"Moon," "Blind" face off again at box office
Fanged phenomenon "New Moon" and the leggy Sandra Bullock drama "The Blind Side" -- which finished No. 1 and 2, respectively, at the box office this past weekend -- again will battle for the top spot in domestic rankings.

But the rousing box office rung up during the Thanksgiving period by Summit Entertainment's teen vampire romance and Warner Bros.' football-themed true story has produced a good news/bad news situation for film distributors.
Moviegoers clearly are in the mood to visit multiplexes, but theater owners are loath to surrender screens showing the two hits to pictures launching this weekend. None of this session's four wide openers will unspool in appreciably more than 2,000 locations, and none is likely to reach even the teen millions through Sunday.
"Exhibitors don't want to give up screens from the big films," a top film distribution executive groused.
Lionsgate's drama "Brothers," starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, looks headed for the low-double-digit millions and could grab the bronze medal as the strongest of the market debutants. Set for 2,088 playdates, the R-rated "Brothers," directed by Jim Sheridan ("In America"), is a remake of a Danish film that focuses on a soldier and his brother caught in a love triangle.
Prerelease interest is soft for Sony Screen Gems' action thriller "Armored," toplined by Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne. So the movie about the heist of an armored truck is likely to get stuck in the middle-single-digit millions. Still, production costs were relatively modest, at about $20 million, and young males are showing sufficient interest to have studio executives sanguine about its opening prospects.
Miramax's dramatic comedy "Everybody's Fine," toplined by Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore, appears headed for a bow in a similarly ho-hum range, while Full Circle's horror comedy "Transylmania" could fetch even less.
Among limited releases, Paramount unspools the George Clooney-starring "Up in the Air" in 15 theaters. The book-based drama will expand during the coming weeks.
On an industrywide basis, this weekend will be compared with a soft $82.4 million session in 2008, whose top opening was the limp $4.3 million bow by Lionsgate's action sequel "Punisher: War Zone." Year-to-date box office is up 5.5 percent, at $9.29 billion, according to Nielsen EDI.

But the rousing box office rung up during the Thanksgiving period by Summit Entertainment's teen vampire romance and Warner Bros.' football-themed true story has produced a good news/bad news situation for film distributors.
Moviegoers clearly are in the mood to visit multiplexes, but theater owners are loath to surrender screens showing the two hits to pictures launching this weekend. None of this session's four wide openers will unspool in appreciably more than 2,000 locations, and none is likely to reach even the teen millions through Sunday.
"Exhibitors don't want to give up screens from the big films," a top film distribution executive groused.
Lionsgate's drama "Brothers," starring Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire, looks headed for the low-double-digit millions and could grab the bronze medal as the strongest of the market debutants. Set for 2,088 playdates, the R-rated "Brothers," directed by Jim Sheridan ("In America"), is a remake of a Danish film that focuses on a soldier and his brother caught in a love triangle.
Prerelease interest is soft for Sony Screen Gems' action thriller "Armored," toplined by Matt Dillon and Laurence Fishburne. So the movie about the heist of an armored truck is likely to get stuck in the middle-single-digit millions. Still, production costs were relatively modest, at about $20 million, and young males are showing sufficient interest to have studio executives sanguine about its opening prospects.
Miramax's dramatic comedy "Everybody's Fine," toplined by Robert De Niro, Kate Beckinsale and Drew Barrymore, appears headed for a bow in a similarly ho-hum range, while Full Circle's horror comedy "Transylmania" could fetch even less.
Among limited releases, Paramount unspools the George Clooney-starring "Up in the Air" in 15 theaters. The book-based drama will expand during the coming weeks.
On an industrywide basis, this weekend will be compared with a soft $82.4 million session in 2008, whose top opening was the limp $4.3 million bow by Lionsgate's action sequel "Punisher: War Zone." Year-to-date box office is up 5.5 percent, at $9.29 billion, according to Nielsen EDI.




12/04/2009 12:45:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in







Calling its prediction a "no-brainer," market research firm IDC is claiming that Apple will introduce its long-awaited tablet device by the end of next year. In the just-released "Top 10 Predictions" report for 2010, IDC chief analyst Frank Gens writes that the endless rumors are indeed true: Apple's "iPad"--or whatever you want to call it--will debut within a year:
Lindsay Lohan is not joining Kevin Connolly's entourage.
The hot favourite for Best Actress, Charmaine Sheh and Tavia Yeung did not attend the blessing ceremony for TVB Anniversary Awards yesterday. Due to this, everyone starts guessing whether they have prepared to lose out on awards presentation night but both of them denied this.








In a nod to efficiency, YouTube on Thursday began testing a more lightweight version of its video player pages called "feather."
Songs are slated for Relapse: Refill, out December 21.
China Unicom has sold just five iPhones through a big online retail site in the two weeks since it opened the virtual store, the latest sign that the handset is suffering in China from its high price and lack of Wi-Fi.
It's no secret that plenty of companies are hoping that 2010 will be the year of 3D, and it looks like Sony has now gotten a big boost by lining up a partnership with one of the biggest events of the year: the FIFA World Cup. As the pair have announced today, the new arrangement will see at least 25 World Cup matches produced in 3D using Sony's 3D cameras, which will be viewable through a variety of means. That includes special public viewing events in seven cities around the world (none in North America, unfortunately), an "Official 3D Film" that will be previewed at Sony Stores and other retail outlets and, last but not least, a Blu-ray of said film that will be made available at some point following the World Cup. This won't be the first time a soccer match has been broadcast in 3D, however, and it looks like it won't be your only option for catching some games in 3D next year either.

No one else may be surprised by her strong showing at the Grammy nominations Wednesday, but Taylor Swift certainly is.




2009 saw the broadcast of many excellent idol dramas and the celebrity actors & actresses who starred in them also drew in millions of revenue. This year, Jerry Yan tops the list for the 3rd consecutive year, with estimated earnings of $68million, which is $10million more than last year. Rainie Yang follows closely behind with $61.8million, followed by Joe Cheng, due to his increased endorsements in mainland China, with estimated earnings of $50.7million.

ABC: The Adam-Banning Channel?


Since its highly ballyhooed rollout near the end of October, Windows 7 has been applauded by many as Microsoft's best operating system yet. But no OS is perfect, and that goes for Windows 7.
First the marriage rumours, now comes pregnancy rumours.






