21 DVD Tops DVD rentals and sales

According to PhillyBurbs.com,

An intriguing chiller ("The Last Winter") and a gambling thriller ("21") are among the new releases at DVD outlets on this last weekend of July.

The top DVD rental and sales offerings are:

Best Renters

1. "21" (PG-13); Grade: B-; with Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey in a fact-based thriller about some brilliant MIT students who become expert card counters and take the casinos for a small fortune.

Best Sellers

1. "21" (PG-13); Grade: B-; $28.99, DVD; $38.99, Blu-ray Disc

Read a full list of top DVD rental and sales from the article here.

On DVD Today: 21

The spring hit movie, 21 which stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Kevin Spacey is out on DVD and Blu-ray today!

Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth as math geniuses who make a killing at Vegas' blackjack tables, Sony's "21" bumped off "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends.

21, released in theaters last March 28, was #1 with a $23.7 million box-office gross on its weekend opening debut and spent 2 weeks at #1. On its 2nd weekend at #1, 21 grossed with $15.1 million. Also, 21 has grabbed the number one spot in UK and Ireland, with £1.6 million in ticket receipts after its first three days on release.


Furthermore, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, 21 grossed over $81 million domestically (U.S.), $76.7 million internationally (Foreign) and over $155.7 million total gross worldwide.

Total Lifetime Grosses

Domestic:	$81,159,365	51.4%
+ Foreign:	$76,767,975	48.6%
= Worldwide:	$157,927,340

See previous post here for further details on 21's DVD features including all 3 cover arts for all 3 different DVD editions of 21. Also check out more 21 for previous news articles, trailer clips, movie clips, and movie stills.

Order your copy now of the 21 movie at Amazon.com:
Single-Disc Edition | 2-Disc Edition | Blu-Ray Edition


21 Available on DVD and Blu-Ray TODAY! Get your copy and own it today!

L&K NewsBits

The Dark Knight sets new Box-Office Record!

In case you haven't heard – or witnessed at any cineplex this weekend – The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's dark sequel about the Caped Crusader, took in $158.3 million since Friday.

Read full article:
Dark Knight Shatters Hollywood Record: $158.3 Million (People.com)


Read more from the following links below:

`Dark Knight' sets weekend record with $155.34M
'Dark Knight' sets box office record with $66.4M
Midnight stampede to 'The Dark Knight' sets record

DVD Reminder: 21 DVD/Blu-Ray Released Tomorrow!

Tomorrow (July 22nd) is the DVD released day for 21. The film will be released in a single-disc version, two-disc version and Blu-Ray version. 21 stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Kevin Spacey.

Be sure to either rent or get your copy of this movie tomorrow esp. if you haven't seen it or missed it when it was viewing on its theater run earlier this Spring.

TV Reminder: Watch Brandon Routh on NBC's Fear Itself Thursday Night!

Brandon Routh's episode, "Community" of Fear Itself will air on Thursday, July 24th at 10 PM on NBC.

Smallville Season 8 Premiere Date: September 18th!

According to Kryptonsite, The CW has confirmed the new Season 8 premiere date for Smallville will be begin on September 18th! So, mark your calendar and save this date!


Speaking of Smallville...

Smallville Season 7 DVD Release Date on September 9th!


"Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season" DVD box set and Blu-ray Disc collections will be released on September 9th in the U.S. Read more details on SV's S7 DVD here.

You can start to pre-order your copy at Amazon.com.

Pre-Order your copy here!



Also...

Desperate Housewives' Season 4 DVD Release on September 2nd!

As previously posted here, Desperate Housewives's Sizzling Secrets Edition (Season 4) DVD will be released on September 2, 2008. (See the sizzling hot DVD cover art for DH to your right --->)

Just before the end of September, Teri Hatcher, Dana Delany, and the rest of the Housewives will be desperate again on Sunday, September 28, 2008 as Season 5 will premiere on that date.



Teen Choice Awards Voting Reminder!

Keep VOTING! (at least once daily) for the following:


21 Nominations:

Choice Movie: Drama - 21
Choice Movie Actress: Drama - Kate Bosworth
Choice Movie: Breakout Male - Jim Sturgess, 21; Across the Universe


Smallville Nominations:

Choice TV Show: Action Adventure
Choice TV Actor: Action Adventure - Tom Welling
Choice TV Actress: Action Adventure - Kristin Kreuk
Choice TV: Villain: Michael Rosenbaum


In addition, but outside Smallville noms, Teri Hatcher's own TV show, Desperate Housewives was nominated for ChoiceTV Show: Comedy.

Winners will be announced Monday, Aug. 4 on FOX. If you are a fan from ages 13-19 (or over 21 and up) you can vote for Kate Bosworth and 21, Tom Welling and Smallville (among other favorites), and Desperate Housewives on TeenChoiceAwards.com.

Kate Bosworth and 21 scored 3 Teen Choice Awards Nominations

Kate Bosworth and her hit movie 21 snagged 3 Teen Choice Awards Nominations when the nominations were announced yesterday.

21 Nominations:

Choice Movie: Drama - 21
Choice Movie Actress: Drama - Kate Bosworth
Choice Movie: Breakout Male - Jim Sturgess, 21; Across the Universe

Outside 21, but somewhat SR related...Kate's SR co-star James Marsden and his 2 romantic comedy films, 27 dresses (2) and Enchanted (4) scored 6 nominations combine (including Choice Movie: Chick Flick for both films) and got him nomination for Choice Movie Actor: Comedy for both 27 Dresses and Enchanted, while his Enchanted co-stars Amy Adams got the Choice Movie Actress: Comedy and Susan Sarandon with the Choice Movie: Villain nominations.

Read full list of nominations here.

Voting is now open at the awards site, and you have to be between 13 and 19 (or make up a birthday) to participate. Winners for the 10th Annual Teen Choice Awards will be announced Monday, Aug. 4 on FOX.

'21' DVD Cover Art Revealed

DVD Active has the following dvd cover art of Kate Bosworth's '21' movie (1-disc and 2-disc special editions; blu-ray disc) and further details of the dvd.


Title: 21 (IMDb)
Starring: Jim Sturgess
Released: 22nd July 2008
SRP: Prices TBC

Check out all 3 cover arts for all 3 different DVD editions of 21 below:

[Click each image to enlarge!]

Further Details:
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced 1-disc and 2-disc special editions of 21 which stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, and Kevin Spacey. The Robert Luketic directed film will be available to own from the 22nd July. Each will carry an anamorphic widescreen presentation and English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. No extra material will be included on the 1-disc. The 2-disc will include a filmmaker commentary, and 3 featuretes (21: The Advantage Player featuring the cast of "21", Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal, Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life). A Blu-ray release will also be available with an additional "21" Virtual Blackjack Game.


Pre-order your copy now of the 21 movie at Amazon.com:
Single-Disc Edition | 2-Disc Edition | Blu-Ray Edition

21 Coming to DVD and Blu Ray July 22nd!

According to MovieWeb, 21 is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray on July 22. The film will be released in a single-disc version, two-disc version and Blu-Ray version, although cover art and pricing details have not been released yet. The film stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne.


Special Features
(Two-disc and Blu-Ray only)
- 21: The Advantage Player featuring the cast of 21
- Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal
- Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life
- Filmmakers Commentary
- 21 Virtual Blackjack Game (Blu-Ray only)

21 Debuts At The Top Of The UK's Box Office

From In The News/UK:


Gambling film 21 has had a lucky stint at the blackjack table after debuting at the top of the UK box office charts.


Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and British actor Jim Sturgess, 21 tells of an MIT maths whiz recruited to crack the shady world of Las Vegas blackjack.


Having spent two weeks atop the US box office charts, the Robert Luketic film - based on a true story - has grabbed the number one spot in UK and Ireland, with £1.6 million in ticket receipts after its first three days on release.


The top ten films at the UK box office are: (last week's position)

1 21 - £1,648,518 (-)
2 Son of Rambow - £749,152 (2)
3 27 Dresses - £688,130 (1)
4 The Spiderwick Chronicles - £676,278 (5)
5 Step Up 2 the Streets - £661,677 (3)
6 Leatherheads - £474,419 (-)
7 Horton Hears a Who! - £431,387 (6)
8 Never Back Down - £417,608 (4)
9 Shine A Light - £337,804 (-)
10 Pathology - £313,648 (-)

Read more here.

Filmbox.com Interview With Kate Bosworth

An interesting Kate Bosworth interview from Filmbox.com:

Read parts of her interview from filmbox.com below:


Filmbox.com: Who first approached you about 21?

Kate Bosworth: It was Kevin (Spacey). I had just finished a beautiful little film with Sigourney Weaver and directed by David Auburn called, “The Girl In The Park.” I was actually in the midst of planning a road trip across America when I received a call from Kevin saying, ‘come play with us in Vegas!’ How do you resist that? (laughs). I read the script and it was great- other than my female part. She was, at that point, pretty two-dimensional. She was the “hot fantasy girl.” And that’s it. The executives at Sony were great. They were very aware of that issue, and fortunately for me, were subsequently incredibly open to collaborate to create a more realistic female character- one with her own inner struggles and complications to overcome.

Filmbox.com: Do you have a certain mindset when you’re so far away from home?

Kate Bosworth: Well, it’s a double edged sword, really. On one hand, I miss my friends and family back home. On the flip side, I love getting lost in a character, in the world she lives in. I enjoy bonding with cast and crew, all of us become like a little family away from home. I loved being so far away while filming Superman Returns, for example. It was such a gigantic film and to be in Australia was wonderful; we all felt like we were far away in our own little bubble. The experience would not have been the same if it had been shot in Los Angeles. I love Aussies. They don’t care how famous you are, they care more about who you are as a person. They are incredibly down to earth. Filming Superman in Sydney kept the whole experience grounded. I attribute that to the Australian crew and to Bryan Singer (director) for creating a safe, playful atmosphere. On quite a gigantic film, the energy felt more like that of an independent. Bryan is so detailed. He will see an extra in the background and ask why she isn’t carrying a bag. He is meticulous; a perfectionist.

Filmbox.com: It’s the third time you’ve worked with Kevin….

Kate Bosworth: We have worked together three times, and they have been three very different films! From singers and movie stars (Beyond the Sea), to comic book characters (Superman Returns), to genius card counters (21). That’s the fun of making films… to be able to play. It’s an added benefit when we get the chance to play with people we know and love. We have had such a laugh together. Kevin is a true professional, but he doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously. He’s one of those highly intelligent, witty people who clearly love to make other people laugh. He’s especially funny when you get him going after a couple of cocktails. I just adore him.

Filmbox.com: Will you play Lois Lane again?

Kate Bosworth: I hope so. I wish I could tell you more but I don’t really know. Bryan has been working on Valkyrie in Germany, and he’s clearly focused on that at the moment. There is a writer’s strike going on as well, so the industry is at a stand-still in terms of being able to write a story. Bryan executed the first Superman so well, keeping the classic feel and yet bringing Superman back into the modern world. And Bryan’s the sort of person who won’t do a film unless he feels it’s absolutely right. I think he’s just getting all the pieces put together.

You can read the full interview here.

Weekend Box-Office: '21' Stays @ #1

From MTV.com:

'21' Continues Box-Office Winning Streak, Intercepts 'Leatherheads'

The Box-Office Top Five

#1 "21" ($15.1 million)
#2 "Leatherheads" ($13.5 million)
#3 "Nim's Island" ($13.3 million)
#4 "Horton Hears a Who!" ($9.1 million)
#5 "The Ruins" ($7.8 million)

Last week, they brought down the house with a bigger-than-expected win at the domestic box office. Now the blackjack-playing hustlers at the center of "21" have doubled down, claiming another first-place finish and an additional $15.1 million. The Robert Luketic flick, which follows a group of MIT students who use a complicated numerical system to beat the casinos, has scored $46.5 million in just two weeks. If only my last Vegas trip could have gone even a fraction as well (and also starred Kate Bosworth).

Read the rest here.


Also, read more related articles in the following links below:

'21' finds $15M box-office jackpot
'21' beats Clooney and Foster
Casino tale '21' stays on top with $15 million box-office jackpot
Box Office Results: 21 Beats Odds Again
Weekend Box Office - 21 Again
'21' aces North American box office again
411 Box Office Report: 21 Holds On To The Top Spot
'21' trumps 'Leatherheads'
Gambling film 21 blitzes Clooney's Leathernecks

21 Scores A #1 In $23M Box-Office Jackpot

From Yahoo! Entertainment News:


Movie-goers laid their money down on "21," a gambling romp that was the weekend's box-office high roller with a $23.7 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Jim Sturgess as math geniuses who make a killing at Vegas' blackjack tables, Sony's "21" bumped off "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends.

The audience for "21" was split almost evenly between men and women and those older and younger than 25, according to Sony.

"One of the coolest things is it really did play to everyone. It got male, female, young, old," said Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "21," $23.7 million.

2. "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!", $17.4 million.

3. "Superhero Movie," $9.5 million.

4. "Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns," $7.8 million.

5. "Drillbit Taylor," $5.8 million.

6. "Shutter," $5.3 million.

7. "10,000 B.C.", $4.9 million.

8. "Stop-Loss," $4.5 million.

9. "College Road Trip," $3.5 million.

10. "The Bank Job," $2.8 million.

Read full article here.


Read more 21 BO Headlines below:

- Kate Bosworth Beats Ryan Phillippee At Box Office

- Gambling Film Tops US Box Office

- Gambling Movie Proves To Be Winning Bet

- '21' Beats The Odds To Take Box-Office #1, As 'Horton' Crosses $100 Million Mark

- '21' Hits The Jackpot

Now Showing: 21 Opens In Theaters Today!

21 Opens today in theaters nationwide!


Kate Bosworth Fans!


Support Kate and this movie.


Be sure to go see it!

Kate Bosworth's New Film 21 In Theaters This Friday!

Continuing to promote (one of our favorite Lane & Kent actors), Kate Bosworth and her new film, 21, in theatres this week! Check out the many glamorous hairstyles/gorgeous look of her character, Jill Taylor.

Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor (21)

kb 21 promo stills source: katebosworthonline.com

Watch 21 in theaters this Friday, March 28, 2008!

Kate Bosworth @ The New York Screening Of '21'

From ET Online:

KATE BOSWORTH and her co-star JIM STURGESS ('Across the Universe') turned out for a special screening in New York of their new card-counting pic, '21.'

Kate, wearing CALVIN KLEIN and jewels by VAN CLEEF AND ARPELS, told ET of the shoot, which spent six weeks in Boston and then moved on to her hometown of Boston, "It was great just to have people your own age just to have fun with."

Continue reading and watch a video clip of Kate @ the premiere here. Also, JJ (again) has new KB pics! You can view all 12+ pics of Kate from the NYC premiere here.

Movies This Week: Kate Bosworth Does Vegas In '21'

More Kate Bosworth news articles to be posted here as her new film 21 is going to be released this week (March 28th)...


Read some KB/21 related articles here. Follow the links below:


-Kate Bosworth Hits Vegas In '21'

-Holding The Hot Hand In Hollywood

-'Legally,' '21'? He's Got A Pair

-You Bettor? You Bet

-21's Real-life Geek

-21 Stars Hedge Their Best

Also, in Kate Bosworth related news...

Kate's TV Talk Show appearances this week include:

- The Late Show With David Letterman: Kate Bosworth (Tuesday 3/25).

- Jimmy Kimmel Live - Kate Bosworth (Friday 3/28).

New Interview: Kate Bosworth Talked About SR/MOS While Promoting NEW FILM 21

Got this from Kate Bosworth Forums. A new Kate Bosworth interview promoting 21 where she talked about her other film projects as well as talked about Superman Returns and the SR sequel, Man of Steel, which according to her she's still signed on to continue playing her Lois Lane role, and more...


Read some parts of the interesting article below (note: there were lots of typo/spelling errors from the original article, which I corrected here for readers to read properly...):


BOSWORTH TAKES A GAMBLE EXCLUSIVE Kate Bosworth, 21 Interview by Paul Fischer.

Kate Bosworth had reason for feeling tired at the end of a long, Las Vegas day during which she was promoting her latest movie, 21. The 25-year old actress had just returned from Australia where she was a bridesmaid to her Australian assistant who she befriended during the Superman Returns shoot. "Yes, and I was a bridesmaid for first the time," Kate Bosworth says from her Vegas hotel room. Always a bridesmaid never a bride? Not quite, despite being happy with her current beau, British musician and model James Rousseau. "It's funny, someone asked me in an interview, about getting married and I said, 'Do you see the horizon over there? It's past that, like around the world. I'm quite happy just being 25 and enjoying life." That includes dating yet another Brit following her much publicized romance with Orlando Bloom. "Don't worry, I haven't swayed from the Brits," says Kate Bosworth, laughingly, who recalls being embarrassed at the ridiculous amount of publicity garnered at this Sydney wedding. "I swear to God. I felt slightly embarrassed just because it was HER day, but I said to her earlier 'Look, at least it's going to be well documented. At least you'll be able to pull out good pictures and it'll be the most publicized wedding in Sydney for the year," she says, laughingly.


As an actor, Kate Bosworth has made a conscious effort to mix it up, venturing from risk-taking Indie projects as last year's The Girl in the Park, in which she plays an unsympathetically manipulative character opposite Sigourney Weaver, to the more flashy, but entertaining studio film 21. Here she plays one of Kevin Spacey's card-counting team members out to buck an unbeatable system on the Vegas Blackjack circuit. "I just loved the concept," Kate Bosworth explained in discussing her rationale for picking this ensemble drama. "I thought it was just a fantastic concept, and the fact that it was a true story was incredibly intriguing to me. These five kids were students just living a monotonous day-to-day life and were able to use their mathematical abilities take on the major corporations. It's kind of a classic David versus Goliath, underdog story. So I thought that would be quite fun, just to be a part of it. I remember Kevin [Spacey] explaining why he chose to option the book in the first place. He said, 'Look, we all love intense, dark, seedy material, but at the end of the day, we often in this business have fun, make movies and just enjoy it.' I think that's kind of how I felt with this. I also loved teaming up with Kevin again who called me and asked 'Come play with me in Vegas,' so he's quite difficult to say no to. I also think Laurence Fishburne is a tremendous actor who does a great job in the film and I got to meet all these wonderful, upcoming talents. All five of us became incredibly close and speak regularly, so that does not happen all the time."

The movie is loosely based on real events, and she says her character, Jill Taylor, "was very loosely based on one of the team members, whom I met her in Boston." One would imagine that a considerable amount of research would go into something like playing someone who mathematically counts cards in order to win Blackjack. Kate Bosworth laughs slightly. "Well, quite honestly, the extent of the research of the film was we all landed in Vegas and the five of us were put into sort of a blackjack boot camp," Kate Bosworth recalls. "And we just sat there and learned basic strategy with some of the best players in a little room in one of the hotels, which was fun."

As Kate Bosworth's career goes from strength to strength, she is able to take on parts that reflect her innate desire to prove herself and her critics how serious she is as an actress. She got rave reviews for Girl in the Park, a film she hopes will see the light of day. "I think they're figuring it out exactly and all the political logistics that I'm not so involved with, but I think it will." Kate Bosworth was gratified to have been given the chance to co-star in the film, the directorial debut of playwright David Auburn. "It was an extraordinary gift. I mean I have never read a dialogue as strong or as real as the script for Girl in the Park. I didn't even know, to be quite honest, that David Auburn was a Pulitzer Prize winner, who had written that script when I first read it. I try to read scripts without really knowing much about it so that I can be unbiased in a way and I read that and I thought 'Wow, I'll do anything to do this. I will do anything to do this'. It's a little scary because she's such a wonderfully complicated character but I remember sitting down with David and saying 'Please let me play this character and it was a year later that they offered it to me. They had to get the finance together and all that but I very badly wanted to do this." Kate Bosworth admits the character was very close to her in some ways, such as "her childlike qualities. If you were to speak to my friends or my family they would see a lot of myself in that character and I was very set on having Louise be a beacon of light, although she is flawed. I wanted her to be that sweeping crashing light that breaks into Sigourney's life, chips away and does anything she can to get inside of her, into her heart."


At the same time, Kate Bosworth is not adverse to doing commercial fare, such as Superman Returns or its much discussed sequel, which looks happening and Kate Bosworth will be back as Lois Lane if it all happens. "I mean we really don't know. Kevin and I both contracted to do another film. We heard from a journalist the other day that Bryan Singer had made a deal or is making a deal. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't. I'd love to do it. I enjoyed it so much, and I'd love to do another one." This despite gripes from fanboys that she was miscast in the role. "To be quite honest, I'm not really aware of that, so thanks a lot," she responds laughingly. "I feel fortunate to be cast, but you can't please everyone. One of the biggest things I've learned in this industry is that if you sit there and try desperately to please everyone you're just going to run in circles and drive yourself mad. So I feel really fortunate to be cast by Bryan Singer and I'll tell you, I'm not someone who is easily influenced. He's very meticulous, so if some of the bloggers don't think I was right for the choice but he did, then I'm fine with that. Look, you're going to get that with a film that's so iconic and everyone's going to have a really strong opinion about everything, so I understand it."

Read full article @ Kate Bosworth Forums ...

Kate Bosworth A Math Whiz At Card Counting In '21'

From LA Times:


Bosworth stars in the tale of MIT students who turned the table on Vegas casinos.

LAS VEGAS -- THE cardsharp playing blackjack at the Riviera Hotel & Casino didn't say "hit me," but he got hit anyway, and hard. After a remarkably profitable run at Riviera's tables, the man was dragged off by a casino security detail and hustled into a room, where he was promptly pummeled.

The scene, part of the beat-the-dealer movie "21," which opens Friday, is not exactly a slam-dunk sales pitch for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Yet the Riviera's representatives said they had no problem having the loosely factual story of a team of card counters be filmed on their casino floor.

That's because there was an upside during production in February 2007: While the "21" actors were raking in piles of make-believe money in front of the camera, some of the film's below-the-line workers were losing their per diem checks at an alarming clip at the real blackjack tables. And the Riviera was hardly the only Las Vegas gambling destination welcoming "21" into its hotel suites and blackjack pits. "Planet Hollywood gave us unfettered and unprecedented access," said the film's director, "Legally Blonde's" Robert Luketic. As did several other casinos.

It's a curious turnabout given the film's source material, the 2002 book "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions." As author Ben Mezrich's bestseller chronicled, a team of college-age math whizzes repeatedly traveled from Boston to Las Vegas in the 1990s, combining an effective (albeit complex) strategy for counting blackjack cards with a fat bankroll to beat the casinos at their own game.

While card counting is not technically illegal -- the strategy requires players to track cards dealt from a shoe holding multiple decks, betting more heavily when the remaining cards favor the gamblers over the house -- the casinos scarcely tolerate it. As both "Bringing Down the House" and "21" colorfully recount, the book's blackjack experts were eventually spotted and chased out of town.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology team's top player, Jeff Ma (depicted in the book as Kevin Lewis and in the movie as Ben Campbell), said he is still not permitted to patronize Nevada's blackjack tables.

In fictionalizing the story for "21," Luketic and screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb preserved the mechanics of the team's strategy but added an array of imaginary movie material, concocting a romance between the team's Campbell ("Across the Universe's" Jim Sturgess) and Jill Taylor ( Kate Bosworth), internecine team warfare where little existed, a back story about one player's worries about paying for medical school and a clash between math professor Micky Rosa ( Kevin Spacey, also one of the film's producers) and security consultant Cole Williams ( Laurence Fishburne).

Even with the security guard slap downs, the movie is ultimately a Las Vegas love letter, selling the town's most alluring fantasies -- easy money, women and fame -- while minimizing its potentially destructive sway: It is to casinos what "Top Gun" was to the U.S. Navy.

"I think the movie should be used as a promotion for Las Vegas," Ma said. "Has Las Vegas ever looked so good in a movie?"

Given that two of the film's key creators -- director Luketic and screenwriter Loeb -- have wrestled with uncontrollable gambling themselves, it's more than a rhetorical question.

Luketic and Spacey separately had read an early excerpt of Mezrich's book in Wired magazine and each pursued the story's film rights. Spacey beat Luketic to the punch and the project landed at MGM, where it was developed but eventually languished.

When MGM was absorbed by Sony Pictures, "21" was one of the handful of MGM movies attracting Sony's interest. "Rush Hour's" Brett Ratner and "Night at the Museum's" Shawn Levy previously considered directing "21." Loeb's rewrite ultimately earned Sony's green light, with Luketic coming in to direct.

"No one does excess like Las Vegas," Luketic said between takes in the somewhat downscale Riviera early last year. "It was a very theatrical idea: placing these kids in this environment. And there is nothing like the thrill of beating the house."

Luketic should know. Flush with cash after directing the 2001 Reese Witherspoon hit "Legally Blonde," the Australian director headed to Las Vegas and made a beeline for the tables to have some fun. Like millions before him, he didn't.

"I lost $25,000 in one hour at the Bellagio," Luketic said. "It was devastating." One friend, so upset over Luketic's losing so much money so fast, took $10,000 of the director's cash and stuffed it in a trash can, telling him there was little difference between that and his reckless wagering.

Loeb's gambling on cards as well as sports was even worse, ultimately leading him to join Gamblers Anonymous. Loeb said he hasn't gambled in about five years. "I was really ready to quit when I quit," said Loeb, co-creator of the new Fox series "New Amsterdam."

Given their backgrounds, it's fair to ask them if their movie romanticizes gambling.

"Most people are not as smart as MIT students," Loeb said. "So even if you come up with a system, you will never beat your own emotions, so it's a sucker's game. Very, very few people have the discipline to win.

"Is the movie going to get people who wouldn't gamble go gamble? I hope not. But will it get people who were going to gamble anyway to go to Planet Hollywood or one of the other casinos in the movie? Absolutely," Loeb said.

Luketic sees the movie as more of a cautionary tale and a kind of masquerade story, a tale of a college geek who turns into a jet-setting playboy through his high-rolling alter ego: Just as Campbell in the movie can enjoy a Las Vegas dream, so too can moviegoers who watch his transformation and triumph.

"I'm letting the audience come in on their fantasy," Luketic said. "But we take a position in the movie that his greed and lust is fun only in moderate doses. It's like substance abuse -- too much of anything is not going to be good for you."

Still, the lure of the game is unrelenting and, at times, completely understandable.

"I think the movie is going to inspire thousands and thousands and thousands of college kids," author Mezrich said. "They will lose a few hundred dollars -- not too devastating. But I think the movie is really about the consequences."

Kate Bosworth @ ShoWest 2008

According to Just Jared, Kate Bosworth (in Alessandro Dellaqua) arrives at the ShoWest awards ceremony held at the Paris Las Vegas on Thursday.

Kate, along with co-stars Laurence Fishburne and Jim Sturgess accepted the Ensemble Award for their gambling pic, 21

Sturgess told reporters, “This film is really about a team, so to get an ensemble award is really kind of cool.”

Check out some photos of Kate and 2 of her 21 co-stars @ ShoWest below:

View more KB photos from ShoWest @ Kate Bosworth Forums!