The Avengers tops SA box office

Marvel’s The Avengers is officially the number one film in South Africa. The movie was released on Thursday last week, a week ahead of the American release. The movie raked in a massive R15 203 072 since its release. If you haven’t seen the movie, I’d suggest you go and check it out. It’s big, real big… and in 3D.

I’m not usually a fan of movies like this but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Seeing and dealing with egos is something I deal with on a daily basis, so imagine having to deal with the egos of all these superheroes, ha. Well Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson) knows how that feels, as he brings together the super humans.  From Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.); the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) to Captain America (Chris Evans) and The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), they’re all there in all their glory fighting together (eventually) to help save the Earth from Loki and his army.

The Hulk is my best and Iron Man are my best. Downey Jr. is just such a great actor and he embodies this role perfectly. Mark Ruffalo plays the role of The Hulk extremely well. In fact, dare I say it, but I was a little surprised by his performance. He’s good but I’ve never been totally convinced, until now. Check out the trailer below:

Now a lot of you might be asking yourselves this question, why did we get to see The Avengers before the Americans? I went through to a Disney content showcase last week and I asked that question. The reason? While previously we would’ve followed the US trend and release, it’s now become more focused on what is right for that specific market. With it being a (very) long weekend in SA, it made sense to release the film to The Avengers fans and those eager to see the film. It clearly shows that the studio reps in this territory are really in touch with the local market with the film debuting at number one and bringing in some big cash too. Nice one. Full press release below:

2011 Oscars- The Social Network, Inception win again

Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman present the awards Best Original Score to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for their work “The Social Network,”

“Wow. Is this really happening? When we finished our work on The Social we were so happy with our work. Now to be in the company of such talent is so humbling and flattering beyond words. David Fincher. Thank you so much.”

Matthew Matthew Maconahay and Scarlett Johansson present the award for Best Sound Mixing to those involved in Inception: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick. For the award in Achievement in Sound Editing, the winners is Richard King for his work on Inception.

“I owe this a thousand percent to Chris Nolan. I just want to thank you for making great movies and for inviting me along for the ride. I want to thank my sound editing crew who I share this award with. I want to thank my wife and my son Sam too. Thank you.”

It’s Splittsville for Ryan Reynolds & Scarlett Johansson

They’ve been referred to as one of the hottest couples in the world and it’s no surprise why. When actors Ryan Ryan Reynolds and Scarlett Johansson got married two years ago, I thought to myself, hmm, this doesn’t seem real. It was like Barbie and Ken come to life and there wasn’t really a build up to them walking down the aisle, as is the case with other celebrity weddings (like Nicole Richie and Joel Madden for instance).

Anyway the latest from Hollywood is that Ryan and Scarlett have split and will be divorcing soon. According to celebrity website TMZ, the split was amicable. “After long and careful consideration on both our parts, we’ve decided to end our marriage. We entered our relationship with love and it’s with love and kindness we leave it. While privacy isn’t expected, it’s certainly appreciated.”
Sad news, but it would appear as if things are as good as they can be with the two. It’s really strange though because while Ryan gushed about Scarlett in the September issue of GQ, we never really saw the two together much. Or is that just me?

Been quite a week, a month for breakups hey:
Zac and Vanessa, Tony and Eva, these two and more… crazy Hollywood!