KIDS VIDEOS AMONG MOST POPULAR OF 2012

Home-video releases aimed at kids are usually best sellers each year. Parents realize that the discs can bring their kids “endless hours of enjoyment,” as the ads say. This year proved to be no exception, as six of the top ten sellers turned out to be animated features. If there was a surprise in the […]

SPIDER-MAN IS NO MATCH FOR BRAVE

Once again demonstrating the power of animated family films in the home-video market, Disney/Pixar’s Brave knocked Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man off the top of the DVD and Blu-ray sales charts last week. The animated film — the latest to feature a spunky heroine as the principal character — had been a hit at the domestic […]

DISNEY CLAIMS U.K. COMPANY IS KNOCKING OFF ITS TITLES

Disney has demanded that a British production company, Brightspark Production Ltd., stop selling DVDs with covers that may mislead consumers to believe that they are buying Disney productions. Some consumers have complained that the films inside the DVD boxes bear little relation to the cover artwork. Among Brightspark’s titles: Braver, similar to Disney’s Brave; Tangled […]

THEATERS EXPERIENCE LABOR DAY BLUES

With many young moviegoers preparing to return to school or college during the same week, Labor Day generally produces the lowest box-office grosses of any four-day holiday of the year. This year was no exception. The Jewish-themed horror flick The Possession was able to grab first place over the four days with an estimated $21.3 […]

KNIGHT CONTINUES TO RISE OVERSEAS

Warner Bros. expanded The Dark Knight Rises to 57 markets from 17 the previous weekend and boosted its overseas gross an additional $122.1 million, bringing its foreign total to $248.2 million. That’s roughly half what 2008’s The Dark Knight took in ($469 million). Meanwhile, Ice Age: Continental Drift grossed $49.4 million in 69 markets, propelling […]

ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT LIKELY TO DRIFT TO TOP

Ice Age: Continental Drift is expected to stamp out The Amazing Spider-Man at the box office this weekend. Although 20th Century Fox is predicting that it will wind up with around $35-40 million, many analysts see the film tracking higher and pulling in around $50-55 million. At the same time, the new Spider-Man movie has […]

WEB FEAT: AMAZING SPIDER-MAN BAGS $140M IN DEBUT (Updated)

The Amazing Spider-Man lived up to its name over the six-day Independence Day holiday, piling up $140 million domestically and more than $200 million overseas, according to studio estimates. Receipts for the franchise may not have been quite what they were for the first two installments but they far exceeded the forecasts of many veteran […]

RAUNCH AND SEX RULE AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Records of sorts were set at the box office last weekend. The Los Angeles Times discovered that for the first time in history two R-rated movies earned more than $21 million apiece. In fact, Ted, with $54.4 million, and Magic Mike, with $39.1 million, according to the final official tally, did it with millions to […]

TED IS PLUSH AT BOX OFFICE (Updated)

Universal’s Ted clearly had the right stuff(ing) over the weekend as it debuted well above predictions with an estimated $54.1 million. [See updated figures below.] Box office pundits had expected an opening of around $30-35 million. Also coming in substantially above forecasts was the R-rated male-stripper flick Magic Mike, which took in around $39.1 million. […]

BRAVE — A HIT OR A MISS FOR PIXAR AND DISNEY?

There is such a Midas image about Pixar in the Hollywood business community that even when one of its films takes in $66.7 million — as Brave did in its opening weekend– the result is greeted with disappointment. The Hollywood Reporter cited a note to clients from Doug Creutz of Cowen & Co., who wrote, […]

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