Transformers 2 is No. 1, breaking holiday weekend tie

The big frakkin' robots appear to have won out over the woolly mammoths after all. Updated studio estimates released today show that Paramount's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was No. 1 in the photo-finish race for box-office supremacy this weekend, topping the domestic pack with $42.4 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

We reported yesterday that Transformers and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs were tied for the top spot when preliminary box-office estimates for the July 4 weekend were released.

Harry Potter stars honor murdered Half-Blood Prince co-star

The cast and crew of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will wear white ribbons on their wrists at the film's world premiere in Leicester Square Tuesday as a mark of respect to murdered actor Rob Knox, BBC News reported.

Knox, 18, who portrays Marcus Belby in the film, was stabbed in southeast London last May while defending his brother from an attack by Karl Bishop, who received four life terms in March.

Columnist Michael Cassutt overdoses on Star Trek's time-travel twists

Somewhere between watching the first half-hour of the new Star Trek film and, five days later, the season finale of Lost, something happened.

You know how it is when you have that second piece of dessert? It tastes great at the time. The sensory delights linger through the after-dinner drinks and through the evening ... right up to the moment when you step on the scale the next morning.

It can happen with stories, too. There are themes and high concepts you love, then you have one more than the standard adult requirement.

Why Hollywood stuntmen think The Matrix changed everything

Matrix producer Joel Silver changed the rules of the game and made Hollywood stunt history when he traveled to China to beg reluctant action director Yuen Wo-Ping to choreograph the fighting for the film, according to an informal poll by author Kevin Conley.

Megan Fox burns up the screen in R-rated Jennifer's Body trailer

Megan Fox, the hottest thing in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is even hotter as the demon-possessed high school cheerleader of Jennifer's Body—especially when she sticks her tongue in the flame of a cigarette lighter in the new "red-band trailer" released earlier today at ShockTillYouDrop.com. (Red-band trailers can be screened in theaters only when they accompany R-rated films, since the trailers themselves may contain strong language or sexual situations.)

The teen horror flick, written by Diablo Cody, the Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Juno, won't hit theaters until Sept. 18, 2009, but you can view the new trailer after the jump.

Watchmen's Zack Snyder previews director's cut: easter eggs, bloopers and more

If two hours and 42 minutes of Watchmen wasn't enough for you, you can enjoy about half an hour more on the upcoming director's cut DVD/Blu-ray, which is due this month, and director Zack Snyder promises that he'll personally guide you through the film's byzantine storyline, reveal secrets and bloopers and more.

"I think it'll really help you go, 'Wow, they meant all that,'" Snyder said in an exclusive interview with SCI FI Wire last week in Burbank, Calif. "I think a lot of people see movies and they think, 'Wow, that's random.' I think the truth is when you watch this, you realize that none of it's by accident."

Eureka's Colin Ferguson on going behind the camera for the first time

When SCI FI's original series Eureka returns on Friday with a run of 10 new episodes, one will mark the directorial debut of Colin Ferguson, who stars as Sheriff Carter.

The episode was actually the first of the new episodes to be shot, but it will not be the first to air: Producers scheduled "Your Face or Mine" first, so that Ferguson could use the week prior to filming for preproduction. Were he midway through the season, he would be acting while the next episode went into prep.

Review: How RiffTrax makes the epic fail of Plan 9 epic fun

As the horror/punk/metal/thrash band the Murderdolls sang, "You can knock on Ed Wood, but it won't do you no good."

What's the point of making fun of Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space? The movie about super-advanced aliens rising the dead—which features a posthumous performance by Bela Lugosi courtesy of Mrs. Wood's chiropractor acting as a body double for the late actor—is considered to be the worst and most unintentionally funny movie ever made (with no diss to the glory that is Troll 2).

And Wood is considered the worst filmmaker of all time. Plan 9 and Ed Wood's legacy have endured because they need no ribbing. The movie is the crystallized vision of Wood in all his demented glory. Plan 9 isn't fascinating just because it's bad. It's fascinating because of the mind-boggling and kind of touching sincerity that Wood brought to the material. It's great in its awfulness, and watching it is funny because it's what we now call an "epic fail," the striving for greatness totally beyond the striver's ability.

How Virgin's Jane Lynch brings her own brand of funny to sci-fi spoof Paul

After sending up the traditions of zombie movies in Shaun of the Dead and cop movies in Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are about to make use of all their sci-fi movie knowledge in Paul, an alien satire they wrote and star in.

Directed by Greg Mottola, Paul centers on their characters, two comic-book geeks who go on a road trip to visit famous sites from sci-fi lore, in the course of which they encounter co-star Jane Lynch.

Transformers, Ice Age in Fourth of July tie for top slot

It's going to be close: Preliminary box-office estimates for the July 4 weekend show that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are tied for the top spot, with an estimated $42.5 million in domestic ticket sales each, the Associated Press reported.

Whether that tie will remain on Monday, when final figures are reported, remains to be seen.

Johnny Depp and Christian Bale's gangster epic Public Enemies, meanwhile, debuted in third place, with $26.2 million.