SMAUG IS LESS THAN BREATHTAKING IN DEBUT

With an estimated $73.6-million opening, Warner Bros. and MGM executives had nothing to feel desolate about, but The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug earned 13 percent less than The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey did over the comparable weekend a year ago. That film set a record for December, and some forecasters had predicted that the […]

GATSBY GREAT; IRON MAN GREATER (Updated)

The Great Gatsby raked in an estimated $51.1 million over the weekend, bowling over analysts’ predictions of $35-40 million. But it was not enough to displace Iron Man 3 as the No. 1 film at the box office. The Disney/Marvel “threequel” collected another $72.4 million in its second weekend, nearly half of it on Saturday. […]

PUNDITS: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY SHOULD WIN THE WEEKEND

Box office activity for the fourth installment of Paranormal Activity is expected to be as robust as its forerunners’. Industry pundits are predicting that it will earn around $50-55 million, in line with Paranormal Activity 3, which opened with $52.6 million. This edition reportedly cost about $6 million to produce, a fraction of the budget […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: ALEX CROSS

Tyler Perry rarely allows critics to view his movies before they’re released. Alex Cross is the first movie he has starred in that he didn’t also write and direct (and it’s a significant departure from the previous ones). But it might have been wise for Lionsgate, which is releasing the film, to have dispensed with […]

RAUNCH AND SEX RULE AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Records of sorts were set at the box office last weekend. The Los Angeles Times discovered that for the first time in history two R-rated movies earned more than $21 million apiece. In fact, Ted, with $54.4 million, and Magic Mike, with $39.1 million, according to the final official tally, did it with millions to […]

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 […]

LUCAS: HOLLYWOOD WON’T MAKE AN ALL-BLACK BIG-BUDGET MOVIE

His films may have earned more money than those of any other producer, but George Lucas says he was unable to find a single studio executive willing to back his film, Red Tails, about the Tuskegee Airmen, the heroic World War II group of black pilots. Appearing on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Lucas […]

TYLER PERRY: HIGHEST PAID MAN IN ENTERTAINMENT

Tyler Perry, the creator of the Madea movies, is the highest-paid man in entertainment, Forbes magazine reported today (Tuesday). The financial magazine observed that while the likes of Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp receive most of the public’s attention, only two personalities at the top of the list are actors — and one is Perry, […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: JUMPING THE BROOM

Jumping the Broom is another one of those movies about a couple from different social strata whose upcoming marriage is regarded with no enthusiasm by their parents. The difference in this film is that the two families are African-American. Indeed the phrase “jumping the broom” dates back to wedding rites during the days of slavery. […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY

While it was not screened in advance for critics, Madea’s Big Happy Family was viewed by a handful of them at their local multiplexes over the weekend. Their common complaint is that, aside from the Madea character (producer-director-writer-star Tyler Perry in a fat suit, a print dress and a wig), nearly all of the women […]

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