Box Office

Cars 2 zoomed past Bad Teacher and Green Lantern for the win!

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/entertainment/2011-06/27/c_13951052.htm

Video - Who Is Leo Howard the Karate Master? - Biography, Photos, Video and News!

Kickin' It Star Leo Howard

Leo Howard – a name most are not familiar with.

But beware, because over the next few years you’re going to hear a lot about this 14-year-old extraordinary young man.

Let’s start with the basics:

Leo Howard was born on July 13, 1997 in Newport Beach California and lives near San Diego today.

From a young age Leo was fascinated by the martial arts, karate and kobudo and has studied the arts since he was just a child.

Today, Leo is a black belt master in the field of karate, Shorei Ru, and Wu Shu, and has stunned audiences since he was just 8-years-old with his karate, martial arts, and stunt skills.

Watch Leo do a Karate kobudo Demonstration


Leo’s acting career started when he was just 8-years-old with a small role as the front desk clerk in the television documentary “Camp Hollywood”.

From there, Leo got his big break on the TV series “Monk” playing the role of a young karate expert. From that one appearance, Leo Howard’s acting career took off.

Black Belt Karate Master

His mix of acting ability combined with his karate expertise is amazing, and producers and talent scouts took notice and started beating down his door.

2009 was a breakout year for Leo as he appeared in six different movie and TV projects that propelled him into a fast track Hollywood vocation.

First was the movie “Aussie and Ted's Great Adventure” about a lovable Australian dog who embarks on a mission to return his young owner's missing Teddy Bear.

Next was the movie “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” working alongside Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller and Dennis Quaid – a story about an elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe that takes on an evil organization led by a disreputable arms dealer. Leo performed all of his own stunts and impressed the director and audiences alike.

With two movies under his black belt, Leo completed his third movie titled “Shorts” working with Jon Cryer, William H. Macy, and James Spader.

“Shorts” told the story of a young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock that causes pandemonium in the town of Black Falls and the jealous kids and cunning adults that try to steal it from him.

“Shorts” was the big break for Leo and showed he could hold his own in a large movie project. But his celebrity status was just starting to be noticed.

Disney got wind of Leo and cast him in his own show in 2009 called “Leo Little’s Big Show” where he appeared in thirteen episodes about him and his sister Amy who host a show about Disney stars, shows, and movies from their family room.

After appearing in two episodes of “Zeke and Luther” about two best friends who want to become the world's greatest skateboarders, Leo was hired for his first starring role in the movie “Logan”, about two brothers who have their minds set on an impossible task.

Watch Leo Howard in "Logan" Movie Trailer


“Logon” showed Hollywood that Leo had the staying power to not only carry a feature length movie but also work the long hours necessary for a television series while performing action sequences and his own stunts at the same time. Leo Howard was becoming a star.

But his big big Hollywood break came in 2011 when the Disney XD network cast Leo in the role of Jake in the network’s karate action TV series “Kickin’ It” working with Hanna Montana veteran actor Jason Earles.

The series is set at the Bobby Wasabi Martial Arts Academy - a strip mall martial arts studio and the worst dojo in the nationwide Bobby Wasabi chain.

The plot revolves around a motley crew of endearing misfit teens who welcome a hotshot skateboarder named Jack who teaches them about life, karate, and how to just plain kick it.

Watch Leo in "Kickin' It" Interview


“Kickin’ It” was one of Disney’s highest rated new shows and forever cemented Leo’s star on Hollywood.

Leo also scored a major role as the young Conan in director Marcus Nispel’s “Conan the Barbarian” where again he performed all his stunts and karate moves while in heavy movie makeup and shirtless barbarian period costumes.

“Conan” tells of the quest that begins as a personal vendetta for the warrior but soon turns into an epic battle against colossal rivals, horrifying monsters, and impossible odds.

Watch "Conan" Movie Trailer


It’s clear that at only 14-years-old Leo Howard is going to be around for a long time. His combination of acting, humor, martial arts, karate, and teen idol appeal along with the marketing might of Disney tells us his star has just began to rise over Hollywood.

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Leo Howard Kicks His Way into Disney’s New Karate Series “Kickin’ It” – Video

Karate Master Leo Howard

Every now and then Disney gets it right.

The Disney XD channel, known for its predominantly teen oriented programming, launched its latest action series called “Kickin’ It” last night - and it looks like a hit.

Or maybe we should say a “kick”.

The premise of the show revolves around two competing martial arts dojos and their attempt to recruit the hottest karate kid in town played by 14-year-old Leo Howard.

Howard, no stranger to martial arts and action flicks, finds himself in the starring role of “Jack”, the grandson of the Wasabi Warriors Karate franchise founder and master trainer.

Jack not only tries to save the Wasabi Dojo, but also tries to impress the cutest girl in the club. It’s classic teen Disney, and sure to be a hit if they give the series enough time to find an audience.

And Leo Howard’s got the moves.

In the premier episode, Howard performs a number of high performance kicks, flips, punches, and deflections – showing he is no stranger to this type of work.

And for good reason.

Leo is a champion black belt in martial arts, has been doing karate since he was 5-years-old, and is a member of the Sideswipe Performance Team – a high impact martial arts exhibition club in California.

His dad is the famous Todd Howard - also called “The Big Bulldog" who is another master of the martial arts.

Leo was born in Newport Beach California, but today lives near San Diego so he can work on his karate and television productions.



Not only is Leo Howard a Karate Master, but he also knows his way around Hollywood.

Before joining Disney, Leo got his start in a bit part on the popular TV series “Monk” playing a young karate kid.

His first movie role was in the action movie “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” with Sienna Miller, Dennis Quaid and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film told the story of an elite military unit comprised of special operatives known as G.I. Joe that takes on an evil organization led by a notorious arms dealer.

Leo has also appeared in a few high action television shows like “Children of the Corn”, “Leo Little's Big Show”, and “Zeke and Luther”.

All that practice has paid off, and now Howard is heading to the big big screen as the younger version of Conan, played by Jason Momoa, in “Conan the Barbarian” due in theaters later this year.

Conan tells the tale of Conan the Cimmerian and his adventures across the continent of Hyboria on a quest to avenge the murder of his father and the slaughter of his village.

Watch Conan the Barbarian Movie Trailer


We’re sure with Disney behind his promotion, Leo Howard and his karate skills could go on to be the next Disney teen idol.

After all, Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus will be leaving the nest soon and Disney needs to keep the machine running.

Related: Leo Howard Videos, Photos, and Biography

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Is Glee’s Chris Colfer’s New Career Writing for Disney and Starring in Movies?

Golden Globe winner and Glee favorite Chris Colfer may have a new career.

Colfer, 21, who plays Kurt Hummel on the smash hit TV musical series Glee, says he is working with Disney writing a new children’s series to premier on the Disney Channel.

Colfer met up with reporters at the White House Correspondents Dinner last week and, between the Donald Trump jokes, brought us up to date on the project saying,

“It’s called ‘The Little Leftover Witch’ and I’m in the process of developing the pilot with Disney right now. I’ve always wanted to write and I’ve always been kind of a secret closeted writer. I honestly never had any intentions of being a part of it and it just sort of fell into my lap. People asked me do you want to do this and I said, ‘Yes, absolutely, why not?’ It’s a great little side gig, a great hobby!”

The plot of the show will be based on the children’s book of the same name written by Florence Laughlin and Sheila Greenwald.

The “Little Leftover Witch” will tell the story of a young witch stranded for a year on the ground after crash landing her broom on Halloween night. She is taken in by the Doon family, a situation which causes problems for everybody (think bewitched), and lots of funny and happy times follow, but ultimately result in a big change for the little witch.

It sounds like a story tailor made for the Disney Channel.

If working on Glee and writing for Disney is not enough, Colfer is also acting as head writer and taking the starring role in a new high school coming of age movie directed by Brian Dannelly called “Struck by Lightning”.

According to IMDB, the movie will be shot this summer during Glee’s downtime with an expected release in 2012.

Colfer will also be busy this summer on the Glee concert tour before returning to the set in the fall to start production on the third season of Glee.

Colfer was recently named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world alongside Justin Bieber, Amy Poehler, Mark Zuckerberg, Colin Firth, Blake Lively, and Oprah Winfrey.

Both Colfer and Bieber are long time champions of the anti-bullying movement, as well as supporters of gay and lesbian youth awareness.

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Disney Releases Second 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Trailer - Video

Disney has just released a second trailer of our good friend Jack Sparrow and his cronies in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

While there is still a lot of mystery and intrigue surrounding this version of Pirates 4 the trailer does give us a look into how strange the “Stranger Tides” will be, and how good of a pirate Johnny Depp can be.

For example, Jack’s ship “The Pearl”, has taken on a life and conscience of its own. Not only does it fight against Jack’s crew – but also will be fighting Jack himself.

Jack’s love interest is the key to finding the fountain of youth and Penélope Cruz sure does now how to look spectacular. It also appears she is the key to fighting and winning against Blackbeard.

Another bit if news is that famed Rolling Stone member Keith Richards will again appears as Jack Sparrow’s father and may already have found the fountain of youth and consumed some of its magical powers.

If anybody could use it…… it’s Keith Richards.

Due in theaters in May 2011, it looks like Disney has another hit on their hands.

Watch trailer for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Box Office

World Invasion defeated Mars Needs Moms...


http://blog.movies.yahoo.com/blog/888-box-office-battle-l-a-no-1-with-strong-36m-disneys-mars-disastrous-at-6-8m

Box Office

Tron Legacy beats out its competition!


http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1654595/20101219/story.jhtml

Box Office

The Disney Princess with the long golden hair finally stomped The Boy Who Lived...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-box-office-20101206,0,5261379.story

Box Office

A certain Disney Princess is giving The Boy Who Lived a run for his money...


http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2010-11-29-boxoffice29_ST_N.htm

#1 Animated Film

Guess which animated movie bumped Shrek 2 off the #1 animated film spot?

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/reuters-toy-story-3-top-animated-film.html

Watching Movies

Last Friday, me and my colleague went to Pavilion to catch The Storm Warriors...

It's the sequel to The Storm Riders, which was shown years ago. It is based on a comic (which has been translated into Malay - Pedang Setiawan)...


This time around, evil Lord Godless has taken over China. Cloud (Aaron Kwok) and Wind (Ekin Cheng) are not strong enough to fight him. So they went to seek more power. One decided to go evil for a power upgrade while the other did it the hard way, with the help of a martial arts master.

Of course the heroes would defeat the bad guy... but then, who's gonna stop the good-guy-turned-evil? Looks like it's gonna be a battle to the death between the two heroes...

I enjoyed watching The Storm Riders. Technically, The Storm Warriors is the better film. It obviously has a bigger budget because the film looks fantastic. The effects are great and there are even sequences that are reminiscent of 300. For a minute, I thought I was in Sparta, not China... very stylized...

But that's all there is to it I guess. I did enjoy watching the movie but something's missing. Maybe it's the fact that the main villain is disposed of half way through the movie? Maybe it's because the heroes' upgrades are too easy? Maybe it's because the female characters are not substantial enough? Anyway, now I know why Cloud's sword has a hole near the hilt... :)


On Saturday, I went to see Jump at Pavilion. It's a Chinese movie directed by Stephen Fung (Gen-X Cops) and is backed by Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer).

It stars Kitty Zhang as a village girl going to the city to follow her dreams of becoming a dancer. She and her friends got a chance to go to the city to work in a factory, while she moonlights as a cleaning lady in a dance studio. But of course, it's not that easy for her because the city folk all look down on her because she's a cleaning lady and from the village...

The movie's nice enough but there's something wrong with the dubbing. It doesn't seem to tally throughout the movie. It appears that the actors are not actually speaking the lines properly...

And, just for your info, Leon Jay Williams came in to replace Edison Chen in this movie. All of Edison's scenes had to be reshot and edited out. Yup, because of his erotic photos scandal.

Leon Jay Williams

Stephen Fung, Kitty Zhang, Edison Chen

And then, on Sunday, I went to Pavilion with a friend to catch The Princess and the Frog, a Disney traditional animation film.

It's nice to see Disney going back to its r oots. Iremember the day when Disney movies were all that and a bag of chips. Remember Aladdin? The Lion King? Beauty and the Beast?

Those were the days... TPATF is a throwback to those times when characters would break into song and dance around and stuff.

TPATF takes place in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the 1920s during the jazz age. The princess (Anika Noni Rose of The Dreamgirls fame) kisses the frog but instead of him becoming a prince like in the fairy tale, she becomes a frog! To get changed back they have to go through bayou country to find Mama Odie, a good voodoo priestess. They are, of course, guided by a firefly and an alligator who plays jazz.

This movie is a lot of fun. Nice enough to take the kids, although there are some creepy parts in it... but still, pretty entertaining... :)

Hannah Montana Cherries And Disney. Really?

Just when you thought celebrity product endorsement could not get any stranger - it has.

Miley Cyrus and the brains at Disney have decided to promote both the Hannah Montana brand and the Cherry industry at the same time.

We're not joking. "Hannah Montana" cherries are coming to a store near you! Disney has created the brand of "Hannah Montana" cherries featuring Miley Cyrus along with her "Hannah Montana: The Movie" persona.

Two years ago, Disney started branding its stars and movies with only healthy foods and ended ties with traditional outlets like McDonald's.

With all the nude, semi-nude, and suggestive photos that have been leaked to the net, and now a pole dancing appearance on the Teen Choice Awards, does it really make since to tie Miley Cyrus to cherries?

What's next? Michael Vick Dog Treats. Sometimes you just have to wonder about this industry.
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Dylan And Cole Sprouse On Jimmy Kimmel - All Grown Up - Video

Last night, Dylan and Cole Sprouse appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Show and showed the world they are growing up.

The twins are now 16 years old, and talked about their recent birthday party, dating girls, and trying to get away from each other on the weekends.

Dylan admitted he dated Miley Cyrus, and detailed the events of how the date went down before Nick Jonas showed up and ruined everything.

The brothers then talked about getting their drivers licenses next month, while Kimmel quizzed the two on their upcoming driving test.

Dylan and Cole also talked about their current hit teen television show "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody", a comedy about identical twins living at the Tipton Hotel with their single mother who is a lounge singer at the hotel.

But the reason for the Kimmel appearance was to plug their new show, "The Suite Life On Deck", a spin-off of the hit Disney Channel series "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody," where the twin brothers Zack and Cody Martin and hotel heiress London Tipton enroll in a semester-at-sea program aboard a ship called the SS Tipton.

Here is a bit of InfoStar trivia - Remember the early 1990's sitcom "Grace Under Fire" starring Brett Butler? Well, Dylan and Cole Sprouse both portrayed the character Patrick Kelly for over one hundred episodes. The two looked so much alike that producers used them both during production to get around the short work hour rules for child actors.

In addition to their "Suite Life" day job, Dylan and Cole Sprouse can be seen starting December 12 in the adventure movie "The Kings Of Appletown", about three kids: Betsy (Victoria Justice), Clayton (Cole Sprouse), & Will (Dylan Sprouse) who go on an adventure to save a city by going back in time to where Tom Sawyer lived.


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Miley And Billy Ray Cyrus Trying To Get Fired From Hanna Montana

Rumors have been swirling for months that teen sensation Miley Cyrus and her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, are no longer happy with their deal with Disney, and that they want out of their "Hanna Montana" contract.

In fact, they have both mentioned publicly that they are ready to wind down the show and start focusing on their respective singing and movie careers.

But there is only one problem. They have a contract.

But reports are surfacing on the tabloid site TMZ that both Miley and Billy Ray have started a war on the set, and that people around them are not happy - especially Disney. Reports of showing up extremely late, infighting among the cast and crew, and Miley telling everyone she is trying to get fired seem to be fueling the fire.

Apparently there is a difference in their contracts fine print if they get fired rather than quit. Billy Ray has been telling anyone who will listen that there is way more money in a singing and touring career then in a Disney cable network family comedy.

TMZ also reported that Emily Osment, who portrays Lilly Truscott on the show, is so angry at Miley that she looks away from the actress after each scene is over, and that her dad got in a shouting match with Billy Ray, complaining that Miley was acting unprofessional.

Sources told the tabloid that Billy Ray has told people on the set that he and Miley will only do twelve more episodes and then they want out. Disney Executives are so upset with the Cyrus duo that they called their agent, accusing Billy Ray and Miley of being unthankful, and insisting that Billy Ray and Miley not only finish the twenty-four episode season due on their contract, but an addition six episodes to boot.

There has been no official word by Disney or the Cyrus camp, but we suspect this will not end amicably. Disney may have a hard time letting go of the millions of dollars that could be lost by winding down the show early.

In addition to filming her latest film "Hanna Montana: The Movie" due next May, Miley is finishing work on the animated family comedy "Bolt", with John Travolta due this November 21.

The film is the story of Bolt (John Travolta), a German Shepherd, who has lived his whole life on the set of his action TV show where he stars with Penny (Miley Cyrus), and believes he has superpowers. When separated from the studio by accident, he meets Mr. Mittens (Susie Essman) and a hamster named Rhino. Along the way, Bolt learns that he doesn't have superpowers and that the show is not realistic.

Watch Miley Cyrus And John Travolta In "Bolt" Movie Trailer



Billy Ray is also appearing in the "Hanna Montana" movie, and has just completed the family musical "Flying By" due next year starring opposite Heather Locklear. The film tells the story of a real estate developer who goes to his 25th high school reunion without his wife, and finds his old teenage band playing. They get him up on stage for a couple of songs, and convince him to come to a rehearsal - and join the band. His wife is outraged, his daughter thinks it's cool, and his Mother encourages him to enjoy life and go for it.

Didn't we just see that movie with Rainn Wilson in "The Rocker?"
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