THE MASTER SETS BOX OFFICE RECORD

As if to demonstrate that people will go to the movies in September if they’re given something worthwhile to see, a little film from The Weinstein Co., titled The Master, sold out virtually every seat in the five theaters in New York and Los Angeles where it opened over the weekend. The film, which had […]

REPORT: WEINSTEIN CO. EXPECTING TROUBLE FROM SCIENTOLOGISTS

The Weinstein Co., expecting to face protests from members of Scientology over its Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master, has increased security at tonight’s (Thursday) premiere of the movie in New York, MovieLine.com reported today. The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, reported earlier this week that Scientologists have been inundating the distributor with “strange […]

THE ARTIST RETURNS — BUT NOBODY CARES

Oscar winner The Artist did OK at the box office in its initial run, earning $44 million, even without ever hitting the top ten. But it earned nearly twice that amount overseas. So executives at the Weinstein Co. figured that there must be a bigger audience for the movie at home, too, and they decided […]

AMC CHAIN WILL PERMIT CHILDREN TO SEE BULLY WITH PARENTAL OK

The AMC movie chain on Tuesday said that it will allow children under 17 to see The Weinstein Co.’s Bully documentary if they receive written permission from their parents or if the parents speak to a ticket seller via their children’s cellphone. The theater chain has posted permission slips on its website. (They are also […]

MPAA SURVEY: PARENTS WANT F-WORD BARRED IN PG-13 MOVIES

The MPAA has commissioned a survey of U.S. parents to determine whether they wish the organization to overlook bad language — in particular the use of the F-word — in assigning ratings to films, the Los Angeles Times reported today. It quoted Joan Graves, who heads the MPAA’s ratings board, as saying that the survey […]

THE LORAX HEADING TOWARD $60-MILLION WEEKEND (Update)

UPDATE: Daily Variety reported on Saturday that Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax earned an estimated $17.4 million on Friday and appears likely to wind up with around $60 million for the weekend.(Earlier)The box office for The Lorax should be as green as Dr. Seuss’s eggs this weekend, forecasters predict. Some pundits are saying that the animated […]

WEINSTEIN TAKES THE BULLY PULPIT

Harvey Weinstein is ratcheting up his battle with the MPAA and theater owners over the R rating his soon-to-be-released documentary Bully has received because of language. On Tuesday Weinstein responded to a letter from John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners, who wrote that if Weinstein refuses to submit future films to […]

MICHAEL MOORE REACHES SETTLEMENT WITH WEINSTEINS

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has agreed to a settlement offer from The Weinstein Co. a month before his multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the company over alleged accounting irregularities was to go to trial, the Hollywood Reporter reported today (Thursday), citing recently filed court documents. Moore had hired an outside accounting firm to conduct an audit of […]

NO NEW MOVIES TO OPEN WIDE THIS WEEKEND

Given that the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday is notoriously lame at the box office, studios this year have tossed in the towel: not one of them is opening a movie wide. Some have elected to widen a few films already in release and bring back a few Oscar contenders that were originally released earlier […]

STRONG DEBUTS FOR ART-HOUSE FARE

Two art-house films made impressive debuts over the weekend. Sarah’s Key, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and released by The Weinstein Co., earned $117,045 at four theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a per-theater average of $23,409. (By contrast, Captain America averaged $17,719 per theater.) And Fox Searchlight’s Another Earth also debuted in four […]

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