With the anticipated release of “Star Wars: Episode VII,” StarWars.com released part of a classic interview with George Lucas. 

In it, Lucas recounts how his “space opera” was a tough sell with United Artists and Universal turning him down. When 20th Century Fox finally said yes, it wasn’t because the studio believed “Star Wars” could be a hit, but rather because the company loved Lucas’ previous film “American Graffiti.” 

Lucas remembers a 20th Century Fox head telling him, "I don't understand this, but I loved ‘American Graffiti,’ and what ever you do is okay with me.”  

Lucas continued that if it wasn’t for Fox, he doesn’t think the pop culture phenomena would have been made.  

“It was crazy — spaceships, and wookies, and robots. It was just unlike anything that had ever been seen before.” 

For the mega fan, it’s a great watch. The director also touches upon writing the scripts, casting, and how production on the $10 million film was a slight nightmare. 

Check out the interview below:

SEE ALSO: Carrie Fisher confirms she'll play Princess Leia in "Star Wars: Episode VII"

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While Netflix is the undisputed champion of generating Web traffic in the United States, there's another video-streaming service that's quickly moving up the peak traffic ranks: Twitch, the video service that lets gamers live-stream their gameplay to thousands of viewers simultaneously.

Unlike Netflix or competitors Hulu and Amazon, Twitch can't just license film and television content that's popular enough to draw in an audience.

Yet according to data from network researcher DeepField published at the Wall Street Journal, its share of peak U.S. Web traffic has passed not only Hulu and Amazon but even Facebook and its 147 million daily active users. 

This screenshot of Twitch's homepage perfectly captures how the site is generating so much traffic. When looking at those numbers, keep in mind that on any given day, CNN might have ~280,000 live viewers — and that there are thousands of "channels" broadcasting live content on Twitch right now.

For context, this chart from the Wall Street Journal piece shows the 10 sites moving the most data around in the U.S. Note that Valve's Steam, which is basically iTunes for PC gamers, is also generating a massive amount of traffic:

SEE ALSO: These are the games to play if you want to actually earn a living as a professional gamer

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Miranda Kerr has replaced Gisele Bündchen as the face of H&M. 

The brand announced the new partnership on Facebook, along with a stunning shot of Kerr. 

The prominent gig illustrates that Kerr's career is thriving almost a year after her public split with Victoria's Secret. 

At the time, Kerr was rumored to have a "difficult" reputation that turned off the brand that contributed to the end of her Angel contract.  

She was also noticeably absent from this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. 

But Kerr has lucrative contracts with Swarovski, ShopStyle, Clean Hair Care, and Qantas Airlines. 

With earnings of $7.2 million, she was the second highest-paid model last year, coming only behind Bündchen, according to Forbes. 

SEE ALSO: How Gisele Bündchen Went From Awkward Teenager To The World's Highest-Paid Model

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While on the promotional trail for his upcoming film "The Monuments Men," Matt Damon took some time to stop by Reddit for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with fans.

The film, which opens Friday, has a huge ensemble cast of stars from George Clooney to Bill Murray, so while a lot of the questions had to do with Damon, there was also a bunch dealing with his co-stars, his friends in Hollywood, and their antics.

While some celebrities answer questions with brief responses, Damon spoke very candidly to fans about roles.

We've compiled some of the best highlights below. You can check out the full AMA here.

What the best prank his "Monuments Men" and "Ocean's 11" co-star, George Clooney ever pulled on him:

"I got these giant fruit baskets in the mail from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. They had just made jokes at everyone's expense at the Golden Globes that were really funny. George made up stationary with my name on it, and sent a really wounded letter to Tina and Amy saying my feelings were really hurt, how could they do this, etc. So they sent two fruit baskets. One had a letter with an apology. Another said 'If this is part of some Clooney prank, please know that we’re grown-ass comedians, and you have to do a little better to fool us.'"

What he thought of his portrayal in "South Park" creator's "Team America: World Police":

"I thought it was brilliant! I mean, I never understood it, and then I heard an interview with them and they said the puppet came in looking kind of mentally deficient and they didn’t have time to change it, so they just made me someone who could really only say his own name. All the comedy they’re doing is really next-level stuff."

When a fan asked Damon to recall the most challenging time in his life, he gave a very poignant response in which he references Philip Seymour Hoffman who passed away last week.

"Yeah, there are a number of kind of rugged times, particularly in a career like this. Nothing gets given to you, and you have to struggle for everything, and I think those struggles really do define who you are, and it’s really important. I’ve seen parents try to remove those struggles from their kids’ lives, to the detriment of the kid, and it’s something I think about a lot. I can’t make it too easy for my kids because that doesn’t really equip them to handle the world when I’m not around. Anytime you deal with death, anytime in my life on a personal level that I’ve lost someone, that’s always a moment to grieve and feel incredibly thankful that I’m still here and I’m still able to have my family around me. I’m just thinking of that because it’s kind of a s----- week because of Phil. It’s kind of on the brain."

If he's worried that Jimmy Kimmel (who's had a fun rivalry with Damon for years) will show up and ruin his AMA:

"I’m actually Backstage at the Kimmel show. I’m hoping to be on tonight, I’m told I’m going to get on tonight for the first time in 10 years."

The story behind this exchange between Damon and Reason TV, in which Damon defended teachers after his mother has been a life-long educator:

"I spoke to them at a rally for public school teachers a few years ago. My mom’s a professor and she’s become increasingly concerned, as a have a lot of teachers, about the way policy is being designed in this country. It’s being designed by a bunch of people who aren’t teachers. They talk about accountability, but they’re measuring with these standardized tests, which I believe in my heart they will start fading out. It just demonstrably does not work. No Child Left Behind does not work. I’ve always believed that they have to invite teachers into the discussion to help design policy. We would never let business men design warheads, why would you cut out educators when you’re designing education policy? So, one of those libertarian websites was there and they had a plan to attack a question about tenure. Diane Ravitch was there, she’s a huge figure in education and she jumped in and just set them straight about what having tenure meant. It just basically means you have the right to be represented, and have your side of something heard if someone was trying to get rid of you. But in terms of education policy, I think that far too much emphasis has been put on these tests. You’re going to get teachers teaching to the test and you’re not actually giving them the leeway to do their jobs."

His advice on breaking into the movie industry. 

"In terms of advice - it’s tough. The business is growing more accessible because technology is more available to people than when we started you had to shoot on film and it was very hard to get a movie made, and now kids are starting to have access to cameras at a much earlier age. In terms of breaking into the business there’s no set way to do it, you have to somehow make a movie and get it out there. In Ben and my case we wrote a movie because we were struggling to get a job. We wrote jobs for ourselves. We wrote Robin William’s character, we called it the Harvey Keitel part, because with Reservoir Dogs Harvey read his part and liked it, and that how they got funding. So we knew that was that character for us. There were so were so many ways to play that character, we were casting a wide net and just hoping to we caught a big fish, and our agent Patrick, who’s still our agent, forced him to read it and he loved it. He kicked it up to the lit department, and then we had lit agents. So we got lucky, but it’s just looking for creative ways to break in. If you just sit on your hands it’s never gonna happen, its just too competitive. Jobs are available, you have to go make your own."

He gets confused with Mark Wahlberg all the time: 

“I do get confused with Mark Wahlberg a lot, and we just have a deal that whenever we get mistaken for each other we have to be very polite. Can’t give the other a bad name.  

This happened to me yesterday, I was walking down the street with my kids, and this guy screamed “MARK WAHLBERG!” I just kept walking, because I’m not Mark, and he kept screaming “MARK WAHLBERG! I SEE YOU! DON’T WALK AWAY! MARK WAHLBERG! WE KNOW IT’S YOU!” and then he runs up to me and he says, “I love your work!” And then this woman comes up, and says “I love your family, tell your brother I said Hi!” So I said “Yes, I’ll tell Donnie Wahlberg you said Hi.”  

If people are insistent, theres no convincing them I’m not Mark, so I just become him and try to be nice to them. My kids were with me and there’s no easy way to explain that situation to them.” 

On coming up with the monologue about the NSA in "Good Will Hunting”: 

“Well, the first thing to that monologue is it’s safe to say that is the hardest that Ben and I have ever laughed while writing something. We were in our old house in Hollywood, in the basement of this house writing this thing and we were literally in tears because this monologue kept building on itself. We wrote it it one night and kept performing it back and forth, and pissing ourselves laughing.  

You know, I was unaware, as I think everyone was, that they had that capacity. Snowden is literally changing policy. These are conversations we have to have about our security, and civil liberties, and we have to decide what we are willing to accept, and he’s provided a huge service kickstarting that debate.” 

You can watch the monologue below:

Damon joked about not landing a role as Robin alongside long-time friend Ben Affleck in the upcoming “Batman / Superman” movie. 

“You are correct. After I didn't get the part, it was really awkward between Ben and I for a while. But I've still got the costume I wore in the audition and am planning on wearing it when Ben and I meet the winners of our fundraiser.”

SEE ALSO: The Funniest Highlights From Will Ferrell's Reddit AmA

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"Cool Runnings" is one of the most popular Olympics movies of the past few decades, and it's mostly made up. It's based on a true story, but a member of the unlikely Jamaican bobsled team that inspired the popular Disney film says it's largely fiction.

Dudley "Tal" Stokes, who was on the 1988 Olympic team that inspired "Cool Runnings," took to Reddit in October to set the record straight about what the movie got wrong. "It's a feature Disney film, not much in it actually happened in real life," Stokes said on Reddit.

"Cool Runnings" has a cast of fictional characters who don't bear much resemblance to the real-life Jamaican bobsledders. The Jamaican bobsled team that competed at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada was not composed of track sprinters, as the movie might lead you to believe. The team members were actually recruited from the Jamaican army.

The movie also depicts the Jamaican bobsledders as outcasts, but in real life they were welcomed warmly at the 1988 Olympics, as ESPN points out.

Here's the rest of the real story of how Jamaicans learned to bobsled — a sport that athletes from the country will still compete in this winter Olympics:

It all started when two American businessmen living in Jamaica were inspired by a local pushcart derby, according to the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation. The men, George Fitch and William Maloney, thought the sport looked like bobsledding. They took their idea for a Jamaica bobsled team to the country's Olympic association.

Stokes said he got into bobsledding because a colonel in the Army told him to. From the Reddit AMA:

I got into bobsledding because I was told to go. I was in the Army at the time. The Colonel made the suggestion to me and because I was a Captain, you do as your told and obey orders.

There were two Americans, George Finch and William Maloney who were big into push cart racing and thought it translated well to bobsledding. You mix that with the Jamaican athleticism and they thought it could work with some of our track athletes.

They couldn’t get anyone to actually do the sport, so they went to the Army and my Colonel. So that’s how I became involved in it. Once there, I was hooked.

Coaches who were recruited from the U.S. and Austria helped teach the team how to bobsled. They trained in Austria and Lake Placid, N.Y.

Stokes had very little training before the Olympics. He said he saw a bobsled for the first time in September 1987, and by February, he was competing in the Winter Olympics.

The team was immensely popular at the Olympics. The bobsledders couldn't leave Olympic Village for fear of getting mobbed, according to the Jamaican Bobsleigh Federation, and they got a lot of attention from the American media.

It wasn't easy for the team to compete. They were using borrowed equipment, and one of their teammates got injured during training. On the team's first run during the four-man event, part of Stokes' sled collapsed. On the second day, he fell and injured his shoulder.

They got a fast start that day, but Stokes lost control of the sled at 85 miles per hour and crashed, according to The Guardian. The teammates were trapped underneath the sled. Unlike the inspirational scene in "Cool Runnings," the team did not lift the sled over their heads to carry it across the finish line. One of the teammates, Devon Harris, told The Guardian they "did what any team would have done" and pushed the sled to the end of the track before lifting it.

A popular quote from the movie — "Feel the Rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it’s bobsled time!" — was also made up for the movie, according to Stokes.

Jamaica's two-man bobsled team will compete in the Winter Olympics this year at Sochi.

Here's video of the Jamaican bobsled team's Olympic debut in 1988:

SEE ALSO: 'Cool Runnings' Isn't The Best Olympics Movie Of All Time

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Not every hit movie needs an astronomical budget and A-list stars to resonate with audiences. Check out some films that succeeded despite (and sometimes because of) the built-in limitations of being low on cash.

See what low budget movies went on to be big hits »

"The Purge"

Budget: $3 million
Opening Weekend: $34 million

Armed with little more than Ethan Hawke and a wickedly provocative concept, The Purge surprised studios by handily winning its opening weekend. The horror movie is about a future United States that allows a 12-hour period of lawlessness every year.

"Once"

Budget: $150,000
Domestic Gross: $9.4 million 

This low-budget musical stunned critics when it was first released in Ireland in 2006, and continued to win them over after it traveled overseas. The story of a street musician and a pianist who find love and make music together was acted out by two real-life musicians (Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová), who were not trained actors.

"The Full Monty"

Budget: $3.5 million
Domestic Gross: $50 million

This British movie about down-on-their-luck blue collar workers turned strippers had a little budget, but that didn't keep it from hauling in an impressive $257.9 million in worldwide box offices. It was also nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture, and won the BAFTA for Best Picture despite competition from Titanic.

Billy Crystal, Oprah, and more stars gathered together during Jay Leno's final episode of "The Tonight Show" to give an emotional sendoff to the longtime late-night host.

Leno's first and final guest, Crystal introduced a large group of celebrities consisting of Oprah, Carol Burnett, Jack Black, Jim Parsons, and Kim Kardashian to sing along to the tune of "So Long, Farewell" from "The Sound of Music."

Leno hosted "The Tonight Show" for 22 years. 

Jimmy Fallon will take over hosting duties February 17.

Watch the clip below:

Here are photos from the event:

SEE ALSO: The most memorable moments from Jay Leno's final "Tonight Show"

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JEFF ZUCKER, boss of CNN Worldwide, a cable-news firm, likes to start his morning with a shot of numbers. Every weekday at 9am he confers with his teams in New York, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and other bureaus to discuss ratings and web traffic, and to decide what news to cover. On February 4th a story reconstructing the final day of Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor who died of a heroin overdose (see obituary), boosted CNN’s website. Mr Zucker wanted to "push it" on TV too. As producers pitch the stories they plan to cover, Mr Zucker pitches them his own, including more on Hillary Clinton’s election prospects, how bad weather affects America’s economy and whether drinking two fizzy drinks a day will actually kill you.

Previous bosses at the channel rarely attended morning news meetings, but Mr Zucker has been hands-on since January 2013, when he took over the role. However, he also believes that CNN cannot live by news alone. The cable channel, owned by Time Warner, a media conglomerate, has often performed poorly in the ratings compared with its politically partisan rivals in America--left-leaning MSNBC and conservative Fox News--unless big news is breaking. There is no glory in the role of unbiased "referee" between two partisan networks, Mr Zucker tells his staff. "Nobody goes to the game to see the ref."

Instead CNN is trying to lure viewers by airing original films and television series that are either licensed or produced in-house. In October it showed "Blackfish", a splashy documentary about a trainer at a marine park who was killed by a whale. Last month Mr Zucker attended the Sundance film festival to show three films produced by CNN, and to buy the rights to air another, called "Dinosaur 13", about palaeontologists discovering a Tyrannosaurus skeleton. Next month "Chicagoland", a reality-TV show for political junkies, set in the windy city, will begin. A travel series in which Anthony Bourdain, a celebrity chef, travels to exotic places, called "Parts Unknown", has become one of CNN’s most popular shows, and may have helped the channel to attract around 8m new viewers.

Unfortunately, CNN and other American cable-news channels continue to travel to unfamiliar and dark ratings terrain themselves. Last year median prime-time ratings for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC declined by between 6% and 24% (see chart). The picture is not much brighter for business-news networks, such as CNBC. There is a "ceiling" to how many people are getting their news from television today, says Amy Mitchell of the Pew Research Centre’s Journalism Project. More people are turning to the internet.

CNN’s transformation under Mr Zucker is an attempt to boost ratings that are well below their peak five years ago. Viewing figures for all channels that provide general information are static or in decline. Recently DirecTV, a satellite-TV provider, dropped the Weather Channel because people can find weather information easily elsewhere (such as on the Weather Channel’s free website). Anyone who sits in on the morning meeting can tell that news is Mr Zucker’s passion. But what works today is entertainment.

Networks are now trying to distinguish themselves by airing more "event programming", such as the Olympics, that get couch potatoes to tune in to live television. They are also pouring resources into developing new shows that might attract a following and set them apart from other channels. Programming costs at American cable networks will rise by more than 9% this year, according to MoffettNathanson, a research firm (which employs Mr Zucker’s brother-in-law). Mr Zucker’s strategy at CNN differs from his reign as the boss of NBCUniversal, a big entertainment firm, where he spent less on new shows and focused on cutting costs at NBC, the broadcast network. But NBC’s ratings flagged. Mr Zucker was reportedly fired after Comcast took control of NBCUniversal in 2010.

CNN's critics point to its weak ratings but it remains immensely profitable. Last year it made an estimated $340m on revenues of $1.1 billion, according to SNL Kagan, a research firm. (CNN International, its growing international division, is not captured in those numbers; nor is HLN, another struggling domestic news channel that needs an overhaul.) A large share of its revenues comes from fees that cable operators pay for the right to carry it. To keep profits rolling in CNN needs more viewers so it can charge more to pay-TV operators and attract more advertising.

This is particularly important as CNN’s costs are also high. Its type of journalism is expensive; it probably has more news bureaus than MSNBC and Fox News combined. "We are in the produce business," says K.C. Estenson, who runs CNN.com. "Our news comes and goes so quickly." Frequent updates require constant attention and resources.

Cable-news channels are also experiencing what print newspapers started to see over a decade ago: people are abandoning them for the web, where advertising rates are much lower. In 2008 Mr Zucker, known for speaking his mind, worried about "trading analogue dollars for digital pennies". Since then online-advertising rates have improved. But internet economics are still less attractive, even for CNN.com, one of the most popular news websites in the world. As newspapers and online portals are making video content that they can sell advertising against, CNN also faces new competitors from the web.

Meanwhile, some people at CNN want to see more dramatic investment in new programmes. In 2014 CNN will have around 70 hours of original films and shows: less than one-and-a-half hours a week, on average. "Are the changes going to be big enough for this new, brutal media climate we live in?" asks one CNN employee. More and more, news channels will depend on dinosaurs and killer whales.

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Paul Bettany will play popular Marvel character Vision in the upcoming "Avengers" sequel.

Variety confirmed a report from The Daily Mail naming Bettany as the human android.

The casting of Bettany gives a giant plot spoiler about "Avengers: Age of Ultron." 

If you're a fan of the Marvel films, you know Bettany had speaking roles in all of the "Iron Man" films and "The Avengers" as Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) AI device J.A.R.V.I.S.

Potential spoiler:

In the comics, the character Ultron — who will be played by James Spader— creates Vision to use him as a weapon against the Avengers.

"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" hits theaters May 1, 2015.

SEE ALSO: 13 movies that bombed in the US, but were huge hits overseas in 2013

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Smart TV apps represent the latest threat to the struggling pay TV industry. Watching TV is no longer based around flipping through channels at broadcast, but finding the right content portal for what you want to watch now. 

In a recent report, BI Intelligence looks at the data and trends behind the TV app market, explains why it's still nascent and messy, and why significant growth seems inevitable. A successful TV app platform could significantly shift the balance of power in entertainment, and allow for much greater probabilities of success among newcomers versus incumbents.

Access The Full Report And Data Including The PowerPoint Version By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today >>

Here is the market smart TV apps are going after, and the reasons TV apps could be so revolutionary:

• There are some 800 million pay TV households worldwide, according to MRG.
• In America, the average person still spent more than four hours per day watching TV last year, and more than five hours per day engaging with all screens, according to Nielsen.
• TV also still represents the majority of worldwide ad spending: $350 billion last year, or 63% of all ad spending, according to Nielsen.
• A survey by Nielsen and YuMe found that 17% of Internet connected TV users plan to decrease or cancel their cable subscription in the coming year.
• The old guard, represented by cable and entertainment conglomerates, will not be able to fend off improvements and user experience innovations like those that apps are bringing to mobile phones. 
• The Smart TV revolution will not just be led by new TVs with built-in Internet connections. Consumer will also adopt less expensive game consoles and set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV, which transform traditional TVs into smart TVs with access to app stores. At least 20% of U.S. consumers already have their TVs connected in one of these ways.
• TV apps can sync across PCs, tablets, smartphones, and TVs. So they're better suited to how we consumer media today.
• Apple and Google seem like logical smart-TV leaders — Apple through its skill of designing and marketing great platforms, and Google through its prowess in digital video and advertising. Also, pay attention to Samsung and Microsoft, among others. But consumers won't gravitate to smart TV apps until the app stores are stocked with well-curated collections of great software.
• Nonetheless, the existing smart TV app market is way too fragmented between a half-dozen or so immature platforms, and worse — most of these are very difficult to develop for.

The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use.

In full, the report: 

• Looks at data on Internet connected TV adoption among consumers
• Digs into new video consumption behavior and explains how an app-centered TV will leverage the trend toward digital video
• Discusses the cast of characters — from media and cable conglomerates to manufacturers and software giants — trying to get into the smart TV space, and who will likely win
• Looks at what consumers are doing on their app-enabled TVs
• Juxtaposes alarming trends in the pay TV market, with healthy growth in Internet-enabled TV usage
• Examines what needs to happen for smart TVs to emerge as a key app development platform

For full access to the report on Smart TV Apps as well as our archive of over 100 in-depth reports and hundreds of charts on mobile computing, digital video, and the Internet, sign up for a free trial subscription today. 

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"The Lego Movie" is out this weekend and is expected to make more than $50 million upon opening.

That would give it the largest debut of 2014 so far. 

If you’re taking the kids to see it this weekend, here’s something to ponder while the opening sequence pans over an elaborately-made virtual Lego world.

There are a total of 3,863,484 unique Lego bricks in the movie.  

According to the film's production notes, many of those bricks were reused to create many of the film's scenes.

However, if you wanted to recreate the entire movie, you would need 15,080,330 Lego pieces.

In addition, a total of 183 different types of Lego minifigures can be seen in the film.Of course, the movie wasn't made out of physical bricks. 

Instead, production designer Grant Freckelton and his team used virtual bricks through free software LEGO Digital Designer to bring the movie to life.

Here are a few visualizations of the world depicted in the film:

SEE ALSO: 5 reasons "The LEGO Movie" is going to dominate the box office

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Last night was Jay Leno’s final time hosting “The Tonight Show.” While celebrities and other late-night hostscongratulated Leno on his 22 years on the show and wished him farewell, Conan O’Brien offered one last jab. 

“That's right, NBC has the Olympics. It's a big deal. NBC will finally get to show somebody who's okay with passing the torch.”

O’Brien briefly took over “The Tonight Show” from Leno in 2009. But when NBC wanted to make a scheduling change to air “Tonight” and O'Brien threatened to leave, Leno returned as host. O'Brien went over to TBS where he's been hosting "Conan" ever since.

Watch the clip from "Conan" below. O'Brien makes the comment at the 2:30 mark.

SEE ALSO: Billy Crystal, Oprah, and more sing farewell to Jay Leno

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The private funeral services for Philip Seymour Hoffman were held at Manhattan's Church of St. Ignatius Loyola this morning, and public relations departments were quick to pounce on an opportunity. 

According to a report in The New York Post, PR teams for various fashion labels are tastelessly sending out photos of stars wearing their brands while paying their respects to the legendary actor.

The Post writes:

Valentino emailed fashion bloggers and journalists on Friday morning photos of Hoffman’s “The Master” co-star Amy Adams wearing their Garavani Rockstud Duble bag on her way to the memorial service.

— Joel Pavelski (@joelcifer) February 7, 2014

“We are pleased to announce Amy Adams carrying the Valentino Garavani Rockstud Duble bag from the Spring/Summer 2014 collection on February 6th in New York,” is the release Pavelski is referring to.

Other companies, like Ugg, sent Hoffman's celebrity friends gift bags filled with Ugg products, including boots. 

Ugg also included a message encouraging them to wear their winter boots in the cold city weather, according to Ugg Australia associates.

When the Post reached out to Ugg; another PR spin: “UGG does not know nor would we presume to ask what our consumers or fans are doing in New York, or for what event or purpose they need the product. That is none of our business. UGG does not request photo opps from those to whom we gift product.”

You can read the Post story, and see some of the photos of Amy Adams here.

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"The Lego Movie" is out in theaters today and from what everyone is saying the animated picture is going to be huge.

The movie is predicted to open north of $50 million. As a whole, the film cost Warner Bros. $60 million, relatively low for an animated picture.

Any number above $42 million, would push "The LEGO Movie" past Universal's "Ride Along" ($41.5 million) to give it the largest opening weekend of the year so far.

Currently, "LEGO" is far ahead of the competition in ticket sales. 

Fandango provided us with a break down of ticket sales as of Friday morning. "The Lego Movie" is dominating:

77% "The LEGO Movie"
11% "The Monuments Men"
2% "Vampire Academy"

From the looks of things, it's going to be a rough weekend for The Weinstein Company’s “Vampire Academy.” Projections have it sitting at $6.6 million.

Meanwhile, "Monuments Men" is on track to make $20.5 million. George Clooney's World War II film about a team of men saving art from being destroyed by Nazis cost Sony an estimated $70 million.

We wouldn't be surprised if "The LEGO Movie" has a larger opening weekend.

Yesterday, Fandango announced "The LEGO Movie" is its second largest advance ticket-seller for animated films behind "Toy Story 3" (2010). That film went on to make $110.3 million opening weekend.

"LEGO" has also passed advanced ticket sales for Disney’s “Frozen” and “Monsters University.” "Frozen" debuted to $67.4 million while "Monsters University" had a $82.4 opening weekend.

Currently, the film is sitting at 97% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with 96 positive reviews.

From a Fandango survey of more than 1,000 ticket-buyers for “The LEGO Movie":

• 71% of trailer-watchers can’t get the movie’s ironic theme song, “Everything is Awesome,” out of their heads;
• 67% of adult ticket-buyers say they are nostalgic for their LEGO toys;
• 62% of adult ticket buyers says they would consider seeing the movie on a date;
• 54% picked Morgan Freeman as the ancient wizard Vitruvius as the new character they were most anticipating;
• 52% said they re-enacted movie scenes with LEGO when they were kids.

SEE ALSO: Why everyone is raving about "The LEGO Movie"

AND: How many LEGOs are in the movie

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Miranda Kerr just replaced Gisele Bündchen as the face of H&M. 

The huge contract comes after a year full of controversy for Kerr, who departed after rumors she was difficult to work with. 

It's possible that Kerr, 30, simply became too hot for Victoria's Secret. The brand goes out of its way to hire models whom its customers can relate to, and the stunning Kerr might not have fit the bill.

In short, Kerr was so hot that female customers felt threatened by her.  

H&M is obviously happy to work with Kerr, who was the highest-paid model behind Bündchen last year, according to Forbes.

Miranda Kerr has been modeling since she was 13, appearing in television advertisements. Her most prolific campaign before Victoria's Secret was for Maybelline Cosmetics.

In 2007, she signed a contract with Victoria's Secret to replace Gisele Bundchen as an Angel.

She also began dating her first husband, actor Orlando Bloom. The two, who are now going through a divorce, have a child, Flynn, together.

Philip Seymour Hoffman did not finish filming the last two installments in the blockbuster "Hunger Games" series before his death -- but digital technology may help filmmakers complete the job.

Computer effects and camera tricks could be used to insert Hoffman, who died of an apparent heroin overdose, into at least one as-yet-unfilmed scene, according to one movie executive.

Studio Lionsgate said shortly after the Oscar-winning actor died at the weekend that the tragedy would not disrupt production of "Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1" which is due for release in November this year, and Part 2 due in theaters in November 2015.

Hoffman had completed his work for Part 1, and had seven days of filming left for the final film, the Hollywood Reporter said.

The industry journal cited an unnamed executive as saying that there was one major scene featuring Hoffman in Part 2 which had not yet been shot, and that filmmakers were confident they could work around it.

"They seem to have plans that don’t seem very complicated" to complete both pictures without Hoffman, the Lionsgate executive said, adding: "You can do digital things, you can have conversations where you're not focusing on him but the people he's talking to."

Rob Legato, a veteran effects supervisor not working on the "Hunger Games" films, told the Hollywood Reporter: "These days the technology of using someone's likeness is a whole lot easier to do."

"I won't say you could generate a Philip Seymour Hoffman with all the acting ability, but you could certainly replicate him for a shot or two," said Legato, who worked on Martin Scorsese's latest movie, "The Wolf of Wall Street."

A spokesman for Lionsgate, based in Santa Monica, California, declined to comment Friday when asked by AFP about the reports.

The "Hunger Games" movies, based on Suzanne Collins' trilogy of novels, star Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen, a teenager forced into a deadly battle for survival in the macabre post-apocalyptic American kingdom of Panem.

The first film was released in 2012, and has earned over $850 million at the box office worldwide, according to Lionsgate.

The second installment, "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" was released in November 2013 and has grossed over $860 million so far, according to Box Office Mojo.

Actors who have died part way through a film production include Heath Ledger, whose role in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" was taken over by three actors -- Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell in dream-world transformations -- after his 2008 death.

River Phoenix died of a drug overdose in 1993, forcing the cancelation of "Dark Blood" -- although the film was eventually given a limited release by director George Sluizer in 2012, without the support of the actor's family.

The latest installment of the blockbuster "Fast and Furious" franchise was put on hold after the death of star Paul Walker in a high-speed car accident north of Los Angeles in November last year.

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Megan Ellison, the 28-year-old daughter of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, has become the first woman producer ever to have two films nominated in the same year for a Best Picture Oscar.

The nominations are for the movies "Her” and “American Hustle".

Only three other producers in history have had two films nominated for Best Picture in the same year: Francis Ford Coppola and Fred Roos (“The Godfather Part II” and “The Conversation” in 1974) and Scott Rudin (“The Social Network” and “True Grit” in 2010).

In addition that that feat, her films have landed a whopping 17 Academy Award nominations, thanks to nominations for those two films and another she backed, "The Grandmaster."

Her father Larry, CEO of the tech firm Oracle, couldn't help but have a "proud dad" moment on stage in Las Vegas Thursday night. He was speaking at an Oracle event when he mentioned Megan's 17 nominations, calling them "the most ever for a producer in history."

The Hollywood press has certainly taken notice. Gabe Toro at Cinema Blend called her the "new super producer" and says her 17 nominations beats the previous "mark of excellence" held by Harvey Weinstein. He had eight nominations for three films in one year. (Weinstein is best known for "Gangs of New York," "Pulp Fiction," and "Shakespeare in Love").

Ellison herself was a little more understated. She sent a single tweet that said this:

This isn't Ellison's first trip to the Oscars, either. In three years, her production company Annapurna Pictures has backed just over a dozen films and landed 35 Oscar nominations, including a best picture nomination last year for  "Zero Dark Thirty," reports Variety's Alexandra Cheney.

“The Master,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “American Hustle,” have collectively grossed over $290 million worldwide at the box office, too, Cheney reports.

Megan's brother David Ellison is also an uber-successful movie producer with his company Skydance Productions. He prefers action to Megan's independent films.

They are working together on another "Terminator" film (though Megan just announced that she's taking a back role to brother David on that, and won't be chipping in as much cash).

David's films include "Star Trek Into Darkness," "World War Z," "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol," "The Guilt Trip," "Jack Reacher," and the newest Tom Clancy movie, "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit."

But, with this year's Oscars, which take place on March 2, it's clearly Megan's year.

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Larry Ellison Warns: Be Careful Of 'Relationships With A Piece Of Software'

SEE ALSO: Billionaire Larry Ellison Has A Brilliant Plan To Make Green Energy Affordable With His Hawaiian Island

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If you have a kid, you're probably taking them to see "The LEGO Movie" this weekend.

That's a good bet since the Warner Bros. film based on the brick toys is expected to have a huge opening.

An overwhelming amount of reviews for the film extremely positive. (It currently stands at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.) Box office estimates are tracking the film to bring in $50 million.* 

We were able to see a screening of the movie last weekend filled with families — probably the best audience with which to gauge the film. The kids loved it, the adults seemed to enjoy it, and we had a blast also. 

The movie comes from Phil Lord and Chris Miller — the minds behind the successful "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and "21 Jump Street" franchises.

"The LEGO Movie" follows Emmet (Chris Pratt) as he tries to stop the evil President Business (Will Ferrell) from destroying the LEGO world with a mysterious weapon named "Kragle." (Spoiler: It's Krazy Glue.)

Warner Bros. is so sure the movie will do well that it already announced plans for a sequel. It's not difficult to see why. This could very well be a lucrative animated franchise for the studio.

Here's why "The LEGO Movie" should crush it this weekend at theaters:

1. Appeals to both boys and girls

While "Frozen" may have sneakily got boys into theater seats with its clever marketing (it's really a girl-power film), "The LEGO Movie" caters to both audiences with a wide range of characters.

Elizabeth Banks offers a strong female lead in the form of tough, no nonsense Wildstyle. Young boys will be taken with the appearance of Batman (Will Arnett) — during a late night appearance earlier this week on David Letterman, Arnett said his kids were already referring to the film as the "Batman: LEGO Movie."

This was probably the smartest move Warner Bros. could ask for given the Caped Crusader's popularity in both video games and Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy.

While Batman's presence is prominent in the film, Chris Pratt ("Parks and Recreation") voices the hero kids will rally behind, Emmet, and Alison Bree ("Community") voices a chipper, upbeat unicorn / cat mix.

2. Not just a kiddie movie

The movie contains a mix of new and classic nostalgic LEGOS for an older audience to appreciate. Moviegoers may recognize space-themed LEGO sets they played with from the late '70s and early '80s on screen. Older viewers will also want to look out for humorous one-liners that will go over kid's heads. Arnett makes a few clever asides as Batman.

However, it's the end of the film that will really resonate with adults, bringing up the question of whether LEGOs are toys or collector's items meant for display. (It's a topic that keen eyes will remember was addressed in "Toy Story 2" and works also in this "toy story.")

Major spoiler: In an unexpected twist, the film removes itself from the animated world to reveal that the entire movie is the construct of a young boy's imagination. He sneaks down into the basement of his house to play with his father's (played by Will Ferrell!) elaborate LEGO collection that is permanently held together by Krazy Glue.MAJOR SPOILER 

3. Smart marketing

Theaters have had giant LEGO replicas of its main characters including the Caped Crusader in movie theaters.

Trailers prominently featured Batman to sell the movie to kids. Warner Bros. also released a clever parody trailer mocking "Man of Steel." Behind-the-scenes teasers had no problem poking fun at the movie itself.

This one from Will Arnett is gold.

Ahead of the movie's release, LEGO familiarized kids with the film's characters by releasing a series of LEGO sets featuring scenes from the film. Separately, the company released 16 minifigures for purchase.

4. Dominance of the LEGO brand

LEGOs have always been a popular toy, not only for the nostalgic factor with parents, but also the educational value in the individual sets.

Since 1997, in addition to selling brick sets, LEGO has put out a successful line of companion video games to popular movie franchises from "Harry Potter" to "Batman" and "Lord of the Rings." The Lego Batman series alone has sold 14.4 million copies as of last year. 

5. Catchy song

It isn't Oscar-nominated "Let It Go" from "Frozen," but kids will definitely walk out of the theater singing "Everything is Awesome."  

The lyrics aren't groundbreaking— Everything is awesome / Everything is cool when you're part of a team / Everything is awesome / When we're living our dream — but they are upbeat, send a positive message that parents will be okay with, and are undeniably infectious.

Parents and older audiences may recognize the simple song from Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island.

Listen to a preview of the song from the opening sequence of the film below. Just seeing the animated world of Legos on screen is, well, awesome.

Update: Fandango announced it anticipates the film to be its second largest advance ticket-seller for animated films behind "Toy Story 3" (2010). That film went on to make $110.3 million opening weekend. "The LEGO Movie" also passed advanced ticket sales for Disney’s “Frozen” and “Monsters University” which made $67.4 million and $82.4 million upon debut respectively. 

While “The LEGO Movie” may not reach those sort of numbers, estimates for the weekend — now hovering above $50 million— could still be well under par.

SEE ALSO: How many LEGOs it took to make the movie

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You probably noticed your friends posts and watched your own Facebook "Look Back" video earlier this week, which highlighted big moments, photos, and posts from users on the social network's 10-year anniversary.

Not surprisingly, parody videos have emerged. The hilarious "honest look back" showed what the videos should look like, but another from comedy duo Derick Watts & The Sunday Blues shows what the video might have looked like for Walter White, the main character in 'Breaking Bad' — one of the best television shows ever made.

Among White's most-liked posts: A photo of the RV he and Jesse cooked meth in with the caption, "Got a sweet new ride! Life is a highway." Another photo of White in his black "Heisenberg" hat comes with the caption, "Bought a hat and sunglasses today! #YOLO." 

For those nostalgic for Breaking Bad, the video is pretty cool. Take a look:

SEE ALSO: The 30 Most Jaw-Droppingly Shocking Moments From Every Season Of 'Breaking Bad'

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