Captain America

If you're looking for tips on how Chris Evans went from brawny to scrawny in the upcoming movie "Captain America: The First Avenger," you'll need to pull back on the protein shakes and pick up some Photoshop skills -- it took a lot of special effects to make the toned actor look like the skinny military hopeful he's supposed to be at the beginning of the story. "It's pretty amazing," Evans told Reuters . "They took shape out of my jaw line, they shrunk my skeleton and they made my shoulders less broad.

May 4 The Avengers A team of superheroes including Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor unite to save the world. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth. Written and directed by Joss Whedon. In Imax 3-D. WaltDisney Pictures The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel A group of British retirees travel to India to spend their golden years at a newly restored hotel but find the accommodations to be less than palatial. With Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel and Tom Wilkinson.

If you've seen more than one Marvel Entertainment film, survived the standard cameos by Stan Lee and the obligatory appearances by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, you would be more than forgiven for feeling you've seen enough. "Captain America: The First Avenger" is not the film to change your mind, but it does have something the others do not: Chris Evans in the title role. Evans has gone the Marvel route before, playing Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in a pair of "Fantastic Four" movies.

The New York Philharmonic has named a new executive director to tackle huge financial shortfalls at the nation's oldest orchestra. Orchestra officials announced Wednesday that Matthew VanBesien will succeed Zarin Mehta as the Philharmonic's top administrator. Mehta, brother of conductor Zubin Mehta, is retiring. VanBesien, a 42-year-old Missouri native, is currently the managing director of Australia's Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He started his music career as a French horn player for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

"Captain America: The First Avenger," the last of four superhero movies to hit theaters this summer, is hoping its shield will be powerful enough to fend off the all-mighty force that is "Harry Potter. " After "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" grossed more in its worldwide opening last weekend than any film in history, including about $215 million in domestic ticket sales, it's clear that the level of interest in the film is tremendous. But because so many fans rushed out to see the movie immediately, it's unclear just how big the drop-off in receipts will be during its second weekend in release, particularly with the new 3-D entry "Captain America" opening against it. "Captain America," starring Chris Evans as a scrawny guy who is later transformed into a superhero through a secret government program, is expected to collect a similar sum at the box office as "Harry Potter" — about $60 million, putting the two films in a tight race for the weekend's No. 1 spot.

How do you sell a movie called "Captain America" to an overseas market? In South Korea, Russia and Ukraine, apparently, the answer is you don't even try. The film "Captain America: The First Avenger" will have its title truncated to, simply, "The First Avenger" in those three overseas markets, according to Marvel Studios insiders. The choice was made by Marvel, Paramount Pictures' international team and distributors in those three countries based on market research results. Those involved in the decision are being careful to frame the move as a matter of brand management and consumer awareness and not as a decision tilted by cultural or political winds.

Joe Simon, a comic book industry pioneer whose defining career moment came in the dark days of March 1941 when he delivered a star-spangled superhero named Captain America, has died. He was 98. Simon died Wednesday night in New York City after a brief illness, according to a statement from his family, and his death adds a solemn final note to the 70th anniversary of his greatest creation, Captain America, who leaped across the big screen this summer with the Marvel Studios film "Captain America: The First Avenger.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" outmuscled its competition at the box office this weekend, including Harry Potter, and had the most forceful opening of any big-budget superhero movie released this summer. The 3-D film, which stars Chris Evans as a puny military reject transformed into a superhero via a secret government program, grossed a solid $65.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from distributor Paramount Pictures. That was over $10 million more than both "X-Men: First Class" and "Green Lantern" collected upon their debuts in June and just a tad above the $65.7-million opening weekend for "Thor" in May. "Captain America" was also able to take down Warner Bros.' mighty box office wizard.

Few comic book characters are as homespun as Captain America, who uses his superhuman powers to fight the Nazis during World War II while draped in the colors of Old Glory. Yet even Captain America's overtly patriotic credentials weren't enough to keep a film about his exploits from being shot overseas. The upcoming movie from Marvel Studios was originally to be filmed in Los Angeles. Instead, "Captain America: The First Avenger," starring Chris Evans, Samuel Jackson and Hugo Weaving, will shoot this July in London, where the story is partially set. That decision was a blow to L.A.'s below-the-line community, which had been banking on the project to employ hundreds of crew members at a time when relatively few big-budget features are shot locally, thanks to rising competition from other states and countries.

If Captain America is going to be a box-office hero, he'll have to transcend his patriotic namesake. Like most big-budget summer event films, "Captain America: The First Avenger" must rake in a significant amount of money around the world to turn a profit. Financier Marvel Entertainment, owned by Walt Disney Co., and the movie's distributor, Paramount Pictures, collectively have about $300 million in production and advertising costs on the line. But a big screen adaptation of a comic created in 1941 about a sickly young man blocked from enlisting in the U.S. Army during World War II who takes an experimental serum and is turned into a super soldier is not an obvious sell to foreign ticket buyers.

Joe Simon, a comic book industry pioneer whose defining career moment came in the dark days of March 1941 when he delivered a star-spangled superhero named Captain America, has died. He was 98. Simon died Wednesday night in New York City after a brief illness, according to a statement from his family, and his death adds a solemn final note to the 70th anniversary of his greatest creation, Captain America, who leaped across the big screen this summer with the Marvel Studios film "Captain America: The First Avenger.

UNDERRATED The Stone Roses reunion: Another day, another band from the past taking a late run at a comeback with motivation that sits somewhere between "unfinished business" and "strictly business. " Still, something genuinely special could happen with this Mancunian bunch, whose generation-defining first album helped launch the dance-crazed "Madchester" era. Never given a proper shot at stardom in the States, let's hope these Roses return in full bloom. '50/50': Can a movie about a 27-year-old's cancer diagnosis be a feel-good picture?

Millions of us will gather in just a few days to observe a ritual that some have been anticipating all year. We'll spend our savings, experience a sugar rush and garb ourselves in garments inspired by our favorite characters. We'll dress up like Angry Birds or march around in tracksuits in an attempt to channel Sue Sylvester or we'll don a winged helmet à la Captain America. We are, of course, talking about Halloween, a holiday that will be celebrated by more than 160 million Americans, according to the National Retail Federation, which also predicts that we'll spend almost $7 billion on merchandise, $1.2 billion of that for costumes.

Captain America: The First Avenger Paramount, $29.99; Blu-ray, $42.99/$54.99 After the disappointing comic book films "Green Lantern" and "Thor," it's refreshing to see a superhero movie as enjoyably can-do as "Captain America: The First Avenger. " Chris Evans plays the iconic patriot, a former weakling named Steve Rogers who undergoes a "super soldier" treatment and then is set loose to fight the Nazis' own powerhouse, Red Skull (Hugo Weaving). Director Joe Johnston, who made the similarly appealing "The Rocketeer," doesn't try anything too psychologically deep, postmodern, mythopoetic or tongue-in-cheek here.

The moody legal thriller "Puncture" stars Chris Evans ("Captain America: The First Avenger") as scrappy Houston lawyer Mike Weiss, a guy with a sharp mind, persuasive patter and reckless addiction to coke and prostitutes. But before we're introduced to Weiss as a tattooed motel denizen who likes to practice his trial arguments shirtless, high and surrounded by sketchy types, directors Adam & Mark Kassen offer up a brief prologue with an equally ominous needle scenario: a young ER nurse (Vinessa Shaw)

The story of the Chilean miners who were trapped underground for more than two months is on its way to the big screen. The 33 miners have sold the rights to their story to producer Mike Medavoy, the producer and the miners' representatives announced Monday. The planned film will recount the remarkable plight of the miners who were trapped for 69 days after the San Jose mine they were working in collapsed near Copiapo, Chile. "Motorcycle Diaries" screenwriter Jose Rivera is set to write the script.

FORGET THE endless congressional debates about Iraq. The most telling measure of America's current distemper can be found in a more mundane place -- in the gory assassination of Captain America in issue No. 25, which hit the stands Wednesday.

Mickey Mouse is bringing in some muscle. Significantly beefing up its stable of characters, Walt Disney Co. announced Monday that it had reached a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment Inc., the comic book company whose superheroes have become Hollywood blockbusters, for $4 billion in cash and stock. The acquisition hands Disney a treasure trove of pop culture figures, including Spider-Man, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Captain America, Thor and the Fantastic Four, among a roster of 5,000 that it hopes will inspire countless movies, television shows and video games.

"Captain America: The First Avenger" outmuscled its competition at the box office this weekend, including Harry Potter, and had the most forceful opening of any big-budget superhero movie released this summer. The 3-D film, which stars Chris Evans as a puny military reject transformed into a superhero via a secret government program, grossed a solid $65.8 million in the U.S. and Canada, according to an estimate from distributor Paramount Pictures. That was over $10 million more than both "X-Men: First Class" and "Green Lantern" collected upon their debuts in June and just a tad above the $65.7-million opening weekend for "Thor" in May. "Captain America" was also able to take down Warner Bros.' mighty box office wizard.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Friday. Justin Timberlake stripped down for his role in the film "Friends With Benefits" opening Friday, but at Comic-Con he says he is "afraid" of wearing tights -- for superhero roles, that is. ( Hero Complex ) The reviews are in: Chris Evans swoops in to save "Captain America: The First Avenger," making the film more than just your typical superhero movie. ( Los Angeles Times ) "Captain America" could stupefy "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" at the weekend box office, with Timberlake and Mila Kunis' "Friends With Benefits" expected to lock in the third spot with moviegoers.