The Next Three Days

We all saw this one coming, but Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I tore up the box office in its debut weekend, taking in a staggering $125.1 million. Those numbers earned the film the sixth-highest opening weekend of all time, and was the best debut for the franchise to date. Last week's champ, Megamind, settled for a distant second place with $16.1 million.

Unstoppable took third with $13.1 million, followed by Due Date with $9.1 million. Rounding out the top five was newbie The Next Three Days, which clocked in at $6.7 million. With a holiday weekend on the horizon, I'm expecting Potter to add to its impressive tally — what will you be seeing over the Thanksgiving break?

It's going to be a big weekend at the movies! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I is taking over theaters (one guess as to who will be No. 1 at the box office), but for those filmgoers looking for an alternate option, The Next Three Days debuts as well. Click below to hear our thoughts on the two new releases.

In The Next Three Days, Russell Crowe's character, a professor at a local community college, discusses the use of logic in Don Quixote with his students. Is lack of logic actually better than logic itself? The film sure thinks so, as it weaves together an intricate plot that sinks deeper and deeper into the absurd as it drags on. There's entertainment value along the way, but the more implausible the story gets, the more it loses its audience.

Based on a French thriller, the film follows John Brennan (Crowe), the perfect husband to his wife Lara (Elizabeth Banks), and father to their little boy. John and Lara are the ideal couple, so in love with each other that they still find time to sneak in sex in the car after dinner dates. Then one morning, the police rush into their house to arrest Lara for murder, and their happy life comes crashing down. For more on the film, read more

You don't exactly expect the Feds to bust in on your idyllic family breakfast to arrest your wife for murder, but that's exactly what happens to Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days, a thriller from Crash director Paul Haggis. Elizabeth Banks plays his presumed-innocent wife, Laura, in this remake of French film Pour Elle.

When Crowe's character can't use the legal system to get Laura out of prison, he goes rogue to break her out, employing an ex-con who's done it before (Liam Neeson) to help him. Crowe and Banks make an interesting married couple, and the intense, action-driven drama is definitely Crowe's forte, so my interest is piqued. Watch the trailer and try not to squirm at that harrowing final image when you read more

• DJ AM's reality show, Gone Too Far, will air on Oct. 12 — Vulture
• Californication has been renewed for a fourth season — The Hollywood Reporter
• Liam Neeson will join Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks in The Next Three Days — Cinematical
• Check out Vampire Weekend's new song and upcoming tour dates — Pitchfork
• Take a sneak peek at this week's episode of Glee — Pop Watch
• Get the look: An Education's fab frocks — CasaSugar
• James Franco is calling his upcoming appearance on General Hospital "performance art." — MTV Movies Blog
• Relationship advice from the cast of Couples Retreat — Rotten Tomatoes

• Which of the latest New Moon posters is the hottest? — PopSugar
• Michelle Obama heads to Sesame Street — The Wrap
• 5 reasons to keep watching The Hills — TV.com
• Olivia Wilde and Jonathan Tucker have joined the Russell Crowe thriller The Next Three Days — Coming Soon
• Thom Yorke's putting together a brand new band during his hiatus from Radiohead — Stereogum
• Go behind the scenes of Where The Wild Things Are — Cinematical
• Going forward, TLC is dropping Jon's name, calling the reality show Kate Plus Eight — LilSugar
• Survivor creator Mark Burnett gets real for a new CBS drama — TV Squad

Have you seen the French thriller Pour elle? I haven't, but now I'd like to before the English-language remake comes to theaters, courtesy of Paul Haggis (writer/director of Crash). The remake, titled The Next Three Days, had already nabbed Russell Crowe for the male lead and now it looks like Elizabeth Banks will play his wife.

The plot description for Pour elle reads: "Lisa and Julien are married and lead a happy uneventful life with their son Oscar. But their life radically changes one morning, when the police comes to arrest Lisa on murder charges. She's sentenced to 20 years of prison. Convinced of his wife's innocence, Julien decides to act. How far will he be willing to go for her?" Diane Kruger, currently starring in Inglourious Basterds, plays the wife in the French version.

I find Banks so funny and refreshing in her comedic roles, but she's been going kind of dramatic on us recently, playing a scary stepmother in The Uninvited and portraying Laura Bush in W. Do you like seeing her in more dramatic roles? To check out a French trailer for the original movie Pour elle, read more

• Amy Poehler will anchor a couple of episodes of Saturday Night Live: Weekend Update Thursday to promote Parks and Recreation. — Entertainment Weekly
• Matthew McConaughey and Eva Mendes are in talks to star in the drama Southbound. — ComingSoon
• Russell Crowe will star in The Next Three Days, the adaptation of the 2008 French film Pour Elle, for Crash director Paul Haggis. — Variety
• Jamie Foxx, Queen Latifah, and Carter Jenkins have joined the all-star cast of Garry Marshall's romantic comedy Valentine's Day. — The Hollywood Reporter
• House executive producer David Shore is working on a remake of The Rockford Files for NBC. — Variety
• Ridley Scott is reportedly confirmed to direct the Alien prequel. — Entertainment Weekly
• Kimberly Peirce, the award-winning filmmaker behind Boys Don't Cry, is working with Judd Apatow on an "untitled romantic sex comedy." — ComingSoon
• Christopher Gorham will join Piper Perabo in USA's Covert Affairs, while Donal Logue will star in FX's Terriers. — The Hollywood Reporter
• Ron Howard is in talks to direct The Parsifal Mosaic, an adaptation of the espionage thriller by The Bourne Identity author Robert Ludlum. — Variety