The director and star are two of the entertainers MTV News is most thankful for in 2009.
By Josh Horowitz

Chris Pine and J.J. Abrams
Photo: Ethan Miller/Kevin Winter/Getty/MTV News
With a worldwide box-office haul of $384 million, "Star Trek" was one of the biggest movies of the year. But more important than its cash haul was the mere fact that director J.J. Abrams pulled the franchise from the cinematic dustbin and gave it a sleek, big-budget sheen. "Trek" was finally back, and perhaps it was cooler than it'd ever been. A lot of the credit for the cool factor goes to Chris Pine, who took on the iconic role of James T. Kirk and made it his own.
We at MTV News couldn't be more grateful that the U.S.S. Enterprise is once again patrolling outer space, which is why Abrams and Pine are two of the »

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'This whole year has been staggering,' says actor, describing recent successes after hitting rock bottom.
By Josh Horowitz

Tom Hardy in "Bronson"
Photo: Cate Gillon/ Getty/ Vertigo/ MTV News
Tom Hardy has been an "Oh yeah, it's that guy" actor for years: You recognize him, you just don't know from where. After making a big splash in Hollywood earlier in the decade with parts in the HBO World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" and the urban warfare flick "Black Hawk Down," Hardy was poised to break into the A-list. But a starring role in "Star Trek: Nemesis" — a film so bad it effectively killed the franchise for years — and an alcohol- and drug-fueled breakdown contributed to a professional downfall from which Hardy slowly emerged by getting sober and returning to theater work.

Now he's back with a critically acclaimed turn as an iconic British prisoner in "Bronson" and »

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon dawned with a hot-blooded estimated $140.7 million on approximately 8,500 screens at 4,024 sites over the weekend, charting as the third highest-grossing opening behind only The Dark Knight and Spider-Man 3 and the biggest of 2009. With the advent of New Moon, not to mention an excellent showing by The Blind Side, overall business surged 56 percent over the same weekend last year when Twilight and Bolt debuted and was the second-highest seen in history, behind the weekend that The Dark Knight opened.
On its opening day, New Moon shattered the records for opening day ($72.7 million) and midnight showings ($26.3 million), thanks to the rush of its fervent fan base. Just like its predecessor, Twilight, the supernatural romance fell over 40 percent Friday-to-Saturday and the Friday accounted for more than half of the weekend business. On each day, New Moon essentially doubled the grosses of Twilight, which is an incredible feat for a sequel, »
- Brandon Gray

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When The Twilight Saga: New Moon had a huge Friday at the box office no one was thinking that the sequel could earn less than $100 million dollars in its opening weekend. Now the tallies are starting to come in and estimates are placing New Moon with a whopping $140.7 million dollar haul from Friday to Sunday. Broken down over each of the three days, New Moon grossed $72.7m on Friday (including from its midnight screenings), another $$43.2m on Saturday and then its forecasted to earn $24.8m today.

As it stands now New Moon has grossed 73% of Twilight's total domestic theatrical run. There's a strong likelihood that New Moon is what the industry calls "front-loaded", meaning that the huge ticket sales for Friday and Saturday were purchased by fans and the film could see a 60%-70% dropoff next weekend. However, even if that scenario does play out New Moon will easily break $200 million dollars domestic. »
- Patrick Sauriol

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The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed an astounding $140.7 million at the box office this weekend, exploding most industry expectations en route to the biggest autumn opening weekend in history and the third biggest three-day debut ever, according to early estimates from Hollywood.com Box Office. (The Dark Knight still retains the record for the biggest weekend debut with $158.4 million, and Spider-Man 3 is second with $151.1 million.) The second film in Summit Entertainment's blockbuster franchise outright doubled Twilight's opening weekend of $69.6 million, and it did so almost entirely with a female audience: A whopping 80 percent of New Moon tickets went to women. »
- Adam B. Vary

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It was a record-breaking weekend at the box office from almost every perspective. In fact, so many records were broken that it is kind of hard to keep them straight. By Friday morning The Twilight Saga: New Moon had already passed The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to become the top midnight debut of all-time with over $26 million. The sequel to Twilight was also number one in pre-sales and on Saturday it brought Summit Entertainment both the highest Single Day and the All-Time Friday titles with $72.7 million from its 4,024 screens. One record New Moon couldn’t claim? The all-time weekend title. With an estimated $140.7 million through Sunday, New Moon fell short of both the $151 million debut of Spider-Man 3 and the $158 million start of The Dark Knight. But, for a film franchise that only came on the scene one year ago and which was aiming for right around $100 million? »
- Nicole Pedersen

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2010 Golden Globe Predictions: Best Actor – Comedy or Musical George Clooney, Up in the Air (with director Jason Reitman) A professional downsizer finds his ideal frequent-flying partner right when he’s about to get grounded. Sacha Baron Cohen, Brüno An Austrian fashionista wants to become the next red-white-and-blue sensation. Matt Damon, The Informant! A pathological liar helps the FBI nab a law-breaking agribusiness conglomerate. Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine In this musicalized remake of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, Daniel Day-Lewis plays the old Marcello Mastroianni role of an Italian film director at odds with the women in his life. Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock) A Canadian businesswoman’s assistant is coerced into marrying her lest she be deported from the Us.   Ryan Reynolds? Sacha Baron Cohen? Well, they’re both names (and [...] »
- Andre Soares

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2010 Golden Globe Predictions: Best Actress – Comedy or Musical Sandra Bullock, The Proposal A bossy Canadian businesswoman forces her American assistant (Ryan Reynolds) to marry her so she can stay in the Us. Marion Cotillard, Nine The wife of an Italian filmmaker (Daniel Day-Lewis, above) must cope with both his infidelities and his artistic temper. Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer A young woman meets a young man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, above) who falls madly in love with her. Too bad she doesn’t feel the same. Meryl Streep, It’s Complicated A divorced woman begins an affair with her remarried ex-husband (Alec Baldwin, above), while becoming the object of another man’s desire (that’s Steve Martin). Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia Julia Child and the art of cooking. The Golden Globe field [...] »
- Andre Soares

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It might have begun life as a ruthlessly efficient killing machine, but there's something incredibly depressing watching the soul get sucked out of the Terminator. Compared with the latest reanimation of this robotic corpse, Terminator Salvation (2009, 12, Sony), 2003's previously disappointing Rise of the Machines starts to look like some kind of classic.
Hyperactive Charlie's Angels director McG does his very worst work to date (which is saying something), conjuring an endlessly bombastic stodge-pudding of a picture in which boring backstory becomes full-frontal assault. Sadly, the long-foretold rise of Skynet proves almost unbearably uninteresting, a narrative shortcoming for which the film-makers compensate with CGI shots of things blowing up.
Despite all the wanton destruction, there's precious little exciting exploitation on offer; awarding a lenient 12 certificate, the BBFC noted that "there are none of the darker, sadistic elements" which spiced up the first two movies. Boo! No wonder leading man Christian Bale »
- Mark Kermode

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Sandra Bullock flashed her private parts on the set of her latest film. The actress had to bare all in 'The Proposal' and although she had something to protect her modesty she ended up showing more of her body to the cast and crew than she meant to. She said: ''Shooting the scene was odd. I realised there was no way to shoot it without being butt naked. But there are things stuck to you where you generally don't have things stuck. Then you'd get unstuck, but not care because you're so tired. The director Anne Fletcher was like, 'Your vagina is hanging .. »

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