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‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ is #1 at the box office!

DreamWorks Animation’s action comedy “Monsters vs. Aliens,” which features creatures from 1950s flicks in a showdown with invading extraterrestrials, launched itself into the No. 1 spot with a $58.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It was the biggest debut so far in 2009, topping the $55.2 million first weekend of “Watchmen” in early March.

Opening in second place was Lionsgate’s ghost story “The Haunting in Connecticut” with $23 million in ticket sales.

The previous weekend’s top movie, Summit Entertainment’s apocalyptic thriller “Knowing,” slipped to third with $14.7 million, raising its 10-day total to $46.2 million.

The big opening for “Monsters vs. Aliens” boosted Hollywood revenues after a couple of down weekends.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” was the latest success story for digital 3-D projection. While the 2,080 3-D screens accounted for just 28 percent of the roughly 7,300 on which the movie played, they made up 56 percent of its total box-office haul, said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks Animation.

Tickets for 3-D movies typically cost a few dollars more than the 2-D version.

1. “Monsters vs. Aliens,” $58.2 million.

2. “The Haunting in Connecticut,” $23 million.

3. “Knowing,” $14.7 million.

4. “I Love You, Man,” $12.6 million.

5. “Duplicity,” $7.6 million.

6. “Race to Witch Mountain,” $5.6 million.

7. “12 Rounds,” $5.3 million.

8. “Watchmen,” $2.755 million.

9. “Taken,” $2.75 million.

10. “The Last House on the Left,” $2.6 million.

Tobey Maguire: from Spider-Man to ‘The Limit’

Columbia Pictures is closing in on a deal to acquire screen rights to “The Limit,” with Tobey Maguire attached to star in the story of rival Grand Prix drivers.

Columbia is in negotiations to acquire Michael Cannell’s forthcoming novel, which Tony Peckham will adapt. Maguire will star as Phil Hill, who went against his good friend and Ferrari teammate Wolfgang von Trips in the 1961 Drivers Championship.

Move coincides with Maguire’s Columbia-based shingle beefing up its ranks by hiring veteran producer Jenno Topping, who will produce “The Limit.” Topping will oversee day-to-day production for the company and will produce movies for the company with Maguire.

Topping has had a first-look deal with the studio, either partnered with director Betty Thomas or by herself, for nearly a decade. Most recently, she produced the Jennifer Garner starrer “Catch and Release.”

At Maguire Entertainment, she will oversee a development slate that includes the Gary Ross helming vehicle “Tokyo Suckerpunch,” the bigscreen adaptation of 1980s TV series “Robotech” and the crime thriller “Good People,” which is based on a Marcus Sakey novel.

“We have worked with Jenno for a very long time,” Columbia prexy Matt Tolmach said. “She is a member of our studio family, so joining forces with Tobey is truly serendipitous. … There is an enormous comfort level creatively.”

Maguire is also producing “The Limit” alongside Cathy Schulman and Scarlett Lacey for Mandalay Pictures. Nick Reimond from Maguire Entertainment brought the project to the company.

“The Limit” will be published in the fall by the Hachette Publishing division Twelve.

Peckham recently scripted “The Human Factor,” the Clint Eastwood-directed Warner Bros. film, as well as a rewrite on “Sherlock Holmes,” the Guy Ritchie-directed film.

Topping’s other producer credits include “Guess Who,” the “Charlie’s Angels” movies and “28 Days.”

CAA brokered the film rights deal and Peckham is repped by WMA.

Nicole Kidman joins new Woody Allen film!

Nicole Kidman will star in Woody Allen‘s next film, joining the already announced cast of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Naomi Watts.

The as-yet-untitled film is produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures. It is financed by Mediapro, the Spain-based company that also funded “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.”

Sony Pictures Classics will release Allen’s next completed film, “Whatever Works,” which opens theatrically on June 19.

Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn & Jim Carrey are ‘The Three Stooges’!

MGM and the Farrelly brothers are closing in on their cast for “The Three Stooges.”

Studio has set Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome “Curly” Howard.

The studio is zeroing in on Benicio Del Toro to play Moe.

The film is not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts.

The quest by the Peter and Bobby Farrelly to harness the project spans more than a decade and three studios. They first tried at Columbia, again at Warner Bros., and finally at MGM, where Worldwide Motion Picture Group chairman Mary Parent championed the cause and bought the WB-owned scripts and made a deal with Stooges rights holders C3.

Production will begin in early fall for a release sometime in 2010. The Farrellys, who wrote the script, are producing with their Conundrum partner Bradley Thomas, and Charlie Wessler.

C3 Entertainment principals Earl and Robert Benjamin will be executive producers.

Project will get underway after Penn completes the Asger Leth-directed Universal/Imagine Entertainment drama “Cartel.” He hasn’t done a comedy since the 1989 laffer “We’re No Angels.”

The Farrellys have long had their eyes on Del Toro to play Moe. Del Toro, who’s coming off “Che,” showed comic chops in the Guy Ritchie-directed “Snatch.”

The surprise is the emergence of Carrey to play Curly. Howard established the character as a seminal physical comedian, from the first time he appeared in the first Stooges short in 1934 until he suffered a stroke on the set in 1946.

Broken Embraces’ box office woes

Pedro Almodovar‘s latest film Broken Embraces took $1.3m in its opening weekend at the Spanish box office, a full $1m less than his previous offering Volver, following a mixed response from critics.

The film was released nationwide in Spain by Warner Bros on March 18 and had taken $1.9m by end of play Sunday (March 22). It is in second place in the local box office chart behind Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino.

However that chart position belies the fact that Broken Embraces’ opening figures are Almodovar’s lowest since 1999’s All About My Mother, which took $1.1m in its opening weekend. Since then, Talk To Her ($1.4), Bad Education ($1.6m) and Volver ($2.3m) have all taken more.

Furthermore, the $1.3m figure pales in comparison to Alejandro Amenebar‘s latest Spanish-language film The Sea Inside, which took an impressive $3.1m in its opening weekend in 2004.

That said, All About My Mother went on to gross the same amount of money as Volver at the local box office ($13m), so Broken Embraces might still perform well if word of mouth is good.

The film itself is a complex, romantic drama about an actress (Penelope Cruz) who strikes up a relationship with the director of her film (Lluis Homar) behind the back of her rich older boyfriend (Jose Luis Gomez), with several major repercussions.

Anne Hathaway will be Judy Garland in ‘Get Happy’

Anne Hathaway will go over the rainbow for the Weinstein Co.

The New York minimajor confirmed Monday that it has attached the “Rachel Getting Married” star to its Judy Garland biopic “Get Happy.”

The project, which has not yet signed a writer or director, will be based on Gerald Clarke’s biography of the same name, which TWC recently optioned. Clarke draws on numerous real-life sources to tell the life story of Garland, who began singing and acting as a toddler and continued doing so all the way through her premature death at the age of 47.

Garland led a life filled with talent but also tumult, starring and singing in a host of studio musicals and other pictures, as well as giving iconic performances on stages in New York and London. She also struggled with addiction and endured a series of relationship dramas.

Hathaway also began her career at a young age, starring in the tween franchise “The Princess Diaries.” In the past few years she has graduated to more adult roles, playing a former addict in “Rachel Getting Married,” which earned her a best actress Oscar nom.

While she has little musical experience on the screen, Hathaway caught viewers’ attention with a musical number she and host Hugh Jackman performed at the 2009 Academy Awards, though the pic’s producers will have to resolve the question of height: Garland was barely 5′, while Hathaway stands about 5′ 8″.

Tribeca vs. NY Film Festival battle heats up

The New York film scene is undergoing its biggest shakeup in years, mostly due to possible changes at downtown/uptown rivals Tribeca and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Exec shuffles at both places have caused a flurry of speculation about how the city’s movie event map will be redrawn. One major potential shift suddenly being buzzed about in film circles has been the long-discussed notion of moving the Tribeca fest from the spring into the fall.

Though Jane Rosenthal flatly denies a Tribeca date change, a berth in October or November could build on the awards-season launch of Toronto, occupying what’s currently a dead zone on the fest calendar while also potentially stealing thunder from Sundance.

There are also reasons not to change dates: Events already planned could be hard to reschedule, and sponsors already lined up could change their minds.

But fall would also allow premieres for kudos hopefuls that miss Toronto, such as last year’s “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader” or “There Will Be Blood” in 2007.

Arguably, the biggest impact would be undercutting the New York Film Festival. The highly curated selection of 28 films, conceived during the creation of Lincoln Center in the 1960s as a domestic answer to Cannes and Venice, has laid claim to the fall for 46 years.

Geoff Gilmore arrived this month as chief creative officer at Tribeca Enterprises after ending a 20-year run at Sundance. Mara Manus, who spent six years as exec director of the Public Theater, took the top job at the Lincoln Center Film Society last fall.

Both entities have seen turnover associated with those moves. The film society’s No. 2 programmer, Kent Jones ankled, as did publicity vet Jeanne Berney. Slammed by the economy, the org recently had to cut 25% of its staff, including a lot of longtimers.

Meanwhile, Peter Scarlet left his post as creative director of Tribeca in February and has not been replaced. Gilmore’s role is larger than the fest, and the official line has been that he will leave day-to-day operations to others. Publicly, Tribeca reps insist they aren’t changing dates, noting their important new brand extension in Doha, Qatar, which launches this November under Gilmore. Running two fall fests half a world apart would be all but impossible, they say.

At the film society, however, rumors of the date shift have been making the rounds, and no one is counting out any possibility.

“There’s definitely a place for both of us,” Manus said of Tribeca.

From her first day, the biggest challenge for Manus, 49, has been refining exactly what that place should be.

“There’s been a perception that you need a Ph.D. and an apartment on the Upper West Side in order to appreciate our films,” she said during a rare sitdown in her office overlooking Amsterdam Avenue. ” ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ showed that great stories can come in any package.”

Manus has already stirred resentment in some cineaste circles by presiding over staff turnover and drawing attention to marketing and a concern for the bottom line. The fear is that the ultimate bastion of art cinema will drift too far downmarket, that the urge to shake off an elitist rep will tarnish what many in filmdom consider the highest temple of cinema.

Her critics would not necessarily be heartened to know that Manus and other Film Society execs just wrapped a trip to L.A., where they met with agencies and studios — something the org has never done before in its history. “It’s important that we have that dialogue,” she said. “The studios aren’t just making ‘Bachelor Party.’ “

The reference to Fox’s 1984 Tom Hanks comedy isn’t random. Before her long run at the Public and before that at the Ford Foundation, Manus worked as a production exec at Universal, reporting to comedy maven Sean Daniel, a Universal exec who oversaw “Animal House.”

One day Daniel told her she had to see Hanks, then an emerging star, in the Joe Roth-helmed “Bachelor Party.” “I laughed so hard at that screening,” she recalled.

Discovering comedy talent fulfilled an ambition Manus had since the age of 16 — to work as a studio exec or producer.

The Gotham-raised daughter of an entertainment lawyer and lit agent, she was steeped in showbiz. She didn’t hesitate when given a chance in her early 20s to work stints as an underling for Roger Corman and “Dog Day Afternoon” producer Marty Bregman.

Having quit the film biz “cold turkey,” in her words, in 1994, Manus returned to her Gotham roots and rekindled a love of world cinema. With her Hollywood days in a different perspective, she has nothing but praise for chief programmer Richard Pena.

While he remains firmly aboard in his longtime role, Pena has also become part of the speculation surrounding the Lincoln Center Film Society given that his contract expires in 2012.

A major weapon in Manus’ arsenal to retain both Pena and ticket buyers is the $38 million renovation that has transformed Alice Tully Hall from a bunkerlike mid-century monster into an inviting, glass-walled Broadway fixture. By 2011, it will also add two other small screening venues that will complement the recently revamped Walter Reade Theater.

As part of the larger remaking of Lincoln Center, the changes will also bring an array of new public spaces, flat screens and LED displays, all of which promise to make the New York Film Festival more accessible to the public. Internet ticketing, more aggressive marketing and even a change of the film society’s name — everything is on the table.

Manus sent a message by choosing Hanks, a quintessentially Hollywood figure, as the honoree for this year’s fund-raising gala, to be held in Tully. Gone is the traditional black-tie stuffiness of past galas honoring Charlie Chaplin and Woody Allen. In its place, Manus hopes, will be a welcome shot of energy from the venue and the crowd drawn by Hanks.

New facilities alone, however, won’t be the answer as competitors keep putting on the pressure, she acknowledged.

“What I’ve learned is that for cultural institutions, it’s the opposite of ‘Field of Dreams,’ ” she said. “If you build it, they may or may not come depending on how well the place is doing.”

Cuban actor Bobby Cannavale to star in "Weakness"

Cuban American actor Bobby Cannavale will join June Diane Raphael and Danielle Panabakerto star in the indie film “Weakness.”

Apropos Films is producing the project, a drama about a suburban high school teacher that loses his wife and his moorings during a summer break. Lily Rabe, Jason Jones and Liz Cackowski round out the supporting cast.

The film is the debut of Michael Melamedoff, who wrote and directed. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in June in New York.

Cannavale, repped by Endeavor and Framework Entertainment, stars in the TV series “Cupid,” which will debut March 31 on ABC. He appeared in “The Station Agent,” “Fast Food Nation” and “The Merry Gentleman.”

Raphael, repped by UTA and Authentic Talent and Literary Management, co-wrote and appeared in “Bride Wars.” She also co-stars in the comedy “The Year One,” which hits theaters in June.

Panabaker, repped by UTA and Management 360, most recently starred in the “Friday the 13th” remake. She also starred opposite James Woods in the CBS series “Shark” and is currently filming the horror movie “The Crazies.”

Apropos founder Alex Kaluzhsky and his partner, Lois Drabkin, recently produced “The Missing Person,” which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival.