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Box Office: Burn After Reading Sets Box Office on Fire

BuzzSugar — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:15:20 -0700

The Coen Bros. helped give the box office a needed Autumn boost with their comedy Burn After Reading, which debuted at No. 1 with an estimated $19.4 million. It was a lucrative weekend overall, actually, with many of the week's new releases doing better than expected despite a "crowded marketplace for adult-skewing films."

In second place came Tyler Perry’s The Family That Preys earning $18 million, followed by the Al Pacino-Robert De Niro reunion, Righteous Kill. And despite unflattering reviews, even The Women did alright over the weekend, coming in at No. 4 with an estimated $10 million followed by The House Bunny in fifth place.

Alan Ball's Towelhead also opened and "nabbed the best per- location average of the weekend." Finally, for those of you keeping track, The Dark Knight is up another $4 million, putting its total domestic gross so far at an estimated $517 million.

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

The Dark Knight to Get Another Round in Theaters, January '09

BuzzSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:31:31 -0700

Even though The Dark Knight has gone above and beyond the line of duty at the box office, earning an estimated $512 million domestically, Warner Bros. has announced it will get a re-release in January 2009. The Hollywood Reporter notes:

Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Dan Fellman acknowledged ongoing talks with IMAX execs over the prospect of restoring the Christian Bale starrer to some giant-screen venues in January. It's uncertain if Dark Knight also will reappear in conventional venues at that point.

January, eh? Also known as: Oscar season!

So, what do you think? Over-hyped and political? Or yay? The DVD will already be out in December, though I still haven't seen The Dark Knight in an IMAX theater as many times as I'd like, so this might be fun come the new year. Also, a re-release could certainly help the movie beat Titanic as the biggest earner ever.

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Sugar Bits — Bush Dedicates Memorial to 9/11 Victims

PopSugar — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:29:58 -0700

Seven years after the 9/11 attack, President Bush dedicated the Pentagon memorial benches, which follow the path of AA Flight 77 and include the names of all the victims of the crash. The first steel column went up for NYC's memorial last week. — CitizenSugar
Kanye West was arrested at LAX for felony vandalism today when he smashed a photographer's equipment. — TMZ
Sarah McLachlan and her husband of 11 years, Ashwin Sood, have split, and she wrote two songs on her new album about the situation. The couple have two daughters together. — Billboard
Shannen Doherty will be leaving the new 90210 after four episodes to pitch a new TV show, but Jennie Garth has signed on for five additional episodes on top of her original six. — Ausiello Files
The Dark Knight will be rereleased in theaters this January, right around Academy Award voting season. — BuzzSugar

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Nicolas Cage Tops a Slow Weekend Box Office

BuzzSugar — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:45:46 -0700

Well, the Fall movie season came in with a whimper. According to Variety, "The first weekend after Labor Day is always sluggish, but this year the frame was affected by the start of the NFL football season and was particularly dreary." Bangkok Dangerous came in at No. 1, but it only earned an estimated $7.8 million and narrowly beat Tropic Thunder, which earned an estimated $7.5 million.

The House Bunny came in third place, followed by The Dark Knight in fourth and Don Cheadle's thriller Traitor in fifth place. Interestingly, Hamlet 2, which received major buzz at this year's Sundance Film Festival, is not doing too well in theaters and has only grossed an estimated $4.3 million over the two weekends it's been out.

Kind of a bummer of a weekend, but don't worry—next week The Women and Burn After Reading hit theaters! Who's excited?

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Were This Summer's Blockbusters Worth Your Money?

BuzzSugar — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:30:05 -0700

Soon the days will be getting shorter and the Fall movies will hit theaters, but I wanted to reflect on this Summer's movie season one last time. Even though at times it felt like there was one major blockbuster after another out each weekend and records were smashed, it turns out the box office totals were just below last year's — and it could have been lower if not for the major success of The Dark Knight.According to the Hollywood Reporter, "The Dark Knight phenomenon well compensated for one fewer $300 million-plus domestic performance compared with last Summer, when four films surpassed that milestone." In other words, Batman didn't just save Gotham City, he saved Hollywood! Kind of kidding . . . but not really.Do you feel like Hollywood earned your money this Summer when compared to past blockbuster seasons? When it comes to your own wallet, was 2008 one for the books?Source

Were This Summer's Blockbusters Worth Your Money?

Yes! Great Summer! I was at the theater a lot, and it was worth it.

Nope. I didn't open my wallet much at the theater (or regretted it when I did!)

I usually wait for the DVDs anyway.

Other (I'll tell you below)

Box Office: Tropic Thunder Wins Again

BuzzSugar — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:00:50 -0700

Labor Day weekend officially signals the close of the Summer box office season, and this year's ended on, as Variety described it, "a whimper" as opposed to a bang. Tropic Thunder landed in the top spot for the third weekend in a row, pulling in an estimated $14.3 million over four days. The second spot went to Babylon A.D. which earned an estimated $12 million. The Dark Knight came in at No. 3, surpassing the $500 million mark on Sunday.

Traitor starring Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce opened this weekend and came in fifth place with $10 million, just behind The House Bunny, which came in No. 4 with $10.2 million.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Buzz News Roundup, 8/29

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:30:27 -0700

The Dark Knight is officially the biggest comic book movie of all time. — ComingSoon
Chuck has been picked up for an additional nine episodes. — Hollywood Reporter
Baz Luhrmann's Australia is the latest film to get a new release date, moving from Nov. 14 to Nov. 26. — Entertainment Weekly
NBC has ordered a fourth season of America's Got Talent. — Broadcasting and Cable
In addition to Jennifer Aniston, 30 Rock has also recruited Will Arnett to reprise his guest-starring role. — E! Online
The Smiths are getting a new two-disc best-of compilation this Fall. — Billboard
After SNL, Michael Phelps will also guest star on Entourage. — Entertainment Weekly

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

Tropic Thunder Is No. 1 For the Second Week in a Row

BuzzSugar — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 08:15:55 -0700

Ben Stiller's Tropic Thunder won the top spot at the box office for the second weekend in a row, earning an estimated $16.1 million. This makes Tropic Thunder, Iron Man, and The Dark Knight the only movies to have stayed at No. 1 for two consecutive weeks this Summer (so that's two major box office winners for Robert Downey Jr.!).

Following closely behind in the No. 2 spot was The House Bunny, which earned an estimated $15.1 million its first weekend out. Coming in third was the Death Race remake with about $12.3 million. In fourth place was The Dark Knight, followed by Star Wars: The Clone Wars at No. 5.

I didn't think the Rainn Wilson comedy The Rocker would do very well, but I'm surprised to see how badly it did. The comedy failed to crack the top 10 and only earned about $2.7 million.

Hamlet 2, which was all the rage at Sundance this year, had a limited release and brought in an estimated $435,294. The offbeat comedy will have a wider release this Wednesday.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Box Office: Tropic Thunder Takes the Top Spot

BuzzSugar — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:00:37 -0700

Even though Tropic Thunder is technically No. 1 this weekend, The Dark Knight is still being called the biggest winner because it is "the second highest grossing pic of all time after Titanic domestically." Ben Stiller's comedy earned an estimated $26 million while the Batman sequel took in $16.7 million and has a total gross of $471.5 million.

The rest of the top 10 was shaken up a bit as well this weekend: Star Wars: The Clone Wars came in third place, followed by the horror flick Mirrors at No. 4 and Pineapple Express rounded out the top five.

Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona opened this weekend at No. 10, and the new 3-D animated flick Fly Me to the Moon came in at No. 11.

Photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Sugar Bits – Madonna Is "On The Cusp" Of Adopting Again

PopSugarUK — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:00:00 -0700

Madonna and Guy Ritchie are reportedly "on the cusp" of adopting a three-year-old orphan named Mercy from Malawi. – The Sun
Orlando Bloom will co-produce and star in a movie about the siege of Sarajevo of the early 1990s. The film will be based on Fools Rush In by Bill Carter. – BBC
John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman has been denied parole for a fifth time after a board concluded he is still dangerous. – NME
The Dark Knight is still number one in the UK Box Office after three weeks. The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor went in at number two, making over £1million less than the Batman movie. – BBC
Actor Dane Cook is angry about the film poster promoting his latest film with Kate Hudson My Best Friend's Girl. He's listed ten things he hates about it on his MySpace blog, in a move that's sure to be a winner with the film's promoters. – People
And finally – ICYMI – Peaches Geldof is married!

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