The Dark Knight hits $500M domestic target in U.S.The latest Batman movie, The Dark Knight, has soared to new heights, raking in more than $500 million U.S. at the North American box office, only the second movie ever to do so in that country.The film, starring Christian Bale in the title role and the late Heath Ledger as The Joker, reached that milestone in just six weeks — half the time it took 1997's Titanic to hit that benchmark.Titanic, directed by Canada's James Cameron, still holds the top spot for overall North American take at $600.8 million U.S.The Dark Knight, released on July 18, is not expected to challenge that position but could reach $550 million U.S., according to officials at Hollywood studio Warner Bros."It just keeps holding better than expected," said Dan Fellman, head of distribution at the studio.Directed by Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight has millionaire Bruce Wayne battling an out-of-control Joker, whose aim is to cause anarchy in Gotham.Some critics have hailed Ledger's performance as Oscar-worthy, including co-star Michael Caine.The Australian actor died of an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January.Original SourceTechnorati Profile

LOS ANGELES - Highlights of the fall film slate (release dates are subject to change, and some films will play in limited release):Late August-September:APPALOOSA: Hired lawman (Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris) take on a tough rancher (Jeremy Irons) in a Western directed by Harris. Renee Zellweger co-stars.BABYLON A.D.: Vin Diesel's a hired gun escorting a mystery woman from Europe to New York in a post-apocalyptic future.BANGKOK DANGEROUS: A lone-wolf hit man (Nicolas Cage) finds a young friend and potential romance on assignment in Thailand.BATTLE IN SEATTLE: Stuart Townsend directs girlfriend Charlize Theron in a drama about the 1999 World Trade Organization protests.BLINDNESS: A plague of sightlessness strikes humanity. With Julianne Moore, Danny Glover, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Bernal.BURN AFTER READING: George Clooney and Brad Pitt star in the Coen brothers' romp about CIA secrets that fall into the hands of fitness club employees.CHOKE: A scam artist with a demented mother pursues the truth about the identity of his father. Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston star.COLLEGE: Drake Bell and a couple of buddies are campus pledges fighting back against their fraternity tormentors.DISASTER MOVIE: Catastrophe flicks are the target of the latest entry in Hollywood's spoof craze. With Carmen Electra.THE DUCHESS: ...

MGM: On the Block, Again MGM's private equity owners are shopping it for $5.2 billion, but the fabled studio faces skeptical bidders and a ticking clock on its credit lineby Ronald Grover BW ExclusivesThe fabled MGM studios, which seems to have had more owners than its James Bond character has had lady friends, is on the block once more. The studio, currently owned by a consortium that includes private equity funds and cable giant Comcast (CMCSA), has asked Goldman Sachs (GS) to sound out potential suitors, according to two sources with knowledge of the process. The asking price—said to be $5.2 billion—is considered hefty for a company that has had few hits and recently jettisoned one of its two top filmmaking executives.Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to comment. But those with knowledge of the overtures say the company has asked Goldman, which advised the studio when it was last sold in 2004, to focus primarily on so-called strategic buyers—namely other entertainment companies that would likely fold MGM into existing operations. Among those who are said to have taken a look, and so far passed, is the Mumbai-based Reliance ADA Group, which is reportedly in the final stages of providing $500 million in funding to ...

Comedian Bernie Mac dead at 50By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY CHICAGO — We've been cheated out of Bernie Mac's second act.Dead from pneumonia at a mere 50, Mac leaves behind a legacy of great success and unfulfilled promise. We can be grateful for the hits, most notably, his influential, insufficiently appreciated sitcom The Bernie Mac Show. But as with any performer who dies while at the height of his career, you can't help thinking there would have been more to come.Born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough in 1957 in Chicago — but known to the rest of us as Bernie Mac — he was, in show-biz circles, a late bloomer. He didn't come to national attention until he was already well into adulthood, and his comedy came from a decidedly adult perspective. It could be raw and blustery, but the anger and insights both came from experience, and were often softened by a warmth he could turn on and off at will.Though he worked in TV and films though the '90s, most notably, perhaps, in the 1995 hit Fridays, Mac's career didn't take off until 2000 with the Spike Lee concert film The Original Kings of Comedy. His costars at the time were ...

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PARIS (Reuters) - French movie buffs are illegally downloading at least as many films as they pay to see in cinemas, a study showed on Wednesday.Alpa, a cinema industry group that fights audiovisual piracy, commissioned the study to compare the numbers of films downloaded on the Internet using peer-to-peer technology with cinema ticket sales.People in France illegally downloaded over 13.5 million films in May, according to the study, while the National Centre for Cinematography recorded cinema ticket sales of 12.2 million for the month."This is a major phenomenon that could endanger the cinema and audiovisual industry," Alpa representative Frederic Delacroix told French daily Le Figaro.According to the study, an average of more than 10 million films are illegally downloaded in France every month, hitting 16.6 million in December 2007.American films account for 66 percent of French illegal downloads with French films coming in at second place at 19 percent. Fantasy action blockbuster Transformers is the peer-to-peer pirates' target of choice, with 3.7 million copies illegally downloaded since October 2007.Research has not yet shown the economic impact of mass illegal downloading on the cinema industry but sales of DVDs in France are falling.Original Sourcr

Dark Knight clears $400 million at record pace By Steve Gorman, ReutersLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" smashed yet another Hollywood record as it cleared the $400 million domestic box office mark in 18 days, less than half the time it took "Shrek 2" to reach that milestone, Warner Bros. Pictures said Tuesday.After a third straight weekend at No. 1 in U.S. and Canadian theaters -- grossing $42.7 million Friday through Sunday -- "Dark Knight" amassed $6.3 million Monday to bring its domestic tally to $400.03 million, the Time Warner Inc.-owned movie distributor reported.The previous record holder, the computer-animated storybook spoof "Shrek 2," crossed the $400 million mark in 43 days back in 2004, according to box office watcher Media By Numbers.Warner Bros. has said it expects "Dark Knight" to add at least another $100 million to its North American ticket sales, surpassing the $461 million haul of 1977's "Star Wars" and its two reissues. "Star Wars" ranks as the No. 2 movie of all time in the United States and Canada.While "Dark Knight" appears destined to become only the second movie to gross $500 million domestically, the $601 million record held by 1997's "Titanic" seems unlikely to sink, ...