EntertainMENt News

Football, Football, Football!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 17:32:00 +0000

That time of year has finally come when Americans everywhere will be glued to their television sets every Sunday watching countless hours of football. That’s right! The NFL season started this past Wednesday night when the Dallas Cowboys journeyed to Met Life Stadium to take on the defending Super Bowl champs, the New York Giants. Despite their past success against the Cowboys, the Giants were defeated 24 to 17.

For many, this has been a highly anticipated season. Leading up to the 2011 NFL season, talks of the NFL lockout were still lingering. ESPN Analysts were unsure of how players and teams would fare with such a shortened preseason. During the lockout, no team was allowed to have any formal type of meeting or practice. For teams like the Philadelphia Eagles who brought in several new players during the shortened pre season, there may not have been enough time to find that team chemistry they were looking for.

With a busy off-season and even busier preseason, the highly anticipated 2012 season is here. This also starts the 2012 Fantasy Football season. Fantasy Football is where friends can create online leagues to manage professional football players on their own custom drafted teams. Each week teams compete using a scoring system based on how players on their teams perform in games. For example, a quarterback who throws a touchdown would receive 5 points. A running back who scores a touchdown may earn your team 6 points.

Fantasy Football also allows team managers to change their starting line ups weekly, drop players, add players from waivers, and also trade players with other members in your league. In 2009, Jason Ankeny wrote in article titles The Reality of Fantasy Sports, where he stated an estimated 27 million American adults play fantasy sports. 85% of those people participate in fantasy football.

The Dark Knight Rises - The Wait Is Almost Over

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 01:52:00 +0000

This summer marks the release of the highly anticipated The Dark Knight Rises. This film will round out Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The film includes many returning actors such as Christian Bale. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, etc. For the first time we will be introduced to new characters such as Bane and Catwoman played by Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway.

The storyline picks up eight years after Batman captures The Joker. He returns to Gotham after a new terrorist leader, Bane, begins causing mass destruction across the city.

This movie is the most anticipated film of the year and is expecting to break box office records. Batman Begins, which was released in 2005, brought in $205,343,774 domestic and $372,710,015 worldwide. The Dark Knight, which came out in 2008, brought in $533,345,358 domestic and $1,001,921,825 worldwide. The Dark Knight Rises is predicted to make well over $500 million domestic and beat The Dark Knight for worldwide sales.

The studio is hoping all of the hype is true because this has also been the most expensive Batman film that Nolan has made. Batman Begins had an estimated budget of $150 million. The Dark Knight had an estimated budget of $185 million. If any one has seen The Dark Knight, they know what an amazing movie it is. Some would even question how it could be beat. Christopher Nolan plans on beating it with The Dark Knight Rises, which has an estimated budget of $250 million.

If one thing seems to be certain, it will most likely be the best superhero movie of the year. Currently The Avenger's hold the record for domestic lifetime gross in the superhero movie's category. It has currently made $600,377,080. Another anticipated superhero movie being released this summer is the remake of the Spiderman series. The Amazing Spider Man will hit theaters every where July 3^rd but does not seem to be in the ranking to top either The Avengers or Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight Rises will be in theaters worldwide July 20^th.

Cannes, France - Distribution Mania!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:36:00 +0000

Among all of the film festivals around the world, the most prestigious and publicized is the Cannes Film Festival. The festival was founded in 1946 and is held annually in Cannes, France. Filmmakers, directors, distributors, buyers, and enthusiasts travel from all over the world to Cannes to take part in the crème de la crème of film festivals.

This past years 2012 festival took place from May 16th to May 27th. Every year a jury is elected to act as judges for the major films being shown at the festival. This years jury was led by Nanni Moretti. Moretti was voted best director in the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. In 2001, his film The Son's Room, won the Palme d’or, which is the most prestigious award one can get at the festival. Other members of the jury were made up actresses and directors from around the world. Some of these include: Hiam Abbass, Andrea Arnold, Emmanuelle Devos, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Diane Kruger, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, and Raoul Peck.

Besides the major films, which are premiered at the festival, hundred of films are shown every day in over 50 theaters set up around the town of Cannes. This films range from small $1,000 budget projects to large scale, studio backed films.

If you have ever attended the Cannes Film Festival, you know that it is all business by day and party by night. Every day of the film festival is full of hundreds of thousands of small meetings trying to make the next big film. Buyers who represent studios will go to a festival to try and find a film they feel that can make a lot of money. From there the buyer will meet with the film crew who owns the rights to the movie to discuss money and terms of contract. After this process a movie is then shopped around until a distribution deal is made.

For independent filmmakers, the festival is an amazing way to promote and network their film. Every day there are different film corners, happy hours, and events for filmmakers to come together and network. For those who are lucky, their films will be discovered and they may be able to sign a distribution deal. A distribution deal is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for independent filmmakers. These deals are what they go to festivals all around the world for. If one thing is for sure, the Cannes Film Festival is the place to be for all advocates of film.

Wes Anderson's Use of Limited Distribution

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:33:00 +0000

It has been a few years since we have seen Wes Anderson’s name appear back on the big screen. His last movie, Fantastic Mr. Fox, was released in 2009 and used very unique animation to retell Roald Dahl’s famous story. The last movie Anderson wrote and used real people in was Hotel Chevalier, which was released in 2007. For five years now, the public has wondered what will Wes Anderson’s next original film be and when will we see it? And to any true Wes Anderson fan; will Bill Murray be in it?

This year Anderson’s new movie, Moonrise Kingdom, hit select theaters around the country. It is the story of two young lovers who run away from their New England town, which causes a search party to go out looking for them. The movie has a star studded cast which includes but is not limited to; Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Kara Hayward, Jason Schwartzman, Harvey Keitel, and of course the one and only Bill Murray. Murray has appeared in 5 or Anderson’s last 6 films, which has indirectly turned him into an iconic piece of a true Wes Anderson film.

Moonrise Kingdom was the opening film in this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The film teamed up with the indie distribution Focus Features who is owned by NBC and Comcast. Upon the film’s release on May 15^th, it was only shown in four theaters. Two theaters in New York and two theaters in Los Angeles were the only theaters in the country to release the film. According to Box Office Mojo, Moonrise Kingdom earned $167,250 per screen. For comparison, Men in Black 3 earned $16,478 per screen. Although overall numbers are much different, Focus Features states that Moonrise Kingdom’s box office was the highest per theater for a non-animated film of all time. Focus Features’ goal is to create as big of a buzz as they can for the film before it is released worldwide. Behold the powers of limited distribution!

The Film has also teamed with Swedish Distribution Company, NonStop Entertainment for the release across Scandinavia. NonStop Entertainment will own the rights to distribute in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, as well as Norway.

Conan O'Brien Buys Mashable.com In April Fool's Day Prank

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 19:26:00 +0000

In an April fool's day prank, talk show host Conan O'Brien announced he has bought Mashable.com from current CEO Pete Cashmore. Conan expressed his hatred for scouring the Internet looking for any news about technology and what big gadget or devices will be coming out next. He also expresses how great a gadget rating system would be because no one else has one. His aggravation reached a point where Conan felt the need to do something about it.

After seeing the atrocious job Mashable's CEO Pete Cashmore was doing, Conan called him up and told Pete, "You're out! Get out! You're through Cashmore! Through! Get Out!" Conan bought the website right out from under him for a mere thirty-five hundred "smackeroos." That's right, you read correctly, thirty-five hundred smackeroos. Conan announced to the world that there will be a lot of changes to Mashable and to watch for his Tweets and stay tuned because he is now the man in charge.

At least this is how Conan O’Brien is telling the story. What really happened is Conan and Mashable have teamed up and are now working together. Conan expressed he is tired of searching the Internet for the latest news on technology and would love to see a website that offers gadget and device rating system. This is actually EXACTLY was Mashable does. Mashable has a portion of their website dedicated specifically for technology news. They offer the latest information in Apps & Software, Development & Design, Gadgets, and Design. Mashable does not only offer news on technology but they also offer the latest news in Social Media, Business, Entertainment, US & World, and popular Videos.

As of now, Conan will be in charge of all content for Mashable. As of today if you go to Mashable.com, the top of the page reads “Mashable, Powered by Conan O’brien.” Conan has also posted a video titled, “Exclusive: Mashable CEO Conan O’Brien Steals and Tests Apple iTV.” It is another April fools day gag that is guaranteed to get a good laugh. We are not sure how long this will continue for, but as long as Conan O’Brien is in charge of all content for Mashable, there should be more laughs to come.

Diamond Deals

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 23:23:00 +0000

In the entertainment world fashion has become more than a trend, it has become a lifestyle. Every one wants to know what each celebrity is wearing, who is the designer, and where it can be bought. It does not stop with clothes, accessories and jewelry have given celebrities new, unique ways to brand themselves and create an image. In October, 2011, an up and coming jewelry line, Henry Designs, bust into the entertainment scene when Zac Efron was spotted wearing one of Henry’s signature Sting Bracelets. Henry Designs was again featured in the January issue of Elle Magazine.

Henry Designs is a family based company that was started in 1976 by Henry Perelstein. As of this year, Henry appointed his long time employee and son, Sean Perelstein, as CEO of the company. Sean travels all around the country meeting with jewelry stores and buyers striking deals for them to sell his line. Since Henry Design’s publicity outbreak with Zac Efron and Elle Magazine, Sean has been working harder than ever to help build his company name and brand. He recently took the time to talk with me about what goes into a negotiation between him and each jewelry story.

When trying to make a deal with and jewelry store or buyer, the first thing Sean discuss’ is the company itself, what they stand for, and the quality of the jewelry they make. He then transitions into explaining what sets his line of jewelry apart from all the rest. “This is very important to me and my company” Sean stated, “I try to differentiate Henry Designs from all other brands that are being sold in the store and show the owner what makes us so unique”. As leverage, Sean shares sales rates of other stores who carry and sell his brand. Not only does this prove that his jewelry is selling, it proves that his jewelry is desired and sought after. By showing the success his company has with other stores he is able to appear credible and honest.

When Sean’s line is being sold at a store, both the store and Sean receive a percentage of the sale. When asked if stores ever try to take advantage of Sean or play dirty tricks to receive more money from his sales, Sean stated there are always people out there who try to take advantage. Many stores will approach Sean with a “We are doing you a favor by selling your line” attitude. To counter this, Sean approaches every potential deal with the same mind set and attitude, “I want you, but I don’t need you”. In the circumstance where a store is asking for a larger percentage off the top, Sean will negotiate with the store to increase their order size. This is a tactic he uses to reach mutual benefit for both parties. He gives the jewelry store the percentage they are asking for and in return he is able to sell more of his jewelry. Sean stated, “When a store is willing to increase their order size, and I am willing to give them more of a percentage, both of us go home happy”. If there is ever a deal that Sean feels is not fair, he will not cave in. “I have never made a deal I am not happy with” Sean said, “I must protect the integrity and exclusiveness of my brand. That is more important than any deal I make”.

Sean Perelstein’s goal is to make Henry Designs the next major name in all of the jewelry world. “This is a dream my father started back in 1976 and I intend to work until my father’s dream becomes a reality”. He continues to set up appointments and negotiate with stores all around the country and has begun setting up deals over seas. Sean ended our interview with a final quote from the famous lead singer, Anthony Kiedis, “I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl”.

Hashtag Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:10:00 +0000

A new marketing phenomenon has taken over. Thanks to Twitter, Hashtag Marketing is becoming the new norm for companies to advertise.

According to Ask A Mad Man's Matthew Adam Dugow, Twitter users created Hashtags as a way to categorize their individual tweets. This allows other users to measure the amount of engagement a specific Hashtag receives. Once a Hashtag has received enough engagement, it becomes a trend, and from there it goes viral.

Companies are now putting high emphasis on Hashtags in their advertising. As Dugow stated, this now allows a company to measure their Hashtag's engagement with the public. According to David Berkowitz, many companies have been running into problems with their Hashtag's being hijacked. McDonald's created a Hashtag campaign that was taken right out from under them as well as Research In Motion's #BeBold.

Once a Hashtag has made enough noise, it becomes susceptible to being "Brand Jacked." Berkowitz discusses how to go about Hashtag Marketing in a way that avoids disaster.

First, a company must figure out why they are using a Hashtag. Are they trying to create more awareness of a product or service, or are they trying to create a centralized discussion? Knowing what you would like to get from using a Hashtag can avoid a lot of problems down the road. Once you've decided to create a Hashtag, it is important to assess the risk. Hashtags are put out in the public and can be stolen. Knowing these risks can avoid panic in the case of Brand Jacking.

When determining your Hashtag, make sure that it is cohesive with your goals. Using your brand name in a Hashtag can turn people away because they may not want to put your brand name in their message. Research In Motion's #BeBold allows for a much wider use, yet will all still be categorized as one. It is also important to be true to your brand as you create your Hashtag. Berkowitz uses the example that a fast food burger chain that has a salad on the menu should not lead their campaign with #BeHealthy. One should also avoid "piggybacking" on popular and funny Hashtags such as #ThingsWomenWant or #WorstMondayEver. One must remember that people are still able to say mean and crude things in their tweets with your Hashtags. This now connects your Hashtag to negative messages.

Once you've created your Hashtag, monitor it religiously. This is even more so the case if you have created a Hashtag that has never been used. It is important to see what type of activity and engagement the Hashtag has created to see if it has potential to be successful.

Finally, have a crisis plan. If your Hashtag campaign goes poorly or gets Brand Jacked, have a team ready for crisis control. Berkowitz stresses the importance of each team member knowing their role and what to do in a bad situation. Once your team has been established and roles have been assigned, you must spring into action. Follow through with your crisis plan to avoid further damage.

Egyptian Soccer Match Turns Ugly

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:41:00 +0000

In the seaside city of Port Said, Egypt a soccer game turned ugly and over seventy people were left dead. The match was between two Egyptian club teams; Al-Masry, the home team, and Al-Ahly, a Cairo based team.

When Al-Masry beat Al-Ahly 3-1 in a massive upset, the crowd began to turn violent. Rival fans began throwing bottles and rocks at players. According to CNN many Al-Ahly fans were unable to exit the bleachers during the fighting because police refused to open the exit gates.

Ever since Former President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of power in a popular uprising, security and police have been futile. Fans reported that police stood by and watched while others were being beaten and stabbed to death. Other deaths occurred from fans falling off bleachers and being caught under massive piles of people.

This is single handedly the worst soccer riot to date. Hours after the fighting, Cairo protestors began chanting, "Down with the military rule...Tomorrow we come, we take the military down." While the fighting started because of soccer, it became very clear that these riots were for political reasons.

During Egypt's revolution, many organized soccer groups became political voices for change. The former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak used soccer matches to boost his popularity while in office and became closely tied to the organized soccer groups.

If one thing is clear, it is that the Egyptian military needs to reestablish its dominance before more riots break out. CNN's James Montague stated, "There's been a security vacuum, so we don't know whether it's that or whether there's a Mubarak element to it. We just don't know at the moment."

This unfortunate event is still very fresh and as more news becomes clear, updated information will be made available.

How Great Leaders Inspire Action - Simon Sinek

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:42:00 +0000

In a video on Ted.com in May of 2010, Simon Sinek addresses how great leaders inspire action. He begins his speech by asking three separate questions. First; why is apple so innovative when they’re just a computer company with all of the same access to talent, agencies, consultants, and media as everyone else? Second; Why did Martin Luther King lead the civil rights movement when we was not the only man who suffered from discrimination? And thirdly, why were the Wright brothers able to achieve man-powered flight when others were way more qualified with more resources? According to Sinek, these answers are simple and come in a system.

Sinek refers to this as the “Golden Circle.” The outer most ring is “What?”, the next ring in is “How?” and the center point of the circle is “Why?”. This is the order in which most people and companies think; What? How? Why? They want to know what they are doing, how they are doing it, and lastly why they are doing it. According to Sinek the great leaders of the world think the exact opposite. Their thought process is; why am I doing this? How am I going to do this? What am I going to do to do this? They start from the center of the “Golden Circle” and work their way out. The “Why” expresses what that person or company stands for.

Sinek gives a great example using Apple. If their focus was on the “What” their marketing message may sound something like, “We make great computers, they’re beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?” Instead, Apple is a leading innovator because they believe in something. Their marketing message is, “Everything we do we believe in challenging the status-quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one? The biggest difference between the two is the second message conveys what they believe in. Sinek explains that people do not buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

The goal in being successful is doing business with those who believe what you believe. If you hire some one and they take it because of the money, you will only get so much from them. If you hire some one because they believe in what you believe in, you can start to make progress. A man by the name of Samuel Peirpont Langley was given fifty thousand dollars to build the first man-powered flying machine. He went to Harvard and worked for the Smithsonian and was more than qualified for the job. He was given a highly sophisticated team and had every one rooting for him. Meanwhile two brothers from Ohio were also trying to build the first man-powered flying machine. Orville and Wilbur Wright did not have any funding, nor appropriate schooling but they both shared the same belief and dream driving them to succeed. When they did succeed, Samuel Peripont Langley quit. Instead of seeing their design and trying to improve upon it, he flat out quit. He was not the first, he didn’t get rich, and he didn’t get famous so it quit. Langley was doing it for the “what” and not the “why.”

To answer his third question, Sinek discuss’ Dr. Martin Luther King and why he lead a civil rights movement when he was not the only man suffering. The reason is because MLK told people what he believed in and not what he wanted to change. The people who believed in what he believed in made his cause their own. People are driven by what they believe in. No one went to see MLK’s famous “I Have A Dream” Speech because of MLK, they went to see him because of what they believed in themselves. Sinek has a very clever line, “He gave the I have a dream speech, not the I have a plan speech.”

In my opinion Simon Sinek delivered a very inspiration and eye-opening talk. He addresses the importance of why we do things and the reasoning behind out actions. To start a company it is not about what the company is going to do but why the company is going to do it. It is something I do not think enough people think about when trying to become successful. If a company is making a product to get rich but does not know why they are making that product, they will never succeed.

SESAC and Spotify Join Forces

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:02:00 +0000

SESAC, the smallest of the three performance rights organizations, has recently joined forces with Spotify. SESAC was established in 1930 as an organization created to serve both the creators of music and music users through music licensing and timely, efficient royalty collection and distribution. They are based out of Nashville, but have offices in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and London. UK based Spotify is a music streaming service that offers a wide selection of music from many major and independent record labels. Some of these labels include Sony, Warner Music Group, Universal, etc.

SESAC has agreed to let Spotify stream songs from their repertory of songwriters and publishers in the United States. SESAC’s repertory includes genres such as Adult Contemporary, Urban, Jazz, Rock, Americana, Contemporary Christian, Latin, Country, Gospel, Dance, Classical, and New Age. This will increase the variety of music Spotify already has to offer. It has also become the performing rights organization of choice among many of Hollywood’s most popular film and television composers.

I feel this was a very smart decision by both parties. As a music streaming website, Spotify must pride themselves on the large music collection they have to offer. By joining with SESAC, they are not increasing that collection. This directly increases their market audience. There are so many genres of music, it is hard to find a music-streaming site that offers music for every one’s individual taste. As SESAC becomes a more popular organization, it is important that they grow and spread their name. I feel both SESAC and Spotify will be happy with their collaboration.

Is Tiger Back?

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:27:00 +0000

It has been over two years since Tiger Woods has been called a winner in the golf world. Seven hundred and forty nine days and twenty-six tournaments later, things have changed for the better.

The Chevron World Challenge took place this past weekend in Thousand Oaks, California. The tournament is hosted by Tiger Woods and is held at the Sherwood Country Club. It is a charity fundraiser tournament where all of the funds raised go to different charities Tiger is associated with.

With two holes left Tiger found himself one stroke behind previous tournament winner Zach Johnson. We had seen Tiger in a similar position about a year ago against Graeme McDowell who ended up winning after Tiger lost a four-shot lead. This time around we watched a very calm and collective Woods shot back-to-back birdies to win the tournament.

As the winner, Woods won $1.2 million, which he donated to his foundation. When Woods spoke about his victory he did not mention if this win felt different. In fact he stated, "They all feel good. They're not easy. People don't realize how hard it is to win golf tournaments... I don't think I've taken it for granted. And I know because of how hard it is."

His victory moved him from No. 52 to No. 21 in the world ranking, a ranking where he used to sit on the top at No. 1. Woods has not been ranked in the top 10 since his personal life got out of control. He was found cheating on his wife, crashed his Escalade, and even checked himself into a sex-rehab where he sought after therapy. Since that time Tiger has changed his swinging coach, his caddie, and endured injuries, which prevented him from entering in two tournaments.

The question now is will Woods continue on this upward path? Was this win a fluke? Is the old Tiger Back? For now we will just have to wait to see. He does not appear in another tournament until the end of January in Abu Dhabi.

Let There Be BASKETBALL!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 22:11:00 +0000

We now have more than just Christmas to look forward to this year on December 25^th. After a 148-day lockout, the NBA has finally reached a tentative agreement that means we will be watching basketball on Christmas day. No contracts have been signed but a handshake deal is enough to have everyone feeling very optimistic. Hallelujah!

The league has already had to cut ten games this season because of the lock out. The new revised schedule will have a 66 game season, which may seem short, but is better than no season at all. Networks such as ABC/ESPN, TNT/Turner, and any regional sports networks that hold television rights are finally able to let out sighs of relief. Without a season, the ad revenue hit these networks would have taken would be gargantuan.

To make the deal final a few things are needed. The NBA will need 15 of its 29 owners to vote for the deal. The union needs a “simple majority” of the more than 430 members. NBA commissioner, David Stern, stated once the deal is made it will take about 30 days before the season can begin. This has been a bit of a driving force behind getting the deal done for it’s hopeful start date of December 25^th.

The season will open with three amazing matchups. The Boston Celtics will be playing against the New York Knicks in New York. This will be followed up by an NBA finals rematch between the Miami Heat and the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas. For dessert, MVP Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls will take on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in LA.

If this deal does not go through, more than just the sports world will be affected. There are thirty teams in the league that each employs hundreds of people. In an economy where jobs are so scarce, the NBA lockout could have been another huge slap in the face for thousands.

Just When We Thought They Were Over...Another Twilight Movie

noreply@blogger.com (A. Topel) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:49:00 +0000

This weekend is the domestic opening of Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1. What does this mean for all of us guys who cannot stand another vampire love story? It means do not ask any girls on dates this weekend because you will be dragged into another two hours of countless love affairs and quarrels between humans, vampires, and werewolves (Sounds like high-school all over again, right?)

Despite how any of us feel, we cannot argue with the numbers. According to Summit Entertainment the Twilight Saga is estimated to bring in $110 to $125 million. Rival studios believe Summit is lowballing their numbers and Breaking Dawn could potentially make up to $142 million in its opening weekend alone.

Each of the previous three Twilight movies has been successful in the box office, especially the second movie, New Moon. The original Twilight brought in $69.6 million while New Moon made $142.8 million. This past year, the third Twilight movie, Eclipse, brought in $64.8 million. Breaking Dawn Part 1 will compete most closely with New Moon.

The final movie in the Twilight series has finished filming and will be released next year. There are already rumors that it will receive the highest box office gross of all of the four previous Twilight Movies.

What’s even more remarkable about these numbers is that all of the Twilight movies’ audience is predominantly female-driven and the movie itself is 2D. In a time where 3D action movies are taking over, Twilight is still staying strong and holding its own.

Two other movies that are set to release this week are Happy Feet Two and The Descendants staring George Clooney. While both movies are getting a lot of buzz, they will most certainly be pushed into the shadows with the same release of Breaking Dawn Part 1.

So how should we go about planning the weekend if we want to avoid seeing and hearing about Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 at all costs? My first piece of advice would be making it a “bro-weekend”. Go out with the boys, grab some beers, watch sports and do anything else that makes us feel like MEN.

If you accomplish that and are still feeling lonely by the end of the night… put some white make up on your face (To look extra pale) and go hang out outside of a movie theater. If you play your cards right, a woman might confuse you for a vampire and take you home.