Cameron Mackintosh confirms ANNE HATHAWAY to join Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe in star-studded LES MISERABLES film!!!

As first reported exclusively by BroadwayWorld back in August, actress Anne Hathaway will join the upcoming film version of LES MISÉRABLES alongside Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.

"I'd been hoping we could make a film on LES MISÉRABLES ever since it opened on Broadway... I've got a marvelous cast so far with Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert and Anne Hathaway as Fantine," producer Cameron Mackintosh told BBC Radio today. "We're busy casting the rest of the parts."

In addition to hosting this year's Oscars and being set to appear in the upcoming Batman: The Dark Night sequel, Anne Hathaway's film credits include 'The Princess Diaries,' 'Brokeback Mountain,' 'The Devil Wears Prada,' 'Becoming Jane,' 'Alice in Wonderland,' and 'Rachel Getting Married,' for which she was nominated for an Academy Award.

Hathaway played Viola in Shakespeare in the Park's 2009 production of TWELFTH NIGHT. She also appeared as Lili in CARNIVAL! at Encores, and was in some of the workshops for last season's PROMISES, PROMISES. 

The film aims to start filming in March under the direction of Tom Hooper. 

Les Miserables originally opened in London at the Barbican Theatre on 8 October 1985, transferred to the Palace Theatre on 4 December 1985 and moved to its current home at the Queen's Theatre on 3 April 2004. When LES MISÉRABLES celebrated its 21st London birthday on 8 October 2006, it became the World's Longest Running Musical, surpassing the record previously held by "Cats" in London's West End. In January 2010, the West End production broke another record by celebrating its historic 10,000th performance.

Source: Broadwayworld.com

HUGH JACKMAN | Back On Broadway singing and dancing

Tony Award-winner Hugh Jackman will return to the New York stage this month in Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway, playing October 25, 2011 to January 1, 2012 at The Broadhurst Theatre. Today, Jackman hosted a press event and below, BroadwayWorld brings you video of the performance preview and company interviews below! Stay tuned for complete photo coverage coming soon!

Accompanied by an 18-piece orchestra, Jackman will perform a personal selection of his favorite musical numbers that reflect on the stage and film star's remarkable life and career, from The Boy from Oz to Hollywood.

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway follows recent sold-out runs in San Francisco and Toronto.

The creative team for Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway includes Warren Carlyle (Musical Staging and Choreography), Patrick Vaccariello (Musical Direction), John Lee Beatty (Scenic Designer), Ken Billington (Lighting Design), William Ivey Long (Costume Designer), John Shivers (Sound Design), and Alexander V. Nichols (Projection and Video Design).

Hugh Jackman, Back on Broadway is produced by Robert Fox and The Shubert Organization.

Tickets are on sale at www.Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200

See Hugh in rehearsals at http://broadwayworld.com/getvideoembed.cfm?colid=291697

Source: Broadwayworld.com

One of the best films I've seen!!! “REAL STEEL” opens spectacularly at NO.1, grosses P48.28-M in 5 days!!!

MANILA, Oct. 17 – DreamWorks Pictures' robot-boxing action ride “Real Steel” punched up a no. 1 opening in the country, grossing a knockout P48.28-million nationwide opening weekend for the Oct. 12-18 frame. This was announced today by Victor R. Cabrera, managing director of Walt Disney Studios Philippines, the film's local distributor.

With that spectacular opening, “Real Steel” broke the record for all-time biggest October weekend, beating 2008’s “High School Musical: Senior Year” at P31.6-M and 2009’s “Michael Jackson's This Is It” with P26.2M.

The Hugh Jackman-starrer also posted the 5th biggest live action opening from Disney, right after “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (P71.3M), “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (P65.6M), “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (P62.3M) and “Prince of Persia” (P60.8M).

“Real Steel” predominantly captured the family market as its Saturday (Oct. 14) and Sunday (Oct. 15) grosses surged to P13.9M and P15.2M, respectively. It’s Wednesday to Friday bow collected a strong P19.2-M from the male and teen demographics.

Bowing in 184 screens nationwide, “Real Steel” reaped its biggest receipts from SM Mall of Asia (P3.39-M), Trinoma (P2.78-M), SM North EDSA (P2.18-M), SM Megamall (P1.87-M), Power Plant (P1.61-M), Glorietta 4 (P1.58-M), SM Cebu (P1.50-M), Newport Cinemas (P1.33-M), Eastwood Mall (P1.17-M) and Alabang Town Center (P1.11-M).

Rounding up the Top 20 cinemas are Robinsons Ermita (P1.10-M), Greenbelt 3 (P1.04-M), Gateway Mall (P1.03-M), Greenhills (P1.00-M), Shang Cineplex (P940,077), Robinsons Galleria (P895,021), Ayala Cebu (P841,220), SM Fairview (P795,470), Festival Mall (P794,553) and Market! Market! (P679,813).

In “Real Steel,” Jackman stars as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up boxer in the near future who, because his sport has been taken over by 8-foot steel robots, now lives in a world where he doesn’t fit in. With no fights and no prospects, Charlie is forced to hustle as a small-time robot fight promoter. He earns just enough money to survive by piecing together low-end “bots” and traveling from one seamy underground boxing venue to the next for whatever prizefight he can wrangle for his automatons. Just when things can’t become any more desperate and complicated, his estranged, tough-beyond-his-years son Max (Dakota Goyo) suddenly and unwillingly comes back into his life.

The alienated duo reluctantly team up to rebuild and train a scrap-heap robot and turn it into a boxing contender. As stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred fighting arenas are raised, against all odds Charlie gets one last shot at a comeback.

Still playing across the Philippines in IMAX, 2D and regular theaters, “Real Steel” is a DreamWorks Picture distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.

Box office report: 'Real Steel' is the champion with $27.3 mil

Real Steel showed what it was made of, as the robot-boxing action drama won the weekend with an estimated $27.3 million. That’s the strongest opening ever for a boxing-themed picture, beating Rocky IV‘s $20 million debut in 1985 (when not adjusting for inflation).

DreamWorks’ $110 million film, which was released by Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, scored a superb “A” rating from CinemaScore graders. That bodes well for the movie’s box-office stamina, especially since there are no other major family films hitting theaters until Puss in Boots pounces on Oct. 28.

Unsurprisingly for a movie about mechanical fighters beating up one another, Real Steel skewed male — 66 percent of the audience according to Disney. It also attracted a younger crowd, with 44 percent under the age of 25. The PG-13 movie’s respectable opening must also come as a relief to star Hugh Jackman, who hasn’t had a non-X-Men film open to more than $20 million since 2004′s Van Helsing.

In second with $10.4 million was the political thriller The Ides of March. The R-rated film — which George Clooney directed, co-wrote, and co-stars in along with Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Evan Rachel Wood, and Marisa Tomei — particularly appealed to older women. According to Sony, 58 percent of the audience was female and 60 percent was over the age of 35. The $12.5 million movie earned a “B” grade from CinemaScore participants, which is a bit lower than expected considering its awards buzz and positive reviews. The Ides of March will need to hold up well the next few weeks if it wants to keep its Oscar hopes alive.

The rest of the top five consisted of prior releases that all dropped around (a very commendable) 35 percent from last week. In third place, the family film Dolphin Tale slipped 34 percent for $9.2 million, pushing the film’s cumulative tally to $49.1 million. The Brad Pitt baseball drama Moneyball, a critical darling, grossed $7.5 million for a 38 percent decline. And the well-reviewed cancer comedy 50/50, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, fell 36 percent for $5.5 million.

In limited release, the why-does-this-movie-exist horror sequel The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence stitched together a decent $54,000 from 18 theaters, with most locations only offering late-night showings.

1. Real Steel — $27.3 mil

2. The Ides of March — $10.4 mil

3. Dolphin Tale — $9.2 mil

4. Moneyball — $7.5 mil

5. 50/50 — $5.5 mil

Source: Entertainment Weekly | John Young

Young Thor now plays HUGH JACKMAN'S son in “REAL STEEL”

He was most recently seen as Young Thor opposite Anthony Hopkins in the Marvel Studios hit “Thor,” directed by Kenneth Branagh. Now, 11-year-old actor Dakota Goyo stars in DreamWorks Pictures' action-adventure “Real Steel” as Hugh Jackman's precocious son, Max.

“Real Steel” revolves around Charlie Kenton (Jackman), a washed-up boxer in the near-future who, because his sport has been taken over by 8-foot steel robots, now lives in a world where he doesn’t fit in. With no fights and no prospects, he is forced to hustle as a small-time robot fight promoter. He earns just enough money to survive by piecing together low-end “bots” and traveling from one seamy underground boxing venue to the next for whatever prizefight he can wrangle for his automatons. Just when things can’t become any more desperate and complicated, his estranged 10-year-old son Max suddenly and unwillingly comes back into his life.

For the role of Max, the son who was abandoned early in his life by Jackman’s character, the filmmakers auditioned hundreds of boys and found many exceptional young actors. “We always had the feeling that there would be a kid out there who would be talented and who would have the right look, but would have that little something extra, something that you can’t quite put your finger on but is magic up on the screen,” says director Shawn Levy.

The filmmakers put out an APB casting search and as Jackman relates, “When Dakota came in, Shawn and I were really taken aback. There’s something very soulful about him. The camera just sees right into his soul. He allows the camera inside, which for a young man of his age is very rare. He’s got an angelic quality about his face. He’s naturally very outgoing and a naturally happy kid. And he’s very respectful and sweet. On the screen and off-screen, he’s a really special person.”

Executive producer Steven Spielberg also saw a quality in Dakota that he looks for when casting actors for his films. He explains, “When I saw Dakota’s test, I just saw a real kid. I didn’t see an actor. You know you can just tell when somebody’s real and that’s what I look for when I cast adults or kids.”

Dakota auditioned four times for the role of Max: twice on tape and twice in person in Los Angeles. In L.A., he had the opportunity to work with Hugh Jackman and says of the experience, “I wasn’t nervous around Hugh because he is a great, awesome guy. He’s so polite and he’s always prepared to do his work. I’m really excited when I work with him because he’s just really extraordinary.”

Dakota hails from Toronto, Canada. At an early age, he discovered a passion for acting and playing in front of the camera. This passion, along with Dakota’s tremendous work ethic and natural acting talent, has led him to a burgeoning film career at the young age of 11.

Opening across the Philippines on Oct. 12 in IMAX, 2D and regular theaters, “Real Steel” is a DreamWorks Picture distributed locally by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International.