“HOME” HITS A HOMER

DreamWorks Animation’s Home soared past analysts’ predictions over the weekend, pulling in an estimated $54 million. The pundits and tracking researchers had figured that it would earn around $30-35 million. For the struggling DWA, there had been no place like Home for far too long. Mr. Peabody and Sherman opened in second place last year […]

INGRID BERGMAN TO BE THE FACE OF CANNES

One year after featuring the late Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni on its official posters and signage, the Cannes Film Festival announced today (Monday) that three-time Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman will be the face of the festival for 2015, the 100th anniversary of her birth (Bergman died on her 67th birthday on August 29, 1982.) In […]

“DIVERGENT’S” AUDIENCE RETURNS FOR “INSURGENT”

Presumably the same audience that turned out for Divergent last year returned to their local theaters for Insurgent over the weekend. Total ticket sales for the latest installment of the franchise came to an estimated $54 million, virtually identical to the original’s $54.6 million. The film also earned about $47 million from 76 overseas markets. […]

“INSURGENT” LIKELY TO SURGE TO #1 AT BOX OFFICE

Lionsgate’s Insurgent, a sequel to Divergent, which opened at about this same time last year with $55 million, is expected to send Cinderella back to her pumpkin carriage this weekend as it opens with about the same earnings as its predecessor. Like that one, Insurgent is receiving mostly poor to mediocre reviews. Typical is Manohla […]

“CINDERELLA” ENCHANTS MOVIEGOERS WITH $70M DEBUT

Disney’s live-action Cinderella awakened a somnolent box office over the weekend, bringing in a princely $70.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates. It also captivated audiences in 31 overseas markets, where it brought in an additional $62 million. The film was helped by mostly solid reviews from the likes of Betsy Sharkey of […]

REPORT: CHINA OVERTOOK U.S. BOX OFFICE IN FEBRUARY

Record ticket sales for the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, helped push China’s box office over the U.S.’s in February, according to Chinese and U.S. box office sources. Chinese theaters in February earned 4.05 billion yuan ($647.6 million), slightly higher than the U.S. take of $640 million. Analysts pointed out, however, that February is a […]

“CHAPPIE” WINS — EVEN AS IT LOSES

Producers of Neil Blomkamp’s sci-fi comedy Chappie had little to cheer about this weekend — even though the movie debuted in first place at the box office with an estimated $13.3 million. The Sony film, which opened slightly below modest expectations of around $14-18 million, had reportedly cost them about $49 million. Opening above expectations, […]

ANDREW LACK RETURNING TO NBC NEWS: WILL BRIAN WILLIAMS BE FAR BEHIND?

As was widely predicted, Andrew Lack, often credited for the ratings success of NBC News’s principal programs, including Nightly News, The Today Show, Meet the Press, and Dateline between 1993 and 2003, is returning to the Peacock’s nest as chairman of NBC News and MSNBC. He will be expected to jack up the ratings of […]

SOFT “FOCUS” AT BOX OFFICE

Forecasts that the latest Will Smith rom-com, Focus, would right the actor’s career after 2013’s After Earth flop appeared a bit fuzzy on Sunday after the film failed to fulfill modest box-office predictions. Focus earned an estimated $19.1 million — falling short of the $20-25 million that analysts had anticipated. Nevertheless, it succeeded in knocking […]