This is one of those funnier stories from Hollywood for you holiday weekend, that is if you live in the US. Apparently one of the Harry Potter kids has come down with a case of the swine flu. A mild case, but a case nonetheless.

Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, has taken a few days away from filming the next movie in the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows because of the swine flu. This is just days before the premiere of the next Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

As we all can recall, that movie was set for release in November, but it was pushed back to a July release date, which is now fast approaching. The movie hits theaters in the US on July 15th. Grint will be present for the premiere. Best wishes to him for a speedy recovery. Are you playing to see Potter this month?

The singer has had it rough in recent years, but she is finally ready to make her come back. Her next album, I Look To You, will be released in September, and she plans to open up Good Morning America’s Fall Concert series. The first single leaked onto the Internet this week, and she is definitely back.

Take a listen to I Didn’t Know My Own Strength here . The singer was seen coming into LAX on Friday as well, and she is looking good for her age. Check that out below. What do you think? Are you ready for a comeback from Whitney Houston?

It seems motorcycles are very big with the Hollywood set. It isn’t unheard of to see Orlando Bloom, Keanu Reeves or any number of others riding around the city of Los Angeles on their motorcycles. Another one of those you might see is forty-five year old actor Brad Pitt.

He was out riding in Los Angeles on Thursday when his bike decided to break down just outside Franklin Village. Instead of waiting for help to arrive, the actor asked some of the paparazzi that constantly follow his every move for a lift. They were more than willing to help the actor out.

Earlier this week, Brad’s main squeeze was named Hollywood’s top earning actress for the past twelve months with $27 million in earnings. This beat out Brad’s ex Jennifer Aniston. Next up for Pitt is Inglorious Basterds. His next project, Moneyball, was axed recently, and it looks like the people of New Orleans want the actor to run for mayor of their city. The actor is always busy. Check out the latest international trailer for Inglorious Basterds below. The flick hit theaters in August.

However, that changes, as someone figures how to kill people while they sit in the safety of their homes connected to a machine. This leads one man to break out of the virtual world and try to find out who is killing people and how they managed to do it. That one man is Bruce Willis.

Surrogates is set for release on September 25th, and we now have a new poster for the flick. A good one too! Check that out below, and you can find the trailer I posted back in May here . What do you think? Are you ready for a new film from Bruce Willis? At least it isn’t Die Hard 5!

Yesterday on this blog, I wrote about Vanity Fair’s tribute to Australian actor Heath Ledger. Now with the magazine actually hitting the newsstands here in the United States, there seems to be a bit more to this article that we originally thought there would be. This one has me a bit puzzled and scratching my head.

Many would call Heath Ledger’s break out role that of The Joker in The Dark Knight, which we can all now see over and over again as it plays on HBO. It premiered on the cable network earlier this month. However, now the actor’s agent Steven Alexander has come out saying that the actor had a specific deal with The Dark Knight where he would be paid whether he worked or not.

Heath wasn’t looking for a big summer blockbuster role that might label him forever and follow him for the rest of his career, so he tried to play his role so over the top that he would end up getting fired and still paid anyway. Heath’s performance as The Joker was out there and over the top. He made me cringe every single time his character was on screen, but was this him purposely trying to get out of the role? Some say it was this performance that lead to his death. What do you think? Check out what his agent had to say about it below.

The real decision to take the role was because of the film’s unusually long shoot, which would give Ledger an excuse to turn down other offers. And since he was guaranteed to collect a paycheck, Ledger was hoping that his performance would be so “far-out” that he would end up being fired and become the beneficiary of a lengthy, paid vacation. His agent added that while Ledger wanted to get paid, he didn’t want to be part of the massive blockbuster that “The Dark Knight” turned out to be.

The actor was a troubled man who was acting not for fame or money, but for the craft and the respect of those others like himself. He died last January in a sudden death where drugs played a part. This is much like the current tragedy with Michael Jackson, where it is now believed an overdose is to blame.

Heath Ledger was truly one of the great younger actors of our time, and he had such potential for great things. The August Issue of Vanity Fair hits store shelves on July 1st. Check out the cover and some of the photos from inside below.

He wasn’t motivated by money or stardom, but by the respect of his peers, and for people to walk out of a movie theater after they’d seen something that he’d worked on and say, ‘Wow, he really disappeared into that character.’ He was striving to become an ‘illusionist,’ as he called it, able to create characters that weren’t there.

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Another Monday morning has arrived, and that means it is time to find out just what happened at the box office this weekend. There is no real big shock that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen managed to come out on top of the box office this weekend. It started its release with a $60 million dollar opening on Wednesday, and it continued on throughout the weekend. By the end of Sunday, the movie had brought it over $201 million over the five day period with $112 million over the weekend alone. The other new release this week, My Sister’s Keeper, came in fifth place with a $12 million opening weekend total.
This week, the movies come out early as we gear up for the 4th of July weekend. We have two new releases coming out on Wednesday with Public Enemies and Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs both hitting theaters. On DVD, we have The Jonas Brothers coming to store shelves along with Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Music wise we have new music from Rob Thomas, as he releases his sophomore effort, Cradlesong. The first single off of that CD is Her Diamonds, and it has been receiving heavy play since its release in May. Check out below for a full list of this week’s releases.

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The movie is set in the year 2019, and a disease has turned most of the human race into vampires. Hawke plays a researcher, Edward Dalton, trying find a cure for the disease and save the human race. However, with almost everyone on the planet a vampire, this means a source for blood is running out.

A substitute or a cure are the only options, and from the trailer it looks like something is found. Check out the trailer and poster for the movie below. Daybreakers hits theaters in January 2010. What do you think?

This one was filmed just before Meyers had some troubles earlier this year where he headed into rehab in Los Angeles for a month. It looks like the stop in rehab didn’t do much for the actor though. He was arrested earlier this week at the airport in Paris after he wasn’t served at the bar because he was already too drunk. He reportedly ended up in a scuffle with one of the waiters and was later arrested.

Check out the poster for From Paris With Love below. What do you think?

If you were anywhere near a television in the last twenty-four hours, then you surely have heard this news. Yesterday was a sad day in the entertainment world as we lost not only one cultural icon but two of them. In the morning hours, we were faced with the news of the death of an angel, Farrah Fawcett. Her death, as sad as it was, had been expected to happen, especially with how her condition had worsened in recent days.

As the world began to mourn her passing, the world was hit with another blow by the afternoon when news broke that Michael Jackson had suffered a cardiac arrest and had been taken to UCLA Medical Center. Within an hour of that news breaking, we had even sadder news to report, Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, was dead at the age of 50.

A musical icon that has no match in today’s society, Michael Jackson touched many with his music and the good he did for the world. He was one of the most troubled men in this world, and that will always be part of his legacy. However, in death it is a time to focus on the good and not the bad that happened in his life. No matter what he did, there is no denying his music touched people regardless of age. Many felt his loss yesterday. From the old that watched him grow up as a little boy to those that were born later and grew up listening to hits like Thriller, Beat it and Billie Jean.

I was one of those. I was sitting here most of yesterday in shock with the rest of the world remembering about how my very album purchased for me when I was a toddler was a Michael Jackson record. Not Thriller either. Off The Wall came out when I was just three years old. My mother brought home the record one day, and I remember spending hours listening to it. Thriller only further solidified my love for the man that became the King of Pop.

As the hours pass since his death, more news has come out. The family is now saying that it is possible the singer died from an overdose of Demorol given to him by his doctor. The police are now looking for that doctor for questioning. An autopsy is now underway at the Los Angeles Coroner’s office. More will come out in the days to come, but for now we can mourn the legend that he was. Rest in peace, Michael Jackson.