Lionsgate has purchased the rights to Suzanne Collins' dystopian future novel The Hunger Games, about a society where teenage boys and girls have to fight each other to the death on television, for fun and profit. By the time the film is made and released, it will be a documentary. [Variety] While us poors are killing and devouring each other, comedy dynamos will be meeting for Adam Sandler's next movie, about a sad little Saturday Night Live high school reunion. Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, David Spade, and Kevin James have joined the cast. Oh, and Salma Hayek and, strangely, Colin Quinn. Laff riot. [Variety]

Little Labrador that could or whatever Marley & Me keeps surprising at the box office. It's licking ass and taking names in the foreign market, which is usually unkind to American comedies, especially those with women in them. I guess dogs, and Jennifer Aniston's beguiling misery, are a universal language. [Variety] If you're worrying about goings on at home, don't. SAG is working hard, if in secret, to get a new contract ready for ratification. Also: Puppy. Jen Aniston's weepy tears. (Hello foreign readers!) [Variety]

Family friendly Walden Media has nabbed a big old lesbian to star in their next feature. Ellen DeGeneres will be playing Mother Nature in a movie about the deity's (?) first trip back to Earth since it was created, lo those six thousand years ago. It was written by Sex and they City/Men in Trees alumna Jenny Bicks. Lady power! Only Aslan can stop this sinfulness now. [THR]

Wandering weirdo Audrina Patridge will not be continuing on The Hills after this upcoming season. She's signed a deal for a whole! new! reality show, all about herrrr. So that's spectacular. We think we're getting the end of The Hills because Lauren and Audy are leaving, instead it divides to conquer, like a wicked Hydra. [THR] A whole bunch of people got cast in pilots, including Gail O'Grady, Alfre Woodard, Katherine Moenning, and DB Woodside. Your friend Tim, who's been sleeping on your couch for the past two months? He still did not. And hey, it's early, man. Shut the curtains, would you? [THR]

Funny:

What say we lighten the mood and swing into a productive 2009 with some box office numbers?

1. Marley & Me - $24.1 million
In what will certainly go down as the Holocaustiest holiday movie season in history, it was the story of a disobedient Golden Lab with no known ties to the Nazi party that again managed to capture America's hearts. With an 11-day total of $107 million, Marley is well on track to becoming the Highest Grossing Live-Action Dog Movie of all Time, rocketing past previous record holders like 1972's Lassie Tangos in Paris and Richard Attenborough's 1982 masterpiece, Benjhi.

2. Bedtime Stories - $20.3 million
We finally have some clue as to what co-star Keri Russell was talking about on a recent Late Night with Conan O'Brien appearance, as this mostly family-friendly offering does feature one disturbing sequence in which the actress is spirited away from a campfire by a Benjamin Buttonesque goblin-manchild.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $18.4 million
We think we know what would have made Button work better: having Brad Pitt in one outfit throughout his remarkable transformation. Think about how much more you would have been invested in the journey had the film been book-ended by baby-sized Button swaddled in the adult tuxedo and top hat he eventually grows into somewhere around the two-hour mark.

4. Valkyrie - $14 million
Valkyrie is the rare Hitler-hunting movie that rewards repeat-viewings, as director Bryan Singer has loaded his film with dozens of easter eggs just waiting to be discovered by WWII buffs. For example, in the suitcase-bomb rigging scene, if you look on the bookshelf behind Col. von Stauffenberg, you'll notice a copy of "Ein Sehr Hitler Weihnachten" ("A Very Hitler Christmas"), the Fuhrer's little-known, disastrous attempt at invading the holiday album market.

5. Yes Man - $13.9 million
We'd be happier for star Zooey Deschanel and Death Cab For Cutie's Ben Gibbard engagement had we no suspicions that the entire thing was just an elaborate promotional stunt, set to climax with the words "Yes Man, I Do" at the couple's DVD-release-themed wedding.

• January 2–4, 2009 [Box Office Mojo]

Fortunately, her beau John Mayer had an idea: walk several blocks to a restaurant instead of taking a cab, engage in a little PDA, and chat with his best friends (TMZ cameramen). Us has the scoop, and TMZ has the video:

Aniston, 39, smiled as she snuggled up to Mayer, 31, as he greeted photographers. The two — who wore matching black jackets and jeans — then dashed into La Esquina, where Kelly Ripa was also dining with husband Mark Consuelos.

While walking, he plugged her new movie Marley & Me.

"I'm happy to report the movie is completely in focus," he told photographers as Aniston laughed. "I want everyone to know that."

Then he joked that he and Aniston were walking all the way to Harlem.

"90 more blocks, guys!" he teased photographers. "90 more blocks!"

Of course, giving the paparazzi some prime, saleable video is an unconventional technique to ensure they stop bothering you in the future, on par with leaving a dish of milk out for a stray cat, then complaining when it paws your screen door at night. However, we'll defer to Mayer's expertise on this; after all, he's the one who thinks thoughts (typically on the level of "What paparazzi service should I tip off that Jen and I are headed to La Esquina?").

• Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer Make Rare PDA in NYC [Us]

Well, it looks like Jennifer Aniston has been listening to Jessica Biel lately, for one. Also, it's hard to sell a movie when your fragile costar is so intimidated that he retires to the hallway at the barest hint of a USA Today fastball! Mostly, though, this just makes us worry about the inevitable oneupmanship we can expect to see from Brangelina. Who among us will be able to withstand the cognitive dissonance when Angelina Jolie promotes her upcoming, G-rated voice appearance in Veggie Tales 3: Holy Lentils! with a fourteen-page appearance in Penthouse that gives new meaning to the word "spread"?

[Photo Credit: Michael Thompson]

• LORDY, LORDY, THIS WOMAN IS 40 [GQ]

Q: How challenging is it promoting this big fun family movie when the public seems to be so curious about your own lives?

Aniston: I think it's ridiculous. There's just this insatiable need. I also haven't had a movie in a long time, so hopefully this is going to create something else to talk about and realize that I have a job, and I'm an actress.

Wilson: This is the nice part. You get to talk about the work.

Aniston: I am honestly getting sick of it, and I feel like telling people, "You know what? It's none of your (expletive) business." Seriously, it's enough. It's like we're appealing to the lowest …

Wilson:… the worst in human nature.[...]

Q: Well, how does doing a film like this help?

Aniston: It's such a positive story. … I think sometimes people lose track and they forget, "God, this (stuff) is hard." And then you see a movie that reminds you … life isn't what you always imagine it to be. Life is what it is.

Wilson: That was nice. That was a great line.

Q: And what about your dogs? Do they help you get through the difficult times?

(Wilson, who was hospitalized in 2007 after what police called a suicide attempt, walks out.)

Aniston: You're talking about the stupid stuff? Yes.

(When Wilson returns, the question is repeated.)

Aniston: They do help.

Wilson: Yeah. That sounded nice.

• 'Marley' stars Wilson, Aniston feel an animal attraction [USA Today]

When asked about her candid interview with Vogue, and its cover line calling Angelina Jolie's past behavior "really uncool," Aniston says she was merely responding to the reporter's question. "I basically just answered it as honestly as I could," Aniston says on The Oprah Winfrey Show, airing Thursday.

The actress has kinder words for ex-husband Brad Pitt, saying, "He's done some amazing things in the last couple of years. So I just think he's doing great."

And she doesn't seem to have any feelings of competition with her ex, whose movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is opening the same day her upcoming film, Marley and Me.

"We all want our movie to do well ... Can we have a tie?" she quips.

Awww! No.

• Article Name [Source]

1. Brad Pitt will win an Academy Award. We know the post-Toronto establishment has all but engraved Mickey Rourke's name on this year's Best Actor Oscar (hell, even Rourke has engraved his name on this year's Best Actor Oscar), but taking both The Wrestler (release date TBD) and Pitt's epic The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (12/25) sight unseen, we'll take the aging-backward-on-other-people's-bodies gimmick over the gritty indie comeback 10 times out of 10. Not that it won't be close: Brad Grey will spend more on his old pal's campaign than Fox Searchlight is probably ready to drop on Rourke's, but Rourke will be the more accessible nominee to the media. Look for dark horse Sean Penn (Milk) to split the field late; Focus Features won't settle for another 0-fer in '08.

2. W. (10/17) will tip the election to the GOP. Opening less than three weeks before Election Day, the film will be too muddled to move the Democrats yet irreverent enough to galvanize the Republican base against Hollywood one more time before voting. Oliver Stone will be recognized as the new Ralph Nader.

3. You're going to miss Don LaFontaine a lot more than you think. Otherwise execrable trailers like this one for The Haunting of Molly Hartley (10/31) acquired bittersweet relevance overnight:

4. The Weinstein Company will muscle its way back to prominence. Harvey had a relatively hemorrhage-free summer, closed out by his $16 million-grossing (and counting) Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Meanwhile, Zack and Miri Make a Porno (10/31) left Toronto with goodwill to spare, the LA immigrant saga Crossing Over (10/24) has Harrison Ford, Sean Penn and others channeling Crash, and the company bumped up The Reader for Kate Winslet Oscar consideration. (NB: The Rourke Factor also reportedly inspired Harvey to finally slot his long-shelved Killshot on Nov. 7.) The Weinsteins being the Weinsteins, of course, the operation could crash at any time, but at least the ensuing conflagration promises Hindenberg levels of spectacle. That's our Harvey.

5. Owen Wilson will emerge from, return to hiding after explaining the trailer to Marley & Me (12/25). That is all.

6. The Soloist (11/21) will be better than it sounds. But it sounds great, right? Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx, directed by Pride and Prejudice/Atonement helmer Joe Wright? Alas, the logline: "A schizophrenic, homeless musician from Skid Row, Los Angeles dreams of playing at Walt Disney Concert Hall." Based on a true story, natch: Downey Jr. plays the real-life LAT reporter who befriends him, warning Foxx behind the scenes about the perils of going full-schizo. All things being equal, we like their chances.

7. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York (10/24) will be this year's unlikeliest tearjerker. Not just for its devastating, beautiful final act, but also for the probability that Sony Classics will weep red ink when it makes about five cents at the box office.

8. Twilight (11/21) will only be the second-best vampire movie released this fall. You won't find Let the Right One In (10/24) on the cover of EW, but you'll find the Swedish export in a lot of festival juries' hearts since last spring. Half coming-of-age romance and half vengeful horror epic, it picks up the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy whose sweet new girlfriend next door ends up being several thousand years older than she looks — and behaves accordingly. Genre distributor Magnet Releasing might only get this on a hundred screens, but watch the word-of-mouth and top-10-list acclaim bump it into sleeper status by the end of the year.

9. Extreme Movie will open to a $0 gross after viewers confuse it with the other, less-illustrious Movie franchise. But you can be prepared: Extreme Movie is the teen sex comedy starring Michael Cera and Frankie Muniz; Disaster Movie et. al. are the ones whose auditoriums smell faintly of piss. Know the difference!

10. Daniel Craig will miss 2006. Casino Royale was a surprising, sporadically brilliant reboot, but the honeymoon is over: Quantum of Solace's trailer isn't dazzling anyone; the title is stillborn; Sony couldn't settle on a US release date (it finally chose 11/14); and unfairly or not, franchise obsessives want nothing to do with new director Marc Forster. And all this after the Bond curse cost Craig part of his finger. It's a cruel world, but not as cruel as it'll seem after Defiance (12/12), the WWII Jewish resistance drama in which he and screen bros Liev Schrieber and Jamie Bell fight off Nazis during the invasion of Poland. Among the last of Paramount Vantage's orphaned prestige titles, and opening opposite Doubt, an expanded Frost/Nixon and The Day the Earth Stood Still, it's bound to knock Craig back to stardom's second tier for a while to come.

11. Beverly Hills Chihuahua (10/3) will astonish and amaze. But you already knew that.

Hudson’s recent Fool’s Gold flop hasn’t stopped her from signing up for yet more rom-coms revolving around silly girls and the silly boys they fall for. This September, we’ll see her in what sounds like You, Me And Dupree 2: This Time We’ve Got Dane Cook!, the “meet cute” vehicle My Best Friend’s Girl. And we’ve already seen shots of Kate filming what sounds like The Devil Wears Prada 2: Catfights Leap From The Office To The Altar!, the sure to be laugh-filled Bride Wars with Anne Hathaway and Candy Bergen. Though she has signed on for two dramas — Big Eyes, in which she’ll star as sad painter Margaret Keane, and A Dream Of Red Mansions — we just can’t get excited about “epic tales” set in mid-century China or Gwyneth-inspired attempts at Oscar fever playing a doomed artist.

As for Owen? No Oscars lie ahead, but cash definitely does. Marley & Me is based on the book with millions of fans, meaning a built-in audience awaits. And next year, the maligned money train that was Nightmare At The Museum will deliver its green-eyed sequel. Kate yearning for bucks and credibility, while Owen rolls in the dough with plenty of time to threesome-hop? Where is Dax Shephard when you really need him?

• KATE HUDSON & OWEN WILSON CALL IT QUITS [People]

After seeing Woody very impressively hoist himself from the water to the cliff, we would like to get in touch with his trainer. Not as impressive are his tan lines, but with a behind like that, we'll forgive him.

As Woody happily trots back to the cabana with nary a care for who spots him, Owen takes a dive into the water wearing a much more standard pair of trunks. Which is sad, since we'd be more than happy to see Wilson follow in Woody's footsteps the next time around.

[Photo Credit: Kadena Pix via The Daily Mail]

• NATURAL BORN STRIPPER: WOODY HARRELSON SKINNY DIPS WITH HOLLYWOOD PAL OWEN WILSON [The Daily Mail]