20th Century Fox has just delivered 2015’s first big hit when “Taken 3” muscled in a strong global haul clocking in at $161.8 million to-date.

Variety’s report states that, “Among notable markets, “Taken 3″ pulled in $5.4 million from the United Kingdom, opened with $2.5 million in the Philippines, kicked off with $2.2 million in Russia and debuted to $1.2 million in Spain.”

In the Philippines, showing in more than 200 screens, “Taken 3” grossed a massive Php 107 million during its first five-days since it opened (January 14). Hauling in almost 600,000 admissions nationwide, “Taken 3” has locked itself to be the highest grossing film of the franchise based on its five-day weekend release with the first “Taken” opening at Php 4.7 million and “Taken 2” at Php 65 million. 

“Taken 3’s” impressive Phils. box-office records have proven Neeson’s and the franchise’s unwavering commercial box-office appeal as it now stands to be the Biggest Opening Weekend for the year to-date, so far surpassing “Seventh Son’s” Php 37 million opening weekend. Likewise, “Taken 3” cracked box-office records when it landed to be the Second Biggest Opening Weekend for a Fox film, all-time, surpassing “The Wolverine’s” Php 95 million.

Currently tracking higher than estimates, “Taken 3” holds dominance over all other titles that were released the same week as it continues to play in cinemas nationwide.

The world’s well-loved father, Bryan Mills as portrayed by Liam Neeson has charmed the third time with his protective character, unrelenting to use his unique combative skills to save his family at all cost. With “Taken 3’s” novelty action scenes that upped the tempo of the genre, the movie going public flocked to the theatres in droves to check how Mills will once again face his toughest challenge yet to protect his family. 

The defining chapter of the franchise, “Taken 3’s” top 20 highest-grossing cinemas are led by Ayala Malls Cinemas’ Trinoma at number one with Php 4.66 million followed by SM Megamall that earned Php 4.21 million. Still among the top earners are SM North Edsa/The Block at third place with P3.82 million succeeded by SM Mall of Asia (P2.67M) and Greenbelt 3 (P2.64M).

Still factoring in the success of “Taken 3” where box-office highs were recorded are: Glorietta 4 (P2.63M); Eastwood (P2.23M); Alabang Town Center (P2.22M); Theatremall (P2.17M); Gateway Cineplex/Ali Mall (P2.06M); SM Cebu (P1.93M); Newport (P1.75M); Shang Cineplex (P1.74M0; Bonifacio High Street (P1.72M); Market!Market! (P1.68M); SM Southmall (P1.64M); Powerplant (P1.61M); Ayala Cebu (P1.61M); Gaisano Davao (P1.51M) and Festival (P1.47M).

“Taken 3” is still showing in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox distributed by Warner Bros.

Music industry’s most versatile talent, Nicki Minaj stars alongside Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, Kate Upton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the upcoming estrogen-filled comedy “The Other Woman.”

Minaj’s role channels a very vocal and fashion-forward assistant named Lydia who works for the stunning and tough New York lawyer Carly, played by Diaz whose boyfriend Mark (Waldau) turns out to be a married guy cheating on his wife, Kate (Mann). The two women don’t appear to have much in common, other than the philandering womanizer who has been tricking both of them. They become great pals, much to Lydia’s initial dismay, and decide to teach the lying Mark a few lessons to prove that cheating will not work. Everything becomes more complicated when Carly and Kate find out that the charming cheat has been engaging in yet another affair, with the beautiful Amber (Kate Upton) who is half his age. The three of them join forces and conjure up ingenious strategies to give Mark what he deserves, at the same time the bond between them grows stronger. 

Nicki Minaj’s unexpected casting coup added something to the movie that producer Julie Yorn hadn’t counted on: “We all have a sense of Nicki’s persona and larger than life personality, but she came in with the most humble approach and attitude. She was dying to sit at the feet of these other women and learn.” We always wanted for the character of Lydia to be sassy,” Yorn continues. “But what was disarming about Nicki was her likability, which actually changed the scripted character. Lydia became a really important ally to Carly. That’s the chemistry part of it that you don’t expect. Cameron and Nicki bonded from day one and so you just get a whole different dynamic than anticipated.”

Minaj was a welcome surprise for director Nick Cassavetes, as well: “Lydia says things to Carly that are couched as truths, and that are really preposterous, but they have this unexpected truth that suggests sometimes the correct thing is to do the incorrect thing.”

According to Minaj, Lydia is very opinionated. “She has her own outlook on life and relationships, and you can’t change her mind about anything. She develops a real friendship with Carly. And Lydia really wants Carly to settle down and meet the right man. So she gets involved a little bit in bringing Mark down and getting Carly to fall in love with someone who’s a good person.” 

Lydia is an important person in Carly’s life, because, says Minaj, “Lydia’s the friend that is going to give you tough love. I happen to be that kind of friend. I don’t like when my best friends are sad about a guy. I think all women need a friend who’s going to let us cry and mope, but we also need the friend that’s going to say, ‘Okay, pick it back up. Let’s go. You know, we’re not going to be walking around the office moping.’”

Patricia Field helms the movie’s costume design department and styling Nicki Minaj was another highlight for the designers. “It was really fun to get the chance to dress Nicki for this role,” says Field’s longtime collaborator and protégé Paolo Nieddu. “She’s the secretary, and the sexy secretary is an image everybody can imagine, so we went with almost a cartoon sexy secretary, with exaggerated colors and prints and lots of different accessories. Every day is a new Lydia. So you never know what you’re going to get with her.”

Lydia’s looks include high fashion, sexy, and body-conscious pieces that would fill the closet of a girl with a sugar daddy footing the bill. Some of her designer looks are by Gucci, Roland Mouret, Versace, Herve Leger, Proenza Schoeler, and McQueen – all paired with the most extreme, expensive designer shoes that only a diva could stand wearing to the office. Nicki Minaj, a noted fashion icon in her own right, was also thrilled to learn Field would be joining the team: “When I heard that Patricia Field was a part of this movie, I was very excited because I knew everybody would be eating their hearts out when they saw all the clothes we wear in this movie, and I knew it was going to be fresh and fun.”

 Watch the trailer here at http://youtu.be/7TATjrvInyU

Based on Gayle Forman’s young adult bestseller, “If I Stay” is the story of the gifted classical musician Mia (Moretz) and her boyfriend, Adam (Jamie Blackley), an up and coming indie-rock star. Torn between two paths in life, her art or her relationship, Mia is forced to make an even starker choice between life and death when she is caught in a fatal car accident.

With her family decimated, Mia lies comatose in a hospital — having an out-of-body experience. She watches as she’s told that living or dying “is all up to you; whatever fight you got in you, gotta pull it out now.”

“If I Stay” is directed by R.J. Cutler (“The September Issue”) from a script by Shauna Cross (“Whip It”).

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British actress Jessica Brown Findlay, best known for the acclaimed BBC series “Downton Abbey,” gets to star opposite Colin Farrell and Russell Crowe in her first Hollywood film with Warner Bros. Pictures’ love story “Winter’s Tale.”

Set in a mythic New York City and spanning more than a century, “Winter’s Tale” is a story of miracles, crossed destinies, and the age-old battle between good and evil.

Peter Lake (Colin Farrell) is a master thief, who never expected to have his own heart stolen by the beautiful Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay). But their love is star-crossed: she burns with a deadly form of consumption, and Peter has been marked for a much more violent death by his one-time mentor, the demonic Pearly Soames (Russell Crowe). Peter desperately tries to save his one true love, across time, against the forces of darkness, even as Pearly does everything in his power to take him down—winner take all and loser be damned. What Peter needs is a miracle, but only time will tell if he can find one.

Jessica Brown Findlay: She meets Peter in a really bizarre way, and I suppose it’s a test of his character. She sits down and has tea and just talks and doesn’t take any liberties of any kind, and he just sits and talks, opens up and then leaves. I suppose the first time she meets him, she thinks, ‘This is the only time I’m going to see him, so I’m going to talk to this person and say hello, and exchange some stories and then I’ll have another wonderful memory to have.’ And then I suppose he, who is not open to the idea of the rest of his life, decides that she is a person he’s drawn to.

I think Beverly is someone who will take an experience, keep it and treasure it forever, and he allows her to take one experience and to let it keep growing. I think he makes her forget the reality of the situation that she’s in and allows her to give in to the magic of the beautiful, mad, ridiculous thing that love is.

She obviously is constantly being told about her life by her doctors, who deal in facts and numbers and figures, and she’s given into that. And he opens us this side to the world that I suppose she never thought she’d have. Suddenly that chance is there, regardless of how long it is, even though she didn’t have that long lifetime that we all dream of. Something good comes out of that. It’s really beautiful.

So, I think it plays to that idea that it’s both incredible and mad and blind and brilliant. Love is crazy, but it’s great. [Laughs] That’s what she’s opened up to in a way that she never, ever would have hoped to have been able to have.

Jessica: Working with Colin was fantastic. It was wonderful. What was so nice and so wonderful is that on the first day, I mean, I’m just some girl who grew up in a tiny place just outside London and this kind of thing just doesn’t happen to anyone. It’s a bit weird. It was all a bit like, ‘Whoa. What am I doing here?’ And I suppose maybe he himself had felt like that at times in his life, so he was just wonderful. He came in and just said hello and, you know, poured out coffee and we just started chatting. It was really relaxed from day one. It was so important and just made all the things that you get nervous about disappear.

On set, we’d just talk and he’d make me laugh and vice versa. I tended to make him laugh because I was falling over and tripping up and being an idiot and he’s just generally funny.

It was just the opportunity to be able to work with someone, and he’s so ridiculously good at what he does, but also generous and kind and doesn’t have to play any kind of game. It was just fantastic. And that’s really special. It meant that we could both try things out that maybe if you were sitting there thinking, ‘I don’t even know how to say hello to you,’ if you were playing people who are meant to be ridiculously in love, it helps if you’re able to say hello in the morning. In a very simple way, it was a great way of allowing that to happen. Well, it’s just not very hard. He’s incredibly good, so I just had to react to what he was doing. But it was great fun. It was really lovely.

Jessica: William Hurt is someone that is … I just felt very honored to be working with him. He’s extraordinary. And, also, it’s important to take it all with a giant pinch of salt, because next year maybe no one would be allowing me to do anything. It was just brilliant to be able to be there in the scenes with him and to have fun with that, to enjoy it rather than thinking about it too much. I think if you do, you kind of freeze. But he was wonderful. Yeah, overwhelming.

He was really warm. There was a scene that we did and he was basically mute for the entire thing, but his presence was incredibly felt. I’ll never forget that. I’ve never experienced anything like that. That was amazing. I learned a lot from him.

And Russell Crowe is someone that not a single inch of me imagined that one day I’d be doing a film with that man. He’s done a lot of work. But I had this moment when I met him: I had a flashback of me when I was however old, watching Gladiator, and that was a bit of a mad moment. But he was great, and really embodied this terrifying creature, Pearly Soames. It was fantastic. It made the scene something that I’d never imagined it would be on the page. It was nuts, but it was good.

Jessica: I suppose that love comes for Beverly in a way that’s an unforeseen moment. It just happens. That’s pretty much what always happens with love. But it’s different in the sense that you see these characters fall in love and give themselves to each other, heart and soul, and then one person disappears, and you follow the other person and see how that moment—one moment of meeting someone and saying hello—can affect the rest of his life. A quality is still there or has lived on in the other person, and in that way it’s very different. I think that’s quite original.

Jessica: I think it’s easy to be cynical nowadays, in life and love and in so many areas of everything. I think Winter’s Tale is a story and a film that kind of subverts that rather popular trend of being cynical and allows you to think, what if this happened? Imagine if that happened. You go on that journey, and that’s quite surprising. It’s something that’s actually very simple, but beautiful. It’s a story that does leave you feeling warm and hopeful and says something quite beautiful and magical.

 

In Warner Bros. Pictures’ new 3D, animated comedy “The LEGO Movie,” the world is due for a disastrous end if not for one accidental hero: Emmet.

A construction worker and self-described nobody, Emmet adheres to the rules in every aspect of his life, content in the belief that he is the most ordinary, unremarkable person ever, until a crisis of monumental proportions reveals a surprisingly extraordinary side of him he never knew.

Providing the voice of Emmet is rising star Chris Pratt (“Delivery Man,” “Moneyball”) who will soon be seen in the Marvel feature “Guardians of the Galaxy,” in which he plays Star-Lord.

“On day one, we talked about our experiences building something out of LEGO bricks and the frustration we’d sometimes feel when we couldn’t find a specific piece right away. That feeling encapsulates who Emmet is to us,” says Dan Hageman, who, with writing partner and brother Kevin Hageman worked on the story with screenwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. “He thinks his happiness is tied to following the instructions yet the fate of the world will rely on him discovering his own creativity,” adds Kevin.

Pratt says, “This challenge takes him through LEGO realms he didn’t know existed, where everything is just ridiculous but in a good way. It’s all beautiful, imaginative, exciting and very funny. There are loveable characters, amazing sets, insane action, a lot of love and a really positive message that you can feel comfortable bringing your kids to see.”

Emmet never met an instruction manual he didn’t like. Whatever the rules are, he’s glad to follow; whatever song is playing on the radio, he’ll sing along; whatever everyone else has for lunch or watches on TV, well, he’s cool with that. He even consults a book to remind him to shower and put on his pants (in that order) every morning before joining the Bricksburg citizenry on their orderly commute to work.

“We wanted someone with incredible comedy chops as our lead, but someone who can also be sweet and endearing, and embody this ‘regular guy’ spirit. Chris Pratt was our first choice; right out of the box,” says Lord.

Each day on the construction crew, Emmet happily razes any buildings deemed “weird” and replaces them with ones that look exactly like all the others, on orders from President Business. Says Pratt, “The city of Bricksburg is this big sprawl where everything looks the same and it’s all pre-fab modular homes, and any areas that have any flavor are being destroyed. So it’s being built as a kind of homogenous, utopian model, though you quickly sense there’s some underlying darkness here; something is controlling the people of Bricksburg.”

But life as he knows it is about to change when Emmet accidentally veers off the path at his site, falls headlong into a freshly excavated pit, and meets the trespassing Wyldstyle: the most beautiful and exciting woman he has ever seen. From her graffiti-splashed black hoodie to the turquoise and hot-pink streaks in her hair, to her take-charge attitude, there’s clearly nothing ordinary about this woman.

When Wyldstyle encounters Emmet at the construction site, she is there searching for the one thing that can block Lord Business’s terrible plan, according to prophecy: The Piece of Resistance. So when that vital piece turns up inexplicably fused to Emmet’s back, like it or not, the guy whose only ambition in life is to fit in suddenly becomes The Special, the most important person in the universe. And the most hunted. Before he knows what’s happening, Emmet is careening at high speed through the Bricksburg cityscape with Lord Business’s robot assassins in fierce pursuit.