According to BoxOfficeMojo, four new movies opened to over $20 million this weekend for only the second time in history. “The Vow” felt the Valentine’s Day spirit and stole the hearts of women everywhere to take first place with $41.2 million. The action/thriller “Safe House” took second place with $40.2 million, and was Denzel Washington’s second-highest debut behind “American Gangster’s” $43.6 million. Ryan Reynolds has got to be breathing a heavy sigh of relief after his most recent films, “Green Lantern” and “The Change-Up,” flopped at the box office. Hopefully this brings us one step closer to the “Deadpool” movie comic nerds like me have been eagerly anticipating. Children’s adventure flick “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” surprised analysts with an impressive $27.3 million, and a third place finish. “The Rock” being in the cast undoubtedly helped as lately he has proven to be quite the money draw for films. The “eagerly awaited” return of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” to 3D theaters earned a solid fourth place finish and $22.5 million. Arguably the most hated of the entire series it is now the fifth highest grossing movie, domestically, of all time. Last week’s number one film, “Chronicle,” took quite a tumble to fifth place, and earned another $12.1 million. It is now up to about $40 million domestically, and rumblings of a sequel have already begun.

Funny man Jim Carrey (“Cable Guy”) has signed on to a new comedy called “Pierre, Pierre.” Screen Daily has learned that in the film Carrey plays an obnoxious Frenchman who steals the Mona Lisa from the Louvre with the hope of selling it so he can finally move out of his parent’s house. You sold me at “Jim Carrey.” I have enjoyed every movie he has done, and this one, directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”), will be no different. The film was just given a boost in budget up to $30 million due to the supporting cast currently in negotiations for the project. If the studio has such faith in the upcoming casting announcement it can only mean good things for us. Hopefully Carrey will never get tired of acting, and get started on the “Dumb and Dumber” sequel I have been waiting over a decade for. Maybe we can even squeeze another “Ace Ventura” out of him!

It looks like a sequel to “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is closer than anyone expected. Comingsoon has learned that Paramount has officially set the fourth film’s release for summer of 2014. Mega-producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura was quoted as saying, “we’ll be there in the summer of 2014. Michael had a debate because he sort of felt at first that he'd done three. Michael and I are both the same in that we always like to top ourselves. That doesn't necessarily mean bigger. It can be bigger in places, it just means different, but we're going to push really hard as fresh and new as we can be." Based on his quote, one could infer that Michael Bay is intending to return to the series. This is disappointing news for fans of the comics and cartoon series who think Bay has created nothing but CGI porn and action packed garbage (like me). It also bothers me because I have been hoping for “Bad Boys 3” for a long time now, and it looks as though I will have to wait until at least 2015 to see that. Michael Bay is currently in pre-production and set to begin filming “Pain and Gain” with Mark Wahlberg (“Shooter”) and Dwayne Johnson (“Faster”) in April. My guess is he will begin “T4” shortly after that. Hopefully he has learned that instead of lying about having wide-angled action scenes, he could actually do it and not piss off the viewers. This close up action BS has got to stop.

A novel from the 1950s is being adapted to fit the big screen, and getting one hell-of-a good cast with it. Cinema Blend has learned that Anna Paquin (“Trick r’ Treat”), Tom Hiddleston (“Thor”) and Elijah Wood (“Flipper”) have joined the cast of “Black Wings Has My Angel.” The gritty noir thriller is about an armored car heist by an escaped prisoner and a female escort. One would assume that Paquin would play the escort, who is described as having the face of a Madonna and a heart made of dollar bills, and Wood would play the prisoner who is an anti-hero of sorts. Even though he is mostly known for playing a Hobbit in “The Lord of the Rings,” Elijah has some tremendous acting talent. He did exceptionally well in “Green Street Hooligans” and “Sin City.” Noir thrillers are quickly becoming a popular genre again, and I can’t wait to watch every one of them.

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