> Gus Van Sant has been making movies for 25 years, but Restless–apart from its technical polish–feels like the work of a Sundance newcomer. And one who’s been reading too much Salinger, while meanwhile wearing out his DVD of Harold and Maude. Restless is way beyond twee; its mega-tweeness is like a Transformers movie compared […]

> No doubt the enormous success of THE LION KING hasn’t been lost on anyone at Disney, and we can expect to see 3D reissues of more classic animation over the next few years, leading into yet more homevideo editions. If not for Lion King being in the market, DOLPHIN TALE would almost certainly have […]

> And the hits keep on coming for the Academy:  following Brett Ratner’s hurried exit yesterday, Eddie Murphy has packed his host bag and left the building as well.  This isn’t a huge surprise, as Murphy was brought in by his Tower Heist director in the first place (and Heist isn’t proving to be the […]

> NEW YEAR’S EVE (Warners):  Hardly any bump from Saturday night couples meant about as low an opening as anyone could have reasonably imagined.  Even with some play during Christmas week, the picture may struggle to earn more than its $56M production budget (which is separate from a likely $100M+ worldwide marketing budget).  After J. […]

> According to preliminary numbers at Deadline, the weekend is looking auspicious for Mark Wahlberg’s CONTRABAND.  The modestly budgeted thriller (which, however, Universal has been expensively marketing for a solid month) is reporting a $7.7M Friday, which could mean $25-28M over the 4-day holiday weekend. Disney’s 3D re-release of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is also […]

> You’re frontloaded!  No, you’re frontloaded! OPENINGS:  The movie audience has 3 main components–men, women, kids–and a weekend that offers a strong title for each one has a good chance of being successful.  The relatively low-budget THE VOW (Screen Gems/Sony) got off to a great start (too bad it’s not a great movie), with $15.4M […]

> The most successful movie of all time, Avatar, had an opening weekend ($77M) that only ranks 38th on the list of the biggest openings.  Conversely, the #1 opening weekend of all time belongs to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part II), with $169M, more than double Avatar‘s–but its total gross of $381M puts […]

> Marvel spent a great deal of time and effort setting the stage for its full-house-of-heroes extravaganza THE AVENGERS, and it’s all paying off.  The movie opened in 39 international territories this past week (some on Wednesday, some on Friday), covering 70% of the globe other than the US, and has already grossed a gigantic […]