The Box Office News for May 23 to 27

Here is your box office news for the week of May 23 to 27:

Tom Cruise will star in an adaptation of the graphic novel Oblivion that is set in an apocalyptic future where the earth has been nearly wiped out by alien scavengers. Humanity has retreated to a space station and the planet is inhabited by aliens. Cruise’s character, Jak, is a human who goes to earth to hunt down the aliens.

Actors Matthew Modine (Full Metal Jacket) and Tom Conti (Derailed) have both joined the cast of The Dark Knight Rises, but their roles are currently unknown.  Actors Brett Cullen (Lost) and Chris Ellis (Transformers) will also appear in the movie with Cullen appearing as a judge and Ellis appearing as a priest.

Child actress Joey King not only as a role (unknown though it may be at this time) in The Dark Knight Rises, but she will also appear in the film Oz: The Great and Powerful that stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz. She will play the character of “China Girl”.

Actor Zach Braff (Scrubs) has been cast in the upcoming film Oz: The Great and Powerful and is expected to play the role of Frank, the loyal but under-appreciated assistant to Oz (James Franco), a charismatic circus magician who is treated as a powerful wizard after his balloon blows off course into Oz.

Actor Ed Westwick (Gossip Girl) will play Tybalt in a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet that stars Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit).

Actor-rocker Lenny Kravitz and veteran actor Toby Jones have joined the cast of the frilm adaptation of the best-selling novel The Hunger Games. Kravitz will play the role of Cinna, the assigned fashion stylist for lead heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) while Jones will play legendary arenas announcer Claudius Templesmith.

Casting announcements were made yesterday for the Seven Dwarfs for one of three (yes, three) planned Snow White films. This version has Lily Collins (The Blind Side and Priest) playing Snow White, Julia Roberts as the Queen, Armie Hammer (The Social Network) as the Prince and Nathan Lane as the Queen’s servant. The dwarfs will be portrayed by actors Mark Povinelli (Water for Elephants), Jordan Prentice (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle), Danny Woodburn (Watchmen), Sebastian Saraceno (Bedtime Stories), Ronald Lee Clark (Epic Movie), Martin Klebba (Hancock) and Joey Gnoffo (Pirates of the Caribbean series). Also joining the cast is actress Mare Winnigham. In this version of Snow White, an evil queen steals control of a kingdom, and an exiled princess enlists the help of seven resourceful rebels to win back her birthright.

It has been confirmed that actress Beckinsale will star opposite Colin Farrell in the remake of the film Total Recall. Meanwhile, actress Jessica Biel will be the other female lead in the film. Additionally, actor Bill Nighy is in negotiations to join the cast.  Actor John Cho will also appear in the film playing McClane, the smooth-talking rep for the mind-messing company that tempts Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) to implant fantastic memories into his brain but ends up inadvertently making him think he’s a spy.

Actresses Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch) Julie Bowen (Modern Family), Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights), Jennifer Morrison (House) and Rebecca Mader (Lost) as well as actor Titus Welliver (Lost) are all in negotiations to join the cast of the indie political drama Knife Fight that stars Rob Lowe as a political crisis manager who specializes in playing hardball on behalf of scandal-plagued clients. Chung would play his savvy assistant, Bowen would be an ambitious TV reporter who sleeps with him for scoops, and Britton would be an earthy liberal looking to run for public office. Mader would play a masseuse/prostitute bent on blackmail, while Morrison would play one of her classmates, and Welliver would be a private investigator working for Lowe.

Actresses Kim Basinger, Heather Graham, Catherine O’Hara and actor Jason Patric will appear in as-yet untitled dark about a petty thief who pledges to save his life after a roadside killing and two financially destitute sisters who grudgingly team up to track down a female mobster for bounty. They all land in Las Vegas, where violence and destinies collide.

Actresses Gemma Arterton and Julie Andrews as well as actors Matthew Goode and Gabriel Byrne will star in the film Crooked House, which is a big screen adaptation of the Agatha Christie book of the same name. The story is about a multimillionaire who is suddenly murdered as he’s surrounded by three generations of a family that lives together in a large and seemingly crooked house and who all have reasons to kill him.

Actor Kenan Thompson and actress Virginia Madsen have joined the Rob Reiner film Summer at Dog Dave’s that follows Morgan Freeman as a wheelchair-bound author of Western novels whose alcoholism is making him lose his passion for writing. Madsen is expected to play his new neighbor, a single mother going through a divorce who has three daughters. The family strikes up a relationship with the novelist and helps him rediscover his talent and find his passion for writing again. Meanwhile, Thompson is expected to play Freeman’s helpful nephew.

Actor Colin Hanks will join Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand in the upcoming film My Mother’s Curse that follows an inventor (Rogen) who invites his overbearing mother (Streisand) on a cross-country trip as he tries to sell his new product while also reuniting her with a lost love. Hanks will be playing husband to Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck) who plays Rogen’s high school sweetheart with whom he previously proposed marriage. The couple let Rogen and Streisand’s characters stay in their house after they get caught in a blizzard.

Actress Rosie Perez and actor Lance Reddick (Fringe) have joined the cast of the upcoming movie Still I Rise, a drama about two frustrated mothers (Maggie Gyllanhaal and Viola Davis) who team up to transform an inner-city public school in Pittsburgh. Perez will play a former teacher who is now the poised-yet-frank head of the school board, while Reddick will play Davis’ husband who is also a teacher.

Actor Orlando Bloom will reprise his role of Legolas in the upcoming movie The Hobbit. Director Peter Jackson confirmed the casting on Facebook.