As entertaining as the big green guy and Donkey are, for this pop of twin 5-year-old boys, it's the ancillary fairy-tale critters who make the Shrek films full of adult-targeted chuckles. On the occasion of ABC's Shrek the Halls special premiering tonight at 8 pm/ET, TVGuide.com chatted with Conrad Vernon, the voice behind Gingy the Gingerbread Man, and the director of Shrek 2 and the much-anticipated Monsters vs. Aliens.
TVGuide.com: When I stopped to think about it, it dawned upon me that Christmastime cannot bode well for the Gingerbread Man.Conrad Vernon: [Laughs] No, it doesn’t. It doesn’t. I haven't seen the whole [ABC special] yet but I've definitely seen my part in it, and it's kind of horrifying — but that’s fine.
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• Shrek the Third topped the DVD sales and rental charts for the week ending Nov. 18, its first week of release. Ratatouille and Ocean's Thirteen placed second and third, respectively.• Damages: The Complete First Season has been targeted for a Jan. 29, 2008, DVD release. • Midnight Express: The 30th Anniversary Edition streets Feb. 5.
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Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the feature rights to Robotech, a 1980s Japanese cartoon series featuring giant lizards robots. Tobey Maguire is being eyed for the lead role, and will also produce, says the Reporter.... Per Variety, Will Smith will star in Seven Pounds, about a man who falls in love while trying to kill himself.... Ralph Fiennes will play opposite Keira Knightley in The Duchess, a period romance based on the historical bio Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I'm already asleep.... Sony Pictures Animation is developing Open Season 2 as a made-for-DVD 2009 release.... Did I mention that the Shrek 3 DVD streets on Nov. 13, aka my sons' birthday? Kismet, I tell you.
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Jack Black has signed on to star in and produce The Lost Adventures of Stone Perlmutter Jr. for Universal Studios. In the mockumentary, he'll play a late-'70s Indiana Jones type... only tubby and a bit potty-mouthed. Ill-fated Soprano Michael Imperioli has been cast as the detective in Peter Jackson's DreamWorks adaptation of the best-seller The Lovely Bones. Stanley Tucci has also come on board as the killer. Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation have announced the release date of the fourth Shrek movie: May 21, 2010. Gosh, that's so far away. If only they'd do something to remind us occasionally as opening day draws nearer. Salma Hayek's new MGM-based production company with a Latin flair, Ventanazul, is pursuing George Lopez to cowrite, produce and star in one of their inaugural projects.
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Shrek the Third topped the weekend box office with $122 million — my and my sons' $15 included — breaking the franchise's own record for the best debut by an animated feature. (And for skeptics like me, it delivered 18 million ticket buyers to No. 2's 17.4 mil.)Rounding out the top five were Spider-Man 3 ($28.5 mil, $282 mil to date), 28 Weeks Later ($5.15 mil), that plucky little Disturbia ($3.7 mil) and Georgia Rule($3.5 mil). Next up: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which is out to set new records but has two heavyweights already in the ring and will also be hampered by a nearly three-hour running time.
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