Get Smart Movie

Would you believe . . . $39.2 million? The old espionage spoof trick worked to push Steve Carell's "Get Smart," the big screen update of the 1960s spy sitcom, to the top of the box office over the weekend. Although reviews were mixed, the Warner Bros. movie surpassed high expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday. Audiences were less taken with "The Love Guru," the first live-action movie starring Mike Myers in four years.

Would you believe . . . $39.2 million? The old espionage spoof trick worked to push Steve Carell's "Get Smart," the big screen update of the 1960s spy sitcom, to the top of the box office over the weekend. Although reviews were mixed, the Warner Bros. movie surpassed high expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday. Audiences were less taken with "The Love Guru," the first live-action movie starring Mike Myers in four years.

Steve CARELL is sipping coffee as he waits for a director to arrive so they can discuss a possible collaboration to follow "Get Smart," his big-screen star vehicle, which opens June 20. Carell's office du jour serves hash browns and scrambled eggs, and it's even more humble, if that's possible, than the fluorescent box he inhabits as the goofy boss of the NBC hitcom "The Office."

In PLAYING the Chief, head of the super-secret spy agency CONTROL in the new movie version of the classic spoof TV show "Get Smart," Alan Arkin naturally endures his share of exasperation with the disaster-prone newbie Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) under his wing. But he also gets his own comically tinged heroic moments, from flying a plane to the rescue to -- his personal favorite -- righteously decking an officious civil servant. "I must say, there's a particular satisfaction in beating up somebody in the government," Arkin says.

In PLAYING the Chief, head of the super-secret spy agency CONTROL in the new movie version of the classic spoof TV show "Get Smart," Alan Arkin naturally endures his share of exasperation with the disaster-prone newbie Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) under his wing. But he also gets his own comically tinged heroic moments, from flying a plane to the rescue to -- his personal favorite -- righteously decking an officious civil servant. "I must say, there's a particular satisfaction in beating up somebody in the government," Arkin says.

The 2007 summer movie season may have just come to an end, but Hollywood already is intensely focused on the holiday seasons looming far in the distance. The third "Narnia" film, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," has been set for May 7, 2010 -- although not a foot of film has been shot. DreamWorks and Paramount, meanwhile, announced that they have penciled in June 26, 2009, for their "Transformers 2" -- even though there's no finished script or production start date.

Steve CARELL is sipping coffee as he waits for a director to arrive so they can discuss a possible collaboration to follow "Get Smart," his big-screen star vehicle, which opens June 20. Carell's office du jour serves hash browns and scrambled eggs, and it's even more humble, if that's possible, than the fluorescent box he inhabits as the goofy boss of the NBC hitcom "The Office."