“FURIOUS 7” STAYS AT NO. 1 IN WEEK NO. 4

Universal’s Furious 7 remained at the top of the box office for the fourth straight weekend with a haul of $17.8 million, bringing its total domestic gross to $320.1 million, according to final figures released today (Monday). It was the first film to notch four victories in a row since The Hunger Games pulled off […]

COMCAST-TWC MERGER COLLAPSES

After federal regulators indicated that they would oppose the planned $45.2 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, Comcast has decided to abandon the deal, published reports said today (Thursday). A formal announcement from Comcast is expected to come as soon as tomorrow. Bloomberg News, which first reported Comcast’s decision, said that TWC executives plan to tell […]

“FURIOUS 7” ROARS TO THIRD WIN

Furious 7 easily held off competition from newcomers Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 and Unfriended, earning an estimated $29.1 million to remain No. 1 at the box office for a third weekend. The film has now earned about $294 domestically. And while that figure may seem impressive, it pales in comparison with the $856 million […]

FIRST FILM BY A FEMALE DIRECTOR TO OPEN CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

After the critical and commercial flop that Grace of Monaco, last year’s opening film at the Cannes Film Festival, turned out to be, the festival has given the prestigious opening slot this year to a far less glittering production, La Tête Haute, by director Emmanuelle Bercot. In making its announcement, the festival noted that it […]

ISABELLA ROSSELLINI TO HEAD JURY FOR CANNES SIDEBAR

Enhancing the cachet of the secondary Un Certain Regard competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year, festival officials have selected famed Italian-American actress Isabella Rossellini, 62, to head the jury assessing the films selected for the peripheral screenings that recognize new talent and innovative and daring filmmaking. Rossellini is the daughter of legendary Italian […]

“NBC NIGHTLY NEWS” DROPS TO NO. 2

For the first time since September 7, 2009 — 288 weeks ago — NBC Nightly News has slipped to No 2 in the ratings — among total viewers and those 25-54, the key demographic group for network newscasts. The difference was slight (and statistically insignificant, given the margin for error in Nielsen figures): 7.99 million […]

“FURIOUS 7” SPEEDS TO $143.6M DEBUT

Furious 7: $143.6 million. Never had the month of April seen such an opening-weekend result at the box office. Long regarded as the lead-in month to the summer season during which studios release dicey commercial fare, April, in the minds of studio executives, would appear to evince the sentiments in the vintage song “April Showers” […]

“FURIOUS 7” PRODUCES THIRD-BIGGEST FRIDAY BOX OFFICE OF ALL TIME

Talk about “fast and furious!” Universal’s Furious 7 vroomed off to a $51.8-million total at the box office on Friday, the third-biggest Friday haul in box-office history, behind only The Avengers with $61 million and Iron Man 3 with $53.2 million. Together with the $15.8 million in ticket sales for limited preview screenings at midnight […]