GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY BECOMES THE NO. 1 FILM OF THE YEAR

Guardians of the Galaxy became the top box-office draw of 2014 over the weekend — replacing Captain America: The Winter Soldier — as it raked in an additional $16.3 million (estimated) to bring its domestic gross to $274.6 million. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also showed remarkable staying power as it remained in second place over […]

IS TV OVERSATURATED WITH FOOTBALL?

Could adding NFL games to the Thursday night broadcast schedule amount to too much of a good thing for advertisers? Perhaps so. "The strength of the market for NFL ad time seems to be up for debate," comments today’s (Friday) Advertising Age. There have been fewer ads sold for scheduled NFL telecasts at this point […]

MESS WITH NIKKI FINKE AT YOUR PERIL

One day after a blog, NikkiStink.com, attacking Hollywood firebrand Nikki Finke, went online, including photos of the reclusive scourge of Hollywood moguls, the New York Times is reporting that Finke is likely to come out a big winner against her adversaries. The newspaper, citing a person with knowledge of the situation, noted that the reports […]

COWELL CLAIMS BBC WANTS TO SABOTAGE HIS X FACTOR

Simon Cowell, who will return as a judge to the British version of The X Factor for the first time since 2010, has accused the BBC of attempting to sabotage the show by scheduling Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of Dancing with the Stars opposite it. The X Factor airs on ITV. "They didn’t […]

THIS YEAR’S BOX OFFICE: DOWN MORE THAN ANYBODY FEARED

"Not All Box Office Dollars Are Equal" headlines the Wall Street Journal today (Friday) in a feature that points out that the actual revenue a studio earns from a movie varies from country to country during the period that it plays in theaters and varies even more when it is released for television and home […]

A WORSE-THAN-USUAL LABOR DAY BOX OFFICE EXPECTED

The Labor Day weekend generally produces the smallest box office results of any holiday of the year. And this Labor Day holiday is expected to be no exception. Indeed, it could be significantly worse than most. Two new films, the thriller The November Man and the horror flick As Above, So Below. aren’t expected to […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: NOVEMBER MAN

Critics agree that November Man is simply one of those hopeless films that studios toss out — rather than release — on the Labor Day weekend because they expect few moviegoers will turn up at the box office anyway. And while Pierce Brosnan returns to the screen as a secret agent, this film, which reportedly […]

DIANE SAWYER SIGNS OFF ABC WORLD NEWS

Wednesday night might seem like an unusual night to sign off from a five-day-a-week gig as anchor of ABC World News, but that’s the night Diane Sawyer chose to do so, appearing on the set with David Muir, who will take over the anchor desk tonight (Thursday). She gave viewers a backstage tour of the […]

SHERLOCK BECOMES BBC’S BIGGEST SUCCESS STORY

Following seven wins for Sherlock at Monday night’s Emmy Awards, its producer, the BBC, on Tuesday congratulated the winners, including stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (actor and supporting actor awards respectively in the miniseries category), and noted that the program had become its biggest-selling export, licensed to 224 territories worldwide. Ben Stephenson, head of […]

CALIF. FILMMAKERS GET $1.65 BILLION IN TAX CREDITS

California filmmakers didn’t get the $400 million in state tax credits that the state legislature had allocated to them in hopes of putting the breaks on runaway production, but Governor Jerry Brown did sign off on a five-year deal in which they’ll get $330 million a year ($1.65 billion over the five years) — and […]

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