As I mention every chance I get, we at Cinematical looooove Steve Conrad's scrappy little comedy The Promotion. And now we have the official poster (courtesy of those folks over at The Weinstein Co.), which contains the words that are music to our ears: "Coming This June." Of course it's a Weinstein Co. special, so you never know, but this is certainly a good sign. The film recently had a promo screening here in Philadelphia (probably another good sign), and I convinced a few prominent local critics to attend. That means that if they didn't like it, they probably now hate me. But so be it.

According to the Weinstein Co. website, The Promotion -- which remains my favorite film of the year -- has an official release date of June 6th. And if you promise to go see it, I promise I'll shut up about it for a while.

Depending on which source you believe -- there's about a ten-thousand dollar difference -- Grindhouse is either holding onto the tenth spot for the weekend or it has slipped into eleventh place, behind Wild Hogs. With Friday estimates included, the film's total cume is $16.7 million; that gives it a second-weekend drop of 74%, which is just terrible any way you slice it. The per-screen average for the film is $494, which as Deadline Hollywood points out, means its "playing in near-empty theaters." If these numbers hold for Saturday, then more Americans will have turned out this weekend to see Redline, which is a movie I never gave a moment's thought to until I had to edit a review that someone did for this website yesterday, than Grindhouse, which arrived in theaters with major advertising campaign fully supported by the national media and all of the fanboy-support that the online community can muster. Wow.

I don't expect the failure of Grindhouse to have any effect on Robert Rodriguez's career, frankly. He is currently prepping Sin City 2, which is a film that will undoubtedly do big business and be well-received and erase memories of Grindhouse, but I wonder how the failure will affect Quentin Tarantino. Are the Weinsteins going to gamble on fronting his war movie, Inglorious Bastards, or are they going to gently push him towards a less expensive-sounding endeavor? Will they chalk this whole thing up to the bad taste of the American public and continue to support their signature star, much the way Warner Bros. supported Stanley Kubrick all those years? I certainly hope so.

In an attempt to grab a taste of every niche market out there, the Weinstein boys are looking to go where no Jew has gone before -- their forming a faith-based distribution label, and have partnered with Christian shingle Impact Entertainment on a first-look production deal. Yes folks, the Weinstens are on a quest to find Jesus in hopes the man will bring them lots and lots of money. Is it just me, or is this whole deal just a tiny bit odd? Then again, the Weinsteins are businessmen, and if there's a hungry audience out there, you bet they're going after them -- regardless of whether or not they celebrate Chanukah.

In a deal that's similar to the one they forged with Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson (oh yes, the boys have officially gone urban as well), The Weinstein Co. will finance, co-produce and distribute approximately six theatrical titles per year, as well as a number of straight-to-DVD releases through their homevid label Genius Products. Oh, but they're not the first giants to jump into the holy water-filled pool, Fox has already announced their own faith-based division, FoxFaith, in which the studio will help distribute (but not produce) 12 films per year.

The first two theatrical gigs for TWC will be adaptations of The Penny, by Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford, and The Christmas Candle, by Max Lucado. Says Bob Weinstein about the deal, "This is a rapidly emerging and important area in the entertainment industry, and this deal fits perfectly into our strategy of acquiring and producing films that target niche audiences." I have no problem with that, so long as they eventually throw us Jews a bone too. Oh wait, perhaps that's asking a bit too much from a couple of boys named Weinstein. Oh well.

Okay, so here's a film that should strike a chord with anyone who's ever dated a cheater, a player, a pimp or, well ... you get the idea. The Weinstein Co. has snatched up the spec script Muskrat Love as a potential directing vehicle for Andy Fickman (She's the Man). Launchpad Prods. and Underground Entertainment will help produce.

Written by Martin Sweeney, story follows an egotistical hot shot who is injected with monogamy serum by the best friend of a girl he recently shoved to the curb. Assuming they snag a dynamite actor for the lead role (I know he's in everything, but I could see Vince Vaughn tapping into his excellent Swingers performance and doing a fabulous job ... baby), then Muskrat Love could end up as a spicier (and perhaps a bit edgier) version of Liar Liar. If that's the case, then I'm definitely there.

According to Variety, there are several new projects in the works from the Weinstein Co.:

• The Weinstein boys are in talks with Lasse Hallström (who helmed The Shipping News and Chocolat) to direct Rain in Spain, which may star the enchanting Penelope Cruz.
• Danny Boyle, director of Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, is being brought on to direct Solomon Grundy, based on a Dan Gooch book which is described as a literary fantasy novel based on the classic poem. The book has been adapted for the screen by Robert Nelson Jacobs, who is also working on the Marvel Comics adaptation of Werewolf By Night.
• Shooting will commence this spring on an as yet unnamed musical from Rob Marshall, who brought Chicago to the big screen and Annie to the small.
• As previously reported, The Great Debaters will be directed by Denzel Washington. The IMDB describes the story as, "A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship."
• Commencing shooting next spring in South Africa will be The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency from Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain and The Talented Mr. Ripley). Based on the novel by Alexander McCall Smith, this is the tale of the first female detective in Botswana.
• And it seems that the modern superhero film has been around long enough to warrant its own parody (My Super Ex-Girlfriend doesn't count as it was a comedy, but not a parody). No real details available, but the title will be Superhero!

[via Coming Soon]

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• After already lending their voices to the animated short film Igor: Unholy Frijoles, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater and John Cleese have signed on to reprise their roles for the feature film based on the same character. This past winter, The Weinstein Co. picked up all North American distribution rights for the animated film which follows the hunchbacked lab assistant of a mad scientist who dreams of winning the Evil Scientist Fair. Slater will, once again, voice the lead role of Igor, with Buscemi playing an intelligent, sarcastic lab rabbit and Cleese taking on Igor's evil master.
• New Line is attempting to pump some life back into its remake of the classic 1940 comedy, I Love You Again. The original, which starred Myrna Loy and William Powell, tells the story of a business man who, after building a nice life for himself, realizes he's been suffering from amnesia for the past seven years and used to be a con man. Studio has now tapped the writing team of Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir to pen the script, after striking a deal for the remake back in 2004 and assigning it to scribe Andrew Bergman. With Adam Sandler's Happy Madison involved, unfortunately, I'd look for Rob Schneider's name to pop up soon.
• The always reliable, yet often spooky John Malkovich will star alongside Jeremy Sisto in Gardens of the Night, to be directed by Damian Harris. Pic will delve deep into the world of child abduction following an 8-year-old boy and girl who are taken from their homes and told their families do not want them anymore. After being held hostage for nine years, the two are suddenly set free and must find a way to survive on the streets. Production will begin next month in San Diego and Los Angeles.