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"Potter", "Avatar" spur box office record in '09

1/04/2010 01:03:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , 0 Comments

Crowd-pleasing pics and extra-dimensional tix combined to lift Hollywood to new box office heights in 2009.

Sales rose more than 8% to a record $10.61 billion, while the number of tickets sold (i.e. admissions) climbed almost 4%.

Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($402.1 million), Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" ($302 million) and 3D phenoms such as Fox's "Avatar" ($352.1 million) and Disney/Pixar's "Up" ($293 million) helped set the new box office mark.

But admissions in the United States and Canada -- at 1.41 billion, compared with 1.36 billion in 2008 -- fell a bit short of beating the all-time record of 1.60 billion set in 2002. The box office year began January 5, with tracking firm Nielsen EDI always starting its calendar on the first business day after New Year's.

The race for some of the top spots in annual studio market share rankings went right to the wire, though Warner Bros. had the gold-medal position nailed down early and finished with an industry-record $2.13 billion and a 20% share.

Paramount finished second in a tightly bunched group of majors with $1.46 billion (13.8% share), and Fox was third with $1.45 billion (13.7%), according to EDI estimates. Sony was fourth on the year with $1.44 billion (13.6%), followed by Disney with $1.21 billion (11.4%) and Universal with roughly $900 million (8.5%).

The year's remarkable industry performance came despite predictions from some quarters that climbing ticket prices would prevent the theatrical business from displaying its usual recession-resistant ways. Equally of note, moviegoers' enthusiasm for 3D pictures shows movie theaters still offer a theatrical experience that can compete effectively against increasingly sophisticated home-entertainment systems.

"What we've seen with 3D releases this year, most recently with 'Avatar,' is a reinvention of the moviegoing experience," said Gerry Lopez, president and CEO of No. 2 chain AMC Entertainment. "It's definitely the direction the industry is going."

Sequels proved as strong as ever in 2009, with a $282 million theatrical run for Summit Entertainment's vampire romance "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" joining the "Potter" and "Transformer" pictures among the most successful '09 entrants in the tried-and-true category. Yet Fox's year-end box office bonanza with "Avatar" and Sony's overachieving 11 months earlier with "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" ($146 million) could boost industry enthusiasm for original concepts headed into the new year -- if only as a path to creating new franchises.

It's hard to see Fox not green lighting a follow-up to "Avatar" or Warners not producing a second "Sherlock Holmes" pic. (The latter, starring Robert Downey Jr., closed the year at $140.7 million through just 10 days of release.)

Meantime, 3D cinema has been great for movie theaters, but extra-dimensional theatrical releases can present an awkward mission for studios marketing the same movies as 2D home-entertainment titles.

"3D is very much here," said Adam Fogelson, recently installed as film chief at Universal following the studio's series of '09 box office disappointments. "But while we have absolutely seen an uptick in box office revenue, the movies that have been released in 3D have faced an even tougher challenge in that the DVD releases of 3D films have performed less well and enough to question whether the total revenue was greater than a 3D the film would have had in 2D."

Universal will release its first 3D movie next summer, when animated comedy "Despicable Me" hits theaters July 9.

Dell, Toshiba and Gateway Core i3 laptops get revealed early, joined by Pine Trail netbooks

1/04/2010 01:03:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , , , 0 Comments



And just like that, the CES 2010 on-switch has been well and truly pressed. After HP, Sony and Lenovo all exposed their hardware to the world prematurely, it was inevitable that other companies would "accidentally" follow suit. Thanks to CNET's snooping, we're now staring at a trio of new Core i3 models from Dell, Toshiba and Gateway -- highlighted by an unannounced ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 powering a 1600 x 900 15-inch display on the Gateway, which also squeezes 500GB of storage under a shockingly low $692 price tag. On the Atom front, the Mini 210 is joined by a Toshiba NB305 -- sporting the N450, 250GB HDD, up to 11 hours' claimed battery life, and a $438 sticker -- as well as Gateway's effort with a smaller 160GB HDD but also suitably reduced $285 asking price. Hit the links below to get freshened up on all the juicy details.

HyunA Time for a ‘Change’? MV Teaser

1/04/2010 01:02:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments



Are you guys ready to undergo some “change” with HyunA? Well, looks like you are going to have to because she released her new single solo song ‘Change’! Featuring rap by JunHyung from Beast, looks like the beat is popping.



With this song made by ShinSaDong Tigers who also produced ‘Hot Issue’ and ‘MUZIK’, she will be making her debut stage on Music Bank this week.



What do you guys think? Good start for HyunA or no? And MV preview!

Da S : Most stunning, most friendly, most honest (sides)

1/04/2010 01:01:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 1 Comment



On the 30th at 11, Swiss watch brand Tissot held a grand media event at Parkson DP stores in Kun Ming, to celebrate for the brand having sold more than 2010 tens of thousands yuans in Kun Ming (20.1 millions). As the brand number one female endorser, DaS (Barbie Xu) also attended, were accompanying her, Tissot Vice President of Mainland area, Mr. Yao Zhongwei who personally handed out as a gift the new Tissot model "moon goddess", using the watch to represent his best wishes.

Now that DaS career is very hot, her popularity also raised non-stop, the busy but friendly her told the reporters that next year, she'll have to go to HK to join Andy Lau for the promotion of their new movie. And about her love life, she answered honestly that after being single for such a long time, she won't put it in the top plans for next year, and keep a "go with the flow" attitude towards that.


At the event : A red dress stunning everyone

When DaS appeared dressed with a light red single shoulder dress, the audience became effervecent and the atmosphere heated up, the fans who had been waiting for her since very soon coincidentally screamed at the same time "So beautiful", and immediatly starting to take pictures. Seing the Kun ming enthusiastic fans, DaS started to pose for them very happily, satisfying everyone's urge to take pictures, and even turning around to face the fans who were at the other corner of the set, her friendly and easygoing actions led to another wave of excited screams.

Impression of Kun Ming : loved to eat "Cross-bridge rice noodle" the most


In everyone's memories, it should be the first time DaS came to Kun Ming, but it's wrong, DaS alredy came to film the TV serial "Chinese ghost story" she had came many times to Yun Nan with the crew and is very familiar with Kun Ming and its snacks, she laughed saying "I already tried all the Kun Ming's Flower and Bird market's and the neighbouring restaurant's cross-bridge rice noodles, my favourite was the Heung Yuen Bridge noodles."

Other than the cross-bridge noodles, DaS who is called Beauty/Cosmetic queen also shared with the audience her beauty tips, "the weather in Yun Nan is very dry so it's recommended to do many masks, and be careful about hydrating; in winter, Yun Nan's UVs and Sun is very strong, so remember to put on some sunscreen"

New Year's wish : want to have an out of the ordinary role in 2010

As New Year is coming, DaS who has a bright career and receiving endless offers, is very busy. But talking about her New Year Wish; DaS hapily revealed that Andy Lau is her lucky star :"Last year, on the 31st of December, I was filming with Andy, also spending New Year's day with him ; Tomorrow I need to go to HK to do some promotion work with him, it's like I've been spending the New Years with him for 3 years in a row now. Because I spent New Year with him, my career got more satisfying this year, my works also got good responses; so I bemieve next year, I'll also be that lucky."

From San Cai in "Meteor Garden" to the completly different kinds of movies such as "The Ghost Inside", "Connected", and "My so called love", DaS brought many different characters for the audience. But about the roles she performed as, DaS still feels that there is still room for a breakthough, " In 2010, I hope to be able to film something that I myself like and a work that will allow me to bring out my soul to put some in it, a movie that is exciting to act in, and also can be loved by the audience, leaving them a strong impression. The movie will certainly need to be special and a different style to be able to break through the current market."

Swordwoman fate : enjoyed fighting and killing in Movie

Right now, DaS is filming John Woo's "Rain of Swords", and "Future X-Cops" and "Hot summer Days" will both start screening during Chinese New Year. DaS admitted that in "Rain of Swords" she will show a face that she would have never been able to show in the real world, she joked "In the movie, I have a romantic and naive personality, but I have noalmost no concept of right and wrong or morality at all, I'd feel happy when using violence. In this movie, I'd fight and kill a lot, and run from the justice, it's really exciting."

The fans who like DaS all know that she started with Xiao S in a band called ASOS in the music industry, but after becoming artists they neglected their "first profession" for a long time. When being asked whether they'd release another album or not, DaS stated : "It's possible, but even if I don't release one, in "Summer Desire" there's already 4 songs that'll at least come out from with the OST."


Love Life : Unlikely to think about personal issues next year

Being rumored to have a "Queen" personality, DaS romantic history wasn't peaceful, the relationships she had with Blue LAn and Vic Zhou both ended without reason. Even though she had many rumors with co-star Louis Koo, and a love affair with Peter Ho got "exposed"; DaS still keeps a "Let it be" atitude towards Love, when asked if she put her personal issues in her next year plans, she didn't avoid it and said with a smile: " For next year, I hope to have a stable family, but fate is something you can't force, so I can't put it in my next year's goals, feelings can't be forced, so let destiny take its course."

Rihanna Book “Rihanna: The Last Girl On Earth” June 29

1/04/2010 01:01:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

We never would have taken The Bajan Princess for the literary type, but it appears pop’s own Rihanna is taking her talents from the stage to the shelves of your local bookseller.

The “Umbrella” hitmaker just completed work on her first book, Amazon.com has revealed.

Here’s what we know so far: Rihanna: The Last Girl On Earth features contributions from artist Simon Henwood, the creative director of Rihanna’s fourth studio album, Rated R. In addition to designing the album’s cover art, Henwood is also the artistic force for the star’s forthcoming Rated R World Tour. The 144-page book will retail for around $50.00 when it debuts on June 29, 2010.

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge gets official: optional 3G and WiMAX

1/04/2010 01:00:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , , , 0 Comments

Lenovo’s CES 2010 range has been revealed, and heading the attack is the new Lenovo ThinkPad Edge. A new series of 13, 14 and 15 inch machines, the Edge line-up is targeted at home buyers together with small and medium business users. First up will be the 13.3-inch Edge using AMD’s Turion and Athlon Neo dual core processors, but Intel CULV Core 2 Duo and regular Core 2 Duo CPUs will also be on offer across the range. There’s also optional Bluetooth, WiMAX and 3G to go along with the standard WiFi.



Other features include larger, multitouch-capable trackpads, more color options than the usual ThinkPad “you can have any color, as long as it’s black” choice, ThinkVantage for automatic restores and system recoveries, and – on the larger machines – backlit keyboards. Lenovo have also reworked the keyboard layouts, junking some of the less-frequently used or legacy buttons and prioritizing media playback controls over function keys.

The 13-inch Lenovo ThinkPad Edge is available from today, priced from $549. As for the 14- and 15-inch versions, they’ll arrive in Q2 2010, pricing to be confirmed; Best Buy will also sell SKUs based on the 14-inch model.


Wonder Girls are #1 on the Billboard Year End Charts!

1/04/2010 12:59:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

That's right folks, Korea's very own Wonder Girls, who took the world by storm with their ever-so-addictive hits, Tell Me, So Hot, and Nobody, have made it once again on America's Billboard Charts, but, this time, as #1!


Last year, the girls made their U.S. debut by opening all summer for the Jonas Brothers and their nationwide tour, giving the girls exposure to the American public and young tweens. Since then, the five members have released an English version of Nobody and also a remix by widely-known DJ / producer / remixer Jason Nevins. In late October the girls made it on the Billboard Top 100, ranking at 76th place. However, their glory was short-lived as they fell off the charts after only a week.

Now that 2009 is over, Billboard.biz (branch of Billboard.com) wrapped it up and declared Wonder Girls and their track Nobody #1 on the Year End Charts Hot Singles Sales section, beating out big U.S. artists like Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas and more. You can check out the full results here.




Wonder Girls will be following up their U.S. debut with an American album next month so tune in!

Kim Tae Hee talks about her ideal type and getting criticized

1/04/2010 12:59:00 PM kenmouse , Posted in , , 0 Comments

Kim Tae Hee was a guest on Entertainment Relay's corner Guerilla Date, where she talked about her ideal Hollywood actor and what it is like to be an actress.

She said, "When I get criticized for something I [believe] in, it hurts a lot. When there are rumors that do not make any sense or if people talk about me in a ridiculous way, it doesn't hurt at all."

I understand what she means because when you know you have a flaw, you definitely don't want others to point it out. But it's Kim Tae Hee, and half of the women population of Korea is jealous of her; of course they'd try to point out her flaws.

Then the interviewer asked her who her ideal type is out of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and George Clooney but she didn't pick any of those. She said, "I used to be a Tom Cruise fan but now I like Johnny Depp. He's very sexy."

She summed up the interview by stating her New Year's resolution, expressing, "I want to find the mature Kim Tae Hee inside of me. I want to remain pure and passionate like I am now. But I want to become more mature. I want to ask the viewers of IRIS to expect a lot."

Lady GaGa ‘Defends Adam Lambert From Homophobe’

1/04/2010 12:24:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Lady GaGa is one loyal friend!

The Poker Face hitmaker apparently lost her cool when a hideous homophobe criticized her for being friends with openly gay American Idol star Adam Lambert.

According to the National Enquirer, GaGa was partying with pals at Ottawa club Barrymore’s after a concert when the man confronted her.

The guy apparently approached the star and shouted, “I saw you and Adam Lambert on the AMA show, and the guy’s a flaming fa**ot — and I also think that you’re actually a MAN!”

GaGa replied, “Well, that’s your opinion, isn’t it? And I’m not about to waste my time trying to change it.”

The homophobe then slurred, “Well, don’t you care that you’re both going to HELL!”

Outraged, GaGa said, “No…not as long as I don’t have to see YOUR face there!”

The drunkard then screamed, “WELL, YOU’RE A FREAK…AND SO IS HE!”

Before leaving, the singer said, “Okay, that’s it! Call ME anything you want, but when you start calling my friends names, it’s OVER — it’s WAR!”

GaGa then poured a glass of wine over the homophobe and made a beeline for exit.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ‘To Split in 2010′

1/04/2010 12:24:00 AM kenmouse , Posted in , , , 0 Comments

Angelina Jolie’s relationship with Brad Pitt will be dead in the water by the end of 2010 — insiders claim.

Sources say tensions between the couple — who raise six children together — are so fierce, they won’t be able to stand each other any longer.

“Things are really bad between them,” a source close to Brangelina told American tabloid the National Enquirer. “The fights are getting worse and worse.

“In my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before they split up for good.”

Recent reports claimed bisexual Jolie told Pitt she wanted an open relationship — and he flipped out.

“Angie’s been hinting that she’s interested in seeing other people for a while, but Brad has resisted,” a source said.

“And it’s not just men that Angie wants to cheat with. She wants to give women another try too!

“When she openly said that’s what she wanted, Brad flipped out!”

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