November 1, 2024

Review Category : TMZ Music News

‘Divergent’ Owes Its Big Box Office To This One Major Change

Every good hero needs a better villain. But in Veronica Roth's "Kate Winslet's take on Matthews, but made sure the movie significantly amped up the stakes — and may have led to the film's major box office haul this past weekend.

In the book, Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews is the equivalent of Voldemort. She's the baddie who brings down Tris' world, kills most of the kind people in the Abnegation faction and controls the more violent Dauntless faction with a brainwashing serum. She even captures good guy Four, and forces him to control the whole situation from Dauntless headquarters.

Only problem is, she does this from the safety of Erudite headquarters. And before the last third of the book, she's barely mentioned. She isn't referred to until a passing remark in chapter four, and then not again until chapter 25. In fact, other than a brief scene in Tris' fear landscape she doesn't appear "on-screen" until six chapters before the end of the book.

Then as mentioned, at the end of the book — the Luke fighting Darth Vader moment, if you will — Jeanine isn't even around. The climax is a fight between Four and Tris, where the heroic Divergent manages to un-brainwash her boyfriend through the power of love.

The movie is decidedly different, and better for it. Undoubtedly having a star like Kate Winslet helped flesh out the part — you can't have Winslet in the movie and only have her show up in the last 10 minutes — but Jeanine is present throughout, from the choosing ceremony at ...

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#MCM: How James Maslow Went From Big Time Rush to Big Time Hottie

He first caught our eye as the shaggy-haired brown-eyed cutie in the boy band Big Time Rush. Yet, in the past few months, James Maslow has turned into a Big Time Hottie, which is why he is MTV News' pick for this week's Man Crush Monday.

James is currently cha-cha-ing his way into our hearts on showing off his very impressive moves alongside partner and former flame Peta Murgatroyd. Somehow he is making those sparkly dance costumes work in his favor.

Of course Rushers aren't too surprised that James can work the dance floor since he is a member of a boy band. Back in 2009, James, along with bandmates Kendall Schmidt, Carlos Pena and Logan Henderson, joined Nickelodeon's TV sitcom "Big Time Rush," and since then they have released three albums.

In his spare time James can be seen showing off his ridiculously fit body on the beach while surfing or spending time with his dog, who is probably the cutest thing I have ever seen.

Need more proof as to why James should be our #MCM? Well, take a look at the GIFs below!

He's Got the Moves

He's Got the Voice

He Works Hard on His Fitness

And It Sure Pays Off

He's Swerving on That Surfboard

Which Has Us Going

He's Basically the King of Our Hearts

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Justin Bieber Looks <i>Exactly</i> Like James Dean In This Pic

Justin Bieber is a "Rebel Without a Cause."

Taking a page out of the 1955 film, Bieber showed off his best James Dean impression on Instagram over the weekend, imitating the Hollywood icon's famous photo from the movie.

In a black-and-white picture, Bieber is seen sporting a white T-shirt and a gold watch with a cigarette dangling from his mouth. But don't get too worked up over that cigarette, Beliebers, because Bieber made sure to mention in the caption of the photo that he does not smoke.

Bieber later posted the original photo of Dean, whose hair was not unlike Bieber's (but who had no tattoos), to highlight the similarities.

Imitating Hollywood's original bad boy isn't the only thing keeping Bieber busy: The "All That Matters" singer has been spending a lot of time in the studio. Despite Bieber's legal woes, he's been teasing fans with snippets of what appear to be two new songs. The first is a track called which many have speculated is about on-again-off-again girlfriend Selena Gomez, with whom he was spotted earlier this month in Texas. The second snippet, which was posted on his Instagram, features Bieber dancing to a song that sounds like it was produced by DJ Mustard.

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‘Divergent’ Breaks YA Curse With Debut Weekend

Shailene Woodley should have plenty to talk about when she runs into Jennifer Lawrence or Kristen Stewart. The onetime star of ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" is now a bona fide young adult franchise star.

The 22-year-old California native won several critical awards for her role opposite George Clooney in "The Descendants," and now she joins J-Law and K-Stew in the blockbuster leagues, thanks to the $56 million debut of "Divergent." The dystopian teen tale, based on the popular book series, smashed the "curse" that has plagued many YA pretenders to the throne that have followed in the wake of "The Twilight Saga" and "The Hunger Games."

"Twilight" opened with close to $70 million and "The Hunger Games" kicked off with more than twice that. But "Divergent" made mincemeat out of misfires like "Beautiful Creatures," "Vampire Academy" and "Host," collecting more in one weekend than those films made in their entire runs. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" opened with $31.2 million in 2010. Last year's follow-up, "Sea of Monsters," was a dud with $14 million.

are set to follow "Divergent" over the next two years, with Lionsgate's Summit Entertainment hoping to echo the success they've had with "The Twilight Saga" and "The Hunger Games."

Disney may be rethinking the "Muppets" franchise. The beloved Jim Henson creations disappeared from movie screens following 1999's dismal "Muppets from Space." Jason Segel revived the careers of Kermit, Piggy and crew when he executive produced, co-wrote and starred in "The Muppets," which made $165.1 million around the world.

Segel's reboot ...

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Gwar Frontman Dave Brockie Dead At 50

Dave Brockie, founder and frontman of iconic (and iconoclastic) rock act Gwar, was found dead in his Richmond, Virginia home Sunday (March 23). He was 50.

Better known to legions of fans as his onstage alter-ego Oderus Urungus, an intergalactic barbarian and "undying chaos-demon," Brockie helped form Gwar sometime around 1984, and over the next three decades, the band's theatrical, profane and downright dirty live shows — no one ever escaped without some form of "fluid" staining their skin — would become a rite of passage for young punks and comic-book obsessives alike.

Gwar's second album, 1990's Scumdogs of the Universe, was a conceptual affair about the band's reign of terror on earth that earned them national attention, and certainly helped bolster the budget for their concerts, which featured elaborate, Sci-Fi inspired costumes (as Urungus, Brockie would don makeup, a rubber "meat" mask and comically-oversized spiked shoulder pads) special effects — including a worm monster that would devour members of the audience — and gallons of fluids of all hues and viscosities, which would shower the crowd from the opening notes.

Gwar not only carried on the theatrical tradition of rock acts like Alice Cooper and KISS, but they also didn't shy away from (not-so-subtly) addressing social and political issues as well, often decapitating or disemboweling effigies of George W. Bush or Paris Hilton during their shows.

Brockie was found dead by his roommates on Sunday, and Richmond police would subsequently confirm his death, adding that "detectives do not suspect foul play." The Richmond Medical Examiner's ...

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The Rock Is Stylin’ In This First Still From ‘Hercules: The Thracian Wars’

Oh. My. Demigod. The first photo of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in "Hercules: The Thracian Wars" hit the internet last night, and it is a beautiful thing to behold.

In a post on Twitter, Johnson did the honors of releasing the exclusive first look at his star turn as this summer's fiercest ancient Greek superhero. The photo from "Hercules" shows its titular strongman in full-on battle mode, ready to tear apart some unseen foe.

Of course, this isn't the first time The Rock has played a figure straight out of ancient myth. How does his take on Hercules stack up against those other characters? Let's take a look.


Fierce: The Scorpion King
With six pack abs and an impenetrable exoskeleton, Johnson's appearance as a half-man, half-insect at the tail end of "The Mummy Returns" was terrifying — but also, unfortunately, kind of hilarious, since the filmmakers apparently ran out of time to do a motion-capture performance with the actor, and instead decided to use an incredibly silly computer-generated version of The Rock's face superimposed on the scorpion body.

They later got it right for the "Scorpion King" solo feature, just dressing The Rock up in &#8212: well, basically just a loincloth.

Fiercer: Hercules
The body armor! The bulging biceps! The teeny, tiny leather loincloth! Oh yes, there's much to love about The Rock in our first peek at him as Hercules. But with the picture very inconveniently cropped high up on its hero's upper thigh, it's impossible to see Herc's footwear — which, as we all know, can make or break your whole ...

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Jennifer Lawrence Takes Center Stage In New ‘X-Men’ Trailer: Watch Now

The new trailer for "X-Men: Days of Future Past" not only fleshes out the story of two timelines of mutants fighting to stop a world overrun by Sentinels before it ever happens. It also demonstrates how much more famous Jennifer Lawrence has become since "X-Men: First Class."

The second preview for Bryan Singer's mutant all-star showcase certainly delves deeper into the time-bending story, and what we see is a lot more Mystique than we ever have before. In the war to save all of mutant-dom from extinction, the shapeshifting assassin sees the struggle as more of an "us or them" thing than Professor X would agree with.

Aside from the beefed up role for the now super famous JLaw, the trailer also does a great job of showcasing the large cast of superpowered heroes and putting them in situations where they get to demo their tricks for everyone.

Oh, and lots of Sentinel. The work of Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) — both classic and future models — gets lots of love in the trailer, including a shot which would seem to imply that Storm's torso might not be in such hot shape by the end of the movie.

Side note: Did the designer for the new poster decide to scale everyone according to their fame?

"X-Men: Days of Future Past" hits theaters on May 23.

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Are Mila And Ashton Expecting?

Who goes to a prenatal yoga class unless they're pregnant, right?

After attending one such class recently in Hollywood, a number of outlets are reporting that Mila Kunis is expecting. Citing an unnamed source, E! News reports that Kunis and fiancé Ashton Kutcher are going to be parents.

Though it was not known at press time how far along Kunis is, the news comes just a few weeks are similarly unconfirmed reports that the couple are planning a wedding
.

US magazine also reported the news, citing "multiple" unconfirmed sources. "This is something they both wanted," a source said. "They are both so happy."

Spokespeople for Kunis and Kutcher could not be reached by MTV News for confirmation at press time.

It will be the first child for both actors.

The very private couple will make one major public appearance soon, when Kunis drops in for a guest starring role on Kutcher's sitcom, "Two and a Half Men." She'll play a character named Vivian, who is described as a "young, beautiful, free-spirited world traveller."

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