Director David Fincher’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” kicks off the screen adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s blockbuster Millennium Trilogy, the epic series of thrillers that have sold 65,000,000 copies in 46 countries. First published in 2005, shortly after Larsson’s own death, the first novel in the series, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo introduced readers to financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist and avenging hacker Lisbeth Salander (played in the film by Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, respectively).

With Salander, Larsson forged a heroine unlike any who had come before in the wide-ranging world of crime thrillers – a punk prodigy whose appearance warns people to stay away, who doesn’t interact “normally” with others, yet whose personal link to those who have been violated lures her into helping Mikael solve the disappearance of young heiress Harriet Vanger. Her pursuit of retribution and her tenuous partnership with Mikael would become the core of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and the two books that followed – The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

Fincher and screenwriter Steven Zaillian aimed at staying true to Larsson’s unflinching focus on the corporate, societal and personal corrosion Mikael and Lisbeth confront as they descend deeper into the question of Harriet Vanger’s vanishing. Zaillian took his inspiration directly from Larsson’s words. “The script was cut whole cloth from the novel,” says Fincher. Faced with the necessity of compacting the first book’s intricate plot, they also honed in on what has made the Millennium novels so alluring to people around the world. “The thing we were interested in most were these two characters, Blomkvist and Salander, who powered the books to be the cultural phenomenon they are,” Fincher says. “There was a lot of juice there, a lot of friction and a lot of dramatic possibility.”

Adds Zaillian: “Lisbeth is a great, unusual character, but I think it if the books were only about her, they wouldn’t work as well as they do. It’s the way her story and Blomkvist’s come together, and what they each are going through, that makes the books so resonant.”

Fincher and Zaillian had no interest in withholding any grit from the book’s scenes of brutality and revenge. “We were committed to the tack that this is a movie about violence against women, about specific kinds of degradation, and you can’t shy away from that,” Fincher says. “But at the same time you have to walk a razor thin line so that the audience can viscerally feel the need for revenge but also see the power of the ideas being expressed.”

This is precisely what Larsson had achieved with the novels, drawing readers into themes of corrupted power, misogyny, intolerance, fanaticism, globalization, social welfare, justice and judgment through the twists and turns of Mikael and Lisbeth’s renegade investigation. Says Rooney Mara, who won the role of Lisbeth Salander: “I think people are more intrigued by the under-workings of society than they’re willing to admit. They’re interested in the dark secrets people and societies hold. `The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ has that component combined with these two outsider characters people really, really love.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International.

Visit http://www.columbiapictures.com.ph for trailers, exclusive content and free downloads. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

A formidable line-up of A-list actors have enlisted for the party of the year in New Line Cinema’s romantic comedy “New Year’s Eve.” They are Jon Bon Jovi, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron and Ashton Kutcher.

Director Gary Marshall reunited with his “Valentine’s Day” screenwriter Katherine Fugate to bring audiences the quintessential film about the beloved holiday, “New Year’s Eve.” “We wanted a story of first love and one of forgiveness, as well as stories about taking a risk, letting things go, revisiting an old flame, making amends, having a baby, starting fresh… with love being the mitigating force through all of them,” explains Fugate.

The focal point for all this “New Year’s Eve” action is the countdown to 2012, represented by the ceremonial “ball drop” in Times Square. But the ball drop is only part of the show. The evening’s headline act, rock superstar Jensen, is set to kick off the festivities at 12:01 following an earlier gig at a private party nearby. Jensen is played by the multi-talented Jon Bon Jovi.

But even single-named international rock stars have problems and what’s troubling Jensen on this festive night is a heartache he’s been carrying too long, over a woman he left behind for the wrong reasons. “Now he’s trying to think of a way back into her life, a way to get back into her good graces, if that’s even possible,” Bon Jovi explains.

Ashton Kutcher plays Randy, a too-cool-to-care killjoy who has nothing good to say about anything, and especially about New Year’s Eve, against which he seems to hold some kind of grudge. Kutcher admits, “He’s a bit of a jerk. His holiday plan is to stay home and avoid the whole celebration because all the amateur partiers are crowding the streets—all those guys who don’t go out all year and then suddenly go bananas on New Year’s Eve—and he thinks he’s above all that.”

The story then moves to a man who has reason to feel even more cynicism. Confined to a hospital bed, Stan, played by Robert De Niro, is an acclaimed photojournalist who spectacularly cheated death in war zones around the world throughout his hard-driving career but is now coming to terms with an enemy he can’t evade. Stan admits to having alienated everyone he’s ever known. Now, refusing treatment, he is determined to hold on just long enough to watch the ball drop in Times Square one last time. Alone.

Zac Efron plays a confident young bike messenger named Paul who shares an adventure with Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), an overlooked assistant who finally summons the courage to quit her job. If Paul provides the wheels and resourcefulness Ingrid needs to beat the clock, then she, in turn, can offer him the one thing he covets most on this night of revelry: tickets to the hottest party in town, the Ahern Records Masked Ball. Intended for her ungrateful boss, the tickets were the last thing Ingrid purposefully picked up on her way out the door.

Efron sees Paul as “an energetic, fun-loving guy who prides himself on being a wheeler-dealer, a guy who gets things done and nothing breaks his stride. When Ingrid strikes this deal with him, he knows he’s definitely the man for the job. But along the way, the party becomes secondary to what turns out to be an amazing New Year’s Eve, and he spends every minute of it helping her and making her happy. It’s a real testament to the power of spreading joy.”

Meanwhile, as these stories unfold, one New Yorker is desperately trying to get back into the city for two very important appointments. Sam, played by a tuxedoed Josh Duhamel, has just attended his best friend’s wedding in Connecticut and is driving back, pondering the direction of his life, when he collides with a road sign. Out of towing distance and with no body shops or rental agencies available on this special day, he’s forced to take an unconventional route home that could turn out to be the course-correction he needs most.

The evening is especially meaningful as it’s the first New Year’s Eve his family is commemorating since losing Sam’s father, and Sam is set to speak in his place at their annual gathering. As much as this weighs on his mind, he also can’t help thinking about the fascinating woman he met by chance on this very night one year ago.

“She wouldn’t give him her number. She said things were complicated for her and that if he was still interested next year they could meet at the same spot, same time,” Duhamel reveals. “As much as he thinks it’s crazy and tries to dismiss the idea, he wonders if she’ll be there now… and if she’ll be looking for him.”

Opening across the Philippines on December 2011, “New Year’s Eve” is a New Line Cinema presentation distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

In 2006, a movie came along that not only delighted audiences, but had them tapping their toes and singing heartsongs. “Happy Feet” was an unqualified global hit that appealed to critics and audiences of all ages. The film went on to earn numerous awards, culminating in the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature.

It also fueled greater efforts for environmental and wildlife conservation and even entered the modern lexicon, with “happy feet” becoming a synonym for tap dancing, its star Mumble’s particular talent.

Director George Miller explains, “I often say that these stories are for the adult in the child and the child in the adult. I think one of the reasons why ‘Happy Feet’ resonated is that it had a kind of nourishment to it, with the time-honored ideas of being true to yourself, being brave and trying to treat the world and yourself with respect.”

The idea for the story of the sequel “Happy Feet 2” actually began even as Miller and his team were putting the finishing touches on the first film. “When you work on a film like that for so long, you actually fall in love with the characters. As you’re thinking about them, new stories arise, which is what led to ‘Happy Feet 2.’ It was surprisingly easy to go back there, and so much fun hanging out with them once again.”

But Miller, who directed, produced, and also co-wrote the film with writers Gary Eck, Warren Coleman and Paul Livingston, aimed to do much more than simply return to Antarctica with Mumble, Gloria and the other penguins. He explains, “I think what a storyteller wants from every film is to have the audience somehow experience something that they can relate to, so that they can see their own lives through it. I think this new film—which is about family and community—gives them the opportunity to be able to do that through the characters of the penguins.”

In the new film, Miller wanted to imbue even more physical comedy and action, while staying true to the spirit of the first movie. “‘Happy Feet 2’ has all the singing and dancing and beautiful Antarctic landscape, but there are new characters of every dimension, from the largest scale to very tiny creatures,” he says. In fact, the tiniest of the film’s creatures are voiced by two of today’s biggest stars: Brad Pitt and Matt Damon as Will and Bill The Krill.

As the story opens, the vocally challenged but choreographically gifted Mumble, once again voiced by Elijah Wood, and the golden-throated Gloria, voiced by Alecia Moore (P!nk), are parents. Mumble’s own difficult adolescence, however, did not prepare him to be the ideal dad. His son is a fluffy fledgling named Erik, who seems disinterested in dancing, while the rest of the Emperor nation is movin’ and groovin’. But when Mumble encourages him to try tripping the light fantastic, Erik simply trips over his own feet… landing him head first in the snow and the object of derision. Erik hides in shame, and Mumble’s attempts to reassure his self-doubting son only make matters worse.

George Miller observes, “Mumble is now a parent, and the tables have turned on him. Now he has the problem of being a father with a child who doesn’t completely conform to the way Mumble thinks his son should be! And he truly wants to connect with his son. We all think when we become parents that somehow, we’ll know how to do better than our parents did. And, of course, we often make the same mistakes, because there’s no real instruction manual about how to be a good parent. And that’s what I speculated in the story would happen with Mumble.”

But the filmmakers ratcheted up the stakes: Mumble not only has to find his way through fatherhood, he ultimately must find a way to save the entire Emperor community, pitting penguin against nature. Violent shifts in the glacial landscape are threatening the Emperors’ very survival, and it falls to Mumble to rally creatures both great and small, to save them.

Opening across the Philippines in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular theaters, “Happy Feet 2” is distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

Alexander Skarsgard isn’t the first acting hunk to be compared to Brad Pitt.

But the Swede might be one of the few who’s up to the task. Known as “True Blood’s” icy-hot Viking vampire, Eric, he is preparing to take a bite out of the box office with Columbia Pictures’ new suspense thriller “Straw Dogs.”

The film transplants the chilling 1971 Dustin Hoffman-led movie into the sweaty, close-knit Deep South. Skarsgard, 35, plays local football hero Charlie, whose lust for actress ex-girlfriend Amy (Kate Bosworth) turns violent once she returns home with writer husband David (James Marsden).

“It’s about territory,” says Skarsgard, whose powerful physique, known well to HBO’s “True Blood” fans, is showcased in the film. “(Amy) shows up with a writer from Hollywood who’s completely different, completely cerebral and not a real man in Charlie’s eyes.” Charlie puts David to the test, convinced Amy is his.

“From an acting point of view, he reminds me of Paul Newman in `Hud.’ And from a charisma point of view, he reminds me of Brad Pitt in `Thelma and Louise,’” says director Rod Lurie. Like the 1971 “Straw Dogs” original, Charlie assists in a violent siege on David and Amy’s home, but because of Skarsgard, “you understand finally what she saw in the guy in the first place,” says Lurie.

Skarsgard has come a long way. As a child actor in Sweden (his parents are actor Stellan Skarsgard and his first wife, My, a doctor), he quit the business at 13, uneasy with fame. Instead, Skarsgard finished school, spent time in the Swedish Navy, attended college in England and moved to New York at 21 to begin theater training. After returning to Sweden to launch his acting career as an adult, he visited Los Angeles, where his father’s manager suggested that he audition for a film for “fun.” That movie was 2001′s “Zoolander.”

The small part led to others, including his breakthrough role in HBO mini-series “Generation Kill.” The rest is shirtless, fang-induced history.

When Lurie, who had never seen “True Blood,” first met Skarsgard in Hollywood, he looked “very European,” the director recalls. “Tight clothes, all white. He had long blond hair, that sort of sweet smile. Almost the opposite of the character he was going to play.”

Lurie told him he’d have to beef up to play Charlie. Skarsgard promised he’d eat a lot of red meat. “I didn’t realize the Adonis-like nature of what I was going to see,” Lurie says. On location in Louisiana., “women were driving down from as far away as St. Louis just to sit in the lobby and watch him walk out. ”

But under the veneer of the film’s good looks is an emotional rape scene, which Skarsgard says is a stark difference between the modern film and its predecessor. To his character, Charlie, the violent act is not a rape but rather ” a love scene,” Skarsgard says.

In December, Skarsgard returns to the “True Blood” set to begin Season 5. With fans, Skarsgard has only one rule: “No, I don’t bite,” he says with a laugh. “If I do that once and there’s a picture of me biting a fan, then I’m going to end up doing that for 30 years.”

Opening soon across the Philippines, “Straw Dogs” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

Meet Jess Day, an offbeat yet sweet 20-something year old who after a bad breakup moves in with three single guys. Clumsy, goofy, optimistic and honest to a fault, Jess chooses to see the good in people even when she shouldn’t. This dorky and awkward school teacher is comfortable in her own skin and is about to get a lesson on being “one of the boys.” Played by movie actress Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer) who makes her television debut, Jess is the lead character of ETC’s newest sitcom New Girl that airs every Fridays  7PM match aired with the U.S.

Nick (Jake Johnson), the most grounded of Jess’s new roommates is usually the smartest guy in the room. A dreamer, he had big plans for life, but somewhere along the way he stopped caring and became a bartender. Schmidt (Max Greenfield) is a sweet-talking young professional who thinks himself as a smooth operator with the ladies. Though his heart is generally in the right place, he’s always scheming ways to get ahead in society and be part of the “in” crowd. Then there is Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.), a former high school athlete who currently works as a personal trainer. Set in his ways, he is most comfortable when he’s in the gym.

Rounding out this group is Jess’ childhood best friend, Cece (Hannah Simone). The complete opposite to Jess, she is a straight-faced, somewhat cynical model with the street smarts her friend lacks. Dishing out no-nonsense relationship advice she acts as the voice of reason for Jess.

Created by Liz Meriwether (screenwriter, No Strings Attached), New Girl features a young ensemble cast that looks to take a fresh and outrageous look at modern male/female relationships. These five friends will soon realize that to get through life they need each other more than they thought they would.

Hijo, the newest band to hit the local music scene with some familiar faces, signed a record deal with the number one music company in the Philippines- MCA Music (an affiliate of Universal Music Group). It is composed of ex-Bamboo members Nathan Azarcon, now on vocals and bass, Vic Mercado on drums, Ira Cruz, Radioactive Sago Project’s Junji Lerma on guitars, and Jay Orduña on keyboard.

“We are so glad we found a label that shares the same vision we have. We found a new home in MCA,” Nathan said.

Hijo joins MCA Music’s roster of the Philippines’ top bands which includes Urbandub, Franco and Chicosci. The label is also home to top international bands like Maroon5, All Time Low, Superheavy, Neon Trees, among others.

Watch out as MCA Music releases their debut album which the band describes as “Kung Fu Rock.” It will also include the single “Tamalee” which charted on top music channel MYX.

Tommy Bollinger is an athletic, flamboyant art director at GQ Magazine played to profanely funny perfection by Woody Harrelson, in Columbia Pictures’ racy, romantic comedy “Friends with Benefits” which also stars Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis.

In the film, Dylan (Timberlake) and Jamie (Kunis) think it’s going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. As two people weaned on the disappointing promises of rom-coms, Dylan and Jamie shouldn’t be entirely surprised when their bold move becomes a bawdy, sexy ride into uncharted territory, exposing much more of themselves than they ever thought they’d get to see. And they soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications.

Serving as both court jester and sage for Dylan is his new co-worker Tommy. Says director Will Gluck, “Tommy’s a strange character to play and I don’t think Woody’s ever played it before. I don’t think anyone’s quite played this character. Only someone like Woody can pull it off.”

Harrelson says it took him a bit to devise an approach for such an outrageous character. “It took me a second to really get it,” Harrelson explains. “The thing that was interesting to me about Tommy is that he’s kind of a guy’s guy. Like one of these guys who talks about girls in a pretty graphic terminology, but as a gay man.”

Laughing, Harrelson adds, “He says stuff that I can’t believe we shot.”

There were plenty of laughs on set when Harrelson was working, enthuses Kunis. ”Woody cracks me up like no other,” says the actress. “I cannot do a scene with him because I just start laughing. He looks at me and I just start laughing.” Timberlake had the same problem in a scene with Harrelson, trying to keep a straight face. “It’s a real challenge to just Buster Keaton the whole thing, when you’re sort of dying inside,” he says.

Although world audiences first fell in love with Harrelson through the much revered sit-com “Cheers,” he has more recently been seen in, and has received much acclaim for, his work in dramatic roles, such as his recent Oscar®-nominated turn in “The Messenger.” Working on “Friends with Benefits” has rekindled his love for comedy. “It’s like coming to work in a playground, you know?” the actor says. “I haven’t felt quite that extreme since `Cheers’ where everybody is always trying to come up with new things to make a scene funnier. Will is just a great director. He really has a sense of comedy that’s extraordinary and comes up with amazing ideas on the spur of the moment.”

Gluck gives full credit to Harrelson and the rest of the cast, though, when the spirit of creativity is in the air. “I try to do the script that was written, then after the first or second take I just keep yelling out different things to try,” he says. “A lot of that has to do with working with such good actors. They make it so easy because pretty much anything they say is going to be good and funny.”

Opening across the Philippines on Sept. 28, “Friends with Benefits” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.

From the director of the acclaimed 2009 hip comedy “Zombieland” comes Columbia Pictures’ new quirky, action comedy “30 Minutes or Less” starring Jesse Eisenberg and Danny McBride.

In the film, Nick (Eisenberg) is a small town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wannabe criminal masterminds (McBride and Nick Swardson). The lowlifes kidnap Nick and strap a time bomb to him – with the promise that they’ll blow him up unless he robs a bank. With only a few hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers, and their own tumultuous relationship.

“30 Minutes or Less” began the road to the screen when the original action-comedy screenplay landed on the prestigious Black List, an inside-Hollywood tally of the best unproduced screenplays. Director Ruben Fleischer says that everyone involved with the project was first lured by the inventive spark of the screenplay and story. “It had a really original voice,” says the director. “I was excited to read a movie that wasn’t a straightforward, predictable comedy – it was hard to know where this movie was going when I was reading it.

“The movie is an action comedy, but the subject is inherently dark, because of the premise of a guy getting a bomb strapped to his chest,” says Fleischer. “The comedy comes in how that situation affects the relationship between Nick and Chet. In turn, the action heightens the circumstances of the comedy. A really funny conversation in the midst of a car chase or a bank robbery takes it up a notch. Funny people elevate the material with everything they bring to the table.”

For the writers, the chance to find the humor in a very dark situation was irresistible. “It’s a life-or-death situation – these guys could get blown up,” says Michael Diliberti. “And into that, we put in our characters, two guys who really haven’t been living their lives to the fullest. What if two guys who really have nothing to live for had to put their lives on the line? We thought that idea was really ripe for comedy.”

For his part, Fleischer says he was attracted to the project by a unique combination of factors – not least of which are the story and the characters. “I hadn’t ever seen a story like this before, but more importantly, the characters were very specific – I’d never seen characters like Nick or Chet or Dwayne or Travis before,” Fleischer continues. “I thought these were the kind of roles that actors would love to play, and that proved to be true – Danny and Jesse and Nick and Aziz were all really excited about it.”

For Fleischer, casting those four main roles was key. “I feel like I have a good sense of casting, of finding the right people for the parts, then letting them shine and do what they do,” he says. When the cameras began to roll, playing the “double buddy” comedy roles would be Jesse Eisenberg as Nick, the pizza guy; Aziz Ansari as Chet, his estranged best friend; Danny McBride as Dwayne, a lowlife with big dreams and a poorly hatched plan; and Nick Swardson as Travis, the beta male to Dwayne’s alpha.

Opening soon across the Philippines, “30 Minutes or Less” is distributed by Columbia Pictures, local office of Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit www.sonypictures.com.ph to see the latest trailers, get free downloads and play free movie games. Like us at www.Facebook.com/ColumbiaPicturesPH and join our fan contests.