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 […]

STALLONE & CO. RETURN, GUNS BLAZING

The Expendables 2 arrives in theaters this weekend and is expected to make expendable three other new arrivals, two family films, ParaNorman and The Odd Life of Timothy Green, and the musical drama Sparkle, starring Jordin Sparks and the late Whitney Houston. According to box-office pundits The Expendables 2 is expected to debut with $35-40 […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: SPARKLE

Several critics wonder in their reviews why they even bothered remaking the 1976 version of Sparkle. “The ’70s original was a dark, confusing mess, but the remake lacks the little soul it had,” comments Wesley Morris in the Boston Globe. Likewise Peter Travers remarks in Rolling Stone: “Whitney Houston deserved better than to go out […]

THE BODYGUARD RETURNING TO THEATERS FOR ONE DAY ONLY

The ability of digital transmissions to slot a movie into a host of theaters for a single screening could bring new life — and new revenue — to dozens of films that haven’t seen the inside of a theater in decades. Only days after it was announced that the film classic Casablanca will be returning […]

CNN TAKES RATINGS LEADING IN HOUSTON COVERAGE

Affirming CNN’s reputation as the place to go for late-breaking news, especially when that news is non-political in nature, Nielsen said on Monday that the cable news network ‘s wall-to-wall coverage of the death of Whitney Houston attracted an average of 2.17 million viewers from 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, peaking at 9:00 […]

GRAMMYS TELECAST MOST WATCHED SINCE 1984

With news of the death of Whitney Houston overwhelming broadcast and cable newscasts over the weekend, many of them mentioning that producers of the Grammy awards were “scrambling” to come up with a fitting tribute to her, it was inevitable that the awards show would pull big ratings. And they did. After last year’s telecast, […]

WAS SWEEPING COVERAGE OF HOUSTON’S DEATH WARRANTED?

The blanket coverage of Whitney Houston’s death became a topic of some contention on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday. Host Howard Kurtz opened the discussion by asking the panelists, “Is the Whitney Houston story worth that kind of coverage?” Kurtz appeared to express surprise that the coverage, “especially on cable” received “wall to wall” attention […]