BBC Radio 4's Ian Fleming Centenary Celebrations Begin

Ian Fleming turns 100 and BBC Radio 4 is planning to celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming with an array of different 007-themed programmes in the next few days

Beginning tomorrow, ‘The Bond Correspondence’ will kick things off at 10:30am. Here, Lucy Fleming embarks upon a quest to discover more about her mysterious uncle and creator of James Bond—Ian Fleming.

The second programme (also scheduled for the 24th of May) is an all-star dramatisation of Fleming’s Doctor No. Toby Stephens stars as 007 and David Suchet is the villainous Dr. No in the first ever full radio adaptation of Fleming’s 1958 novel.

The third, scheduled at 8:00pm on 26 May is ‘James Bond, The Last Englishmen’. Here, Professor David Cannadine argues that the Bond novels are a fantastic response to the moment when Britain lost an Empire but was still struggling to find a role in the new world.

To keep track of these upcoming programmes, visit the special Ian Fleming section on the Radio 4 website.

Further details on the Bond programmes follow below:

Ian Fleming

‘The Bond Correspondence’

Saturday 24 May 2008
10:30-11:00 (Radio 4 FM)

Lucy Fleming embarks upon a quest to discover more about her mysterious uncle Ian, creator of James Bond. Archive letters and conversations with people who knew him, including his wartime girlfriend and stepdaughter, reveal a rather different character to the image portrayed in the press. Roger Moore plays Ian Fleming’s voice.

‘Doctor No’

Saturday 24 May 2008
2:30 (Radio 4 FM)

By Ian Fleming, dramatised by Hugh Whitemore

A celebration of Ian Fleming’s centenary with this ‘radio movie’ of his 1958 novel.

Bond is sent to investigate a strange disappearance on the island of Jamaica, and discovers that the heart of the mystery lies with a sinister recluse known as ‘Dr No’.

• ‘M’ …… John Standing
• Moneypenny …… Janie Dee
• James Bond ……Toby Stephens
• The Armourer …… Peter Capaldi
• Chief of Staff …… Nicky Henson
• Airport Announcer/Receptionist/Inika …… Leigh Wright
• Airport Official/Pus-Feller/Henchman …… Kobna Holdbrook-Smith
• Quarrel …… Clarke Peters
• Miss Chung/ Sister Lily …… Kosha Engler
• Pleydell Smith …… Samuel West
• Miss Taro/Telephonist/ Sister May/Tennis girl …… Jordanna Tin
• Librarian …… Lucy Fleming
• Honey Rider …… Lisa Dillon
• Guard/Henchman/Crane Driver …… Jon David Yu
• Dr No …… David Suchet
• Acting Governor of Jamaica …… Simon Williams
• Voice of Ian Fleming …… Martin Jarvis

Music by Mark Holden and Samuel Barbour; producer Rosalind Ayres; director Martin Jarvis.

James Bond, The Last Englishman

Monday 26 May 2008
20:00-20:30 (Radio 4 FM)

As part of the Ian Fleming centenary, Prof David Cannadine sets James Bond and his creator in their historical context. He suggests that Bond was popular not just because he was sexy and suave - he was seen as a consoling fantasy for a country that had lost an Empire but not yet found a role in the world.

'Chronicles of Narnia' tops 'Iron Man'

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," finished at No. 1 this weekend with an estimated $56.6 million in sales over three days, according to Box Office Mojo.

But by comparison, the first Narnia movie, "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," took in $65.5 million in its first weekend in 2005. I am now hearing rumors that this will be the last Narnia film because of the low box office draw. Lets hope not.

The surprise hit "Iron Man," which fell to No. 2, generated $31.2 million in estimated ticket sales, bringing its three-week total to more than $222 million. The movie was produced by Marvel Entertainment, the comic book company.

Indiana Jones Gets Rave Reviews at Cannes

From the times...
The first press audience to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in Cannes this afternoon greeted the final credits with sustained applause after whooping and hollering throughout.

Make no mistake, there is no danger of this film tanking. Harrison Ford is back to his athletic, wise-cracking, combative best as Dr Jones in Steven Spielberg's fourth episode of the series, and new side-kick Shia LaBeouf is a revelation, in more ways than one.

Everything about this Indiana Jones is bigger and more spectacular than previous instalments. The movie is effectively one long chase, from it's opening scenes in the New Mexico desert to a climactic ending deep in the Amazonian jungle.

Ford is greyer than before, but otherwise looks and acts much as in the misleadingly titled Last Crusade 19 years ago. He has his usual quota of punch-ups, chases and hair-raising getaways, including a frankly implausible escape from a nuclear explosion where he's blasted to safety inside a lead-lined refrigerator. More can be read here: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/cannes/article3957628.ece

Blink

Steven Moffat has tonight been awarded the British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Writer, for the script of his 2007 Doctor Who episode "Blink". The Award was presented at the annual BAFTA Craft Awards ceremony, which honours those who work behind-the-scenes in the industry. Moffat won the award ahead of Jimmy McGovern (for "The Street"), Tony Marchant (for "The Mark of Cain") and Heidi Thomas (for "Cranford"). Full details can be found on the BAFTA website.

One of the highest accolades available to a British scriptwriter, it is Moffat's second BAFTA Award in recent weeks, having also won the BAFTA Cymru (Welsh BAFTAs) scriptwriting category, again for "Blink". Congrats from Tower Grove Films on this much deserved honor.

Criterion Collection to release on Blu-Ray

In a move that is sure to warm the hearts of film lovers and Blu-ray fans the world over, The Criterion Collection today announced a slate of Blu-ray releases for later this year. Set to debut in October, this selection of film classics and critical favorites will mark Criterion's first efforts into the high definition marketplace. While specifications are a little on the light side, Criterion promises "high definition picture and sound" on all of their Blu-ray releases as well as all of the special features from the standard definition versions. Criterion has also promised to market these Blu-ray titles at a price equivalent to that of their standard definition counterparts.

Criterion confirmed the following titles for Blu-ray release:

The Third Man
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
The Man Who Fell to Earth
The Last Emperor
El Norte
The 400 Blows
Gimme Shelter
The Complete Monterey Pop
Contempt
Walkabout
For All Mankind
The Wages of Fear

$100 Million Dollar Iron Man

The Summer Blockbuster season is out of the gate with a vengenance. Take that, Batman, Superman and just about every other kind of costume-wearing man.

Iron Man grossed $100.8 million, per studio estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations Co., a number that makes the Robert Downey Jr. film second only to Spider-Man for comic book movie debuts.

The estimate does not include the movie's Thursday night sneaks. If it did, it'd be $3.5 million higher.

The estimate also doesn't include overseas ticket sales. If it did, it'd be nearly $100 million higher.

In all, by the close of business tonight, Iron Man is predicted to have taken in $104.3 million domestically and $201 million worldwide, or more than the entire global runs of Daredevil and Catwoman. Give it a few days or so, and it'll move past Batman & Robin and Ghost Rider on the all-time comic book movie list, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.

Already, Iron Man is in heavyweight company. Its opening was bigger than those of Batman Begins ($48.7 million), Superman Returns ($52.5 million), the first two X-Men movies and Spider-Man 2 ($88.2 million).

Not bad for a character that's considered B-list to the Spider-Man-, Batman-, Superman-populated A-list.

Among non-comic-book movie sequels, only the original Spider-Man topped $90 million in its opening weekend. (The 2002 film grossed a phenomenal $114.8 million.)

Among any kind of movie, Iron Man posted the 10th biggest opening ever.

The best news of all for Marvel, the comics giant that footed the bill for the film: The $186 million it reputedly sank into the production has already been covered.

According to Box Office Mojo, the movie opened up with $35.1 million on Friday, moved up to $37.5 million on Saturday, and is projected to make $28.1 million today.

Among the weekend's top 12 movies, it accounted for more than 65 percent of all business, which was not exactly great news for Patrick Dempsey and Made of Honor (second place, $15.5 million).

Also, it now seems clear Iron Man will be the biggest opener, by about $80 million, of Jeff Bridges' career. In the movie, Bridges plays the evil-doing Iron Monger to Downey's good-doing Iron Man.

Actually, given the movie's performance, better make that Downey's solid-gold Iron Man.

Elsewhere:

• Iron Man or no, overall business was still down—15 percent—from the same weekend last year. That's because as big as the armored movie was, Spider-Man 3, which opened on the first weekend in May 2007, was even bigger, grossing $151.1 million.
• Iron Man, by the way, is now only the second movie of 2008 to break the $100 million mark.
• The spin on Made of Honor is that it did what its studio thought it was going to do, and that for a $40 million movie, its debut was pretty good. The stats tend to agree. Among recent romantic comedies, Made of Honor opened bigger than Leatherheads but smaller, although not hugely smaller, than 27 Dresses and Fool's Gold.
• All things considered, last weekend's champ, Baby Mama (third place, $10.3 million; $32.3 million overall), had a decent weekend, with ticket revenue down "only" 41 percent.
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall (fourth place, $6.1 million; $44.8 million) is hanging in there.
• Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! ($1.4 million; $149.8 million overall), the year's reigning box-office champ, at least until Iron Man and the other summer movies pass it, fell out of the Top 10 after a seven-weekend run.
• Deception ($865,000; $4 million overall) was bounced from the Top 10 after just one weekend.
• Filmmaker Harmony Korine's first feature in nearly 10 years, the celebrity-impersonator-inhabited Mister Lonely, was the star of the art-house circuit, grossing $19,100 at one theater.
• Other limited-release standouts: The British coming-of-age comedy Son of Rambow and Redbelt ($68,600 at six theaters, per Box Office Mojo).
• One last Iron Man thing: Sometimes the smaller movies actually outdo the big movies when it comes to filling their respective theaters. Not this time. No movie did more business per screen—$24,543—than the biggest movie of the weekend.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Iron Man, $100.8 million
2. Made of Honor, $15.5 million
3. Baby Mama, $10.3 million
4. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, $6.1 million
5. Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, $6 million
6. The Forbidden Kingdom, $4.2 million
7. Nim's Island, $2.8 million
8. Prom Night, $2.5 million
9. 21, $2.1 million
10. 88 Minutes, $1.6 million

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in theaters May 22nd

I cant wait for this film to arrive! I have been waiting 20 years for this!! I just hope that its good.