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2009 | 2008

6 articles from 2009

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No 3D Home Video Release For “Up”

11 August 2009 12:10 PM, PDT | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Walt Disney's home-entertainment unit plans to release Up, its biggest hit of the year, on DVD and Blu-ray on November 10 -- but without 3D. Many critics have complained about the quality of so-called anaglyph 3D, the system currently used for 3D releases on home video, including Disney's The Jonas Brothers 3 D Concert Experience and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. Up, the digitally animated movie from Disney's Pixar unit, will be released as a four-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, a two-disc standard DVD set, and a single DVD. »

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‘Hannah Montana’ Back on Top

12 April 2009 11:22 AM, PDT | newsinfilm.com | See recent newsinfilm news »

Miley Cyrus’ Disney Channel alter ego Hannah Montana set more box office records, putting the 16-year-old child star back at number one.  Hannah Montana: The Movie made $34 million over the Easter weekend, the biggest family film and the second largest overall for the holiday 3-day.  The estimated total is especially impressive considering her audience woke up early this morning to hunt for eggs.

Last year her Best of Both Worlds Concert was the biggest pure 3-D opening and set the record for largest Super Bowl weekend.  Now she’s back with a G-rated, semi-autobiographical narrative about the pressures of being a major star.  It’s a bittersweet day for Disney, who is celebrating the biggest April opening for the studio while Cyrus continues to state publicly she won’t be back for a sequel.  By the time another movie is ready the tweens will have outgrown her any way.  My “achy breaky heart” is broken. »

- Jeff Leins

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Movies Coming Out Like Easter Bunnies

9 April 2009 2:34 AM, PDT | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Theater owners are expecting that many of their screening rooms will be divided into those for boys and those for girls over the Easter weekend, as Hannah Montana: The Movie takes on last week's big winner, Fast and Furious. Many analysts are betting on the boys' film, although Hannah Montana has reportedly been selling more tickets on Internet ticketing sites throughout the week. It is opening in 3,118 theaters. Trade reviews have been largely positive. The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Rechtshaffen commented that the movie "is a can't-miss proposition for Disney, which is smartly striking while the iron is still reasonably hot. It likely won't match last year's $31.1 million opening registered by Miley's all-singing Best of Both Worlds, but Cyrus' enthusiastic fan base should ensure brisk spring break business." Lael Lowenstein similarly concluded in Daily Variety: "Widely accessible even to neophytes, the G-rated pic is innocuous fare that should score big with tween girls, as well as those parents seeking age-appropriate role models for their daughters." For the somewhat older set, the weekend, which will see crowded marquees, also features the wide-release debut of the R-rated Observe and Report, starring Seth Rogen, and the Fox fantasy film Dragonball Evolution. »

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Box Office Super During Super Bowl

3 February 2009 1:41 AM, PST | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Although 147 million people spent at least part of Sunday night in front of their TV sets watching the Super Bowl game, there were nevertheless enough moviegoers left over to give the box office its biggest Super Bowl weekend ever. The top 12 films collected $103,002,446, beating the previous record set last year of $101,870,302. Particularly surprising was the $24.7 million gross of the No. 1 film, Taken, a thriller. Ordinarily, studios attempt to counter-program the Super Bowl weekend with kids fare and so-called chick flicks. They did so with two other new releases, with poor-to-mediocre results. The PG-13 horror film The Uninvited took in $10.3 million to place third, while the romantic comedy New in Town couldn't get a date with just $6.7 million to place eighth. Last year's Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert 3-D, which grossed $31.1 million, still holds the record as the biggest money maker on a Super Bowl weekend, but it is something of an anomaly, since it played on just 683 screens that carried premium ticket pricing for a brief run in 3-D.

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. Taken, Fox , $24,717,037, (New); 2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Sony/Columbia, $13,872,751, 3 Wks. ($83,247,655); 3. The Uninvited, DreamWorks/Paramount, $10,325,824, (New); 4. Hotel For Dogs, Paramount, $8632740, 3 Wks. ($48,156,061); 5. Gran Torino, Warner Bros., $8, 232,278, 8 Wks. ($11,017,8990); 6. Slumdog Millionaire, Fox Searchlight, $7,628,713, 12 Wks. ($67,193,169); 7. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Sony/Screen Gems, $7,581,272, 2 Wks. ($33,165,746); 8. New in Town, Lionsgate, $6,741,530, (New); 9. My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Lionsgate, $4479662, 3 Wks. ($44,827,233); 10. Inkheart, Warner Bros., $3,721,492, 2 Wks. ($12,813,023). »

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Box Office Was Super, Too

2 February 2009 1:36 AM, PST | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

If studio predictions turn out to be correct, the box office competed effectively against the Super Bowl on Sunday, with the thriller flick Taken taking in $24.6 million, making it the second-highest earner ever on a Super Bowl weekend. It is difficult, however, to estimate the effect on ticket sales of the Super Bowl. Studio executives believe that Taken's audience was 52 percent male. Ordinarily, top Super Bowl weekend films are primarily attended by kids and women. (Last year's Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour remains the top earner for a Super Bowl weekend.) But two new films targeting those groups appeared to falter, with the horror film The Uninvited taking in about $10.5 million, and the romantic comedy New in Town, about $6.8 million. Oscar nominees performed poorly for the most part. Frost/Nixon and Milk barely lapped up $1.4 million. The Reader garnered just $2.4 million and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button managed $3.6 million. However, Slumdog Millionaire, which added a new award from the Directors Guild of America over the weekend, continued to perform solidly, earning $7.7 million to bring its total to $67.2 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers:1. Taken, $24.6 million; 2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop, $14 million; 3. The Uninvited, $10.5 million; 4. Hotel for Dogs, $8.7 million; 5. Gran Torino, $8.6 million; 6. Slumdog Millionaire, $7.7 million; 7. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, $7.2 million; 8. New in Town, $6.7 million; 9. My Bloody Valentine 3-D, $4.3 million; 10. Inkheart, $3.7 million. »

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Movie Reviews: New In Town

30 January 2009 1:40 AM, PST | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Releasing a film in January is usually a sign that the studio doesn't have much hope for it. Releasing it on Super Bowl weekend is usually a sign of utter pessimism about its chances. Yet some female-oriented movies have performed reasonably well on the weekend of the Big Game, like last year's Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. That is not likely to be the case with New in Town. Most critics agree that it will likely screen at a lot of near-empty theaters by the time Sunday rolls around. As Joe Morgenstern comments in the Wall Street Journal, "The month of January has come to be known as a graveyard for bad movies, but how bad can it get? This one answers the question." His is a sentiment shared by several other critics. "To say that New in Town is the worst movie of this fledgling year is to damn it with faint praise. It may be one of the worst movies of any year," writes Claudia Puig in USA Today. Lou Lumenick in the New York Post calls the movie "excruciatingly unfunny," while Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer says that it "is so choppy that it would seem to have been edited with a pickax." »

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2009 | 2008

6 articles from 2009

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