Columbia Pictures’ new gambling drama 21, directed by Robert Luketic and starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey, opened in first place with an estimated $23.7 million from 2,648 theaters, and average of $8,950 per site! The studio said the debut for the $35 million-budgeted film exceeded expections, and it played strongly to old and young, male and female moviegoers. Congrats to Jim!

1.) 21 - $23,700,000
2.) Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who - $17,425,000
3.) Superhero Movie - $9,510,000
4.) Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns - $7,760,000
5.) Drillbit Taylor - $5,800,000

Source: ComingSoon

The Arcade recently had the opportunity to interview Jim Sturgess, the 26-year-old star of the upcoming movie 21. Based on the successful novel Bringing Down The House, 21 recounts the journey of five MIT students and a professor beating the casino blackjack odds through card counting.

After being accepted into Harvard Medical School, Jim Sturgess’s character Ben Campbell finds himself unable to pay for the expensive tuition. One of his professors (Kevin Spacey) discovers Ben’s brilliance and invites his to a secret card counting club. Ben thinks that joining the club will curb his anxiety about paying for school, so he decides to stay in the club until he reaches his goal of $300,000. The team members study during the week at MIT, then fly to Las Vegas on weekends to test their gambling abilities. Within all this excitement, however, Ben finds himself becoming greedier and more eager to lead the team. We first asked Sturgess about playing the lead role.

arcade: Did you enjoy your role as Ben Campbell?

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Here is a nice interview from Cinematical. Jim talks about 21 and also discusses a little bit about Julie Taymore and his upcoming film Crossing Over!

On Julie Taymor
“She really found me at a point where I needed to be found.”

In 21, which hits theaters tomorrow, Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an M.I.T. student who’s recruited into a group of Vegas card counters by a fellow student. In fact, the entire group is made up of students and its leader, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), also happens to be a professor at the University. The fact-based film was inspired by the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich, and most of what you will see in 21 really happened — with certain faces, places, names and events changed to fit a more Hollywood-ized mold. Directed by Robert Luketic, 21 also stars Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira.

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21 hit theaters stateside today (March 28th), I hope you all will go out and check it out this weekend if you haven’t already! To celebrate I have capped all the available online clips and added some production stills, many thanks to Riikka for her help with the HQs.

I posted some reviews earlier, people are definitely liking Jim in the role. I just got back from seeing the film not to long ago and I really enjoyed it! I wouldn’t go as far as to consider it a favorite of mine personally, but it was definitely enjoyable and I do strongly recommend it to Jim fans to see for his performance. I really thought he did great and you were rooting for his character all the way, his slightly darker side was even new and refreshing to see. I do not not think the film would have been as good or entertaining as it was without the perfect casting of Jim for Ben Campbell, certainly Jim has a lot more to him than just the “pretty boy” looks on the surface people tend to only see. He really handled the role quite nicely!

From: DallasNews

Ben Mezrich’s page-turning nonfiction book Bringing Down the House tells the story of six MIT students who card-counted their way to millions in Vegas. Now it’s a Hollywood movie, 21, starring Jim Sturgess as blackjack team ace Ben Campbell, which opens today. (Campbell is based on Jeff Ma, who in the book is named Kevin Lewis. Yeah, it’s kinda confusing.)

What got you interested in 21?

When I first read the script I had no idea it was based on true events, so I viewed it as just a good script and a great story. Then the minute I was told it really happened, when I was told these guys went to Vegas and pulled this thing off, I was immediately more intrigued.

Have you played much blackjack in real life?

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