Universal Pictures has announced a 25-film Blu-ray collection to commemorate the studio’s 100th anniversary, and it’s a genuinely great box set.  The “Universal 100th Anniversary Collection” includes 25 of the studio’s finest films, a 15-track music CD chock full of iconic film scores, a “100 Years of Universal” 72-page collector’s book and more.  Though the inclusion of HD versions of films like Dracula, Jurassic Park, The Sting, Back to the Future, Jaws, Do the Right Thing, and To Kill a Mockingbird alone would have been worth the purchase, the box set includes a number of vintage cartoons and shorts as well as a collection of featurettes covering the studio’s entire history.

The 25-disc Blu-ray set and 26-disc DVD collection (Schindler’s List is included in the DVD set only) will be available for a limited time starting November 6th.  A price has yet to be announced, but I don’t expect it’ll be cheap.  Hit the jump to read the full rundown of films and special features.

Not even close. For the second weekend in a row, DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is America’s number one attraction; down just 41% with an estimate of $35.5 million. Though down a much more substantial 60%, Fox’s Prometheus managed to hold on to second place thanks to two widely underperforming debuts. Those would be Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy which, even when combined, couldn’t come close to challenging for first place.

With summer 2010 so clearly dominated by reboots and sequels, it’s nice to see an original concept rise to the top for a change. Even with Toy Story 3 and The Last Airbender still out there occupying those precious 3D screens, Universal’s 3D animated Despicable Me exceeded most projections by taking first place this weekend with an estimated $60.1 million.

It appears that the musical rock opera concept album that shot the punk rockers from Green Day into superstardom just cannot be stopped.  After the success of their 2004 album, Green Day transformed American Idiot into a successful, one-act stage musical, which also includes music from their follow up album, 21st Century Breakdown.

Even though the musical has yet to debut on Broadway, Deadline has just reported that talks are underway with Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman to turn the musical into a feature film.  For those that are unfamiliar with Playtone, they were responsible for the box office smash, Mamma Mia!, which of course was originally a Broadway musical adapted from the music of Abba.  Apparently, Playtone has a first look deal with Universal, but Hanks and Goetzman are working on actually getting the rights to American Idiot before they bring it to the studio.

Based on the material, it’s clearly obvious that the film will be more Rent than Sweeney Todd, but feel free to judge for yourself. Hit the jump to check out a brief synopsis and the official video for “21 Guns”, featuring the cast of American Idiot.

It seems that every week of 2010 has brought us a new record-breaker at the box office. Last week the romantic drama Dear John became the top earner on a Super Bowl weekend. Only slightly more impressive was the month-long reign of Avatar during which the 3D titan took down nearly every all-time box office category Hollywood could throw at it.  This weekend saw yet another record fall. Valentine’s Day, director Garry Marshall’s star-packed romantic comedy, has already become the highest grossing film over President’s Day weekend – before Monday’s numbers have even been counted.

Colin Firth is really having a great week. As the star of Tom Ford’s first film ” A Single Man”, Colin just won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival and the film was the subject of an intense bidding war last night here in Toronto. While many studios tried to acquire the story of a British college professor struggling to find meaning to his life after the death of his long time partner (played by Matthew Goode), the Weinstein Company ended up winning the battle.

Anyway, to help promote the film, I was able to speak with Colin earlier today and he gave me an update on “Mamma Mia 2″ and what he’s doing next (“The King’s Speech”). The big news is he’s heard if a sequel is made to the incredibly popular “Mamma Mia!” movie, it’s going possibly use a new band’s music to tell the story. More after the jump: