KNIGHT RISES; BOX OFFICE DECLINES (Updated)

In the weekend competition between Olympics telecasts and the movies there was no contest, as the NBC coverage continued to rack up record ratings while the box office sank 25 percent below last year. The top film — for the third week in a row — was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises with an […]

MOVIE REVIEWS 2: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

Rex Reed of the New York Observer and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune have joined the exclusive clique of critics who have broken ranks with the overwhelming majority who are heaping praise on The Dark Knight Rises. It is the antonym of praise — scorn? ridicule? outrage? — that Reed heaps on the movie. […]

HOLY ’60S, BATMAN! WB TO LICENSE TV CHARACTERS

In the decade of The Dark Knight, the campy Batman television series of the 1960s seems oddly old-fashioned, but Warner Bros. presumably believes there’s still life in the old series yet. It announced a new licensing and merchandising program today (Thursday) built around the “Dynamic Duo” of Batman and Robin and their iconic enemies including […]

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN: FAIREST OF THEM ALL

Snow White and the Huntsman dwarfed everything else at the box office over the weekend, taking in an estimated $56.3 million, well ahead of industry forecasts. The result will no doubt come as considerable relief to Universal executives, who saw their last release, Battleship, sink out of the dock three weekends ago. Winding up in […]

COUNTERPROGRAMMING BOX OFFICE — IT HARDLY EVER WORKS

An analysis by the Los Angeles Times of the box office of films released as “counterprogramming” to major tentpole movies has concluded that while the counterprogramming idea may seem logical in theory, “in the real world, it’s borderline suicide.” The newspaper tracked the recent history of such a release tactic, concluding that “the results have […]

CHINESE FIRM INVESTS $220.5 MILLION IN U.S. MOVIES

Although producing movies sounds as far removed from construction and real estate development as the U.S. is from China, shareholders of Hong Kong-based Paul Y. Engineering Ltd. today (Tuesday) approved a deal to invest $220.5 million in a new motion picture production company with Hollywood’s Legendary Entertainment aimed at producing blockbuster movies in Hong Kong […]

MOST-PIRATED MOVIES ARE ALSO BOX-OFFICE HITS

The most-pirated movies of all time are also some of the biggest box-office winners, according to TorrentFreak.com, which tracks BitTorrent use on the Internet. According to the website, Avatar, with 21 million downloads, is the most pirated movie ever, with The Dark Knight and 2007’s Transformers tied for second place with about 19 million. Avatar, […]

DEATHLY HALLOWS ENTERS $1-BILLION CLUB

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 joined the billion-dollar club over the weekend, the club’s ninth member. Through Sunday the franchise finale had earned $1.01 billion worldwide ($318.5 million domestically; $690 million internationally). It’s the first Warner Bros. film to pass the $1-billion mark. The club is due to be joined by a […]

HALLOWS IS DEATHLY TO BOX-OFFICE RECORDS

Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 shattered one record after another over the weekend, culminating with an estimated $168.6 million domestically for the three days, making it the all-time champion for a regular weekend opener. The previous record, $158.4 million, set in 2008, was held by another Warner Bros. film, The […]

DEATHLY HALLOWS PT. 2 SETS FRIDAY RECORD

Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 grossed $92.1 Friday night, the largest domestic take of all time, far surpassing the previous Friday record of $72.7 million set by The Twilight Saga: New Moon in its debut in 2009. The figure includes $43.5 million from midnight grosses, also a record. (It’s presently […]

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