WINTER HITS KEEP BOX OFFICE IN PLUS TERRITORY

Last year it was the period between January and May that looked dismal at the box office, while things picked up during the summer. This year the reverse proved to be the case. While the summer box office wound up 3 percent behind last year, business was so good at the beginning of the year […]

MOVIEGOERS SPEND LESS ON EXPENDABLES THAN EXPECTED

Many box office pundits had predicted that The Expendables 2 would earn significantly more than the $34.8 million that the original raked in in its debut two years ago, with many forecasting a haul in the neighborhood of $35-40 million. It didn’t turn out that way. The film actually earned $28.6 million, certainly indicating that […]

DREAMWORKS RELIES ON RELIANCE

India’s Reliance has ridden to the rescue of Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios, agreeing to invest another $200 million in the struggling studio, the New York Times reported today (Wednesday), citing a person with knowledge of the matter. The studio released six films in 2011 but had only one hit, The Help. The others were either […]

OSCAR TELECAST TO FACE NBA ALL-STAR GAME

The Academy Awards telecast may find it exceedingly difficult this year to retain its position as the second-most-watched telecast of the year after the Super Bowl. Orlando Sentinel columnist Hal Boedeker points out that the awards telecast will not get the free ride that it normally gets each year, since it will face TNT’s coverage […]

DVD SALES SHOOT UP AT TARGET

A $9 DVD sale at Target, the No. 2 home-video seller (after Walmart) in the nation, pushed several movies that have been out of the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert top-ten sales list for weeks back into it again. (The Nielsen chart, which does not cite actual grosses, also does not include Walmart sales.) Home Media […]

THE HELP NABS THREE TROPHIES AT SAG AWARDS

Cast members of The Help helped themselves to three top SAG Awards on Sunday, including best cast, the equivalent to best film in other awards competitions. Viola Davis won the best actress award, while Octavia Spencer was named best supporting actress. The two have been nominated for Oscars in the same categories. The best actor […]

SPIKE LEE COHORT SLAMS WHITE-DOMINATED STUDIOS

Days after Spike Lee’s obscenity-laced tirade against Hollywood studio executives at the Sundance Film Festival (“They know nothing about black people. Nothing!”), his co-producer and co-writer of Red Hook Summer has accused those same executives of attempting to keep black filmmakers under their thumb. “It’s the same old story: Nothing in this world happens unless […]

SO, WHERE WERE ALL THE BLOCKBUSTERS?

If there was a major surprise at Tuesday morning’s Oscar nomination announcements it was that the best picture category was so devoid of studio blockbusters. The motion picture academy had expanded the category to include ten films in the hopes that voting members would include a few popular favorites, thereby boosting television ratings. But not […]

AND THE NOMINEES ARE …

Several critics described Martin Scorsese’s Hugo as his valentine to the movie business. This morning the movie business sent Scorsese one in return in the form of 11 Oscar nominations, the most for any film of the past year, including best picture and best director. Hugo edged out the apparent favorite, The Artist, which had […]

HFPA DISPENSES GLOBES ALL AROUND

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association spread their kudos around to a variety of movies and television shows Sunday night. The Descendants and The Artist each received two Golden Globe awards, best drama and best actor (George Clooney) for The Descendants and best comedy and best actor (Jean Dujardin) for The Artist. Solo awards went to […]

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