> Watch It At Home People complain that Hollywood doesn’t take risks, but Universal went and hired the director of Alvin and the Chipmunks to make a movie about a musical-minded, free-spirit digitally animated character who upturns the life of an ordinary guy… talk about pushing the envelope!  (In fairness, Alvin was a chipmunk singer, […]

> Anyone who thinks the boxoffice isn’t in a slump needs a new prescription for bifocals. Note:  since December 24 is a traditionally deadly day at the boxoffice (closed theatres, family plans)  that would make 3-day weekend estimates look even worse than they are, we’ll use 4 day Friday-Monday weekend estimates below. WE BOUGHT A […]

> Worth A Ticket; Birds Fly High Enough for Kids, and Adults Too. Click For More Reviews: THOR    PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4    MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Animation has, over the past decade, passed beyond being merely a movie genre to a veritable industry within the industry.  Every studio is in the business now, making films […]

> Here at ShowbuzzDaily, we like to think that we’re smarter than anyone else.  But more importantly, we like to think we’re smarter than each other.  So the two of us here (Mitch Metcalf and your humble narrator Mitch Salem) decided to pick our own slates of summer movies to compete against each other, each […]

> John Carter traveled to Mars; the movie with his name also looks beyond the US for some help. OPENINGS:  JOHN CARTER (Disney) may or may not have grossed over $30M this weekend–we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.  (Disney is claiming a not-unreasonable 31% Sunday drop, but it would take only a small slip to […]

In the movie 42, Jackie Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) repeatedly asks Branch Rickey why he is breaking baseball’s unwritten whites-only rule.  Rickey (played by Harrison Ford) gives very vague, unsatisfying responses each time.  What a blown dramatic opportunity.  In Ken Burns’ nine-part documentary masterpiece “Baseball,” an aged Red Barber (the Dodgers’ radio broadcaster) describes the […]

For the 17 days December 16-January 1, top 10 films in North America have totaled $1.065 billion, now +66% ahead of the same period last year, +68% above the average since 2002, and +30% ahead of the previous record for this period (2009, the year of Avatar). Box Office Volume — Top 10 Films North America […]

>The year to date box office tally picked up a tiny bit of ground moving from -3.8% versus last year to -3.7% this week.        The Past Week: Total Box Office Volume All films in wide release playing between October 24 and October 30 grossed a mediocre $123 million, up 4% versus the same week in 2010 but down […]