As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

In the US, the Fourth of July weekend is traditionally a giant money-maker for Hollywood movies. So, surprise!  This year was a giant money maker for Hollywood movies.  Make that “movie.”  Three movies debuted, but only one – Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon – made an impact.  A big, record-breaking impact.

Friday is premiere day at the box office, a chance to see how major movies open and to gauge how they might perform over their initial three-day weekends.  Trouble is, the movies that opened this Friday are the ones that nobody cares about.  Larry Crowne, the romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, began with an inauspicious bow of $4 million from 2,972 locations.  That portends a 3-day take of just $15 million.  Fox’s Monte Carlo placed fifth with a debut of $3.1 million from its 2,473 venues.  But let’s get to the Bots.  Friday marked day four of Transformers 3’s super-extended, six day holiday weekend (seven, if you throw in Monday).  The sequel took in an estimated $32 million from 4,013 locations for a current domestic total just shy of $100 million.  Clearly, that is a huge number by 2011 standards.  It is only diminished when Transformers 2’s record-breaking 2009 debut (without the latest film’s higher 3D prices) is taken into account.  But, throw in international grosses and Dark of the Moon is still the cash cow we all knew it would it would be. Details and analysis tomorrow.

20th Century Fox has released seven clips for its upcoming tween “comedy” Monte Carlo. Co-written/directed by Thomas Bezucha (The Family Stone), the film stars that one girl from Disney (Selena Gomez) with the chick from that “horror” film The Roommate and CW’s Gossip Girl (Leighton Meester), and that guy who was on The Partridge Family‘s daughter (Katie Cassidy). While I can’t say that I’m in any way excited about checking out Monte Carlo, I will admit those three make for an attractive trio.  Andie MacDowell, Cory Monteith, and Brett Cullen also star in the pic which centers on one of the aforementioned trio members getting mistaken for a British heiress and the inevitable romantic hilarity that ensues.

Hit the jump to check out the clips. Monte Carlo hits theaters on July 1st.

The first trailer for the romantic comedy Monte Carlo has hit the web. The film stars Leighton Meester, Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy, Cory Monteith, Andie MacDowell and Brett Cullen. Co-written and directed by Tom Bezucha (The Family Stone), the flick tells the story of three young American girls who take a trip to Paris and, after the trip turning into a disaster, one of the girls gets mistaken for a British heiress and the three are wrapped up in a “hilarious” whirlwind of celebrity. The trailer looks like the film was tailor-made for the tween crowd, who I’m sure will love the flick. The similarities to a Disney Channel Original Movie are striking, and I had to double check to make sure the film was actually coming out in theaters and I wasn’t just watching a preview for a TV movie.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Monte Carlo hits theaters July 1^st.

We’ve got some release date changes for you regarding a number of 20^th Century Fox properties courtesy of Box Office Mojo. First up, the Planet of the Apes reboot Rise of the Apes starring James Franco and Andy Serkis has been moved from a summer release in June to November 23^rd where it will take advantage of the holiday season (as well as give the visual effects teams more time to fine-tune said CGI’d apes). Andrew Niccol’s Now starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried has moved back a month from September 30^th to October 28^th.

The Jim Carrey starred family film Mr. Popper’s Penguins has also been moved up, from August 12^th to the prime summer date of June 17^th where it will square off against The Green Lantern and the Cameron Diaz/Justin Timberlake comedy Bad Teacher. The David Gordon Green-directed comedy The Sitter starring Jonah Hill moves from July 17^th to August 5^th. The Anna Faris/Chris Evans comedy What’s Your Number? moves from April 29^th to September 30^th, while Monte Carlo starring Leighton Meester and Selena Gomez moves from July 1^st to August 11^th.

In addition to the shuffles, Fox announced the release dates of the former Alien prequel Prometheus (March 9, 2012) and the bird watching comedy The Big Year starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson (October 14^th, 2011).