Super Bowl weekend saw a fierce battle between two sensational teams as the new super hero pic Chronicle won a narrow victory over the horror flick The Woman in Black leading a busy frame at the North American box office. Both new releases beat expectations with $20M+ debuts, were low-cost projects, and successfully excited teens and young adults who have been so hard for studios to reach with non-sequels. The former went after the guys while the latter targeted the gals allowing both films to thrive. In fact, all three of the weekend’s new releases – including the kid-friendly whale rescue pic Big Miracle – skewed heavily towards the under-25 crowd leading the overall box office to continue to exceed year-ago levels every frame this year.

The world of movie development news definitely got back in business after two weeks obsessed with Sundance, but it’s still January, and Hollywood tends not to do tons of really great things in January, it seems, at any point of the development cycle. And so, we got a week that includes news for two Hasbro game/toy adaptations, and just generally more Rotten Ideas than Fresh Developments yet again.

The accomplished stage, television, and film actor passed away this afternoon in Manhattan, New York, at the age of 81.

Facepaint and green dots!

He’ll helm a new version of the 1992 feature, which he co-wrote.

They’ll play younger versions of De Niro and Samuel L. Jackson.

She hopes to transition from romantic comedies to action thrillers.

The filmmakers are hoping to get “Part 2″ in theaters by October.

He may direct the project, which has languished in development hell since Robert Zemeckis departed.

She’ll star in a familiar-sounding thriller.