Despite early weekend box office estimates reported Monday morning (August 30), Takers has actually edged out The Last Exorcism as the highest-grossing film for the weekend ending August 29, AllHipHop.com has confirmed.

Takers raked in an impressive $20.5 million, beating it’s rival opening film by just shy of $200,000.
 
The independently-produced crime drama originally drew attention for its diverse ensemble cast.

In addition to movie vet Matt Dillon, franchise stars Paul Walker and Hayden Christensen, and award-winning actors Idris Elba and Zoe Saldana, Takers also features singer Chris Brown and rapper T.I. in their second and third major film roles, respectively.

Both artists also served as executive producers for the project, which was produced by Rainforest Films and T.I’s Grand Hustle Films.
 
Box office estimates originally had Exorcist leading the weekend by $300,000 over Takers, bringing in $21.3 million.

And while the numbers may have been close, the significance is greater for Takers, which went into theaters as the weekend’s underdog.
 
“It’s really an incredible testament to the power of the people,” Rainforest Films co-founder Will Packer told AllHipHop.com. “Hollywood expected us to do closer to $10 million since we were smaller and on far less screens.”
 
Perhaps more powerful than any advertising campaign was an aggressive Twitter campaign led by cast members TI, Idris Elba and Chris Brown.

With the support of their fans, the movie’s three stars kept Takers a “trending topic,” by having movie-goers tweet photos and reports from theaters across the country.

T.I. even tweeted about the film’s success today. “The real #’s are out and we did it!!! #TAKERS is #1!!!”

“We all expected to win,” added Packer. “It was so close that every dollar counted. And I thank every single person that bought a ticket. This means there will be more movies like Takers.”
 
In addition to being T.I.’s first released project since completing legal obligations tied to his 2007 arrest, the film is also the first in a three-picture deal signed with Screen Gems in June 2008.
 
According to Variety, T.I.’s second Screen Gems offering will be a drama titled Boulevard, which was being developed at the time the agreement was signed.

At press time, no details were available on the film’s progress.
 
In interviews discussing Takers and his seventh studio album King Uncaged, due out September 28, T.I. has also hinted at a possible sequel to his 2006 film debut ATL.

Chris Brown just got a huge pat on the back from the judge in his felony abuse case … including a “great job” for following the terms of his probation so well.
During the brief hearing, the judge reviewed the progress report document turned in by Brown’s lawyer Mark Geragos … and she was very pleased with what she saw.

The judge said Brown has been attending all of his court-ordered domestic violence counseling sessions and has been “working consistently” on completing his community labor.

As previously reported, Brown pled guilty to felony assault last year for beating up Rihanna.

His next progress report is November 18.

Idris Elba and Chris Breezy hit up 106 & Park two days ago to promote “Takers” which hits theaters everywhere tomorrow.  How many MO readers will be heading out to the theaters to check it out?  Ladies if you had to choose, which one would you take, Idris or Chris?

More images when you Read the full story

Chris Brown tweeted this picture of him picking up trash yesterday in the Virginia heat as part of his probation. Glad to see he’s still taking this community service thing seriously!

Chris Brown came back with a banger. Feeling this one. Tyga on the 2nd verse holding it down. You know what it is stay positive. Negative people bring you down. Stay focused. Read the full story

Hot on the heels of Eminem’s eight VMA nominations, it was announced Tuesday (August 3) that the highly anticipated video for his latest chart-topper, “Love the Way You Lie,” will premiere Thursday on MTV at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m.

Directed by Joseph Kahn (who has worked with Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, 50 Cent and many other superstars), the video was recently filmed in L.A. and features Rihanna, who sings the hook, along with actors Megan Fox and Dominic Monaghan. Despite the photos that leaked online last week of Fox and Monaghan happily locking lips, they play “a couple going through the extremes of an abusive relationship” — a sensitive subject matter for Em and Rihanna.

“Joseph and I worked pretty closely together to make sure we got this right,” Eminem said in a press release. “Trying to make this tough subject work visually is a challenge. It was great to have Rihanna, Megan and Dominic on board for this. … They really brought it and made this video super-powerful.”

Rihanna — whose very public assault at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown made the topic especially sensitive for her — recently told “Access Hollywood” this was something she “needed” to do. “It’s something that, you know, [Eminem and I have] both experienced, you know, on different sides, different ends of the table,” she said. “It just was authentic. It was real. It was believable for us to do a record like that, but it was also something that needed to be done, and the way he did it was so clever. He pretty much just broke down the cycle of domestic violence, and it’s something that a lot people don’t have a lot of insight on, so this song is a really, really powerful song, and it touches a lot of people.”

Judging by the intense, fiery photos that leaked from the video’s set, the clip looks to make a powerful statement and could be an early contender for next year’s Video Music Awards.

At this year’s VMAs — which air live from Los Angeles on Sunday, September 12 — Eminem’s “Not Afraid” will try to fend off the competition for Video of the Year, as well as Best Male Video and Best Hip-Hop Video. Eminem is also nominated alongside Drake in the Best Hip-Hop Video category for his contribution to the MC’s cameo-filled “Forever.” Rihanna’s vid for “Rude Boy” is up for Best Editing.

Don’t forget to tune in to MTV on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT for the premiere of Eminem’s “Love the Way You Lie,” and check MTVNews.com for full coverage of the clip.

Chris Brown plays Jesse Attica, the youngest in a crew of bank robbers, in the upcoming movie “Takers.” The band of thieves, which also includes Idris Elba and T.I., has just days to plan and pull off a multimillion-dollar heist.

In a show-stealing action sequence, Brown is chased through the streets of L.A. by Matt Dillon’s character, Detective Jack Welles, and partner Eddie Hatcher (played by Jay Hernandez). The singer-turned-actor leaps through windows, scales buildings, jumps on cars and anything else necessary to avoid being captured.

Brown said he enjoyed bringing his skills to another medium, and he enjoyed getting physical for the part. The singer said the exhilarating stunts you see him pull off onscreen are all him — well, almost.

“The most thrilling part about this movie is probably the stunts,” Brown said on the film’s set. “I do, like, 96 percent of my stunts. Some stunts they wanna use the doubles; I don’t wanna use the double! And they’re like, ‘We have to for safety and insurance issues.’ I think the most exciting parts are the stunts, getting to blow stuff up, shoot guns, you know what I’m saying. It’s all fun!”

Brown said he was attracted to “Takers” because it stood out from his other roles.

“When acting, I feel like it’s cool to use your strengths, but it’s also cool to use your other abilities as well,” he said. “I didn’t just wanna do movies that had consistent dancing and singing. I wanted to do stuff that pushes me as an actor at the end of the day. Because you have people like T.I. and Common that do stuff that’s not around what they do in the entertainment industry as far as music, and they succeeded. So I just wanna branch over to that, especially like Will Smith. He comes from rapping and going right into the acting thing, so I wanna come from the singing parts and go into acting, and people can tell the difference. I think that with this role, it was more intense, more action, more stuff that I love to do, what I love to see in movies.”

“Takers” hits theaters August 27 and also stars TI, Michael Ealy, Zoe Saldana, Hayden Christensen and Paul Walker.

Check out the trailer for his new short film “12 Strands” which is too short for us to know if we want to see this or not. But we are interested…..

12 Strands (Matrix) Teaser from Gloob Marketing on Vimeo.

Photos by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images for Zomba) **EXCLUSIVE ACCESS

I’m not a scholar ,but 3 Years ago Chris Brown was on top of the charts. Every song he came with was a hit. A crowd favorite. One of those singers you knew would deliver hot hits every time. (and still can btw) After the situation with Rihanna things changed. As Chris Brown hit the road to recovery he has created a sort of down and defeated aura Read the full story