This weekend was a battle between nostalgia and what's new and now and, as always, new and now won out. Also this weekend, lots of people went to see Hop and Atlas Shrugged, so we should be ashamed of ourselves.
Though the British scourge's movies went number one and number two this weekend, they were mostly number two. At least there's good news for that little assassin girl this weekend, plus it was good news for Jesus, because it really almost always is.
This week's box office battle wasn't supposed to be much of a battle at all. Zack Snyder's CGI crapfest was to sweep the land with its babydoll gunstresses and no one would stop it. But Holllywood is a place built of surprises...
One of Hollywood's perennial second fiddles has been moved up to first chair, and it'll be interesting to see if he can stay there. Elsewhere in movies, Johnny Depp soldiers on and Matthew McConaughey gets serious.
Disney's latest animated movie (well, distributed by Disney, produced by Robert Zemeckis's now-defunct ImageMovers Digital) Mars Needs Moms opened this past weekend with receipts of around $6 million. Considering the movie cost between $150 and $175 million to make and release, this is a bomb on the scale of Cutthroat Island. Which is to say, it's a big, big bomb. So is this just some random fluke, or does it say something about a bigger trend? Some folks are saying it does.
If we're judging sexiness by box office receipts (which we are, right?), then werewolves are certainly not the hotties that vampires are. Aliens are doing OK, though! As long as they're evil and we're shooting them, anyway.
Yes, somehow Johnny Depp has managed to be involved with a successful film. I know it's quite a rarity, but today it worked. Meanwhile Matt Damon didn't do too badly for himself either, which is a good thing.
It was a quiet weekend at the cineplexes, mostly because everyone was busy at home doing their pre-Oscar calisthenics, frantically catching up on all the movies they missed, feverishly sewing beads on a dress while a cruel Anne Hathaway stood over them with a whip. You know, Oscar things!
This week's box office saw the further success of our old friend Liam Neeson, plus the emergence of a new sorta-successful action star from the British Isles.
When it comes to embracing iconic haircuts, America would rather bask in the '90s glory of The Rachel rather than the '10s wonderment of The Bieber—well, at least at the box office. Everyone says Bieber is shitty, but today he is officially number two.
A slow weekend saw the ladies rushing out to the cineplexes to have their fun before football madness descended upon the land and all was boy until Monday.
As 2010 draws to a close, it's time to tally receipts and get our accounts in order. This includes the world's most important figures, movie box office numbers! The top 10 highest grossing movies of 2010 are...
• Super Bowl XLIV made history last night: It's now the most-watched TV program in U.S. history, having bypassed the finale of M*A*S*H in 1983. [THR]
• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have filed suit against the Rupert Murdoch's News of the World for reporting the couple was separating. [Guardian]
• Talks between Fox and Conan O'Brien seem to be moving ahead. As for the Super Bowl ad featuring Letterman and Leno, Letterman was reportedly interested in having Conan appear as well, although it didn't pan out.
• Ellen DeGeneres makes her debut on American Idol tomorrow. Meanwhile, talks to have Howard Stern replace Simon Cowell next season are progressing.
• Mixed news for the magazine business: newsstand sales fell in the second half of 2009, although the situation was even worse a year ago. [NYT, AdAge]
• Sarah Palin won't have to fly to NYC to tape her appearances on Fox News: The network is building its new "contributor" a TV set in her living room. [NYT]
• After dominating the box office for seven weeks, Avatar was dethroned by Dear John this weekend, although it remained No. 1 internationally. [MTV]
• Ads for Snickers, Doritos, and Google were big winners with Super Bowl viewers this year. As for the Motorola spot starring Megan Fox, she may be the first person in history to have had a "thumb double." [Reuters, NYT, NYM]
• An estimated 25 million people tuned into last night's broadcast of the Grammy Awards on CBS, earning it its highest ratings in six years. [AP]
• Disney is looking to sell off the Miramax name and its library of 700 movies, and seven to 10 parties have reportedly expressed interest. [NYT, NYP]
• Nate Berkus's new TV show will hit WNBC beginning this fall. [THR, NYP]
• Kelly Cutrone's reality show, Kell on Earth, debuts on Bravo tonight. [LAT]
• Candy Crowley is the new anchor of CNN's State of the Union. [NYT]
• Amazon.com is backing down in its fight over e-book prices. [Reuters]
• Avatar was No. 1 at the box office for a seventh weekend in a row. The movie has now grossed more than $2 billion around the world. [NYT]
If ten years ago someone were to tell you that Mel Gibson was going to be killed someday by blue space monkeys, you'd have figured them just as crazy as he is, right? Well you'd have been the crazy one!
• Is Fox about to "swoop in" and sign Conan O'Brien to host a late-night show on the network? That's the rumor. In other, not-at-all-surprising Conan news, his final Tonight Show on Friday generated huge ratings. [NYP, NYDN, LAT]
• News networks are preparing to scale back their operations in Haiti. [NYT]
• The "Hope For Haiti Now" album will debut at No. 1 this week. [Reuters]
• Diane Sawyer's ratings are up 8% since taking over World News. [NYDN]
• Avatar was No. 1 at the box office for a sixth weekend in a row; it bypassed Titanic today to become the highest-grossing movie of all time. [LAT, THR]
• The Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger has been given the go-ahead . [DF]
• The grim ad climate for fashion magazines seems to be improving. [WWD]
• Comcast's acquisition of NBC will face a few hurdles in Washington. [AP]
• Oprah was "America's favorite TV personality" in 2009, according to a new poll. Frighteningly, Glenn Beck and Jay Leno were No. 2 and 3. [Reuters]
