Ice Age, Transformers Neck and Neck at the Box Office

The July 4th holiday was very good for theaters, with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ending the three-day weekend in a rare tie for the #1 spot.  As of Sunday night, each flick had brought in $42.5 million domestically with final numbers expected in this morning.

The Johnny Depp/Christian Bale vehicle Public Enemies also opened well, with a gross of $41 million from Wednesday through Sunday. [Variety]

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Film News: Third Twilight Film Starts Shooting in August; Depp & Burton Team Up for Dark Shadows, Amy Adams in Talks for Boxing Movie

- Good news for Twilight fans: Eclipse, the third installment in the movie franchise, is set to begin production in Vancouver on August 17th.  Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) is currently portraying a young Joan Jett in the movie The Runaways. Robert Pattinson is in New York filming his new project, Remember Me, with Emilie de Ravin (Lost). [Production Weekly's Twitter]

- Johnny Depp has confirmed that he will reteam with director Tim Burton and producer Richard D. Zanuck for a big screen, Burton version of Dark Shadows, the cult favorite gothic soap opera from the 1960s.  "I will be thrilled to work with him [Burton] again on Dark Shadows," said Depp at the LA premiere of his current film, Public Enemies. "I was a big fan of it when I was a kid and I think it is another of those perfect projects for Tim to reimagine." [Entertainment Weekly]

- Amy Adams in talks to costar in The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. The silver screen drama tells the story of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his succesful struggle to earn the world lightweight championship.  Adams "would play a gritty bartender from Massachusetts who ends up dating Wahlberg's character." Bale will portray Ward's half-brother, who helps him on his journey to the championship. [Variety]

- Christina Applegate (most recently of ABC's Samantha Who?) is confirmed to play Drew Barrymore's big sister in the new romantic comedy Going the Distance. Barrymore will costar with Justin Long as a couple in a long-distance relationship. Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) will play Long's friend.
[E! Online]

- Michelle Trachtenberg and Jason Lee have signed on to the new Kevin Smith comedy flick A Comedy of Dicks.  The movie stars Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan and is "centered on a pair of cops who track down a stolen baseball card, rescue a Mexican beauty and must deal with gangsters and laundered drug money." [Variety]

- The Academy of Arts and Sciences has tweaked the rules for Best Song category for next year's Oscars. [Hollywood Reporter]

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TV & Movie Tidbits: Christian Bale is a 'Fighter,' Debra Messing returns

- Christian Bale has signed on to star in The Fighter with Mark Wahlberg. The film focuses on the story of Boston fighter "Irish" Mickey Ward and his half-brother Dicky Eklund. The two stars will be working with director David O. Russell. While deals are still under negotiation, it seems the film is set to begin production in July. [Variety]

- Debra Messing is about to return to NBC. It looks like the network is on the verge of picking up an untitled sitcom starring the former Will & Grace star as "a laid-off CEO who is as ill-prepared to be a full-time wife and mother as her husband is to provide for the family." [The Hollywood Reporter]

- io9.com has a couple of promotional pictures for The Time Traveler's Wife, the movie adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 debut novel. The movie, starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, was originally set for release last June. It now looks like it will finally come out this August. [Warner Bros. via io9; Slashfilm]

- Ugly Betty is set to come back to ABC a week sooner than originally planned on April 30. This will mark the show's return to its 8 p.m. Thursday night slot. [Entertainment Weekly]

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