One of the great “what ifs” in cinema history is Stanley Kubrick’s long-developed biopic Napoleon.  The filmmaker planned a historical epic chronicling the life of the French Emperor, but the ambitious project proved too difficult to get off the ground when studios refused to front the massive budget needed to tell the story; Kubrick would even tell the studios that Napoleon would be “the best film ever made.”  The project remained uncompleted when Kubrick unexpectedly passed away, but Kubrick’s friend Steven Spielberg announced earlier this year that he would be turning the filmmaker’s Napoleon script into an HBO miniseries.  Now it appears that Spielberg and HBO are courting a very interesting director to tackle the adaptation: Baz Luhrmann.  Hit the jump for more.

There are few stranger cinematic weddings that that of F.  Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby to Baz Luhrmann’s over-the-top, nearly grating visual aesthetic.  The fact that Luhrmann’s adaptation is in 3D is icing on the cake.  But Luhrmann (best known for William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge) is at his best when he’s got a story to anchor his visuals to, and performers like Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton delivering the lines.  His Great Gatsby is far from a definitive version of the novel, but it has its moments.  My review of the Blu-ray follows after the jump.

It isn’t easy to outshine Iron Man but that’s just what The Great Gatsby has done. Warner Brothers’ 3D adaptation of the classic novel may have come in second this weekend, but it was a much bigger draw than expected – earning an estimated $51.1 million from 3,035 locations. Iron Man 3 was always destined to be the easy winner on its second weekend, but the novelty of Gatsby’s success means that, on this particular May frame, the superhero will have to settle for first place… and second billing.

One week after Iron Man 3 scored the second-highest domestic debut of all-time, the Marvel sequel is still on top. The blockbuster passed the $200 million mark in the US on Thursday and now stands at an incredible $794 million total worldwide.  On its second Friday, Iron Man 3 earned an estimated $19.7 million – down 71% from last week. That was a bit steeper than the 63% drop The Avengers saw on its own second Friday, though not entirely unexpected.

What was unexpected was how close The Great Gatsby came to unseating Iron Man 3 on its first day in theatres. Baz Luhrmann’s lavish, 3D adaptation of the literary classic earned an estimated $19.4 million from 3,035 locations: including $3.25 million from Thursday pm & midnight previews. That puts Gatsby on track for a three-day debut of $52 million – nearly double what box office watchers forecast back when the film was moved from its original December 2012 release date. The good news for Gatsby was disaster for Peeples, the weekend’s second new release. The Tyler Perry-produced project earned an estimated $1.1 million from 2,031 locations towards an opening weekend projection of just $4 million.

We’ll have complete details and the weekend top ten when you check back tomorrow.

Filmmakers who adapt a novel are not beholden to the major themes of that novel.  They’re free to take away what they want to see and leave the richer aspects of the material behind.  Such is the case with Baz Luhrmann‘s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s The Great Gatsby.  Where Fitzgerald saw the relationship between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan as a laughable excuse to escape into the past, Luhrmann sees a doomed romance because Baz Luhrmann likes stories about doomed romances*.  And like his previous movies—Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge!, and Australia—Luhrmann is too afraid of actual intimacy, and covers it up in glitter and other shiny objects while laboring under the delusion that it makes the story operatic.  With The Great Gatsby, Luhrmann isn’t adapting Fitzgerald as much as he’s remaking Baz Luhrmann.

We’ve been reporting on the film adaptation of The Great Gatsby since fall of 2010; the film will finally open in just a couple of weeks.  While you’ve probably seen a fair portion of the movie due to all the images, clips and trailers that have been released over the last year or so, we have a gallery of over 60 hi-res images for you to peruse at your leisure!

Baz Lurhmann’s adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke and Adelaide Clemens, and opens in 3D on May 10th.  Hit the jump to view the images.

Warner Bros. has released 7 clips (almost 5 minutes of footage) from director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke and Adelaide Clemens.

If you weren’t aware, Luhrmann shot Gatsby in 3D, so I’d advise paying the extra money to see it in that format.  Also, I saw some of the film in 3D and it looked like Luhrmann used the format to help tell the story.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.  The Great Gatsby opens May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released a new extended TV spot for director Baz Luhrmann’s upcoming adaptation of The Great Gatsby.  This TV spot appears to be geared towards the younger crowd, as it plays up the “Jazz Age” aspects of the film while highlighting Gatsby’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) lively parties and the flashier moments from the film.  While I’ve mostly been onboard with the new music Luhrmann has showcased in the previous trailers, Fergie’s “jazz-pop” track that accompanies this new TV spot is just plain awful.  Here’s hoping it doesn’t have a major showcase within the narrative of the film.

Hit the jump to watch the new extended TV spot, which also includes quite a bit of new footage.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Adelaide Clemens, and Jason Clarke.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.  For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  This new trailer has a heavy focus on the relationship between Gatsby and Daisy (Carey Mulligan), while also giving us a strong dose of Joel Edgerton‘s Tom Buchanan.  Again Luhrmann’s vibrant visuals look fantastic, but the trailer also showcases a bounty of original music that the director has commissioned for the film from artists like Beyonce, Andre 3000, Lana Del Rey, and Florence + The Machine.  There’s a strong Romeo + Juliet vibe in this trailer, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing this thing on the biggest screen possible.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer and to take a look at the full soundtrack listing.  The film also stars Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Adelaide Clemens.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Warner Bros. has released the first TV spot for director Baz Luhrmann’s (Moulin Rouge) adaptation of the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby.  For those unfamiliar with the source material, the story centers on a would-be writer (Tobey Maguire) chasing the American dream who moves to New York City in the spring of 1922 and encounters a mysterious millionaire named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  This TV spot features quite a bit of new footage, and I’m incredibly eager to see Fitzgerald’s novel adapted for the screen by way of Luhrmann’s bombastic, colorful, and vibrant vision.

Hit the jump to watch the new TV spot.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Adelaide Clemens.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th.

Director Baz Luhrmann’s highly anticipated adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been selected as the opening film of the upcoming 2013 Cannes Film Festival.  The pic was originally slated to open this past December, but Warner Bros. wisely pushed the release date in lieu of the crowded holiday season.  Now the move has had another positive effect on the film, as the colorful 3D iteration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel is getting a wonderfully prestigious premiere.  The pic will be screening out of competition, but Lurhmann is no stranger to the festival as his first feature Strictly Ballroom screened in Cannes in 1992 and Moulin Rouge! opened the festival in 2001.

The Great Gatsby will serve as the first 3D opening film since Pixar’s Up, and fans will be graced with appearances by castmembers Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and even Jay-Z, who penned the score for the film.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10th, and the 2013 Cannes Film Festival runs from May 15-26.

When the first trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s ambitious adaptation of the classic novel The Great Gatsby debuted online, many were jarred by the juxtaposition of Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” against the film’s period setting.  The decision to use that song in the trailer wasn’t a complete shock, as Luhrmann has shown a propensity for populating his period films with modern music.  He had no problem mixing Shakespeare with Radiohead in Romeo + Juliet and 1900s France with Madonna in Moulin Rouge!.  Now, though, it appears that Luhrmann isn’t just repurposing existing songs for The Great Gatsby, but is having Jay-Z himself provide an original score for the film.  Hit the jump for more details.

A new trailer for director Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been released online.  The trailer opens with Leonardo DiCaprio‘s Gatsby telling Tobey Maguire‘s Nick Carraway his life story, complete with colorful flashbacks and fast cuts.  We see much more of the individual performances in this trailer, and DiCaprio plays Gatsby with a slightly sinister quality that makes me curious to see more.  The visuals again look spectacular; if there’s one thing that can be gleaned from the two trailers we’ve seen thus far, it’s that Luhrmann has brought the Jazz Age to the big screen in a way that we’ve never seen before.  The second half of the trailer switches out the hip-hop for a hard rock version of The Turtles‘ “So Happy Together,” and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of contemporary music the ambitious filmmaker uses in the actual film.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also stars Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Isla Fisher, and Elizabeth Debicki.  The Great Gatsby opens in 3D on May 10, 2013.

Opening this weekend is Silent Hill: Revelation 3D.  The film is a sequel to 2006’s Silent Hill, and centers on a daughter and father who are on the run from dangerous forces that remain unknown to the young girl.  When her father (Sean Bean) goes missing, the young girl (Adelaide Clemens) must set out to discover what happened.  When she becomes trapped in a demonic world, the girl learns she’s not who she thinks she is. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D also stars Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Radha Mitchell, and Malcolm McDowell.  For more on the film, here’s Matt recap of the NYCC panel, some clips, a TV spot, and the trailer.

Shortly before her panel at Comic-Con, I got to sit down with Adelaide Clemens for an exclusive video interview.  We talked about how she got involved in Silent Hill, what it’s like to be at Comic-Con, what she geeks out about, what it was like to work with Malcolm McDowell, and more.  In addition, she also talked about working on The Great Gatsby with Baz Luhrmann, Generation Um with Keanu Reeves, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Baz Luhrmann‘s 3D adaptation of The Great Gatsby has revered source material and an acclaimed cast that features Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Joel Edgerton.  Set to open on Christmas Day, it was primed to compete in the 2012 awards race, but today Warner Bros. has decided to push the film back to summer 2013.  In a press release, WB President of Domestic Distribution Dan Fellman said, “Based on what we’ve seen, Baz Luhrmann’s incredible work is all we anticipated and so much more.  It truly brings Fitzgerald’s American classic to life in a completely immersive, visually stunning and exciting way.  We think moviegoers of all ages are going to embrace it, and it makes sense to ensure this unique film reaches the largest audience possible.”  As we all know, people don’t see movies over Christmas.

In all fairness, we’re looking at a very crowded awards season.  Hit the jump for a refresher on what Gatsby would have had to face in December.