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Showing on October 17th is the much-awaited movie, The Secret Life of Bees, from the NY Times best selling novel of Sue Monk Kidd. It stars no less than the talented Dakota Fanning, Academy-award nominees Queen Latifah and Sophie Okonedo, Academy-award winner Jennifer Hudson, and Alicia Keys.
Set in South Carolina in 1964, it is a tale of 14-year old Lily Owens (Fanning) who is haunted by the memory of her late mother (Burton). Lily flees with her caregiver, Rosaleen (Hudson), to escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father (Bettany). She is taken in by the Boatwright sisters (Latifah, Okonedo, and Keys) and discovers their enchanting world of beekeeping. Lily discovers a whole new world with the sisters and finds a home she has been longing for since her mother’s death. But a white girl living with a black household brings complications the sisters have feared from the start.
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Will Smith tops the highest paid actors in Hollywood for the period June 2007 to June 2008. During the covered period, Smith raked in about $80 million from his movies. His nearest rival is Johnny Depp who made a close $72 million.

With Smith’s latest blockbuster, Hancock, he is now considered the first actor to have 8 straight movies earn more than $100 million at the box office. His earnings for the year boosted male actor revenues over the females by almost 100%. The leading men took in an estimated $487 million over the past 12 months while the leading ladies earned only half at $244.5 million.

Third place belongs to comedians Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy with a tie at $55 million despite their recent box-office tank jobs, The Love Guru and Meet Dave. The fourth spot goes to Leonardo DiCaprio at $45 million, followed by Bruce Willis, with the resurrection of John McClane earning him $41 million. Ben Stiller is next with $40 million, despite having one of his worst performing films to date with last year’s The Heartbreak Kid.

On the feminine side, Cameron Diaz is gets the top spot with $50 million followed by Keira Knightley and Jennifer Aniston at $32 million and $27 million, respectively.

Summer is the season of great movies and blockbusters. This year we’ve got quite a variety of films that have tried to get the top spot. The Fourth of July weekend saw the much-awaited movie from Will Smith, Hancock. As expected it steals the top rank with $24 million in box office gross.

Hancock is a story of a washed out superhero who tries to make a comeback by getting a PR exec to clean up his image. Jason Bateman plays the PR exec Ray Embrey whose life was saved by Hancock. Probably the best reason to watch the movie is the collaboration of Smith and Bateman who both have their own brand of comedy that works. Besides, aren’t you tired of watching superheroes that don’t seem human at all — they are so perfect. It’s about time the world sees a superhero that becomes an alcoholic yet manages to try and pick himself up. It was an endeavor that proved difficult but may still be possible.

Next to Hancock is Wall-E, a movie that surprisingly outmaneuvered Jolie’s Wanted in the box office. Upcoming movies such as Hellboy II and The Dark Knight are in the popularity list and worth watching out for.

Will Smith’s kids were not used to daddy being mean in his new movie “Hancock.” In Hancock, Will swears, drinks, mouths off, and goes to prison. Will’s role is a hero-gone-bad and it could be unnerving for fans. However, Jada and his kids realize that it’s only a character and understand the whole concept. Jaden, his first son from Jada, already played opposite his dad in The Pursuit of Happyness while the youngest, Willow, can be seen in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.

According to Jada, the kids were unfazed by Will’s in-prison therapy sessions in Hancock. It’s not a new concept to them having other family members going through rehab too.