For those who overlooked the record-breaking success of The Hunger Games one year ago, it was a great weekend at the US box office. Two of the three new releases exceeded expectations, with Olympus Has Fallen nearly doubling studio projections. Only the Tina Fey comedy Admission stumbled – barely topping what Spring Breakers brought in from half as many locations.

Paul Weitz is a director I have come to dread.  About a Boy was a long time ago, and in the interim he has done some truly abysmal films such as Cirque du Freak, American Dreamz, and Being Flynn (I didn’t even bother with Little Fockers).  But after a 12-year-drought, Weitz has delivered a film that’s almost as funny and sweet as About a Boy.  His new movie, Admission, is a playful, nice little story where leads Tina Fey and Paul Rudd have the room to exercise their comic and dramatic abilities, and do so with a charming screenplay from Karen Croner.  Even though it heads towards safe places, Admission never feels gratingly familiar.

We now have our first look at Tina Fey’s Russian prison guard character in director James Bobin’s sequel The Muppets…Again!.  An image from the set has landed online, revealing Fey’s stern-looking character alongside Kermit decked out in what appears to be a prisoner’s uniform.  The story has been described as a caper that finds the Muppet crew in Europe where Kermit is mistaken for his jewel-heisting doppelganger named Constantine.  Ricky Gervais is the film’s male lead, Constantine’s best friend, while Ty Burrell plays an antagonistic Interpol agent.

Hit the jump to get a look at Fey in character.  The Muppets…Again! opens on March 21, 2014. [Update: Disney has asked us to take the image down, as this was not approved for release.]

Paul Weitz’s new film Admission turns an inside eye on a subject near and not-so-dear to many of us- the college admissions process.  At the heart of it is Portia Nathan (played by a more serious Tina Fey than we are used to seeing), a Princeton admissions officer whose world is suddenly thrown for a loop when a routine visit to an alternative school forces her to cross paths with a teacher (Paul Rudd) who thinks he may have found the son Portia gave up for adoption in college.  Portia finds herself bending the rules, both official college rules and rules she has imposed upon herself to help this boy (Nat Wolff) get into Princeton, while falling into an oddly sweet relationship with his teacher.  The film also stars a hilarious Lily Tomlin as Fey’s feminist, fire-breathing mother.

At the press day for the film Admission, Collider was present as stars Tina Fey and Paul Rudd spoke to a small group of reporters about the film and their experiences making it.  The two discussed meeting each other for the first time, working with director Paul Weitz and the atmosphere on set.  They also spoke about how improv influenced their acting, the comedy community, if it’s too soon for a 30 Rock reunion, and discussed a shared experience doing a live reenactment of Sixteen Candles that sounds too good to be true.

With director Paul Weitz (About a Boy) comedy-drama Admission opening March 22, Focus Features have provided us with six clips from the film.  The film stars Tina Fey as an admissions officer at Princeton University whose life is thrown for a curve when she runs into an old friend (Paul Rudd) while visiting an experimental New Hampshire high school.  The simple idea of Fey and Rudd together sounds like a pitch-perfect comedic pairing, and the trailers hint at some strong dramatic material as well.  Hopefully the full film delivers on both fronts.

Hit the jump to check out the clips.  The film also stars Lily Tomlin, Michael Sheen, Wallace Shawn, Nat Wolff, and Gloria Reuben.

Check out the latest casting news from the following movies:

• Tina Fey (Mean Girls) will join Jason Bateman in Shawn Levy’s This Is Where I Leave You, adapted from the Jonathan Tropper novel of the same name.
• Meagan Good (Deception) and Dylan Baker (Spider-Man 2) will join Adam McKay’s  Anchorman: The Legend Continues, starring Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate.

Hit the jump for more.

Focus Features has released a large batch of new high-resolution images from the upcoming comedy-drama Admission.  Directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy), the film stars Tina Fey as an admissions officer at Princeton University whose life is thrown for a curve when she runs into an old friend (Paul Rudd) while visiting an experimental New Hampshire high school.  The simple idea of Fey and Rudd together sounds like a pitch-perfect comedic pairing, and the trailers hint at some strong dramatic material as well.  Hopefully the full film delivers on both fronts.

Hit the jump to check out the new images.  The film also stars Lily Tomlin, Michael Sheen, Wallace Shawn, Nat Wolff, and Gloria Reuben.  Admission opens on March 8th.

We were inundated by a barrage of big-budget action and superhero movies last year, but I’m the first to admit that one of the most fun, enjoyable experiences I had at the theaters in 2012 was watching director Jason Moore’s comedy Pitch Perfect.  The film is an absolute joy to watch, with great humor, excellent comedic performances, and an infectious soundtrack.  Now it looks as though Moore—who made his feature directorial debut with Pitch Perfect after helming the Broadway musical Avenue Q—has nabbed a great new gig off of Pitch Perfect’s success.  The filmmaker is now in talks to helm the comedy The Nest for Universal, with a script by SNL veteran Paula Pell and with Tina Fey eyeing the starring role.  Hit the jump for more.

The Oscars picture is starting to emerge.  Last night, Argo won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture, and tonight Ben Affleck‘s drama has won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.  With tonight’s win, Argo is slowly moving towards being the first film since Driving Miss Daisy to win Best Picture at the Oscars even though the director didn’t pick up a nomination.  Like Driving Miss Daisy, Argo will have managed the incredible task of directing itself.  The night’s other film actor winners included Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Tommy Lee Jones, and Anne Hathaway.  It will be interesting to see how these will match up with the Oscar winners.  Over on the TV side, Downton Abbey broke Homeland‘s awards-streak by picking up Best Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

As the series finale of 30 Rock looms closer, creator/star Tina Fey is lining up a pretty swell gig for her next project.  Heat Vision reports that Fey is in late-stage negotiations to star as the female lead in the upcoming sequel to The Muppets.  This is welcome news, as Fey should make for a nice foil opposite male lead Ricky Gervais.  The two previously worked together in Gervais’ 2009 film The Invention of Lying, though one assumes their rapport will be more family-friendly while they’re flanked by The Muppets.

Ty Burrell is set to star as the film’s villain, a lazy Interpol inspector, and Fey will apparently be playing a Russian gulag prison guard in the Europe-set follow-up.  Given all this prison and law-breaking talk, it sure sounds like our Muppet friends may find themselves behind bars at some point in the film.  Production is set to begin later this month in London with returning director James Bobin, who also co-wrote the script alongside The Muppets scribe Nicholas Stoller.  Fey will next be seen hosting the Golden Globes with Amy Poehler this coming Sunday, January 13th.

A new trailer has been released for Paul Weitz‘ dramedy Admission.  The film stars Tina Fey as an admissions officer at Princeton University whose life is thrown for a curve when she runs into an old friend (Paul Rudd) while visiting an experimental New Hampshire high school.  Most of the footage was in the previous trailer (which has been pulled for some reason), but there are a few new jokes.  Some audiences may be surprised at a lower-key comedy from the film’s leads, but I’m sure they’ll handle the dramatic aspects as well.  My real concern is with Weitz.  About a Boy was a long time ago, and most of his filmography is wretched (I rented Being Flynn and couldn’t power through it even though I was on an airplane with nothing else to do).

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Admission opens March 8, 2013.

The first trailer for the comedy-drama Admission has been released.  Directed by Paul Weitz (About a Boy), the film stars Tina Fey as an admissions officer at Princeton University whose life is thrown for a curve when she runs into an old friend (Paul Rudd) while visiting an experimental New Hampshire high school.  Based on the casting of the two leads one might assume that this is a straight comedy, but the trailer refreshingly shows a much more nuanced and dramatic side of Fey that we’ve yet to see played to its full potential.  Weitz struck a wonderful chord with About a Boy, and I’m hoping a similar tone runs throughout Admission.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Lily Tomlin, Gloria Reuben, Wallace Shawn, and Michael Sheen.  Admission opens on March 8, 2013.

Some of the best comedy to be seen on NBC comes from the minds of Tina Fey (30 Rock) and Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation).  Now, the comedic duo is teaming up to take on the 70th Annual Golden Globes as hosts of the award show.  Fey, a Golden Globe winner, and Poehler, a nominee, have previously worked together on Saturday Night Live, Mean Girls and Baby Mama.  Their comedic timing and chemistry should make for quite an entertaining show.

The 70th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air on NBC Sunday, January 13th from 8-11pm, EST.  Hit the jump for the full press release.

This upcoming seventh season of 30 Rock will be the show’s last, but it looks like Tina Fey and co. are making sure they go out on a high note.  TV Guide reports the fantastic news that Bryan Cranston and Catherine O’Hara have signed on to pop up as guest stars when the show returns.  The fun part, though, is that O’Hara will be playing Kenneth’s (Jack McBrayer) mom, while Cranston will play his mom’s “friend” Ron.  If you watch the show, you know that Kenneth is often telling stories about his mom’s “friend” Ron coming over, a man that Kenneth is not too fond of.

It’s not too difficult to connect the dots that Ron is probably Kenneth’s father, and I can’t wait to see how the ridiculously talented Cranston and O’Hara figure into the show’s plot.  The 13-episode final season of 30 Rock begins on October 4th.

Some end-of-the-week casting notes for your enjoyment.  Here they are in brief:

• Kristopher Higgins (In Time) is in talks to join The Sweet Hereafter-director Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, a drama about the West Memphis Three.
• Brooke Smith (The Silence of the Lambs), Alexie Gilmore (Surfer, Dude) and Lucas Hedges (Moonrise Kingdom) are set to join Up in the Air-director Jason Reitman’s Labor Day adaptation.
• Sonya Walger (Lost) has been added to the cast of the academic comedy, Admission, starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd.

Hit the jump for more on each film.