Kevin Winter/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The movie may be named for Battleship, the game, but it has absolutely nothing to do with it. First of all, I don’t ever remember Brooklyn Decker standing on my grid. And I’m confident I would. I would also remember having to sink water-dwelling, lizard-eyed extraterrestrials.
This Battleship stars Friday Night Lights and John Carter lead Taylor Kitsch as Alex Hopper, a highly intelligent, underachieving bad boy whose older brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsgard), forces him to join the family business. That business? The Navy.
Turns out the Navy sort of agrees with Alex. He quickly ascends to the rank of captain, although we're given absolutely no idea how that happens: he goes from a civilian arrested for stealing a burrito to impress a girl, to a Navy captain in a matter of one scene. No exposition necessary, I guess.
By the way, the girl he stole the burrito to impress? Samantha Shane (Decker), daughter of Admiral Shane, played by Liam Neeson. Hopper is getting ready to ask the admiral’s permission to marry Samantha but the admiral is confounded by Hopper’s lack of discipline. You could say Hopper drives the Admiral INshane. Or not.
And then -- the aliens attack! Why? We kind of invited them. How? See the movie. Sure, Battleship is dumb, but only in a mindless-summer-blockbuster sort of way. The aliens are fantastic and the destruction is epic, magnificent and never boring. While we as yet have little clue how Battleship is going to play here in the U.S., it’s already making a fortune overseas. That's good news for Taylor Kitsch, a talented actor who didn't deserve the poor business and marketing decisions that plagued the box office failure John Carter. Hats off as well to director Peter Berg for infusing some heart and guts into a banal script that could’ve gone terribly wrong.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator opened earlier this week. On Friday, it will be joined at the box office by two more new films. Here's a closer look:
-- Battleship: Loosely based on the popular board game, the action flick finds a fleet of naval ships defending the world against an alien attack. Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker and R&B/pop artist Rihanna star. Rated PG-13.
-- What to Expect When You're Expecting: The comedy, based on the best-selling book of the same, follows the lives of five couples who are all preparing to welcome a child. Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Cameron Diaz, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid and Chris Rock star. Rated PG-13.
Michael Tran/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- On Thursday's Late Show with David Letterman, Conan O'Brien made his first appearance in 13 years. O'Brien's short-lived stint as host of NBC's The Tonight Show, and his ouster in favor of Jay Leno were topics of discussion.
Letterman has exhibited somewhat harsh feelings for Leno for what happened to O'Brien and himself. Letterman was famously skipped over by NBC when Johnny Carson retired from The Tonight Show in 1992. Leno got the job and that damaged the relationship between the two late night hosts.
It seems Leno's situation with O'Brien brought up some old feelings for Letterman.
When O'Brien first came out and sat down, he and Letterman didn't say anything to each other, but just smiled.
Finally, Letterman blurted out, "I think the longer we just sit here, the more uncomfortable it will make Jay."
O'Brien laughed, and said, "You know Jay's watching," and then, imitating Leno said, "Dave doesn't look happy...I think he's gonna pack it in, soon."
During the lengthy segment, Letterman said he's known Leno since the 1970s when they were both young comics in Los Angeles, and remembered Leno being "the funniest guy...the guy you always wished you could be."
However, Letterman quickly added, "He was also a bit of a brat."
Letterman told O'Brien that when the O'Brien/Tonight Show mess happened he thought to himself, "Oh, there's the Jay I know."
O'Brien stepped down as host of The Tonight Show in January 2010, and was soon replaced by Leno, after Leno's primetime talk show was canned. Letterman recalled relishing the criticism Leno got at the time from other comics who rallied to O'Brien's side.
Letterman told O'Brien, "I was delighted by everything that happened -- except you losing your job...I refer to that period as the golden age of broadcasting."
Kevin Mazur/WireImage/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- A 27-year-old man has been charged with stalking Mila Kunis and will be arraigned Friday morning in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office says Stuart Lynn Dunn was ordered in February to stay away from Kunis for three years after pleading no contest to an incident in which he broke into a vacant condo owned by the Black Swan star and temporarily inhabited the residence.
Dunn is now accused of waiting for Kunis in the parking lot of her gym for three consecutive days earlier this month.
Dunn, who is being held on $150,000 bail, is charged with one count each of stalking in violation of a restraining order and stalking. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison.
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) -- The second anonymous masseur who sued John Travolta, claiming sexual battery and sexual harassment, has hired lawyer Gloria Allred, much as the first accuser did earlier this week.
The second masseur withdrew his lawsuit on Thursday, but Allred is leaving open the possibility that the complaint may be re-filed.
She said in a statement obtained by People magazine, "We believe that the lawsuit should be filed in another court and, therefore, the lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice."
The first masseur has also dropped his lawsuit and hired Allred.
Travolta's lawyer, Marty Singer, is waving off any suggestion that the actor settled either case, telling TMZ.com, "Not one penny has been paid nor do we have any intention to pay any money for these ridiculous and false claims."
Singer also denies a National Enquirer report, detailed by the New York Post, claiming that Travolta once tried to perform a sex act on Grease co-star Jeff Conaway.
Singer tells E! News, "This spate of recklessly published tabloid stories is just part of a malicious tabloid agenda to boost lagging sales by running outrageous defamatory stories about my client sourced by people seeking notoriety or a payday."
JB Lacroix/WireImage(LOS ANGELES) -- Jenny McCarthy has agreed to pose for Playboy for one final time, following up on a 2009 comment that she’d love to show off her figure in the magazine before she turns 40.
A rep for Playboy has confirmed to Us that the model and actress will appear on the cover of its July/August edition double issue, which hits newsstands Friday, June 29. McCarthy, who will hit the big 4-0 on Nov. 1, was Playmate of the Year in 1993.
Last month, McCarthy told Us that her 9-year-old son, Evan made his first visit to the Playboy Mansion for an Easter Bunny Hunt. She admitted that Evan was lost for “probably 45 minutes” and eventually found him hanging out in the estate’s legendary Grotto.
ABC/RICK ROWELL(NEW YORK) -- With yet another talent show featuring singers about to debut, the battle of the judges is heating up. ABC’s series, Duets, debuts Thursday May 24, and one of its judges, John Legend, is not holding back with his thoughts on the competition.
When E! asked Legend for his thoughts on Britney Spears and Demi Lovato being drafted as judges for the next season of The X Factor, Legend replied, “It should be very interesting...It’s interesting when people, you know, are judging singing competitions when they aren’t really singers.”
Legend's fellow Duets judges Kelly Clarkson and Robin Thicke were more tactful with their responses. Clarkson told E!, “I’m excited for both of them. I’m a big fan of both of them. Both of those girls are super sweet."
Thicke added his two cents, telling E!, " ... Everything Britney does, she excels at. Demi is a lovely young lady, and I'm sure they'll do nothing but make the show a lot more fun to watch."
Duets will pair its star judges with contestants for, you guessed it, duets.
Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) -- Rumors hit the Internet Tuesday saying that actress Tia Mowry Hardrict was fired from BET's The Game, the very series she helped bring back to the small screen after it was canceled by the CW.
And although many are saying Mowry Hardrict's departure was due to a breakdown in salary negotiations, a rep for the 33-year-old actress stated in an email to ABC News Radio: "It was a mutual decision and not based on salary negotiations."
"[She's] just focusing on all of her new and up-and-coming project," the rep added.
In fact, Mowry Hardrict has a lot on her plate right now. Her new pregnancy guide, Oh, Baby!: Pregnancy Tales and Advice from One Hot Mama to Another, just hit bookshelves on Monday. Also, her Style TV reality show with twin sister Tamera Mowry Housley, Tia & Tamera, premieres its second season on June 11. In 2011, the show became Style TV's most-watched series premiere ever. Not to mention, Mowry Hardrict is starring in ABC Family's upcoming musical The Mistle-Tones alongside Tori Spelling.
Sources say co-star Pooch Hall, who plays her husband Derwin on The Game, won't return for season six as well.
Ryan Pierse/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The first of two men to file a sexual battery and sexual harassment lawsuit against John Travolta may revisit his case after dropping his complaint earlier this week.
The unidentified masseur has hired high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred, who tells People magazine, "Mr. Doe's lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice which means that he is still legally entitled to file another lawsuit against John Travolta if he chooses. We are in the process of conferring with him regarding the next steps, which he may wish to take."
The masseur had claimed Travolta attempted to have sex with him during a massage at a Beverly Hills hotel, but photographic evidence released by Travolta's attorney to the media seemed to show that the actor was in New York at the time of the alleged incident.
A second masseur has made similar allegations in a separate lawsuit.
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Disco and pop music icon Donna Summer has died, ABC News has confirmed. The singer passed away after a battle with cancer and died in Florida. She was 63 years old.
A statement from the family of Summer's husband, Bruce Sudano, reads: "Early this morning, surrounded by family, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith. While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can't express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time."
The statement ends with a request to make a donation in Summer's name to the Salvation Army, in lieu of flowers.
Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, Summer -- a five-time Grammy Award winner known as the Queen of Disco -- revolutionized dance music with her seminal hits "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love." Those tracks established her career and were followed by a string of hits, including "Last Dance," "Hot Stuff," "MacArthur Park," "Bad Girls" and "Dim All the Lights."
Summer continued her career into the '80s with hits like "She Works Hard for the Money" and "This Time I Know It's for Real." The first woman and the first African-American Artist ever to win a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, for "Hot Stuff," Summer was shortlisted for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but to date has never been inducted.
Summer's chart achievements and awards were numerous. She was the first artist ever to score three consecutive number-one double albums. She scored at least one Top 40 hit in every year from 1976 to 1984. Her presence on Billboard's Disco/Club Play chart spanned from 1975, with "Love to Love You Baby," through 2010, with "To Paris with Love."
In addition to her five Grammy Awards, Summer won six American Music Awards and was the first African-American woman to be nominated for an MTV Video Music Award, for "She Works Hard for the Money." She was honored twice by the Dance Music Hall of Fame; she herself was inducted as a recording artist, and her song "I Feel Love" was also inducted.
According to Billboard, Summer is survived by her husband, three daughters, and four grandchildren.
Nile Rodgers, founder of Chic and one of dance music's architects, tweeted, "For the last half hour or so I've been lying in my bed crying and stunned. Donna Summer RIP."
Summer was most recently seen performing with Seal in David Foster's 2010 PBS special Foster & Friends and on America's Got Talent, performing with former contestant Prince Poppycock.
AFP/Getty Images(CANNES, France) -- The battle for bin Laden is on — that is, the battle to bring the killing of the Al-Qaeda leader to the big screen is on.
At the just-opened Cannes Film Festival, The Weinstein Company is close to buying Code Name Geronimo, a movie about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. And, according to the Los Angeles Times, company chairman Harvey Weinstein has pretty much decided to release it in the fall — ahead of the presidential elections and the release of another bin-Laden-assassination film, Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty.
Sony Pictures had decided not to release Zero Dark Thirty, which features Joel Edgerton and Jessica Chastain, until December 19, presumably to avoid politicizing the film. The movie was already the subject of Congressional scrutiny over whether the administration had leaked classified information to the filmmakers.
Weinstein, who rolled out Michael Moore’s Farenheit 9/11 the summer before the Bush-Kerry contest in 2004, apparently has no such qualms.
Code Name Geronimo is directed by John Stockwell, the actor-turned-director behind such films as Dark Tide and Blue Crush. According to industry gossip website Deadline Hollywood, the deal for the film, which is still in post-production, is being negotiated in the $2 million range on the basis of a trailer and additional footage.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the film centers on the CIA, U.S. military brass and the Navy Seals who took the risky mission. The film is reportedly more modest in budget and scope that Zero Dark Thirty. Though Geronimo may have first-to-screen advantage, Zero Dark Thirty comes with a more impressive pedigree. It’s by the same team behind the Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker — Bigelow and fellow Oscar-winner, screenwriter Mark Boal.
By the way, The Hurt Locker producer who shared in the Best Picture Award, Voltage Pictures’ Nicolas Chartier, has switched sides in this battle. He’s the producer behind Geronimo.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Forbes magazine has released its annual list of The World's Most Powerful Celebrities, and American Idol's Jennifer Lopez tops the list for the first time ever.
According to Forbes, once Lopez landed the American Idol judging job, it revived her career and gave her a platform to build her empire. She now has big endorsement deals with L'Oreal and Gillette, a clothing line at Kohl's, a fragrance line, and another show, Q'Viva!, with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.
She has a strong social media presence, with 12 million Facebook fans and 6.6 million Twitter followers, and she's reportedly earning $20 million for her second season on Idol.
Oprah Winfrey is in the number two slot, with pop sensation Justin Bieber rounding out the top three.
The rankings were determined by money earned and fame.
Forbes defines fame as "media visibility in print, television, radio and online, plus social media power," which the magazine measures by looking at a celebrity’s presence on Facebook and Twitter. Money earned was determined only by dollars earned between May 1, 2011 and May 1, 2012.
Other celebrities who made the Forbes list:
#7 -- Kim Kardashian #9 -- Tom Cruise #10-- Steven Spielberg #12 -- Tiger Woods #13 -- Angelina Jolie #20 -- Tyler Perry #22 -- Jennifer Aniston #28 -- Brad Pitt #29 -- Ryan Seacrest #34 -- Ellen DeGeneres
The Walt Disney Company/Marvel Comics(LOS ANGELES) -- It was only a matter of time, but Marvel's The Avengers is now the biggest movie of the year to date.
Through Tuesday, the superhero film has earned $389.5 million at the domestic box office, according to Hollywood.com. The total eclipses that of The Hunger Games, which raked in $387.9 million.
The Avengers currently ranks ninth all-time at the worldwide box office and 13th all-time at the domestic box office. It has earned $1.036 billion globally.
Theo Wargo/WireImage for Tommy Hilfiger(LOS ANGELES) -- Earlier this week on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jennifer Lopez said she doesn't know if she'll return to American Idol next season. There are now multiple reports claiming she will in fact leave the Fox competition.
A source tells E! News that Lopez is "just too busy" to continue with Idol.
Similarly, an insider who spoke to Us Weekly says, "There is just too much going on for her right now."
Lopez told Ellen DeGeneres this week that she is unsure of her Idol future in part because she has four-year-old twins to consider. She also has a summer tour with Enrique Iglesias on the horizon.
Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is keeping his fingers crossed that Lopez will commit to another season of the show.
He tells TMZ.com, "We want her back. I want her back."
Paramount Pictures(NEW YORK) -- Sacha Baron Cohen's new comedy, The Dictator, has irked some Arab-American groups who feel his character, a fictional North African dictator named Adm. Gen. Aladeen, casts an unflattering light on them.
For example, Nadia Tonova, director of the National Network for Arab American Communities, tells E! News, "I have not seen the film, but based on the trailer and interviews that I have seen him do in character, it really seems to be that it's perpetuating a negative stereotype against Arabs and therefore Arab-Americans."
Tonova previously criticized Cohen after he appeared on the Oscars red carpet as Aladeen and pretended to spill the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il onto Ryan Seacrest.
The director of the film, Larry Charles, rejects the notion that the character is offensive to Arab-Americans.
He tells ABC News Radio that Aladeen was inspired by several past dictators, such as Moammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Il, Augusto Pinochet and Idi Amin.
"There's a wide range historically of dictators that you can draw from and they share many personality traits. It's not an ethnic thing. It's a personality disorder, in a sense," he says.
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iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- The Sacha Baron Cohen comedy The Dictator opened earlier this week. On Friday, it will be joined at the box office by two more new films. Here's a closer look:
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