ACT OF VALOR TRIUMPHS IN BOX-OFFICE BATTLE

Act of Valor, a movie that started out as a training film, which stars Navy SEALs playing Navy SEALs, was victorious at the weekend theater(s) of operations, seizing an estimated $24.7 million from moviegoers, more than twice what it cost to produce. Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds opened in second place with about $16 million, the […]

STRUGGLING RELATIVITY FINDS WHITE KNIGHT

Supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle, who has been seeking to establish a beachhead in Hollywood, may finally have done so. He reportedly has acquired a 25-percent stake in Ryan Kavanaugh’s struggling Relativity Media from Elliot Management for an undisclosed price. The Los Angeles Times observed today (Friday) that Elliot’s stake in Relativity is worth about $150 […]

IMMORTALS VS. NINE LIVES AT BOX OFFICE

It’s receiving lousy reviews and unexcited buzz, but Relativity Media’s The Immortals is the favorite to win the weekend box office race. Its principal competition comes from two other newcomers, Warner Bros.’ J. Edgar, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio (which opened on Wednesday) and Sony’s Jack and Jill, starring Adam Sandler (which […]

MOVIE TAX CREDITS BILL STALLED IN HAWAIIAN LEGISLATURE

The bill that would have raised the tax credits for film and TV productions shot in Hawaii has stalled in the Hawaiian legislature and with it plans to build two movie studios, on the islands of Oahu and Maui. The bill would have boosted tax credits on films shot in Oahu to 35 percent from […]

ANOTHER “DOWN” WEEK AT THE BOX OFFICE

The latest entries in the box office competition may have performed better than most analysts had predicted but their performances did not halt the almost uninterrupted weekly decline in ticket sales since December. The only “up” week was the Presidents Day weekend last month — and only because the holiday did not occur on the […]

REPORT RELATIVITY MEDIA MAY PRODUCE CONTENT FOR NETFLIX

Relativity Media, which already has a deal in place with Netflix that allows the online renter to stream movies that it controls ahead of the pay-TV window, may also produce content exclusively for Netflix, the New York Post reported today, citing unnamed sources. The report comes one week after Netflix signed a deal with Media […]

THE SOCIAL NETWORK WANTS TO BE FRIENDS

Moviegoers are expected to friend The Social Network bigtime this weekend. Box-office gurus are predicting that the controversial movie about the founding of Facebook will likely take in $25-30 million, probably exceeding the combined take of three debuting competitors, Case 39, Let Me In, and Chain Letter. (On Saturday it will also be competing against […]

NETFLIX TO START STREAMING NEW FILMS

Until now, virtually all of the films available via Netflix’s streaming service have been older films akin to those that are usually found in the bargain bins at retailers. Now that is about to change. Netflix announced today its first “groundbreaking deal to stream first-run, studio-quality theatrical movies” to its subscribers. Ted Sarandos, chief content […]