Marvel has officially announced Kat Dennings has committed to a role in Thor. Dennings joins Chris Hemsworth ('Thor'), Tom Hiddleston ('Loki'), Anthony Hopkins ('Odin'), Natalie Portman ('Jane Foster'), Stuart Townsend ('Fandral'), Tadanobu Asano ('Hogun') and Ray Stevenson ('Volstagg') in the action-adventure tale to be directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Marvel's keeping mum on exactly who Dennings will play, but The Hollywood Reporter says they've heard from sources she'll be playing someone who works for Portman's character. Filming is expected to begin early next year.

Dennings was most recently seen in Robert Rodriguez' kiddie movie, Shorts, and recently finished work on Defendor with Woody Harrelson (Zombieland, 2012).

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Bleak and disturbing, The Road is the most difficult film of the year to watch. But don't miss it or you'll be denying yourself the opportunity to see one of the most riveting, emotionally draining, and strangely beautiful films of the decade. The post-apocalyptic drama's dreary setting is off-putting, but Viggo Mortensen is simply brilliant as a father torn up over his responsibilities to his child in a world where death seems a better option than the continued struggle to stay alive in a world with no hope for a better future.

• The Road Movie Review

More on The Road:

• The Road Photos
  
• The Road Trailer and Clips
  
• Viggo Mortensen Biography and Movies

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Well, this is a new one. Bulls have halted filming of the new Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz action-comedy Knight & Day. Seven bulls escaped from the set and injured two women, prompting the production to shut down until all safety concerns are addressed. The injuries were minor and occurred after the bulls escaped their enclosure in downtown Cadiz, Spain.

Knight & Day reunites the stars of Vanilla Sky, Cruise and Diaz, and is directed by 3:10 to Yuma's James Mangold. According to reports, Diaz and Cruise were not on the set when the incident took place. There's no word yet on when filming will resume.

Knight & Day Official Synopsis:
In Knight & Day, Cruise and Diaz have a glamorous and sometimes deadly adventure, where nothing and no one - even the now fugitive couple - are what they seem. Amid shifting alliances and unexpected betrayals, they race across the globe, with their survival ultimately hinging on the battle of truth vs. trust.

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There's a New Moon on the rise but will it shine brightly enough to eclipse this extended holiday weekend's new releases? None of this week's new films are aimed at teen girls, which is a good thing as brooding vampires and shirtless werewolves have pretty much cornered that market for the next few weekends. If you aren't into vegetarian vampires and Indians who transform into wolves, you can escape New Moon - and the Thanksgiving festivities - by checking out two clueless old dogs in charge of seven year old twins or taking in some seriously vicious ninja action. Or, if you're ready for something with more depth, take a road trip with a very skinny Viggo Mortensen:

• Ninja Assassin featuring Rain and Rick Yune
  
• Old Dogs starring John Travolta and Robin Williams
  
• The Road with Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee

New Photos and Videos

• Alice in Wonderland Photos
  
• Beastly Teaser Trailer
  
• Did You Hear About the Morgans? Poster
  
• Ninja Assassin Trailer and Clips

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Anna Kendrick plays high school student Jessica, a classmate of Bella and Edward's, in the Twilight film series. Jessica's not a vampire or werewolf, just a regular girl with an attitude, but Kendrick's a scene-stealer in New Moon nonetheless. She's also a stand-out in Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney and Vera Farmiga. The box office figures had just come out for New Moon when Kendrick was in LA doing press for Up in the Air (hitting theaters on December 4th), and she joked with reporters about Jessica being responsible for the film's tremendous take. "Wholly. Wholly responsible," laughed Kendrick. "Yeah, yeah. I am expecting a massive bonus check."

Kendrick's only in two or three scenes in New Moon, yet she makes quite an impact. "It's great. Listen, obviously I don't actually pretend to be instrumental in the box office success in any way, but I try to provide my piece of silliness."

With two Twilight films released, and one in the final stages of preparation for a June 2010 release, Kendrick still can't explain why the series is so popular. "It's confusing. Bewildering, I suppose, is the better word. I remember whatever it was, two Christmases ago when I was like telling my friends, 'Oh, I think after Christmas I'm going to do this movie. It's called Twilight. I don't know much about it but I guess it's about vampires. I hope we break even. I hope people see it.' Now all of a sudden, well however long ago it was, sort of overnight realizing how big it was and that it wasn't going to go away. Fortunately for me, it hasn't really interfered with my daily life. I know it has for a lot of the actors and I recognize that I'm sort of on the periphery of the phenomenon and I'm grateful for that."

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I've always believed Viggo Mortensen is the man, and quite literally he is The Man in The Road. Cormac McCarthy never gave his characters names in the book, and the film adaptation of his work stays true to that, never mentioning any character by name. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, The Road tells the story of a father (Mortensen) who is left alone to care for his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) in a bleak world with few human survivors. Those who have survived get by by traveling from place to place, scrounging for meager scraps of food, or by turning into cannibals. The Man must protect, teach, and comfort The Boy while preparing him for a time when he's no longer able to educate and guide him.

Mortensen recalled his introduction to McCarthy's book. "I read it the same day that I read the script because I thought, 'This is a really good script, a tough story but beautiful, and strangely kind of uplifting at the end.' I went through a lot of things reading the script. I couldn't believe how much my emotion was condensed into it, and visually what it could be, you know? And so I ran out to the book store and I was happy to see that this was a very faithful adaptation of the book."

• Viggo Mortensen on The Road, His Weight Loss, and That Retiring From Acting Rumor

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• The Road Photos
  
• Trailer and Clips from The Road

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Reports of New Moon director Chris Weitz' retirement from directing are premature, according to Variety. Weitz recently gave an interview with MovieMaker in which he said, among other things, that he thought he might have just one more movie in him. Weitz has since told Variety that he's learned he should never answer questions about his future when he's exhausted from just having finished a film. Weitz still has bitter feelings about his treatment by New Line over the editing of The Golden Compass, and that - and being exhausted - prompted him to make the statement about leaving directing behind.

"I was treated badly, it was almost like they never read the books," said Weitz in an interview with Variety. "They seemed frightened of offending the right. This [New Moon] was a wonderful experience by comparison. I got to work with terrific young actors at the top of their game, and see Taylor Lautner perform so well."

So, Weitz isn't quitting. What he is doing is reuniting with Summit Entertainment for The Gardener, a dramatic film about a Mexican gardener written by Journey to the End of the Night writer/director Eric Eason. Weitz expects to begin work on The Gardener sometime early next year. Which, if you're wondering, would likely still make him available for Breaking Dawn if it starts production in the fall of 2010 as Robert Pattinson has indicated. Not that Weitz has said he wants to come back for the further adventures of Edward, Bella, and Jacob

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New Moon earned an incredible $142 million during its first three days in release, moving the vampire love story into third place on the overall biggest opening weekend list. The second Twilight movie trails only The Dark Knight ($158 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($151 million) on the top earners list, surprising nearly everyone (except for some diehard Twilight fans). Also performing way above expectations was the Sandra Bullock football movie The Blind Side. New Moon and The Blind Side combined to help make their opening weekend the second biggest on record, in terms of overall box office take.

Top 10 Films for the Weekend Ending November 22
1) New Moon - $142,839,137
2) The Blind Side - $34,119,372
3) 2012 - $26,410,206
4) Planet 51 - $12,286,129
5) Disney's A Christmas Carol - $12,275,024
6) Precious - $10,881,772
7) The Men Who Stare at Goats - $2,829,031
8) Couples Retreat - $1,943,075
9) The Fourth Kind - $1,747,085
10) Michael Jackson's This Is It - $1,617,417

_{(Photo © Summit Entertainment)}

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There's a New Moon on the rise and it's obliterating box office records. The second Twilight film grossed an estimated $72.7 million its first full day in release, pushing The Dark Knight and its $67 million first day into second place. And New Moon set this new record will showing on 800 less screens than The Dark Knight. Wow. Words fail me.

Twilight's opening in 2008 set the record for the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a female. But New Moon blew past Twilight's entire opening weekend take of $69 million its first day.

The record for the biggest opening weekend overall is held by The Dark Knight with 158.4 million. It's likely New Moon will fall short of that record - but at this rate anything is possible.

More on New Moon:

• Meet the Wolfpack - Interviews with Tyson Houseman ('Quil'), Bronson Pelletier ('Jared') and Kiowa Gordon ('Embry')
  
• New Moon Movie Review
  
• New Moon Photo Gallery

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon's midnight release is one for the record books. New Moon hit 3,514 theaters at 12:01am this morning and shattered the midnight screening record set just this past July by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The sixth Harry Potter film took in $22.2 million during its debut screening at midnight. Twilight's second film of the series, New Moon, grossed an estimated $26.3 million, incredible numbers for the teen-centric vampire/werewolf/high school student love triangle.

Online ticketing agency Fandango is reporting New Moon sales of 10 tickets per second today, the film's first full day in release.

More on New Moon:

• New Moon Premiere Photos
  
• Review of New Moon Starring Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, and Robert Pattinson
  
• Interviews with the Cast: Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene, and Michael Sheen

_{(Photo © Summit Entertainment)}

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