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Hollywood's most powerful celebrity

Last updated on: October 11, 2010 16:42 IST
Sam Worthington

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Aussie actor Sam Worthington has been named the most powerful celebrity in Hollywood.

 

The Avatar actor has topped Entertainment Weekly's highest grossing movie stars under 40 power list.

 

His three biggest films, Avatar, Clash of the Titans and Terminator Salvation earned a combined total of 1 billion dollars, with his box office average $US349.6 million, the magazine says.

 

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe came second, with the 21-year-old's box office average 244.7 million dollars, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

 

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Will this become the most expensive movie of all time?

Last updated on: October 11, 2010 16:42 IST
A poster of The Hobbit

The film adaptation of The Hobbit is set to become the most expensive movie ever.

 

The Hollywood blockbuster -- a prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and planned to be shot in New Zealand for the last decade -- is expected to cost US 500 million dollars (662 million dollars) and has already racked up legal fees believed to exceed 100m dollars, reports News.com.au.

 

The most expensive movie to date was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which cost US 300 million dollars.

 

The film's soaring costs are mostly due to settlements with rights holders, whose wrangles with Warner Bros/New Line Cinema could have delayed shooting for another decade, the website reported.

 

Sir Peter Jackson's New Zealand company, Wingnut Films, is waiting for the green light for its planned adaptation.

 

Sources at Warner said they were hoping to approve production in the next few days and that development and shooting costs were "close to or around 500m dollars", reports the New Zealand Herald News.

 

The four-hour epic would be shot in high-definition and 3D.

 

The movie's producers and actors' unions have so far failed to resolve differences over a collective contract for actors in New Zealand.

 

More Sex for Sarah Jessica Parker?

Last updated on: October 11, 2010 16:42 IST
A scene from Sex and the City 2

Sarah Jessica Parker has hinted that there could still be more Sex And The City films.

 

While the hit 2008 film thrilled fans of the six-year HBO series, this year's Sex and the City 2 got a lot less love from critics. But was the 2010 movie the very last we'll hear from Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha?

 

According to Vulture, Parker is not yet willing to say it's over for the famous foursome.

 

Gracing the New York City Ballet's red carpet at the dance company's recent Lincoln Center gala, the star said, 'I don't know the future I would say that you never know what will happen with that particular franchise. It's less about the reviewers than it is about the audience, and they've been pretty true, so we tend to listen to them more than anybody else.'

 

Meanwhile, Parker's onscreen paramour certainly hasn't been optimistic. Good Wife star Chris Noth believes that after the poor SATC 2 reviews, there's no hope for the characters to live on: "It's over...The franchise is dead...The press killed it," Noth declared last month.

 

But nobody believes Mr Big is actually the final authority -- and Parker, 45, seems to feel that it's the film's writer-director, Michael Patrick King, who's most likely to know whether the story can evolve and satisfy fans.

 

'If Michael Patrick didn't put those words into those characters' mouths, I don't think people would respond for so many years,' Pop eater.com quoted her as saying.

 

'So we'll see. Who knows,' she added.

In memory of John Lennon

Last updated on: October 11, 2010 16:42 IST
Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono sing Give Peace a Chance in Reykjavik, Iceland

John Lennon's 70th birthday was marked with the unveiling of a monument in memory of the Beatles legend.

 

The singer's first wife Cynthia and their son Julian officially opened the statue in front of 2,000 fans in Lennon's native Liverpool.

 

The monument, a globe with doves flying overhead, represents peace and will act as a shrine for Lennon devotees.

 

'We come here with our hearts to honour dad and pray for peace and say thank you to each and every one of you and everybody involved in the celebrations today,' the Daily Star quoted Cynthia as saying.

 

Lennon was shot dead outside his Big Apple apartment block in December 1980.

 

Meanwhile, late John Lennon's wife Yoko Ono has credited Sir Paul McCartney with saving her marriage to the Beatles legend by stepping in to reunite the separated couple.

 

Lennon and Ono, who married in 1969, went their separate ways in 1973 and had been apart for 18 months when McCartney took it upon himself to intervene.

 

Marking Lennon''s 70th birthday, Ono has revealed it was her husband's songwriting partner who brought them back together again.

Source: ANI