The Avatar babes, Kim Raver, Anna Kendrick, Piper Perabo and Saoirse Ronan lead this installment of the Hollywood Trade Roundup, a collection of hotties making headlines in The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.
Tinseltown celebrated the arrival 2010 with a record year at the domestic boxoffice, crossing the $10 billion mark thanks to the likes of Avatar, Harry Potter and Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
Hollywood opened the year with a repeat winner atop the boxoffice: James Cameron's 3D epic Avatar — starring Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodridguez and Sam Worthington — won its third frame in a row and crossed the $1 billion mark including its worldwide take.
Diane Ladd has joined her daughter, Laura Dern, in the HBO comedy pilot Enlightened. Dern plays a self-destructive woman who has a spiritual awakening, while Ladd will play her mother — a real stretch, indeed! Luke Wilson also has been cast to play Dern's ex-husband in his first regular TV role.
Kim Raver has become a permanent thorn in Christina's (Sandra Oh) side as her Dr. Teddy Altman has been upped to series regular on ABC's Grey's Anatomy. Expect the love triangle between Christina, Teddy and Owen (Kevin McKidd) to intensify!
HBO's True Blood continues to up its gay quotient. In addition to upping crazy vampire sidekick Pam (Kristin Bauer) to a regular, the Alan Ball drama has cast Kevin Alejandro as a love interest for Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis).
The Producers Guild of America unveiled its 10 best picture nominees this week, and it was high on sci-fi: Avatar, District 9, Star Trek, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Invictus, Precious, Up and Up in the Air.
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Speaking of Up in the Air, co-star Anna Kendrick has been cast in I'm With Cancer, the Seth Rogen-James McAvoy starrer about a 25-year-old (McAvoy) who learns he has cancer. Kendrick — who also plays Bella Swan's (Kristen Stewart) friend Jessica in the Twilight series — will play a psychologist assigned to his case.
Things are looking good for Piper Perabo, as her pilot at USA has been picked up to series with an 11-episode order. Covert Affairs follows Annie walker, a multilingual CIA trainee who is suddenly promoted to field ops while reeling oveer a mysterious ex-boyfriend who is of interest to her bosses. Covert Affairs will join USA Network's lineup in the summer.
The Lovely Bones' Saoirse Ronan is heading to the shooting range as the title character in Focus Features' Hanna, the story of a 14-year-old girl raised by her father to be a cold-blooded killer.
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Concert tracker Pollstar released its top-grossing tours of 2009 list, with U2 coming out on top. Its 360 Tour grossed $123 million. Coming in second was Bruce Springsteen with $95.5 million. Elton John and Billy Joel's effort, Britney Spears and AC/DC rounded out the top five.
Turning to the Billboard charts, Susan Boyle continued her stronghold at the top of the Billboard 200 albums charts, repeating again with "I Dreamed a Dream." Mary J. Blige bowed in at No. 2 with her "Stronger withEach Tear," while Alicia Keys' "The Element of Freedom" slipped from No. 2 to No. 4. Taylor Swift's "Fearless" dropped a notch to No. 5.
And speaking of Boyle, them America's Got Talent alum had the best-selling album of 2009, moving 3.1 million units despite its late November release.
Looking to the weekend at the boxoffice, three wide releases will vie for Avatar's dollars. The Ethan Hawke horror pic Daybreakers goes head-to-head with a pair of comedies: Leap Year, starring Amy Adams, and the Michael Cera (Juno) starrer Youth in Revolt. The lesbian-themed girls-behaving-badly B-movie throwback Bitch Slap opens in limited release and features a mini-reunion of the Xena: Warrior Princess cast.
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