Carl Icahn Now Wants ALL Of Lionsgate 
FINAL MGM BIDS DUE FRIDAY: So Who's In And … 
Action Comedy TV: Showrunner Matt Nix 
SAG National Board Approves Joint Bargaining … 
BBC Drama Unfreezes Development Money; … 
Lionsgate Board Rejects Icahn's $6/Share 
Is Betting On Box Office Good For Films? 
Marvel Still Looking For Captain America 
'Sopranos' Creator To Film Rock Drama 
LIVE-SNARKING THE 82ND OSCARS... 
'ALICE' IS A MONSTER! $116.3M Blows Past … 
Oscar Not-So-Thriller: Diller Mogul Picnic 
'Precious' Sweeps 25th Indie Spirit Awards 
Howard Stern Won't Be Next 'Idol' Judge 
Justin Theroux Readying 'Zoolander 2' For … Here's the list of winners at the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 15th annual Critics' Choice Awards, held on Friday at the Hollywood Palladium:
BEST PICTURE - "The Hurt Locker"
BEST ACTOR - Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart")
BEST ACTRESS (tie) - Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia"), Sandra Bullock ("The Blind Side")
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR - Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds")
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Mo'Nique ("Precious")
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS - Saoirse Ronan ("The Lovely Bones")
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE - "Inglourious Basterds"
BEST DIRECTING - Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker")
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - "Inglourious Basterds" (Quentin Tarantino)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - "Up in the Air" (Jason Reitman)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - "Avatar"
BEST ART DIRECTION - "Avatar"
BEST EDITING - "Avatar"
BEST COSTUME DESIGN - "The Young Victoria"
BEST MAKEUP - "District 9"
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS - "Avatar"
BEST SOUND - "Avatar"
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE - "Up"
BEST ACTION MOVIE - "Avatar"
BEST COMEDY - "The Hangover"
BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION - "Grey Gardens"
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - "Broken Embraces"
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - "The Cove"
BEST SONG - "The Weary Kind" from "Crazy Heart," by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett
BEST SCORE - "Up" (Michael Giancchio)
Broadcast Film Critics Award 'Hurt Locker'
Flixster Buying IGN's Rotten Tomatoes: Is This "Online Movie Category Domination"?
Flixster Inc, the privately held San Francisco company, made the announcement this morning. In case you don't know, 
Flixster is a movie rating website, and Rotten Tomatoes is also a movie ratings site that focuses less on social networking and more on critical response and aggregation. Both sites say they'll continue to operate as separate properties, though probably with lots of synergy like integrated data. Combined, Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes claim they'll reach an estimated 30 million monthly visitors worldwide across several Web platforms -- their sites, other social-networking sites and applications for mobile devices. They say they'll have a database of more than 250,000 movies, 2.3 billion user reviews, half a million critic reviews and more than 20,000 trailers and videos. Before the acquisition, Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes had partnered in several areas, including a recent deal that syndicates critic reviews from Rotten Tomatoes to Flixster’s online movie community, both on the Web and via Flixster’s mobile apps.
"Rotten Tomatoes has built a fantastically well-known brand that moviegoers trust when making their decisions. Combined with Flixster's social networking and word-of-mouth, we're creating the leading movie destination on the Internet, " said Flixster President/COO Steve Polsky. News reports say the deal comes as IGN is working to refocus its efforts to build out its portfolio of video game-related and men's-lifestyle offerings.
“Joining Rotten Tomatoes with Flixster creates a company that can dominate the online movie category,” said Roy Bahat, ... Read More »
Los Angeles Film Critics 2009 Awards: Best Picture & Director For 'The Hurt Locker'
LOS ANGELES, DECEMBER 13, 2009 – The Hurt Locker was voted Best Picture of the Year, it was announced today by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). The runner up was Up In The Air. The 35th annual Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards ceremony will be held January 16th:
PICTURE: The Hurt Locker (Summit Entertainment)
Runner-up: Up In The Air (Paramount)
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Runner-up: Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon (Sony Classics)
ACTRESS: Yolande Moreau, Séraphine (Music Box Films)
Runner-up: Carey Mulligan, An Education (Sony Pictures Classics)
ACTOR: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart (Fox Searchlight)
Runner-up: Colin Firth, A Single Man (Weinstein Co)
ANIMATION: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Fox)
Runner-up: Up (Disney)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Summer Hours (IFC Films)
Runner-up: The White Ribbon
NEW GENERATION: Neill Blomkamp, District 9 (Sony)
MUSIC/SCORE: T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, Crazy Heart
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Philip Ivey, District 9
Runner-up: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Avatar (Fox)
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Christian Berger, The White Ribbon
Runner-up: Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious (Lionsgate)
Runner-up: Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds (Weinstein/Universal)
Runner-up: Peter Capaldi, In the Loop (IFC Films)
SCREENPLAY: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Runner-up: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche, In the Loop
DOCUMENTARY/NON-FICTION FILM: (tie) The Beaches of Agnès (Cinema Guild) and The Cove (Roadside Attractions)
DOUGLAS E. EDWARDS INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL FILM/VIDEO: C.W. Winter and Anders Edstrom, The Anchorage
GOODBYE NEPOTISM, HELLO COMPETENCE: New Big-Time Critics For 'At The Movies'
I and many other Hollywood journalists were sufficiently outraged when, one year ago, Disney/ABC's movie criticism show once hosted by Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, and then Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, was put into the unworthy hands of Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, both of whose primary claim to fame was nepotism. 
Fortunately for viewers, At the Movies now has jettisoned the two lightweights for two heavyweights again starting September 7th: The New York Times' A.O. "Tony" Scott (photo, left) and The Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips (photo, right). "We are thrilled that A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips will be lending their well-respected and influential voices to At the Movies," Daytime president Brian Frons said in a statement. "They are regarded by millions of people as authorities in film criticism and will take the series back to its roots of one-on-one film debate that was established when the show first began with Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel." My question: Which of them is going to plug every Disney pic? Or will they take turns?
Contract Disputes End Ebert-Roeper Duo: Claim To Fame Of New Hosts Is Nepotism
DHD On Page 1 Of The New York Times...
The article about DeadlineHollywoodDaily.com by NYT media columnist David Carr for Friday is online. It claims I'm "thuggish". So thug this: I'll be back to work on Monday.
UPDATE: Interesting commentary on the piece by FAIR (Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting) here.
2ND UPDATE: The article has several errors. This is the most glaring: When I began my website in March 2006, I had not "run low on money and options" as Carr claims. Just the opposite. I had been an award-winning columnist with LA Weekly for four years. 2002 is when my career hit the skids, the year I sued Disney, News Corp, and the New York Post to fight for a journalist's freedom to write accurately about the business and advertising partners of Big Media.
LA Times' New Film Critic Speaks Out...
Los Angele Times' Calendar journos have always had high praise for entertainment editor Betsy Sharkey (whom I've known since she wrote for Ad Age). She's been described to me as knowledgeable, competent, feisty and over-protective of her writers beyond what they deserved (i.e. when mistakes were made, she helped cover them up...) So the LAT bosses should have hog-tied to her desk when she came back from book leave 
(co-writing an autobiography of Marlee Matlin) and LAT's film reviewers. "I love writing, and I love film, and when I came back I started talking to [editor] Russ Stanton about it," Sharkey told me today. "Maybe it'll be an absolute disaster. But I think I've got a good mind, and I think I know film. In any case, I'm thrilled and could not be happier." But will LA Times' readers?
Israel's Oscar Bid: 'Waltz With Bashir'
You may recall that last year the Israeli Academy of Motion Pictures chose The Band’s Visit as the country’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar only to see it disqualified by the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for having too much English dialogue. The runner-up, Beaufort, then became the first Israeli film to grab an Oscar nomination in 24 years. Israeli film blogger Yair Raveh tells me that this year Israel’s pick is Waltz With Bashir which debuted in Cannes to much buzz, played at the Toronto and Telluride film fests, and tonight swept the Israel's Academy Awards so it automatically becomes that country's AMPAS Oscar pick. Picked up by Sony Pictures Classics, it's an animated film based on writer-producer-director Ari Folman's real-life memories - or lack thereof - of the first Lebanon war in 1982. (This is Folman’s 2nd movie to win Israel’s Academy Award; 1st was 1997’s Saint Clara.)
UK TV Producers Slam ABC Studios Memo
Remember that bombshell ABC Studios memo leaked to me that was a blatant blueprint for ripping off foreign format ideas? Well, now UK television producers and executives are slamming it and also investigating it. The Guardian newspaper today reported that the UK producers' trade body "Pact" was "looking into it". Giving me a shout-out, the paper said the memo is being circulated around UK independent producers who fear it may signal a shift in the "modus operandi" between producers and broadcasters. The paper noted that UK producers, such as BBC Worldwide and RDF Media, do huge amounts of business with ABC, with shows like Supernanny, Wife Swap and Dancing With The Stars all airing on the network. (See my previous, Bombshell ABC Studios Memo Is Blatant Blueprint To Rip Off Foreign TV Series.)
Bombshell ABC Studios Memo Is Blatant Blueprint To Rip Off Foreign TV Series
EXCLUSIVE: I've obtained a shocking official ABC Studios memo written by EVP Howard Davine to showrunners and executive producers with deals there. Those who've seen it are shaking their heads in disbelief. "I'm stunned that they would have done this," one insider tells me. "I can't believe they actually put this down on paper." That's because the memo blesses anyone who brings foreign formats to ABC Studios first so that the studio can steal the idea without paying the fat licensing fees that would accompany an up-and-up deal. Obviously, ABC Studios doesn't want to repeat what happened with a show like Ugly Betty, which is the American version of the Latin telenovela. This now proves they would rather just rip it off.
Here's the memo:
Wkd Prediction: Robot $70M, Angie $40M
I'm told that not only is Pixar/Disney internally hoping for a $70+ million dollar opening for Wall-E, but also a Best Picture Oscar nomination for the L'il Robot. 
It's possible with 100% great reviews from top critics and even rival studios bigwigs gushing about the pic: "I saw it on Wednesday and it's just adorable and smart and interesting. It has more character development and emotion than any movie I've seen this year." My box office gurus are projecting a $65M to $70M opening, and maybe more from 3,992 theaters. Clearly it'll be another giant box office since Universal's Angelina Jolie / James McAvoy starrer Wanted now looks like an all-round date movie instead of just a guyfest.
Universal is hoping for at least $35M and maybe even $40M from 3,175 venues for Wanted's Fri/Sat/Sun total. My box office gurus are projecting $40M to $42M. "In terms of comps, that would be an extraordinary result for an R-rated summer action movie," a source tells me. "So anything above $35M is absolutely a franchise." 
The appeal for well-reviewed Wanted is a surprise: women want to see it as almost as much as men, young and old are coming in nearly even, and relative newcomer McAvoy is almost as much of a draw for the film as veteran Jolie.
Wall-E and Wanted will compete for older females. But it won't matter. "All the Wall-E reviews have been extraordinary. And Pixar is a brand that has earned the complete and total trust of the public," ... Read More »
"Mark Canton Wants A Word With You..."
Variety's Todd McCarthy has just reviewed Sony's Hancock and hilariously said it has "a certain whiff of" 1993's The Last Action Hero. Oy. Since that infamous pic brought down upper management of the studio way back then. If the Sony Pictures Entertainment toppers weren't all heading into the Barack Obama $2,300-per-person fundraiser at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the Los Angeles Music Center right now, I'd bet you could hear their screams all over Hollywood. As for the pic, it doesn't have to be good to make $$$. It's only 92 minutes long. And Will Smith owns July 4th weekend.
DreamWorks Finds Indian Big Bucks To Form New Film Biz; But Battle Brewing Over Paramount Exit
So now we know with whom David Geffen has been negotiating all these many months. And the newest Hollywood mogul names to put on speed dial are Rajesh Sawhney and Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (one of the world's Top 10 richest men). I can confirm that DreamWorks has secured $500 million to $600 million from India's media and entertainment conglomerate Reliance ADA, specifically its Reliance Big Entertainment, and then will add $500 million to $600 million in debt for what will be a total $1.2 billion financing for its new independent film company. I'm told that DreamWorks 2.0 (yes, the principals get back the name) will make about 6 movies a year when it liberates Steven Spielberg from Viacom Inc's Paramount and all the acrimony of that relationship of the past few years. There's no need for DreamWorks to negotiate a distribution deal for a while, but I'm told that Fox, Universal and Disney would be in the running. Because of Spielberg's long history with Universal and the fact his office never moved off the lot, I've always assumed DreamWorks would return there. But DreamWorks has a lot of ties to Fox, including Geffen's close relationship with Rupert Murdoch and Spielberg's with Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman.
Meanwhile, DreamWorks and Paramount will battle over Spielberg's exit and all that joint development. Unentangling could really cost Viacom Inc's movie studio. Here's why: Spielberg has the right to terminate his contract as soon as October (because of a key man clause ... Read More »
Jorge Camara Re-Elected HFPA President
It's been the most challenging year on record for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- well, if you don't count 1982's uproar over naming Pia Zadora best "New Star Of The Year" -- that saw the cancellation of its Golden Globe Awards dinner because of the Writers Guild strike. So Jorge Camara should take some small comfort in knowing that he was re-elected today HFPA president for the year 2008-2009 at the organization's annual election meeting. A member of the association for 43 years, Camara is serving his sixth term and covers entertainment (print and television) for Mexico and Latin America. Mike Goodridge was re-elected vice president. Serge Rakhlin and Meher Tatna were re-elected executive secretary and treasurer, respectively. The new Board of Directors is comprised of Mahfouz Doss (re-elected chairman), Erkki Kanto, Lilly Lui, Paz Mata, Frances Schoenberger, and Armando Gallo (alternate). The annual HFPA Installation Luncheon to honor the officers and directors will be held later this summer, when the association makes its annual donations to non-profit organizations and film schools. Now, if only the HFPA would focus on cleaning up its membership policies to allow real Hollywood foreign press into its pathetically faux organization.
R.I.P. Yves Saint-Laurent
The French fashion giant had a long love affair with film, including his biggest fan Catherine Deneuve whom he called his "muse". YSL dressed her for the films Belle De Jour (1967), La Chamade (1968), La Sirène du Mississipi (1969), Un Flic (1972), Liza (1972), and The Hunger (1983). He also was the costume designer for films featuring Jean Seberg, Claudia Cardinale, Capucine and Leslie Caron. He had two documentaries done on him and his business by David Teboul: Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times and Yves Saint Laurent 5 avenue Marceau 75116 Paris.
'Indy 4' Reels In $311 Million Global: But Fans Fume Spielberg-Lucas Phoned It In
MONDAY AM: Paramount's Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull keeps piling up the box office gross domestically and internationally. After a 19-year hiatus, the fourquel mega-hit became the 10th biggest Friday-through-Sunday in the U.S. of all time, the 5th biggest international opening of all time, Steven Spielberg's biggest opener (passing War Of The Worlds), and George Lucas's second best opener behind Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith. But there's been very mixed morning-after watercooler talk about whether the actioner was even worth watching -- leading many Indy faithful to complain that Spielberg and Lucas just phoned it in. (However, my sources maintain the filmmaking duo thought they'd made a good pic. Go figure.) Monday's North American box office gross is expected to be $25M. That makes the total domestic box office gross $151M for the 5-day Memorial Weekend (including Thursday's opening haul of $25M, Friday's $31M, Saturday's $37M, and Sunday's $33M as well as Monday's $25M), $126M for the 4-day holiday, and $101M for FSS. The foreign estimate through Monday is expected to be $160 million -- shattering the record for the Hollywood studio's best overseas opening previously held by the opening of Spielberg's War Of The Worlds ($102M). So, with North America's $151M total take through Monday, that's a $311M worldwide total.
In second place for the 3-day weekend was Disney/Walden's sequel The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian whose gross fell 58% from a week ago to $23M for FSS from 3,929 venues and $28.6M for the 4-day holiday for a new cume of $96.6M. It's ... Read More »
French Film Wins Cannes #1 Palme D'Or
Robert DeNiro presented top honors today to Laurent Cantet's French classroom drama Entre Les Murs at the 61st Cannes Film Festival. 
The winner of the Palme D'Or is a frank tale about classroom life using real students and teachers at a junior high school and is shot in a raw, improvisational style to chronicle the events that unfold over one school year. Some 22 films were vying for top honors, which shut out Changeling, Clint Eastwood's raved about pic starring Angelina Jolie in the true-life story of a L.A. woman battling corrupt police. But the jury headed by Sean Penn gave a Special Award of this 2008 May 14th-to-25th festival to Eastwood and to the French actress Catherine Deneuve. The Grand Prize was awarded by Roman Polanski to director Matteo Garrone for Gomorra, a study of the criminal underworld in Naples. Best Actor went to Benicio del Toro in Steven Soderbergh's Che: "I'd like to dedicate this to the man himself, Che Guevara." Best Actress went to Sandra Corveloni in Linha de Passe.
Following are the winners of the main prizes and a selection of quotes via Reuters:
PALME D'OR
- Entre Les Murs, directed by Laurent Cantet
"The film we wanted to make had to be a reflection of French society -- multiple, many-faceted, complex. Sometimes also with friction that the film does not try to cover up," Cantet said.
GRAND PRIX (Runner-up prize)
- Gomorra directed by Matteo Garrone
SPECIAL PRIZE
- Catherine Deneuve
"It is such a joy to be able ... Read More »
WHAT A DISASTER! 'Speed Racer' $20M Weekend Half What Warner Bros Hoped; Rival Studios Accuse WB Of Inflating #s
SUNDAY AM: Showing just how fiercely competitive the summer box office is right now, rival Hollywood movie studios are complaining to me they don't believe Warner Bros' domestic gross numbers released today. Those claim its disastrous Speed Racer came in 2nd behind Marvel's Iron Man in the weekend's Top 10 contest. All the other majors -- Fox, Sony, Paramount, Universal, Disney, and MGM -- have the anime actioner opening only 3rd. And rivals dispute WB's reporting that Speed Racer made $20.2 million for Fri-Sat-Sun because its projected Sunday number isn't seen as possible. "That's a very aggressive Sunday estimate to try and claim 2nd," one studio's top marketing and distribution mogul complained to me this morning, echoing the disbelief of most of his colleagues. "Warners is hoping moms want to go to Speed Racer for Mothers Day." (To give Warner Bros the benefit of the doubt, it's true that family pics do well on Mothers Day.) But all the other studios have Fox's romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas in 2nd place with $20 million, and Speed Racer only 3rd with $19.7 million. 
And the rival execs say that, since Speed Racer's gross was even softer than anyone thought, up only 18% on Saturday because of kiddie matinees compared to Friday, the Warner Bros film couldn't possibly get to $20 million for the weekend barring a box office miracle on Sunday. "Their estimate is utterly laughable!," a top exec at a rival major told me this AM. "That being said, from what I've ... Read More »
'Speed Racer' Crashes & Burns To Become First Summer Bomb: 'Iron Man' Still No. 1
SUNDAY AM UPDATE: WHAT A DISASTER!
'Speed Racer' $20M Weekend Half What Warner Bros Hoped
Rival Studios Accuse WB Of Inflating #s
SATURDAY NOON UPDATE: I'm just receiving reports that Speed Racer also isn't doing well overseas where it opened day and date Friday in 30+ territories. Says a marketing and distribution source for another studio: "It is a disaster in the worst way. It was No. 6 in the UK and No. 9 in Germany and the numbers are horrific. Only Latin America showed signs of life -- but it was barely a pulse." I haven't seen any official international figures from Warner Bros yet. But the film was supposed to do better overseas where anime is a bigger draw than in the U.S.
As expected, Marvel's Iron Man is the blockbuster No. 1 for the second week in a row. According to distributor Paramount, it took in a str0ng $15 million Friday from 4,111 theaters (-62% from its opening) for what should be a $50 million weekend. Its new cume is ... Read More »
2008 Cannes Film Festival Events Sked...
The latest 61st Cannes Film Festival screenings guide is here.
Monday, May 12th, 2008
7:00 pm -- Wild Bunch Football Tournament
@ Stade St CassienTuesday, May 13th, 2008
TBD -- Paul Allen Yacht Party
9:00 am-6:00 pm -- Official Cannes Film Festival Short Corner
sponsored by Moving Pictures
5:30 pm-7:30 pm -- Mandate International
@ The Penthouse at Villa D’EstelleWednesday, May 14th, 2008
TBD -- Macy Gray performing for Nikki Beach
@ Noga Hilton
TBD -- Chopard Party
@ Carlton
TBD -- Opening Night Film: Focus Features' Blindness
TBD -- Vicky Christina Barcelona
9:00 am-6:00 pm -- Official Cannes Film Festival Short Corner
sponsored by Moving Pictures
10:00 am-10:30 am -- Kung Fu Panda Stunt with Jack Black
@ Carlton Pier
6:00 pm-8:00 pm -- DDA Press Cocktail
@ Majestic BeachThursday, May 15th, 2008
TBD -- Opening Night Gala
TBD -- UBBA, Abba Celine Kamina’s Company
@Top of The Majestic
TBD -- Screening of Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda
9:00 am-6:00 pm -- Official Cannes Film Festival Short Corner
sponsored by Moving Pictures
6:00 pm-8:30 pm -- Yacht Cocktail Party, IM Global, Bunraku Bunraku
@ My Pegasus, Soleil Levant, Quai Albert Eduard Cocktail
7:00 pm-9:00 pm -- Velvet Octopus Cocktail Party
@ Nouma Blanc Apartment
7:00 pm-12:00 am -- Greenhouse and Prince Albert II Foundation Party
8:30 pm (sunset) -- WHV Beach Screening: Bonnie and Clyde
@ Plage Mace
9:00 pm-12:00 am -- City of Your Final Destination Party
hosted by Chopard @ Crystal Beach
9:00 pm -- Dreamworks' Kung Fu Panda Party
@ Carlton Beach
10:00 pm-1:00 am-- Focus Films
@ 3.14 Beach La Croisette
Friday, May 16th, 2008
TBD -- Soho House Party
@ Chatteau De La Napoule
TBD -- Crystal Sky's Steven Paul birthday party
@
... Read More »
Weekend Prediction: Problem-Plagued 'Speed Racer' Distant No. 2 To 'Iron Man'
The last time I saw a studio resort to prayer for a movie opening was Universal for Evan Almighty. And the Box Office Gods didn't make it a hit pic. But now Warner Bros is figuratively on its knees praying for at least a mid-$30 million weekend opening for its kiddie anime Speed Racer -- already down from a hoped-for $40 million just a few days earlier. There are some positive, and some negative, factors to consider. For instance, a plus is that the "Parents and Kids" premium tracking has bettered by a lot. But before I delve into those issues, I have to say that I rarely see Hollywood so gleeful to dump all over a movie's release. But my box office gurus can't wait to puncture the tires of what they say will be Speed Racer's slow crawl of a domestic opening Friday. Still their predictions are a bit higher today than a few weeks ago; they now range from high $20sM to mid-30sM from 3,606 theaters. That's well behind Marvel's blockbuster holdover Iron Man which Paramount has placed in 4,111 venues and projected a $50M second weekend.
As a Warner exec told me this afternoon, "I remain optimistic that families will go. I’m hoping we mirror something like Alvin And The Chipmunks. Industry projections based on tracking had it opening at $25M, but it opened to $44M." Unfortunately, Warner's film will get creamed by the competition from the Disney/Walden blockbuster Narnia 2 opening the very next weekend. One bright spot is international: ... Read More »
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