Feb 3, 2009–Al Pacino will play the title role in “King Lear,” an adaptation of Shakespeare's play to be directed by Michael Radford.

Feb 2, 2009–Dev Patel, star of “Slumdog Millionaire,” joined the cast of M. Night Shyamalan's “The Last Airbender,” Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films actioner based on a Nick TV series, which begins shooting in March.

Fox's action-thriller “Taken,” starring Liam Neeson, grossed about $9.5 million from 3,183 theaters at the Friday box-office to score the best opening day for Super Bowl weekend.  Male-driven pictures have avoided the Super Bowl frame, but Fox decided to break that tradition in a move that will likely result in other studios doing the same, considering the strength of “Taken.”

Senator Distribution acquired North American rights to Antoine Fuqua's policier drama “Brooklyn's Finest” on Saturday night, 24 hours after its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.

Tom O’Horgan, an innovative director who brought a Downtown, countercultural sensibility to Uptown theater, most exuberantly in the 1968 hippie-celebration-cum-musical Hair, died Sunday at his home in Venice, Florida. He was 84.