What are the Oscars without a little pageantry?  As it’s been done in years prior, the Best Song nominees will be performed by the folks who sang them in the movie.  Gwyneth Paltrow will perform “Coming Home” from Country Strong; Randy Newman will perform “We Belong Together” from Toy Story 3; songwriter Alan Menken will provide piano accompaniment to Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi for “I See the Light” from Tangled; and songwriter A.R. Rahman will join Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine to perform “If I Rise” from 127 Hours.

Hit the jump for the press release and to hear the songs.  The 83rd Academy Awards will be held on February 27th.

January suffered another down weekend, with estimated grosses for the top ten films down almost 56% over this weekend in 2010.  Paramount had reason to celebrate, as True Grit outdrew Little Fockers in the weekend race for the first time.  Season of the Witch, 2011’s first new title, struggled while Sony/SG’s Country Strong did modest business in its first expanded nationwide run.

It’s box office déjà vu.  For the second Friday in a row the Coen Brother’s True Grit is number one with $4.5 million – just beating the $4.2 million of Little Fockers.  The two films have been taking turns in the top spot for the past week; though the more kid-friendly Fockers has managed to claim the weekend crown for the last two sessions.  The diminishing returns for the comedy, however, combined with a total lack of interest in the week’s new titles, means that True Grit may be destined for its first weekend win since its pre-Christmas release.  Relativity’s Season of the Witch placed third with $3.7 million – evidence of just how low a bar is being set for the first non-holiday weekend of 2011.  The Nic Cage period piece is expected to come in below $10 million through Sunday and has the distinction of scoring the lowest Rotten Tomato score I can remember with just 1% Fresh.  Sony/Screen Gems’ Country Strong isn’t much, er, stronger at number 5 and an 18% Fresh rating: but with a budget of just $15 million the Gwyneth Paltrow drama has much less riding on a strong first weekend showing.  Overall, the weekend looks like it will be down by at least 50% over 2010 levels, again.  Details tomorrow.

Right before the Christmas break I got to sit down with Tim McGraw to talk about his movie Country Strong.  By now you’ve probably seen the clips or the trailer and know the film is about an emotionally unstable country star (Gwyneth Paltrow) that gets involved with a rising young singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund). McGraw plays Paltrow’s husband/manager and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) plays a beauty-queen-turned-singer who is trying to make a name for herself.

Anyway, during the interview McGraw talked about how he got involved in the project, does he know anyone like his character, did he ever think he’d be acting in big Hollywood movies, the rehearsal process, and a lot more.  Hit the jump to watch the interview.  Country Strong is in theaters now.

Right before the Christmas break, I got to sit down with Leighton Meester to talk about her new movie Country Strong.  By now you’ve probably seen the clips (or the trailer) and know the film is about an emotionally unstable country star (Gwyneth Paltrow) that gets involved with a rising young singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund). In addition, Tim McGraw plays her husband and Meester (Gossip Girl) plays a beauty-queen-turned-singer who is trying to make a name for herself.  The film opens everywhere this weekend.

Anyway, during the interview Meester talked about what it’s like to promote a big Hollywood movie, how did she get involved in the project, how she really sings in the movie and who she plays, and what the last year has been like for her trying to balance making movies and filming Gossip Girl.  Hit the jump to watch:

Right before the Christmas break, I got to sit down with Gwyneth Paltrow to talk about her new movie Country Strong.  By now you’ve probably seen the clips (or the trailer) and know Paltrow plays an emotionally unstable country star that gets involved with a rising young singer-songwriter (Garrett Hedlund). In addition, Tim McGraw plays her husband and Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl) plays a beauty-queen-turned-singer who is trying to make a name for herself.

Anyway, during the interview Paltrow talked about the challenges of making the film (she actually sings and she’s good), how she got attached to the project, what this year has been like for her, and will she record an album.  But I think the best part of the interview was the very beginning.  That’s because I got Simon Pegg to give me two questions to ask her (they’re close friends) and her reaction is great.  I won’t spoil what I asked.  Finally, towards the end of the interview, Paltrow talked about how Pepper Potts won’t be in Joss Whedon’s Avengers movie and reveals who she plays in on Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion.  Hit the jump to watch:

With Country Strong opening in limited release  December 22 and everywhere Friday, January 7th, Screen Gems has released 8 clips which showcase the characters and the music.  If you haven’t heard of Country Strong (watch the trailer here), it was written and directed by Shana Feste and it stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Leighton Meester, and Garrett Hedlund. Here’s the synopsis:

Soon after a rising young singer-songwriter (Hedlund) gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star (Paltrow), the pair embarks on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager (McGraw) and featuring a beauty-queen-turned-singer (Meester).  Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.

Something that surprised me about the film is that everyone who sings is really singing.  Meaning when Paltrow, Hedlund and Meester are on stage, you’re really hearing their voices  And they’re all pretty good.  Hit the jump for more – including 8 clips:

After nearly three years of promotion, which started at San Diego Comic-Con in 2008, the highly anticipated Tron: Legacy is finally hitting theaters on December 17^th. A high-tech adventure set in a digital world that is unlike anything ever captured or seen on the big screen, the film is a father-son story at its heart. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) is a rebellious 27-year-old who is haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his father, Kevin (Jeff Bridges). The world’s leading tech visionary, Kevin was pulled into a digital grid where he’s been trapped for the last 20 years, and where his son also finds himself suddenly trapped. In order to escape and return to their own world, they must embark on a life-or-death journey across the landscape of the Grid, using weapons and vehicles to elude a ruthless villain named Clu, that was created by Kevin himself.

In this exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Garrett Hedlund talked about taking on his first leading role, his excitement for everyone getting to see all of the hard work that director Joseph Kosinski put into bringing Tron: Legacy to life and keeping Sam’s jacket as a memento of filming. He also talked about becoming a country musician for Country Strong (opening in limited release on December 22^nd and in wide release on January 7^th, 2011), co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, and the experience of playing Dean Moriarty in On The Road, which is something of a dream project for him. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Good morning, world. As Jason cooks up an article covering the four amazing new posters for Black Swan, I decided to grab the posters for two of my most anticipated films in the next few months and one that just came to my attention. There is a lot of internet hate for The Green Hornet, but I stand in the camp that just wants to see how it is. I have reserved most of my judgment because I adore the director (Michel Gondry) and like that it is not an easy sell. The other film is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, which is the start of the two-part epic conclusion to the blockbuster film series. The poster we are displaying focuses on one of my personal favorite characters: Dobby. Meanwhile, we have a poster for the country music drama Country Strong that features Tim McGraw and Gwyneth Paltrow. So hit the jump to check out the posters.

Screen Gems has released the first trailer for Country Strong from director Shana Feste (The Greatest).  Gwyneth Paltrow stars as a troubled country singer who is trying to make her comeback by embarking on a tour with a young rising singer (played by Garrett Hedlund).  The film also stars country singer Tim McGraw and Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester.  The trailer doesn’t really do much for me, but I’m sure it’ll appeal to people who are into country music, or those who want to see Paltrow sing on screen again after 2000’s Duets.

Hit the jump for the trailer along with a plot synopsis for the film.