Hugh Jackman (Australia, Wolverine) has been tapped to host the Academy Awards this year! It’s a big change from the comedians who have hosted in the past, but Jackman has experience as an emcee, hosting the Tonys for three (very popular) years.  Expect some singin’ and dancin’, but the opening monologue will likely be cut (don’t cry!). As a commenter on The Carpetbagger wrote:

All Hugh Jackman has to do—anywhere at all—is stand there and look delectable and smile (he has a brilliant smile). My God, what a gorgeous man. Double-dipped eye candy. Mmmmmmmm

My thoughts exactly.

In box office news, The Day the Earth Stood Still blew away the competition, bringing in $31 mil over the weekend. Runner-up Four Christmases came away with a third of that. ($13 mil). A familiar trio rounded out the top five: Bolt, Twilight, and Australia, with $8, $7.5, and $4 mil, respectively.

The weekend was down 50 percent from last year. The problem is that the newest releases just aren’t performing. Australia was a disappointment. Punisher 2 was barely a blip on the box office radar. Nothing Like the Holidays (which I couldn’t place at first, but is the cute-looking Debra Messing/John Leguiszamo xmas comedy) came in seventh in its opening weekend. The animated Delgo (heard of it?) made a small history this weekend, as the least-grossing film to ever open on over 2,000 screens. Congratulations?

That said, there are a lot of limited releases out now which might be making an appearance at that Jackman event in February. Milk, Frost/Nixon, Doubt, and Gran Torino are all performing well.

Speaking of Jackman, the Wolverine trailer just launched on MySpace. Take a peek: