9.24.07: Washington counts One Two Three

It's deja vu for Washington and Scott's Pelham, Resident Evil not extinct at box office with $24M, Jackson and Mac are Soul Men, and more

Washington takes on Pelham One Two Three

Denzel Washington will star in a remake of the 1974 heist thriller The Taking of Pelham One Two Three for director Tony Scott and Sony. The update of the Walter Matthau-Robert Shaw subway car holdup pic will be Washington’s fourth film with Scott after Crimson Tide, Man on Fire and Déjà Vu. More at Entertainment Weekly.

Evil not dead at this weekend’s box office with $24 million

Resident Evil: Extinction raised a few more zombies from the dead as well as $24 million for what is said to be the final installment of the Milla Jovovich horror franchise. The Jessica Alba-Dane Cook comedy Good Luck Chuck opened in second place with $14 million while last weekend’s number one, Jodie Foster’s revenge drama The Brave One took in another $7.4 million ($25.1 million overall). In fourth place, the Russell Crowe-Christian Bale oater 3:10 to Yuma earned $6.3 million ($37.9 million overall) and the Viggo Mortensen thriller Eastern Promises rounded out the top five by expanding nationwide to earn $5.7 million ($6.5 million overall). The weekend’s other new wide release, the Amanda Bynes fairy tale redo Sydney White took in a less than magical $5.3 million in sixth place. More at Yahoo.

Jackson and Mac reach into the depths of their Soul

Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac will co-star in the comedy Soul Men for Dimension Films about two soul singers who reunite despite a long standing feud to honor the lead crooner they once backed up. Production starts in January. More at Variety.

Field drives Spielberg’s Lincoln

If a parenthetical mention in Newsweek is to be believed, Sally Field will star as Mary Todd Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s long gestating biopic of the nation’s 16th president. Liam Neeson has been attached to play Abraham for quite some time. More at Cinematical.

Bateman has a Play date with Pitt

Jason Bateman, who recently talked with Premiere.com about his latest film The Kingdom here, will next star alongside Brad Pitt and Edward Norton in the political potboiler State of Play for director Kevin MacDonald and Universal. Bateman will play a reporter in pursuit of a story about a murder scandal involving the mistress of an up and coming congressman. More at Variety.

Legendary French mime Marcel Marceau dead at 84

Marcel Marceau, the famed French mime who may be best remembered to film fans as having the only speaking role in Mel Brooks’ comedy Silent Movie, died on Saturday at age 84 in Cahors, France. More at The New York Times.