News / Entertainment
Mel Gibson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz hope to break a leg or at least Happy Feet at box-office.
The animated juggernaut Happy Feet looks to tap, tap, tap its way to a fourth week of box-office dominance but strong competition from Mel Gibson, Leonardo Dicaprio and Cameron Diaz could put the dancing penguins on the endangered species list.
Mel Gibson brings his latest movie, Apocalypto, to the big screen this weekend. Apocalypto shares a few common elements with Gibson’s last blockbuster Passion of the Christ. By all accounts the movie is graphic, detailing the last days of the Mayan empire with human sacrifices and violent cultural battles. Gibson, much like in Passion, elected to use subtitles is the film as well. The movie’s dialogue is spoken exclusively in Yucatec Maya.
Both Mel Gibson and his movie have enjoyed a ubiquitous presence over the past several weeks. Whether or not that turns into box-office dollars is yet to be determined.
Leonardo DiCaprio returns to theaters this weekend in Blood Diamond. Set in Sierra Leone, Blood Diamond details the diamond smuggling trade in Africa and in particular the purchasing of blood diamonds. These particular diamonds gained their name not from the color of the diamond but for the bloodshed they have funded. Many African civil wars have been subsidized by the sale of illegally mined diamonds. Jennifer Connelly, Favid Archer and Djimon Hounsou all carry role sin the film.
For moviegoers looking for something a little less intense The Holiday may be the alternative. With a strong cast backed by Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, and Jack Black, the romantic comedy should do well. Diaz plays a woman who recently found out that her boyfriend was cheating on her; Winslet plays an English woman who has relationship problems of her own. The two meet on an internet chat site and decide to swap houses for the holidays in an attempt to escape their personal tragedies.
