DID 3D HURT THE LORAX?

Despite significantly higher ticket prices for Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax at 3D theaters and despite the fact that those theaters accounted for 62 percent of those showing the movie last weekend, 48 percent of the revenue for the movie came from theaters showing it in 2D, BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield observed on Wednesday. 2D theaters […]

MARCH MADNESS ON MOBILE DEVICES TO COME AT A PRICE

In an apparent attempt to avoid the pitfall that ensnared the newspaper business, Time Warner’s Turner Networks will no longer provide the NCAA’s March Madness on Demand for free. Moreover, its broadcast partner in the basketball hoopla, CBS, said that its online coverage of the college basketball tournament will not be available on mobile devices […]

BEST BUY KARATE CHOPS PRICES FOR STRUGGLING KUNG FU PANDA 2 VIDEO

Just two weeks after Best Buy trumpeted the release of DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2 in ads listing the Blu-ray combo pack for $22.99, a new ad for the consumer-electronics retailer now lists the pack for $14.99, a 35 percent discount. In a note to clients BTIG Research media analyst Richard Greenfield speculated today […]

SALES SLIDE FOR KUNG FU PANDA 2 AND OTHER DVD’S

Time was when animated movies accounted for a huge percentage of DVD sales. After all, children never seem to tire of playing the same movie multiple times. But now they can do so without touching a disc — if their parents subscribe to an online rental site like Netflix, which allows kids to watch the […]

PUSS’S BOOTS NOT LIKELY TO KICK DWA’S PROFITS

While some investors may have concluded that DreamWorks Animation dodged a bullet after its current release Puss in Boots opened below expectations but saw a minuscule drop in its second week and a small one in its third, at least one leading media analyst thinks that this cat has run out of lives. Richard Greenfield […]

DID 3D SNATCH PIRATES‘ BOOTY?

Analysts were doing some Monday-morning quarterbacking trying to figure out why Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides failed to produce the kind of bountiful revenue that the previous Pirates sequels had. To be sure, with $90.2 million domestically, the movie starring Johnny Depp outperformed every other film’s weekend opening this year. It also pushed […]

TIME WARNER DEFENDS ITS IPAD APP

Time Warner Cable has rejected claims by some cable networks that it has no right to beam their programs to iPads located in subscribers’ homes. In an interview with today’s (Friday) Wall Street Journal, Melinda Witmer, chief programming officer for the cable company, said that Time Warner Cable is “well within our rights” so long […]

STUDIOS PLANNING TO TAKE BIGGER SHARE OF BOX OFFICE REVENUE

Movie theater owners who may have been hoping to negotiate a larger share of the box-office split with studios in return for allowing premium video-on-demand are likely to see their hopes dashed this summer when the studios begin demanding a larger share themselves, according to BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield. In a note to clients […]

3D MOVIES: SAVIOR OR CURSE?

According to analysts, 3D played the role of good guy and bad guy at the box office this year. On the one hand, it helped propel ticket sales for films like Avatar and Toy Story 3, which were conceived with the 3D technology in mind. On the other hand, as Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research […]

IGER: DISNEY WON’T FORCE NETFLIX, REDBOX TO WAIT 28 DAYS

Disney chief Robert Iger has defended his studio’s decision to release Alice in Wonderland to Netflix, RedBox and other discount operators on the same date that it hit retail shelves, rather than force them to wait 28 days as other studios have done. As reported by Home Media magazine, Iger told a New York investors […]