Hollywood's next big franchise hopeful "Divergent" is heading to theaters this weekend.

You may not know much about it, but the adaptation of the best-selling series is what teens will be heading out to see.

The film stars Shailene Woodley ("The Descendants"), Theo James ("Underworld: Awakening"), and Kate Winslet in a dystopian future.

After "The Hunger Games," it's Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment's latest Young Adult adaptation to the big screen.

While it's not expected to duplicate Jennifer Lawrence's break-out hit opening weekend, "Divergent" is expected to make upwards of $65 million falling in line with 2008's "Twilight" debut.

If you're not sure what all of the fuss is about, here's what you should know about Hollywood's next big film.

Meet Beatrice Prior, played by actress Shailene Woodley.

She lives in a future dystopian version of Chicago.

It's broken down and completely enclosed from the outside world.

Lionsgate's stock tumbled about 6 percent Friday afternoon even after “Divergent” received an enthusiastic response at the box office and the studio announced it had greenlit a sequel to the futuristic thriller.

“I'm scratching my head,” James Marsh, an entertainment and media analyst with Piper Jaffray, said. ”I don't understand what the big deal is. It's clearly going to be a real franchise for the company and it will help fill the pipeline after ‘Hunger Games’ wraps up.”

“Divergent” racked up an impressive $4.9 million in late night showings Thursday and is on pace to gross more than $50 million this weekend. Yet investors seem disappointed those figures cannot match or at least nip at the heels of the debuts of two other young adult blockbusters, “Twilight” and “The Hunger Games.”

Also read: ‘The Twivergent Games: The Saga: Bloody Dawn – Part 1' Trailer: The Hottest YA Couples Prepare for Battle (Video)

Even before Lionsgate unveiled its initial box office numbers, the markets were skittish. Initial reviews for the film were poor, sending the studio's share price southward. The stock opened the week trading above $32 and was selling for $28.06 as of Friday afternoon. That's a painful reception.

The film seems to be a victim of unrealistic expectations and a healthy dollop of irrational exuberance by investors who falsely believe that all young adult series are created equal. Compounding that misapprehension, were fan sites and publications that kept talking up “Divergent” as a possible successor to “The Hunger Games.”

Those kinds of comparisons ignore the fact that “The Hunger Games” wasn't just a hit, it was a phenomenon. On its own merits, “Divergent” is still a nice addition to Lionsgate's balance sheet. Filmed for a relatively economical $80 million, it should make at least $150 million domestically and will perform respectably abroad thanks to an international fan base of the Veronica Roth novels that inspired the film.

Those figures are all the more impressive given that prior to “The Hunger Games” and Lionsgate's acquisition of the “Twilight” franchise with its 2012 merger with Summit, the studio's releases grossed an average of $35 million.

It also shows that the lessons of “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight” can be applied to other films — namely how to identify and develop properties that appeal to teenage moviegoers. Other studios have certainly failed in that regard. Just ask the makers of “Beautiful Creatures” xor “The Mortal Instruments” how easy it is to find the next tween blockbuster.

Also read: ‘Divergent’ Debuts to $4.9 Million, Lionsgate Greenlights ‘Insurgent’

“They've done an amazing job of essentially building a studio from scratch,” Matthew Harrigan, a media analyst with Wunderlich Securities, said. “I'm surprised the stock has drifted downward.”

Harrigan said that Lionsgate's share price is under pressure from lofty box office expectations for “Divergent” and also the disappointing ratings of “Saint George.” The George Lopez vehicle has an interesting model. Lionsgate worked out a deal with FX that will see the network order 90 episodes of the freshman series if its first 10 installments reach a certain ratings threshold. That may not happen given audiences’ cool embrace of “Saint George.”

Also read: How ‘Divergent's’ Shailene Woodley Used a Survivalist Weekend to Become Tris

Lionsgate is no stranger to having its share price skid on the opening weekend of one of its films. Its stock endured a similar pummeling when ”The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” opened to a massive $161.1 million domestically. Some analysts had expected a larger figure at the time and the studio's  share prices slid 10 percent. Despite the markets’ reaction, “Catching Fire” became the top grossing domestic release last year, earning $424.4 million stateside.

Whether Lionsgate's stock hit originated from its big or small screen business, the studio has lined up a stream of sequels and young adult adaptations that could help it achieve its ambitions of becoming one of the dominant players in Hollywood. There are two more “Hunger Games” sequels waiting to be released, a follow-up to “Now You See Me” in the wings and the fantasy adventure “Gods of Egypt” on the horizon.

“The theatrical side has never looked better,” Marsh said. “They're chock full of potential hits.”

SEE ALSO: Everything You Should Know About 'Divergent' — Hollywood's Next Big Movie Franchise

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1. Tom Hanks

Career Box Office: $4.26 billion

Highest Grossing Film: Toy Story 3

Career Average: $101 million per film

2. Morgan Freeman

Career Box Office: $4 billion

3. Harrison Ford

Career Box Office: $3.85 billion

Highest Grossing Film: Star Wars

Career Average: $101.4 million per film

Ben Sherwood — executive, journalist, and novelist — has had a meteoric rise since rejoining ABC News in December 2010. He has gotten to the top partly by knowing when to talk, and when not to.

The ABC News president was named Monday to replace Anne Sweeney as co-chairman of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney/ABC Television Group. He will take over next February, just over four years after he returned to the network as president of ABC News.

Also read: ABC News Chief Defends Colorado Coverage: ‘When We Make a Mistake, We Own It’

In that time, the former “Good Morning America” executive producer, has helped the show rise to No. 1 in the mornings after 16 years of “Today” show dominance. ABC News’ fortunes have improved even as ABC's ratings fell overall. Disney Chief Bob Iger likely looked at the success amid failure and plucked Sherwood from the executive ranks.

Sherwood is a quiet man of many talents. He joined ABC's “PrimeTime Live” in 1989 as an investigative associate producer in 1989, and in 1994 joined NBC‘s “Nightly News with Tom Brokaw” as a broadcast producer. He rose to senior broadcast producer and covered the Sept. 11 attacks and the Florida voting in the 2000 presidential election. He then joined “GMA,” which he left in 2006.

Also read: Ben Sherwood to Replace Anne Sweeney at Disney

But he was never fixated on news. Though he is now one of the most powerful entertainment executives on the planet, his creative output would make lots of creative types jealous. He has written two bestselling novels, “The Man Who Ate the 747” in 2000 and “The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud” in 2004. A movie adaptation of “Charlie St. Cloud” was released in July 2010, and starred Zac Efron.

Sherwood regularly emails his team to mark big moments like the ABC News-Yahoo partnership that began under his watch, and also small staff changes. He praises new hires, but also exiting journalists like Jake Tapper, who departed ABC for CNN during Sherwood's term.

In a sign of his media acumen, Sherwood releases emails about matters big and small to the reporters covering ABC News, creating a sense of transparency. His openness makes him arguably the most visible of the network media directors.

But he also walked a careful line when addressing a false ABC News report in July 2012 that erroneously linked the “Dark Knight Rising” movie theater shooter to right-wing groups. Under intense questioning from reporters at the Television Critics Association a few weeks later, he said ABC News was carefully reviewing its policies to avoid similar errors — without embarrassing Brian Ross, the valuable investigative reporter who made the error.

“We put something on the air that we did not know to be true,” he said. “When we make a mistake, we own it and we acknowledge it … Every single day we have to earn the trust of the American people.”

Asked whether the error was Ross's or a sign of systemic problems, he stressed that his entire team had done a good job of covering the shooting.

“When the Los Angeles Times makes an error, the error is acknowledged, corrected,” he said, using the newspaper as a general example. “And it does not therefore mean that all of the journalists of the Los Angeles Times did not do strong excellent work that day, doing their jobs, committed to the principles of the organization.”

The ability to answer questions without saying anything offensive to anyone is a prized skill in network executives — and Sherwood has it in spades.

SEE ALSO: Hollywood Is Skeptical As To Why Anne Sweeney Really Left Disney

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A long time ago on a film set far, far away, two directors made a friendly bet about a small space-fantasy film called "Star Wars."

Steven Spielberg would go on to win the bet and take millions of dollars from George Lucas over time.

Here's how the out-of-this-world wager came to be.

The Troubles Of "The Star Wars"

In the mid-1970s, science-fiction films weren't very popular.

1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey" led the way for the genre but made just $56 million at the box office. So when a young director named George Lucas was trying to sell a script called "The Star Wars," based on "Flash Gordon" space serials, not many studios were eager to make it.

It wasn't until Lucas took his script to 20th Century Fox that the film finally received backing — but even then it was more because of the success of Lucas' previous film, "American Graffiti."

The challenges didn't stop there. A delayed, over-budget production caused the troubled director to visit a friend shooting his own sci-fi film in Mobile, Ala.

That friend was Steven Spielberg and the film was his 1977 classic, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

The Bet

According to an interview with Spielberg for Turner Classics Movies, Lucas came to the set of "Close Encounters" out of sorts after problems with his passion project. Needing to recharge, Lucas spent a couple of days on set.

"George came back from 'Star Wars' a nervous wreck," Spielberg said. "He didn’t feel 'Star Wars' came up to the vision he initially had. He felt he had just made this little kids' movie."

After a few days, Lucas realized something else: Spielberg's "Close Encounters" was going to be so much more successful than "Star Wars." So much more that he felt like making a bet with Spielberg.

Spielberg would later say: 

"He said, 'Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than 'Star Wars'! This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can't believe this set. I can't believe what you're getting, and oh my goodness.' He said, 'All right, I'll tell you what. I'll trade some points with you. You want to trade some points? I'll give you 2.5% of 'Star Wars' if you give me 2.5% of 'Close Encounters.' So I said, 'Sure, I'll gamble with that. Great.'" 

"Close Encounters" would indeed be a hit, making $303 million at the box office. However, "Star Wars" would go on to become one of the biggest box-office hits of all time.

A Financial Empire

Spielberg's gamble paid off. Big time.

Released May 25, 1977, on a budget of $11 million, "Star Wars"— later retitled "Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope"— went on to make $460 million in the U.S. alone.

Adjusted for inflation, the film has made $1.48 billion at the box office, making it the second-biggest box-office hit of all time — only behind "Gone With The Wind." 

By our calculations, this means Spielberg's 2.5% could have made him nearly $40 million.

"'Close Encounters' was just a meager success story. 'Star Wars' was a phenomenon,"Spielberg said a few years ago. "Of course I was the happy beneficiary of a couple of net points from that movie, which I am still seeing money on today."

Sequels "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" would also go on to be great successes leading to prequels, rereleases, and merchandising, making the "Star Wars" franchise one of the biggest in Hollywood, reportedly worth $30 billion and growing.

NOW WATCH: Neil deGrasse Tyson Tells Us Why 'Star Trek' Is So Much Better Than 'Star Wars'

SEE ALSO: New 'Star Wars' Sequel Will Take Place 30 Years After 'Return Of The Jedi'

NOW WATCH: Here's Who 'The Most Interesting Man In The World' Thinks Is The Most Interesting Man In The World

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The worldwide motion picture theater industry descends on Caesars Palace in Las Vegas today for the fourth annual CinemaCon, the official convention of NATO [National Association of Theater Owners] that runs through March 27.

CinemaCon is the largest annual gathering of cinema owners and operators from around the world, drawing filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors alike for a four-day celebration of the theaters and films we love.

We’ll be celebrating CinemaCon this week by highlighting theaters and the films that’ll be filling them this coming summer. We start today by looking at five unique, technically advanced or just down right gorgeous theaters in America.

These are the places that remind you why there is simply no substitute for seeing a film in a theater; whether it’s mind-blowing technology, an unbeatable environment, or the joy of watching a film with hundreds of fellow movie lovers (or a combination of all three), here’s a brief look at some fantastic places to take in a movie.

1. The Hackworth IMAX Dome Theater, San Jose, California

Northern California’s only domed IMAX theater can immerse you and 279 of your closest friends in a giant wrap-around screen (four times the size of a typical movie screen) with crystal clear images eight stories high, a projector the size of a Volkswagon Beetle, and 13,000 watts of wrap-around digital surround sound.

2. The Uptown Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis has long been a unostentatious Mecca for fantastic art, and the Landmark Uptown Theater fits right into a city that includes the world renown contemporary art center the Walker among its jewels.

Located in the middle of the city’s Uptown District, the historic Uptown Theater (originally built as the Lagoon Theater in 1916, which eventually burned down) had a long stint as a repertory theater, eventually becoming a world class art film theater in 1985.

It underwent extensive renovations in 2012, and now boasts a full bar, reserved seating, its beloved balcony and the 50-foot tower that was originally a beacon to orient residents that they were, indeed, uptown.

3. AFI Silver Theater, Silver Spring, Maryland

It’s not surprising that the AFI Silver Theater is a technical marvel, considering its mandate is “seeing the screen itself as a source of literacy, learning and vision for the future.” The exceptional technical facilities that define the AFI Silver include film formats from 16 to 70mm, high-definition digital cinema video projection, and broadcast quality video recording. The historic Silver theater was saved from destruction by a partnership between Montgomery Country, Maryland and the American Film Institute.

Due to its namesake institute, the theater also includes distance learning capabilities via satellite, fiber and the Internet, as well as a moving image exhibition and cultural center. “Whether it’s silent film at the proper frame rate with live musical accompaniment, 70mm wide screen spectaculars or digital cinema, the AFI Silver offers state-of-the-art technology in each of its three theatres — with seating for 400, 200 and 75, respectively,” their website states. It’s one of the premiere theaters, right in the heart of the nation’s capital. 

4. The Dolby Theater, Los Angeles, California

It helps that the Dolby Theater has access to all the insane technology Dolby creates, including their breakthrough audio experience, Atmos. Atmos delivers the most natural, life-like sensory experience in the world (including last year’s Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and the upcoming Noah). The theater doesn’t slouch on the screen, either—Dolby is secretly becoming a powerhouse image technology company, and the Dolby 3D screen here is astounding. The specs of the theater are massive—180,000-square-feet and 3,400-seats.

5. The 21st Street Warren Theater, Wichita, Kansas

This beloved Wichita location has an IMAX theater, stadium seating, a classic diner and malt shop and even an enclosed ‘Cry room,’ where parents with small children can watch the movie (with their kids’ often unwanted additional soundtrack) with its own sound-system separate from the theater.

SEE ALSO: 10 Of The Best Dine-In Theaters In America

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Soon, wealthy movie fans will be able to get more than a digital download and a T shirt for investing in films online.

The new Junction — which is already raising money for films with Tom Hanks, among others — isn't a Kickstarter-type site that helps movies get made. Instead, it will allow investors to contribute to films that already have financially backing and will be made regardless of whether Junction participants join in.

Also read: ‘Veronica Mars’ in Theaters, Here are 7 Other Celebrities Who Want Your Money for Their Projects

One of its first projects is “Triple Nine,” a John Hillcoat-directed thriller starring Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kate Winslet, Aaron Paul, Gal Gadot, Woody Harrelson and Teresa Palmer. Worldview Entertainment is the financier on board the movie already.

Another is “A Hologram For The King,” the film adaptation of the Dave Eggers’ best-selling novel, with Hanks slated to star and one of his “Cloud Atlas” directors, Tom Tykwer, at the helm. The project is financed by Silver Reel.

Also read: Can ‘Veronica Mars’ Convince Mainstream Hollywood to Embrace Crowdfunding?

Early advisers include prolific film producer Jason Blum and Steve Wynn, the CEO of Wynn Resorts.

Junction is open only to people with annual income over $200,000 a year or net worth of $1 million, not including their primary residence. The early emphasis is on entertainment properties.

Based in San Francisco and led by CEO Adam Kaufman (Goldman Sachs) and president Brian Goldsmith (a former TV producer), the firm will seek to help bolster in-development movies by offering interested parties the chance to invest in them online. The advantage for financiers is that the outside investors will help them recoup some of their initial risk.

Already, financiers such as Silver Reel, Endgame Entertainment, PalmStar, and QED are working with Junction, according to a release put out by the company. Top agency CAA is helping them set up investments.

SEE ALSO: 'Veronica Mars' Kickstarter Backers Peeved After Download Problems

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We overestimate the passion for movie-star acting that some performers might have.

Acting, certainly, is a passion, and a worthy one. But you act to act, you act to perform, you act to find new truths, new depths. You don’t act to become a movie star, and the bigger the star you are, the less acting you’re actually doing. And in the age of superhero movies and endless franchises, your creative expression is limited if you wear a mask and hold a shield and run through explosions. 

Such is the case for Chris Evans, who reaffirmed to Variety that he’s done with acting and plans to retire upon the end of his Marvel contract. This new passion is directing, which he’s given a shot thanks to 1:30 Train, a drama he shot in 19 days in New York City starring himself and Alice Eve. Which is actually a pretty glamorous, movie star thing to do also, but what can you do? Evans is a handsome young dude, and when you have money and charm in Hollywood, that’s the sort of thing you do. 

If anything, this reflects the sad reality of the movie making business. Big blockbusters used to give you clout to make any other type of movie in your spare time, and you could leverage that popular fame to ensure your other pictures were worthy of financing, or out-and-out hits. You could build a career as an actor while also being a star. That’s changed considerably, as audiences have become more devoted to brands and franchises over actual people, with many actors having absolutely no profile outside of their precious tent poles. And with sequels being made closer together, necessitating the availability of some actors, it rarely gives them time to develop a relationship with the audience in any other role. 

Since 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger, Evans has done three non-superhero movies. He’s fantastic in Puncture, a legal drama based on a true life case regarding negligent medical procedures and the corruption of the medical supplies industry. He also showed up in the frothy romantic comedy What’s Your Number? as a beefcake to fawn over. And he had a gonzo supporting role in The Iceman as an ice cream truck-driving killer.

These films have something in common: nobody saw any of them. What’s Your Number? was a wide release that only managed a piddling $14 million. The Iceman couldn’t crawl over $2 million. And Puncture, where Evans gives the best performance of his career, made a little over (this is not a typo) $68,000. His next film is Snowpiercer, an ensemble piece that’s been a huge success overseas, but hasn’t been able to even secure a release in America due to commercial re-edits being applied by distributor The Weinstein Company. Evans admits in the Variety piece, ruefully, "No one sees my good little movies, man." 

It’s not as if Evans is struggling to make great art or to suffer for his craft.

Evans claims he was reluctant to take the part and turned Marvel down many times. "The problem was initially, it was a nine-movie contract," he says. "And they said, if these movies take off and do very well, and my life changes and I don’t respond well, I don’t have the opportunity to say, listen, I need a f---ing break. That just scared me." Evans, whom the Avengers cast credits as "the captain of team spirit," will ostensibly star in Captain America 3 in May 2016, his fifth appearance as the character since 2011.

Considering the heavy between-shoot regiment of staying in shape, interviews and press surrounding the films, that’s an awful lot of time to devote to Captain America and less to any other movie. Or having a kid. Taking a lover. Recording an album. Doing charity. Literally anything else. Not every actor is Scarlett Johansson, who is under contract from Marvel while also appearing in three to four other movies a year. But even she admits, "It can feel like a gilded cage at times… it’s something that obviously allows you the opportunity to do things like go and direct your first feature and have a built-in audience for that. At the same time, at the end of the job, there’s always a super suit in your future." 

Managing these franchises has been an act of squeezing actors into fixed roles and keeping them from any sort of freedom. If you ask David O. Russell, it’s "slavery":that‘s what he said of the annual Hunger Games commitments that Lawrence tends to in between receiving Oscar nominations for his movies (let alone X-Men films). And while he very quickly regretted his choice of words, it helps explain why rumors circulate that Lawrence could be looking at a brief retirement: it’s also why Shailene Woodley was forced to choose between the role of Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man sequels and the continuing Divergent series. And, ultimately, it’s why Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are no longer considered A-List leading actors, just years after they fronted a box office sensation. 

It’s not all bad, really: Andrew Garfield has almost no public profile, but he’ll show up in the next Martin Scorsese movie in between Spider-Man films. Of course, look what happened to Tobey Maguire: his commitment to Spidey saw him use his A-List cache to pop up in supporting roles in Seabiscuit and The Good German as his sole parts during that franchise. He keeps busy as a producer, but he’s not at all a blockbuster leading man any longer, and a look at the projects he passed over during the web-slinging years reveals a host of great-sounding unmade scripts like Tokyo Suckerpunch and The Quiet Type. 

No one is weeping for these people, who are gorgeous, wake up gorgeous and go to sleep richer. Especially not Evans, who now gets to pursue the dream of directing, one he’ll live out by directing another film at the end of this year. He credits Captain America for the opportunity, saying, "Without these movies, I wouldn’t be directing. They gave me enough overseas recognition to greenlight a movie." But he then adds, "And if I’m speaking extremely candidly, it’s going to continue to do that for as long as the Marvel contract runs… If I’m acting at all, it’s going to be under Marvel contract, or I’m going to be directing. I can’t see myself pursuing acting strictly outside of what I’m contractually obligated to do."

Evans is a wonderful onscreen presence, an actor of great skill and dexterity, not to mention starling beauty. You’d hate to think that playing a superhero has extinguished any desire he might have to appear before the camera. Don’t be surprised if he’s not the last actor to feel this way. 

SEE ALSO: Why Marvel may start killing off major heroes

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Would you go to the movies more if it were cheaper? I would. I've been and continue to be a movie fan, but in this day of digital downloads, Redbox and Netflix, I can get a pretty steady fix of great films (not to mention great television) for substantially cheaper than what it costs to go to the theater. But I still like going to the theater, so word that the National Association of Theater Owners is looking into a test to see if discounted ticket prices once a week would boost attendance piques my interest. 

THR says this move comes in the wake of declining admissions among movie-goers under the age of 50, including teens. The National Association of Theater Owners is said to be considering a plan to test discounted ticket prices one day a week. It's something that's apparently worked well in Canada and Latin America. From the sound of it, they're looking to test this out in one specific state, but they wouldn't give further details on that, as the model isn't fully developed. But it sounds like this test will happen sometime later this year and they're hoping that all theaters will participate, as their belief is that it'll work best if it's statewide. 

THR notes that movie admissions remains flat in North America, though the increased cost of going to the movies is contributing to an overall rise of box-office revenue. The MPAA's 2013 numbers say that moviegoers between the ages of 12-17 fell from 6.3 million in 2012 to 5.5 million. And the number of moviegoers ages 18-24 fell from 8.7 million to 7.2 million. The drop for people ages 25-39 was from 9.9 million to 8.2 million. The numbers were actually up for children and people over the age of 50. 

As someone who would probably go to the movies more if it wasn't so expensive, I'm hopeful this test is successful. Right now, the chain I visit only offers discounts on popcorn and candy during certain weeknights. That's a nice perk, but it's hardly an incentive to go to the movies more often. 

Here's the only issue I see with the once-a-week discount idea. Yes, it might fill moreseats during that night of the week, but how is this all that different from matinee pricing? Beyond the fact that this would discount tickets for one whole day a week as opposed to just the afternoon, it still requires people to be available and interested in seeing movies within a specific timeframe. A trip to the movies is traditionally a weekend affair. So while I think a weekly discount day on Tuesdays or whenever they decide to do it might be effective in getting people to start coming back to the theater, I'm not convinced a program like this would solve the problem completely, especially as movie fans continue to have convenient and affordable alternatives to see movies, if they're willing to wait. At the very least, I'd be more excited if theaters were willing to discount tickets for films at some point after their opening weekend.

SEE ALSO: 5 Of The Most Awesome Movie Theaters In America

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Christopher Nolan is without question one of the biggest directors in modern Hollywood.

First breaking out at the turn of the century with Memento, the filmmaker has spent the last 14 years making epic, thought provoking movies on various scales and has earned both critical and box office love.

In addition to being a fantastic filmmaker, however, he is also a tremendously interesting individual, as I learned listening to him speak for nearly a full hour this afternoon. 

Earlier today, the filmmaker took part in a special luncheon at CinemaCon called "From Passion To The Big Screen: The Work of Christopher Nolan" where he spoke with The Hollywood Reporter’s Todd McCarthy about not only his entire body of work up to this point, but also about his upcoming science-fiction epic Interstellar. The interview was packed with all kinds of fascinating info, so read on to discover what we found out! 

Here's what you don't know about the director >

Matthew McConaughey’s performance in "Mud" was partially responsible for him being cast in "Interstellar."

In case you aren’t already aware, Matthew McConaughey is having a bit of a career resurgence right now. After years of doing nothing but crappy romantic comedies, the star has made a complete 180 and even a couple weeks ago took home his first Academy Award.

But while few would argue that his turn in Dallas Buyers Club was anything less than exceptional, it was actually a different 2013 McConaughey film – Jeff Nichol’s Mud - that led Christopher Nolan to casting him in Interstellar.

For the part, the director wanted to find an actor with an everyman quality who audiences could really understand and follow through the story. Apparently what they have worked together on is working pretty well, because Nolan says that the star’s performance is "shaping up to be something extraordinary."

They built full-on practical spaceship sets for "Interstellar."

Just like he has been doing for all of his films up to this point in his career, Christopher Nolan is trying to keep Interstellar as much as a mystery as he can, and while he wouldn’t reveal any big plot details during the luncheon, he did provide some interesting tidbits about the production.

The filmmaker discussed his preference to use large-scale practical sets instead of large amounts of CG for the space epic, and part of that involved not just the building of a spaceship interior, but also special exteriors that actors could see by looking out of the windows of the spaceship set. He believes that audiences can sense when things are actually there instead of just being all computer generated, and even likened the filmmaking experience on the set to making a documentary. 

He thinks 3D takes away from the shared cinematic experience.

Since 3D became the biggest technological fad in Hollywood, many have been very vocal about how it actually harms certain films, complaining about brightness problems, nausea, and more, but for Christopher Nolan one of the key issues is the fact that slapping on a pair of 3D glasses does its part to take away the communal experience of watching a film in a crowded cineplex - likening the situation to watching a comedy in a theater with stadium seating.

Instead of just hating on 3D, however, the filmmaker said that he does like that it offers movie-goers a certain amount of choice and even complimented the work that Baz Luhrmann did with The Great Gatsby, calling the 3D in the movie "very, very extraordinary." 

The sudden deaths of Paul Walker and Philip Seymour Hoffman took place while both were in the middle of filming upcoming projects.

As a result, upcoming films "Fast & Furious 7" and "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2" will use special effects to replace and recreate the actors' performances.

They're not the only two stars whose deaths forced Hollywood to use a mix of CGI and special effects to finish a film.

Laurence Olivier was dead for 15 years when he starred in 2004's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."

To find the perfect villain for 2004's "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" director Kerry Conran chose to use one of the most famous actors of all time, Laurence Olivier.

There was only one problem: Olivier had been dead for 15 years.

The film's star, Jude Law, told USA Today, filmmakers chose to go with Olivier because few actors — alive or dead — carried the fearsome weight of the famed British actor.

To pull this off, the production recorded new dialogue by another actor and used archive footage to create the evil hologram, Dr. Totenkopf.

Deleted scenes and a body double in bandages were used to hide Peter Seller's death in 1982's "The Trail of the Pink Panther."

For 1982's "The Trail of the Pink Panther," filmmakers had a tough decision to make.

They could either replace Peter Sellers' most-famous role of Inspector Clouseau or somehow use him for the film even though he died two years earlier. 

Filmmakers chose to use deleted scenes and archived footage from 1976's "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" to fill in where Sellers would have played the famed sleuth. They even had a body double wear bandages over his face. 

The film was ultimately dedicated to Sellers, stating, "To Peter... the one and only Inspector Clouseau."

Philip Seymour Hoffman will be digitally recreated in order to finish 2015's "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2."

Philip Seymour Hoffman's death earlier this year left "Hunger Games" fans curious about what will happen to Hoffman's scenes in 2015's "Mockingjay - Part 2."

Lionsgate plans to digitally recreate Hoffman's character, Plutarch Heavensbee, which will allow for the film to finish some key scenes.

But as veteran effects supervisor Rob Legato told The Hollywood Reporter, while today's technology makes it a lot easier to use someone's likeness, it will be very hard to replace Hoffman's acting ability.

The film will debut November 20, 2015.

The "Rocky" franchise includes six films and has raked in more than a billion dollars at the box office since the first film premiered in 1976. But it almost didn't happen.

Sylvester Stallone was a relative newcomer to Hollywood in the mid-'70s when he pitched his rags-to-riches script about an uneducated debt-collector-turned-champion boxer named Rocky Balboa to producers.

Luckily, producers liked it. Unfortunately for Stallone, they didn't want him to star.

"They wanted every celebrated actor at the time," Stallone recalled Monday on the "Today Show." "And big-name directors, when they found out I wanted to be involved, they scattered, ran for the hills."

Instead of Stallone — the screenwriter — producers wanted Burt Reynolds, James Caan, or Ryan O'Neal, who were all big stars at the time.

So at 30 years old with just $106 in his bank account, Stallone turned down a $300,000 offer — the equivalent of $1 million today — for the rights to "Rocky." He was determined to make the film he wrote on his terms, starring himself.

"It was really insane at the time 'cause I was pretty broke," he said of his decision to hold out. But it ultimately paid off.

In 1976, "Rocky"won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Stallone's experience at the ceremony could have been out of the movie.

"Literally, I was parking cars 10 months earlier and now here we are [at the Oscars]," Stallone recalled to "Today.""I rented a tuxedo and on the way to the Oscars the tie broke and the driver goes, 'You want to borrow mine?' I go 'nah, I guess it doesn't matter,' so I walk into the Oscars looking like Vinny Boom Bots, 'how you doin?' and people were like, 'oh my god, what arrogance, how dare he?'"

On a slim $1,075,000 production budget, "Rocky" went on to earn more than $117 million in the U.S. alone. The six-part "Rocky" franchise has since brought in more than a billion dollars worldwide.

Now 67, Stallone once again had to convince producers that "Rocky" could be a hit — this time in the form of a Broadway musical. Eventually, it worked, and the action star got investors to put up a $16.5 million capital investment.

Earlier this month, "Rocky: The Musical" opened on Broadway to knockout reviews.

SEE ALSO: How Steven Spielberg Made Millions Off 'Star Wars' After A 1977 Bet With George Lucas

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Whether because of meddling producers, disagreeable test audiences, or apprehensive directors with second thoughts, many movies get tweaked before we ever get a chance to see them, especially in the final act.

In fact, some of our favorite Hollywood endings could have gone in very different directions if they had followed their original trajectories.

In an alternate universe, this is how some of your favorite movies would end. 

[Spoilers ahead, obviously.]

14 movie ending do-overs »

"Pineapple Express" (2008)

How it ends: Seth Rogen and James Franco survive the big shootout and recall the whole thing over breakfast.

How it was supposed to end: Rogen and Franco stay in the warehouse to get high and end up getting shot by a "bad guy" they forgot about.

"I Am Legend" (2007)

How it ends: Will Smith's Neville blows himself and a bunch of Darkseekers up to protect his new friends and the antidote.

How it was supposed to end: Neville discovers the Darkseekers are more than just murderous zombies. They are capable of love and compassion and just want to rescue one of their own who has become Neville's test subject. Test audiences were left unsatisfied with the humanization of the "bad guys" so they went with the "blow everything up" ending.

"The Break-Up" (2006)

How it ends: With Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston randomly meeting on the street months after breaking up.

How it was supposed to end: Originally, they were just going to split and be done with it, but the movie happened to coincide with Aniston's real-life breakup with Brad Pitt after he left her for Angelina Jolie. Producers didn't want her character to get jilted on the big screen too, so they re-shot the ending to include a more ambiguous finale that suggested there was hope for reconciliation.

"National Lampoon's Animal House" is one of the greatest comedies of all time. Yet in 1978, not even one of its stars believed in the potential of a small comedy about toga parties.

That is why when it came down to Donald Sutherland taking a fee of either 2% of the film's gross or $35,000, Sutherland took the latter.

Here's how that "Animal House" blunder ended up costing him millions.

"Fat, Drunk, And Stupid Is No Way To Make A Movie, Son"

“Everybody is drunk, or high, or getting laid. I’d never make this movie.”

According to Matty Simmons' "Fat, Drunk, and Stupid: The Inside Story Behind the Making of Animal House," these are the words of Universal Studios boss Ned Tanen after he read the first outline of "Animal House."

It wasn't until the production promised Tanen that they could make the film for $3 million that Universal signed on. However, the studio still wanted a star to sell the movie to audiences.

For Universal, "Saturday Night Live" stand-out John Belushi wasn't enough, so director John Landis went to an old friend, Donald Sutherland (who was a huge star in 1978), and asked him for a favor. A hesitant Sutherland ultimately agreed to be in the film, but only after Landis told him that all his scenes could be done in a day.

Seemingly, both the studio and the comedy now had its "star." Yet, there was still the important matter of just how much Sutherland would get paid for the one day on set.

"I Just Want The Money"

According to Simmons, the studio wanted a star but "wouldn't pay for a star." This then led to a negotiation that Sutherland would regret for years to come. 

"[Sutherland] first asked for $250,000 and, in Landis's words, 'The studio said, 'Get the f--- outta here!'" Simmons wrote. 

Universal then countered Sutherland's offer with a simple $20,000 for a day's work plus points on the film. 

The problem was that Sutherland wanted nothing to do with points on the film, and would famously tell Landis: 

"I can't take that offer. I just want the money. I don't want any points in the movie."

Universal eventually offered a fee of $35,000 with no points for a day plus one — in Hollywood speak, meaning technically two days of work because you can't hire an actor for just one day in case they go over time. Sutherland would happily accept and would play the film's pot-smoking professor, Dave Jennings.

Then on July 28, 1978, Sutherland and the rest of the world got to see the finished product when "Animal House" hit theaters, and comedy would never be the same.

A Box Office Animal

"Animal House" would go on to become one of the most successful comedies of all time, pulling in $141,600,000 at the box office on the $3 million production budget Universal was initially promised.

Adjusted for inflation, the film has made $500,083,700, making it the 58th highest-grossing film of all time, and the 9th highest R-rated movie ever.

All of which Sutherland could have had a stake in back in 1978.

According to an Interview with the Opie and Anthony radio show, Sutherland would go on to say that the number of points he was offered was 2%.

When asked, "Do you know what would 2% roughly have translated into?" Sutherland smirked and responded, "I don't want to know."

Today, that 2% would have made him $2.8 million, or upward of $10 million after inflation.

NOW WATCH: It's All About Humor At The Website 'Total Frat Move'

SEE ALSO: Dirt-Poor Sylvester Stallone Turned Down $300,000 In 1976 To Ensure He Could Play 'Rocky'

MORE: How Steven Spielberg Made Millions Off 'Star Wars' After A 1977 Bet With George Lucas

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Earlier this week, Marvel confirmed it will release "Captain America 3" May 6, 2016.

It wasn't too much of a surprise since Disney previously planned to release a movie that date.

However, if you're a movie fanatic, or a comic fan, you knew the real news was the giant-sized gauntlet Disney threw down at rival studio Warner Bros.

Previously, WB announced it would release its hugely anticipated "Batman / Superman" movie that same day after pushing back the movie 10 months.

While a bit of competition is healthy (there are usually big movie showdowns at theaters around holidays — "Fast and Furious 6" vs. "The Hangover III" Memorial Day weekend and "Despicable Me 2 vs The Lone Ranger" bowing July 4), but usually these movies aren't competing for the same exact audience and demos.

As it stands, this would be a huge misstep for Warner Bros.

Disney Has Nothing To Lose 

There's no way Disney will budge from the May 6 date. It's the only studio that has figured out how to bring multiple successful superheroes to the big screen — something Fox, Sony, and Warner Bros. are now scrambling to duplicate at theaters. 

This past weekend, "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"came close to a $100 million opening— better than the "Thor 2" opening in November. 

In addition, the Mouse House has claimed the first weekend in May for its Marvel movies for several years.

Both "The Avengers" (2012) and "Iron Man 3" (2013) made more than $1 billion at theaters worldwide after early May releases.

As soon as Warner Bros. announced it would push back the currently untitled "Batman / Superman" movie to May 2016, the studio made it clear it wanted to go head-to-head with Disney.

In the past, the sweet spot for Warner Bros.' superhero films has been the third weekend of July. Both "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises," four years later, grossed more than $1 billion.

However, with only Superman at its disposal now, WB's DC characters don't have anywhere near as much klout as Disney's Marvel universe.

This Isn't a Christopher Nolan "Batman" Film

Batman may be one of the biggest superheroes at the box office; however, it was Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy that really resonated with fans.

If this was a fourth Nolan film with Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, it would make more sense for Warner Bros. to go head-to-head with a Disney film. It would potentially even cause the mouse to back down fearing lost profits to the Bat. (Disney probably let out a giant sigh of relief when Nolan and Bale said they were done with Batman because it meant he wouldn't be churning the wheels behind a Justice League franchise.)

However, that's not the case.

Now that Ben Affleck has been cast as an entirely new Batman — the eighth incarnation of the Dark Knight on screen —  the DC superhero needs to prove himself again to viewers. Warner Bros. is starting from scratch.

The last superhero we saw Affleck portray on screen was 2003's "Daredevil" — and while Affleck's grown a lot since then on screen — it's not stopping fanboys from holding that over his head. 

Can two big superheroes perform better on screen than one who isn't Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man? Probably. Fans have been waiting years for the Dark Knight and son of Krypton to appear on screen together. 

But Warner Bros. has tried time and time again to put the two on the big screen side by side without success. (Remember that logo teased in "I Am Legend" that had audiences going nuts back in 2007?)

With a 10-month delay in the film's production to re-work the script, there are doubts about the direction of the "Man of Steel" sequel. 

It's clear Warner Bros. is going to want to use this movie as its stepping stone to help set up an eventual Justice League film similar to "The Avengers." The question is whether "Batman / Superman" will simply feel like a direct set up for an expanded DC universe to compete with Marvel.

Warner Bros. should take the time to focus on making sure its newest incarnation of Batman sits well with fans rather than throwing their best superhero up against an established Marvel character on screen.

Warner Bros. Will Lose Out If It Goes Up Against Disney's Marvel Titan

It's really a loss for either studio, but a bigger one for Warner Bros. which doesn't have a plethora of DC movies at its disposal right now.

When "Captain America 3" comes out, it will look like a sequel to "The Avengers 2," out next summer which should give it a big box-office bump.

"Iron Man 3" came out last May it had a tremendous opening weekend ($174 million) due in part to people seeing it as an "Avengers" sequel.

Sure, Captain America may not be “Iron Man” popular; however, its $315 million gross after two weeks in theaters worldwide says the superhero’s a force to be reckoned with.

It makes sense Warner Bros. doesn't want to make fans wait until June or July for a "Man of Steel" sequel with Batman. It also makes sense the studio wants to be the first big movie of the summer out in 2016; however, there's no reason "Batman / Superman" can't open earlier in April where it can rule the box office for a few weeks ahead of “Captain America 3."

It’s clear blockbuster-sized movies aren’t limited to summer months after both “The LEGO Movie” in February and the record “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” April release. 

No matter how much money both Disney and Warner Bros. make that weekend, it won't be more than each would make if the two sequels were spread out on the calendar.

As it stands, the two films are vying for the same audiences, asking consumers to either choose allegiances to one superhero or expecting them to spend money on two outings to theaters in one weekend.

At the end of the day, this is a case of two stubborn movie studios. One wants to be able to say it can top the other and neither wants to back down.

We’ve spoken to a few insiders who figure its only a matter of time until Warner Bros. backs off the May date.

(Though honestly, I've never quite understood why Disney doesn't release a "Captain America" movie around July 4. Seems like a no-brainer marketing wise.)

If Warner Bros. sticks with the May 6 date, it will definitely be a bit of a surprise.

SEE ALSO: There are 2 end-credit scenes in "The Winter Soldier"— Here's what they mean for future Marvel movies

AND: The 75-year evolution of the Batsuit

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Last year, the MTV Movie Awards moved up its broadcast date from June to April to incorporate a summer movie plug-fest. Sunday night's show cemented that change, as clips from anticipated blockbusters debuted at the madcap ceremony.

In its 22nd year, the MTV Movie Awards show has become an important event for Hollywood studios. And oh yes, there were some awards, too.

At last year's show, which saw an average of 3.8 million viewers, up from 3.2 million for the previous year's telecast, included new footage from "Iron Man 3" and the world premiere of "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" trailer, which was introduced by one of the films' stars, Liam Hemsworth.

Sure, an abundance of golden popcorn-shaped prizes were again presented for fun fair, like the award for best shirtless performance, which Zac Efron accepted, well, shirtless. But it's the summer movie teasers — and the stars attached to them — that really make the show.

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone (who will also appear in Woody Allen's "Magic in the Moonlight," July 25) and Jamie Foxx, star in the seventh installment of Sony's "Spider-Man" franchise, which kicks off the summer movie season on May 2. The trio introduced a clip of the film showing Spider-Man (Garfield) and the sparkling blue villain Electro (Foxx) battling in New York's Times Square.

Also expected to dominate at the box office, Fox's "X-Men: Days of Future Past" was touted with an intro by one of its new stars, Ellen Page, who will take on the role of Shadowcat. The upcoming film, out May 23, sees the X-Men joining forces with their younger selves and introduces a number of new mutants — Blink, Sunspot, Warpath and Bishop.

There to present the award for best fight was Aaron Taylor-Johnson, the star of Warner Bros.' "Godzilla," which opens May 16. A short clip of the film, showing the monster preparing to wreak havoc, aired before Taylor-Johnson appeared on stage.

Seth Rogen, Dave Franco and Efron, who lead Universal Pictures' comedy "Neighbors," out May 9, also presented the award for best kiss together.

No clip was shown for Disney-Marvel's opted against showing a clip of "Guardians of the Galaxy," a bit of a superhero spoof set in space, this yea. But Chris Pratt, the star of the film, out August 1, checked in at the show as well with a long speech encouraging viewers to vote for their favorite nominees online.

First-look footage from Fox's "The Fault in Our Stars," starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, showed the beginnings of the onscreen couple's romance in the heartfelt comedy.

Mark Wahlberg, who received the generation award at the show, touted his upcoming "Transformers: Age of Extinction," saying the Paramount Pictures' flick would be the biggest movie of 2014. Some of the crew of the hit HBO show "Entourage" presented Wahlberg with his award and the presence of Adrian Grenier, Jerry Ferrara and Kevin Dillon reminded us that the "Entourage" movie is being readied for 2015.

Starring in two possible summer hits, Channing Tatum will appear in both the buddy cop comedy "22 Jump Street," out June 13, with Jonah Hill (who picked up the best comedic performance award for "The Wolf of Wall Street"), and sci-fi fantasy "Jupiter Ascending," out July 18, with Mila Kunis (who scored the title of best villain for "Oz the Great and Powerful").

Both Kunis, looking very pregnant in a short, loose black dress, and Hill presented Tatum with his Trailblazer Award.

And not to be missed was Josh Hutcherson's mention of Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died on Feb. 2 from a combination of heroin, cocaine and other drugs.

Hoffman appeared in "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," which earned the evening's top prize of movie of the year.

"If Philip were here he would think this was really cool," said Hutcherson, one of the stars of "Hunger Games" and the best male performance recipient.

"To have him in our movie was one of the coolest things," Hutcherson said. "We think about him every day on set. This definitely goes out to him as well."

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" will release later this year.

No MTV awards show would be complete without a few music numbers. Ellie Goulding sang "Beating Heart," while Zedd took the stage for "Find You." Both tracks appear on the "Divergent" soundtrack.

Host Conan O'Brien kicked off the ceremony, which aired live from the Nokia Theatre, with a challenge to gain 50 celebrity cameos for his opening segment. And of course he came through with many stars like Paul Rudd and Adam Sandler, who have films expected in the coming months.

The MTV awards had some stiff competition from other networks on Sunday night, including the latest installment of HBO's popular "Game of Thrones" and the final season premiere of AMC's "Mad Men."

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MTV is owned by Viacom Inc.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jessica Herndon on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SomeKind

SEE ALSO: Conan O’Brien’s Elaborate MTV Movie Awards’ Opening Took 3 Weeks To Make

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Is $1 billion in stock from Relativity worth more than $950 million in cash from Disney?

That’s the proposition Relativity is offering online multichannel company Maker Studios today. It sent a letter of intent last night that it says “is superior to the current offer from Walt Disney” that the Maker board accepted last month.

The plan developed with help from Jefferies and Barclays includes $500M in Relativity shares, $400M in stock when Maker hits “certain financial milestones,” plus $100M in stock to go to “key talent and executives” who also “are not existing stockholders of the Company.”

Relativity says that both it and Maker “are natural partners” because both “share a commitment to challenging the status quo, breaking down old models that don’t work and inventing new ones that do.” Disney believes that the deal it struck with Maker last month — $500M upfront and $450M with milestones — is binding, so we’ll see where this goes.

The proposal does not appear to be directly related to an effort by former Maker execs including co-founder Danny Zapplin to persuade the LA Superior Court to block the deal with Disney.

The application for a temporary restraining order wants to put things on hold while the plaintiffs try to demonstrate that  current Maker execs are “skimming tens of millions of dollars for themselves by kicking back to the other stock adverse to the common shareholder.” Disney isn’t named as a defendant in the matter.

Major studios are becoming interested in YouTube-oriented multichannel online network companies including Maker Studios which targets Millennials with more than 55,000 channels that attract 380M subscribers and 5.5B views per month. For example, last year DreamWorks Animation paid $33M with another $117M in potential payments for AwesomenessTV, and Warner Bros recently led a funding round for Machinima.

But many investors are wary about the business models; YouTube collects a big chunk of the ad sales. When Disney announced its plan to buy Maker last month Cowen and Co’s Doug Creutz questioned why the entertainment giant “couldn’t have build something themselves for less money” since Maker “generally does not internally develop shows, but instead signs personalities with established shows to contracts.”

SEE ALSO: Disney Buys Maker Studios For $500 Million

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Glenn Beck is going Hollywood.

Nearly three years after leaving Fox News, the controversial conservative radio host and media entrepreneur is ramping up a film division at Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his popular radio show and digital media operation TheBlaze.

Beck, 50, tells THR he has been refurbishing The Studios at Las Colinas, a 72,000-square-foot facility in Irving, Texas, where such films as JFK and RoboCop and TV shows including Prison Break and Walker, Texas Ranger have been shot. "We're getting it ready for some big plans," he says of the property, which he purchased in June.

Beck says he is developing three original stories as theatrical films -- one set in ancient history, one in modern history and a third he considers "faith-based" -- and has optioned several other ideas, some of which could be adapted into VOD features. He adds that he has purchased rights to his 2008 best-seller The Christmas Sweater back from Sony and will turn the story into a movie for television or theatrical release.

PHOTOS: Movies That Became TV Shows

The Christmas Sweater is a semi-fictionalized recounting of a 12-year-old Beck celebrating his last Christmas with his mother before she died. He says his later real-life problems with drugs and alcohol (he's been sober since 1994) can be traced back to that Christmas.

"The meaning of The Christmas Sweater is that there are second chances," says Beck. "It is based not only on my childhood but a dream that I had as an adult after I sobered up."

Beck notes it's too early to specify budgets or potential financing partnerships, though he probably has leverage to attract interested parties, considering TheBlaze lands an estimated $40 million in revenue annually and he earns $20 million a year hosting the radio show, according to sources familiar with his business. He also declined to identify the Hollywood moviemaking talent he has hired so far.

"I bought a movie studio for a reason," he says. "I have every intent of finding great artists who will tell great stories that aren't typical. Everybody thinks they know who I am because of my stint on Fox -- that was two years of my life. I'm much more into culture than I am into politics, and that's where I intend on making my stand."

STORY: Glenn Beck Watches 'Noah,' Continues to Bash the Movie -- 'It Is Awful'

Beck says he has great respect for "artists who risk big," citing filmmakers Baz Luhrmann and even Darren Aronofsky as examples (despite having called Noah a "Babylonian chainsaw massacre" on his radio show). "Hollywood is missing this moment to reconnect with the American people because they don't speak the language," he says. "Some of it is out of spite -- they might not like people of faith."

Beck, though, says he isn't interested in making movies that preach and cites Divergent, Lone Survivor,Moulin Rouge!, 2010's True Grit, The Magnificent Seven and The Princess Bride as inspirations, along with The Lego Movie, which he calls "tremendous storytelling and great for the whole family, without the double meanings and adult humor that I just hate. It was truly brilliant. I took everyone on my staff one afternoon to see it."

He also loves Frank Capra's 1941 political dramedy Meet John Doe, calling it a timely story. "The message of that film is: Help each other and just be decent," says Beck. "We're beginning to agree that Republicans and Democrats suck -- they've built this machine to grind people into the ground. I hate this stuff. I hate politics. I hate politicians and I feel like I'm wasting my life. Don't we all know what's happening? George W. Bush was taking us down a road, and Barack Obama is taking us down that same road. What difference does it make? I don't want to waste my life anymore."

SEE ALSO: Low-Budget Religious Movie ‘Heaven Is For Real’ Crushed It At The Box Office

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It looks like Quentin Tarantino is moving forward with his next film "The Hateful Eight" after all. 

While performing a "one-night only" live reading of the script in Los Angeles, Tarantino said he was working on a second draft to the film, according to Variety.

The reading, which cost audience members $150-$200 to attend, included Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Amber Tamblyn, Tim Roth, and Bruce Dern.

Back in January, Tarantino scrapped production on the film after he found out the script he gave to six people leaked online.

That resulted in a lawsuit with Gawker after the site published an article directing readers to a link to download a PDF of the script.

"The Hateful Eight" was set to be another Western, following the director's work on Oscar-nominated "Django Unchained."

Instead, Tarantino told Deadline he was going to publish the work as a book and then consider revisiting the idea on film in about five years. 

According to Tarantino, the leaked version of the script, which resulted in the entire cast dying at the film's end, will serve as a first draft. The new version of the film, set in Wyoming a few years after the Civil War, will include a different ending that may be "removed or rewritten altogether."

SEE ALSO: "Transcendence" is Johnny Depp's fourth box-office bomb in a row

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As acting debuts go, mine went pretty smoothly. It was on The Good Wife, one of my favorite shows, and I was playing an over-the-top version of myself.

In between takes -- and I'm proud to note that I only needed three -- I marveled at the crew as they bustled around me, doing a hundred different things in unison. From the camera crew to the makeup artists to the caterer, so many skilled professionals contributed to my brief moment in the spotlight.

My peek behind the scenes reinforced something I've always believed: The TV and film industry is central not just to New York's cultural vitality, but to our economic strength as well.

The numbers are truly astounding: Every year, an average of 200 films are shot in New York City. For the 2013-14 TV season, 29 series are based here, and that's not counting the late-night shows, talk shows, reality series and news programs. All told, some 130,000 New Yorkers earn their living by working behind the scenes in film and TV production.

This is an especially remarkable achievement given where we were 10 years ago. Since 2004, Hollywood's financial imprint on our city has grown from $5 billion to $7.1 billion. My administration will maintain the policies and practices that spurred this expansion while strategically investing in new projects to grow and diversify the industry. For instance, we will:

Create a Top-Flight Film and Digital Media Education Hub in Brooklyn.
The City is working with Carnegie Mellon University and Brooklyn College to develop cutting-edge education opportunities at the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Carnegie Mellon is teaming up with Steiner Studios to create a graduate program that will fuse coursework in the humanities and sciences with the latest digital technology. Brooklyn College is in the process of developing a Graduate School of Cinema that will focus on film, post production and animation.

Train Top-Notch Crew Through the "Made in NY" Production Assistant Training Program.
New York City's famous energy, which has played a lead role in so many of our favorite movies and TV shows, has everything to do with our diversity. The "Made in NY" training program provides unemployed, low-income New Yorkers with training and job opportunities as production assistants -- so the scene behind the camera is just as diverse as the one in front of it.

STORY: L.A. Mayor Urges CBS To Move the 'Late Show' Out West

Showcase the Wide Variety of Locations in All Five Boroughs.
From Do the Right Thing (Brooklyn) to Coming to America (Queens) to The Godfather (Staten Island) to A Bronx Tale (take a guess), so many classic New York movie scenes have been shot throughout the boroughs. We will work with producers and local communities to build on this rich tradition and highlight the locations that make New York City unique.

Our vision is long-range and wide-focus. We're thrilled that The Tonight Show is back where it belongs, in Rockefeller Center, and we want to make sure the next big thing starts here -- and stays here. In New York City, the TV and film industry has a true partner, not to mention a mayor who will always be slightly in awe of the work you do.

♦♦♦

DE BLASIO'S FIRST 100 DAYS

Elected with the support of celebrities including Susan Sarandon, Chris Noth, Cynthia Nixon,Lee Daniels and Harry Belafonte, New York City's new Democratic mayor took office Jan. 1 and has slowly begun to engage with the entertainment community.

FEB. 3: Visits Jon Stewart's The Daily Show on Comedy Central and jokes he plans to send a plague of locusts to New York's ritzy Upper East Side, whose residents complained of slow snow removal.

FEB. 24: Drops by the Today show and makes up with weatherman Al Roker, who had slammed him for not closing the schools in advance of one of the winter's biggest storms, then joins the rest of the cast for a ribbon-cutting that opens the show's new plaza at Rockefeller Center.

MARCH 8: Having promised to shut down Central Park's horse-drawn carriage rides, he refuses an offer by Liam Neeson to tour the horses' stables to see that they are treated humanely. "He should have manned up and come," the actor says.

MARCH 22: Appears at New York's annual $750-a-plate Inner City charity dinner, where he joins in skits with Nixon and Steve Buscemi.

APRIL 8: Reveals that, upon learning of David Letterman's planned retirement, he called CBS'Les Moonves to urge him to keep The Late Show in New York.

APRIL 17: de Blasio chooses Cynthia Lopez as New York City's new film commissioner, as The Hollywood Reporter first revealed.

SEE ALSO: Bill de Blasio Set To Make Acting Debut

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