land on the Moon" (Votes: 13)

Synopsis:"With NASA's Apollo program in trouble and the Soviets threatening nuclear war, a female PR operative conspires with NASA's Public Affairs Office to stage a fake moon landing in case Armstrong and Aldren fail, the goal being to generate public excitement that will aid in the U.S. in winning the Cold War. But the op is faced with the biggest challenge of all: Filming the fake lunar landing with temperamental Stanley Kubrick."

SEE ALSO: What movies to see this holiday

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"Anchorman 2" is kind of a big deal.

Let me just get that out of the way.

Will Ferrell's return to theaters lives up to everything you want in a sequel and more — it's funny, is chock full of celebrity cameos, and there's an actual meaningful story. 

Oh, and yes, there's a news fight and it's bigger and maybe better than the first one.

Forget all the Ron Burgundy over-saturation of late — this movie should be huge at theaters.

We saw a screening of "Anchorman 2: The Legend Returns" Monday evening (not this one with cast members, unfortunately!), and loved it.

Are some going to think it's really silly? Yes. There are some over-the-top scenes that made us roll our eyes *HUGE spoiler*Burgundy loses his sight in what feels like a "Family Guy" gag*spoiler* but that's expected. 

While it's not better than the first — it's difficult to beat this, this, and especially this — it sure is enjoyable.

The sequel starts us off seven years after the first film. Burgundy (Ferrell), married to Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), has just lost his job as a prestigious anchor after his wife accepts a promotion. After getting hired by a new 24-hour news channel, Ron gathers his old news team back together to head to New York City to conquer the world of broadcast journalism again. 

What's so great about the sequel? There are three main reasons to love it.

[Some spoilers do follow!]

1. First and foremost: It's Hilarious

Through the first 45 minutes, Ferrell and his news team had the entire audience — and myself — laughing hysterically. I myself was in tears at some points (always a good sign).

Though there may not be many memorable one liners — Applegate delivers a great kicker near the end — we were happy with a lot of original material.

Items revealed in trailers didn't receive laughs on screen from oversaturation, but there weren't many of those moments at all. Many jokes seen in trailers didn't make it into the final cut.

Unlike other comedy sequels of recent (we're looking at you "Hangover"), "Anchorman 2" doesn't try to rehash and reuse old gags ... much. Where they are (you'll see the familiar jazz flute, news team celebration jump, and Brian Fontana's cologne cabinet gets swapped for a condom shrine) they're updated enough so they don't feel like carbon copies of what worked the first time around. Instead, the familiar territory feels welcome.

Though there are many new additions in the sequel (Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Josh Lawson, and Meagan Good), the film never feels too crowded.

2. More important: The sequel provides unexpected commentary on the state of broadcast journalism.

Who imagined you would get a rousing message about the political correctness of the news from Ron Burgundy?

After the first hour or so of laughs, you finally see what the film's really about — a media message wrapped inside a comedy.

Underneath the jokes, "Anchorman 2" tells the story of how news coverage has gone from being story-centric to ratings-focused with the introduction of the 24-hour news cycle.

Burgundy works for fictional GNN (Global News Network) — a CNN stand-in — during its first year on air.

In order to compete with other networks and gain eyeballs, Burgundy introduces the idea of reporting "soft, sensational" news like cute animals and live car chases— clear mockery of items used to attract viewers today in both broadcast and online media for views and clicks.

At one point in the film both Burgundy and Corningstone agree there is no real news being reported and that it's all about ratings.

Maybe this is what the heavy push in the film's marketing campaign was partly all about — a cleverly hidden message about the media hidden in the media itself (or maybe that would be too clever).

Either way, kind of makes you want to open a window, stick your head out and yell ... or simply ponder about.

3. The news battle brawl to end all brawls

Of course there's a news fight and it's bigger than ever.

I won't spoil this tremendous part of the movie here, but the amount of celebrity cameos is amazing. Yes, many of them leaked online ahead of the film's release — but not all of them.

Every time a new face and voice was revealed, there were wild cheers in our theater. Fans will be very happy.

Worst of the movie: 

There are two poor parts in this film that thankfully pass fairly quick.

HUGE SPOILERS 

There's a terrible sub-plot involving Burgundy becoming blind. It's good for a few laughs but gets old quick. It then leads to an even more ridiculous subplot about Burgundy’s family raising a baby shark. (It’s very “Free Willy”-esque.)  

We really tried to go with it, but because it ties up pretty quickly, it felt more like a skit taken straight out of an episode of "Family Guy" called Blind Ambition (without Ferrell eating a bunch of nickels) where Peter temporarily loses his sight.

If the film was split into quarters, this third leg of the film would be the worst. It's so different from the rest that it feels kind of inserted into the film just to serve as a segue to get from points A to B.

Other than that, there's a slightly uncomfortable scene where Burgundy meets an African American co-worker's (Meagan Good) family members.

The scene didn't come as a surprise as it was heavily teased in trailers and I was glad that after two scenes, this was where the racial remarks ended. From all the promos, I was partially concerned Good's skin color would become a bigger gag in the film and I'm glad to see it didn't.

There's a short after-credits scene.

You may feel like a bit of a fool for waiting around for this anti-climatic moment, but for Easter egg lovers, yes, there is something after the initial credits end.

Again, this isn't Marvel material, so don't expect hints for a sequel or anything like that.

Best lines of the film

As I said, not too many one-liners I noticed that will probably become fan favorites, but here are a few I rounded up (that I can write here):

Ron Burgundy:
"Who the hell is Julius Caesar? You know I don't follow the NBA."
"By the bedpan of Gene Rayburn."
"Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our Native American friends."

Champ Kind (David Koechner):
"Do you know what they call bats? Chicken of the cave." 

Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd) mentions being pals with O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector, and Robert Blake. "We call ourselves the Ladykillers."

Brick Tamland (Carell):
Speaking about his shadow: "A black man follows me everywhere I go when it's sunny."
This one's not spoken: "I like toasters. I also like mitten because they're easy to put on."

Veronica Corningstone (Applegate) probably had the best line that I heard people repeat upon leaving the theater:
"This white thunder rolls deep." 

Now, test your "Anchorman" knowledge: See what you don't know about the first film

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In case you didn't know, 20th Century Fox is releasing a sequel to 2011's "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" next summer called "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes." 

The first trailer for the film was released today and it's not too exciting. 

Here's the synopsis for the film:

"A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species." 

Essentially, it's apes and humans fighting for the title of most dominant species on Earth.

A few things you should know about the sequel you'll soon discover from watching the trailer: 

James Franco isn't in it. Director Rupert Wyatt who worked on the first film isn't back either.  

What happened? 

Deadline reported Wyatt wasn't comfortable with having the sequel ready for an original May 2014 release date.  

With Wyatt gone, Franco exited as well. He told MTV News he was originally set to have a small role in the sequel.  

Instead, we have Gary Oldman (always a favorite to watch), Jason Clarke ("Zero Dark Thirty"), and Keri Russell. 

As for the director, Matt Reeves took over. You'll know him for 2008's monster movie "Cloverfield." 

"Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" is in theaters next July.

SEE ALSO: "Anchorman 2" is a hilarious sequel fans have been waiting nearly a decade to see.

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Brad Pitt is 50 today. 

Yes, we kind of couldn't believe it either.  

In honor of the actor's big 5-0, here's a look back at his 10 highest-grossing movies worldwide. 

You may be surprised at what tops the list.

10. "Ocean's Thirteen": $311.3 million

After a lacking second film, the final installment returned to what people loved about the first heist film.

9. "Inglourious Basterds": $321.5 million

After growing his hair out for a while, Pitt cleaned up for his role in Quentin Tarantino's Nazi killing movie.

8. "Megamind": $321.9 million 

You may not have realized it, but Pitt voiced a hero in the Will Ferrell animated film.

7. Appropriately, "Se7en": $327.3 million

"What's in the box?" One of the best '90s thrillers starring Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gwyneth Paltrow.

6. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button": $333.9 million

We watched Pitt age backwards in the F. Scott Fitzgerald's short-story.

5. "Ocean's Twelve": $362.7 million

The "Godfather 3" of the Ocean's trilogy.

4. "Ocean's Eleven": $450.7 million

The remake of the 1960 flick that you see replayed on TV over and over set a new standard for heist films.

3. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith": $478.2 million

Pitt's espionage movie where he worked with future wife Angelina Jolie.

2. "Troy": $497.4 million 

Foreign audiences loved Wolfgang Peterson's historical fiction overseas. 

1. "World War Z": $540 million

Surprised? Pitt side-stepped drama over the making of his zombie film for it to become his most successful film to date. 

SEE ALSO: 3 reasons "Anchorman 2" is a must-see holiday comedy

AND:  The best scripts in Hollywood that haven't been made into movies

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Warning: There are major spoilers ahead if you haven't seen "Anchorman 2" yet.

Possibly the best part of "Anchorman 2" takes place during the film's final leg when a multitude of celebrity anchors descend upon a Manhattan park for an epic news team brawl with Ron Burgundy.

We knew it was coming. Leaked set photos teased a big news team fight for months to come.

As enjoyable as the scene is — the build up introducing all the various news anchors may have outshone the actual fight which culminated in a more outrageous, less believable way than that of the first movie.

With a ghost, minotaur, and werewolf in the mix it makes absolutely zero sense, but looked like a lot of fun to film.

Here’s a list of all the celebrities we caught in the epic news fight sequence in order of appearance:

Sacha Baron Cohen: BBC news
Kanye West: MTV news
Tina Fey: Entertainment news
Amy Poehler: Entertainment news
Jim Carrey: Canadian news team
Marion Cotillard: Canadian news team 
Will Smith: ESPN
Liam Neeson: History Channel
John C. Reilly: The ghost of Stonewall Jackson (really)
Harrison Ford: news reporter, Mack Tannen
Kirsten Dunst: Trumpet sounder who started the news team fight.

Finally, Vince Vaughn reprised his role of Wes Mantooth of the Channel 9 News team.

Missing from the pack were Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson.

We believe we also spotted Judd Apatow on one of the news teams during the fight sequence.

Bonus celebrities during the movie:

Singer Drake makes an appearance in the first minutes of the film rocking an awesome afro.
Dan Akroyd plays one of Veronica Corningstone's (Christina Applegate) co-workers.

Notice anyone else? Let us know.

SEE ALSO: 12 things you probably don't know about "Anchorman"

More "Anchorman" 3 reasons we love the sequel

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While studios brought us gems like "Gravity" and "The Way Way Back" this year, there were also a lot of duds.

From silly car chases to celebrity-filled mashups, we've compiled the worst-reviewed movies of the year on film critic site Rotten Tomatoes.

We've only included wide releases on the list so Ja Rule's movie "I'm in Love with a Church Girl" (6%) and "CBGB" (9%) with Alan Rickman aren't here.

"R.I.P.D." just missed making it on this list (13%).

That said, here are the films critics and audiences hated most. 

12. "After Earth"— 11%

Worldwide gross: $243.8 million

Will Smith's talent is wasted as a monotone drone as he steps out of the spotlight to convince you his son Jaden Smith can handle a lead role. Still, the movie managed to do really well overseas ($183 million) so as not to bomb.

Here's our breakdown of everything wrong with this film.

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

11. "A Haunted House"— 10%

Worldwide gross: $60 million

The film was a big success at theaters (made on a $2.5 million budget), but few critics liked Marion Wayan's attempt to rival the "Scary Movie" franchise.

Toronto Star:

"A movie that offends every moral sensibility but delivers few comedic rewards."

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

10. "Runner, Runner"— 9%

Worldwide gross: $62.7 million

A Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake movie sounded kind of promising: a down-on-his-luck college student turning to online gambling to pay his debts. Instead, it ended up being a big let down. Hopefully, not a sign of things to come from Batfleck.

Boston Globe:

"It's not that "Runner Runner" is predictable. It's that you don't care, either about the characters or what happens to them."

(Source: Rotten Tomatoes)

Marvel has found its Ant-Man!

After plenty of rumors, The Wrap" reports "Anchorman" actor Paul Rudd will play scientist Henry "Hank" Pym in Marvel and Disney's future release.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was also in talks for the role but just announced his involvement in another superhero flick— DC's "Sandman." 

If you're not familiar with the character, Ant-Man is one of Pym's alter-ego superheroes with the ability to shift between human and microscopic size. 

In the comics, he also goes by other aliases including Goliath — who can make himself ginormous.

Edgar Wright ("The World's End") will direct the film.

"Ant-Man" is set for release July 31, 2015.

The film will be the first release after Marvel's big "Avengers" sequel May, 2015.

More casting news: Joaquin Phoenix may play the villain in the Batman / Superman movie

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I love the movies. And I'd much rather watch them at the theatre, on a giant screen, than on my laptop or the tele.

But watching movies in New York, especially Manhattan, can be outrageously expensive. And not every movie deserves the $14 price tag.

So, New York forced me to created a four tier movie watching system.

The first tier: "The $14 movie"

This is the sort of movie that you're willing to spend $14 for. Typically this should have a great cast, a compelling storyline, a director you love, or something you know will be entertaining and only fun on a giant screen. For instance I don't regret paying $14 to watch 12 Years A Slave, Prisoners, (more for Gravity because I watched it in IMAX 3D), World War Z, Fruitvale Station or Star Trek: Into Darkness. But I do regret paying that much to watch The Purge, Thor 2, Oblivion, The Grandmaster, and The Great Gatsby. This is a pretty universal tier, most people I know will say "meh, that's not a theater movie, I'll rent it."

If you're in Manhattan but really committed to the movie-going experience, you can save some cash by taking a short train ride over to Williamsburg Cinemas which asks for a more reasonable $8. Some AMC Loews theaters also offer $8 tickets for morning shows.

The second tier: "The $3-$6 movie"

These are the movies that you're willing to rent on iTunes or Amazon, the price can vary depending on whether its HD or SD. Second tier movies are those that you want to watch but can 1. Wait a couple of weeks till it's available to stream online and 2. You don't want the $14 price tag.

I shelled out $14 for Elysium for instance, but it would probably have made a good iTunes movie. Other great iTunes movies/documentaries I saw this year include Mud, Blackfish.

The third tier: "The Netflix movie"

Third tier movies are ones that aren't quite free, since you pay $8 for streaming, and an additional $8 for DVDs, but are close to it. These are also movies that you'll have to wait a bit longer to see but that you don't care about enough to seek it out at the movies or rent as a stand alone through providers like iTunes or Amazon.

The fourth tier: "The airplane movie"

Finally, there are movies that you should only have to endure if you're subjected to terrible in-flight programming on an unbearably long flight, when you have no movies on your laptop or smartphone or tablet, and no books or magazines to distract you, and crying babies all around to keep you awake. I've watched some real rotters on long flights to India including Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Red Riding Hood, Sinister, and 6 Souls. But when you've been on a flight for eight hours and you're not even half way home, your brain is like mulch anyway.

Of course there could be a fifth tier that's reserved for movies that should never have been made at all.

SEE ALSO: 13 Movie Taglines That Are Works Of Art In Their Own Right

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Tucked behind the Goldman Sachs building at 200 West Street, the Regal Battery Park theater was a fitting venue for last night's free advanced screening of "The Wolf of Wall Street," Martin Scorsese's highly-anticipated biopic about '90s-era pump-and-dump charlatan Jordan Belfort.

Disturbing: Belfort's decadence.

Equally disturbing: the finance-heavy audience's gleeful reaction to his behavior and legal wrongdoings.

Credit Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Belfort, for keeping the high-octane, drug-filled movie entertaining for three hours (the longest Scorsese film by about 60 seconds).

But my one major gripe was pretty simple: Jordan Belfort defrauded a lot of people — and by the nature of his penny stock transgressions, many low-income people — out of a ton of money. He then used that money, as one does, on cocaine, hookers, cars, and yachts. It may be great cinema to document his exploits, but there's a fine line between satirizing Wall Street's excess and celebrating Belfort's lifestyle.

Put simply, the film could have done a better job making Belfort look like a villain.

Or maybe the film did do that, and we were just watching with the wrong crowd. There were a lot of finance pros there. The theater is in Manhattan's financial district and the movie has "Wall Street" in the name, after all. Plus you can actually see into Goldman's trading room floor from the escalator.

There's a lot of talk about how Wall Street has "changed" since the financial crisis. Compliance is up, bonuses are down, the holiday parties are boring.

But you wouldn't necessarily know that from what these guys were cheering at.

When Belfort — a drug addict who later attempts to remain sober — rips up a couch cushion to get to his secret coke stash, there were cheers.

Then, intercut with Popeye eating spinach, Belfort is irrevocably high on Quaaludes (or "ludes," a muscle relaxer) and dumps coke into his nose to remedy the situation — more cheers.

The worst, though, mild spoiler alert ... At one point later in the movie, the feds get Belfort to wear a wire to implicate others at his firm. Meeting with his No. 2, Belfort slides over a piece of paper: "Don't incriminate yourself. I am wearing a wire."

And the crowd goes wild. Don't rat! Stand by your firm!

Bankers: First of all, don't cheer in a movie. It's weird. You can laugh, but no cheering. Second, guffawing while Leo attempts to evade federal indictment doesn't exactly help America's perception of your societal value.

Hopefully this kind of euphoria was confined to one boozy, Financial District pre-screening (Paramount gave us popcorn and martinis upon entrance), because it would be a real shame if Martin Scorsese just accidentally inspired the future Jordan Belforts of the world.

SEE ALSO: The Best And Worst Things About 'The Wolf Of Wall Street'

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The gift that keeps on giving.

Lionsgate has released the first teaser trailer for "The Expendables 3."

Here are the stars in the third installment: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wesley Snipes, Antonio Banderas, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Kellan Lutz, Ronda Rousey, Victor Ortiz, Glen Powell and Kelsey Grammer.

Does it look absolutely ridiculous? Yes.

Are you going to see it anyway? Probably. 

"The Expendables 3" is in theaters August 15. 

Here's the group:

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The first trailer for "The Other Woman" was just released and something about the story line struck us as oddly familiar.

Basically, "The Other Woman" is a modern day "First Wives Club."

In "The Other Woman," Cameron Diaz, Kate Upton, and Leslie Mann star as women who figure out they're involved with the same man and plot to get revenge on him. In "The First Wives Club," Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler set out to get revenge against their individual ex-husbands.

See what we mean below:

Here's how it goes down. Once the women figure out they're being cheated on, they bond and spy:

As a result, they get drunk and sad:

Sobered up, they vow to take revenge. This involves scheming in a car:

There's a whiteboard on which the women write the steps in their plan. Progress is made!:

Mission accomplished over lunch at a fancy NYC restaurant. Cheers!

SEE ALSO: The 12 Worst-Reviewed Movies Of 2013

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Since the Wonder Woman casting news earlier this month, there have been a lot of names thrown around for "Batman/Superman" movie villain. 

The latest one is that Joaquin Phoenix is in talks to play Lex Luthor— one of the Man of Steel's main rivals. 

Luthor isn't confirmed as the main villain in the sequel yet — though hints in the first film make his entrance seemingly inevitable.

Though Phoenix looks like a frontrunner, he's not the only person rumored for the part. 

Luthor also isn't the only antagonist people are speculating about. 

We wouldn't be surprised if there was another villain also introduced in the sequel.

Joaquin Phoenix as Lex Luthor

Let's start with the obvious.  

Variety broke the news saying Warner Bros. is looking at the Academy Award winner after his performance in "Her." 

Not convinced he could play the head of LexCorp? We weren't at first either as this ubiquitous interview with David Letterman came to mind, but then we remembered him as treacherousCommodus in "Gladiator." 

We can get behind this.

Jason Mamoa as a villain (or a good guy?)

The former "Game of Thrones" star's name has been thrown around for an unspecified role.  

Rumors have him pegged for a few roles— Superman nemesis Doomsday (who has appeared as a villain for both the Bat and Man of Steel in the past, sometimestogether) — or a possible ally in the Martian Manhunter. 

However, with casting of Wonder Woman and rumors of the Flash making an appearance, it seems a little too soon to be throwing this many heroes into the mix. 

Our take: Doomsday seems more logical. And it appears from an extra found on the "Man of Steel" Blu-ray— a Kryptonian sequence translated to "Beware Bertron’s curse, for he is named Doomsday"— that Warner Bros. could introduce him in the future.

Callan Mulvey as an unnamed villain

Again Variety hinted the "Zero Dark Thirty" actor was being looked at to play a nemesis for the Batman / Superman duo.  

Whether or not that villain is Lex, Mulvey has the appeal of a younger, brash hot shot Luthor looks wise. If Warners is planning to give the character an older classic feel, than Phoenix makes much more sense.

Chris Hemsworth is probably used to getting into life-threatening situations in his movies, but it seems danger came a little too close for comfort while filming his latest movie, In the Heart of the Sea.

The production of the movie was hit by a large typhoon which subsequently triggered a massive landslide in the Canary Islands. The cast and crew were able to escape unhurt, however, the landslide tragically killed five locals.

Director Ron Howard tweeted the following statement about the incident:

Rare heavy rain in La Gomera forced us to our small converted cover stage… Then our access road began to flood… Soon we were advised to wrap and evacuate. Pronto. Asap

This isn’t the first near tragedy to hit the production. Last month Hemsworth and his pregnant wife Elsa Pataky were shipwrecked when their ship ran aground.

Luckily the family and all of the other passengers were rescued by the coastguard.

In The Heart of the Sea tells the story of the Essex, a whaling ship which was struck by a giant sperm whale and left adrift in 1820 — an event which inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Left at sea with only limited supplies, the crew are forced to turn to cannibalism to survive.

With this in mind, Hemsworth’s situation could have been much worse…

SEE ALSO: 5 Actors Rumored To Be Playing Villains In The 'Batman / Superman' Movie Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/batman--superman-villain-casting-roundup-2013-12?op=1#ixzz2o1h9HRIZ

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Before Chris Farley and David Spade's classic "Tommy Boy" debuted in 1995, the film went by another name.

 Thursday evening Spade tweeted out a photo of a mock-up poster for the film back when it was known as "Rocky Road."

It's pretty cool.

Here's Spades's tweet:

Here's a mock up poster of Tommy Boy when it was called Rocky Road. #triviapic.twitter.com/Y18PclNusQ

— David Spade (@DavidSpade) December 19, 2013

Here's the full-size poster:

 For a comparison, here's what the finished "Tommy Boy" poster looked like:

Note the difference between the taglines on both posters.

"Rocky Road": To go from cap & gown to CEO in 6 months, he had to take a crash course.

"Tommy Boy": "If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards."

SEE ALSO: The worst-reviewed movies of the year

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"The boy who lived" will live on!

JK Rowling has announced that a "Harry Potter" stage play is in the works.

Rowling made the announcement on Facebook this morning. 

According to the announcement, the play will be a prequel to the wizarding series exploring "the previously untold story of Harry's early years as an orphan and outcast."

From the announcement:

"Over the years I have received countless approaches about turning Harry Potter into a theatrical production, but Sonia and Colin’s vision was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry's story to the stage. After a year in gestation it is exciting to see this project moving on to the next phase. I’d like to thank Warner Bros. for their continuing support in this project."

Rowling will not write the script. Instead, she will serve as a co-producer on the play, collaborating with a writer.

This shouldn't come as a surprise since  the author announced she will be working with Warner Bros. on "Harry Potter" spinoff films earlier this year.

The play is currently searching for writers and directors while production will get underway next year. 

SEE ALSO: The new "Harry Potter" spinoff movies are a terrible idea

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"Anchorman 2" is kind of a big deal.

Let me just get that out of the way.

Will Ferrell's return to theaters lives up to everything you want in a sequel and more — it's funny, is chock full of celebrity cameos, and there's an actual meaningful story. 

Oh, and yes, there's a news fight and it's bigger and maybe better than the first one.

Forget all the Ron Burgundy over-saturation of late — this movie should be huge at theaters.

We saw a screening of "Anchorman 2: The Legend Returns" Monday evening (not this one with cast members, unfortunately!), and loved it.

Are some going to think it's really silly? Yes. There are some over-the-top scenes that made us roll our eyes *HUGE spoiler*Burgundy loses his sight in what feels like a "Family Guy" gag*spoiler* but that's expected. 

While it's not better than the first — it's difficult to beat this, this, and especially this — it sure is enjoyable.

The sequel starts us off seven years after the first film. Burgundy (Ferrell), married to Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate), has just lost his job as a prestigious anchor after his wife accepts a promotion. After getting hired by a new 24-hour news channel, Ron gathers his old news team back together to head to New York City to conquer the world of broadcast journalism again. 

What's so great about the sequel? There are three main reasons to love it.

[Some spoilers do follow!]

1. First and foremost: It's Hilarious

Through the first 45 minutes, Ferrell and his news team had the entire audience — and myself — laughing hysterically. I myself was in tears at some points (always a good sign).

Though there may not be many memorable one liners — Applegate delivers a great kicker near the end — we were happy with a lot of original material.

Items revealed in trailers didn't receive laughs on screen from oversaturation, but there weren't many of those moments at all. Many jokes seen in trailers didn't make it into the final cut.

Unlike other comedy sequels of recent (we're looking at you "Hangover"), "Anchorman 2" doesn't try to rehash and reuse old gags ... much. Where they are (you'll see the familiar jazz flute, news team celebration jump, and Brian Fontana's cologne cabinet gets swapped for a condom shrine) they're updated enough so they don't feel like carbon copies of what worked the first time around. Instead, the familiar territory feels welcome.

Though there are many new additions in the sequel (Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Josh Lawson, and Meagan Good), the film never feels too crowded.

2. More important: The sequel provides unexpected commentary on the state of broadcast journalism.

Who imagined you would get a rousing message about the political correctness of the news from Ron Burgundy?

After the first hour or so of laughs, you finally see what the film's really about — a media message wrapped inside a comedy.

Underneath the jokes, "Anchorman 2" tells the story of how news coverage has gone from being story-centric to ratings-focused with the introduction of the 24-hour news cycle.

Burgundy works for fictional GNN (Global News Network) — a CNN stand-in — during its first year on air.

In order to compete with other networks and gain eyeballs, Burgundy introduces the idea of reporting "soft, sensational" news like cute animals and live car chases— clear mockery of items used to attract viewers today in both broadcast and online media for views and clicks.

At one point in the film both Burgundy and Corningstone agree there is no real news being reported and that it's all about ratings.

Maybe this is what the heavy push in the film's marketing campaign was partly all about — a cleverly hidden message about the media hidden in the media itself (or maybe that would be too clever).

Either way, kind of makes you want to open a window, stick your head out and yell ... or simply ponder about.

3. The news battle brawl to end all brawls

Of course there's a news fight and it's bigger than ever.

I won't spoil this tremendous part of the movie here, but the amount of celebrity cameos is amazing. Yes, many of them leaked online ahead of the film's release — but not all of them.

Every time a new face and voice was revealed, there were wild cheers in our theater. Fans will be very happy.

Worst of the movie: 

There are two poor parts in this film that thankfully pass fairly quick.

HUGE SPOILERS 

There's a terrible sub-plot involving Burgundy becoming blind. It's good for a few laughs but gets old quick. It then leads to an even more ridiculous subplot about Burgundy’s family raising a baby shark. (It’s very “Free Willy”-esque.)  

We really tried to go with it, but because it ties up pretty quickly, it felt more like a skit taken straight out of an episode of "Family Guy" called Blind Ambition (without Ferrell eating a bunch of nickels) where Peter temporarily loses his sight.

If the film was split into quarters, this third leg of the film would be the worst. It's so different from the rest that it feels kind of inserted into the film just to serve as a segue to get from points A to B.

Other than that, there's a slightly uncomfortable scene where Burgundy meets an African American co-worker's (Meagan Good) family members.

The scene didn't come as a surprise as it was heavily teased in trailers and I was glad that after two scenes, this was where the racial remarks ended. From all the promos, I was partially concerned Good's skin color would become a bigger gag in the film and I'm glad to see it didn't.

There's a short after-credits scene.

You may feel like a bit of a fool for waiting around for this anti-climatic moment, but for Easter egg lovers, yes, there is something after the initial credits end.

Again, this isn't Marvel material, so don't expect hints for a sequel or anything like that.

Best lines of the film

As I said, not too many one-liners I noticed that will probably become fan favorites, but here are a few I rounded up (that I can write here):

Ron Burgundy:
"Who the hell is Julius Caesar? You know I don't follow the NBA."
"By the bedpan of Gene Rayburn."
"Happy St. Patrick's Day to all our Native American friends."

Champ Kind (David Koechner):
"Do you know what they call bats? Chicken of the cave." 

Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd) mentions being pals with O.J. Simpson, Phil Spector, and Robert Blake. "We call ourselves the Ladykillers."

Brick Tamland (Carell):
Speaking about his shadow: "A black man follows me everywhere I go when it's sunny."
This one's not spoken: "I like toasters. I also like mitten because they're easy to put on."

Veronica Corningstone (Applegate) probably had the best line that I heard people repeat upon leaving the theater:
"This white thunder rolls deep." 

Now, test your "Anchorman" knowledge: See what you don't know about the first film

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CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — In "American Hustle," a highly fictionalized telling of the bizarre Abscam FBI corruption sting of the 1970s, the public official on the take is the most selfless character.

In the film, which opened Friday, Camden Mayor Carmine Polito turns down a briefcase full of money when he is first offered a bribe. The character, based on real-life Mayor Angelo Errichetti and played by Jeremy Renner, later agrees to accept the money because he believes doing so would lead to job production and help residents.

Those who knew him and have studied the long-troubled city agree Errichetti was deeply concerned for his constituents but has a complicated persona.

"For all the mayors I worked for, he was THE mayor," said Richard Cignalia, who spent more than 40 years in Camden city government and was appointed by Errichetti to be city finance director. "If you went to him with a problem, he was accessible and he really did care about the city."

Cignalia, who's seen only the trailers so far, notes that Renner's version of his boss has the right pompadour, but he's still worried about how he's portrayed.

"I hope he doesn't look like a big crook who didn't care," Cignalia said.

But in the movie, by putting public service first and genuinely befriending the man who would bring him down, he comes off as downright innocent if you can overlook his willingness to deal with the mob if he thought it was for the greater good.

In real life, the mayor's undoing may have helped push a city already on the brink into an even darker time.

Errichetti was elected mayor in 1973 as his hometown was reeling from race riots two years earlier, and manufacturers and their jobs were disappearing.

"He was pretty impressive in the way he dealt with an incredibly difficult transition in terms of the white working class disappearing overnight," said Howard Gillette, professor emeritus of history at Rutgers University's Camden campus and the author of "Camden After the Fall," a history of the city. "It was certainly more than a thumb in the dam."

Gillette, who taught a class this semester on political corruption, credits Errichetti, the last white mayor of a mostly minority city, for working closely with black leaders. He doesn't think Errichetti could have done anything to reverse the city's decline.

By the end of the 1970s, Errichetti was also chairman of the state Senate's budget committee and the undisputed leader of southern New Jersey's Democratic machine. Besides trying to restore his city, he was trying to spur redevelopment in Atlantic City. In 1976, voters agreed to allow gambling there, but it would be five years before the first casino opened.

Then came Abscam, the operation at the center of "American Hustle." The movie, a 1970s-era period piece with low necklines and big hair, gets its first of many laugh lines with the words that appear on screen as it opens: "Some of this actually happened."

A con man and the FBI worked together to bribe politicians using two FBI agents pretending to be Arab sheik investors. The operation led to 19 convictions, including Errichetti, six members of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams. Errichetti helped bring other officials into the scheme.

Errichetti was caught on a hidden camera accepting $25,000, which was to be a down payment on a $400,000 bribe.

Cignalia believes that Errichetti, who died in May at 84, thought the phony operation would help him get a job in the casino industry when his political career ended. Instead, he went to federal prison, where he served more than 2 ½ years of a six-year term.

By the end of Errichetti's second term, Cignalia said, he was distracted and not effective on budget matters. It didn't help with city finances that Errichetti refused to raise taxes on his struggling residents, though the same decision had made his re-election a breeze.

The problems led to a partial state takeover of the city government and to some undesirable deals, including a bailout with a price. The state would build a prison on the city's waterfront — the same area where Errichetti had talked of an economic revival.

The prison was torn down in 2009 to make way for development possibilities in what remains one of the nation's most impoverished and violent cities. Nothing has been built there yet.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews was still in school when Errichetti was mayor, but he got involved in politics soon after the mayor was sent to prison.

"The mayor had a chance to really rally the city," said Andrews, who eventually met Errichetti. "He was really popular. He had dominant control over the political machine."

Andrews said the city's focus on recovering from Errichetti's downfall may have been one reason it didn't benefit from the national economic expansion that lasted through most of the 1980s.

And corruption problems would persist in the city, with two of the four mayors who immediately followed Errichetti being sent to prison.

But, Rutgers' Gillette said, Errichetti seems to have been forgiven for accepting a bribe.

"A lot of the people in New Jersey," he said, "they kind of see it as honest graft."

___

Follow Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

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The next installment of the "Fast and Furious" franchise will be pushed back until next year.

Vin Diesel announced that "Fast and Furious 7" will come out April 10, 2015 to fans on his official Facebook page. 

Last month, "Fast & Furious" star Paul Walker passed away in a tragic car accident in Valencia, California.

Filming for the sequel was still underway with "Fast and Furious 7" originally set for a summer 2014 release.

Diesel announced the news along with a photo of himself with Walker filming their final scene together. 

Here's the complete message:

"The last scene we filmed together ...

There was a unique sense of completion, of pride we shared... in the film we were now completing... the magic captured... and, in just how far we've come...

Fast and Furious 7 will be released...

April 10th 2015!

P.s. He'd want you to know first..."

Vin Diesel likes announcing news to his fans first on Facebook, so it should come as no surprise he let fans know there.

He finished his post with a nod to Walker: "He'd want you to know first."

Since then, the studio has confirmed the news in a statement saying Walker and Diesel will lead the film.

“Continuing the global exploits in the franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker lead the returning cast of FAST & FURIOUS 7, which will be released by Universal Pictures on April 10, 2015.  James Wan directs this chapter of the hugely successful series, and Neal H. Moritz and Vin Diesel return as producers.”

SEE ALSO: Vin Diesel breaks silence on Paul Walker's death

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Maybe it was over-marketing, maybe it was the opening date before a big holiday, either way Ron Burgundy's big return to theaters with "Anchorman 2" wasn't as big of a deal as Paramount hoped. 

Estimates that had the film making around $30 million opening weekend were spot on. 

The film performed worse than its original in a three-day span ($28.4 million). That film opened up nearly a decade ago in 2004.  

In the long run, the movie will do fine, but maybe opening up the weekend before Christmas wasn't the smartest idea. Historically, it's just a slower time of the year.  

Numbers for "The Hobbit" are pretty low compared to the first film, too. However, that could be because many people still aren't into the idea of a child's book being stretched into three movies. 

Then, there are limited releases that are killing it. Warner Bros.' "Her"— a movie about a man (Joaquin Phoenix's) falling in love with an operating system —  had a huge weekend making $258,000 in six theaters over the weekend. 

Many of films fell out of the top ten this week. 

Judi Dench's "Philomena,""The Book Thief,""Homefront" all fell from the top ten. The worst crash was Relativity's "Out of the Furnace" starring Christian Bale which has managed to make $10.9 million in three weeks. 

Here are the winners and losers in Hollywood this week: 

10. "Thor: The Dark World" rounds up the list this week with another $1.3 million. This should be the God of Thunder's final week at the top of the box office with so many new releases out Christmas day. In total, the film has brought in $627 million for Disney and Marvel. 

9. Bollywood film "Dhoom 3,"a Chicago thriller about a circus man planning to rob the show's owners out of revenge had a big $3.3 million weekend.   

8.  Family film "Walking with Dinosaurs" flopped opening to $7.3 million. The film is performing better overseas so far bringing it to $21 million worldwide. A lot of holiday competition shouldn't help this film in the following week. 

7. "Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas" took a big hit in week two making $8.5 million. The film has made $28.3 million to date. With so many movies out at once right now, difficult to see why this film was needed right now. 

6. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" continues its successful run with another $8.8 million bringing the sequel's total up to $765 million worldwide. 

5. "Saving Mr. Banks" rounds up the top five moving up 13 spots in its wide release with $9.3 million. 

4. Another wide release this weekend,  "American Hustle" debuted to $19.1 million. The David O. Russell film featuring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence had a large debut last weekend with $740,455 in six theaters. 

3. Disney's "Frozen" narrowly beat out "American Hustle" with $19.2 million in its fifth weekend. (Mind you, it had the edge in more than 1,000 theaters.) The Mouse House's latest animated film has made $344.2 million worldwide. 

2. "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" failed to crack $30 million over its 3-day opening weekend with $26.8 million. Still the film made $40 million since last Wednesday which is in line with Paramount estimates. The original made $28.4 million opening weekend back in 2004. 

1. Not a surprise that "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" made $31 million this weekend. Though it beat out "Anchorman," that's no mighty triumph. Compared to all of the other "Hobbit"/"Lord of the Rings,""Desolation" comes in dead last.  The second weekend for "An Unexpected Journey" was $36.9 million.

SEE ALSO: "Fast and Furious 7" has been pushed back to 2015

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