This is a sad week for the Movie Report [Ed note-and the first!]. Academy Award-winning actor, philanthropist and race car driver Paul Newman passed away on Friday night.  He was 83.

Newman was beloved throughout the world, starring in classic films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Sting, and many, many others.

I saw Butch Cassidy when I was about 8, and fell in love. Newman and Robert Redford made magic on the screen, and for years I called that my favorite movie. Even at a young age, Newman radiated a good-heartedness that is rarely seen on screen (and his eyes! Oh, those beautiful eyes!)

He lived up to his reputation by starting Newman’s Own line of organic foods, all proceeds from which are given to charity.  To date, Newman’s Own has given away over $250 million.

Newman is survived by his wife of over fifty years, Joanne Woodward, five children, two grandsons, and an older brother.  He will be greatly missed.

In box office news, Shia LaBeaouf opened his third consecutive number one flick with espionage thriller Eagle Eye over the weekend.  It was the highest grossing opening since the summer box office madness and the fourth best opening ever in September ($29.2 million).

The heavily marketed Nicholas Sparks adaptation Nights in Rodanthe, starring Diane Lane and Richard Gere, opened at number two.

Last week’s number one, Lakeview Terrace, with Samuel Jackson, fell to number three.

Surprisingly, Fireproof, the Christian-themed Kirk Cameron vehicle (yes, of Growing Pains), came in at number four. (On a side note, that is a truly hilarious title for a Christian prop film. It sounds like a Steven Seagal movie.)

Unsurprisingly for some, disappointingly for others, Spike Lee’s new film about black soldiers in WWII, Miracle at St. Anna, came in a number 9, taking in only $3.5 million. Apparently, the best part of that movie came when Lee and Clint Eastwood decided to have a cat fight in the national media in July. Honestly, I’d be thrilled if Clint Eastwood told me to “shut my face“!

And, finally, it’s rare that Much Ado About Nothing fans get to rev up to the same fuel-injection as Spiderman groupies, but it has been announced that the august Kenneth Branagh (ex-husband to the lovely Emma Thompson, of course, and famous in his own right for pompous Shakesperian forays) will be at the helm of Thor, Marvel Comics next live-action flick. Variety sums it up brilliantly:

“Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s choice of Branagh is surprising, as Branagh hasn’t really directed an action-heavy film since his debut on “Henry V,” a bloody telling of the British king’s conquest of France.”

Indeed.