movies – News Stories About movies - Page 61

Funny People Puts
Serious Pressure on Sandler

Jul 31, 2009 2:22 PM CDT

Funny People Puts Serious Pressure on Sandler

Box office performance for latest flick a mystery

(Newser) - Though it’s called Funny People, Adam Sandler’s latest film is a bit more serious than his fans are used to—and its opening-weekend performance is a mystery, Variety reports. Forecasts range from just over $20 million to more like $35 million, Audiences loved director Judd Apatow’s prior...

Hollywood Focuses on
Post-Apocalyptic Future

Jul 31, 2009 11:16 AM CDT

Hollywood Focuses on Post-Apocalyptic Future

Escapism, real fears fuel new crop of movies, TV shows

(Newser) - In one, the Earth's destruction fulfills an ancient prophesy. In another, mechanical dolls take over where humans left off. From serious to humorous, reality shows to documentaries, Hollywood is obsessed with the theme of a post-apocalyptic future, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some attribute the trend to escapism: “People...

Hollywood's Lost
Its Grasp on 'Quirky'

OPINION

Jul 28, 2009 1:27 PM CDT

Hollywood's Lost Its Grasp on 'Quirky'

(Newser) - Hollywood loves to make movies about allegedly quirky people—think 500 Days of Summer—but most characters are so similar they don’t seem quirky at all, writes Linda Holmes for NPR. “It may be that at this point, the quirkiest person in a Hollywood movie would be someone...

G-Force Blasts to
Top With $32.2M

BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP

Jul 26, 2009 2:13 PM CDT

G-Force Blasts to Top With $32.2M

(Newser) - The digital guinea pigs of G-Force took a bite out of Harry Potter this weekend, with an unexpected $32.2 million take, the Los Angeles Times reports. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince fell harder than most other films in the franchise, landing second with $30 million. Critically-loathed rom-com The ...

Why Katherine
Heigl Is Annoying

OPINION

Jul 25, 2009 3:10 PM CDT

Why Katherine Heigl Is Annoying

(Newser) - Katherine Heigl was “supposed to be America’s new sweetheart,” but somewhere we fell out of love. Sarah Ball, writing in Newsweek, lays some of the blame for her image as a “diva-like shrew” on "pure sexism. Every decade has a Most Annoying Actress,” Ball...

After Watchmen,
Bring On Next
'Unfilmables'

OPINION

Jul 21, 2009 1:45 PM CDT

After Watchmen, Bring On Next 'Unfilmables'

(Newser) - Alan Moore’s Watchmen was supposed to be unfilmable. But with the director’s cut hitting stores today, that pretty obviously wasn’t the case. Scott Thill lists some supposedly unfilmable geek bibles for Wired:

Sandman: “It’s not film-shaped,” says creator Neil Gaiman. “What I got

...

Harry Potter Bewitches
Box Office for $160M

BOX OFFICE ROUNDUP

Jul 19, 2009 4:10 PM CDT

Harry Potter Bewitches Box Office for $160M

(Newser) - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince conjured up a weekend box-office win with $79.5 million, bringing its 5-day total to $159.7 million, Bloomberg reports. The Hogwarts sequel trailed only Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the year's best bow. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ($17.7...

Harry Potter Is
Neutering America

OPINION

Jul 16, 2009 8:06 AM CDT

Harry Potter Is Neutering America

At the box office, the chaste rule, writer says

(Newser) - Remember the old teen sex comedies, where hormones ruled and no one talked about their feelings? Hollywood doesn't, ST VanAirsdale writes in Esquire. Today's sexless blockbusters—think the Harry Potter flicks and Twilight—reflect how "our PG-13 imperative has scrubbed mass culture of its libido." The new leading...

Potter Pulls in Record $22.2M

Jul 15, 2009 8:52 PM CDT

Potter Pulls in Record $22.2M

(Newser) - Young readers of Harry Potter are all grown up now and able to attend late showings: The Half-Blood Prince set a box office record for a midnight opening by pulling in $22.2 million, reports Variety. The haul is bigger than expected and beats the record of $18 million set...

Redford, Longtime Galpal Marry

GOSSIP ROUNDUP

Jul 15, 2009 11:10 AM CDT

Redford, Longtime Galpal Marry

Plus, trouble in paradise for Madonna and Jesus

(Newser) - Robert Redford married longtime girlfriend Sibylle Szaggars in Germany this weekend, E! reports. The actor and the painter, who met in the early '90s at a Sundance Film Festival event, married in a small private ceremony conducted in Szaggars’ native German, according to a local newspaper. It is the second...

Twitter Makes Brüno
a 1-Day Wonder

Jul 13, 2009 11:24 AM CDT

Twitter Makes Brüno a 1-Day Wonder

(Newser) - Brüno came out on top at the box office this weekend, but the way he did it didn’t inspire confidence. The shockumentary did spectacular business on Friday, only to plummet on Saturday, Time reports, leading some to wonder if it’s the first victim of the “Twitter...

Ryan Reynolds
Lands Green
Lantern Gig

Jul 11, 2009 11:10 AM CDT

Ryan Reynolds Lands Green Lantern Gig

(Newser) - Warner Bros. has finally found someone to wear its power ring. The studio has picked comic book movie veteran Ryan Reynolds to play Green Lantern, says the Hollywood Reporter. Reynolds beat out Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto, and Justin Timberlake for the part. He’ll be the first actor to don...

Jason Bateman
Proves That
Child Stars
Can Survive

glossies

Jul 10, 2009 7:19 PM CDT

Jason Bateman Proves That Child Stars Can Survive

(Newser) - Jason Bateman ought to be a drunk or dead by now. A child star on Little House on the Prairie and a slew of forgettable '80s roles, Bateman turned to boozing, snorting, and smoking up on wild all-nighters. "Shutting that off was key," he tells Steve Kandell...

Writing Porn Is Easy,
But the Pay Stinks

Jul 10, 2009 4:47 PM CDT

Writing Porn Is Easy, But the Pay Stinks

(Newser) - In many ways, the life of a porn screenwriter is a breeze compared to Hollywood, Christopher Beam writes for Slate. “Your average 90-minute porn film will have between five and seven sex scenes,” he explains. “At five to 10 minutes each, that leaves only about a half-hour...

What Hollywood
Learned This Summer

analysis

Jul 9, 2009 10:11 AM CDT

What Hollywood Learned This Summer

(Newser) - Hollywood is in the middle of an illuminating summer. The season started strong, with Star Trek, The Hangover, and Up, before things seriously cooled off, reports the Los Angeles Times. Some big releases await, but here are some of the lessons learned so far:

Playability has eclipsed marketability: Films with

...

This Summer's Top Trailers

Jul 8, 2009 1:38 PM CDT

This Summer's Top Trailers

(Newser) - Summer may not always yield the best movies, but it never fails to deliver the year’s best trailers. Wired celebrates this sacred art by picking out the trailers that managed to throw the most hype onto the screen in 3 minutes or less. We’ve helpfully compiled them in...

Box Office Records Are Bunk

OPINION

Jul 6, 2009 6:53 PM CDT

Box Office Records Are Bunk

Measuring a film's success in dollars is misleading

(Newser) - Not a year seems to go by without a film breaking a box-office records: Dark Knight a contender for biggest all-time earner! Bourne Ultimatum the top August opener! But that’s not because the films actually draw more viewers than the previous record-holders; it's because the figures are in dollars,...

Rate Outdoor Movies 'P,'
for 'Pain in the Neck'

OPINION

Jul 6, 2009 5:49 PM CDT

Rate Outdoor Movies 'P,' for 'Pain in the Neck'

(Newser) - Outdoor screenings of cinema classics have spread across the nation’s cities and even its smaller towns. “But why would anyone willingly attend such an event?” wonders Juliet Lapidos of Slate. Prattling lawn-mates, necking teenagers, and too-bright city streets send Lapidos straight to the theater. “The cost of...

Transformers
Will Soon
Rule World
Box Office

Jul 1, 2009 8:44 PM CDT

Transformers Will Soon Rule World Box Office

(Newser) - The Transformers juggernaut rolls on. The Revenge of the Fallen sequel is about to become the biggest grossing film of 2009 worldwide, reports Variety. After only 2 weeks, it's grossed $448 million around the globe, just shy of the $469 million haul by Angels & Demons, which opened in...

Transformers
Sequel Stuns
Box Office

box office roundup

Jun 28, 2009 3:38 PM CDT

Transformers Sequel Stuns Box Office

Michael Bay robot-romp could be biggest movie of 2009

(Newser) - Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen nearly toppled the 5-day opening record by earning $201.2 million since Wednesday, Entertainment Weekly reports. The Dark Knight remains unbeaten at $203.8 million, but Transformers still crushed the weekend competition with a $112 million gross. Filling out the top...