'Inglourious Basterds' wins SAG film award

LOS ANGELES – While Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock's chances for Academy Award gold were advanced with their trophies at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the blockbuster "Avatar" may have felt a touch blue.

The computer-assisted performances in James Cameron's "Avatar" didn't make the cut for SAG nominations. But the groundbreaking sci-fi film remains a strong best-picture contender for the Oscars in March.

For Bridges of "Crazy Heart," Bullock of "The Blind Side" and for SAG supporting-acting honorees Mo'Nique of "Precious" and Christoph Walt of "Inglourious Basterds," there's reason to suspect the Oscar ceremony will be a happy rerun of Saturday's SAG Awards and last Sunday's Golden Globes.

All four were recognized at the Globes, as well, while "Avatar" was named best drama and Cameron won as best director.

He will face competition from director Quentin Tarantino, whose "Inglourious Basterds" won the SAG Award for best ensemble performance, which can be a precursor to the top Oscar award. Last year, SAG's movie cast award was presented to "Slumdog Millionaire," which went on to win the best picture Oscar.

"It was an honor to be part of it, Quentin," "Inglourious Basterds" cast member Eli Roth said in accepting the award for his fellow actors in the off-kilter World War II revenge saga.

Bullock declined — strenuously — to look ahead.

"Shhhhh. Shhhhh. Shhhhh," Bullock said backstage when she was asked to speculate on her Oscar chances. She won for her portrayal of a tenacious real-life mom, Leigh Anne Tuohy, who helped a youth in need, future NFL player Michael Oher.

"I would be a hostess or a waitress or a house restorer before I ever considered myself an actor, because I never thought I was good enough," she added.

Although respected by his peers, Bridges has largely been bypassed for major awards.

"I love being an actor — pretending to be other people and getting into the shoes of other folks," said Bridges, who plays a hard-luck, hard-living country singer in "Crazy Heart."

Waltz was honored for his role as an enthusiastically ruthless Nazi. Mo'Nique's trophy came for her searing portrayal of an abusive mother in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire."

On the TV side of the SAG Awards, the cast of AMC's 1960s Madison Avenue saga "Mad Men" won the trophy for best drama series ensemble for the second year in a row, while 19 cast members of Fox TV newcomer "Glee," about misfits in a high school singing club, accepted the award for best comedy series ensemble.

"Glee" claimed the best comedy series award at the Golden Globes.

Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey of NBC's "30 Rock" won for best acting in a comedy series, allowing Fey to get in a sly joke about NBC and its bitter late-night battle with Conan O'Brien in her acceptance speech.

"I just wanted to take a moment to say to everyone at NBC, we are very happy with everything, and happy to be there," she said. Both she and Baldwin won the awards last year.

Golden Globe winner Michael C. Hall of Showtime's "Dexter," wearing a cap because of treatment he's receiving for Hodgkin's lymphoma, won best actor in a drama series. The award for best actress in a drama went to Julianna Margulies of CBS' "The Good Wife."

Kevin Bacon won as best actor in a movie or miniseries for the war-themed drama, "Taking Chance," while Drew Barrymore received best actress honors in the category for "Grey Gardens," about eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Onassis.

Betty White, 88, accepted a lifetime achievement award from Bull+ock for an enduring career that included "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "The Golden Girls," and showed her sharp comedic chops.

When Bullock joked that she finds White annoying, White shot back, "Isn't it heartening to see how far a girl as plain as she is can go."

"I should be presenting an award to you for the privilege of working in this wonderful business all this time. And you still can't get rid of me," White told the audience.

Actors in two highly critically acclaimed films went home empty-handed, including "Up in the Air" star George Clooney and the film's supporting actresses, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick. The cast of "The Hurt Locker" also lost out.

Clooney, however, was lauded by SAG President Ken Howard for helping organize Friday's telethon to raise money for earthquake-devastated Haiti, a rare reference to the tragedy.

Two honors not shown in the telecast went to stunt ensembles for the film "Star Trek" and the TV show "24."

"Harry Potter" works box office magic at midnight

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British boy wizard Harry Potter conjured his magic at box offices again, as the sixth film in the highly popular movie series earned a record $22.2 million at Wednesday midnight showings in the United States.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" from Warner Bros. beat the old record for Wednesday midnight screenings of $18.5 million held by 2008 Batman movie "The Dark Knight," said Hollywood.com Box Office President Paul Dergarabedian.

The debut "portends a huge and potentially record-breaking number for a single-day (box office) gross and best first five-day gross," among movies, Dergarabedian said.

The highest one-day U.S. box office record belongs to "The Dark Knight," which debuted on a Wednesday last summer to $67.1 million and went on to $203.7 million in its first five days. It earned $1 billion worldwide throughout its run in theaters.

The five previous "Potter" movies about the adventures of Harry and his friends at the Hogwarts school, based on the best-selling kids books by author J.K. Rowling, have raked in $4.5 billion worldwide since the first film in 2001.

But in recent weeks, some media reports have suggested the movies' fan base of teenagers and pre-teens may now be too old for the movies and that other franchises, such as the popular "Twilight" films, may steal some of Potter's audience magic.

Still, "Half-Blood Prince" hits theaters a full two years after the most recent "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," causing box office watchers to see a good deal of pent-up demand for the movie.

"Order of the Phoenix" also opened on a Wednesday and took in $140 million in its first five days, on the way to $938 million in total global ticket sales. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

Natalie Portman signs on for comedy "Your Highness"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Natalie Portman is joining Danny McBride and James Franco in the fantasy comedy "Your Highness."

Written by Ben Best and McBride, the Universal Pictures project centers on an arrogant, lazy prince (McBride) who must complete a quest to save his father's kingdom. Joining him on the quest is McBride's more heroic brother, played by Franco.

Portman will play McBride's love interest, a warrior princess.

Director David Gordon Green ("Pineapple Express," "All the Real Girls") is shooting the film this summer in Northern Ireland.

Portman is working on "Hesher," an indie drama that marks her inauguration as a producer. She next stars with Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire in the drama "Brothers," a remake of Susanne Bier's Danish film.

Spielberg's 2011 Christmas Present to Fans: Tintin

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Belgium's intrepid cub reporter will be breaking his first big-screen story in time for Christmas 2011. Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment have announced that Steven Spielberg's big-budget gamble The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn will hit theaters Dec. 23, 2011.

The two studios are coproducing the 3-D motion-capture event film, the first in a pair the E.T. director is doing with Lord of the Rings master Peter Jackson (who will helm the sequel). But in an unusual move, Paramount and Sony plan to roll out Tintin internationally up to two months before the U.S. release.

The strategy is the reverse of Hollywood's normal distribution pattern, but makes sense since it enables the partnering companies to capitalize on the comic book character's popularity abroad and build buzz, since Tintin is not well known stateside.

The film, which Spielberg started shooting in January, stars Jamie Bell as the titular hero and Daniel Craig as the despicable pirate Red Rackham. Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Toby Jones also star.

Tintin will face some family-friend competition during the 2011 holiday season, with Warner Bros. set to release Happy Feet 2 and Disney/Pixar unleashing The Bear and the Bow.

Coco Chanel film brings curtain down in Cannes

CANNES, France (Reuters) – A lavish portrayal of a brief affair between Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and fashion pioneer Coco Chanel in the early 1920s brings the curtain down on the Cannes film festival on Sunday.

The festival's closing film, "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky", directed by Dutch-born Jan Kounen, stars Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen in the title roles, and is based on Chris Greenhalgh's novel which weaves together fact and fiction.

The movie opens with the infamous 1913 premiere of "The Rite of Spring" in Paris, where Stravinsky's score and Vaslav Nijinsky's experimental choreography were greeted with boos, jeers and a near-riot.

Seven years later Chanel, who attended the premiere, is introduced to the impoverished composer, and invites him and his family to move into her villa.

Although the facts of what happened during the brief sojourn are hazy, in the film the characters have a passionate affair which feeds into their creative energy.

"I ... discovered that Coco attended the first premiere of The Rite of Spring and that Stravinsky lived in the house in 1920, that's a fact," Greenhalgh told reporters in Cannes.

"Other than that there was very little (information). I had the framework of the facts but the freedom to invent everything that happened inside the villa."

Early reviews have praised the look of the movie, which recreates the sumptuous Art Deco style of the villa and the fashions of 1920s Paris, but several said the actors failed to bring the historical characters fully to life.

SECOND CHANEL PICTURE THIS YEAR

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky is not the first feature film on the life of the fashion designer to be released this year, after Audrey Tautou portrayed her in "Coco Before Chanel".

Kounen said the coincidence was not necessarily a bad thing for his movie, because it forced him to speed up his production which was therefore less affected by the financial crisis.

Coco Before Chanel hit French cinemas in April but has yet to be screened in most other countries.

"When there are two films with the same character you have to work fast, you have to be out fast," he said. "The film exists partly thanks to the fact that there were two projects."

And while Kounen's movie focuses on the relationship between Chanel and Stravinsky, Coco Before Chanel is about her rise from humble beginnings to fame and fortune and her love affair with Arthur "Boy" Capel, who died in a car crash in 1919.

Coco Chanel & Igor Strvinsky has its premiere in Cannes on Sunday evening, when the main prizes at the end of the 12-day festival are handed out.

In the rumor-filled atmosphere that traditionally precedes the award of the Palme d'Or, French newspapers carried talk that the jury was split due to the imperious style of Isabelle Huppert, the French actress heading the panel.

The Journal du Dimanche said there was speculation that some members could quit the jury, leaving Huppert to present the award for best film among the 20 main competition entries almost alone on stage. The Chanel movie is out of competition.

Indie filmmakers in Cannes still dreaming of 3-D

CANNES, France (Reuters) – When rock band U2 played at the Grand Palais of the Cannes film festival in 2007 to trumpet their new three-dimensional concert movie, backers of modern 3-D films hailed the coming of a new era in movies.

Two years later, independent producers and distributors making films outside Hollywood's major studios are still waiting for that day to dawn.

Many of them face the same hurdles major studios face -- a lack of theaters equipped to play 3-D films, especially in Europe and Asia, and questions over who will pay for the special eyeglasses to watch them.

They also face a hurdle of their own, lack of money, because independents are rarely as well financed as studios.

But much as The Walt Disney Co. did in 2005 with its 3-D version of "Chicken Little," a few indie producers are wading in, lured by the possibility of bigger box office from higher ticket prices and more fans.

Their involvement is good news for film fans, because in recent years independents have made many of the best movies with original tales like Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire."

Jonathan Wolf, executive vice president of U.S.-based trade group the Independent Film and Television Alliance, said that when special effects-filled movies became big business, people wondered if indies could keep pace with the majors.

At the time the answer was yes, and it is the same with 3-D.

"Anywhere there is commercial viability, there will be a market," Wolf said.

Three-dimensional images date back to early movies and gained popularity in sci-fi films of the 1950s. But they quickly faded due to unsophisticated technology.

New 3-D movies use improved eyeglasses and new digital projectors that improve the quality and theatrical experience.

INDIES IN 3-D

The opening night film in Cannes this year was Disney/Pixar's "Up," which will have 2-D and 3-D versions.

DreamWorks Animation Inc. enjoyed a $334 million global success this year with its $175 million "Monsters vs. Aliens," some of which came from 3-D, and Hollywood has a large slate of 3-D pictures ahead.

Ticket prices for 3-D films can range from $2 to $5 higher than normal, and distributors find the excitement of seeing some types of movies -- animated family films, action, fantasy and horror -- in 3-D lures more fans to theaters.

U.S. independent Lionsgate enjoyed a strong, $71 million global box office with its "My Bloody Valentine 3-D," which had a reported production budget of $15 million.

Joe Drake, president of Lionsgate's motion picture group, said his company saw opportunities in 3-D, but initially did not know how to make a 3-D movie. Still, it forged ahead, learned the technology and after a time, found it workable.

"The fact is, it's a very accessible, and not actually an over-complicated thing," Drake said.

He declined to give a figure on how much making 3-D added to "Bloody Valentine," but said it ran into "the millions."

Technology experts said 3-D can add as much as 10-15 percent to the cost of making a film, and DreamWorks chief executive Jeffrey Katzenberg has said the additional cost for making one of his big-budget flicks is $15 million.

For now, the higher cost keeps 3-D in the realm of major studios or independents like Lionsgate that are well-financed and have their own -- or easily accessible -- distribution.

The expense precludes low-budget filmmakers whose costs are $5 million or less from venturing into 3-D. Moreover, the human dramas or comedies made on low budgets for limited release in art-houses have little to gain from 3-D, industry experts said.

However, the rule of technology is that costs decrease over time as commercial markets heat up, and executives envision a young Danny Boyle, for example, one day making a 3-D film that is as big a hit as Slumdog Millionaire, which he made in 2-D.

'Angels & Demons' wins box office from 'Star Trek'

NEW YORK – "Angels & Demons" took the box office from "Star Trek" by earning $48 million in its first weekend of release.

The haul was far less than the earlier Dan Brown adaptation "The Da Vinci Code" — which earned $77.1 million when in opened in 2006 — but still enough to topple the popular "Star Trek," according to studio estimates Sunday.

In its second weekend, Paramount Pictures' "Star Trek" took in $43 million, a strong number after its $75.2 million opening last weekend, excluding its Thursday midnight screenings. The cumulative total for J.J. Abram's reboot of the sci-fi franchise is $147.6 million.

Sony's "Angels & Demons" reunites Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard for the sequel to "The Da Vinci Code." It opened without the benefit of the buzz and controversy that propelled "The Da Vinci Code" to a $753 million worldwide total.

Overseas business was again strong for "Angels & Demons," which earned $104.3 million internationally. Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony, said the studio expects the film will eventually take in half a billion altogether in theatrical release.

"That chemistry (of Hanks and Howard) worked incredibly well with 'Da Vinci' and it looks like it's absolutely headed in that same vein, certainly on a lesser scale," said Bruer. "We never expected anything to the phenomenon of `Da Vinci.'"

Like "The Da Vinci Code," reviews were not illustrious for "Angels & Demons," but they were mostly better. Bruer called Brown's action-packed best-seller "a far more cinematic story" than "Da Vinci." In it, Hanks again plays Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon who's trying to prevent a series of murders at the Vatican.

"Sony positioned it well," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "They didn't try to say, `This is going to be "The Da Vinci Code."' It was actually quite the contrary. They tried to say this was not `Da Vinci Code,' that it was a different kind of movie."

"Angels & Demons" was the only new wide-release film of the weekend. Coming in third was "X-Men Originals: Wolverine," which earned $14.8 million in its third week, bringing its total to $151.1 million. The prequel to the "X-Men" franchise, starring Hugh Jackman as the mutant with metal claws, had a step drop-off in its second week.

On the whole, it was another robust weekend of business at movie theaters, which have been drawing large crowds throughout the recession. Dergarabedian pegs the year-to-date box office at a 16 percent increase over last year.

"We're headed toward a record breaking summer," said Dergarabedian. "If you've got a blockbuster in the pipeline, you're very happy about all the strength of the box office right now. Momentum is key in this business."

That's good news for the two blockbusters opening next weekend: "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Terminator Salvation."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Angels & Demons," $48 million.

2. "Star Trek," $43 million.

3. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," $14.8 million.

4. "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," $6.9 million.

5. "Obsessed," $4.6 million.

6. "17 Again," $3.4 million.

7. "Monsters vs. Aliens," $3 million.

8. "The Soloist," $2.4 million.

9. "Next Day Air," $2.2 million.

10. "Earth," $1.7 million.

"Wolverine" slashes rivals in debut

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comic book movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" slashed its rivals at box offices over the weekend with a $160 million worldwide debut, leaping to No. 1 on ticket charts in a solid start to Hollywood's summer.

The action adventure, starring Hugh Jackman as the heroic Wolverine who wields long claws as his weapons, raked in $87 million in the United States and Canada and helped push total ticket sales just slightly ahead of the same weekend last year, according to tracking service Hollywood.com Box Office.

Landing at No. 2 on domestic box office charts with $15.3 million was romantic comedy "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," starring Matthew McConaughey. Last week's No. 1, thriller "Obsessed," dropped to third place with a weekend haul of $12.2 million for a cumulative total of $47 million in two weeks.

But it was "Wolverine" that lured the vast majority of fans to theaters. It was widely watched as the first major film of the studio's summer movie season that runs through August and can account for 35 to 40 percent of the annual ticket sales.

The $87 million domestic box office for "Wolverine" was lower than the $98.6 million debut of last year's No. 1 film, "Iron Man,' and box office trackers had estimated an opening in a range of $85 million to $100 million.

But Chris Aronson, senior vice president of domestic distribution at "Wolverine" backer Twentieth Century Fox, said the studio was guiding industry watchers lower for reasons that included the movie being the fourth in the "X-Men" series.

"I'd been telling people that at anything over $70 million, we were going to be very happy," he said.

Moreover, Aronson said "Wolverine" enjoyed the second biggest domestic opening for an "X-Men" movie behind "X-Men: The Last Stand," which posted a $102 million debut in May 2006 and eventually earned $459 million globally.

The four movies in the "X-Men" series have combined for more than $1.1 billion in ticket sales around the world.

SALES TOPPED PRODUCTION COSTS

The Fox executive said ticket sales of $73 million in 101 markets outside the United States and Canada brought the global haul to $160 million. He called that figure "fantastic," and noted it topped the movie's production cost of around $130 million.

Aronson said "Wolverine" may have been affected by other issues including the flu outbreak that shut theaters in Mexico, where "Last Stand" took in $6 million at its debut.

In the United States, Aronson said, a Saturday night professional basketball game between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls likely reduced moviegoing in those cities. In Boston, ticket sales were off around 21 percent and in Chicago, they were down about 30 percent.

Finally, an early and unfinished copy of "Wolverine" had leaked on the Internet and may have kept some fans away. But the true impact of Web watching is hard to calculate. "I don't know that we'll ever know" the effect, Aronson said.

Rounding out the top five movies were comedy "17 Again" with $6.4 million ($48.5 million cumulative) at No. 4, and animated "Monsters vs. Aliens" with $5.8 million ($182.4 million cumulative) at No. 5.

Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of News Corp. Warner Bros. is part of Time Warner Inc. "Obsessed" was distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment unit Screen Gems. "17 Again" was distributed by Warner Bros., and "Monsters vs. Aliens" by DreamWorks Animation.

"Angels & Demons" director sees Vatican meddling

ROME (Reuters) – Director Ron Howard accused the Vatican on Sunday of trying to hamper the filming and the Rome roll-out of his new movie "Angels & Demons," and challenged Catholic critics to see the film before condemning it.

The movie sequel to author Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" will premiere in Rome on Monday, with fictional symbologist Robert Langdon returning to the big screen to help the Vatican rescue kidnapped cardinals and find a ticking time-bomb.

The Vatican was outraged by "The Da Vinci Code" and the Rome archdiocese made no secret about denying Howard authorization to film parts of the follow-up inside its churches.

Howard said the Vatican also exerted its influence "through backchannels" to try to prevent him from shooting in areas around certain churches and got an event related to the film's premiere canceled, he said.

"There was supposed to be a reception or screening here in Rome that had been approved and I suppose that the Vatican had some influence over that," Howard told a news conference.

A Vatican spokesman declined to comment.

Fanning controversy, a 102-year-old Italian bishop was quoted in Italian media over the weekend calling the film "highly denigrating, defamatory and offensive to Church values and the reputation of the Holy See."

"My only frustration as a film-maker is that we actually reached out a couple of times, going back to March, to sort of offer opportunities for bishops and others just to see the film. And those opportunities have all been declined," Howard said.

"So far all the criticism, all of the complaints about the film have been coming from people who haven't seen it."

SECRET BLOODLINE

"The Da Vinci Code" upset the Vatican and some Catholics because of its storyline that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and had children, creating a royal bloodline that Church officials kept secret for centuries.

Christians are taught that Jesus never married, was crucified and rose from the dead.

The storyline of "Angels & Demons" does not raise questions about Jesus Christ. It is billed as a "science-vs-religion" thriller that deals with an attempt to hijack a papal election.

Despite some criticism in Italy and the United States, reaction so far by Catholics to "Angels & Demons" has not been as thunderous as it was with the release of "The Da Vinci Code."

Tom Hanks, who again stars as Langdon, acknowledged that films thrive on controversy.

"The marketing department of any studio would love to create controversy over their films, but they can't do it on their own. They need a shared partner," Hanks said.

Dan Brown refused to discuss his next novel about Langdon's adventures, which publisher Random House has said will be called "The Lost Symbol" and will be released in September.

But Brown suggested that Howard was the ideal director for a film adaptation of the new book. Howard's adaptation of "The Da Vinci Code," which was panned by critics, earned more than $750 million at the box office worldwide.

"I am very certain that someday, in the hands of Ron Howard, it is going to make an absolutely terrific movie," he said.

Best bets: ‘Wolverine’ claws way into theaters

Ever wonder how X-Men’s Wolverine came to be? “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has the answers and a whole lot of Hugh Jackman to boot. If you’ve seen that leaked, unfinished version on the Web, you know that Liev Schreiber co-stars as Sabretooth, while other mutants include Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). If this film succeeds, get ready for a whole lot more X-Men origins stories. In fact, “X-Men Origins: Magneto” is already in the works. (Opens May 1)

Jim Jarmusch returns with his first film since 2005’s “Broken Flowers,” “The Limits of Control.” Isaach De Bankolé stars as a mysterious loner with criminal intentions. The film co-stars Bill Murray, John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal and Paz de la Huerta. Two things you can always count on with Jarmusch: You’ll leave the theater really thinking about what you just saw, and the soundtrack is sure to be great. (Opens May 1 in limited release)

Best bets: ‘Wolverine’ claws way into theaters

Ever wonder how X-Men’s Wolverine came to be? “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” has the answers and a whole lot of Hugh Jackman to boot. If you’ve seen that leaked, unfinished version on the Web, you know that Liev Schreiber co-stars as Sabretooth, while other mutants include Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Bolt (Dominic Monaghan) and Gambit (Taylor Kitsch). If this film succeeds, get ready for a whole lot more X-Men origins stories. In fact, “X-Men Origins: Magneto” is already in the works. (Opens May 1)

Jim Jarmusch returns with his first film since 2005’s “Broken Flowers,” “The Limits of Control.” Isaach De Bankolé stars as a mysterious loner with criminal intentions. The film co-stars Bill Murray, John Hurt, Gael Garcia Bernal and Paz de la Huerta. Two things you can always count on with Jarmusch: You’ll leave the theater really thinking about what you just saw, and the soundtrack is sure to be great. (Opens May 1 in limited release)

Tarantino back in Cannes with Almodovar, Campion

PARIS (Reuters) – Quentin Tarantino returns to Cannes as part of a group of familiar faces at the world's biggest film festival that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach and New Zealand's Jane Campion.

Tarantino, who won the Palme d'Or for "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, presents his long-awaited World War Two caper "Inglourious Basterds" starring Brad Pitt in the main competition line-up announced by festival director Thierry Fremaux on Thursday.

He will be up against previous Cannes winners including Ken Loach, who presents "Looking for Eric" starring Eric Cantona about a postman looking for life lessons from the former France and Manchester United soccer star.

Campion, the first woman to win the Palme d'Or with the 1993 film "The Piano," is showing "Bright Star" about the 19th century English poet John Keats.

Spanish director Almodovar, who has not won the top prize yet, brings an emotional drama called "Broken Embraces," which stars his longtime favorite Penelope Cruz.

The 62nd edition of the festival will open for the first time with an animated feature when "Up," a 3-D comedy directed by one of the creators of "Toy Story," kicks off proceedings at the opening ceremony on May 13.

The red carpet glamour, an essential component of the festival despite its emphasis on independent arthouse fare, will be supplied by stars including Cantona and Cruz, Monica Bellucci and Brad Pitt.

Fremaux acknowledged that the festival could not ignore the global economic crisis but he brushed aside talk of empty hotel rooms and cost-shy studios cutting back on attendance.

"We are all of us going to see a festival that will not be unaware that the world is in crisis," he told a news conference. "We are going to try to make a festival which continues to be what it is," he said.

"We haven't felt the slightest reluctance on anybody's part, anyone saying 'we have to watch out because of the crisis'. I would say that ... more than ever Cannes is the rendezvous for creators and the industry."

The number of past Cannes participants certainly gives a sense of familiarity to the films that will be judged by jury president Isabelle Huppert.

Lars von Trier, who won the Palme d'Or in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark," is back with "Antichrist" a psychological horror film, while Ang Lee, whose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a hit at Cannes in 2000, shows "Taking Woodstock," about the 1960s music festival.

Hong Kong action director Johnnie To brings "Vengeance," which, for French audiences at least, will be spiced up by the participation of veteran Gallic rocker Johnny Hallyday.

Tarantino back in Cannes with Almodovar, Campion

PARIS (Reuters) – Quentin Tarantino returns to Cannes as part of a group of familiar faces at the world's biggest film festival that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach and New Zealand's Jane Campion.

Tarantino, who won the Palme d'Or for "Pulp Fiction" in 1994, presents his long-awaited World War Two caper "Inglourious Basterds" starring Brad Pitt in the main competition line-up announced by festival director Thierry Fremaux on Thursday.

He will be up against previous Cannes winners including Ken Loach, who presents "Looking for Eric" starring Eric Cantona about a postman looking for life lessons from the former France and Manchester United soccer star.

Campion, the first woman to win the Palme d'Or with the 1993 film "The Piano," is showing "Bright Star" about the 19th century English poet John Keats.

Spanish director Almodovar, who has not won the top prize yet, brings an emotional drama called "Broken Embraces," which stars his longtime favorite Penelope Cruz.

The 62nd edition of the festival will open for the first time with an animated feature when "Up," a 3-D comedy directed by one of the creators of "Toy Story," kicks off proceedings at the opening ceremony on May 13.

The red carpet glamour, an essential component of the festival despite its emphasis on independent arthouse fare, will be supplied by stars including Cantona and Cruz, Monica Bellucci and Brad Pitt.

Fremaux acknowledged that the festival could not ignore the global economic crisis but he brushed aside talk of empty hotel rooms and cost-shy studios cutting back on attendance.

"We are all of us going to see a festival that will not be unaware that the world is in crisis," he told a news conference. "We are going to try to make a festival which continues to be what it is," he said.

"We haven't felt the slightest reluctance on anybody's part, anyone saying 'we have to watch out because of the crisis'. I would say that ... more than ever Cannes is the rendezvous for creators and the industry."

The number of past Cannes participants certainly gives a sense of familiarity to the films that will be judged by jury president Isabelle Huppert.

Lars von Trier, who won the Palme d'Or in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark," is back with "Antichrist" a psychological horror film, while Ang Lee, whose "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a hit at Cannes in 2000, shows "Taking Woodstock," about the 1960s music festival.

Hong Kong action director Johnnie To brings "Vengeance," which, for French audiences at least, will be spiced up by the participation of veteran Gallic rocker Johnny Hallyday.

Schwarzenegger says his `Terminator' might be back

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Arnold Schwarzenegger might be back as the Terminator after all, despite his day job as California governor.

Schwarzenegger confirmed in a Webcast interview that his image might appear in next month's "Terminator: Salvation," the fourth movie in the franchise about a showdown between humanity and machines.

The governor says he made it clear he had no time to shoot new footage but that the filmmakers are playing with technology to insert his image from the earlier "Terminator" movies.

Schwarzenegger says he told director McG he will come to the premiere of the movie, which stars Christian Bale as leader of the human resistance against machine conquerors.

'Die Hard' director indicted in wiretaps case

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury on Friday indicted a Hollywood director who had withdrawn a guilty plea to a charge accusing him of lying to federal agents investigating a celebrity wiretapping case.

John McTiernan, who directed "Die Hard" and "Predator," was indicted on two counts of making false statements to the FBI about private investigator Anthony Pellicano and one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw his guilty plea.

His attorney, S. Todd Neal, said the indictment is "really nothing new" and promised to rigorously defend his client.

"The prosecutor has taken one count and tried to expand it into more charges in a new indictment," he said. "There seems to be retribution because John refused to play ball the way the prosecutors wanted and because we were successful on appeal."

McTiernan pleaded guilty in 2006 to making "knowingly false" statements to an FBI agent about Pellicano, whom he admitted hiring to wiretap a business associate.

But before he was sentenced, McTiernan asked the judge to withdraw his plea, arguing he didn't have adequate legal representation, was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol when he pleaded guilty.

The judge refused so McTiernan, 58, appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated his four-month sentence and ruled that he was entitled to a hearing on whether he could withdraw his plea.

In February, he was allowed to reverse his plea.

Pellicano was convicted last year of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and bugging phones of celebrities and others to get information for his clients. He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.

`Harry Potter' sweeps into theaters 2 days early

LOS ANGELES – Harry Potter and his school chums are heading back to class a little sooner than expected.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" now is opening Wednesday, July 15, two days earlier than its previous release date, Warner Bros. head of distribution Dan Fellman said Tuesday.

That gives the movie a head-start on the weekend during what's shaping up as a highly competitive summer season for Hollywood, which has major franchise films opening virtually every week.

"Every day the kids are out of school in summer is just like an extra Saturday," Fellman said.

Warner Bros. also opened the franchise's most recent release, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," on a Wednesday in July 2007.

It's the second date change for the sixth installment in the adventures of the boy wizard. "Half-Blood Prince" had been scheduled for release last fall until the studio bumped it to this July to take advantage of an open weekend in the busy summer lineup.

The franchise stars Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, with Emma Watson and Rupert Grint as his best pals at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Review: `Hannah Montana' fans will love new movie

LOS ANGELES – "Hannah Montana: The Movie" just shouldn't be analyzed from an adult perspective — which, frankly, is irrelevant.

The big-screen version of the Disney TV series is not made for us — it's made for girls aged 6-14 and no one else — and so we must consider how they're going to respond to it.

Now, this will come as no surprise at all: They're gonna love it. And it makes sense, really.

If you were a 10-year-old girl, you would of course want to be small-town sweetheart Miley Stewart and/or her secret pop-star alter ego, Hannah Montana. Singer/songwriter/dancer/trendsetter Miley Cyrus makes both characters so likably harmless, so attractively accessible, it's hard not to be charmed.

Just you try to resist her endless supply of energy and moxie!

Even when she gets a little petulant and carried away with her celebrity lifestyle in Los Angeles — which prompts a return to Tennessee for some hometown reprogramming — she still has a magnetism about her.

Nevertheless, "Hannah Montana: The Movie" drags us all back to the fictional Crowley Corners to bang us over the head with the message that big cities are bad and small towns are good. And there's plenty of down-home singin' and cuttin' up to emphasize that point. (Amazingly, Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts just happen to live there, too. What are the odds?!)

The predictable (though beautifully photographed) film from director Peter Chelsom ("Serendipity," "Shall We Dance?") finds Miley's dad, Robby Ray (Cyrus' real-life father, Billy Ray), taking her home against her will to reconnect with her roots. As in the "Hannah Montana" 3-D concert film from last year, Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus have an obvious, comfortable bond on camera; the moments they share seem sincere and provide some much-needed substance amid the perkiness and pratfalls.

Back home, Miley bonds with Grandma Ruby (longtime character actress Margo Martindale, who's done far more interesting work) and finds her first boyfriend, Travis (Lucas Till), a non-threatening farmhand she's known since childhood. Hoedowns and horseback riding ensue.

But the idyll can't last forever: A British tabloid reporter (Peter Gunn) has followed her there, trying to dig up some dirt on Hannah. (For some strange reason, neither he nor anyone else can figure out that Hannah is just Miley in a blond wig; the Clark Kent routine even fools the sensitive Travis, who seemed to have such insight into Miley's true nature.)

But the reporter's portly presence also brings an unwelcome tone of sitcommy physical humor. Miley gets hit in the head a lot (with a coconut, a volleyball, etc.), and the second she places some fresh eggs in the back pocket of her denim overalls, you know she's going to fall on her butt and smash them. But Gunn's obnoxious Oswald Granger bears the brunt of the pain, skidding on a scattered pile of walnuts or tumbling face-first into a puddle of mud.

"Hannah Montana" didn't need all that, given the warmhearted family tone — the one element that may appeal to audiences beyond the tweens — and the catchiness of the pop tunes. Not only will you have "Hoedown Throwdown" stuck in your head as you leave the theater, you may end up trying to master the elaborate choreography right alongside your 10-year-old.

Resistance is futile.

"Hannah Montana: The Movie," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated G. Running time: 106 minutes. Two stars out of four.