MOVIE REVIEWS: THE PIRATES! BAND OF MISFITS

The unlikely winner of the award for best-reviewed movie of the weekend is Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Of the major critics, only Roger Moore of the Orlando Sentinel sends it to the plank. “Amusing in small doses, Pirates is the first Aardman film to suffer a serious shortage of sight gags, the […]

SONY’S PROFITS DROWN IN THAI FLOODS

Last fall’s devastating floods in Thailand played havoc with Sony’s ability to fulfill orders and were largely responsible for the company’s $2.04-billion net loss in its last quarter, CFO Masaru Kato said in a conference call today (Thursday). “Several production facilities in Thailand suffered direct damage during the floods and supply chains across the region […]

NEW YEAR’S EVE BALL FALLS WITH A THUD

Just when you thought the box office couldn’t get any worse than it got last weekend, it got worse. After recording its lowest gross of the year last week, it set a new low of $74 million, down nearly 9 percent from last weekend and the smallest total since September 2008. Then, however, it featured […]

BREAKING DAWN REMAINS BRIGHT OVERSEAS

Overseas, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 remained the No. 1 film as it collected about $40.2 million in 73 countries, to bring its foreign total to $341 million and its worldwide total to $588.3 million. Puss in Boots came in second, earning an estimated $23 million in 26 countries. It had plenty […]

MUPPETS FAIL TO BREAK BREAKING DAWN‘S HOLD ON FIRST PLACE (Updated)

Where’s Oscar the Grouch when you need him? Many box-office forecasters had predicted that this would be the weekend when Disney’s The Muppets took over first place from Summit Entertainment’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1. After all, they reasoned, Disney’s Tangled brought the last Harry Potter movie down over the same weekend […]

DAWN FAR FROM DEAD IN SECOND WEEK

There was still plenty of life in the undead over the Thanksgiving holiday, illustrated by the estimated $62.3 million that The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 brought in over the five-day period. The romvamp tale collected about $42 million over the three-day weekend (Friday through Sunday). Box office mavens regarded that result as […]

CRITICS GIVE THANKS FOR 3 NEW MOVIES (Updated)

At no time in memory have three films opened on the same day with as many positive reviews as those that are opening today. Critics are virtually unanimous in their praise of The Muppets, Hugo, and Arthur Christmas, all of them family films, and the latter two carrying 3D surcharges. Only The Muppets, however, is […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: ARTHUR CHRISTMAS

Arthur Christmas has already brought the gift of smiles to the faces of generally hard-boiled critics. It’s one of those animated films, they say, that parents don’t have to merely endure but can actually enjoy. There are “plenty of sly jokes for grown-ups,” Neil Genzlinger assures his readers in the New York Times, while Amy […]

BREAKING DAWN BREAKS OUT; HAPPY FEET BROKEN

It did not earn as much in its opening weekend as some box-office pundits had predicted it would. It did not even set a domestic record for the franchise, but <em>The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1</em>, with a final weekend total of $138.1 million produced the fifth best opening box office of all time, […]