The Box Office News for July 18 to 25

Here are the box office news items for the past two weeks (July 18 to July 25):

Actress Amanda Righetti (The Mentalist) has joined the cast of the box office film The Avengers, but her role hasn’t been revealed yet.

Actor Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill and Pirate Radio) has signed on to join the cast of the upcoming box office film Bond 23, which stars Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris. It is not known what role Ifans will play, though.

Actor Sean Bean (Game of Thrones) has joined the cast of the upcoming as-yet untitled Snow White film that is to star Julia Roberts as the Evil Queen and Lily Collins (Priest and The Blind Side) as the title character. Bean will portray the King (and father of Snow White) who used to the rule the land before the Evil Queen destroyed the kingdom.

Actress Emma Watson (the Harry Potter franchise) is set to star in the next film from director Guillermo del Toro, which is an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Details on this project, however, are nil.

It looks like Universal Pictures has dropped its plan to adapt Stephen King’s seven-novel series The Dark Tower. The original plans were to produce a film trilogy as well as TV series based on books. Ron Howard was to direct the first film. But now, the studio has decided not to commit to the project.

Actor Dennis Quaid has joined the cast the upcoming box office film What to Expect When You’re Expecting playing Ramsey, who has a much younger wife (Brooklyn Decker) who is giving birth to twins and who has an adult son who is also expecting his first child.

Actor Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies and soon to be seen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn and The Hobbit) has joined the cast of the upcoming film Lincoln, playing opportunistic New York City mayor Fernando Wood, a prominent early supporter of the Confederate cause. The mayor traded frequent correspondence with President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis).

Actress Rosario Dawson and actor Vincent Cassel have joined the cast of the upcoming thriller called Trance, which stars James McAvoy and Cassel as partners who concoct an elaborate art heist that goes awry. Dawson will play a woman who has an unusual relationship with both men.

Actress Cody Horn (Rescue Me) has joined the cast of the indie cop drama called End of Watch that follows the friendship of two long-time LAPD partners (Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña). Horn will play a policewoman opposite America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) and Anna Kendrick (The Twilight Saga franchise).

Actress and Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) and young actor Lucas Till (X-Men: First Class) have signed on to star in the upcoming thriller called Stoker. The film is about a teen, mourning the death of her father and has to deal with an eccentric uncle who shows up unexpectedly. The cast includes Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Matthew Goode (Leap Year and Watchmen) in a movie written by actor Wentworth Miller (Prison Break).

Actresses Jamie-Lynn Sigler (The Sopranos) and Nadia Bjorlin (Days of Our Lives) and actor Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) will star in the first romantic comedy from the Indian company RR Movie Makers called Divorce Invitation. The story is about Mike (Bennett), a happily married man, who runs into his high school sweetheart, realizing she is his true soul mate. The huge problem: he signed an iron-clad pre-nuptial agreement and his wife (Sigler), who will not let him out of the marriage.

Legendary actor Harrison Ford is attached to star as an aging Wyatt Earp in the upcoming box office film Black Hats, which is an adaptation of the 2007 novel by Max Allan Collins. The film will tell the story of an older Wyatt Earp, who spent his last years as a private detective and movie consultant in Los Angeles. But this story’s spin involves Earp learning that his friend and compatriot Doc Holliday had a son, now living in Prohibition-era New York City. While Holliday is long dead, the son has gotten himself in trouble with a rising mobster – Al Capone.

It was confirmed at Comic Con that four of the original cast members of the 1960’s gothic soap opera Dark Shadows will make cameos in new film. Lara Parker (Angelique), Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans and Josette du Pres), David Selby (Quentin Collins) and Jonathan Frid (Barnabas Collins) will appear in cameos.

It is reported that actor Hugh Jackman is firmly locked into playing Jean Valjean in the film version of the hit musical Les Miserables. Additionally, it is being said that actor Russell Crowe is apparently keen to play the determined Inspector Javert, the antagonist of the piece. However, Paul Bettany remains the front runner.

Actors Helena Bonham Carter, Dwight Yoakam and Barry Pepper are all in talks to join the upcoming box office film The Lone Ranger that stars Armie Hammer as a Texas Ranger left for dead, who dons the masked identity known as the Lone Ranger and is helped along the way by an Indian named Tonto (Johnny Depp). Carter will play the madam of a brothel who deals with gentlemen and scoundrels while Pepper will play a military officer and Yoakam will play Butch Cavendish, who is the leader of the gang that attacks and leaves the Ranger for dead. Ruth Evans, Tom Wilkinson and James Badge Dale are also onboard.

Actress Rebel Wilson (Bridesmaids) has joined the cast of the indie coming-of-age comedy film Struck by Lightning that stars Chris Colfer (Glee) as a character who is struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. The film will chronicle his exploits as he blackmails his fellow senior classmates into contributing to a magazine he’s publishing.

Actor Max Martini (The Unit) has joined the cast of the film Pacific Rim that tells the story of an alien invasion that threatens Earth. He will play the part of the resistance that fights them.

Actor Nick Nolte will appear in the political thriller The Company You Keep based on the Neil Gordon novel that stars Robert Redford as a former militant wanted by the FBI who must go on the run when his true identity is exposed by an ambitious young reporter (Shia LaBeouf).

Actress Imogen Poots (Jane Eyre and the upcoming Fright Night) has landed the female lead in the upcoming bio-pic Greetings From Tim Buckley that stars Penn Badgley (Gossip Girl) in the role of musician Jeff Buckley. The film follows the true story of the days leading up to Jeff Buckley’s 1991 performance at a tribute concert for his father, who’d abandoned him. Poots plays a young woman who meets Jeff Buckley while working at the concert. They embark on a four-day journey that changes both their lives. Shooting begins next month.

It looks like Warner Bros has pulled The Man of Steel from a planned late 2012 release date and has slotted it to open wide on June 14, 2013 release.