With less than $300,000 separating the top three films this weekend, the final order of the domestic top ten has been difficult to call. Sunday’s estimates have End of Watch and House at the End of the Street tied for first with $13 million each. Warner Brother’s Trouble with the Curve is not far behind, however, so more definitive results will have to wait until Monday. One thing we can say for sure? Dredd 3D is off to a rough start.

After its enormous opening last weekend, The Lorax continued to impress – capturing its second number one title with an estimated $39.1 million, or a week-over-week decline of just 44%.  For once, however, people seem more interested in the film that didn’t make it to number one than with the film that did.

There are plenty of terrible movies released each year and I don’t see most of them.  Either they’re not screened for critics, the screening conflicts with a film I want to see more, or I felt that my time could have been better spent another way.  But for all of these terrible films, there’s a fine line between “bad” and “insulting”.  The Switch is a bad movie, but that’s simply because it’s unfunny, lacks creativity, and wastes a talented lead actor in Jason Bateman.  But it doesn’t offend me.  The five movies that made this year’s worst list had to do something that insulted my intelligence and/or my belief that people should be treated equally no matter their sex, race, etc.  These are films I would wish on my worst enemy because then we could bond over having experienced these cinematic travesties.

Every summer studios produce weekends full of “A” titles, summer blockbusters that are meant to wow us and make piles upon piles of money. These are the prestige titles of the day, and though they may be stupid, no expense is sparred in the making of them. Of course this doesn’t mean the people behind or in front of the camera are the best in the business, but they have the potential to deliver an audience by their star appeal, and their knowledge of what works. Hopefully.

On Paper, Disney’s Prince of Persia sounds like it could be something. It’s produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal – who hasn’t set the box office on fire, but is a respected actor – with Bond Girl turned it girl Gemma Arterton. The director is Mike Newell who directed one of the best of the Harry Potter franchise, and the film is based on a successful video game, one that serves only as a basis for an action adventure story. But all those details add up to one terrible movie, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a pretty terrible film. My review of Prince of Persia on Blu-ray after the jump.

Over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, two worthy opponents challenged reigning box office champion Shrek Forever After, but neither Sex and the City 2 nor Prince of Persia: Sands of Time were able to conquer America’s favorite ogre.  The Shrek franchise is not as dominant as it once was, but the brand is still strong enough to ensure two straight weekends on top with a strong hold from last weekend’s opening.  The girls of Sex and the City were runners up on Sunday, but Prince moved in to second place by the end of Monday.  In fact, with less than a $1 million difference between the four-day totals, the order of the top five may not be finalized until tomorrow.  Details after the jump.

With Walt Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time getting released this weekend, a few days ago I got to do a phone interview with one of the best actors in the world: Sir Ben Kingsley.  As most of you have seen the trailers and know what the film is about, I’m going to keep this intro brief.  But if you’re not familiar, here’s a bunch of clips from the movie and the synopsis.

Anyway, since every actor promoting their movie does a lot of interviews on the same day and most are right after the other, I decided to start off the interview by talking about The Wackness.  As some of you might remember, I spoke to Ben Kingsley at Sundance a few years ago about The Wackness as it was a film I truly loved and his work as Dr. Squires was completely out of character.  Thankfully, he seemed to remember me and we reminisced about the film.  Of course we also talked about Prince of Persia and he also told me how he’s currently preparing to work with Martin Scorsese again on his first 3D movie called The Invention of Hugo Cabret.  It’s a great interview so hit the jump to check it out:

Memorial Day weekend started early for Sex & the City 2. The sequel launched on 3,445 screens Thursday, bringing in $14.2 million including $3 million from midnight shows. Friday added another $13.1 million, giving Sex a running domestic estimate of $27.3 million and a projected five-day holiday take somewhere north of $65 million – just a bit over what the first Sex & the City made in 2008…over three days…on a non-holiday weekend. Counter-programming for the menopausal City gals came in the form of a beefed-up Jake Gyllenhaal in Prince of Persia the Sands of Time. The RPG turned big-screen adventure flick fell a bit flat in its debut, opening in third place with an estimated $10.2 million from 3,646 screens. The four-day projection for Persia looks like a solid $45 million so, Pirates of the Caribbean it ain’t.

You’re dashing up walls, swinging between rooftops, and performing all kinds of death-defying acrobatics.  The experience is something new altogether and you wonder why nothing like it has come before.  It’s also got this cool dagger that turns back time.  Plus, you’ve got the bonus of a charming protagonist you can root for.  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is just good goddamn fun.

Oh, just to be clear: I’m talking about the video game.  The movie is awful and doesn’t have one redeeming aspect.  It’s Pirates of the Caribbean if Pirates of the Caribbean was dull, moronic, lazy, and starred characters you hated.  Oh, and also had a nice smattering of racism thrown in for flavor.  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time honors not Pirates of the Caribbean or the game that inspired it, but the tradition of video game movies being terrible.

With Walt Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time getting released this weekend, a few days ago I got to do a phone interview with the lovely Gemma Arterton.  As most of you have seen the trailers and know what the film is about, I’m going to keep this intro brief.  But if you’re not familiar, here’s a bunch of clips from the movie with the full synopsis.

During the interview we talked about the challenges of filming in Morocco and what it was like making the movie, and we also talked about her other projects like Tamara Drewe and The Disappearance of Alice Creed.  Also, even though Warner Bros. is moving forward with Clash of the Titans 2, she revealed that she’s not yet signed for a sequel so it’s up to her whether or not to come back.  Finally, with how much Clash of the Titans changed during filming, I asked what was her reaction to the final product.  Hit the jump to read or listen to the interview.

For fans of the video game Prince of Persia, this is a really big week.  That’s because next weekend, Walt Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is finally getting released. And unlike every other movie based on a video game, I think this is finally going to be the one that breaks the video game movie curse.  The reason I think this is the one is Disney spent a small fortune bringing Prince of Persia to the screen and it’s loaded with great action set pieces and a lot of moves and moments gamers will love.

Anyhow, a few days ago I got to sit down with screenwriters Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard and they talked about how they got involved in the project, what they did to prepare for writing the movie, how much did the game play into the script, working the sands of time effect into the movie, is a sequel on the boards, what it was like to film in Morocco, and a lot more.  If you’re an aspiring screenwriter or just curious how Prince of Persia got made, it’s a great interview.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Walt Disney has sent over a ton of images from their upcoming video game based movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.  While we’ve posted a number of them in the past, there are a bunch of new ones mixed in.  Rather than just post the new ones, I’ve put them all together and in high resolution after the jump.

The press junket for Prince of Persia is this weekend in London, which means you can expect tons of movie clips and info on the film to hit the net very soon.  Until then…

New TV Spots have arrived online for Iron Man 2, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Since I won’t waste your time with my in-depth analysis of a thirty-second advertisements,  I will simply say that I liked all the spots, I hope the movies are good, and you can check out all the spots after the jump plus the official synopsis for each movie.

Iron Man 2 hits theaters on May 7th; Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th; and A Nightmare on Elm Street hits theaters on April 30th.

In a few days ShoWest starts up in Las Vegas.  If you haven’t heard of ShoWest, it’s a convention for theater owners and operators to see what’s new in their industry and be wined and dined by the Hollywood Studios. Basically, it’s Comic-Con for the people that make big decisions in the movie industry.

But the other reason ShoWest is cool is the studios send tons of movie posters and theater standees to the convention to pimp what they have coming.  And while the convention doesn’t begin till Monday, a friend of the site was there tonight and was able to snap a number of photos of what’s already on display.  So hit the jump for the posters for Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Little Fockers, Get Low, Beastly, Charlie St. Cloud, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, a 75th Anniversary 20th Century Fox poster, Ramona and Beezus, Mercy, The A-Team, The Losers, Toy Story 3 and theater standees for Kick-Ass, Nightmare on Elm Street, Clash of the Titans, and a lot more!

Walt Disney has announced their WonderCon 2010 lineup and it’s going to focus on their summer 2010 movies.  According to the press release Disney sent over, they’ll be pushing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Toy Story 3, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  And while you might think they’ll just show some footage and the presentation will be short, they’re treating this like Comic-Con and bringing along some big names like Jake Gyllenhaal, Jordan Mechner, Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Teresa Palmer – plus Filmmakers Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Newell, Jon Turteltaub and Lee Unkrich. If you’re going to WonderCon in San Francisco, it sounds like you’ll see some cool stuff.

Disney says their panel is Saturday April 3rd.  Here are the times:

• 12:15 – 12:45 PM     PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
• 12:45 – 1:15 PM       THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
• 1:15 – 1:45 PM          TOY STORY 3

Hit the jump to read the press release.  A lot of the other studios will be at WonderCon.  We’ll post updates as we get them:

Loads of new images and the final poster for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time have just arrived online.  Russian site Filmz.ru have posted the images and they feature not only scenes from the movie, but even a close up of the Dagger of Time.  For those who don’t know, the Dagger has the ability to stop time for whoever wields it.  In the movie, that wielder is Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal) and he’s trying to protect the Dagger from those who would use it for eeeeevil.

UGO has also premiered the final poster for the film and it feature Gyllenhaal wielding both the Dagger of Time and a short sword, for double-bladed damage.  There’s also Gemma Arteron looking hot and Ben Kingsley looking devious.  Oh, and there are walking skeletons in the corner for some reason.

Hit the jump to check out the images, the poster, and the official synopsis.  Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th.