Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Away from Her — CDN $827,281 — N.AM $3,714,000 — 22.3%Spider-Man 3 — CDN $32,590,000 — N.AM $325,680,000 — 10.0%Shrek the Third — CDN $24,210,000 — N.AM $281,892,000 — 8.6%Knocked Up — CDN $5,390,000 — N.AM $66,241,000 — 8.1%Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End — CDN $20,170,000 — N.AM... Read more

Does the latest news on the Indiana Jones IV front confirm that those rumours about a scene taking place at Area 51 are true? Maybe, maybe not. Las Cruces Sun-News reported on Friday and Saturday that scenes involving a U.S. Air Force base will be shot in Deming, New Mexico — but New Mexico will apparently be doubling for Morocco, instead of Nevada. The Sun-News also says the film’s working title is “Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods”... Read more

This trailer for The Invasion, the upcoming much-reshot Nicole Kidman-starring sci-fi remake, is giving me a total Stepford Wives vibe, on several levels. All it’s missing is a strong sense of camp. Powered by AOL Video Click here if the video file above doesn’t play properly. Read more

It’s been a long, long time since the last batch of news quickies. 1. Julian Farino is attached to direct The Year of Living Biblically from a script by Jay Reiss, based on the A.J. Jacobs book. 2. Battlestar Galactica producer Ronald D. Moore is working on a sequel to I, Robot (2004; my review; another version). 3. Disney has set a release date — namely May 1, 2009 — for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That will be... Read more

My review of Surf’s Up is now up at CT Movies. Read more

Looking for reviews of Not the Messiah, the oratorio based on Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979) which premiered in Toronto last Friday? Here are a few for your reading pleasure. First, John Terauds of the Toronto Star: Not the Messiah (He’s a Very Naughty Boy) felt like a time capsule of the best of 1970s British humour, with the old double-entendres and verbal shtick neatly laid out in sealed glass cases. . . . On stage with the TSO... Read more

The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, my film column, which looks mainly at Spider-Man 3, but also touches on Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The paper also includes an edited version of my summer-movie preview article for Faith & Friends. Read more

The official website for Indiana Jones IV has confirmed that Cate Blanchett and Ray Winstone are in the new movie, as is John Hurt, whose name I have not seen on these lists before — but not Sean Connery, who has issued a statement making his non-involvement official (“retirement is just too damned much fun”, etc.). Connery does wish cast and crew all the best, though, and he gives “Junior” some advice, including: “Demand that the critters be digital”. Reading... Read more

Chris Knight of the National Post notes that three of the top six movies at the North American box office last weekend happened to revolve around pregnant women (and a pregnant ogre). In Shrek the Third, the pregnancy represents a reasonably happy addition (or set of additions) to a reasonably happy marriage. But in Waitress, the marriage is a distinctly unhappy one, and in Knocked Up, there is no marriage at all — in fact, beyond the original one-night stand,... Read more