ABDUCTION OUT ON DVD AND FACEBOOK(!) TODAY

While some studios are doing their utmost to delay rentals of DVDs in the hope of boosting sales of the discs, Lionsgate today (Tuesday) is releasing Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner on just about every rental platform, including digital download and streaming on Facebook. Lionsgate exec Anne Parducci told the London Financial Times that the studio […]

DOLPHIN TALE MAKES A BIG SPLASH AT BOX OFFICE

Once again, box office pundits turned out to be all wet with their predictions of weekend ticket sales as Dolphin Tale, in its third week, came from behind and finished ahead of the pack with an estimated $14.2 million. The Brad Pitt baseball drama Moneyball produced the second-best score with about $12.5 million. And Lion […]

THE LION ROARS AGAIN

Far fewer people went to the movies on Sunday than the studios had estimated, final box-office figures revealed. Sunday’s estimates, which are based on actual ticket sales for Friday and Saturday but on just an educated guess for Sunday, had each of the top three films grossing more than $20 million, a remarkable occurrence in […]

WITH ABDUCTION TANKING, LIONSGATE WARNS OF BIG LOSSES

This weekend’s failure of Abduction made it three money losers in a row for Lionsgate, and the mini-studio wasted no time in filing a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that, as a result, it now expects to lose $40-50 million in the current quarter. The filing is required by the SEC in […]

AIN’T LYIN’ — IT’S LION AGAIN (Updated)

Oh, ye of little faith, cast thine eyes unto the King who hath risen again. Words to that effect may have been ringing in the ears of miscalculating industry seers and studio executives once again this weekend as The Lion King reigned as the king of the box office for the second weekend in a […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: ABDUCTION

Taylor Lautner, the former teen werewolf of the Twilight movies, makes his starring debut in the John Singleton-directed Abduction. And critics, who are mostly excoriating the movie, are treating Lautner himself with a sizable degree of leniency. Despite the lameness of the plot, Roger Moore suggests in the Orlando Sentinel, “Lautner does not embarrass himself.” […]

MONEYBALL EXPECTED TO BE A WINNER

Four new movies make their debut this weekend, but box-office pundits indicate that only one, Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, has any chance of drawing a big crowd to the stadi … er, movie theater. Still, a minority of writers suggest that churchgoers who have been on the receiving end of the principal marketing effort behind […]