British screenwriter Simon Monjack was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Sunday. Monjack was the husband of the late Brittany Murphy.
Although foul play was the conclusion by many, police refuted it and said that they had found no evidence of criminal activity or any foul play. According to Sgt. Louie Lozano, a police spokesman, the screenwriter’s death has been attributed to natural causes. The Los Angeles Coroner’s Office will now take over the investigation as criminal activity as a cause, has been eliminated.

At approximately 9.40 PM on Sunday night, firefighters had rushed to Monjack’s home in Hollywood Hill in response to an emergency call. The call had been made by a woman who is as yet unidentified. Murphy and Monjack did share their home with the Actress’s mother Sharon, but it has not been confirmed yet whether she was indeed the person on the phone.

It was only five months ago when Brittany Murphy was found dead in the same home. A visibly shaken and emotional Monjack spoke at his late wife’s funeral, extolling her virtues and calling her his soul mate and best friend. Murphy’s death was also cleared of foul play at the time, and the coroner’s office declared the death “accidental, but preventable”.

Contrary to speculation, the actress was not loaded with drugs nor did it find any evidence of drug abuse. The autopsy revealed that the she was under medication for a respiratory illness. Both her husband and mother said that she had been ill with flulike symptoms in the days leading up to her death.

The Vampire mania that is sweeping Hollywood seems to have no end in sight. “Twilight” and “New Moon” had boyfriends and husbands alike groaning, moaning and dreading a slew of copycats. But the newest offering from Lucas Foster and Warp Films tries to set things back to the way things were.
The movie is adapted from the book “Blood Oath” by Christopher Farnsworth, which hits stores this week. The plot centers around a vampire named Nathaniel Cade who is captured by the U.S. Army after the end of the civil war. Cade is then made to swear an oath to President Andrew Johnson to protect the Presidency, a task which he has carried out till the present day. His new challenge comes in the form of a biological weapon that somehow has links to the White House.

Foster, the producer responsible for thrillers like “Law Abiding Citizen” and “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, is very excited by the potential of the story and has great expectations for its success when it comes out in 2011. He is so excited that he has already purchased the movie rights to the unwritten sequel of the book. His decision may be justified as the book has received rave reviews so far. Foster also claims that the book has an excellent mixture of action and different supernatural creatures which keep it lively and exciting. He credits the author with pulling off an excellent job in creating a new vampire saga. Farnsworth has been brought in to help the screenwriters in their work and will receive executive producer credits in the movie.

The summer movie season is expected to kickoff with a bang as Iron Man 2 hits U.S. and Canadian screens this week. The good news for the producers has already started flowing in. The movie has already achieved excellent box office with its advanced overseas release.

The United Kingdom led the way with $12.2 million, followed closely behind by South Korea with $10.8 Million. Overall the movie has grossed over $100 million in its opening weekend overseas. Compare this to 2008′s Iron Man which made $585 million worldwide and you can see why the producers are smiling from ear to ear. The sequel to the 2008 superhero movie is expected to gross over $120 million when it debuts in North America.

This is especially good news for Walt Disney who purchased Marvel last year for a reported $4 billion. The film once again will feature Robert Downing Jr. in his armored suit fighting villains, making snappy comments and generally making the world a safer place. Iron Man 2 will be distributed by Paramount Pictures, which is owned by Viacom Inc., due to a deal that was struck before the Disney acquisition of Marvel.

Iron Man 2 is expected to unseat the current box office leader, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, which is a remake of the classic horror series. “Nightmare” has so far grossed $32 million, ensuring that the $30 million spent on producing the movie is recovered. It also holds the record for the best opening of any horror film in the April-May period.

The Oscar winning war drama “Hurt Locker” is going to war against piracy. The producers of the movie are taking action against thousands of users who took part in actively pirating the movie. The movie’s fancier, Voltage Pictures, has signed up with a group that is actively pursuing a case that targets peer-to-peer BitTorrent users.

The U.S. Copyright Group, which is based in Washington D.C., has already started the ball rolling with regards to several other movies. However, “Hurt Locker” is the only high profile movie on the list. “Call of the Wild 3D” “Far Cry” by German filmmaker Uwe Boll and “Uncross the Stars” are some of the others on the list. So far the group was not taken very seriously by many due to the low profiles of the ten movies that were on the list before “Hurt Locker”. The addition of the Oscar winner has sent ripples through the piracy circles and arrests are one of the options that could be pursued, following a favorable result in the lawsuit.

When the lawsuit is filed, the ISP’s will be subpoenaed for records. These records will then attempt to match IP addresses with unlawful activities on the BitTorrent network. So far the ISP’s have not co-operated fully in handing out the records, but this is mostly because it involves a lot of work for them to do so. The U.S. Copyright Group sends a settlement offer to individuals who are identified. From previous cases, they have a 40% success rate on the offers. Those who did not respond have been sent new offers. The Group said that if they fail to respond to that, lawsuits and arrests will follow. The same procedure is expected to be enacted for the “Hurt Locker” pirates as well.