After AMC was unable to reach a new lease agreement with their landlords, it was announced that AMC Avco Center 4 will be shutting down this Sunday. Two months back, it was also announced that the Majestic Crest theater in Westwood would also be shutting its doors. Little theaters are really frickin cool… I hope someone picks these locations up (particularly the Majestic) and gets them up and running again ASAP.
This morning, The Walt Disney Company reported Q4 earnings will exceed analyst expectations with a quarterly income of $1.1 billion. That’s +30% over last year!
That makes me happy… the reason that makes me happy is because the theme park division is responsible for a good chunk of that… and I love me some Disneyland. The Happiest Places on Earth are up 9% in revenue over last year… AND, that’s with over half of frickin’ California Adventure being closed for new stuff being built. Not too shabby.
The other division putting in a major helping hand to boost the earnings numbers is the TV division. Despite missing some major tentpoles in news and sports this year, Disney’s cable and ABC ad revenue and operating revenue were up a ton. And Disney is (at least pretending that) they aren’t afraid of the NBA lockout affecting ESPN revenue… they’re assuming NBA ad dollars and audience will just shift to other ESPN properties.
While Disney is kind of the Devil… they are a devil that makes Toy Story and gives me churros… so yah, they are my friend.
Peter Jackson, Spielberg and Edgar Wright are such cool ass guys… I hope this is good.
The film closed the AFI Fest in Hollywood last night… and early reviews are a tad mixed. The more core fanboy-ish types seem to being loving it, but a lot of the more grownup/serious reviewer types are saying that the film lacks heart is little more than eye candy. American’s are stupid and like pretty things… I’m thinking this has a shot to do well.
Looks like Eddie Murphy doesn’t want to do the Oscars with his boy Brett at the helm. He just resigned the spot.
Now… who will take the gig? There’s a campaign on Twitter to get the Muppets to host ( @MuppetOscars )… any other ideas? I’m thinking we need some more little people representation at the big show… I’m throwing Warwick Davis and Peter Dinklage’s names in the hat.
Source: http://www.deadline.com/2011/11/hammond-murphy-exit-throws-oscars-into-further-chaos/
After using the word “fag” during promo for Tower Heist and getting a little graphic with details on his sex life on Howard Stern and G4′s Attack of the Show, a big ol’ fat question mark was put on whether or not Brett Ratner would remain the producer of the upcoming Oscar ceremony.
Well, that question has been answered. Brett just resigned his position. People are assuming for the moment that Eddie Murphy will remain as the host of the ceremony, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
It is expected that the best damn movie of this year, Toy Story 3, will cross the $1 billion worldwide gross mark some time today. That will make TS3 the #7 worldwide grosser of all time and will make Disney the only studio to have 2 films hit the $1 billion milestone in 1 year (Alice did it earlier this year…yuck).
Pretty much every film studio has joined up with Hollywood labor unions, the MPAA, and a whole bunch of other film guilds and alliances to try and block 2 groups from essentially starting a stock market for movies. If the groups end up getting approval to proceed despite the efforts of pretty much everyone living in the Southern half of California, people would be able to invest money based on how they expect a film to perform at the box office.
Source: NY Times
With 22 days and some fatty Xmas releases still on tap to bring in some serious dough, 2009 has already surpassed 2007 as the highest grossing year at the box office ever. As of today, YTD box will hit approx $9.682 billion.
via DHD
Last year’s wonderful Academy Awards host, Hugh Jackman, has turned down an invitation to repeat his hosting gig this year. No word yet on who will fill the spot for the Feb 7 ceremony.
Source: Variety.com
Sony had originally planned on releasing the DVD for the Michael Jackson documentary, This Is It, some time this holiday season. This would make the theatrical to home video window significantly shorter than usual and theatre owners freaked out, saying that this early release would detract from their business. Sony has caved to the pressure and will now release the DVD at a later date.
Source: Home Media Magazine
An industry analyst is reporting that by 12/15 he expects Paramount to either continue distributing new release DVDs through a 5 year deal recently inked with RedBox or to pull the plug on the partnership. Paramount is one of few studios who have partnered with the rental kiosk company for some time now and, if they opt out of the partnership, it could be a huge sign to fence-sitting or Redbox hating studios that the kiosk service does indeed hurt DVD sales.
Source: Home Media Magazine