Johnny Depp | featured news

Disney's Alice In Wonderland is a monster hit. It clearly becomes the best March release ever with $45 million on Friday. If that holds up, the Tim Burton-directed, Johnny Depp starring fantasy flick could have a $115M-$120M opening weekend for the biggest 3D pic debut ever.

This week at the movies, we've got a trip down the rabbit hole (Alice in Wonderland, starring Johnny Depp and Mia Wasilkowska) and a ride-along with the boys in blue (Brooklyn's Finest, starring Richard Gere and Don Cheadle). What do the critics have to say? At first glace, a Tim Burton adaptation of Alice in Wonderland seems perfectly serendipitous: Hollywood's most playfully macabre filmmaker would be the obvious choice to reinterpret Lewis Carroll's darkly whimsical tale.

I don't even think this is news anyone cares about, so it's gonna be a short article. Justin Haythe, who adapted "Revolutionary Road," is negotiating to take on the script for Disney's "The Lone Ranger." Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the project, which announced the casting of Johnny Depp as Tonto nearly a year and a half ago.

Break out the Bordeaux, the whoopee cushions and the bangin' Keith Richards guitar solos, because the 2009 Sexiest Man Alive party is officially under way. The 2009 Sexiest Man Alive party is officially under way. Say hello, once again, to Johnny Depp.

This Week's Ketchup includes news about movies based upon Micronauts, Arabian Nights and The Berenstain Bears, as well as casting news for Sir Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Depp, George Clooney and Owen Wilson; and a new movie for the director of Slumdog Millionaire.

FRESH DEVELOPMENTS

#1 J.J. ABRAMS WANTS TO PLAY WITH YOUR OLD MICRONAUTS TOYS
Hot off the success of his reimagining of Star Trek, J.J. Abrams is in negotiations to produce a movie based upon the popular 1970s-1980s Japanese toy franchise Micronauts, which was also a long-running Marvel Comics series.

Frank Sinatra is still what many (if not all) red-blooded man aspire to be. Playing him in a Martin Scorsese biopic is not only a dream job for any actor, it's wish fulfillment on the highest level. Is it any surprise that the some of the biggest names in Hollywood are said to by vying for the role of Old Blue Eyes?

Will the movie going public be able to see Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus as anything other than the last Heath ledger film? Does it matter if they don't?The way I see it, the movie gets a larger audience from trailers like this, the only one in existence that will ever read: "Academy Award Winner Heath Ledger." This just puts more pressure on the film to speak to that larger audience instead of Terry Gilliam die hards who might be more accustomed to his wild fantasy films.

Following the recent departure of Disney studio chief Dick Cook, Johnny Depp admitted to being less enthusiastic about returning to the role of Captain Jack Sparrow for "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" ("Pirates" part 4, for those who lost count). And the fans in turn admitted that they'd give up on the franchise ...

MTV News caught up with Michael Caine at the Toronto film festival yesterday, and in-between talking to the British star about his new film Harry Brown, they also quizzed him about the future of Batman 3.

The twins, who burst on the scene with 'Menace II Society,' direct Denzel Washington in a post-apocalyptic epic. Their last big feature was "From Hell," a gory and gothic period piece that starred a pre-"Pirates" Johnny Depp as an eccentric and slightly unbalanced investigator chasing Jack the Ripper through the rain-slick cobblestone streets of 19th century London.