NBCUNIVERSAL LOOKING HEALTHIER UNDER COMCAST

It goes without saying that owning the television network that broadcasts the Super Bowl can be beneficial to a company’s financial health during the first quarter of any year. But Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal in January 2011 has reaped benefits for the company in other ways as well, pushing its first-quarter profits to $1.224 billion, […]

WAR HORSE GALLOPS TO NO. 1 ON DVD CHART

Walt Disney’s War Horse came from behind in its second week to top the DVD sales charts last week after placing second in its first week on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart. However, The Darkest Hour, which flopped at the box office, came in first on the Blu-ray Disc sales chart and was also […]

NO LACK OF BUYERS FOR FAMILY FILMS ON DVD AND BLU-RAY

Family films continue to outperform on home video — the only bright spot on an otherwise dreary business. The latest evidence is the strong performance of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, which easily captured the top spot on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for overall disc sales and […]

BOX OFFICE MAKING STRONG RECOVERY

With the second week of Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games leading the way with $58.6 million and Warner Bros.’ Wrath of the Titans following with $33.5 million, the box office continued to show a strong recovery from last year. According to Box Office Mojo, the total for the weekend came to $148.6 million, up 19 percent […]

HANNA STRONGER THAN EXPECTED; ARTHUR WEAKER

Hold on! Russell Brand pictures did not finish in first and second place at the weekend box office as Sunday estimates had indicated. Final figures did indeed put the animated Hop, for which Brand provided the voice of the lead character, in first place with $21.3 million, but “lovable drunk” flick Arthur, which also starred […]

RUSSELL BUILDS HIS OWN BRAND

It’s certainly not often that one actor stars in the top two films at the box office (researchers are probably scrambling to see whether such a finish has ever occurred before), but Russell Brand nabbed that honor this weekend. [Update: Final figures released on Monday put Arthur in third place, not second; see below.] He […]

HOP CAN’T BOOST BOX OFFICE

Hop didn’t jump quite so far as Universal had estimated. Still, with $37.5 million, it performed better than analysts had predicted going into the weekend. Weekend estimates, which are released on Sunday, are based on actual figures for Friday and Saturday and an informed guess for Sunday. The film had opened on Friday with $11.5 […]

HOP SKIPS FORECASTS, JUMPS TO $38 MILLION

Hop leaped beyond the best predictions of box office analysts over the weekend, taking in an estimated $38.1 million. The Universal live-action/CGI feature nearly quadrupled the $10.2-million take for 20th Century Fox’s second week of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with which it was supposed to vie closely for the family audience. Instead, Wimpysettled for […]

WHAT’S UP (AT THE MOVIES), DOC?

Easter may be more than three weeks away, but the teenage son of the Easter Bunny is arriving early at movie theaters this weekend and capturing the family audience until the real holiday comes along. Hop — a hybrid live/computer-generated film, is expected to earn around $25 million, despite dismal reviews. Box-office forecasters say that […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: HOP

Critics aren’t exactly hopping mad about the live-action/animated Hop, but they are firing at it as if they were Elmer Fudd blasting a different rabbit. The main character in the movie is called E.B.; he’s actually the son of the Easter Rabbit. His principal expertise is producing jelly beans — he poops them. Kyle Smith […]