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By the time "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" hit theaters this year, a whole lot had happened between the popular franchise's second installment and its third. On screen, Nick (Louis Mandylor) got separated, Maria (Lainie Kazan) developed dementia, and Ian (John Corbett) retired. Offscreen, Andrea Martin gained new stardom playing demon-hunting nun Sister Andrea in the Paramount+ series "Evil," while the cast also lost one co-star -- Michael Constantine, who passed away in 2021.

The new movie's plot hinges around the aftermath of patriarch Gus' (Constantine) death, as Toula (Nia Vardalos) explains in the film's trailer that it was Gus' last wish that the family visit his childhood village in Greece. Thus, instead of a wedding, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3" actually centers around a family reunion with all the cultural flair you'd expect from the Portokalos family. If you missed the movie in theaters, you won't have to...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

There are some Cinderella stories in the history of the box office. We can look at something like the ultra-low-budget "Skinamarink" earlier this year, which made more than $2 million after it became a genuine viral conversation starter online. Produced for just $15,000, it's a nice little success story for director Kyle Edward Ball. Such things happen from time to time in defiance of the industry norms. But the biggest Cinderella story of all time, in every sense, happened in 2002 when "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" had a run for the ages on its way to becoming the biggest rom-com ever. Take that, "Runaway Bride."

Even for those who have absolutely no interest in this particular genre, the journey of this movie is unquestionably fascinating.

“Give me a word, any word,” Michael Constantine’s Gus Portokalos implored to anyone who would listen in 2002’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding, “and I’ll show you how the root of that word is Greek.” The old man’s words recur early on in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, spoken not by the Portokalos patriarch (Constantine himself died in 2021), but by his grieving daughter, Toula (Nia Vardalos), reminding her own daughter, Paris (Elena Kampouris), of Gus’s grinning legacy and the gaping hole he’s left behind.

Toula is doing her father’s voice and smiling when she delivers that tribute, but there are tears in her eyes too. The laughs here, for both characters and audiences, tend to echo through the gauze of nostalgia, making the film an unexpectedly moving entry in the franchise, if not an uproariously funny one. It’s certainly the most successful sequel,...

Stu Silver, the writer and producer who created the 1980s sitcoms Webster and It’s a Living and penned the screenplay for the 1987 Billy Crystal-Danny DeVito dark comedy Throw Momma From the Train, has died. He was 76.

Silver died July 18 at Highland Hospital in Rochester, New York, of complications from prostate cancer, his son, Dan Silver, announced.

Silver also was a writer on the ABC sitcom Soap, also featuring Crystal, during its last three seasons (1978-81), and he worked on other comedies including the spinoff Benson, Bosom Buddies, Star of the Family, The New Odd Couple, Brothers and Good Grief.

He shared an Emmy nomination for outstanding comedy series for his work on Soap in 1981.

Silver, who was adopted, created Webster, which starred Emmanuel Lewis as the adopted son of characters played by real-life husband and wife Alex Karras and Susan Clark. The Chicago-set series ran for six seasons...

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is the second movie sequel to Joel Zwick’s classic rom-com, and several of the original cast members return to reprise their roles for a fourth time in the beloved franchise. All three movies in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, as well as the sequel series My Big Fat Greek Life​​​​​​, are filled with talented actors and actresses who use their comedic talents and palpable chemistry to transform this fairly simple narrative of love and family into something that’s become synonymous with comfort, warmth, and easy viewing.

Like the other two movies and the TV show, the story of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 focuses on the Portokalos family. This installment sees them all travel back to Greece for a family reunion that’s filled with twists and turns to keep things interesting. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is...

In 2023, anti-drag laws are being debated in at least 14 states, including Tennessee, the first to officially ban “adult cabaret performances” — which includes male or female impersonations — in public spaces or in the presence of children. But in 1980, drag formed the centerpiece of a new ABC sitcom.

Bosom Buddies is notable for being the first big break for Tom Hanks, then 24, and paired him with relative newcomer Peter Scolari, then 25. They played Kip Wilson and Henry Desmond, respectively — two pals who assume female alter-egos named Buffy and Hildegard in order to live in an affordable women’s hotel in New York City. The show was conceived almost by accident by Thomas L. Miller and Robert L. Boyett, the duo behind a raft of 1970s hit sitcoms including Happy Days, Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley.

Buddies was pitched to ABC as a male version of the latter, reminiscent of “a sophisticated Billy Wilder comedy.

Save the date!

On Friday, Focus Features announced the release date for the long-awaited “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”, revealing the comedy will hit theatres Sept. 8, 2023.

Read More: Nia Vardalos Reveals ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ Is Now Filming In Greece

The third film in the series is written and directed by star Nia Vardalos, and features returning cast members John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Maria Vacratsis, Andrea Martin, Elias Kacavas, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone and Lainie Kazan.

New stars include Elias Kacavas and Melina Kotselou.

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman, who produced the previous entries in the franchise, also return as producers for the new sequel.

“The sweet friendship which bloomed from the producers’ first taking a chance on me then grew into a beautiful relationship as they entrusted me to direct this installment of our franchise,” Vardalos said in a statement. “We filmed...

Everybody’s big fat Greek family is heading back to theaters this fall. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” will premiere in theaters September 8, Focus Features announced Friday.

First released in 2002, the original “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” tells the story of Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), a Greek woman in Chicago who falls in love and gets engaged to WASPy Ian Miller, but struggles to deal with her large Greek family during the wedding planning process. 2016 brought the film’s first sequel, which focused on Toula and Ian’s life as parents.

The original rom-com, written by Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick, became a major sleeper hit, making 368.7 million worldwide on a minuscule 5 million budget, despite never reaching No. 1 at the box office during its theatrical run. It remains the highest-grossing rom-com domestically, making 241.4 million in North America. The film was also positively received by critics, netting Vardalos an...

It’ll be a fall family reunion for the “My Big Fat Greek Weeding” clan, with Focus Features dating the third film in the franchise for a worldwide theatrical release on Sept. 8, 2023.

Nia Vardalos wrote and directed the new film, starring alongside returning cast members John Corbett, Louis Mandylor, Elena Kampouris, Maria Vacratsis, Andrea Martin, Elias Kacavas, Gia Carides, Joey Fatone and Lainie Kazan. Elias Kacavas and Melina Kotselou join the family this time around.

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Gary Goetzman — who’ve produced all three movies — also return, with Paul Brooks, Scott Niemeyer and Steven Shareshian serving as executive producers.

“The sweet friendship which bloomed from the producers’ first taking a chance on me then grew into a beautiful relationship as they entrusted me to direct this installment of our franchise,” Vardalos stated. “We filmed our family reunion entirely in Greece which was thrilling for us all. Plus,...

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” has started filming in Athens, Greece. The franchise’s writer and star Nia Vardalos made the announcement on her Instagram page, and she also revealed that she is directing this third installment. The film will mark Vardalos’ next feature directorial outing after 2009’s “I Hate Valentine’s Day.”

“We are in Greece filming ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3’ and thank you for all the lovely messages of just waiting,” Vardalos said. The director’s caption added:”Thank you to Playtone, Gold Circle, HBO and Focus!” Vardalos wrote in the post’s caption. And much love and gratitude to you all for your support as we waited to film. Greece baby. Greece!”

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A post shared by Nia Vardalos (@niavardalos)

The original “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” was released in 2002 to wide acclaim. Vardalos, who wrote the screenplay as well as starring,...

Tango Shalom, where a female tango dancer (Dancing with the Stars champion Karina Smirnoff) invites an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi (Jos Laniado) to enter a televised dance competition, was an arthouse standout this weekend with a per screen average of over $4,000 at four theaters in New York and LA. The solid performance in a generally dour specialty market shows the power of older demos when they want to come out, nudged in this case by a targeted postcard mailing blitz, according to Atlas Distribution President Harmon Kaslow.

Tango Shalom is distributed worldwide by Vision Films with Atlas managing U.S. theatrical.

Kaslow thinks the comedy, directed by Gabriel Bologna with a sweet message and a star (Lainie Kazan) and producer (Joel Zwick) from the 2002 breakout hit My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, also benefitted from an exclusive theatrical run. Distributors have been noting the one-two boon of a decent window (60 days in...

A glum arthouse market may be entering a gateway weekend into happier days after months of distributors — with rare exceptions — pulling out their hair at dismal per-screens averages. That’s because festival buzz is mounting for film after film – from Card Counter, Dune and Spencer, to King Richard and Cyrano.

The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Dear Evan Hansen open in theaters on Sept, 17 and Sept. 24 after Toronto premieres. Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch from Cannes rolls out Oct. 22. Warner Bros’ Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark has an Oct. 1 release date. Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast has a Nov. 12 theatrical date after a world premiere in Toronto (and a glimpse at Telluride.)

It’s like the Marvel Cinematic Universe of arthouses, films set to give a bump to a specialty...

A post shared by Candace Cameron Bure (@candacecbure) on Jun 23, 2017 at 9:47am Pdt Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen may never reprise their role as Michelle Tanner on Netflix's Fuller House, but at least we have this throwback picture to reminisce on the good ole days. On Friday, Candace Cameron-Bure made us feel supernostalgic by posting an adorable photo of the original Full House cast on Instagram. "#Fbf @johnstamos texted me this photo of the whole cast having dinner at @bobsaget 's house including our director Joel Zwick," she wrote alongside the snap. Not only does it feature some totally '90s looks (not to mention John's facial hair), but we can't get over how young the Olsen twins look. Prepare to have your heart melted over the sweet snapshot.

Louder Than Bombs The Orchard Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: Joachim Trier Written by: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt Cast: Gabriel Byrne, Isabelle Huppert, Amy Ryan, Jesse Eisenberg, Devin Druid Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 3/15/16 Opens: April 8, 2016 There’s a reason that people go to family comedies like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” the romantic comedy with the largest box office ever for the genre. Joel Zwick’s movie, with a sequel that opened March 25, deals with a working class, single Greek-American girl in her thirties who is attracted to an upper-middle class man she spots in her family’s restaurant. Her parents want her to go [ Read More ]

The post Louder Than Bombs Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Okay film fans, are you all set for the big sequel storming the multiplex this weekend. No, not that one, the one with the caped combatants. Instead of spandex think….Windex. This is the follow-up that most movie-goers of a…ahem…certain age have been clamoring for since the original shocked and stunned Hollywood fourteen (gasp!) years ago. That’s because this lil’ flick with no big marquee stars, which cost a paltry five million, went on to gross just under a quarter of a billion bucks. So what took em’ so long, you may ask. Well, there was a TV show in 2003 that CBS canned after just seven episodes. Tis’ a distant memory, one that will be erased when the whole gang is back for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. So pass the ouzo! Opa!

Once again, good ole’ Gus Portokalos (Michael Constantine) is driving off to open...

When the first movie makes $245 million in the U.S. alone, it’s only natural to expect a sequel. But it’s been 14 long years between 2002’s certified smash My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its follow-up. What has changed in the meantime? Apparently not much as My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 from writer-star Nia Vardalos offers more of the same and has reunited virtually the same cast, subbing the original director Joel Zwick for Kirk Jones. As I say in my video review (click the…...

It seems as though every cult comedy of yesteryear is making a comeback in some form, whether it’s a TV offshoot or full feature-length movie in the vein of Zoolander 2. One of those forgotten gems is Joel Zwick’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

First released in 2002, the comedy flick introduced us to the Portokalos family in all of their weird and wacky glory, and now Universal is getting the gang back together for a bona fide reunion. If last month’s debutant trailer showcased a bigger, fatter and even more outrageous ceremony, then today’s poster for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 teases the return of a cultural phenomenon.

Kirk Jones of Nanny McPhee fame is behind the lens for this one, which will largely orbit around the character of Toula (Nia Vardalos) coming to terms with her prized daughter making a life for herself in Paris.

The former Lotus Entertainment executive arrives as president of production and will get to work on a director-driven, commercial slate.

The company will also invest in up to three films a year backed by a seven-figure fund for production, pre-production and equity investment in the $5-15m range.

Lauren and Gugenheim will work with David Boyle, who will continue to be integral to the company’s investments, productions and business development.

Gugenheim most recently served as evp of production and operations at Lotus Entertainment where he oversaw production on Kidnap starring Halle Berry and brought in Replicas starring Keanu Reeves as well as Tigers Curse with Shekhar Kapur directing.

He started his career working for Joel Zwick followed by stints at CAA and Paramount Vantage.

Red Wagon Entertainment co-heads Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher have promoted Charlie Morrison to vice-president. Morrison will work alongside vice-president of motion picture and television Nicki Cortese and creative executive Lucas Wiesendanger...

The story and music of the great composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein comes to life on stage whenThe Town Hall 2014 Summer Season Broadway Preludes presents Maestro Bernstein, a new play with music written and performed by award-winning actor and musician Hershey Felder Broadway's GeorgeGershwin Alone. Directed by Joel Zwick, Maestro Bernstein plays one night only, Thursday, July 17 at 8Pm at The Town Hall 123 West 43rd Street.

Get ready for more Windex jokes. Nia Vardalos is making a sequel to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" more than 12 years removed from the first film's blockbuster run in 2002, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Vardalos has already written the script and will reprise her role as Toula Portokalos, a Greek-American woman who in the first film met and married a non-Greek man (John Corbett) while trying to get her large overbearing family to accept him into the fold. Corbett is also set to return in the follow-up, which "involves the reveal of a family secret and a new wedding, described as bigger and fatter, that brings the Greek clan together again." “Now that I'm experiencing motherhood, I'm ready to write the next chapter of my family story,” said Vardalos in a statement. “Of course a few jaded folks in the press corps will claim I ran out of money or...

"My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which was produced by Tom Hanks, was a surprise hit when it was released in 2002. The comedy cost only $5 million to make, but went on to gross almost $370 million worldwide. It's considered one of the most successful independent movies of all time. Now comes word that a sequel is in development, and all the stars and producers have re-united to make it happen. Nia Vardalos has written and the script and will reprise her role as a first-generation Greek-American woman, while John Corbett is attached to reprise his role as the non-Greek who fell in love with her. Hanks is also returning to produce and so are the rest of the producers, like his wife Rita Wilson. Joel Zwick directed the first movie, but it doesn't seem that he's coming back. At this point, a director is not attached. The plot of the new script...

Some 12 years after it was released and became one of the biggest independent films of its era, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is getting a feature sequel from Gold Circle, HBO and Playtone. Nia Vardalos, who wrote the first, has scripted the second installment and will star with John Corbett, her groom in the original Joel Zwick-directed romantic comedy. Also back is the brash Portokalos family. Rita Wilson is producing with Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, with Gold Circle’s Paul Brooks exec producing with Scott Niemeyer, Norm Waitt, Steven Shareshian and Nia Vardalos. Good Universe is handling international sales. That is a long wait for a sequel, but the original reflected the sensibilities of Vardalos, and it took time for her to find the second installment. “Now that I’m experiencing motherhood, I’m ready to write the next chapter of my family story,” Vardalos said in a statement.

"I guess that my life has been a series of flukes in the record business. The first thing I ever did was the biggest record that I'll ever have." – Alex Chilton

Greetings from the apocalypse! It's a weekend full of westerns, cool bands and two movies with Steve Carell. That helps to ease the pain of yet another extended Johnny Depp mugging session masquerading as a popcorn film. I'm on to you, Depp …

Friday, July 5

Pow! In Theaters

"A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-ho, who gives a s**t?'" "The Lone Ranger" returns us to those thrilling days of yesteryear via the thundering hoof-beats of audience apathy as Disney throws a cool $200 million on the fire betting on a brand name that hasn't been relevant since when JFK was still alive. Wannabe Cherokee Johnny Depp does his usual postmodern...

★★☆☆☆ Despite the best intentions, Marcus Markou's family affair Papadopoulos & Sons (2012) - made in conjunction with brother, Andrew, through Double M Films - was never likely to emulate the success here in the UK of Joel Zwick's hammy yet humorous Us comedy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). A far more restrained, London-based riches-to-rags parable, Markou's film strains to be both comic and touching, often missing its marks by some margin. Game of Thrones' Stephen Dillane heads up a relatively little-known cast as Harry Papadopoulos, a successful entrepreneur on the verge of losing everything.

Read more »...

Chicago – It is with mixed emotions that one regards the tenth anniversary edition of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” On one hand, it evokes memories of the crowded theaters that guffawed in delight during the film’s year-long theatrical run. On the other hand, it serves as a bitter reminder of the failed career it had promised to launch.

It was through serendipitous circumstances that Nia Vardalos’s affectionate stage show about her quirky Greek family was transformed into one of the most financially successful indies of all time. On the film’s 2002 audio commentary (included on this disc), Vardalos said that it was the most difficult for her to play the sad scenes because she was so blissfully happy offscreen. Her giddy excitement proved to be infectious in the film, but in all of her subsequent screen efforts, the actress seemed to mistake a chipper demeanor for a performance.

Blu-ray/DVD Release Date: Nov. 13, 2012

Price: Blu-ray/DVD Combo $19.98

Studio: HBO/Warner

For its 10th birthday, 2002 romantic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding has its high-definition debut in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, even with some new special features.

The PG film, which surprised Hollywood by stealing the hearts of viewers, was written by and stars Nia Vardalos (My Life in Ruins), shooting the relatively unknown, at the time, actress into stardom. Made on a reported $5 million production budget in 27 days, My Big Fat Greek Wedding grossed a whopping $241.4 million in the U.S. alone.

Vardalos plays Toula Portokalos, a Greek woman who disappears around her larger than life family. When she starts to break out with her own independence, she meets and falls in love with non-Greek Ian Miller (John Corbett, TV’s Parenthood). As their inevitable wedding day approaches (no spoiler — it is in the title), their families...

After the success of previous readings in New York and Los Angeles, Mark Wolper, David Geha, Steve Sunshine, Spencer Proffer and Phillipa Sledge are proud to host a workshop production of the new musical comedy, Serrano Poet, LoverHitman, based on the French classic, Cyrano De Bergerac. Serrano is written by Madeline Sunshine with music by Robert Tepper and directed by Joel Zwick. The workshop presentations will take place today, May 21st at 1Pm and 430Pm and on Tuesday, May 22nd at 2Pm at Foxwoods Studios, Studio A 214 w. 43rd St.

After the success of previous readings in New York and Los Angeles, Mark Wolper, David Geha, Steve Sunshine, Spencer Proffer and Phillipa Sledge are proud to host a workshop production of the new musical comedy, Serrano Poet, LoverHitman, based on the French classic, Cyrano De Bergerac. Serrano is written by Madeline Sunshine with music by Robert Tepper and directed by Joel Zwick. The workshop presentations will take place on Monday, May 21st at 1Pm and 430Pm and on Tuesday, May 22nd at 2Pm at Foxwoods Studios, Studio A 214 w. 43rd St.

A dog groomed [1] to look like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. What is Page 2? Page 2 is a compilation of stories and news tidbits, which for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. After the jump we’ve included 46 different items, fun images, videos, casting tidbits, articles of interest and more. It’s like a mystery grab bag of movie web related goodness. If you have any interesting items that we might've missed that you think should go in /Film's Page 2 - email us [2]! Rob Lowe will play [3] suspected wife killer Drew Peterson in a made for Lifetime television movie with Kaley Cuoco to co-star as Missing Wife #4. /Film reader Chris S mashed-up the trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with The Waterboy. HammerToNail [4] takes a look at the experience of watching The Tree of Life on film vs. digital print. [5] This concept sketch [6] of the...

Keep this in mind: for all the rejections from Laura Winslow, the painful transformations into Stephan and the pants that did his "sack" no favors, it's good to be Steve Urkel. After all, he's beyond loaded.

Jaleel White, the actor who turned suspenders into universal symbols of geekdom and made the term "Did I Do That?" into perhaps the most obnoxious thing a trouble-making child could say, is proud of his run as the nerd from next door. Especially what it did for his bank account -- he's the highest paid black kid in the history of television, he told Vanity Fair in a new interview.

And he worked damn hard to earn that cash -- even if it meant some physical struggles.

"The fact is that I was maturing," he remembered of his teenage years growing up as Urkel. "I knew physically I had made certain sacrifices to keep...

Jaleel White, the fellow that played Urkel for nine years on Family Matters, wrote a movie.  I have this great image of White sauntering into a producers office and slamming the script down on the desk "Did I Do That?! Yes I Did Motherf*Cker!"  Anyway, the film is entitled Did U Get My Text? and tells the story of two people falling in love over text message.  White is also producing with Empire Film Group CEO Dean Hamiltno Bornstein.  There are rumors that White will have a small role in the film.The film will be directed by Joel Zwick who directed My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  The film is set to go into production this summer.

read more...

Jaleel White, who played Urkel for nine years on ABC's "Family Matters," and Joel Zwick, who directed "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," are making a movie together. White wrote "Did U Get My Text," about a couple who meets and falls in love by text message. He's also producing, along with Empire Film Group CEO Dean Hamilton Bornstein. Also Read: Ricky Schroder's Newest Co-Star: His 14-Year-Old Daughter Zwick, who directed 31 episodes of "Family Matters" -- including "Throw Urkel From the Train" -- is directing. White will have a small role in the film, which...

Sleepers come seemingly out of nowhere. They are the little films that confound expectations, attracting enthusiastic audiences that happily spread the word. Sometimes they come from the studio system, produced almost as an afterthought, but mostly they're produced well off the radar. On occasion, they upend the established order by opening at No. 1 at the boxoffice. But more typically they start small, building over time, hanging on in theaters as more heralded movies come and go. Often the filmmakers involved meet with initial rejection before wildly triumphing in the end. And in the process, they expose the limitations of Hollywood's conventional thinking about what makes a hit. Sleepers, when everyone wakes up to their potential, tend to be wildly successful, resulting in boxoffice returns that dwarf their modest budgets. And so, top sleepers of the past decade, take another bow.

10. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (Sony Pictures Classics, 2000)

Budget: $17 million

Domestic...

Eighty-Eight Entertainment, Samantha F. Voxakis and Lee Kaufman present Hershey Felder's Composer Sonata at Drury Lane Water Tower Place from November 13th through December 31st in a strictly limited engagement culminating in a special New Year's Eve Presentation of Hershey Felder's The Great American Song Book Sing-a-Long. These tour-de-force presentations, Beethoven, As I Knew Him; Monsieur Chopin and George Gershwin Alone; as well as The Great American Song Book Sing-a-Long, are written and performed by Hershey Felder and directed by Joel Zwick.

Charles Martin Smith's "Stone of Destiny," which tells of how four students in Glasgow, Scotland outwitted the British government, will screen as the opening-night film at the 14th edition of the Palm Beach International Film Festival, which runs April 23-27. Marc Webb's "(500) Days of Summer" has been tapped as the closing-night film.

James Cromwell, whose credits include "Babe," "The Queen" and "W.," will receive the fest's Career Achievment Award. Director Joel Zwick, who directed "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," will receive its Visionary Award.

The fest's awards gala, hosted by Tristan Rogers, will be held April 24 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club.

More than 110 films will screen at the five-day event, executive director Randi Emerman said.

"We're a little shorter this year yet we have added more venues as well as a second weekend featuring the 'Best of the Fest,' " he added.

The schedule also includes a special Italian Cinema sidebar,...

It’s news that probably won’t even register on Tom Hanks’s radar, but after poor reviews for last year’s The Women and little much else to write home about recently maybe Meg Ryan’s agent might be a little more psyched. What are we talking about? The news that the pair’s 1993 romance, Sleepless in Seattle is treading the increasingly well-worn path from screen to stage, with a musical version in the pipeline imaginatively entitled Sleepless in Seattle: The Musical. I just don’t know they come up with it!

Jeff Arch, who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay to the original film is onboard, busily working on the script (or book as it’s known in stage circles) with composer/ lyricist Leslie Bricusse charged with adding the necessary songs. My Big Fat Greek Wedding helmer Joel Zwick is set to direct and the production will...

It seems that Broadway has been turning Hollywood hits into big musical productions every day!

Just this week alone, we heard of "Spider-Man" the musical, and now, get ready for show-stopping numbers from "Sleepless in Seattle!"

The Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan 1993 romantic flick is getting a song-and-dance makeover!

According to Daily Variety, the film's screenwriter, Jeff Arch, is working with composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse ("Doctor Doolittle," "Victor/Victoria").

The theater adaptation is targeting 2010 for its release, and it will be directed by Joel Zwick ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding").

I know, I know, I complain about these things, but I'll be first in line when it opens :happy...

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless In Seattle is heading to Broadway - as a musical.

Screenwriter Jeff Arch, who penned the hit movie, is working with composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse to turn the film into a song-and-dance production for the New York stage.

The theatre adaptation, aimed for release in 2010, will be directed by My Big Fat Greek Wedding filmmaker Joel Zwick and produced by David Shor, according to industry paper Daily Variety.

He spent a lot of time voicing Sonic the Hedgehog, but Jaleel White is much more well-known for playing Steve Urkell, that nerdy dude who annoyed his way from guest appearance to most memorable star on Family Matters. But, God, that was ten years ago now, and Jaleel has not only grown up, but stretched his way outside the acting world.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that White has written a romantic comedy called Did You Get My Text, which Joel Zwick (My Big Fat Greek Wedding) will direct. The film follows a young man who somehow "starts a relationship with a girl on his friend's phone, turning their courtship into a comedy of technological errors." Just how does that happen, anyway? And by comedy of errors, I imagine that means this poor girl finally thinks the young man's friend is into her? Oh dear. Right now, there's no word on cast,...

The Hollywood Reporter ran a really confusing article this morning that involves Vincent Chase and Urkel. Having read it about three times, I think I've figured out the gist-- and it has nothing to do with a Family Matters-Entourage crossover episode, as amazing as that would be. The only connection between the two seems to be that they're involved in two different projects, produced by the same guys, Matthew Cooke and Bert Marcus. The first one is an inane-sounding romantic comedy called Did You Get My Text, which was written by Jaleel White, a.k.a. Urkel. The movie will be directed by Joel Zwick, who directed episodes of all kinds of mid-90s sitcoms, like Step By Step, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper and, yes, Family Matters. No actors have been set. As for Grenier, he and Marcus will produce Propaganda, a documentary directed by Cooke about the Patriot Act,...

Joel Zwick may be getting on in years (he’s 66 and thus officially an Oap), and his last big hit may have been the middle-aged catnip that was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but he’s still keen to show that he’s down with da kidz with his new movie, Did You Get My Text.And no, there doesn’t appear to be a question mark at the end of the title, which will send our subs crazy.Anyway, it’s a rom-com written by actor Jaleel White about a young man who inadvertently starts a relationship with a girl while using his friend’s phone. Their courtship then falls foul of a series of technological errors, and hilarity no doubt ensues. Well, we’ve heard worse ideas for rom-coms, and Zwick proved with Mbfgw (that’s the texty abbreviation) that he knows his way around the genre, so...

Joel Zwick, Jaleel White and Adrian Grenier are all on board for producers Matthew Cooke and Bert Marcus, who are readying two new films.

Zwick is attached to direct the producers' romantic comedy "Did You Get My Text," written by White, best known for playing Steve Urkel on the 1990s sitcom "Family Matters."

In "Text," a young man starts a relationship with a girl on his friend's phone, turning their courtship into a comedy of technological errors. Zwick is repped by the Irv Schechter Co.; White is repped by Ata, Dtg and Hughes Capital Entertainment.

Grenier and Marcus also are producing writer/director Cooke's "Propaganda," a documentary highlighting supression of free speech ranging from the Patriot Act to the removal of materials from the Web because of copyright law. The Icm-repped Cooke and Marcus recently produced helmer Grenier's doc "Teenage Paparazzi."

"The reason 70% of the public does not trust mainstream...

Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones' planned musical movie about her native Wales has been delayed because of the struggling US dollar. Coming Out - which Zeta-Jones plans to star in and produce with her brother Lyndon - was due to begin shooting in Wales this month but the film has been hit by the falling value of the US dollar against the British pound. The film's budget is in dollars. Zeta-Jones' agents are also reportedly unhappy she has devoted so much time to an independent project without guaranteed earnings - she will take a share of profits rather than a salary. The shooting schedule has been reduced to 42 days, but director Joel Zwick is confident the show will go on, and that he can recruit a host of Welsh-born stars to join Zeta-Jones and Scot Alan Cumming - who will play a gay cabaret performer forced to take control of a struggling Welsh rugby team when his father dies. Zwick tells Pagesix.Com, "We'll make it with Welsh actors. (There's) Plenty. How's Alan Cumming (sic), Christian Bale and, since it's a musical, Tom Jones? And with Catherine starring in it, how's Sir Anthony Hopkins playing her father?"...

A fondly remembered staple of '70s Saturday morning TV viewing, "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" moves on up to the big screen after years of resistance from its creator and provider of many of the character voices, Bill Cosby.

Perhaps Mr. Cosby should have stuck to those initial instincts.

An awkward blend of live action and animation, "Fat Albert", with "Saturday Night Live" regular Kenan Thompson fat-suiting up for the title role, gets crushed under lumbering direction by "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" director Joel Zwick and message-heavy (even more than the original) dialogue that effectively suffocates any bits of fun trying to poke through.

The out-of-balance results will be felt at the boxoffice -- there's so little incentive for repeat viewing -- but with so many other kid-appropriate movies already essentially played out prior to the holidays, parents of younger ones might prefer "Albert"'s candy-colored allure to the darker recesses of a "Lemony Snicket".

Sharing the screenwriting with Charles Kipps, Bill -- or William H. Cosby Jr. as he's credited here -- brings his characters into the real world through a tear-stained portal that takes them from their animated North Philly neighborhood directly through a TV screen and into the live-action North Philly neighborhood inhabited by Doris (Kyla Pratt), a morose, lonely teen that Fat Albert and his posse are determined to help.

Realizing that hanging around with oddly dressed guys with names like Mushmouth (Jermaine Williams), Old Weird Harold (Aaron A. Frazier) and Dumb Donald (Marques B. Houston) aren't exactly going to help her high school social life, Doris is anxious to send them back into TV Land, but the portal won't be reopening until their show airs again the next day.

So the old school characters are introduced to cell phones and laptops in addition to flesh-and-blood babes, like Doris' foster sister Lauri (Dania Ramirez), with whom Fat Albert is instantly smitten.

And time is quickly running out as Albert and the gang find themselves literally fading away in their new surroundings, and they still haven't been able to help Doris with her self-esteem issues.

They're not the only ones fading fast.

Squandering comic opportunities at every turn, the film is content to adhere to a mantra of "when in doubt, dance" rather than finding any clever entertaining ways to punctuate the prolonged moralizing.

But there are only so many times Al Can shake his stuff like a big old bowl of Jell-O before the audience begins to get restless.

While Thompson and the young cast are amiable enough, there just isn't all that much for them to do other than walk up and down the Paramount and Culver Studios backlots, stopping on more than one occasion in front of a video store with a poster in the window advertising the arrival of the original Fat Albert cartoons on DVD.

That would be your better deal.

Fat Albert

20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox presents a Davis Entertainment Co./SAH Enterprises, Inc. production

Director: Joel Zwick

Producer: John Davis

Screenwriters: William H. Cosby Jr. & Charles Kipps

Executive producers: William H. Cosby Jr., Camille O. Cosby

Director of photography: Paul Elliott

Production designer: Nina Ruscio

Editor: Tony Lombardo

Costume designer: Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

Music: Richard Gibbs

Cast:

Fat Albert: Kenan Thompson

Doris: Kyla Pratt

Reggie: Omari Grandberrry

Voice of Danielle: Raven-Symone

Mushmouth: Jermaine Williams

Old Weird Harold: Aaron A. Frazier

Voice of Russell: Jeremy Suarez

Bill: Keith D. Robinson

Lauri: Dania Ramirez

Dumb Donald: Marques B. Houston

Rudy: Shedrack Anderson III

Bucky: Alphonso McAuley

Arthur: J. Mack Slaughter.

MPAA rating: PG

Running time: 93 minutes...

CANNES -- El Camino Pictures, the year-old production partnership between William Morris Independent and financier-producer Bob Yari, is ramping up its slate with projects boasting Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mick Jagger and directors Joel Zwick, Mark Fergus and Bobby Garabedian. Zeta-Jones and Zwick are teaming on a comedy set in the world of rugby called Coming Out. Zeta-Jones is producing the film -- described as being in the vein of Billy Elliott -- through her banner Milkwood Films, with Zwick attached to direct. A March start is being eyed, with production based in Zeta-Jones' native Wales. Sources said Zeta-Jones also will take a role in the ensemble and that Alan Cumming is being circled to star opposite her. Coming Out is one of four new projects being packaged by El Camino.

Aaron Carter, Dania Ramirez, Nick Zano, Derek Watkins and Alice Greczyn have joined the cast of 20th Century Fox's live-action Fat Albert for helmer Joel Zwick. Shooting in Los Angeles on the Paramount Pictures back lot, the project is based on the stand-up comedy monologues of Bill Cosby about his childhood in Philadelphia and the cartoon Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. The John Davis-produced film is toplined by Saturday Night Live regular Kenan Thompson alongside Shedrack Anderson III as Ruby, Jermaine Williams as Mushmouth, Keith Robinson as Bill, Alphonso McAuley as Bucky, Aaron Frazier as Old Weird Harold, Marques Houston as Dumb Donald, Kyla Pratt as Doris, former B2K member Omarion as Reggie and J Mack Slaughter as Arthur.

The Fat Albert movie has found its female lead. Teen star Kyla Pratt has been cast in the big-screen adaptation of the children's cartoon series as the teenage girl whose favorite 'toon characters fall out of her TV set and into her life. Joel Zwick directs. Albert is being produced by Bill and Camille Cosby and Fox-based John Davis through his John Davis Entertainment. Bill Cosby also is involved in writing the movie, which is based on his 1970s series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Fox will distribute. Pratt's big-screen credits include Mike Figgis' One Night Stand, Love & Basketball as well as Dr. Doolittle 1 and its sequel, in which Pratt starred opposite Eddie Murphy. She also appears on UPN's One on One and Disney Channel's Proud Family. Pratt is repped by Landis-Simon Prods., Talent Management and the law firm of Nelson Felker.

Fat Albert is alive and kicking. Director Joel Zwick, who boarded the project nearly a year ago, has found a new leading man in Kenan Thompson. The actor and former star of Nickelodeon's Kenan and Kel as well as the current Barbershop 2: Back in Business will play the title character for 20th Century Fox. Production is gearing up for a mid-April start with a cast that also includes Omarion of B2K fame as Reggie, Raven-Symone in the animated part of Danielle, Jermaine Williams as Mush Mouth, Jeremy Suarez in the animated role of Russell and Aaron Frazier as Weird Harold. Thompson steps into a role once filled by newcomer Omar Benson Miller. Miller was to topline with Forest Whitaker at the helm in early 2002. However, that package fell apart because of a conflict of visions between Whitaker and Bill Cosby, who created the characters, and the director exited the project (HR 4/5/02).

COLOGNE, Germany -- Danny DeVito, Famke Janssen and Edie Falco have signed on to star opposite Ray Liotta in "Family of the Year", the comedy from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" director Joel Zwick, said German media fund VIP, the film's backers. The $15 million project from Armada Pictures centers on a family that moves to a new town only to get along much better with their new neighbors than with each other. "Family" will be Zwick's next film after wrapping "Elvis Has Left the Building", currently shooting in New Mexico. Armada president Chris Sievernich will produce with vp production Matt Milich. Armada is also handling worldwide distribution. VIP executives Andreas Schmid and Andreas Grosch will receive executive producer credits on the project.

Vanessa Morrison has been upped to senior vp production at 20th Century Fox. Morrison, who works in Hutch Parker's TCF division, most recently was vp production, a post she held since 1999. Before that, she had been director of production since 1997. Under Parker, Morrison is shepherding the live-action/CGI film Garfield, directed by Peter Hewitt and starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Breckin Meyer with the voices of Bill Murray and Debra Messing. Her other projects include the Steve Martin starrer Cheaper by the Dozen from helmer Shawn Levy, Betty Thomas' Valley of the Dolls, Joel Zwick's Fat Albert and Cat and Mouse. "Vanessa has earned this promotion through the superb quality of her work and her tireless dedication to the core skills that make a great executive: superb taste, a strong point of view and superior development abilities," Parker said. " 'Dr. Dolittle' 1 and 2, 'Garfield' and 'Cheaper by the Dozen' represent some of the best of what we hope from our executives and for the future of 20th Century Fox."...