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Disney Caught Up In Downturn

7 November 2008 10:46 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The Walt Disney company, which has resisted the economic downturn with greater strength than most other media conglomerates -- its stock has dropped only about 25 percent over the rocky past two months, while other media companies' have plunged 40-60 percent -- startled investors Thursday when it disclosed that its fourth-quarter net income had dropped 13 percent and that it expected even worse results next year. Disney said that its net income for the quarter totaled $760 million, down from $877 million in the year-ago period. Almost every Disney unit reported disappointing results. Its movie studio was particularly hard hit with operating income down 42 percent from last year as films like Swing Vote and Miracle at St. Anna turned out to be duds. Revenue plunged at Disney's ABC and Espn networks and its television stations as some of their biggest ad buyers -- particularly automotive, financial services and consumer electronics companies -- retrenched. To make matters worse, ABC's programs have lost 20 percent of their audience of 18-49 year-old adults since the beginning of the season. Revenue was virtually flat at its theme parks, which account for 30 percent of its revenue, but the company said it expected a sharp drop in attendance in the coming months, judging from a 10-percent fall-off in bookings at its resorts, and on Thursday began offering discount deals to draw visitors. In a conference call, Disney chief Robert Iger made no attempt to play down the company's anticipated trouble. "Consumer confidence is the lowest we've seen in over three decades," he said.

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On DVD Today: October 21, 2008

21 October 2008 2:45 AM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

DVD Links: Release Dates | New Dvds | Reviews | RSS Feed The Incredible Hulk I just reviewed the Blu-ray edition, which you can read right here, but suffice to say, I love this film and think it is one of the best comic book flicks I have ever seen. It is certainly better than Iron Man and second to The Dark Knight when it comes to summer 2009 superhero movies. It looks fantastic and has a thunderous soundtrack that will shake your room. The Blu-ray has a boat load of features and I would call it a must buy for any fan of straight-up entertaining flicks. Sure, it isn't as serious as The Dark Knight and doesn't have Robert Downey's wit, but in terms of films that describe "spectacle" this one fills the bill. James Bond on Blu-ray

Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes

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Brad Brevet

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Kevin Costner to Release Country Album

29 September 2008 10:04 PM, PDT | From Aceshowbiz | See recent Aceshowbiz news

Hollywood actor Kevin Costner is confirmed to release a country music album with his band, Modern West. The album features 12 new songs, half of which are co-written by Kevin himself. The record will reportedly hit the market on November 11 but no word is available about the album's title.

Previously, Kevin, who played a lovable loser named Bud Johnson in big screen "Swing Vote", announced his move to jump into the music industry about three months ago when he performed with Modern West for the first time at Nascar event in July. "I remember looking out into the crowd, thinking, 'This just feels right,'" he said at that time.

Meanwhile, a statement issued on the band's MySpace page revealed that they were actually connected at the first sight. "We got our first glimpse of music adoration while singing in the church choir," the statement said.

Most recently, in "The New Daughter

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AceShowbiz.com

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Weekend Film Focus - "Bangkok Dangerous"

5 September 2008 4:20 AM, PDT | From Movie Jungle | See recent Movie Jungle news

The Pang brothers Oxide and Danny Pang co-helm the remake of the 1999 actioner "Bangkok Dangerous." Truly versatile, hard-working Nicolas Cage stars in the new version written by Jason Richman ("Bad Company," "Swing Vote"). The film debuts on September 5th in over 2,500+ cinemas and tries it's luck against "Tropic Thunder" which has a three weekend top spot run. The busy Cage is up next in Alex Proyas'"Knowing" sci-fi thriller and frontlines a strong cast including Penelope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Bill Nighy and Kelly Garner in "G-Force." "Knowing" helmer Proyas is known for "Dark City," "The Crow" and "I, Robot."

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Connecting to Movies... A 'Character' Study

21 August 2008 12:07 AM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

What a pretty ass explosion...

Photo: Warner Bros.Pictures When I started writing about movies way back in 2003 I didn't know sh!t. I looked at films on a surface level only. I had always loved movies, but I loved them for how big the explosions were and how cool the effects were... that is... for the most part. Sure, I looked a little deeper into The Matrix (thought it was cool), thought the fake eyelash was cool after A Clockwork Orange and I am not at all ashamed to admit I love Titanic as a love story, but when it comes down to it I went to the theater for the more special effects driven "cool" flicks. To me, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was a reason to buy a ticket. Marie Antoinette was not. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a reason to buy a ticket.

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Brad Brevet

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Is Roger Ebert Still Credible?

20 August 2008 9:58 PM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

RopeofSilicon was running ads for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor for about the last month or so, but it wasn't until recently that critic quotes started showing up in the ads following the release of all the reviews. Considering the film was firmly placed on Rotten Tomatoes with a 10% rating at the time (down to 9% now) I was wondering just who the hell was supplying the quotes. I thought this film was awful and assumed it would be a bunch of critics I had never heard of, maybe that Lyons dude that writes for E! or Peter Travers at "Rolling Stone," since they love to shill themselves out. I wasn't ready for what I found though... Roger Ebert gave The Mummy 3/4 stars! What, what!?!? This is crazy, how can it be? Ebert can't like a stupid movie. Can he? Here's the thing. Ebert can like a stupid movie.

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Brad Brevet

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Can Knight Beat Titanic?

12 August 2008 10:36 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The Dark Knight has come within striking distance of displacing the original Star Wars as the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. Final weekend figures released by Media by Numbers on Monday indicated that the latest Batman sequel grossed $26.1 million over the weekend to keep it at No. 1 for the fourth consecutive week. It has now grossed $441.32 million, or about $20 million short of Star Wars' achievement. However, it's far behind the George Lucas classic when inflation is taken into account. If tickets in 1977, when Star Wars came out, had cost what they do today, the movie would have earned $1.23 billion -- an amount The Dark Knight has no chance of equaling. (When adjusted for inflation the top film of all time is Gone With the Wind, which would have made $1.26 billion in today's dollars.) Analysts also suggest that it has no chance of equaling the $600 million (unadjusted for inflation) that Titanic took in a decade ago. Indeed Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman conceded as much in an interview appearing in today's (Tuesday) Hollywood Reporter. "Titanic was once in a lifetime, and I don't think we'll ever have another gross like that in the history of the industry," Fellman said.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $26,117,030, 4 Wks. ($441,628,497); 2. Pineapple Express, Sony, $23,245,025, 1 Wks. ($41,318,736 (From Wednesday); 3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Universal, $16,490,970, 2 Wks. ($71048920); 4. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, Warner Bros., $10,678,430, 1 Wks. ($19,620,128 (From Wednesday); 5. Step Brothers, Sony, $9,128,662, 3 Wks. ($81132136); 6. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $8,208,580, 4 Wks. ($104,144,505); 7. Journey to the Center of the Earth, Warner Bros., $4,871,478, 5 Wks. ($81,775,323); 8. Hancock, Sony, $3,317,450, 5 Wks. ($221,726,791); 9. Wall-e, Disney, $3140083, 7 Wks. ($210,206,582); 10. Swing Vote, Disney, $3,125,290, 2 Wks. ($12,020,828).

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Knight Once Again Wins The Gold

11 August 2008 10:33 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

In its fourth weekend, The Dark Knight moved within striking distance of the original Star Wars to claim the title of the second-highest-grossing movie of all time. With its domestic gross now standing at $441.5 million, the movie should overtake the George Lucas classic, which has had several rereleases that have brought its total to $461 million. At its current pace, it should surpass that figure by next weekend. Nevertheless, box office analysts give the movie scant chance of breaking Titanic's record of $601 million. Once again, the Batman movie wound up at the top of the box-office heap with $26 million, beating out the debut of the stoner comedy Pineapple Express, which earned $22.4 million, according to industry estimates. It was the first movie to hold on to the box office crown for four consecutive weeks since Lord of the Rings: Return of the King did so in 2003. The only other movie to open wide was Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, which landed in fourth place with $10.8 million, behind The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with $16.1 million. Overall, the box office took in $120 million, down from $154 million for the comparable weekend a year ago. Comparisons, however, are dicey, given this weekend's competition from the opening of the Olympic Games in China.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers:1. The Dark Knight, $26 million; 2. Pineapple Express, $22.4 million; 3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, $16.1 million; 4. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, $10.8 million; 5. Step Brothers, $8.9 million; 6. Mamma Mia!, $8.1 million; 7. Journey to the Center of the Earth, $4.9 million; 8. Hancock, $3.3 million; 9. Swing Vote, $3.1 million; 10. Wall-e, $3 million.

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Hopper baffled by 'Swing Vote' axe

11 August 2008 7:56 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Dennis Hopper has hit out at the filmmakers behind new movie Swing Vote for leaving most of his scenes on the cutting room floor. The actor was cast as Donald Greenleaf, a Democratic presidential candidate, but voiced his displeasure at being axed from the election comedy to the New York Daily News after viewing the finished version. He said: "I got cut out of that movie. My [character's] subplot was completely cut. There's a scene we shot where I ditch all my (more)

By Simon Reynolds

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Box-Office Wrap-Up: Aug. 8 - Aug. 10, 2008

10 August 2008 2:59 PM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Dark Knight did it again. I do firmly believe that opening early hurt Pineapple Express. Word of mouth probably was lukewarm and the truly excited people saw it on Wednesday. So they sort of went out of their way to lose the weekend. Well done, gents. #1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks In A Row 1. The Dark Knight A month straight. In this day and age that's incredible. I still think this will have a tough time cracking $500m domestically - boxofficemojo.com has it at $440m currently. Result: 26.0 million (My rank: #2, $2.0m off) 2. Pineapple Express The film has made $40m since it's been released. All of that would have come Fri-Sun if they would have waited. Idiots. Result: 22.4 million (My rank: #1, $3.7m off) 3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Sixty percent drop much? This one has been measured - and found wanting. Result: 16.1 million (My rank: #3, $2.9m off) 4. The Sisterhood

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Laremy Legel

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Weekend Box Office August 8–10, 2008

10 August 2008 10:46 AM, PDT | From HollywoodOutbreak.com | See recent Hollywood Outbreak news

1 1 The Dark Knight WB $26,030,000 -39.0% 4,025 -241 $6,467 $441,541,000 $185 4 2 N Pineapple Express Sony $22,400,000 - 3,072 - $7,291 $40,474,000 $27 1 3 2 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Uni. $16,113,000 -60.2% 3,778 +18 $4,264 $70,671,000 $145 2 4 N The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 WB $10,770,000 - 2,707 - $3,978 $19,712,000 $27 1 5 3 Step Brothers Sony $8,900,000 -46.1% 3,182 +88 $2,796 $80,903,000 $65 3 6 4 Mamma Mia! Uni. $8,081,000 -35.9% 3,194 +132 $2,530 $104,017,000 $52 4 7 5 Journey to the Center of the Earth WB (Nl) $4,855,000 -27.1% 1,970 -315 $2,464 $81,759,000 $60 5 8 7 Hancock Sony $3,300,000 -35.1% 2,258 -524 $1,461 $221,709,000 $150 6 9 6 Swing Vote Bv $3,106,000 -50.1% 2,213 - $1,403 $12,002,000 $21 2 10 8 Wall-e Bv $3,045,000 -33.9% 2,144 -411 $1,420 $210,112,000 $180 7 11 10 Space Chimps Fox $1,650,000 -39.3% 1,631 -503 $1,011 $25,447,000 $37 4

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Friday Box-Office Insinuates 'Pineapple Express' Can't Dethrone 'Dark Knight'

9 August 2008 2:10 AM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

Can no one beat The Dark Knight?

Photo: Sony Pictures I am not sure if the 50% drop from the Pineapple Express opening day number of $12 million on Wednesday to only $5.9 million on Thursday is a sign of bad word-of-mouth or what, but it appears the film won't be able to dethrone The Dark Knight as Friday box-office numbers have Dark Knight taking in $7.8 million with Express coming in second with $7.65 million. Looks like it will be up to Tropic Thunder to take out the caped crusader, but like Express, Tropic Thunder also opens on a Wednesday and is rated R, two factors I believe played a major role in the Express numbers. Then again, perhaps audiences agree with me that Express is funny in parts, but not altogether hilarious. Steve Mason at Fantasy Moguls pegs Pineapple Express to come in with $22.95 million for the weekend, which is just under $4 million

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Brad Brevet

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Hopper Complains He Was "Cut Out" Of Swing Vote

8 August 2008 10:32 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Dennis Hopper may seem to have mellowed considerably since his days as Hollywood's enfant terrible in the late '60s and '70s, but he is still capable of biting the hand that feeds him. In an interview with the New York Daily News's "Rush & Molloy" column, Hopper complains that many of his scenes in the Kevin Costner movie Swing Vote ended up on the proverbial cutting-room floor. Hopper,who plays a Democratic presidential candidate in the film, says that he "got cut out of the movie. ... My [character's ] subplot was completely cut. ... When I saw the final cut, I thought, 'I'm not even in this movie!'" Neither Costner, the director, Joshua Stern, nor the distributor, Disney, would comment on Hopper's complaint.

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Grammer, Costner sued over 'Swing Vote'

8 August 2008 10:21 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Costner have been sued over their new film Swing Vote, reports TMZ. Screenwriter Bradley Blakeman filed suit in New York yesterday claiming that the movie was based on his script Go November, which he allegedly sent to Grammer "in confidence" in spring 2006. Blakeman stated that his script was plagiarised by Grammer, Costner and Disney as it featured the same "unique 'down to (more)

By Simon Reynolds

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Grammer, Costner sued over 'Swing Vote'

8 August 2008 10:21 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Costner have been sued over their new film Swing Vote, reports TMZ. Screenwriter Bradley Blakeman filed suit in New York yesterday claiming that the movie was based on his script Go November, which he allegedly sent to Grammer "in confidence" in spring 2006. Blakeman stated that his script was plagiarised by Grammer, Costner and Disney as it featured the same "unique 'down to (more)

By Simon Reynolds

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Hopper: 'I'm Not In My New Film'

8 August 2008 5:37 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Hollywood legend Dennis Hopper was shocked after watching his new movie Swing Vote - because most of his scenes had been cut.

The veteran actor plays Donald Greenleaf in the comedy, co-starring Kevin Costner and Kelsey Grammer, but insists some of his best moments were left on the editing room floor.

The Easy Rider star tells the New York Daily News, "I got cut out of that movie. My (character's) subplot was completely cut.

"There's a scene we shot where I ditch all my events to go support a young Mexican waitress at the funeral of her grandfather. It was chopped. It was important to the development of my character and it's missing.

"It's probably because they thought it was too long but when I saw the final cut I thought 'I'm not even in this movie!'"

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Grammer + Costner Sued Over Swing Vote Script

8 August 2008 12:06 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

A screenwriter is suing Hollywood actors Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Costner - alleging the script for their new movie Swing Vote was based on his work.

Bradley Blakeman filed a lawsuit in New York on Thursday claiming the film was based on his script for Go November, which he claims to have sent "in confidence" to Grammer in spring 2006.

Blakeman has named the former Frasier star in the suit, along with Costner and moviemakers Disney and Touchstone Pictures, according to papers obtained by TMZ.com.

The writer claims his script featured a "unique 'down to the wire' presidential election, hinging on swing voters" - closely resembling the plot of the newly released comedy.

Grammer's representative Stan Rosenfield has hit out at the claims, insisting the actor had no influence on the new movie's script.

He says, "I am not sure why Kelsey was even named in this suit. He was an actor who signed on to the project After the script was written."

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Box-Office Oracle: Aug. 8 - Aug. 10, 2008

7 August 2008 1:40 PM, PDT | From Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news

#1 movie predicted correctly: 0 Weeks in a Row 1. Pineapple Express B-Luv thinks Dark Knight will take it again. He might be right. The Wednesday opening will bleed a bit of the box office but I think the positive word of mouth will help even more. Estimate: $26.1 million 2. The Dark Knight Dark Knight has stayed very healthy on the math front. A 43% drop last weekend was tremendous. I'm only thinking a 40% drop this weekend too - another great performance. But I'm taking Pineapple because I believe The Olympics hurts a film that's been out a month more than it hurts a stoner comedy. Estimate: $24.0 million 3. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor I probably can't drop this one enough but it's already looking like a very sad box office weekend. So 53.5% is the drop-off here, and heaven help those poor bastards that wander in unawares. Estimate: $19.0 million 4. The Sisterhood of the Traveling

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Laremy Legel

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Knight Crosses $400-Million Mark in 18 Days

5 August 2008 10:32 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight on Monday sprinted past the $400-million mark in ticket sales 18 days after it was released, thereby setting a new box-office record and beating the 43-day record set by Shrek 2 in 2004 in reaching that milestone. The film earned $6,287,429 on Monday to bring its total gross to $400,038,494, according to Media By Numbers. Earlier, the box-office tracking group had indicated that the actual results for the weekend had not been so hardy as studios had estimated. Knight, which had been expected to earn $43.8 million, actually came in at $42.6 million, and Universal's The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which had been expected to earn $42.5 million, actually came in at $40.5 million. Meanwhile, on MSNBC.com, film commentator Erik Lundegaard argued that there is little chance that The Dark Knight will be able to challenge Titanic for the title of the highest-grossing movie in history. Suggesting that from here on out the movie will depend on repeat business if it is to gross $600 million -- as Titanic did -- Lundegaard commented, "Fanboys are fanboys, but there are no repeat customers like teenage girls in love with Leonardo DiCaprio." Lundegaard noted that the fall-off in ticket sales for Knight closely mirrors that of last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. If it continues to do so, he observed, Knight will probably end up with a domestic total of $515 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. The Dark Knight, Warner Bros., $42,664,219, 3 Wks. ($393,751,065); 2. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Universal, $40,457,770, (New); 3. Step Brothers, Sony, $16,506,526, 2 Wks. ($63,172,026); 4. Mamma Mia!, Universal, $12,615,515, 3 Wks. ($87,470,125); 5. Journey to the Center of the Earth, Warner Bros., $6,662,406, 4 Wks. ($72,927,314); 6. Swing Vote, Disney, $6,230,669, (New); 7. Hancock, Sony, $5,087,756, 5 Wks. ($215,883,222); 8. Wall-e, Disney, $4,603,179, 6 Wks. ($204,078,076); 9. The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Fox, $3,385,878, 2 Wks. ($17,021,373); 10. Space Chimps, Fox, $2,720,177, 3 Wks. ($21,971,016).

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Lopez Urges Latinos To Vote Obama

5 August 2008 9:01 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Comedian George Lopez has urged Latino voters to support U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama - because he's determined to prove Latinos would elect an African-American president.

Lopez says it was a personal phone call from Barack Obama that made him a supporter of the presidential hopeful.

And the Swing Vote star hopes he can inspire the same outlook in his fellow Latino voters.

He says, "I don't like the fact that people think Latinos won't vote for an African-American. It's bulls**t. We're going to vote for the right person who can restore faith and hope in this country. Latinos feel disenfranchised. (Obama's) dream is our dream."

According to a report by CNN issued last week (begs28Jul08), Obama's approval rating with registered Latino voters is at 66 percent, compared to 23 percent favouring Republican candidate John McCain.

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