'Thor' Is Going to Be a Big Hit

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Today in show business news: Marvel's latest is tracking well at the box office, Jason Bourne has his next director, and a bunch of women decide to make horror movies.

Early box office numbers are in for Thor: The Dark World, and it's gonna be a hit, folks. I know that's shocking, because Marvel movies are pretty alienating art-house fare meant for a niche audience, your Film Forum types and whatnot, but this one is connecting for some reason. The show pulled in $7.1 million in midnight screenings last night, and has already grossed $150 million overseas, where the film opened last week. Projections are putting the North American gross at possibly around $90 million for the weekend, and the film's total haul may wind up at $300 million by Sunday. That's a lotta scratch! And it means I won the bet. I said $300 mill, and it looks like it's gonna be $300 mill. So, sorry Chris, but the next Thor movie has to be called Thor 3: The Search for Thor's Shirt but he never finds his shirt, so he can never wear a shirt again. Those were the rules of the bet. Go tell Marvel Studios that that's how it's going to be. They'll understand. A bet is binding. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Justin Lin, of Fast and the Furious fame (infamy?), may be directing the next Bourne movie. As in classy, Paul Greengrass-directed Bourne. Or at least Tony Gilroy-directed Bourne. And it's not really even Bourne, it's Aaron Cross, the character played by Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy. But still! Still. Justin Lin has directed four Fast/Furious movies and not much else. Oh, sorry, Annapolis, with James Franco and Jordana Brewster. I just don't know if he has the seriousness for the franchise. This is going to be like Brett Ratner directing X-Men: The Last Stand, only potentially worse. Do not approve. Nope. [Deadline]

Oh, cool. Mary Harron and Karyn Kusama will be among the roster of female directors participating in a horror anthology film called XX. We don't know much else about the project, but that sounds like a neat idea, right? Women are often the focus of horror movies, but so rarely are women making the movies. So this could be good! I mean, haha, I say that like I will ever watch it. I will not! No sir. I do not watch horror movies. Used to, now I don't. That era has ended. But, everyone else, you go enjoy them, really. Tell me how they are. I'll be here watching House Hunters. [The Hollywood Reporter]

Here are three new pictures from The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Where Are Andrew Garfield's Pants?. Well, no, that second part of the title isn't real. It would have been if I'd won that bet, but I didn't, so that's that. Anyway, the first picture features Spidey wearing a fireman's hat and spraying a fire hose and it is sort of silly looking. The second is of Jamie Foxx's villain Electro, also kind of silly. The third, though, is of Gwen and Peter and it shows us Peter's new haircut and it is not silly, it is another word that starts with "s." Enjoy this little tease and then go back to biding your time until the movie opens next summer. We're almost there! Well, not really. [Coming Soon]

PBS is going to re-broadcast its taping of the production of Oklahoma! that played in the West End in 1999. That's the one that made Hugh Jackman a big star. Or, I mean, X-Men made Hugh Jackman a big star for most people, but for those in the know it was Oklahoma!, a year before, that did it. It'll show next Friday at 9, in HD. [Entertainment Weekly]

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