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Storms blanketing the country from the East Coast to the Midwest put a crimp in all three big openings this weekend. Left standing in first place was the Jim Carrey comedy "Yes Man," with $18.2 million in ticket sales, according to preliminary figures from Warner Bros.
The Will Smith drama "Seven Pounds," distributed by Sony Pictures, came in second with $16 million. Universal Studios' animated feature "The Tale of Despereaux," about a heroic mouse in the era of castles and dungeons, came in third with $10.5 million.
The top five were rounded out by two holdovers: 20th Century Fox's "The Day the Earth Stood Still," still strong in its second week with $10.2 million, and Warner's 4-week-old "Four Christmases," which broke $100 million in total box-office sales by adding $7.7 million in revenue this weekend.
Studio executives estimated that the weather cost them as much as 10% of their expected gross.
"The East Coast was just annihilated on Friday, and the Northwest was a disaster last night," said Dan Fellman, director of distribution at Warner Bros.
Nikki Rocco, Universal's director of domestic distribution, agreed. "There were very few markets that didn't have a weather issue," she said, arguing that "Despereaux," as G-rated family fare for the under-13 set, might have been especially vulnerable. "A lot of parents spent the weekend digging themselves out."
The Northeast was socked especially hard. Gross box-office receipts Friday were down 81% from a week earlier, said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for distribution at Fox -- and even down 9% from Thursday. By contrast, revenue was down only 1% from Friday to Friday in Los Angeles.
Still, even accounting for the weather, the weekend's results would probably have fallen well short of the pre-Christmas weekend last year, when the Nicolas Cage thriller "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" opened with $44.8 million in ticket sales. Gross box office this weekend was down 41% from the same weekend last year, according to Media by Numbers, which tracks box-office figures.
That's partly because both major live-action films that opened over the weekend were marketing challenges. Carrey, the star of "Yes Man," has lately looked like tarnished goods. His last signature comedy with a blockbuster opening was "Bruce Almighty," which took in $68 million on Memorial Day weekend in 2003.
In context, however, "Yes Man's" opening can be seen as a big victory for Carrey. "He's back on top with a No. 1 movie that he's headlining," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers.
"Seven Pounds," meanwhile, was launched with a marketing campaign that went out of its way to avoid telling audiences the theme or plot line. It's about a man with a very peculiar approach to charitable giving.
Intimations that the movie would showcase Smith's softer side yielded an audience that was 55% female, according to Media by Numbers, suggesting that some men may have resisted a picture that was shaping up as a triple-hanky weeperoo.
Sony said it expected "Seven Pounds" to track the results of another Will Smith drama, 2006's "The Pursuit of Happyness" -- not a blockbuster such as his "Hancock" or "I Am Legend," but with $163.6 million in total worldwide gross, a solid hit.
"We're in a very good position to do that again," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of distribution.
Independent and other limited-release films continued to do well on a per-theater basis. The champ was Fox Searchlight's "The Wrestler," starring a monstrously unrecognizable Mickey Rourke, which brought in a monstrous average of $52,369 in four theaters in Los Angeles and New York. The picture will expand to 18 theaters Christmas Day.
Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino," distributed by Warner Bros., recorded an average of $25,632 at 19 theaters. Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire," Miramax's "Doubt" and Universal's "Frost/Nixon" also had strong showings in limited release.
"The action is not all at the top of the chart," Dergarabedian said.
michael.hiltzik@latimes.com
It is about to become a little more difficult to watch music videos by Madonna, Metallica and Kid Rock.
Unable to reach new licensing terms, the Warner Music Group has demanded that thousands of its videos be removed from YouTube, which is owned by Google. Warner Music’s videos, the source of a billion views on YouTube, gradually began disappearing from the site on Saturday, although many remained online Sunday evening.
Music video streams may be a new battleground between Google, which wants to expand its video advertising business, and media companies, which expect to be fully compensated for their online content.
The dispute highlights the outsize popularity of music videos on YouTube, the world’s most popular video-sharing Web site. Six of YouTube’s 10 most popular videos of all time are music videos; the measurement firm TubeMogul says musicians and record labels are responsible for at least eight billion views on the site.
“YouTube owes much of its popularity, and ad revenue, to the fact that a user can find almost any music video there,” said David Burch, the marketing manager for TubeMogul.
In a blog post on Friday, YouTube notified its users about the removal of Warner Music content — including user-generated videos that use Warner music — and said it would continue to work with labels and artists to build “user-friendly licensing arrangements.”
In a statement, Warner Music said it “simply cannot accept terms that fail to appropriately and fairly compensate recording artists, songwriters, labels and publishers for the value they provide.”
Warner Music and the other major record labels — Universal Music, Sony BMG and EMI — reached licensing pacts with YouTube two years ago. They receive a small per-stream fee for each video viewed on YouTube and a share of the advertising revenue.
Disagreements about whether the labels should be paid in advance or after the videos are viewed have contributed to the tension between Warner and YouTube.
Warner’s deal with YouTube expired “many months ago,” a spokesman for Warner, Will Tanous, confirmed. The other labels are all thought to be negotiating for new licensing pacts, although representatives for those companies did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
Digital revenue, including electronic song downloads and ad-supported music video streams, is increasingly important to the labels as sales of physical CDs continue to diminish.
Warner reported $639 million in digital revenue for the fiscal year that ended in September. Less than 1 percent of that was generated by YouTube’s ads and fees, said an executive close to Warner Music who requested anonymity because the company doesn’t disclose details about individual agreements.
“If we don’t get this business model right, it’s going to be a lot harder to fix down the road,” the executive said.
Warner is expected to continue distributing music videos with the other Web sites it has licensing arrangements with, including MySpace Music and AOL. The videos will continue to appear on the artists’ Web sites as well. Listeners are likely to find them the same way they have for years: by typing the name of the artist or song into Google’s search engine.
Michael Jackson in Need of New Lungs?
PopEater
posted: 11 MINUTES AGOcomments: 6filed under: Music News, Out SickPrintShareText SizeAAA(Dec. 22) -- Michael Jackson's biographer claims the King of Pop is waging the fight of his life against a genetic disease that has left him nearly blind and desperately in need of a lung transplant.
Celebrity Health ScaresGetty Images41 photos Michael Jackson is reportedly in need of a lung transplant and has lost nearly all vision in his left eye according to his biographer, Ian Halperin. He says the King of Pop is suffering from an inherited condition called A1AD.(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)
Celebrity Health Scares
Deftones bassist Chi Cheng, seen here performing in 2000, is in a coma and in "very serious" condition following a car crash.
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Cher denies claims that she canceled a number of shows at Caesar's Palace due to cancer. Her rep says the singer has been suffering from "Vegas throat," a sickness and allergy developed from desert winds.
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Patrick Swayze is battling pancreatic cancer, which was diagnosed in late January 2008. He's responding well to chemotherapy and experimental drugs, so much so that he's back at work full-time on a new show, 'The Beast.'
Bryan Bedder, Getty Images
'Desperate Housewives' star Gale Harold is improving after being seriously injured in a motorcycle accident, and is now out of intensive care.
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Taylor Momsen was hospitalized on Oct. 19 for a life-threatening throat infection. After being treated, the 'Gossip Girl' star was released on Oct. 22 and is expected to make a full recovery.
Steve Mack, FilmMagic
Janet Jackson has canceled several stops on her fall tour as she battles vestibular migraine headaches, which induce the sensation of vertigo.
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Meat Loaf spent three days in a London hospital after falling ill during an awards ceremony. On the red carpet, the 'Bat Out of Hell' singer slurred his words while telling reporters how he had woken up that morning "spinning" from vertigo.
Gareth Cattermole, Getty Images
Singer Chester Bennington of Linkin Park has suffered a back injury that will keep the band from playing their tour in China.
Kevin Winter, Getty Images
TV star, author and magazine namesake Rachael Ray is denying that a surgical procedure scheduled for December is to treat throat cancer. A spokesperson says Ray will have a benign cyst on her vocal cord removed.
Jamie McCarthy, WireImage
Singer Natalie Cole, who announced in July she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, has been on bed rest following hospitalization due to complications from the disease.
Stephen Lovekin, Getty Images
According to author Ian Halperin (via The Sun), Jackson "needs a lung transplant, but may be too weak to go through with it." Jackson's biographer Halperin also claims that the pop legend "has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding, which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping."
Jackson, who turned 50 just a few months ago, is said to be barely able to speak.
Halperin says Jackson is battling an inherited condition called A1AD -- alpha-1 anti-trypsin deficiency -- where those affected by it lack a protein that helps protect the lungs. Halperin says that due to the ailment, Jackson "can barely speak" and that the "vision in his left eye is 95 percent gone."
And while the breathing woes are surely something to worry about, Halperin claims that "it's the bleeding that's the most problematic part. It could kill him."
Jermaine Jackson, Michael's brother, even commented on the situation, telling The Sun that his little brother is "not doing so well right now. This isn't a good time."
Halperin is a well respected and long-time investigative reporter. He made a name for himself by going undercover and posing as a model to report on the fashion industry in his book " Shut Up and Smile," and most recently skewered Hollywood in 'Hollywood Undercover: Revealing the Sordid Secrets of Tinseltown.
NEW YORK, Dec 22 (Reuters) - A maniacal villain seeking immortality, a bevy of deadly beauties and snowy streetscapes under the watchful eye of a shadowy, masked hero: this must be a job for -- Frank Miller.
Miller, 51, an icon of the comic book world credited with bringing the genre to a wider audience, has returned to the big screen with his cinematic adaptation of the 1940s serial comic "The Spirit," about a crime fighter who comes back from the grave to protect the city he loves.
Miller won box office success with 2005's "Sin City," based on his graphic novel, which he co-directed with Robert Rodriguez; and director Zack Snyder's adaptation of his graphic novel version of the ancient battle of Thermopylae in "300."
With "The Spirit," starring Gabriel Macht as the hero pitted against Samuel Jackson as "the Octopus" and his sidekick played by Scarlett Johansson, Miller tackles a classic of the comic book world created by his long-time friend and mentor, Will Eisner, who died in 2005.
"It started with an argument," Miller told Reuters of his relationship with Eisner. "And he and I argued for 25 years. It was a loving argument -- it was a Bronx Jew versus an Irish Catholic."
Eisner helped create the comic book format with "The Spirit" in the 1940s, but he has added a few modern amenities -- such as a conspicuous cellphone -- to a tale with a film noir-influenced look.
"I also wanted New York City to look as good as it could, with the vintage cars, old buildings, sewer grates and men with hats," he said, tipping his own trademark fedora.
The Spirit finds his crime fighting complicated by his long-lost love, Sand Saref, played by Eva Mendes; his former fiance, Ellen, played by Sarah Paulson; and knife-wielding dancer Plaster of Paris, played by Paz Vega
It was at the memorial for Eisner that Miller was first approached to turn the "The Spirit" into a feature film -- but it was a project he initially didn't want.
"I walked away for about three minutes, (but) at the doorway turned around and stopped and said 'No one else touches this.' From then on it was my project," he said.
Miller's "The Spirit" seeks to keep the blend of mysticism, crime drama and romance that characterized the original comic, with a fair dose of comedy to lighten the brutal fight sequences.
"If a guy can actually take a nine-foot (2.7-metre) lug wrench to his crotch, there's something funny about that," he says of one memorable scene. "At the same time it's very serious, when it gets serious."
Still, adapting a classic hero made famous by a legendary comic writer did not go over well among all the comic fans who have snapped up reprints of "The Spirit."
How to keep the aficionados happy while making a major motion picture?
"I just do a really good movie and drag them along. The comics fans split between the ones who are just genuinely skeptical and want it to go badly, and the much larger group who worry for me and hope that I don't screw it up," he said. (Editing by Michelle Nichols and Todd Eastham)
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Robert Mulligan, who received an Oscar nomination for directing "To Kill a Mockingbird," died Friday of heart disease at his Connecticut home. He was 83.
Known for his diffident nature and sensitivity toward players, Mulligan directed five different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Gregory Peck and Mary Badham in "Mockingbird," Natalie Wood ("Love with the Proper Stranger"), Ruth Gordon ("Inside Daisy Clover") and Ellen Burstyn ("Same Time, Next Year"). Peck won the Oscar for his lead role as attorney Atticus Finch in "Mockingbird."
He also elicited consistently fine performances from a range of his players, including Anthony Perkins in "Fear Strikes Out," Jennifer O'Neill in "Summer of '42," Robert Redford in "Inside Daisy Clover" and Richard Gere in "Bloodbrothers."
The older brother of late actor Richard Mulligan, he earned his stripes in live TV in New York in the early 1950s on such productions as "Studio One" and "Playhouse 90" before becoming a movie director in 1957 with "Fear Strikes Out," the story of baseball pitcher Jimmy Piersall.
Self-effacing with a nonflamboyant filmic style, Mulligan didn't receive the acclaim of such ex-TV contemporaries as Sidney Lumet, Arthur Penn and John Frankenheimer. His films were more popular with audiences than with critics.
While some debated whether he had a discernible personal vision in his films, Mulligan was known for his casting and direction of children, including "Up the Down Staircase," where he personally interviewed more than 500 New York high school students.
Sensing a kindred spirit, Francois Truffaut was a vocal champion, particularly cognizant of what he perceived as undue criticism of Mulligan's work for lacking a particular "style."
Mulligan himself was dismissive of critics/cineaste talk: "I don't know anything about 'the Mulligan style,'" he told the Village Voice in 1978. "If you can find it, well, that's your job."
Mulligan himself was dismissive of critics/cineaste talk: "I don't know anything about 'the Mulligan style,'" he told the Village Voice in 1978. "If you can find it, well, that's your job."
Mulligan was known for working side-by-side with screenwriters in shaping a cinematic story. "The attention which has been paid to directors is flattering but overrated," he noted in the same Voice interview. Mulligan had an eight-year collaboration with Alan J. Pakula, who served as a producer on all of Mulligan's early films, beginning with "Fear Strikes Out" through "The Stalking Moon" in 1969.
Mulligan was born August 23, 1925, in New York. He worked for six months at the New York Times on the copy desk before entering Fordham University, where he majored in journalism and literature. He became one of the first students to enroll in the school's radio department.
After college, he started his show business career as a messenger boy at CBS. He soon moved up to production assistant and then won an opportunity to direct on the "Suspense" series. He excelled in the fast-paced milieu of live TV, helming such projects as "The Moon and Sixpence," "Billy Budd" and "The Bridge of San Luis Rey."
He directed stage plays as well, including "Comes a Day" on Broadway.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" hurdled to the forefront of the foreign box office with weekend sales of $33.5 million from 56 territories.
The animated film opened in 10 markets and was welcomed in the No. 1 spot by Italy ($6.5 million) and Australia ($4.4 million), as well as Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The sequel, which grew its international gross to $218.5 million, held strong in holdovers, with Germany delivering $26.8 million to date, France $21.6 million, the U.K. $18.7 million and Mexico $12.1 million.
Last weekend's champion, "The Day the Earth Stood Still," slipped to No. 2 with $21 million from 92 countries, taking its international total to $72.3 million. Market totals include Russia with $9.2 million, the U.K. with $7.2 million, Mexico with $5.6 million, and France with $5.5 million.
"Twilight" picked up $11 million from 27 countries, highlighted by a No. 1 bow in the U.K. ($3.9 million) and a No. 2 opening in Brazil ($1.2 million, behind "Madagascar 2"). Its international total stands at $64.6 million.
"Four Christmases" earned $5.7 million weekend from 38 markets. Its total is $23.8 million. "Bolt" bit off $5.3 million from 15 countries, moving its total to $35.9 million.
Two new entries seeking a piece of the holiday business included new North American champ "Yes Man," which took in $3.5 million from six countries, and the mouse cartoon "The Tale of Despereaux," which tallied $1.7 million from the U.K., Spain and Portugal.
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Has Adam Sandler been defanged?
"Bedtime Stories" is his first family-friendly comedy, not to mention his first for Walt Disney Pictures. But if Sander can startle us in a dark, obsessive role like "Punch-Drunk Love," he can surprise us here, too. In a modern-day fairy tale about hopes, aspirations and family, Sander displays a winning form under the light and mischievous direction of Adam Shankman("Bringing Down the House").
While not being pitched exclusively as a holiday item, the Christmas Day release makes a better movie than those generic comedies manufactured this time of year. The hits-to-misses ratio for its gags is above average, the sentimentality is kept in check and the film plays well to its audience. It winks nicely at parents and smiles broadly to children. Disney might have a hit with this late-arriving sleigh ride.
Sandler is playing his usual underachiever, though a tad less angry and a bit more wistful than his raunchier characters. His dad (Jonathan Pryce in a scene-setting cameo) once ran a motel in Hollywood. Alas, he was forced to sell to a germophobic hotelier (Richard Griffiths). His son now works as a handyman at the high-rise luxury hotel that occupies the spot.
When his sister (Courteney Cox) loses her job as a school principal, she pages her brother to share baby-sitting chores with a friend (Keri Russell) while she goes on a job interview out of state. Having been strangely estranged from his niece and nephew (Laura Ann Kesling and Jonathan Morgan Heit), his only child-minding skill resides in an ability to spin bedtime stories.
These are particularly memorable since Sandler channels his career angst into these tales. They range from a medieval castle to the Old West and outer space, but the theme of the peasant who would be a prince is ever present. The hero strives to get a better job and win over a maiden, always besting an opponent that looks suspiciously like the hotel's obsequious manger (Guy Pearce).
Soon the children are contributing to and even editing his stories. (They prefer happy endings.) Then, weirdly, the stories start coming true in real life. Or at least parts of them do. Now if Sandler could just figure out how this happens. For he seems to be making progress against the manager, even winning over his party-girl girlfriend (Teresa Palmer), who just happens to be the hotelier's daughter.
Matt Lopez and Tim Herlihy's screenplay never can quite determine the how and why of these magical transformations. But they do fully exploit the comic opportunities of a man who has stumbled upon a potential winning formula but isn't sure how to game the system. This is a strong vehicle for Sander's comic gifts, one that surrounds him with frequently amusing characters
Particularly strong are British comic Russell Brand as a best pal hotel waiter, Russell as a feisty romantic interest and the two youngsters who devote considerable thought to improving these fairy tales. And a trained guinea pig, who plays the children's pet, is the go-to guy for all kinds of silly laughs.
Missed opportunities include Pearce, who is a touch strident in his comic style, and Lucy Lawless, who feels miscast as Pearce's sidekick in mild villainy. There also is the film's odd tendency to follow up a really smart gag with a really dumb one.
Still, the overall feeling engendered by "Bedtime Stories" is exactly that -- a story long on imagination and short on logic that brings on smiles and dreams of sugar plums dancing in the head.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter |
