Underworld: Awakening tops US Box Office and more juicy film news

Underworld: Awakening tops US Box Office, Roberts and Baldwin sign onto Ryan Murphy project, Razzie awards move to April Fool’s Day

TOP MOVIE NEWS: MONDAY 23 JANUARY

Despite a lukewarm critical reception and competition from a host of Oscar-worthy pictures; Underworld: Awakening, the fourth instalment of the fantasy franchise, has topped the US box office over the weekend.

The film, which is the franchise’s first cinema outing for four years, beat off competition from George Lucas’ World War II drama Red Tails taking $25.4million while the war flick nabbed just $19.1 million.

Speaking as her movie claimed top spot British actress Kate Beckinsale, who stars as vampiric Death Dealer Selene, spoke to US journalist about why she took the part to avoid being typecasted. She said:

"I'd had some feedback from casting directors kind of saying, 'We don't know if we really want to see her for this part, 'cause it's a cop, and she's really very delicate and British and fragile' and I thought, 'I've got to do something about that. I've got to play something that has a little bit more edge to it'."

Beckinsale went on to say how proud she is to play such a strong female character."I love this character," she said. "I really am proud of the fact that I've gotten to play this kind of rather iconic, empowered, empowering woman…I don't want to only play one character for the rest of my life, sure, but as long as I feel like I can keep mixing it up, that's what I've wanted to do since the beginning is just keep doing different things."

Roberts and Baldwin sign on to Ryan Murphy project

Julia Roberts and Alec Baldwin have signed onto Ryan Murphy’s next project according to reports. The man behind the smash hit series Glee will direct a film adaptation of the play The Normal Heart, according to reports from across the pond.

The Normal heart, which is based on the play of the same name, chronicles the rise of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s. Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts will play Dr Emma Brookner, whilst Baldwin is set for the role of a lawyer struggling to deal with his brother's sexual orientation. Both Roberts and Baldwin will be joined by  small screen stars Matt Bomer (White Collar) and Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory).

Razzie awards move to April Fool’s Day

What better day of the year to honour the worst films of the year than April Fools' Day? That’s what the organisers of the Razzies, the spoof of the Oscars which recognises the year’s worst films must have thought, as they’ve moved their annual awards ceremony to coincide with the comic calendar entry.

As well as shifting the date of the ceremony itself, organisers have also revealed that they will announce nominees the day before the Oscars, rather than on the eve of the Oscar nominations as has been the case in recent years.

 “In addition to allowing the Razzies’ more than 600 voting members additional time to see the drek they will eventually nominate, this new schedule will also allow for more input from the movie-going public before the contenders are determined,” said a statement about the new date. The voters are made up of regular moviegoers, film professionals and entertainment journalists, who last year named M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender as the Worst Picture.