This past weekend saw the opening of Universal Studios’ latest film, Couples Retreat, which quickly took Zombieland‘s place as number one at the box office.Bringing in over $35 million in its first weekend, Couples Retreat not only ousted Zombieland from the number one position, but also took the title of being the highest grossing Columbus Day weekend opener in Hollywood history, a distinction formerly held by Meet the Parents.

The opening success of Couples Retreat comes as a welcome treat for Universal Studios, whose previous two releases, Land of the Lost and Public Enemies met with relatively lukewarm response. Perhaps it was the big name cast featuring Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, and Kristen Bell, or maybe it was the matter of a more grown-up comedy opening in juxtaposition to two children’s films, a horror flick, and a zombie comedy, but whatever it was, it worked for Couples Retreat.

While Zombieland was bumped to number two, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs held steady at number three, and Paranormal Activity jumped up to number five from being twentieth the weekend before, thanks in large part to the expansion of its release. .

Disney’s double feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3D maintained its place at number four, and the studio will soon be announcing whether they’ll be extending the run of the cartoons beyond the originally planned two-weeks.

Gerard Way's creation slides onto the big screen

The next one to come on the slab under comic book adaptations is the Gerard Way written series, The Umbrella Academy. Universal Studios and Dark Horse are teaming up together to adapt the two year old running series, with the likes of Mark Bomback (Race To Witch Mountain, Live Free or Die Hard) penning the film. The story centers around a disbanded group of seven superheroes who reunite after the death of their adoptive father, an alien disguised as a famous entrepreneur, and carry out his plan to save the world.

This film will be the first adaptation to come out of their production pact that Dark Horse and Universal Studios has together for the next three years. The comic book series was created by Gerard Way, better known as the lead singer of band My Chemical Romance. The film is estimated to be released sometime around 2012. Producing it will be Mike Richardson (Hellboy II: The Golden Army) and Scott Stuber (The Wolf Man). No word yet on who will star in it and who is up for grabs on directing.

Bruno is NC-17

Everyone’s man-thong wearing giant, Sacha Baron Cohen, just got a rude awakening for the comedian’s latest film, Bruno. Apparently the MPAA did not find the laughs too appropriate for audiences when they slapped the dreaded NC-17 rating. Racy scenes were reported to seal the deal for the rating, including of one which supposedly shows the actor taking part in anal sex with another male.

Despite the black mark on the film, the twenty minutes of footage shown at the South By Southwest festival had everyone begging for more. With the quickly spreading word of mouth, and with the great legion of fans that fell for Cohen’s antics in his previous film Borat, Universal will be scrambling about to make sure that they can crank down the rating to R.

The upcoming Cohen film follows the journey of a homosexual Austrian man going after his boyfriend who broke up with him after the short adoption of obtaining a third world baby. The film is scheduled for release on July 10th of this year.

Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, and Morgan Freeman, will hit shelves on DVD and Blu-ray next week – Tuesday December 2 to be exact – from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

To gear up for the release, we just received a behind-the-scenes clip off the bonus features featuring Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy that I thought you and your readers would enjoy to get through the holiday weekend.

Searching for the Hero: [youtube]TToWmabd4_0[/youtube]

Angelina Jolie Kicks My Ass: [youtube]KoNiL5viIJA[/youtube]

The 2-disc special edition of Wanted arrives on DVD and Blu-ray 12/2 loaded with tons of bonus features.  Also available will be a Limited Edition Collector’s set that includes a Book of Assassins, Collectible Postcards and Motion Film Cell.

To see all you can get in the collector’s set, check out this video: [youtube]1ALsyMN1lyc[/youtube]

Let me know what you think!