BOX OFFICE RECAP

In a photo finish that had studios initially reporting the incorrect winner, ‘Clash of the Titans’ narrowly edged out the new Tina Fey and Steve Carell comedy ‘Date Night’ to claim the title of box office king for the second straight week. ‘Titans’ hauled in $26.6 million, while ‘Date Night’ fell just short, taking in $25.2 million.

Coming in third place but still performing strongly in its second week of release, DreamWorks Animation’s ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ dropped a mere 14 percent to take in $24.9 million. So far, the critically acclaimed animated adventure has earned a total of $133.4 million in 17 days.

MOVIE NEWS

The main trio of stars from the hit comedy ‘The Hangover’ have all officially signed on to appear in a sequel that Warner Bros. is hoping to release Memorial Day weekend of 2011. Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms will each be paid approximately $5 million in addition to a percentage of the film’s gross. They earned less than $1 million collectively for the original film.

Robert De Niro has been cast to play iconic NFL coach Vince Lombardi in the feature film ‘Lombardi.’ The script, which will be written by Eric Roth (‘Forrest Gump’), will focus on how Lombardi became coach of the horrendous Green Bay Packers and ended up transforming them into a team that won five NFL championships in seven years.

After an exhausting casting search, Chris Evans has finally agreed to a deal in which he will portray the title character in the upcoming superhero flick ‘The First Avenger: Captain America.’ It’s an interesting choice considering Evans has already played superhero Johnny Storm in the two ‘Fantastic Four’ films. Filming is set to begin in late June and Joe Johnston (‘The Wolfman’) will direct.

More details have emerged on the highly anticipated sequel ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.’ British actor Ian McShane will portray the film’s villain, Blackbeard, who producer Jerry Bruckheimer says is ‘the nastiest pirate ever.’ Bruckheimer also revealed that Penelope Cruz will be playing Blackbeard’s daughter and hinted that there will be a small romantic storyline between Captain Jack Sparrow and Cruz’s character. The film is scheduled for a May 20, 2011 release.

In a surprise announcement, Warner Bros. executive Alan Horn recently confirmed that a new film in the ‘Final Destination’ franchise is in development. Considering the last film was titled ‘The Final Destination,’ most inferred that it would be the last of the series. This new entry would be the fifth film in the profitable comedy-horror franchise.