> Not Even For Free; No Pig’s Blood At This Shindig. The relationships we have with the stars we watch are no less real for being imaginary, and that’s particularly true for television stars, whom we often watch inhabit and grow within the same character over a period of years.  So fans of the great […]

>Another win for Katniss Everdeen. THE HUNGER GAMES: In just its 3rd weekend of release, and with plenty left in the tank, THE HUNGER GAMES (Lionsgate/Summit) hit $302.8M, and has already outgrossed every picture in the Twilight series. (Only 5 movies have gotten to $300M faster.) By this time next week, it will also have […]

> With early studio projections all over the map, it looks like it could be a long weekend of jockeying for the top spot.  Right now, it looks like Lion King in 3D will be number #1 with over $23 million.  Moneyball, written by Aaron Sorkin and best on the Michael Lewis bestseller, is flirting […]

  With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, the opening dates for blockbuster movies are carefully calculated months–sometimes years–in advance.  So a last minute change doesn’t come from nowhere, and it’s notable that with less than 2 months to go, Sony has moved its Will Smith/M. Night Shyamalan vehicle AFTER EARTH from its previous […]

> Not Even For Free. There’s a key scene in the new SOUL SURFER where the one-armed teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who’s had her other arm chewed off by a shark and who despairs of her career in competition, is in Thailand on a Christian mission to tend to tsunami survivors.  And these survivors, having […]

  DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK – Not Even For Free:  No, Really–Don’t Be Afraid     FilmDistrict has gone out of its way to identify co-writer/co-producer Guillermo del Toro with DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, to the extent that from the marketing, one could easily fail to realize that the movie is […]

Team Salem’s slate in the second annual ShowbuzzDaily Summer Movie Draft now stands at $556 million, with a lot of upside left in Amazing Spider-Man, significant business left for Brave, and three movies left to open. Team Weil is now at $228 million, with two very big movies opening the next two weeks (Ice Age: Continental Drift this Friday […]

>Based on Friday and Saturday box office (and estimated Sunday numbers), Immortals ($32 million) will beat Jack and Jill ($26 million).  Keep in mind Immortals is playing on many fewer theaters than the Adam Sandler comedy and has a much better per theater number.  J. Edgar is playing at even fewer theaters and has the […]