"X-Men Origins: Wolverine" Makes Its DVD Debut

With so many dark titles on their way, there must have been a full moon when this week's releases were scheduled. Marvel’s merry mutants are coming home and slashing its way into video stores today, with the release of the live-action film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and two more sets of the classic 1990s animated X-Men series. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" was the first big blockbuster of the summer, and directed by Gavin Hood, and stars Hugh Jackman as the title character, along with Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, will.i.am, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch, and Ryan Reynolds. The Buena Vista animated version of Logan can be found in X-Men Vols. 3 and 4 continue to collect the popular Fox Kids series.
Fox came up with an ingenious way to make more money off its "X-Men" property — spin off not just another film, but another franchise. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the 4th installment of the X-Men film series am\nd the 8th-best-grossing film of the year so far, Hugh Jackman returns as the clawed mutant wolverine, who makes a shocking discovery about his family bloodline, and gains a brother in the process. Flash forward to find the mutant siblings battling side by side through two world wars and Vietnam.
DVD extras include two commentary tracks, a interview with Wolverine creators Stan Lee and Len Wein, a featurette on the making of the movie and deleted and alternate scenes. The Blu-ray has all those extras and more, including a look at the helicopter chase sequence, a trivia track and 10 character chronicles.

"G-Force" Ends "Potter" Magic At Box Office

Everything went according to plan this weekend... The 3-D "G-Force", an elite squad of guinea pigs has worked its own brand of magic at the North American box office, taking the #1 spot with $32.2 million from boy wizard "Harry Potter"($30m) over the three-day weekend at 37 international locations, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Walt Disney release from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, with its mixture of live action and computer-generated animation, is a "Mission: Impossible"-style adventure. This is the 1st live-action Disney film to be produced in Disney Digital 3-D. It was released in the US last Friday.

The story is about a team of specially trained secret agent guinea pigs that takes on a mission for the US government to stop a diabolical billionaire, who plans to taking over the world with household appliances. According to Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com, the strong run of "G-Force" has benefited from a "great marketing campaign and a premise that had people scratching their heads while simultaneously grabbing the family." The number was a slightly greater 3-D share than "Up" and "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" had in their debuts.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" Opens In Theaters

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”('Harry Potter 6') is the 6th fantasy-adventure film series based on J.K. Rowling’s books, opens in more than 4,200 U.S. and Canadian theaters today at 12:01 a.m., and may take in $155 million in its first five days, estimates Jeff Hartke, an analyst at Los Angeles-based Hollywood Stock Exchange, which forecasts film performance.

The 6th movie was originally scheduled to open last November, but was pushed into this summer to fill in the gap left by last year’s Writers’ Guild strike. That created a two-year space between films that has been the longest of the series. Unlike the books, “Half-Blood Prince” is not the next-to-last movie. For the final installment, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the filmmakers are going back to their old idea and splitting the massive book into two movies coming in 2010 and 2011. Interestingly, after two PG-13 movies, “Prince” is rated PG, but from the looks of the new trailer, it stands to be as action-packed and emotional as any of the previous films.

As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously "This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince" and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort's dark past. Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was.

How Crazy Are Harry Potter Fans? Do you really need me to answer that question? Do you still remember the 1st film in 2001? Actually, the Harry Potter books might have ended two years ago, but as the Harry Potter Alliance illustrates, its rabid fans aren't going anywhere... I'll say that 'Harry Potter 6' is possibly one of the only, if not the only, movie in the series that stays true to the novel on which it is based.