Earlier this week, it seemed like Paranormal Activity 3 was looking at an opening weekend in the $35-$40 million range, or just slightly less than what its predecessor took in on this week last year.  Instead, the three-quel has crushed all projections with an estimated take of $54 million from 3,321 locations.  At this point that stands as the highest October debut and the biggest supernatural horror opening of all-time, unseating 2010’s Paranormal Activity 2, of course.

I’m writing to you this week in full “World Series Mode.” While there are plenty of things going on around the Midwest this time of year (homemade haunted houses are always a welcomed annual treat), a majority of my focus is on trying to will my beloved Cardinals to Fall Classic glory. Combine that with the fact that Batman: Arkham City is consistently calling my name and it’s a wonder that I’m even writing this right now. Hold on, what’s that, Arkham City? Okay, okay…I’ll be there in a second…

…In this week’s installment, you’ll find talk of Transformers 4 and Transformers 5 shooting back-to-back with Jason Statham potentially starring, a six-minute prologue for The Dark Knight Rises being attached to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol‘s IMAX release, interviews with director Paul W.S. Anderson and the cast of The Three Musketeers, David Fincher and Rooney Mara talking about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and William Monahan discussing projects including London Boulevard, The Departed sequel, Sin City 2 and more. Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

No shocks here.  After earning a franchise-best $8 million from its 2,200 midnight debuts, Paranormal Activity 3 went on to lead Friday with an estimated $26.2 million from 3,321 locations.  That marks another high for the three year-old franchise.  On its first Friday last year Paranormal Activity 2 took in $20.1 million and, by the law of diminishing returns, most box office watchers expected PA3 to chart a bit below its predecessor.  That may have proved true if recent frames had featured a breakout hit capable of siphoning off attendance from this new release, but that didn’t happen.  Instead, Paranormal 3 is expected to reach $50 million by Sunday: another franchise high.  With one movie dominating, the weekend’s other major new release – The Three Musketeers – is suffering.  After a disappointing Friday launch of $2.9 million from 3,017 locations the film is on its way to a weekend in the low double digits.  Finally, low-budget Johnny English Reborn (anyone recall him being born in the first place?) placed eighth on Friday with $1.1 million from 1,551 locations.  The fact that the film’s international gross is already nearing $100 million should soften that blow, however.  Details and analysis tomorrow.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening today, Summit Entertainment held a big press junket in London and I got the chance to head across the pond to interview the cast and Anderson.  Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story, The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden, Gabriella Wilde and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  For more on the film, here’s eight clips.

During my exclusive interview with Anderson, he talked about how he got involved in the project, how quickly it came together, the difficulty of filming in historically significant locations, deleted scenes, filming with the Arri ALEXA camera, editing and post-production.  In addition, now that he has a young daughter, he revealed that he’s seen Cinderella III: A Twist in Time “50 or 60 times” and “if anyone from Disney is listening I’d love to do it.  I’m not kidding.  It’s a straight to DVD movie.  It’s a retelling of the Cinderella story.  It’s amazing.”  So who knows, perhaps after Resident Evil: Retribution, we could see Anderson making a kids film.  Hit the jump for the interview.

The first five minutes of Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers is currently available for your home viewing pleasure. As expected it’s pretty heavy on the action. We’re introduced to the main characters in some cheeky moments complete with freeze-frame name shots. In case you missed them, be sure to check out Steve’s interviews with Milla Jovovich, Luke Evans, Matthew Macfadyen and Ray Stevenson, Orlando Bloom, and Logan Lerman and Gabriella Wilde.

Hit the jump to watch the opening sequence. The film stars Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Mads Mikkelson, Gabriella Wilde, Juno Temple, Orlando Bloom, and Christoph Waltz.  The Three Musketeers opens in 3D on October 21st.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment held a big press junket in London and I got the chance to head across the pond to interview the cast.  Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story, The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden, Gabriella Wilde and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  For more on the film, here’s eight clips.

During my interview with Lerman and Wilde, they talked about how they got involved in the project, the training, and the amazing real world locations they got to use.  In addition, they told me about a great prank they did to a fellow cast member, what’s their karaoke song and the last video game they played, and I asked Lerman what’s up with the Percy Jackson sequel.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment held a big press junket in London and I got the chance to head across the pond to interview the cast.  Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story, The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  And unlike many films that have been post converted for a 3D release, the Musketeers was shot in 3D and it looks great.  For more on the film, here’s eight clips.

During my wide ranging interview with Bloom, he talked about getting involved in Musketeers and what it was like to play a villain, the amazing real world locations, 3D, the last video game he’s played, karaoke and you can see him try and flip the interview around on me.  In addition, Bloom talked about what it’s like to play Legolas again in Peter Jackson’s upcoming Hobbit movies (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again) and when he’ll be filming.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment held a big press junket in London and I got the chance to head across the pond to interview the cast.  Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story, The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  And unlike many films that have been post converted for a 3D release, the Musketeers was shot in 3D and it looks great.  For more on the film, here’s eight clips.

During my interview with the Musketeers, we talked about the amazing real world locations they used in Musketeers, how did they get involved in the project, karaoke, and I asked them about future projects like The Hobbit, G.I. Joe 2 and Anna Karenina.  Hit the jump to watch.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment held a big press junket in London and I got the chance to head across the pond to interview the cast.  Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story, The Three Musketeers stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot, “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  And unlike many films that have been post converted for a 3D release, the Musketeers was shot in 3D and it looks great.  For more on the film, here’s eight clips.

During my interview with Jovovich, we talked about the amazing real world locations they used in Musketeers, filming in 3D, karaoke and the last video game she played.  In addition, she talked about Resident Evil: Retribution (Resident Evil 5) and revealed more details on the Rolls Royce action scene and what locations are being used.  Hit the jump to watch.

Dirty Girl tells the story of Danielle (Juno Temple), a misfit in 1987 who becomes known as the “dirty girl” of Normal High School in Norman, Oklahoma, for her penchant to bed any boy that strikes her fancy. When her misbehavior gets her sent to a remedial class, she is paired up on a parenting project with Clarke (Jeremy Dozier), a closeted teen that she strikes up an unlikely friendship with. While Danielle brings Clarke out of his shell, Clarke is the first person who actually wants to listen to what Danielle has to say, showing her that she does have value.

At the film’s press day, British actress Juno Temple spoke to Collider for this exclusive interview about how she cried when she found out she got the role of Danielle, how the wardrobe and hair really helped her find the character, that she instantly knew she would be great friends with co-star Jeremy Dozier, and how special the experience of working with first-time feature director Abe Sylvia was. She also talked about her role as the young Queen of France in The Three Musketeers, how nervous she is to see herself in 3D, and how all the speculation about her role in The Dark Knight Rises doesn’t phase her at all. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

With director Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers opening October 21, Summit Entertainment has provided us with eight clips from the reboot of Alexandre Dumas’ classic story.  The film stars Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen.  In the reboot,  “the hot-headed young D’Artagnan (Lerman) joins forces with three rogue Musketeers (MacFadyen, Evans and Stevenson). They must stop the evil Richlieu (Waltz) and face off with Buckingham (Bloom) and the treacherous Milady (Jovovich).”  And unlike many films that have been post converted into a 3D release, the Musketeers was shot in 3D.  Hit the jump to watch the clips.

Summit has sent over eight new character posters and a making-of featurette from director Paul W.S. Anderson’s take on The Three Musketeers. Starring Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, Ray Stevenson, Milla Jovovich, Orlando Bloom, Christoph Waltz, Matthew Macfayden and Mads Mikkelsen, the film looks pretty much exactly how you’d expect a Paul W.S. Anderson Musketeers movie to look. I’m no Musketeers enthusiast, so I’m really not offended by Anderson’s updating of the material. That doesn’t mean I want to see it either, though.

Check out the new hero/villain character posters and the “Making of a Musketeer” featurette after the jump. The Three Musketeers hits 3D theaters on October 21st.

Transformers 3: Blowin’ Up Chicago arrives on screens tomorrow so the taste for trashy blockbusters is in the air. The good news is that there are more ridiculous action movies on the way after Michael Bay’s latest ode to slow motion explosions. Today a fresh new trailer for Paul W.S. Anderson’s glossy The Three Musketeers update has arrived online in all its overblown glory. It’s not often that you get to see a trailer that proudly claims to be based on “the classic novel from Alexandre Dumas” only to seconds later show flying ships suspended by hot air balloons that I don’t recall being in the book. Fan of the series or not, this is one of those trailers that you kind of have to see in a “you’re not going to believe this shit” kind of way.

Hit jump to check out the trailer. The film stars Logan Lerman, Milla Jovovich, Matthew Macfadyen, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans, Mads Mikkelson, Gabriella Wilde, Juno Temple, Orlando Bloom, and Christoph Waltz.  The Three Musketeers opens October 14th.

Last year, the Twihards got a reprieve as Summit, having just released The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, had nothing new from the franchise to bring to Comic-Con.  But the tent city Twilight fans seem to set up around the San Diego Convention Center will return as Summit has announced—to the surprise of no one—that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 will be part of the studio’s Comic-Con presentation.  It will be joined by Paul W.S. Anderson’s atrocious-looking The Three Musketeers and the alien invasion flick The Darkest Hour.  As always, there will be footage and a Q&A.  Twilight fans, telling Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner (if they’re on the panel) “I think you’re hot!” is not a question.

The better news for all of us is that the presentation will be one of the first panels in Hall H on Thursday, July 1st, so it will be out of the way early in the con.  There will also be other, non-panel related activites for Twilight fans and non-Twilight fans so hit the jump for details from the full press release.  The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 opens November 18, 2011.

I shouldn’t complain about writing about posters.  I have 44 of them in my office (the majority are mini posters, but they still count, dammit!) so I get the appeal.  Plus, they can be really fun to mock!  For instance, Summit has released the first poster for Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers and it makes me feel so bad for Mads Mikkelsen.  I can’t decide what’s worse: that he’s the tiniest main character on the poster or that Matthew Macfayden is shoving his crotch in Mikkelsen’s face.  The expression on Mikkelsen’s face suggests the latter.

There’s also a NSFW US poster for David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  I’m sure that Rooney Mara knew that she would have to bare her breasts for the movie, but I wonder if she knew they would also be part of the marketing campaign.  I wonder if the folks in Sony’s advertising department thought to themselves, “I have seen Rooney Mara’s pierced nipples and they are going to boost ticket sales.”  Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The Three Musketeers opens in 3D on October 14th.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens December 21st.