Mark Wahlberg’s in-development unscripted series will be moving forward. Deadline broke the story today that his new show about four working class Boston families that intertwine received a six-episode pickup. Its themes are said to be centered on expectations and second chances. The females from The Fighter were said to be a key inspiration for the program. This is the second major piece of news surrounding a Wahlberg production in the past week. Just a few days ago, we were talking about how he was returning to HBO with a dramedy project that is to star his Pain & Gain cohort Dwayne Johnson.
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The story that was shopped is about athletes living in Miami. This falls right into Johnson’s wheel house as a former college football player for the area, and it should satisfy fans of his role in Pain & Gain. In that particular movie, he played a Jesus fanatic muscle builder who was a cog in Mark Wahlberg’s scheme to steal Tony Shalhoub’s money. Audiences largely considered the character a fan favorite and one of Michael Bay’s best.
Update: It looks like the early response was a bit better than later in the day. Traffic trailed off and now the film is looking at the expected $20 million or possibly even less. Ouch, talk about false hope.
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With The Rock now three-fourths of the way done with his monster February to May stretch, he was yet to fill his time beyond that of Hercules: The Thracian Wars and Fast & Furious 7. That has now changed though as HBO ordered a pilot for a half-hour dramedy that is to star Dwayne Johnson. His Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg is naturally producing as he continues to maintain a close relationship with the premium network’s top execs. Steve Levinson is writing and Battleship’s Peter Berg is directing.
Following in the footsteps of Patrick Dempsey in Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be Kelsey Grammer who was just cast as a villain for the series’ upcoming fourth installment. The actor is coming off a slew of failed television shows and his feature career has been in the crapper, so this is a big deal for him. It is being praised as a turning point as he just joined a new agency after abandoning old management who failed to find him such parts beyond the role of Beast in the original X-Men trilogy. He joins a pic that already stars Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci. Michael Bay is back directing for this project which opens in theaters next summer.
Pain & Gain looks like a strong number one in early returns this afternoon. Hollywood thought the pic would only be good enough for a $20 million battle with Oblivion for the top spot, but now it would appear that Michael Bay’s foray into low-budget comedies is doing a lot better. Many will point the finger at Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg’s involvement, but let’s be honest here and admit Wahlberg and Johnson each lead movies to start the year and while only the former (Broken City) lost money, actors are no longer big enough to bring foot traffic to the cinema as evidenced by Snitch’s $13 million debut in February. Chalk this one up to an engaging story and Michael Bay’s continued ability to produce what moviegoers want to see.
One of the last major releases of the summer will come on the first weekend of August as 2 Guns enters theaters. The action drama with Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg has been riding a low-profile prior to today as not many have been talking about the pic, but judging from all the love Denzel continues to get (especially with his tough-to-market film Flight) this is definitely a project to watch going forward. Its plot has a DEA agent and Naval intelligence officer investigating each other until they find out they have been set up by the mob. 
Not everyone let Seth MacFarlane’s offensive humor roll off their shoulder last night. Apparently the Anti-Defamation League is pissed at the Oscar host for suggesting that Jewish people rule Hollywood in a segment he did with Mark Wahlberg in the form of a CGI teddy bear from the hit movie Ted. The footage follows for those who missed it, but it was along the lines of “I was born Theodore Shapiro and I would like to donate to Israel and continue to work in Hollywood forever.” It is a pretty funny line, but let’s be honest. No Jews work in Hollywood…Hit the jump for the footage and the statement made from the ADL. 
Mark Wahlberg is overseas promoting Broken City right now. The crime thriller pretty much flopped in North America last month, but we will let it slide simply because now the world has this little gem to show for it. Watch as the Ted star opts to dump an audience member again and again on The Graham Norton Show, deciding more or less to abuse his lever-pulling responsibilities. Sarah Silverman and a very quiet Michael Fassbender were also there, making this all the more entertaining.