Michael Worth was not born a filmmaker, but he came pretty close. Raised as a child not too far from the Chesapeake Bay, Michael began his camera savvy ways at the young age of ten. Armed with a Super 8mm camera and a willing younger brother, he began to shoot small films that revolved around plots involving monsters, Kung Fu and secret agents. By high school, Michael had moved to Berkeley California where he had managed to convince his English teacher to let him make a film as a final project, rather than write it out on paper.

Worth moved to Los Angeles at seventeen and lived in his truck with his German Shepard, Thrasher for four months while teaching martial arts and chasing auditions. After dozens of background jobs and a few walk-ons, Michael landed a leading role as a young, eager kick boxer vying for a world title that paralleled his own life in many ways in the film “Final Impact.” A positive notice from Variety “Worth is a promising newcomer” and a contracted two more films would follow before he landed the role of “Tommy” on the syndicated series “Acapulco H.E.A.T.” with Catherine Oxenberg and romance novel king Fabio. It was during his stint in Puerto Vallarta Mexico that Michael began to reconnect with his young filmmaker beginnings and refocused his creative energy into writing as he worked on several scripts. Shooting second unit action on the show would be his professional training ground for directing as well and by 2003 Michael would have his first screenplay produced in the hybrid western/martial arts film “Ghost Rock” with Gary Busey and Jeff Fahey.

Steve Mason: So Michael, it sounds like films were an early part of your career ambitions. (more…)

Exclusive Steve Mason Early 3-Day Estimates

1. The Hangover (Warner Bros) – $32M 3-day – $103.97M cume
2. Pixar’s UP (Disney) – $28.5M 3-day -$185.16M cume
3. The Taking of Pelham 123 (Sony) – $26M 3-day – $26M cume
4. Night at the Museum 2 (Fox) – $9.2M 3-day – $143M cume
5. Land of the Lost (Universal) – $8.8M 3-day – $34.62M cume
*Imagine That (Paramount) – $6M 3-day – $6M cume
*Star Trek (Paramount) – $5.1M 3-day – $231.52M cume

Knowing most people would not have seen the original before buying a ticket for the ”retelling,” I deliberately chose not to screen the 1974 “Pelham” before writing my review. This proved wise. Had I, as my screening of the original last night proved, the review would’ve been much harsher. My love for Denzel aside, they’re not even in the same ballpark. There’s more texture, personality and narrative scope in the first ten minutes of Joseph Sargent’s urban classic than in all 106 minutes of this weekend’s offering. (more…)

Steve Mason’s Exclusive Early Box Office Estimates:

1. Up – $20.5M Friday … $67M 3-day … $67M cume
2. Night at the Museum 2 – $7.5M Friday … $27M 3-day … $106.79M cume
3. Drag Me To Hell – $6.25M Friday … $16.5M 3-day … $16.5M cume
4. Terminator Salvation- $5M Friday … $16M 3-day … $90.5M cume
5. Star Trek – $3.7M Friday … $13.5M 3-day … $210.2M cume
6. Angels & Demons – $3.6M Friday … $12M 3-day … $105.56M cume
7. Dance Flick – $1.7M Friday … $5.2M 3-day … $19.54M cume

If these numbers hold, “Up” will open better than “Wall-E” and “Monsters and Aliens.”

Considering ”Up” is fairly low concept and starring a 78 year-old man, this is beyond impressive. Word of mouth, rave reviews and the reservoir of goodwill Pixar’s built up over the years are making this a real audience-driven sensation. (more…)

The chubby guy on the Segway rallied for a come-from-behind win over the Beckinsale-less Underworld sequel, but regardless, it was a 1-2 finish for Sony. When I originally predicted that Paul Blart: Mall Cop as the likely weekend winner over the MLK 4-day, some online sites questioned my pick. Even I didn’t expect an opening close to $40M, and now the Kevin James vehicle has surprised again.

The Adam Sandler-produced comedy has broadened its audience, showing real family appeal. That led to stronger Saturday and Sunday matinees for a stellar $21.5M by Monday morning. That gives the movie a 10-day cume of just shy of $65M, which is impressive considering that it was budgeted at just $26M. After success as a supporting star in movies like Hitch ($179.5M cume) and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry ($120M cume), it appears that James can open a movie without the help of Will Smith and Adam Sandler. Mall Cop dipped only 32% from last Friday-thru-Sunday (and that was part of a 4-day weekend, which can often lead to a sharper drop). (more…)

Michael Sheen has two movies in release this weekend. The classically-trained Welsh actor plays Lucien in the wildly commercial Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony), opening on about 3,000 screens, and he plays David Frost in Frost/Nixon (Universal), expanding to about 800 playdates.

He is a classically-trained stage actor, who has starred in heavyweight UK productions of Romeo and Juliet, Henry V, Amadeus and The Dresser, was somehow overlooked by both Hollywood Foreign Press and Oscar voters when he starred as Tony Blair in 2006’s The Queen. (He was outshined by Helen Mirren, who won every acting prize imaginable). This year, he is in the shadow of Frank Langella’s towering portrayal of President Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon.

As an aside, The Queen was the second in screenwriter Peter Morgan’s Tony Blair trilogy. The first film was called The Deal for British television and tells the story of the rivalry between Blair and current British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. (This is a great title to put in your Netflix or Blockbuster cue.) The final film will be called The Special Relationship, which will focus on the intimate friendship between the British PM and President Bill Clinton between 1997-2000. Sheen has signed on, but there is no word on who will play Clinton. Morgan says the idea for the third film began to germinate when he heard that Blair and Clinton were alone together when Vice President Al Gore conceded the 2000 election.

In the meantime, Sheen will almost certainly have the #1 movie in America this weekend with Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. This is the third Underworld movie, but it is a prequel set in the dark ages with Sheen as Lucien, a young werewolf, who leads a war against Bill Nighy as Viktor, the leader of the vampire race. (more…)

What an exhilarating week. Big Hollywood is finally up. Traffic is way better than expected.

Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition. Movie and television reviews and historical treatises abound, and we’re even breaking news.

John Ziegler launched a massive story where Sarah Palin unleashed on the media for treating her so unfairly. It is easily the mainstream news media story of the week. Big Hollywood is the site to go to for the inside scoop on Ziegler’s forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected“.

Actor-singer-songwriter Joe Lima in a timely fashion came to bury Guevara, but also put usually reliable director Steven Soderbergh in his place for wasting so much studio money and movie watchers’ time with the execrable, “Che.”

(more…)