Cut your GD hair! And pull up your GD pants!! And stop waxing your GD eyebrows!!!  (*aneurysm*)

WB reaped the rewards of having the balls to release a movie we’ve all already seen this week, as Zac Efron’s 17 Again topped the box office with $24 million.  I thought it’d be a Freaky Friday before a body-swap comedy topped the box office again, but you know what they say: Like Father Like Son.  Wait, did that last sentence make sense? Or Vice Versa?

Elsewhere, Crowe/Affleck joint State of Play locked up number two, Hannah Montana dropped to four, Crank High Voltage debuted a disappointing sixth with a take four million less than the original, I Love You, Man continued to earn in the ninth spot in its fifth week out, and Dragonball is a certified bomb, dropping out of the top ten in only its second week.  It looked so brilliant, I just don’t understand it.

Overall, revenue was up 17% and attendance up 16% over last year, despite the supposedly weak economy.  Thanks, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, and Vin Diesel!  I guess it’s true what they say: crap rules everything around me, dolla dolla bill, y’all.  (full top ten after the jump):

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State of Play is a political thriller starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, and Rachel McAdams, based on a BBC miniseries about a journalist (Crowe) investigating the murder of a congressmen’s (Affleck) mistress.  Sounds, uh… thrilling.  Adapting British shows is a great idea. I mean, they have such amazing TV over there.  I can’t wait for the next one, about an older comedian hilariously dressed in drag who gets yelled at by Gordon Ramsey.  Can his be-wigged lawyer save the day?  Only time will tell!  *cue 10 minutes of canned laughter*

A few months back, I told you about Brad Pitt and Ed Norton dropping out of State of Play over script issues, and being subsequently replaced by Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.

These are the first shots from the movie.  I’m not sure what it’s about, but if I had to guess, I’d say fish and chips.  

[Source by way of Source] 

Ed Norton has left State of Play and is being replaced by Ben Affleck. 

A while back, I brought you the news that Brad Pitt would be re-teaming with Fight Club co-star Ed Norton for State of Play (an adaptation of a popular British miniseries).  Shortly thereafter, Pitt left the project over script concerns and was replaced by Russell Crowe.

Because of the change, Norton asked Universal if he could be replaced so that he could fulfill a prior commitment to Tim Blake Nelson’s indie comedy "Leaves of Grass," which he is both starring in and producing.

Affleck will take over the role of an ambitious politician who finds himself engrossed in a murder conspiracy. He’ll join Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright Penn and Jason Bateman in the film. [Yahoo]

I have no problems with Crowe or Affleck, but this is still a poor trade.  Personally, I’d like to see all four of them in the same movie.  It could be some kind of gay orgy called Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts.

Highlight of 30 Odd Foot of Grunts’ wikipedia entry:

The band has achieved neither critical nor popular success during its time. Perhaps their only claim to fame, other than Crowe’s celebrity status, is the Frenzal Rhomb song "Russell Crowe’s Band", in which it is described as "a fucking pile of shit".

According to Hollywood Reporter, Russell Crowe replacing Brad Pitt in State of Play is looking like a done deal. 

Pitt had been a driving force behind the project – which includes director Kevin Macdonald, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren, Rachel McAdams, Jason Bateman, and Robin Wright Penn – but left over script concerns.  According to an earlier report: 

Pitt and the studio never quite meshed on the script, said several sources. He sparked to Matthew Michael Carnahan’s original adaptation of the Paul Abbott-created British miniseries but apparently liked it more than the studio. While the actor made several movies in quick succession, Universal got rewrites by the likes of Peter Morgan, Tony Gilroy and Billy Ray. Pitt’s vision departed from that of the studio somewhere along that rewrite trail.

This sucks. Listen, I like Russell Crowe.  But sticking him in a role meant for Brad Pitt at the last minute is a disappointment.  It’s kind of like asking my maid for a martini and she brings me a gin fizz – I enjoy a gin fizz, it’s just not what I had my heart set on, you know?  Do they not speak booze in Nicaragua?  Still, she’s pretty smart for an 8-year-old.  And man can she take a punch.