Denzel Washington

After weeks and weeks in the top spot, Avatar came in second place at the box office this Friday, the first day of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Claiming the top spot was the Denzel Washington vehicle The Book of Eli, which grossed $11.7 million on Friday, besting Avatar's $10.5 million. Rounding out the top three was The Lovely Bones with $5.7 million.

What is it this week and trash talking? The latest quasi-celeb to badmouth his former co-stars is, oddly enough, Bronson Pinchot, better known as Balki from Perfect Strangers. Believe it or not he was actually in other things too.

It's usually a bad thing when a hangover lingers longer than expected (not that we would know, or anything...), but for Hollywood it means box office gold.

The Hangover was the top earning movie for the second weekend in a row, taking in $33.4 million for a total of $105.4 million so far.

Disney/Pixar's Up was a close second with $30.5 million. This weekend's big new film, the John Travolta and Denzel Washington vehicle The Taking of Pelham 123 came in third with a disappointing $25 million. 

It requires a certain caliber of actor to make a film centered on a phone call riveting, but that’s exactly what Denzel Washington and John Travolta do in Tony Scott’s latest film, The Taking of Pelham 123.

After four films together, Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Deja Vu and this summer’s The Taking of Pelham 123 (which looks awesome), Denzel Washington is reteaming with director Tony Scott for a fifth time.

The pair is reportedly in talks for a new movie, Unstoppable.

Hey, if it ain’t broke…

Unstoppable is reportedly about an engineer who jumps on a train to chase down a runaway locomotive transporting a cargo of toxic chemicals. Supposedly, it’s loosely based on a true story.

We were invited (thank you, Than) to attend Monday night’s American Cinematheque Honors as they bestowed their 23rd annual prize on Samuel L. Jackson at the Beverly Hilton.

The show, which will be broadcast on AMC December 9th, offered the usual: speeches filled with platitudes followed by far more engaging montages of Jackson’s work (though it was noticeably heavy on Pulp Fiction and The Man). But here’s a peek at some of the more interesting events of Monday’s taping, most of which will have to be heavily bleeped when it airs.

Shia LaBeouf (or, as our friend John calls him, “Shia LaQueaf”) somehow continues his path to mega-stardom. Why? Why? Why??? He so needs to be voted off the island.

LaQueaf has signed on to star in the latest big-screen adaptation of a John Grisham novel, putting him in the ranks of actors like Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington.

The film is based on Grisham’s latest tome, The Associate, scheduled to hit shelves in January. Shia will play a student graduating from Yale Law School who is given confidential information about a multi-billion dollar lawsuit.

Hugh Jackman, 40, has been named People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

He joins the distinguished ranks of Matt Damon (last year’s honoree), Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Patrick Swayze (sigh) and Denzel Washington.

This year’s honorable mentions are bestowed on Daniel Craig, Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Seal, Robert Downey Jr., Will Smith, Christian Bale and David Beckham with young bucks Kevin Jonas, Bow Wow and Jesse McCartney listed as up-and-comers.

Last night, Jodie Foster was among twelve stars introducing their classic or signature movies at the AFI Night at the Movies, presented by Target and benefiting the American Film Institute at the ArcLight Theater.