CREEPING DVD WINDOW CLOSINGS

In an apparent effort to avoid antagonizing theater owners, studios have been slowly reducing the window between the time films play in theaters and the time they are released on home video, Home Media magazine reported on Tuesday. A year ago, it noted, all new major studio DVD releases came out more than four months […]

HARRY POTTER RULES THE WORLD

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 may have set no opening-weekend records domestically (with the arguable exception of its earning more on IMAX screens than any previous film), but it shattered records in some foreign markets, where it opened on the same day that it did in the U.S. The Warner Bros. film […]

BOX OFFICE SLUMPS

Movie attendance on Sunday was significantly lower than most studios had estimated, with virtually all of the top attractions winding up with less than the anticipated results. (Weekend estimates are based on actual ticket sales for Friday and Saturday and an educated guess for sales on Sunday.) Topping the list was Paramount/DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind, which […]

MEGAMIND IS UNSTOPPABLE IN SECOND WEEK

DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind held off stiff competition from 20th Century Fox’s Unstoppable over the weekend as it drew an estimated $30.1 million, representing a 35-percent drop from the previous week, bringing its ten-day total to $89.8 million. Tony Scott’s Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine, pulled up with $23.5 million, in line with forecasts. […]

MEGAMIND LIKELY TO PREVAIL AT BOX OFFICE

Box office forecasters are predicting that last week’s top film, DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind will outsell three rivals that are rolling out in wide release this weekend. The challengers are 20th Century Fox’s Unstoppable, Paramount’s Morning Glory, and Universal’s Skyline. Of the three, Unstoppable, starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine and directed by Tony Scott, appears […]

MEGAMIND: BAD BOYS FINISH FIRST

Final box-office results for the past weekend were down a bit from Sunday’s estimates. Nevertheless, total ticket sales were up nearly 30 percent from the comparable weekend a year ago. Paramount/DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind topped the list with $46.02 million, well above the $30.05 million that Disney’s A Christmas Carol pulled in as it debuted at […]

MEGAMIND: THE BAD GUY WINS

As expected DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind controlled the box office over the weekend as it earned an estimated $47 million. That was a tad below the consensus of analysts, who had expected it to earn $50-55 million, but no one was complaining. It was a particularly strong figure for the first weekend of November, which is […]

SOMETHING FOR EVERY TASTE AT MEGAPLEX THIS WEEKEND

Just about every movie genre will be represented at the megaplex this weekend. You want a family film? There’s the animated Megamind, the latest 3D offering from DreamWorks Animation and Paramount. You want a raunchy male-oriented comedy? There’s Warner Bros.’ R-rated Due Date, directed by Todd Phillips and starring Zach Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr. […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: DUE DATE

Virtually every critic is comparing Due Date with director Todd Phillips’s last movie, The Hangover. This one is funny, most of them conclude; it’s just not as funny. “The movie probably contains enough laughs to satisfy the weekend audience,” Roger Ebert writes unenthusiastically in the Chicago Sun-Times. “Shockingly, it’s funny. Often in shocking or at […]