Scream Videoⓒ

Blu-ray 3rd January Release

2012-01-15T15:15:00.003+08:00

Contagion (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Overall Grade Recommended

Genres: Thriller, drama
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Plot Synopsis: Steven Soderbergh alternates between films about individuals, like Erin Brockovich, and multi-character thrillers, like Contagion, which takes a Traffic-style approach to a deadly pandemic. It also represents a reunion for three actors from The Talented Mr. Ripley as Gwyneth Paltrow and Matt Damon play a suburban Minneapolis couple, while Jude Law (with unflattering dentures) plays a muckraking Bay Area blogger. When Beth (Paltrow) returns from a business trip to Hong Kong, she brings a virus with her that spreads across the world, attracting the attention of people at the Centers for Disease Control (Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, and Jennifer Ehle) and the World Health Organization (Marion Cotillard). Just as virologists frantically try to track down the origins of the pathogen and to find a cure, it starts to mutate, foiling every move they make. Soderbergh, who serves as his own cinematographer, captures every development: false rumors, looting in the streets, and mass graves. Whenever he focuses on emptied-out offices and supermarkets, chillers like I Am Legend spring to mind, even if Contagion avoids most sci-fi/horror tropes, except for a stomach-churning autopsy sequence--one of his few real missteps. Mostly, he concentrates on cool heads dealing with life-and-death issues the best they can. The end result registers as more realistic than Outbreak, if less pulse pounding than Traffic, though the final sequence proves Soderbergh can find the grace notes even amidst an unbearable tragedy.

Disc Features:

'Contagion': How a Virus Changes the World (HD, 2 min.) – A PSA about what you can do to help prevent the spread of viruses.

False Comfort Zone: The Reality of 'Contagion (HD, 11 min.) – This is a fact-based discussion on how real a threat a virus like this actually is. What could be done to combat it, and the overwhelming logistics of trying to vaccinate entire populations.
The 'Contagion' Detectives (HD, 5 min.) – The cast talks about discussions they had with real-life scientists before the movie began.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Suspense, thriller, horror
Starring: Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Bailee Madison and Bruce Gleeson
Director: Troy Nixey

Plot Synopsis: Fondly remembered for scaring the Tab out of impressionable viewers, 1973's television movie Don't Be Afraid of the Dark stands today as a minor classic of irrational dream-logic horror, with an ending that goes straight for the worst-case scenario. Despite (or perhaps because of) its wonky effects, minimalist character development, and snicker-worthy Freudisms, it knows how to linger into the wee small hours. Cowriter-producer Guillermo del Toro's mash note of a remake is a superior movie in virtually all aspects, really, yet it somehow fails to ping the same whimpering neurons. Director Troy Nixey's film follows the same basic blueprint as the source material--a fractured family (Guy Pearce, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison) moves into a dark old house, only to be tormented by a gaggle of tiny chatterbox demons--but with a much greater emphasis on the mythology and back story of the creatures. Del Toro has long proclaimed his love for the original movie, and it's rather fascinating to see the filmmaker attempt to shoehorn his own trademark obsessions (grim fairy-tale origins, spooky little girls, odd Lovecraftian angles, etc.) into the existing material. Still, such Gothic curlicues, however nifty, ultimately end up diluting the solid-state nightmare fuel of the premise. Aside from a few solid shocks and a strong performance by Holmes, this heartfelt redo is unlikely to have the same lasting effect on audiences as the much cruder original. Instead of focusing on the hows and whys, that one just wanted to freak the viewer out.

Shark Night [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Action, shark

Starring: Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan

Plot Synopsis: A weekend at a lake house in the louisiana gulf turns into a nightmare for seven vacationers as they are subjected to shark attacks.

Disc Features:

Shark Attack! Kill Machine! (HD, 6 min.) – A montage of all the kills in the movie.
Shark Night's Survival Guide (HD, 4 min.) – Trivia about sharks using clips from the movie.
Fake Sharks, Real Scares (HD, 5 min.) – A featurette about the film's CGI sharks.
Ellis' Island (HD, 4 min.) – A very short making of featurette with standard promo interviews.
Trailer (HD, 2 min.) – There's a theatrical trailer included.

Justified: The Complete Second Season [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 546 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: TV series, thriller, action

Starring: Timothy Olyphant and Nick Searcy

Plot Synopsis: In the aftermath of the deadly showdown that freed Harlan County from the Crowder family crime reign, U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens must now take on even greater criminal forces looking to seize power - including hellbent nemesis Boyd Crowder and the arrival of brutal, new adversary Mags Bennett (Emmy® Winner Margo Martindale). Filled with treacherous twists at every turn... the second season of "Justified" proves "spectacularly entertaining" (TV Guide) and has established itself as a show for the ages.

Ghost Protocol Closing The Curtain of 2011 For Box-Office Dec.30 - Jan.1

2012-01-15T14:52:00.000+08:00

   Last weekend, Tom Cruise rang in 2012 by being the top draw around the world once again as his latest action sequel Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol topped the box office over the long Friday-to-Monday New Year's holiday weekend. The Paramount release saw its four-day gross dip 13% to $38.2M. according to final studio figures, which lifted the cume to a sturdy $141.2M allowing the new chapter to surpass the $134M final domestic take of the previous film in the series, 2006's Mission: Impossible 3, in a mere 18 days of release. Successfully reviving a franchise that was thought to be dead, the $145M-budgeted Ghost Protocol is now on track to reach the $200M mark while the global gross is on a trajectory to smash the $500M barrier.
          Overseas, the newest Mission: Impossible ruled for the third consecutive frame with an estimated $37M over the standard Friday-to-Sunday period from 54 markets for a robust international cume to date of $225.3M and global tally of $366.5M. Leading territory totals include $35.7M in Japan, $34.8M in Korea, $14.8M in France, $12.7M in the U.K., $12.2M in Russia, and $10.1M in India. With key markets like China and Italy still to open, the overseas tally will climb well above $300M.
          Finishing the long weekend in second place was the season's other star-driven action sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which experienced an identical 13% slide to $26.9M over the Friday-to-Monday period. The big-budget Warner Bros. film has now grossed $136.9M after 18 days of play and is running 18% behind the $166.4M of its 2009 predecessor with Christmas and New Year's included in both totals. A final of $175-200M seems likely putting it below the $209M of the first Sherlock.
          Following Robert Downey Jr. for the third straight weekend, the G-rated kidpic Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked enjoyed a 10% bump to $21.5M boosting the sum to $97.8M. The Fox pic is running 34% behind the pace of the first Alvin from 2007 which also opened in mid-December before the big holiday bump family films receive when schools close for Christmas. Chipwrecked may end up in the $130-140M range.
          Holiday holdovers hope to keep the cash rolling in through mid-January since most college students are still out of school. Plus only one new film opens wide next weekend - the horror film The Devil Inside in 2,000+ theaters - so there will be little competition from new players until January 13 which is the start of the lucrative four-day Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend which tends to be very busy at multiplexes.
Holding fourth place was 2011's top-grossing R-rated drama, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which took in $19.2M over four days raising the 13-day total to $60M. The Friday-to-Monday take was off a scant 2% giving the Sony title a better hold than the other two major movies playing to mature adults - Mission: Impossible and Sherlock Holmes - which each saw a decline of 13%. The American remake of the popular Swedish crime thriller should easily reach $90M and could possibly even hit the $100M mark in North America.
          In its first full weekend of release, Steven Spielberg's War Horse grossed $18.1M over four days from 2,547 locations for a solid $7,091 average. Disney's release of the DreamWorks production has resulted in $44.1M in the nine days since its Christmas Day debut last Sunday. A final take of around $75M may result unless it shows strong legs.
          Matt Damon's family dramedy We Bought a Zoo followed with $17M representing a nice 16% jump over its Christmas weekend debut. The Fox title has banked $44.5M in 11 days. Close behind was Spielberg's second offering of the season, The Adventures of Tintin, with $15.4M - up 2% - raising the total to $51.4M in 13 days.
          The Warner Bros. dud New Year's Eve profited from its namesake holiday and saw sales soar by 46% to $7.6M. With $47.3M to date, the all-star comedy should see its numbers tumble into the new year now that its story is no longer relevant. Bad word-of-mouth won't help either. The 3D alien attack thriller The Darkest Hour ranked ninth with $5.2M, up 3%, giving Summit a modest $14.2M thus far. Oscar hopeful The Descendants rounded out the top ten surging 31% to $4.3M putting the Fox Searchlight hit at $40.3M with much of awards season still to go. Golden Globe wins and key Oscar nominations could keep the George Clooney film going all through January.

#	Title	*Dec 30 - Jan 2*	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	*$ 38,202,439*	3	$ 141,186,646	Paramount
2	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	*26,887,893*	3	136,910,219	Warner Bros.
3	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	*21,488,779*	3	97,848,114	Fox
4	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	*19,190,649*	2	59,950,953	Sony
5	War Horse	*18,060,743*	2	44,089,786	Disney
6	We Bought a Zoo	*17,003,682*	2	44,490,999	Fox
7	The Adventures of Tintin	*15,361,463*	2	51,400,450	Paramount
8	New Year's Eve	*7,592,773*	4	47,257,823	Warner Bros.
9	The Darkest Hour	*5,240,912*	2	14,215,634	Summit
10	The Descendants	*4,291,019*	7	40,315,665	Fox Searchlight

11	The Muppets	*3,693,812*	6	83,561,073	Disney
12	Hugo	*3,320,903*	6	50,313,495	Paramount
13	Young Adult	*2,700,114*	4	12,669,252	Paramount
14	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	*2,655,680*	7	276,125,476	Summit
15	The Sitter	*2,172,279*	4	26,816,340	Fox
16	The Artist	*1,715,143*	6	5,448,717	Weinstein Co.
17	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	*1,409,896*	4	4,280,214	Focus
18	My Week With Marilyn	*1,196,848*	6	9,207,220	Weinstein Co.
19	Puss in Boots	*1,006,899*	10	145,738,327	Paramount
20	Arthur Christmas	*936,096*	6	46,073,163	Sony

Blu-ray 27th December Release

2012-01-15T14:41:00.003+08:00

Final Destination 5 (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Genres: Suspense, thriller

Starring: Emma Bell and David Koechner
Director: Steven Quale

Plot Synopsis: Death is just as omnipresent as ever, and in Final Destination 5 it strikes again. During the bus ride to a corporate retreat, Sam (Nicholas D’Agosto) has a premonition in which he and most of his friends — as well as numerous others — die in a horrific bridge collapse. When his vision ends, events begin to mirror what he had seen, and he frantically ushers as many of his colleagues — including his friend, Peter (Miles Fisher), and girlfriend, Molly (Emma Bell) — away from the disaster before Death can claim them. But these unsuspecting souls were never supposed to survive, and in a terrifying race against time, the ill-fated group tries to discover a way to escape Death’s sinister agenda.

Disc Features:

'Final Destination 5:' Circle of Death (HD, 6 min.) - Be sure to watch the movie before this noise-filled special feature because it spoils the twist ending.
Alternate Death Scenes (HD, 16 min.) - There is no reason why this feature should be 16 minutes long. It doesn't just show two different death scenes, it show everything leading up to them. Instead of showing the last two seconds of the massage parlor death that differs from the theatrical cut, it also shows the identical ten minutes prior to it. Instead of showing just the 30-second change from the laser eye surgery machine, it shows everything that happens into the four minutes leading up to it.
Visual Effect of Death: Collapsing Bridge (HD, 9 min.) - Instead of breaking down how the strong visual effects were created, this feature merely splits the screen into two and fills one half with the original shot and the other shot with the final plate. They play out harmoniously, showing the before and after. No description or explanation is given.
Visual Effects of Death: Airplane Crash (HD, 3 min.)

Apollo 18 (Blu-ray/DVD + Digital Copy)

Starz/Anchor Bay / 2011 / 88 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Genres: Sci-fi, thriller

Starring:
Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego

Plot Synopsis: Officially, Apollo 17, launched December 7, 1972, was the last manned mission to the moon. But two years later, in December of 1974, two American astronauts were sent on a secret mission to the moon funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. What you are about to see is the actual footage which the astronauts captured on that mission. While NASA denies its authenticity, others say it’s the real reason we’ve never gone back to the moon.

The Borgias: The First Season [Blu-ray]

Paramount / 2011 / 467 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Genres: Drama, History
Starring: Jeremy Irons

Plot Synopsis: The Borgias is a complex, unvarnished portrait of one of history’s most intriguing families. Oscar®-winner Jeremy Irons stars as Rodrigo Borgia, the cunning, manipulative patriarch of the Borgia family who ascends to the highest circles of power within Renaissance-era Italy. The series begins as Rodrigo (Irons), becomes Pope Alexander VI, propelling him, his two Machiavellian sons Cesare and Juan, and his scandalously beautiful daughter, Lucrezia, to become the most powerful and influential family of the Italian Renaissance.

M.I: Ghost Protocol Is The Christmas Weekend Choice For Box-Office Dec.23 - Dec.25

2012-01-10T18:22:00.000+08:00

          Scoring his first number one film in a lead role since his last turn as Ethan Hunt, Tom Cruise scaled to the top of the charts over the Christmas session with his latest spy sequel Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol which topped the North American box office in its first round of wide release. The top three spots were all sophomore sequels playing musical chairs from last week's rankings as the batch of new holiday releases were met with more modest turn-outs settling for slots in the middle of the top ten. Overall sales were somewhat slow but activity picked up dramatically on Christmas Sunday and studios are hoping that the week ahead will see heavy traffic at multiplexes thanks to the extra time off so many people will have. Christmas Eve is always a soft moviegoing day due to last-minute holiday distractions and theaters closing early so with it falling on the prime day of Saturday this year, weekend grosses took a beating for every movie.
         Expanding nationwide after five days of exclusive play on large-format screens, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol was the top film among moviegoers over Santa weekend grossing $44.1M over the four-day Friday-to-Monday period. The fourth installment in the long-running Paramount series averaged $12,794 from 3,448 theaters including IMAX sites which was very good given the hit all films took on Christmas Eve. Adding in the earlier limited run in IMAX and other large-format venues, the cume stands at a solid $76.6M with a red hot holiday week still to come when everyday behaves like a Saturday. The CinemaScore grade was a good A-.
         Ghost Protocol will easily beat the $134M domestic final of the last film, 2006's Mission: Impossible III, and although it is too early to conclude, it also has a shot at challenging the $215.4M of 2000's MI2 to become the top-grossing installment of the series. After the disappointing results five years ago of the last flick, and all the negative publicity Cruise attracted in recent years, most thought this franchise could not make a comeback like this.
          Overseas it dominated again with an estimated $58M through Monday lifting the international total to $155M and the global cume to $232M.
          Dropping in its second weekend to second place was the tentpole sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows with $31M over four days raising the 11-day tally to $89.8M. Even factoring out the Christmas Eve effect, it was a large decline for a pricey pic coming off of a softer-than-expected opening as the three-day period fell by half. All the new choices for grown-ups certainly affected the turn out and teens are not contributing significantly to the grosses.
         Fellow sophomore sequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked fared a little better dropping from its opening frame to a Friday-to-Monday take of $19.5M ranking third for the session. The Fox release has taken in $56.5M in 11 days. With kids now out of school and on break, the studio is expecting stellar daily grosses for the next week.
         Sony's much-hyped The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opened in fourth place with a mediocre start grossing $19.5M over the four-day holiday weekend and $27.8M since debuting on Tuesday night. Directed by David Fincher, the R-rated remake of the hit Swedish film averaged $6,692 from 2,914 locations and like other films is hoping to pick up solid numbers during the holiday week ahead. Reviews were quite good and the Daniel Craig starrer has even scored some notices during awards season, however the dark and violent subject matter coupled with intense competition for the attention of mature adults led to an underwhelming result over the happy and cheery yuletide holiday. Still, a domestic final of $100M cannot be ruled out this early in the run as moviegoers continue to catch up on films they are interested in.
          Steven Spielberg had a bumpy start to his Christmas double feature offering for North American movie fans. The animated actioner The Adventures of Tintin bowed to just $15.1M this four-day weekend with $19.8M across the six-day debut period of Wednesday-to-Monday. The domestic total including the earlier run in Quebec which began on December 9 is $23.1M. The 3D Paramount release played in 3,087 theaters and averaged $4,893 over four days but with sensational reviews is hoping to find American audiences over time. The property is not too well-known in the United States which always posed a challenge. Tintin opened in Europe and most international territories in October and has banked a stellar $240M+ overseas already making the U.S. not too important to the overall picture. Other films generated more excitement with parents and kids have been turning up in bigger numbers for the more familiar Alvin and the Chipmunks pic even though it is in its second weekend.
          Also not fast and furious out of the gate, but well-positioned to gain some ground during the holiday week ahead, was the Matt Damon drama We Bought a Zoo which opened on Friday and collected $14.6M over the long weekend from 3,117 locations for a $4,685 average. The PG-rated film was not based on any brand that would lead to upfront excitement and Damon is not much of a box office draw outside of the action genre so Fox has been counting on positive buzz from regular moviegoers to help it sell the film. Two rounds of sneak previews weeks ago and the two days of nationwide release before Christmas Day were intended to get the feel-good film in front of ordinary people who would then spread strong word-of-mouth over the holidays allowing those recommendations to kick in from December 25 onwards. An encouraging A grade from CinemaScore indicates that the product is indeed pleasing ticket buyers so Zoo numbers will have to be watched in the days and weeks ahead.
          Reviews have been mixed and won't help the cause too much, but working in the film's favor is that it is the only truly American film for grown-ups among all the major films this holiday week. Other films feature some combination of foreign settings, charcters, and actors. Studio research showed that the Zoo audience was 58% female and 59% 25 and older.
         The World War I drama War Horse enjoyed a solid debut on Christmas Sunday with $7.5M on opening day and $14.5M for the two-day Sunday-Monday span. Released by Disney, the PG-13 film averaged a strong $6,114 over only two days and was able to capitalize on good reviews and the brand name of Steven Spielberg who shot the film while Tintin's extensive effects work was being done. Producer DreamWorks is hoping for a long run with good notices from audiences during the holiday week ahead to help sell it to a wider audience.
         Also opening on Christmas Day was the thriller The Darkest Hour which bowed to $3M on Sunday and $5.1M over two days. The Summit release averaged only $2,182 across two days from 2,324 playdates and earned a discouraging C+ CinemasScore grade.

#	Title	*Dec 23 - 26*	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor	Dec 23 - 25

1	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	*$ 44,115,000*	2	$ 76,550,000	Paramount	$ 29,500,000
2	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	*31,010,000*	2	89,764,000	Warner Bros.	20,260,000
3	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	*19,528,294*	2	56,468,481	Fox	12,585,192
4	The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	*19,500,000*	1	27,750,000	Sony	12,750,000
5	The Adventures of Tintin	*15,105,000*	1	23,112,000	Paramount	9,705,000
6	We Bought a Zoo	*14,604,645*	1	14,604,645	Fox	9,360,434
7	War Horse	*14,527,972*	1	14,527,972	Disney	7,515,402
8	New Year's Eve	*5,195,000*	3	34,532,000	Warner Bros.	3,310,000
9	The Darkest Hour	*5,072,000*	1	5,072,000	Summit	3,000,000
10	The Descendants	*3,271,980*	6	33,563,532	Fox Searchlight	2,073,371

Blu-ray 20th December Release

2012-01-10T16:51:00.004+08:00

Dolphin Tale (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Drama, family

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd and Nathan Gamble
Director: Charles Martin Smith

Plot Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, Dolphin Tale is about courage, ingenuity, and never giving up. Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) is a young boy who's struggling with school and doesn't have many friends other than his cousin Kyle (Austin Stowell). When Kyle, a star swimmer, joins the army to earn money for college and is called to active duty, it looks like Sawyer is destined to spend his summer alone tinkering in the garage and attending summer school. Sawyer stumbles upon a dolphin that's been severely injured, becomes fascinated by dolphins, and is suddenly intellectually engaged like never before. In spite of his shyness, he forms a friendship with marine rescue doctor Clay (Harry Connick Jr.) and his daughter Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) and, more importantly, a special and very powerful bond with the rescued dolphin, who's dubbed Winter. As the newly formed team struggles to save Winter's life and ensure her continued safety, financial concerns, an accident that leaves Kyle crippled for life, and a hurricane all seem to join forces against them. In the end, it is Sawyer's determination, coupled with a little bit of luck and a lot of ingenuity from an army doctor (Morgan Freeman) who specializes in prosthetics, that helps make each member of the team, including Kyle and Winter, whole again. The talented cast does a great job of creating completely believable characters, but Gamble, Zuehlsdorff, Connick, Freeman, Stowell, and of course Winter, who plays herself, all deserve special mention. While the story of an injured animal rescued and rehabilitated has certainly been told before, this film is emotionally powerful and will absolutely captivate children and adults alike.

Disc Features:

'Ormie and the Cookie Jar' (HD, 4 min.) - An out-of-place low-budget animated short about a fat pig trying to get to a cookie jar on the top of a fridge. This unfun short is reminiscent of classic Looney Toons or 'Tom and Jerry' adventures – watch an unlikely character try time and time again to get something he's not supposed to have. Plan after plan, it never works.
Deleted Scene: 'Winter Meets Panama' (HD, 2 min.) - If you go to www.seewinter.com, you'll look at streaming live-feed cameras on Winter's tank in Florida. Her pool-mate is another injured dolphin named Panama. This deleted scene recreates the first time they met.
Gag Reel (HD, 3 min.)

The Hutash Rainbow Bridge (HD, 2 min.) - There's a scene in the film where Harry Connick, Jr. explains an old mythical tale of how dolphins came to existence.
At Home with the Water (HD, 13 min.) - This short behind the scenes look at the film shows what it was like working with Winter (the real Winter played herself in the film).
'Dolphin Tale:' Spotlight on a Scene (HD, 7 min.) - See how the animators brought the CG dolphins to unrealistic life for the opening credits.

Winter's Inspiration (HD, 18 min.) - This feature is the real meat and bones of all the special features. This is where we see the real footage of Winter's rescue, see what it was like when her tail was dying and see the firsthand emotional interaction between Winter and the disabled children and war vets that come to see her.

Colombiana (+ UltraViolet Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 111 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Action, thriller

Starring: Zoe Saldana and Lennie James
Director: Olivier Megaton

Plot Synopsis: From writer/producer Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, Leon: The Professional ) comes Colombiana. Zoe Saldana plays a young woman who has grown up to be an assassin after witnessing the murder of her parents as a child. Turning herself into a professional killer, she remains focused on her ultimate goal: to hunt down and get revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents’ deaths.

Disc Features:

Colombiana: The Makin of (HD, 25 min) — EPK-style look into the movie's making, filled with the usual praises about the director, story and performances. Cast & crew interviews discuss shooting locations, design and stunt choreography while showing lots of BTS footage throughout.
Cataleya's Journey (HD, 10 min) — A short piece dedicated to the film's main character and development, allotting enough time to the young, talented actress who played the child Cataleya.
Trailers (HD) — The same set of previews seen at startup.

Assassins (HD, 12 min) — A piece on the character as a professional killer, her personality and Saldana's preparation for the role.
Training a Killer (HD, 6 min) — Saldana talks about her commitment to the role and the physical training she endured.
Take the Ride (HD, 8 min) — Another promotional piece providing a summary of the plot, a quick overview of the production and interviews with various members of the cast & crew.

Margin Call [Blu-ray]

Lionsgate / 2011 / 107 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Drama

Starring: Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany
Director: J.C.Chandor

Plot Synopsis: A thriller that revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Straw Dogs [Blu-ray]

Sony / 2011 / 110 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Thriller, drama

Starring: James Marsden, Kate Botsworth
Director: Rod Lurie

Plot Synopsis: A young couple (James Marsden and Kate Bosworth) moves to a quaint southern town. Soon their perfect getaway turns out to become a living hell when dark secrets and lethal passions spiral out of control. Trapped by a pack of depraved locals led by a ruthless predator (Alexander Skarsgard, TV’s True Blood), they face a night of agonizing suffering and endless bloodshed. Now their only hope for survival is to become more savage than their merciless torturers.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary
Courting Controversy: Remaking a Classic (HD, 8 min)
The Dynamics of Power: the Ensemble (HD, 6 min)
Inside the Siege: the Ultimate Showdown (HD, 7 min)
Creating the Sumner House: the Production Design (HD, 4 min)
Trailers (HD)

Sherlock Holmes 2 Settling The Score Before X'Mas For Box-Office Dec.16 - Dec.18

2011-12-25T13:27:00.001+08:00

Release Date:December 16th, 2011
Starring:
Director:Guy Ritchie
Writer:Michele Mulroney, Kieran Mulroney, Arthur Conan Doyle
Studio:Warner Bros. Pictures
Genre:Action, Adventure
Official Site:sherlockholmes2.warnerbros.com/index.html
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and some drug material
Runtime:2 hours 08 minutes

          Last weekend. three big Hollywood sequels led the North American box office pumping in some badly needed new content but that didn't stop the overall marketplace from suffering double digit losses over last year and the year before. Studios are hoping that audiences are just busy right now with holiday shopping and end-of-year activities and that their films will be well-positioned to take advantage of the extra free time people will soon have in the days ahead.
         Doing what its predecessor couldn't, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows debuted at number one with $39.6M from 3,703 theaters for a solid $10,704 average, according to final studio figures. The $145M-budgeted Warner Bros. sequel debuted 36% below the $62.3M of the first Holmes which launched in second place behind Avatar on the Christmas frame two years ago over what was the largest weekend in box office history. Since audiences are historically less available in mid-December, the follow-up was never expected to open at the same heights. Shadows earned good reviews from critics and an encouraging A- grade from moviegoers polled by CinemaScore. Sales on Saturday, however, showed virtually no growth over Friday's opening day. The marketplace for adults will get crowded very quickly in the days ahead so early positive buzz will be crucial as audiences start making up their decisions for what to see over the upcoming holiday break.
          Sherlock entered only six international markets day and date with domestic and grossed an estimated $14.7M from 2,113 screens including $5.8M in the United Kingdom where it ranked number one by a wide margin. Italy was close behind with $5M while Korea and Germany open later this week.
Opening in second place was Fox's kidpic threequel Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked which took in $23.2M from 3,723 locations for a $6,244 average. It was well below the debuts of its two predecessors as the first Alvin gave families something new and fresh on the same weekend of 2007 with a $44.3M debut while the second installment launched over the lucrative Christmas frame with $48.9M in 2009. Chipwrecked opened while kids were still in school and parents were busy with holiday shopping so it was expected to have a softer bow. And aside from a cruise ship storyline, Chipwrecked offered almost nothing new to the table. Last year this weekend Yogi Bear bowed to $16.4M and finished with over six times that amount after playing through the holidays.
         But while the start was slower, the road ahead looks promising since most films rolling into theaters this holiday season are aimed at adults and there are no new G-rated films for kids opening for the rest of the year. Fox is hoping to capture the family crowd as more children get out of school and more parents get time off to take trips to the multiplexes for some holiday fun. PG-rated competitors will include Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin which is based on a brand that is less familiar to American kids and Matt Damon's We Bought a Zoo which is less zany for kids looking for laughs. Studio research showed that females made up 54% of the crowd and the film earned a good B+ overall grade from CinemaScore.
        Chipwrecked opened overseas on 3,800 screens in 38 markets and grossed an estimated $14.5M with only a handful of the major markets debuting like the United Kingdom, Korea, and Spain.
        Paramount found itself in third place with a unique limited release of its action tentpole Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol which grossed $12.8M from only 425 locations which included about 300 IMAX venues plus other large-format sites. The $145M-budgeted Tom Cruise spy flick averaged a sensational $30,083 per location helped by the higher ticket prices. Including the first shows on Thursday evening starting at 6:00pm, the total was $13.4M. It was a sensational start for an unorthodox move designed to showcase the action film with limited availability in only the biggest possible screens in hopes of sparking strong word-of-mouth that would fuel interest for the film's regular nationwide run which begins this Wednesday. Adding to the grosses was the special prologue for the Warner Bros. tentpole The Dark Knight Rises which played on selected full large-screen IMAX sites.
        The tactic was needed for three reasons. First, the franchise is old having been around for over 15 years with the last installment underperforming in 2006. This helps to eventize the film adding to the excitement. Second, Cruise has suffered from serious popularity issues over the last several years with many moviegoers being repelled just by his name alone. He is not the box office draw that he used to be and this special IMAX release allows action fans to focus on the high-octane entertainment and thrills they get and shifts attention away from the star. Indeed, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol earned the best reviews of any action film this year. And third, the marketplace for grown-up fare will be super-competitive this holiday season so this release aims to get buzz going so audiences choose it first instead of other franchise offerings flooding theaters.
        Overseas results were spectacular with the new Mission: Impossible ruling the international box office with an opening of an estimated $68.2M from 6,079 theaters across 36 markets with many seeing the IMAX version open a few days ahead of conventional screens. Leading the way was Korea with a stellar $11.1M, Japan with $9M, Russia with $6.1M, and India with $4M. Cruise and company have been on a worldwide tour hosting premieres and generating plenty of publicity to help drive in business. Much of Latin America will see openings this coming week including Mexico and Brazil.
         With box office down once again versus last year, 3D became a much smaller part of the picture this year. Last year, four of the top five films this weekend enjoyed 3D surcharges. But this frame, the top seven films were all presented in 2D only and just one new opener for the rest of the year will be a 3D one - Tintin.
Dropping from first place was the star-packed holiday comedy New Year's Eve which fell a reasonable 44% to $7.3M giving Warner Bros. a mere $24.7M in ten days. A final gross near the $50M mark seems likely.
         Fellow underperforming sophomore comedy The Sitter tumbled 53% to $4.6M bumping its ten-day take to only $17.9M. Look for Fox to end its run with the Jonah Hill pic at $30M. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 followed with $4.2M, off 46%, putting Summit's total at $266.3M.
         Paramount's acclaimed Martin Scorsese film Hugo, which earned three Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, dropped 39% to $3.7M giving the pricey train station saga $39.2M to date.
        With chipmunks stealing away kids, Arthur Christmas fell by its largest amount yet falling 45% to $3.6M giving Sony only $38.5M so far. The 3D toon grossed an additional $9.7M overseas this weekend to raise the international sum to $72.8M and global tally to $111.3M. Next was Disney's The Muppets with $3.5M, down 50%, for a $71M total.
         In tenth place was the Charlize Theron film Young Adult with $3.4M while expanding nationwide from eight to 986 theaters in its second weekend. Averaging a dull $3,451 per site, the $12M-budgeted Paramount release fell below the wide breaks of past end-of-year expansions for director Jason Reitman. His last film Up in the Air, also released by Paramount, fared much better with $11.3M and $5,947 average from 1,895 theaters over the Christmas holiday frame in 2009 while 2007's Juno did $10.6M and a $10,436 average on the session in between Christmas and New Year's. Both widened later in their runs in their fourth round. Total stands at $3.8M including the limited run and a wider release is planned for January 13.
         With moviegoers about to get extended breaks from work and school this week, the marketplace is about to get awful crowded, awful fast. Studios are hoping to mine the riches as weekday sales will soon start to get stronger with an assortment of high-profile films hitting theaters in the coming days. Wednesday will see Sony release The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in 2,800 locations while Paramount debuts Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin in 3,000 houses and expands Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol into a full wide release in 3,400 total sites. On Friday, Fox opens the Matt Damon starrer We Bought a Zoo in 3,000 theaters which will be followed on Sunday by the Christmas Day bows of Spielberg's other offering War Horse from Disney in 2,300 and Summit's suspense thriller The Darkest Hour in 2,200 locations. Plus, many awards contenders will open or expand throughout the next two weeks.
         Opening to good but not stellar results in platform release was the Sony Classics release Carnage with $79,795 from five houses for a $15,959 average. Based on the hit play about two sets of parents dealing with trouble between their kids, the Roman Polanski film starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz earned good reviews but has not been a major player during awards season outside of its recent double Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress - Comedy or Musical for Foster and Winslet.
         Other indie films continued to expand. The Focus thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy widened from four to 16 theaters and grossed $456,777 for a strong $28,549 average and $879,548 cume. The Artist, which led all films with six Globe nods, expanded slightly from 16 to 17 sites and collected $287,367 with a $16,904 average. The Weinstein Co. has taken in $1.3M so far.

#	Title	Dec 16 - 18	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	$ 39,637,079	1	$ 39,637,079	Warner Bros.
2	Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked	23,244,744	1	23,244,744	Fox
3	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (lg scrn)	12,785,204	1	13,385,204	Paramount
4	New Year's Eve	7,310,413	2	24,716,167	Warner Bros.
5	The Sitter	4,608,681	2	17,929,987	Fox
6	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	4,197,893	5	266,327,974	Summit
7	Hugo	3,707,848	4	39,155,709	Paramount
8	Arthur Christmas	3,554,286	4	38,501,631	Sony
9	The Muppets	3,520,926	4	70,994,571	Disney
10	Young Adult	3,403,159	2	3,843,083	Paramount

11	The Descendants	3,268,357	5	28,645,909	Fox Searchlight
12	Jack and Jill	1,228,843	6	70,506,629	Sony
13	Happy Feet Two	1,077,329	5	58,909,873	Warner Bros.
14	Tower Heist	901,025	7	75,788,740	Universal
15	Immortals	851,371	6	81,889,376	Relativity
16	My Week With Marilyn	591,385	4	6,087,130	Weinstein Co.
17	Puss in Boots	465,209	8	142,775,402	Paramount
18	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	456,777	2	879,548	Focus
19	J. Edgar	386,494	6	35,718,897	Warner Bros.
20	Shame	307,254	3	1,231,295	Fox Searchlight

Blu-ray 13th December Release

2011-12-25T13:18:00.002+08:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Two-Disc Edition Blu Ray + DVD/Digital Copy Combo) [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 13, 2011

Overall Grade A must have. Period!

Genres: Action, sci-fi

Starring: Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell
Director: Rupert Wyatt

Plot Synopsis: A galaxy's worth of nihilism buried under a '70s Velveeta topping, the Planet of the Apes series stands today as a dark marvel of pop cinema, a group of wildly variable films that combine to form a giant inescapable kiss-off to the human race. (That said message was able to withstand such distractions as ever-cheapening makeup and Charlton Heston loudly pounding sand makes its achievements even more impressive, really.) Boasting a keen awareness of its predecessors' particular charms and a gem of a central CGI performance by Andy Serkis, Rise of the Planet of the Apes makes for a rather miraculous summer movie: a big-budget special effects extravaganza that also delivers a killer backhand. Sort of redoing 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, the film follows the events set in motion when a bereaved scientist (James Franco) attempts to create a cure for Alzheimer's, resulting in a supernaturally intelligent chimp named Caesar. The old bit about science tampering in God's domain quickly applies. Director Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) displays an admirable sense of pacing, deftly levying the escalating action scenes with small character moments from the likes of John Lithgow and Brian Cox. That said, the film belongs to Caesar, whose path from wide-eyed innocent to reluctant revolutionary generates the ironic pulp empathy that gave the original series such a kick. Watching the climactic confrontation on the Golden Gate Bridge, it's distressingly easy to figure out which side to root for. Chuck Heston would no doubt grit his teeth in approval. Note: Those skeptical that this revamp could wholly retain the original's doomy backbeat would do well to stick around during the end credits.

Disc Features:

11 Deleted Scenes(HD, 12 mins) -- Some interesting, but redundant scenes. The real treat is seeing Andy Serkis on the set.
The Genius of Andy Serkis (HD, 8 mins) -- Everyone loves Andy Serkis. And they should, because he's a remarkable performer. This is a montage of that performance with the cast and crew talking about how wonderful he is. There's also a breakdown of how scenes were filmed using multiple plates.
Scene Breakdown (HD, 2 mins) -- Toggle between the final scene with a picture-in-picture of the human performers in mo-cap suit (default, red button), the mo-cap only performance footage (yellow button), and early animation (green button).
A New Generation of Apes (HD, 10 mins) -- Weta and the filmmakers talk about how they decided not to use real live apes, and in their place created CGI apes with a cast of human performers and digital wizards. Follow them through "Ape School" to final composites.
Breaking Motion Capture Boundaries (HD, 2 mins) -- the Golden Gate bridge is the largest mo-cap set ever constructed, and the first one ever set up outside during the day. Pretty cool stuff for anyone interested in VFX.
The Great Apes (HD, 23 mins) -- A combination of a few parts. There's a tour through the 3D models of chimps, gorillas, orangutans while facts scroll up on the side. There's also three mini nature documentaries about them.
Mythology of the Apes (HD, 7 mins) -- The filmmakers talk about their love of the original film, and what ideas and themes went into creating the seed of what would eventually become Charlton Heston's world.
Composing the Score with Patrick Doyle (HD, 8 mins) -- Patrick Doyle has been one of my favorite composers since I first heard his work on Kenneth Branagh's 'Henry V'. Mr. Doyle chats here about the movies themes and what choices went into his musical sound design.
Audio Commentaries
Character Concept Art Gallery (HD) -- A quick look at all the characters, showing their sketches versus photos of real ape species.
Theatrical Trailers(HD via download, 7 mins). 4 different trailers in 5.1 Dolby Digital. Do yourself a favor, if you blind buy this disc, do not watch any of these first.

HD Bonus Content: Any Exclusive Goodies in There?

'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' is equipped with a few BD-Live exclusive features, including "What's New" to fill you in on all Fox theatrical and home entertainment products. We also have:

LIVE LOOKUP Fox's .
Ape School (HD via download, 2 mins) -- Exclusive to BD-Live, this is an extension of the mo-cap documentary above . Watch this if you want to learn how to move like an ape. Fun for all.
Theatrical Trailer(HD via download, 2 mins).
Blu-ray Highlight: The Genius of Andy Serkis

Kung Fu Panda 2 / Secrets of the Masters (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

DreamWorks / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: December 13, 2011

Overall Grade Strongly recommended

Genres: Animation, family, comedy

Starring: Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell
Director: Craig Gillespie

Plot Synopsis: Kung Fu Panda 2 is a sequel that definitely lives up to its predecessor, thanks to excellent animation and a great mix of action, comedy, and important life lessons. Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black) has matured and mastered many new challenges since learning the art of kung fu and defeating the snow leopard Tai Lung, but he hasn't lost his penchant for steamed buns, nor has he achieved what his teacher Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) describes as true inner peace. Before he can settle into the arduous task of self-discovery, word arrives that a nearby town of musicians has been attacked and their leader Master Thundering Rhino (Victor Garber) killed by a newly invented weapon that breathes fire and spits out metal--a weapon that is a harbinger of the end of kung fu and the domination of all of China by Lord Shen (Gary Oldman). Po and the Furious Five (Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, David Cross, and Lucy Liu) set out to destroy the mysterious weapon and save kung fu, encountering the imprisoned and very dispirited kung fu legends Master Oxen (Dennis Haysbert) and Master Croc (Jean-Claude Van Damme) along the way, but the group quickly discovers that their task is far from simple. Even as Soothsayer (Michelle Yeoh) adamantly foretells Lord Shen's defeat at the hands of a warrior of black and white, Po struggles with the realization that he must come to terms with his adoption in order to let go of the past and become who he chooses to be. Only then can he achieve the inner peace that will empower him to triumph over his personal insecurities and Lord Shen. Kung Fu Panda 2 offers excellent animation and 3-D effects, nice brisk pacing, great voice talent, life lessons that ring true, and a healthy dose of comedy that includes everything from wisecracks to a dragon that eats unsuspecting villagers and then poops them out, and a radish trained in the art of kung fu.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary – Nelson is joined by Producer Melissa Cobb, Production Designer Raymond Zibach, and Supervising Animator Rodolphe Guenoden to offer up the commentary for 'Kung Fu Panda 2.' The important thing here is that even though it covers much of the same material as the picture-in-picture Animator's Corner special features discussed below in the Blu-ray exclusives, it isn't the exact same. Here the filmmakers talk technically about creating a 3D/2D hybrid film. Nelson also discusses the script and story. It's origins, characters, and purpose.
'Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters' (HD, 23 min.) – This short film, done mostly in 2D animation (although there is some 3D too) is about the masters from Gongmen City. We learn the backstory of Masters Storming Ox, Master Croc, and Thundering Rhino. True to Dreamworks' short movie form it does tend to be a bit cornier than it really should be, but it may be a good distraction for the little ones.
'Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness' (HD, 24 min.) – This is a single episode from the Nickelodeon series. The episode is entitled "Has Been Hero" and is obviously a sneak peek in order to get you to start watching the show.
Kickin' It with the Cast (HD, 13 min.) – The standard look behind the scenes at the famous voices having fun recording their lines in the sound booth.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 4 min.) – Not much here, except for a few test scenes that never made it into the final cut. Director introductions are included with each of the three scenes: Fight Club: Bartender Scene, Po Chasing the Crow, and Po in Gongmen City.
Panda Stories (HD, 8 min.) – This is a short look at the real-life plight of endangered pandas.
Kung Fu Shuffle (HD) – There are two versions of the classic shell game here. One with Po and his crates and the other with barrels and bunnies.
Ni Hao (HD) – A beginner's course in writing and speaking Mandarin.

Animation Inspiration (HD) – This interactive map, which is introduced by Director Jennifer Yuh Nelson, shows us the fact-finding mission that the movie's creative team went on to China in 2008. The options on the map, which you can select to learn more about are: "Panda Village," "Musicians Village," "Valley of Peace," "Journey Across China," "Gongmen City," "Tower of the Sacred Flame," "Valley of Peace Town," and "The Harbor."
The Animators' Corner (HD) – This is a great picture-in-picture commentary that plays along with the movie. This is where you're going to learn about all the behind-the-scenes stuff that is worth learning about. You'll get to know how some of the cool 2D animation was produced (especially the movie's neat looking prologue). You'll get to see some of the cast and crew as they explain various things about the filming, characters, animation, and story. This is definitely a must-see if you're a fan of the movie or animation in general.

Fright Night (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 13, 2011

Genres: Suspense, thriller. horror

Starring: Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell
Director: Craig Gillespie

Plot Synopsis: Arriving amid a flurry of dopey sequels and dudes with power tools, 1985's Fright Night came as a welcome blast of fetid air for the horror genre: an affectionate spoof of classic monster movies that also managed to deliver some genuine scares, as well as a pair of top-notch performances by Chris Sarandon and Roddy McDowall. The 2011 revamp (apologies for the pun) can't boast the same novelty factor, but it does a surprisingly good job at speaking for itself, just the same. Director Craig Gillespie's film follows the same basic blueprint as the original--high-school kid (Anton Yelchin) suspects that his next-door neighbor (Colin Farrell) may be a Creature of the Night, enlists celebrity (David Tennant) for help--but with a number of smart alterations, particularly the decision to move the setting to the desolate outskirts of Vegas, where unexplained disappearances and nocturnal lifestyles are par for the course. (Kudos to cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe, who gives the nighttime scenes a musty, tangible vibe.) Writer Marti Noxon, a Buffy vet, keeps the dialogue light, while also delivering some sharp insights about the state of today's Twilight-savvy teen. (In perhaps the biggest switch from the original, the barely veiled gay subtext has been replaced with a cautionary tale about outgrowing your friends.) On the debit side, Gillespie and Co. can't always replicate their source material's atomic-clock timing, with a few promising scares undone by miscued comic relief. Still, a horror movie ultimately lives or dies by its villain, and Farrell delivers a beaut, as a hilariously type-A vampire who'd rather chug a beer than pose languorously. At a time when the undead are notable mainly for their romanticism and supernatural hair-care prowess, Fright Night does its best to bring the fangs back into the equation.

Disc Features:

Peter Vincent: Come Swim in my Blood (HD, 2 min) - In character teasing. Silly stuff.
The Official "How to Make a Funny Vampire Movie" Guide (HD, 8 min) - A funny little feature that quickly hits on a number of themes, introducing would be watchers to the film. Really don't see the value in this feature if you watch it after the film. Before? Could be fun, a great advertisement.
Squid Man: Extended & Uncut (HD, 3 min) - Some insane stuff, somewhat reminiscent of something Kenny Powers would make.
Bloopers (HD, 3 min) - Unrated bloopers, flubs, laughs, fubars, and other mistakes.
Music Video (HD, 5 min) - For Kid Cudi's No One Believes Me. A bizarre track, for sure.

New Year's Eve It's The Surprise Hit For Box-Office Dec.9 - Dec.11

2011-12-25T12:43:00.001+08:00

Release Date:December 9th, 2011
Starring:
Director:Garry Marshall
Writer:Katherine Fugate
Studio:New Line Cinema
Genre:Comedy, Romance
Official Site:newyearsevemovie.warnerbros.com
Rating: PG-13 for language including some sexual references.
Runtime:1 hour 57 minutes

          Last weekend, two new subpar comedies and a stale heap of Thanksgiving leftovers made multiplexes the last place audiences wanted to go to as the North American box office slumped to its worst performance of 2011. The all-star holiday pic New Year's Eve and the Jonah Hill-led raunchy laugher The Sitter both met with lackluster debuts topping a weak frame that saw the Top 20 tumble to only $71.8M in ticket sales falling behind the year's previous low of $74M during the September 9-11 frame. But a wide assortment of major tentpoles and sequels are about to attack theaters starting Friday which should bring the marketplace back to life in the final two weeks of the year.
         Warner Bros. claimed the number one spot but suffered a weak launch for its holiday ensemble comedy New Year's Eve which fell well below industry expectations to open with just $13M, according to final studio figures. The Garry Marshall-directed film was slammed by critics and ticket buyers seemed to listen as the PG-13 film went out very wide into 3,505 theaters but averaged a soft $3,714. By comparison its predecessor Valentine's Day - the director's last critically-panned, multi-star, ensemble date movie tied to a holiday theme - grossed more in its first day of release with $14.5M on its way to a stellar $56.3M three-day bow and eye-popping $63.1M four-day debut breaking the Presidents Day opening weekend record last year.
         Eve hoped that an abundance of popular and semi-popular faces would lure in audiences of all ages and ethnic backgrounds as the cast included Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Zac Efron, Josh Duhamel, Ludacris, Jon Bon Jovi, Jessica Biel, Sarah Jessica Parker, Hector Elizondo along with Oscar nominees Michelle Pfeiffer and Abigail Breslin plus Academy Award winners Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank, and Halle Berry. In fact, the posters and billboards featured the faces of no less than 18 stars. But audiences knew a bad film when they saw one and some may have been disappointed enough with the quality of Valentine's Day to skip this new installment. Certainly the marketplace had little direct competition to offer so it could have performed much better if moviegoers were genuinely excited. Holiday shopping in early December does pre-occupy the core audience of adult women but a handful of star-driven films in the past have debuted to solid results during this window.
         New Year's Eve continued a string of holiday season disappointments for Warner Bros. which has seen underwhelming results from November releases A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, J. Edgar, and Happy Feet Two. Things should change, however, with next weekend's launch of the highly anticipated sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows which led by a wide margin a recent poll by MovieTickets.com of the December films users were most excited to see. In addition to leading the worst box office weekend of the year, Eve also posted the lowest gross for a number one opener since September 2008's Bangkok Dangerous which led a weak session with just $7.8M.
          Moviegoers around the world were equally disinterested in New Year's Eve as the film debuted to $12.8M from 36 overseas markets including major territories like Germany, Brazil, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
         Opening in second place to weak results was the Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter with $9.9M from 2,750 playdates for a soft $3,582 average. The R-rated Fox release about a slacker that babysits a wealthy couple's three privileged kids met with bad reviews and tested Hill's starpower as a solo anchor, a position he had never been in before. The actor failed the test and even though December films have better legs than movies debuting in the other eleven months of the year, Sitter may have a hard time reaching more audiences as this weekend's crowd gave the film a disappointing C+ grade from CinemaScore. Studio research showed that 53% of the audience was 25 and up while males and females were evenly split.
         After joining The Help as the only films of 2011 to top the box office for three weeks, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 dropped a couple of spots to third place with $7.8M in its fourth lap. Down 53%, the Summit blockbuster has now smashed the quarter-billion domestic mark with $259.4M in 24 days and continues to run 3% behind the pace of New Moon, the last Twilight film to play in this same end-of-year period. That film dropped a similar 48% in its fourth round to $8M over the second session of December. A final North American total of $285-290M seems likely which would put it at number 48 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters. Breaking Dawn fell by half overseas too grossing an estimated $19.8M from 73 markets for a hefty $374M international and a towering $633M worldwide. The four-film franchise has now amassed $2.43 billion at the global box office.
          Disney's The Muppets held up well in its third weekend dipping 37% to $7M lifting the total to $65.7M. Rival kidpic Arthur Christmas enjoyed the smallest decline of any wide release easing just 12% to $6.5M for a cume to date of just $33.4M. The Sony release also grossed $14.3M from 63 overseas markets pushing the international sum to $57.5M and the global tally to $91M.
          A pair of expanding award winners followed. Martin Scorsese's Hugo went from 1,840 to 2,608 theaters in its third round and grossed $6.1M watching its average slip to a dull $2,320. Paramount's big-budget 3D offering has collected only $33.4M so far and will now face an avalanche of competition for both kids and adults starting Friday. Fox Searchlight's George Clooney vehicle The Descendants rose from 574 to 876 locations in its fourth frame and took in $4.4M for a decent $5,000 average which was tops for all wide releases this weekend. The total stands at $23.6M.
         Toon flop Happy Feet Two fell 38% to $3.7M for a cume to date of $56.8M which is a troubling 59% below the gross of its predecessor after the same number of days despite the sequel having higher ticket prices and 3D surcharges. Adam Sandler's Jack and Jill took in $3.1M, off 42%, giving Sony $68.5M so far. Rounding out the top ten was the 3D historical adventure Immortals which dropped 45% to $2.5M for a total of $79.9M for Relativity. It has now surpassed Limitless to become the top-grossing film ever for the young distributor.
         Two new films shined in their platform bows. The Cold War thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Gary Oldman bowed to $310,562 from only four houses in New York and Los Angeles for a scorching average of $77,641. Earning sensational reviews, the Focus release will expand slowly as it widens to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Boston next weekend before reaching a wider release on December 23.
         Paramount's Charlize Theron pic Young Adult will expand faster after this weekend's limited debut which saw $310,263 from eight theaters in five markets for a strong $38,783 average. It was not as powerful as director Jason Reitman's last effort, 2009's Up in the Air starring George Clooney, which the studio also platformed in early December resulting in a hefty $1.2M bow from 15 locations for a much more impressive $78,763 average on its way to a $83.8M final after earning lots of kudos including Oscar nods for Picture and Director. Young Adult will widen to about 1,000 theaters next weekend when it faces considerable competition for adult audiences from Holmes which should play broadly and from Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked which will take many parents out of the picture. Plus Paramount will also steal other adults away with its special limited release of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol which debuts in 400 IMAX and large-format screens and should pop into the top ten.

#	Title	Dec 9 - 11	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	New Year's Eve	$ 13,019,180	1	$ 13,019,180	Warner Bros.
2	The Sitter	9,851,435	1	9,851,435	Fox
3	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	7,819,402	4	259,402,669	Summit
4	The Muppets	6,978,870	3	65,742,128	Disney
5	Arthur Christmas	6,510,486	3	33,400,598	Sony
6	Hugo	6,050,309	3	33,414,719	Paramount
7	The Descendants	4,380,138	4	23,630,561	Fox Searchlight
8	Happy Feet Two	3,690,304	4	56,790,405	Warner Bros.
9	Jack and Jill	3,085,098	5	68,527,385	Sony
10	Immortals	2,461,227	5	79,868,732	Relativity

11	Tower Heist	2,358,655	6	74,122,185	Universal
12	Puss in Boots	1,628,199	7	141,873,474	Paramount
13	J. Edgar	1,188,413	5	34,761,111	Warner Bros.
14	My Week With Marilyn	780,822	3	5,118,661	Weinstein Co.
15	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	474,749	6	33,986,208	Warner Bros.
16	In Time	347,020	7	36,405,892	Fox
17	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	310,562	1	310,562	Focus
18	Young Adult	310,263	1	310,263	Paramount
19	The Artist	295,361	3	888,741	Weinstein Co.
20	Shame	283,415	2	781,501	Fox Searchlight

Blu-ray 6th December Release

2011-12-25T12:35:00.002+08:00

The Hangover Part II (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Comedy
Starring: Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis
Director: Todd Philips

Plot Synopsis: Just when you were starting to sober up after The Hangover… along comes The Hangover Part II--a deft dose of hair of the dog that will keep fans of the original screaming with laughter once again. Director Todd Phillips brings back his great cast--Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ed Helms for another splendid exercise in debauchery--and its painful aftermath. And perhaps surprisingly, The Hangover Part II keeps the laugh levels high. While the element of surprise is not here in the sequel, writer Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong, and Phillips have upped the shock factor, resulting in humor that's sometimes not exactly politically correct, but is fall-down funny anyway. In The Hangover Part II, Stu (Helms) is marrying a Thai-American woman (Jamie Chung), and the entire wedding party is flying to Thailand for the ceremony. Quicker than you can say "bachelor brunch," the boys are off on some kind of mystery adventure that results in some pretty serious, and pretty hilarious repercussions. (There's an unfortunate tattoo incident, one not easily covered up; there's an unexplained monkey--in a Rolling Stones shirt--now added to the entourage; and one of the group is missing.) The setup is familiar, but the ensemble of actors is so confident, their chemistry so easy, that the viewer enjoys their long, strange trip with bust-out-loud laughs. And you can't ask for much more in a buddy comedy.

Disc Features:

'The Hangover Part II' two disc edition includes about 40 minutes worth of special features, all of which are in high definition.

Unauthorized Documentary: the documentary about the documentary they don't want you to see about the making of The Hangover Part II (HD, 25 mins) -- This is a fun meta-premise. It's a documentary aimed to be expose the horrors behind the filming of 'The Hangover Part II'. It features interviews with the cast as well as Hollywood producers like Morgan Spurlock, J.J. Abrams, and Todd Black. You won't learn how they made the movies, but I love how these guys allow themselves to be the butt of the joke.
Behind The Story (HD, 16 mins). This section is made up of three separate featurettes. The Comedy Rhythm of Todd Phillips explores the director's creative and improvisational process. Not Your Everyday Monkey chronicles Crystal the Monkey and her onset adventures (and one romance). The Bangkok Tour with Chow is an in-character Ken Jeong special feature. A few laughs here.
Gag Reel (HD, 5 mins) -- Laughter is infectious. Looks like it's so fun on set that one of the hardest things to do for the actors is keep a straight face.
Action Mashup (HD, 1 min) -- All the action from the entire movie in 46 seconds.

The Help (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 146 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Overall Grade Recommended

Genres: Drama
Starring: Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Tate Taylor

Plot Synopsis: There are male viewers who will enjoy The Help, but Mississippi native Tate Taylor aims his adaptation squarely at the female readers who made Kathryn Stockett's novel a bestseller. If the multi-character narrative revolves around race relations in the Kennedy-era South, the perspective belongs to the women. Veteran maid Aibileen (Doubt's Viola Davis in an Oscar-worthy performance) provides the heartfelt narration that brackets the story. A widow devastated by the death of her son, she takes pride in the 17 children she has helped to raise, but she's hardly fulfilled. That changes when Skeeter (Easy A's Emma Stone) returns home after college. Unlike her peers, Skeeter wants to work, so she gets a job as a newspaper columnist. But she really longs to write about Jackson's domestics, so she meets with Aibileen in secret--after much cajoling and the promise of anonymity. When Aibileen's smart-mouthed friend Minny (breakout star Octavia Spencer) breaches her uptight employer's protocol, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) gives her the boot, and she ends up in the employ of local outcast Celia (Jessica Chastain, hilarious and heartbreaking), who can't catch a break due to her dirt-poor origins. After the murder of Medgar Evers, even more maids, Minny among them, bring their stories to Skeeter, leading to a book that scandalizes the town--in a good way. Not since Steel Magnolias has Hollywood produced a Southern woman's picture more likely to produce buckets of tears (and almost as many laughs).

Disc Features:

Deleted Scenes (HD, 3 minutes) – Director Tate Taylor introduces two excised scenes, one that's comedic and one that was supposed to close the film, but was cut because it was too much of a "downer" for such a hopeful movie.
Music Video: "The Living Proof" (HD, 3 minutes) – Mary J. Blige provides a souful, passionate reading of the movie's anthem in a straightforward video that mixes film clips with shots of Blige in the recording studio.

These are the meat-and-potato supplements, and they are all Blu-ray exclusives.

Additional Deleted Scenes (HD, 7 minutes) – Three more excised scenes are included here (bookended by the two described above) and further flesh out bits of character and random plot points.
Featurette: "The Making of 'The Help': From Friendship to Film" (HD, 23 minutes) – Not quite the same as most making-of featurettes, this absorbing behind-the-scenes chronicle looks at the lifelong friendship between director Tate Taylor and Kathryn Stockett, author of 'The Help' novel, and how their bond ultimately forged a major film. Stockett talks about how she based one of her characters on actress Octavia Spencer, a long-standing friend of Taylor, and we discover that actress Allison Janney is another pal of Taylor's and has appeared in almost all his movies. Taylor and Stockett both reminisce about their Southern childhoods and close relationship, we learn about Stockett's struggle to get her book published, and tour the various locations where the picture was shot. In addition, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Bryce Dallas Howard, among others, chime in with their views about the story and film, and their importance.
Featurette: "In Their Own Words: A Tribute to the Maids of Mississippi" (HD, 12 minutes) – This tender and moving featurette profiles several black maids (one of whom worked for director Taylor's family), who outline their duties, talk about their thwarted dreams and grueling schedules, address the issue of segregation, and share some personal memories. The daughters of a few of the maids also relate their impressions of the era and salute their mothers for the sacrifices they made on their behalf. A very worthwhile and interesting piece that enhances the film experience.

Cowboys & Aliens (Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy in Blu-ray Packaging)

Universal / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Overall Grade Recommended

Genres: Action, adventure, sci-fi, western
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Abigail Spencer
Director: Jon Favreu

Plot Synopsis: The Old West.. where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. 1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don't welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It's a town that lives in fear. But Absolution is about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Screaming down with breathtaking velocity and blinding lights to abduct the helpless one by one, these monsters challenge everything the residents have ever known. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation. As this gunslinger slowly starts to remember who he is and where he's been, he realizes he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the alien force. With the help of the elusive traveler Ella (Olivia Wilde), he pulls together a posse comprised of former opponents-townsfolk, Dolarhyde and his boys, outlaws and Apache warriors-all in danger of annihilation. United against a common enemy, they will prepare for an epic showdown for survival.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary
Finding the Story (HD, 5 min) — The very brief short piece discusses the origins of the story, the mixing of genres and capturing the right mood when translating it all to the big screen.
Outer-Space Icon (HD, 10 min) — Made mostly of great behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, this segment shows viewers the design of the alien creatures, the animatronics and filming a mix of live-action with digital effects.
The Scope of the Spectacle (HD, 7 min)

U-Control
Igniting the Sky (HD, 18 min)
Conversations with Jon Favreau (HD, 80 min) — A great collection of interview-like conversations of the director. Each can only be watched separately and shows Favreau chatting with his cast and crew on a variety of topics. It features Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof.
Second Screen

Breaking Dawn Breaking 3rd Week As Box Office Champ Dec.2 - Dec.4

2011-12-11T16:16:00.000+08:00

          Last weekend the newest "Twilight" vampire movie ruled the domestic box office for a third time with $16.9 million in ticket sales over one of the slowest movie-going weekends of the year, studio estimates released on Sunday showed.
          "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn: Part 1" from independent studio Summit Entertainment beat a pack of family films at U.S. and Canadian theaters. The fourth and second-to-last film in one of Hollywood's most lucrative franchises added $40.2 million at international locations.
         After three weekends in theaters, "Breaking Dawn" has soaked up $588.3 million in global ticket sales.
The "Twilight" movies are based on best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer about a human-vampire-werewolf love triangle.
         The third domestic win in a row for "Breaking Dawn" came during the post-Thanksgiving weekend, typically one of the bleakest of the year at movie theaters following big releases a week earlier.
         This year, total U.S. and Canadian ticket sales rang up at an estimated $82 million for the weekend, making it the year's second slowest, according to Hollywood.com Box Office. Overall sales only slightly edged the $81.5 million take from the September 9 weekend that followed Labor Day.
With no new films released nationwide, sales also slumped 4.8 percent below the same weekend last year.
After "Breaking Dawn," the rest of the weekend's top five belonged to family fare.
         Disney's "The Muppets" starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams alongside Kermit, Miss Piggy and their puppet friends, rang up $11.2 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters. The movie represents a comeback for the Muppet characters, last seen in movie theaters in 1999. Worldwide sales for the new film have reached $60.1 million through Sunday.
        "Hugo," a 3D family movie about an orphaned boy who lives in a 1930s Paris train station, moved up to third place from its fifth place finish last weekend after expanding to more theaters. The film pulled in $7.6 million domestically, bringing its total after two weekends to $25.2 million.
         Animated 3D movie "Arthur Christmas," which explains how Santa delivers presents around the world in one night, pulled in $7.4 million domestically to finish in fourth place. To date, the movie has brought in $70.6 million worldwide.
         In fifth place, dancing penguin sequel "Happy Feet Two" earned $6.0 million at domestic theaters. Total global sales reached $85.8 million after three weekends of release.
         Walt Disney Co released "The Muppets." Privately held Summit Entertainment released "Breaking Dawn - Part 1." "Arthur Christmas" was distributed by Sony, and Hugo was released by Paramount, a unit of Viacom Inc.. Time Warner unit Warner Bros. distributed "Happy Feet Two." [Source from: reuters.com]

#	Title	Dec 2 - 4	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	$ 16,535,465	3	$ 246,926,409	Summit
2	The Muppets	11,082,755	2	56,357,170	Disney
3	Hugo	7,557,709	2	25,121,185	Paramount
4	Arthur Christmas	7,401,736	2	25,343,487	Sony
5	Happy Feet Two	5,919,390	3	51,704,566	Warner Bros.
6	Jack and Jill	5,356,973	4	64,165,454	Sony
7	The Descendants	4,789,741	3	17,677,071	Fox Searchlight
8	Immortals	4,464,889	4	75,659,174	Relativity
9	Tower Heist	3,953,925	5	70,598,755	Universal
10	Puss in Boots	3,042,241	6	139,514,442	Paramount

11	J. Edgar	2,308,411	4	32,569,492	Warner Bros.
12	My Week With Marilyn	1,179,545	2	3,860,751	Weinstein Co.
13	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	985,378	5	33,085,345	Warner Bros.
14	Moneyball	570,147	11	73,787,485	Sony
15	In Time	555,102	6	35,850,495	Fox
16	The Ides of March	515,897	9	40,123,590	Sony
17	Shame	349,519	1	349,519	Fox Searchlight
18	Dolphin Tale	315,278	11	70,714,876	Warner Bros.
19	Melancholia	270,335	4	1,601,918	Magnolia
20	Like Crazy	257,767	5	2,874,373	Paramount

Blu-ray 29th November Release

2011-12-04T14:06:00.003+08:00

The Smurfs (Two-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD)

Sony / 2011 / Rated G
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Genres: Family, adventure, animation

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris and Anton Yelchin
Director: Raja Gosnell

Plot Synopsis: Once in a blue moon, one gets a glimpse of what's truly important in life--and it's not always what one might expect. In the hidden land of the Smurfs, the perpetually happy blue creatures are preparing for the Blue Moon festival. They have no clue that the evil wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria) is about to follow one of them into their secret world in an attempt to capture their happy essence--a substance guaranteed to render his magic all-powerful. In a striking parallel to Enchanted, a vortex suddenly opens up and sucks Papa, Grouchy, Smurfette, Brainy, Gutsy, and Clumsy Smurf into the middle of New York City, with Gargamel following close behind. Shocked expectant parents Patrick and Grace Winslow (Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays) end up with an apartment full of the little blue beings. They eventually befriend the Smurfs and agree to help them outsmart Gargamel and find their way back home. What ensues is a danger-filled, comical adventure that takes the Smurfs from Central Park to Patrick's place of employment and even FAO Schwarz. Just when it looks like their plan to return home will fail, and that they've destroyed Patrick's career in the process, things really heat up and everyone learns a lesson about what's really important in life and about believing in oneself. The film does a good job melding live action and animation, and there's plenty of humor involved for both kids and adults. Most kids will laugh their way through the film, but there are some situations of peril that the very youngest or easily frightened might find rather intense. Harris and Mays do a good job interacting with their new blue friends, but it's too bad these talented actors weren't given a bit more depth of character to work with. Azaria is quite an effective villain and Frank Welker's cat Azrael is hysterical. Other notable voice talent includes Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, Alan Cumming as Gutsy, Katy Perry as Smurfette, Fred Armisen as Brainy, George Lopez as Grouchy, and Anton Yelchin as Clumsy. The Smurfs is funny enough family entertainment, but given its star-studded cast, it had the potential to be even better.

Disc Features:
PS3 Theme
The Smurfs Fantastic Adventure Game
Find the Smurfs Game
Director's Commentary
Producer, Writers and VFX Supervisor Commentary
Deleted & Extended Scenes
The Smurfs: Comic Book to the Big Screen
Smurf Speak: Meet the Cast
Going Gargamel
Progression Reels

Friends with Benefits (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Sony / 2011 / 109 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Genres: Romantic, comedy

Starring: Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis
Director: Will Gluck

Plot Synopsis: Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is done with relationships. Jamie (Mila Kunis) decides to stop buying into the Hollywood clichés of true love. When the two become friends they decide to try something new and take advantage of their mutual attraction – but without any emotional attachment. Physical pleasure without the entanglements. Sounds easy enough for two logical adults, right? Not so much. They soon realize romantic comedy stereotypes might exist for a reason.

Adele Live At The Royal Albert Hall (Blu-ray/CD)

Sony / 2011 / 108 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Genres: Concert, Music

Starring: Adele
Director: Paul Dugdale

Plot Synopsis: Recorded at the height of what has been an amazing year for Adele, “Live At The Royal Albert Hall” will be available on DVD and Blu-ray, and features the full 90 minute performance, plus special behind the scenes footage shot throughout that day. The package also includes an exclusive live CD of the entire show. This is the first time all of Adele’s hits and best loved songs will be on one CD plus her stunning covers of Bonnie Raitt’s “If I Can’t Make You Love Me” and The Steeldrivers “If It Hadn’t Been For Love”

Track Listing:
1.Hometown Glory
2.I ll Be Waiting
3.Don t You Remember
4.Turning Tables
5.Set Fire To The Rain
6.If It Hadn t Been For Love
7.My Same
8.Take It All
9.Rumour Has It
10.Right As Rain
11.One & Only
12.Lovesong
13.Chasing Pavements
14.I Can t Make You Love Me
15.Make You Feel My Love
16.Someone Like You
17.Rolling In The Deep

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Thanksgiving Weekend Still Belongs To Twilight Saga for Box Office Nov.25 - Nov.27

2011-12-04T13:40:00.001+08:00

         Last weekend, over the last few years, the box office on the weekend after the Thanksgiving frame has fallen by 45-55% from the turkey holiday depending on how big the new wide releases were. With nobody wanting to risk a new nationwide opener which might get ignored, some holdovers at the North American box office may drop a little less than normal but the overall marketplace is still sure to plummet. Kidpics especially tend to fall big since Black Friday is such a strong moviegoing day for those films. The top five should look an awful lot like last weekend's, although positions will change, and another decline versus last year can be expected.
           The race for the number one spot will be closest it's been since mid-October with Summit's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 hoping for a threepeat while Disney's The Muppets tries to pull off an upset victory in its second weekend. The vampire wedding flick should follow in the footsteps of past literary juggernaut sequels coming off of the turkey session. Declines during this weekend were 65% for last year's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1, 64% for 2009's New Moon, and 64% for 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Look for Breaking Dawn - which smashed the $500M global mark on Tuesday in its 12th day of release - to fall by a similar 65% putting it at around $14.5M for the weekend and a stellar $245M in 17 days.
           The Muppets got off to a great start banking $43.6M in its first seven days while also scoring some of the best reviews of the year as well as a fantastic A grade from CinemaScore. But even well-liked movies fall sharply a week after Thanksgiving and this one does have a well-known brand that helped to bring out its audience upfront. A decline of 55% would be good for a kidpic and leave the Mouse House with about $13M for the Friday-to-Sunday span. The 12-day cume would rise to $59M although a better hold is possible allowing Kermit and company to challenge Bella and her hubby.
          Martin Scorsese's Hugo opened impressively last weekend keeping to 3D venues, some with a 2D option as well, and delivered a five-day score of $15.4M and a solid three-day average of $8,899. Paramount will add more than 500 new theaters on Friday bringing the total theater count north of 1,800 as it aims to capitalize on good word-of-mouth and a reduced amount of competition. The decline should be slim and a $9M weekend could result giving the Paris-set tale around $26M in 12 days.

#	Title	Nov 25 - 27	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	$ 41,683,574	2	$ 220,832,009	Summit
2	The Muppets	29,239,026	1	41,516,691	Disney
3	Happy Feet Two	13,397,346	2	43,755,357	Warner Bros.
4	Arthur Christmas	12,068,931	1	16,301,131	Sony
5	Hugo	11,364,505	1	15,402,042	Paramount
6	Jack and Jill	10,000,142	3	57,120,112	Sony
7	Immortals	8,875,905	3	68,706,981	Relativity
8	Puss in Boots	7,511,036	5	135,430,092	Paramount
9	The Descendants	7,345,720	2	10,886,952	Fox Searchlight
10	Tower Heist	7,174,615	4	65,198,780	Universal

11	J. Edgar	4,975,172	3	28,837,843	Warner Bros.
12	My Week With Marilyn	1,750,507	1	2,062,150	Weinstein Co.
13	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	1,594,054	4	31,559,389	Warner Bros.
14	In Time	775,107	5	35,050,934	Fox
15	Like Crazy	425,116	4	2,478,434	Paramount
16	Real Steel	330,377	8	83,181,049	Disney
17	Melancholia	329,622	3	1,200,599	Magnolia
18	The Help	311,076	16	168,753,480	Disney
19	Footloose	288,787	7	50,833,867	Paramount
20	Moneyball	285,687	9	73,155,248	Sony

Blu-ray 22nd November Release

2011-12-04T13:28:00.004+08:00

Super 8 (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Paramount / 2011 / 112 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Overall Grade Highly recommended

Genres: Sci-fi, thriller, suspense

Starring:Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Joel Courtney and Ryan Lee
Director: JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg

Plot Synopsis: JJ Abrams and Steven Spielberg join forces in this extraordinary tale of youth, mystery, and adventure. Super 8 tells the story of six friends who witness a train wreck while making a Super 8 movie, only to learn that something unimaginable escaped during the crash. They soon discover that the only thing more mysterious than what it is, is what it wants. Experience the film that critics rave is, “filled with unstoppable imagination and visual effects to spare. It will put a spell on you.”

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary – Abrams is joined by cinematographer Larry Fong and producer Bryan Burk. I really wish some of the kid actors would have been brought in to give the commentary a bit of levity. As it stands, Abrams is a rather dull commentator with a herky-jerky cadence that may lull you to sleep. It doesn't help that the trio of them share only a sparse number of funny anecdotes mixed in with a lot of technical stuff about the shooting itself. Abrams does explain that apparently Spielberg doesn't do audio commentaries so he wasn't going to be on this one either. Abrams points out which scenes were actually shot on RED cameras as opposed to the ones that weren't and which scenes were filmed in L.A. and which scenes were filmed in Weirton. All in all, it's a pretty boring commentary really. I thought it was going to be fun to listen to, but Abrams almost seems disinterested in the whole proceedings.

Featurettes (HD, 1 hr. 37 min.) – There are several different featurettes included in this section of the disc menu, but when using the Play All feature you essentially start up an hour and a half long making of documentary which really covers just about everything you'd want to know about the movie.
"The Dream Behind 'Super 8'" introduces us to the idea of the movie and discusses Abrams and Fong creating their own Super 8 movies way back when. We even get to see bits and pieces of their old amateur movies.
"The Search For New Faces" is a casting featurette where the casting directors talk about the arduous journey they went through, seeing hundreds of auditions, before they were set on the two no-name actors who finally ended up getting the parts.
"Meet Joel Courtney" is a day in the life of the young actor as he finds his way around the set, visits the craft service trucks, and eats catering. There's actually some really candid stuff from here too, as he talks about his aspirations and what it was like working on his first film with such a famous director.
"Meet Joel Courtney" is a day in the life of the young actor as he finds his way around the set, visits the craft service trucks, and eats catering. There's actually some really candid stuff from here too, as he talks about his aspirations and what it was like working on his first film with such a famous director.
"The Visitor Lives" is a visual effects featurette where Abrams and his VFX crew from ILM talk about the design of the movie's creature and the different ideas that went into its creation. Concept art is shown so we can see the evolution of the alien. We also get to see the difference between Abrams' original thoughts about the alien contrasted against Spielberg's original ideas. It's pretty interesting to see the difference between the two.
"Scoring 'Super 8'" deals completely with the movie's soundtrack which was created by popular composer Michael Giacchino. We get to see Giacchino's process while Abrams and even Spielberg get in on the action discussing the movie's original orchestral sounds.
"Do You Believe In Magic?" is a short featurette which features Larry Fong's apparently famous magic tricks. He has an endless repertoire of tricks up his sleeves and even fakes out Tom Cruise (who is on set at one point for some unexplained reason) with a card trick.
"The 8mm Revolution" caps off the featurettes section with more nostalgia from Abrams, Fong, and Burk talking about their old 8mm movies. We also get to see a comparison of 8mm film side-by-side with 16mm and 35mm.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 13 min.) – There are 14 deleted scenes in all.
Deconstructing the Train Crash (HD min.)

Conan the Barbarian (Two-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D / Blu-ray / DVD)

Lionsgate / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Genres: Epic, fantasy, adventure, action

Starring: Jessica Alba, Danny Trejo, Antonio Banderas
Director: Robert Rodriguez

Plot Synopsis: You think your childhood was rough? Check out the opening 20 minutes of Conan the Barbarian, a bone-cracking coming-of-age prologue that fully explains the "Barbarian" part of the name. The film gets off to a ripping start, including li'l Conan's lethal dispatching of a crowd of restless natives (it's not every lad that returns from camp with the decapitated heads of his enemies dangling from his shoulders) and a great deal of hoo-hah about the forging of swords. As the character grows into manhood, played by Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones), the cascade of brutality continues: boiling oil, nose trauma, death by metal fingernails--you name it, the movie has it. The "origin story" plot is a workable way into the world of pulp writer Robert E. Howard's hero: Conan seeks vengeance for the death of his father (Ron Perlman) and pursues power-hungry Khalar Zym (Stephen Lang, enjoying the fruits of Avatar), who in turn seeks the final piece of a many-tailed magic mask, which will give him untold power. Rose McGowan is all spooky as Khalar's daughter (she's got the fingernails) and Rachel Nichols is an innocent slated to be sacrificed by the evildoers. Director Marcus Nispel rolls out the tech hardware for this relentless action picture, pumping up every sound with a digital whammy that might make your head feel it has been split in two by Conan's mighty sword (that is, if you didn't already feel that from the chaotic cutting--since the movie was originally released in uninspired 3-D, this visual unpleasantness was enhanced in theaters). The movie's not a complete bust, but it is a fairly punishing experience. As for Momoa, he's got the pectorals, and generally comes across as a likable sort. Of course, Conan isn't supposed to be a likable sort, so his casting will likely trigger an unexpected response in viewers familiar with the 1982 version of the character. You will miss Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentaries — Director Marcus Nispel starts off this pair of commentary tracks by pretty much narrating his way through the whole thing.
The Conan Legacy (HD, 18 min) — As one would expect from the title, the short piece discusses the history, evolution and admiration of Robert E. Howard's Conan and the filmmakers' effort to be faithful to the material.
Robert E. Howard: The Man Who Would Be Conan (HD, 11 min) — Another brief segment, this time focused on the short life of the author, tracing the beginnings of his writing career and his unfortunate end.
Battle Royal: Engineering the Action (HD, 10 min) — With lots of BTS footage showing the various stunts performed, this closer look on the fight and stunt choreography is a decent, easy-to-digest overview.
Staging the Fights (HD, 6 min) — A brief text explains this collection of videos was made by the stunt team as pre-visualization storyboards with minor alterations added on actual shooting days.
Trailers (HD) — Along the movie's theatrical preview, trailers include 'Highlander 2,' 'Warrior,' 'The Expendables,' 'Set Up' and a promo for the Epix movie channel network.

Spy Kids 4

Anchor Bay/Weinstein / 2011 / Rated PG
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Genres: Family, adventure, action

Starring: Jessica Alba, Danny Trejo, Antonio Banderas
Director: Robert Rodriguez

Plot Synopsis: The action packed franchise is backwith the next generation of Spy Kids! Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba) has it all: married to a famous spy-hunting television reporter (Joel McHale), with a new baby and intelligent twin step kids, Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook). When maniacal Timekeeper (Jeremy Piven) disrupts her domestic bliss--threatening to take over the planet--Marissa comes out of retirement as a top secret agent. With Armageddon quickly approaching, Rebecca and Cecil are thrust into action! With a little help from some familiar Spy Kids friends, Carmen (Alexa Vega), Juni (Daryl Sabara), and their faithful dog Argonaut (Ricky Gervais) and some mind-blowing gadgets, they just may be able to save the world!

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Twilight's Wedding of The Year Scores Box Office Nov.18 - Nov.20

2011-12-04T12:59:00.001+08:00

Release Date:November 18th, 2011
Starring:
Director:Bill Condon
Writer:Stephenie Meyer, Melissa Rosenberg
Studio:Summit Entertainment
Genre:Romance, Thriller
Official Site:breakingdawn-themovie.com, stepheniemeyer.com
Rating: PG-13 for disturbing images, violence, sexuality/partial nudity and some thematic elements
Runtime:1 hour 48 minutes

          Last weekend, the wedding of the year attracted Bella and Edward fans around the world as the highly anticipated vampire sequel The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 crushed the competition across the globe debuting at number one. Not as warmly received in their return were the animated penguins of Happy Feet Two which opened in second place with only half the debut of its predecessor ahead of what will be a very competitive holiday season for kidpics. George Clooney's The Decendants rocked the specialty box office and even made it into the top ten despite playing in very few theaters. Overall, Twilight led the marketplace to a healthy improvement over last year which is quite a statement given that a new Harry Potter film launched at that time.
           Delivering the second biggest opening of the year, and the fifth best of all-time, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 triumphed at the box office grossing $138.1M over the Friday-to-Sunday period, according to final studio figures. The fourth film in the lucrative Summit series averaged a stunning $34,012 from 4,061 locations despite having no help from 3D or IMAX which have boosted grosses for many of the largest debuts of all-time. The bow was just 3% behind the $142.8M of New Moon from two years ago this same weekend. Both films played to the Twilight faithful, were only in 2D, and were released in just over 4,000 locations. The new pic, though, carried a much higher budget of $110M.
           Breaking Dawn Pt. 1 now sits at the number five spot on the list of the biggest opening weekends ever trailing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 ($169.2M), The Dark Knight ($158.4M), Spider-Man 3 ($151.1M), and New Moon. The weekend began with a $71.6M opening day which included $30.3M from Thursday night's post-midnight shows. That was the second best post-midnight ever after Deathly Hallows 2 ($43.5M) and the third highest opening day after Hallows 2 ($91.1M) and New Moon ($72.7M). Breaking Dawn's Saturday suffered an understandable 44% plunge to $40M while a 34% decline hit Sunday putting it at $26.5M. New Moon, which had the exact same type of calendar, fell a nearly identical 42% Saturday and then 34% on Sunday. Given the rise in 2D ticket prices over the last two years, it seems that the Twilight audience has declined by 8-10% between New Moon and Breaking Dawn.
          As with previous films in the series, women dominated the audience. Studio research showed that a whopping 80% of the crowd was female which was in line with New Moon's 80% and the first Twilight's 75%. The only summer title in the franchise - last year's Eclipse which released in late June - had a broader audience that was 65% female. It was also the only pic released in IMAX and still stands as the top-grossing installment with $300.5M. The series will conclude this weekend next year with the launch of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 which opens on November 16, 2012.
          Sales were red hot overseas too this weekend. The roll-out into 54 international territories resulted in an estimated $144M from 9,950 venues since mid-week bows in certain markets putting the global debut at a stellar $282M. Top markets included the U.K. ($22M), Russia ($15M), France ($14.5M), Australia ($12.2M), Italy ($12M), Spain ($11.6M), and Brazil ($10.2M). With Breaking Dawn Part 1, the Twilight franchise this weekend shattered the $2 billion global box office mark.
          The animated penguin sequel Happy Feet Two finished the weekend in second place as expected but generated sales that were below expectations. The PG-rated film bowed to $21.2M from 3,606 theaters (including a super-wide 293 IMAX 3D venues) averaging a moderate $5,889 and came in at roughly half the level of the $41.5M debut of the first Feet from this same very weekend five years ago. That film topped the charts for three weeks in a row on its way to $198M. Reviews for the followup were mostly bad.
           The Feet debut was also well below those of other big studio toon offerings this year like Rio ($39.2M), Puss in Boots ($34.1M), Gnomeo & Juliet ($25.4M), The Lion King 3D ($30.2M) as well as sequels like Kung Fu Panda 2 ($47.7M) and Cars 2 ($66.1M). Parents have spent heavily on 3D toons this year and Happy Feet Two may have been too little, too late. 49% of the penguin gross came from the 3D screens which was about even with the 51% of Puss a few weeks ago. Warner Bros. will try to catch up with kids and families over the coming Thanksgiving week, however there will be stiff competition for this audience with studios unwisely launching three more PG-rated films aimed at families on Wednesday - Disney's The Muppets, Paramount's Hugo, and Sony's Arthur Christmas.
          Last week's top film Immortals fell sharply in its second weekend grossing $12.4M, down 62%. Most holdovers suffered larger than usual declines as last Friday was the Veterans Day holiday when most schools closed. The Relativity Media release has collected $53.1M in ten days and looks headed for the $75M vicinity.
          Adam Sandler's latest helping of immature humor lost the usual half of its audience in the second weekend coming in fourth place. Jack and Jill fell 53% to $11.7M and has laughed up $40.8M in ten days heading to what should be a final gross in the neighborhood of $70M for Sony.
          The leggy toon Puss in Boots took a tumble in its fourth round thanks in part to the arrival of Happy Feet Two and dropped a steep 56% to $10.8M for a cume to date of $122.4M. Previous declines were only 3% for the sophomore session and 25% for the third weekend which included Veterans Day. Paramount and DreamWorks Animation were widely criticized for moving the release date earlier from November 4 to October 28, but the move paid off with a stellar $111.6M banked before the penguin pic arrived in the marketplace.
           Universal's action-comedy Tower Heist followed with $7.1M, down 44%, giving the Ben Stiller-Eddie Murphy project $53.5M to date. Clint Eastwood's political biopic J. Edgar did not hold up well in its second weekend falling 47% to $5.9M raising the cume to only $20.7M for Warner Bros. Clint pics used to show strong legs at the box office thanks to good word-of-mouth and an older audience. But recent projects have earned mixed feelings from critics and audiences alike with second weekend drops being 47% for last year's Hereafter and 51% for 2009's Invictus.

#	Title	Nov 18 - 20	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 1	$ 138,122,261	1	$ 138,122,261	Summit
2	Happy Feet Two	21,237,068	1	21,237,068	Warner Bros.
3	Immortals	12,351,959	2	53,079,889	Relativity
4	Jack and Jill	11,738,573	2	40,766,479	Sony
5	Puss in Boots	10,804,311	4	122,391,873	Paramount
6	Tower Heist	7,105,045	3	53,538,820	Universal
7	J. Edgar	5,928,120	2	20,722,814	Warner Bros.
8	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	2,902,434	3	28,335,280	Warner Bros.
9	In Time	1,710,692	4	33,454,533	Fox
10	The Descendants	1,190,096	1	1,290,096	Fox Searchlight

11	Paranormal Activity 3	1,000,518	5	102,619,195	Paramount
12	Footloose	861,189	6	50,166,869	Paramount
13	Real Steel	553,871	7	82,557,917	Disney
14	Like Crazy	522,352	3	1,767,358	Paramount
15	Moneyball	512,387	8	72,641,291	Sony
16	The Ides of March	460,272	6	39,100,143	Sony
17	Courageous	430,493	7	32,338,471	Sony
18	Margin Call	423,554	4	3,915,791	Roadside Attr.
19	Martha Marcy May Marlene	384,642	5	2,258,429	Fox Searchlight
20	Melancholia	337,530	2	709,212	Magnolia

Blu-ray 15th November Release

2011-11-27T16:40:00.001+08:00

Larry Crowne [Blu-ray]

Universal / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 15, 2011

Genres: Drama, romance,

Starring: Tom Hanks and Sarah Mahoney
Director: Tom Hanks

Plot Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts come together for a romantic and optimistic comedy about how it's never too late to reinvent yourself. When he suddenly finds himself without his long-standing blue-collar job, Larry Crowne (Hanks) enrolls at his local college to start over. There, he becomes part of an eclectic community of students and develops a crush on his teacher (Roberts). Now this simple guy will discover that when you think everything worth having has passed you by, you just might find your reason to live.

Disc Features:

The Making of Larry Crowne (HD, 11 min) — Tracing the usual steps of the movie's production, this EPK piece comes with cast & crew interviews explaining the script story, characterization, working with Hanks as director versus actor, and the plot's cultural relevancy.
Fun on Set (HD, 11 min) — An assortment of clips filmed on set, showing the good-natured humor of the production and everyone having a good time.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 8 min)

West Side Story (50th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox / 1961 / 152 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 15, 2011

Genres: Musical, Classic, 60's

Starring: Natalie Wood, Rita Moreno
Director: Robert Wise

Plot Synopsis: The winner of 10 Academy Awards, this 1961 musical by choreographer Jerome Robbins and director Robert Wise (The Sound of Music) remains irresistible. Based on a smash Broadway play updating Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to the 1950s era of juvenile delinquency, the film stars Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as the star-crossed lovers from different neighborhoods--and ethnicities. The film's real selling points, however, are the highly charged and inventive song-and-dance numbers, the passionate ballads, the moody sets, colorful support from Rita Moreno, and the sheer accomplishment of Hollywood talent and technology producing a film so stirring. Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim wrote the score.

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

The Immortals Champs Box Office Nov.11 - Nov.13

2011-11-20T12:14:00.001+08:00

Release Date:November 11th, 2011
Starring:
Director:Tarsem Singh
Writer:Charley Parlapanides, Vlas Parlapanides
Studio:Relativity Media
Genre:Adventure, Action, Drama, Fantasy
Official Site:immortalsmovie.com, facebook.com/immortals
R Rating: for sequences of strong bloody violence, and a scene of sexuality
Runtime:1 hour 50 minutes

           Young men put down the videogame controllers and returned to the box office in large numbers this weekend, giving "Immortals" a strong $32 million opening domestically, according to studio data.
           That's $7 million more than Relativity Media had predicted for its R-rated swords-and-sandals epic, which finished No. 1 at the weekend box office. The $75 million film also grossed $34 million opening up overseas for a worldwide premiere total of $68 million.
           With war game "Modern Warfare 3" moving 6.5 million units on its first day on store shelves last week, young men had been a vanishing breed at the domestic box office. But they came out in droves for "Immortals," with 60 percent of the audience male and 75 percent under the age of 35.
            I think people were concerned about young males, but I think they came out for 'Immortals,'" Kyle Davies, Relativity's president of worldwide distribution, told TheWrap Sunday.
Also read: 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3' Breaks All-Time Sales Record.
           Sony's Adam Sandler comedy, "Jack and Jill," meanwhile, grossed an estimated $26 million. While that's on the high end of the studio's expectations for the PG-rated movie, it does not compare well to the numbers most Adam Sandler films generate in opening weekend. Most of Sony's Sandler comedies have opened to well over $30 million.
           Still, it was enough to put "Jack and Jill" at No. 2 for the weekend, just ahead of DreamWorks Animation's "Puss in Boots." That movie, in its third weekend of release, grossed an estimated $25.5 million. The animated film has declined less than 25 percent from its opening two weeks ago.
           The third movie in wide release this weekend, the Warner Bros. biopic "J. Edgar," is still searching for its audience. The R-rated movie with a stellar pedigree -- it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Armie Hammer, was directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Academy Award-winner Dustin Lance Black -- opened in fifth place, taking in only $11.6 million.
           Universal's "Tower Heist," the comedy featuring former Oscar producer Brett Ratner as director and would-be Oscar host Eddie Murphy as star, was No. 4 at the box office in its second weekend of release. It took an estimated $13.2 million -- a solid 45 percent drop from last weekend.
But this weekend was all about "Immortals."
           "The past few weekends, the box office has been suppressed -- a lot of people were getting concerned about when there would be a kick-start," Relativity's Davies said. "I think 'Immortals' did that."
The movie, which had a "B" Cinemascore, opened in 3,112 locations. It is Relativity's highest-opening movie as a distributor. The movie's 3D worked well -- 66 percent of the gross came from 3D screens.
Also read: Steve Jobs' 'Love Letter to His Wife' Makes Waves in Asia
            Relativity had a whole lot riding on "Immortals." The movie, directed by Tarsem Singh and starring Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke, Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, Luke Evans and John Hurt, is the studio's most ambitious project so far.
            It had a budget estimated at $75 million after tax rebates for shooting in Canada. Relativity says it hedged its bets by pre-selling foreign rights well in advance.
Still, there was pressure on Relativity to make a movie that performed well.
"Immortals" did.
It was well above both the studio's internal tracking and projections from outside box-office watchers.
Also read: Jay-Z to Profit From Occupy Wall Street -- But Won't Share the Wealth
           Relativity notes that "Immortals" is the third-highest R-rated film debut this year behind "Hangover 2," which opened to $85 million, and "Paranormal Activity 3," which opened to $52 million.
           The movie is about Theseus, a mortal played by Cavill, who is chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the evil King Hyperion, played by Rourke. The fate of both mankind and the gods both are at stake.
"Immortals" overperformed on Friday, grossing $15 million. It dropped to an estimated $10.17 million on Saturday and a projected $6.83 million Sunday.
Davies attributed the strong Friday to Veterans Day.
"With Veterans Day falling on a Friday, half the schools were closed," he said.
Meanwhile, Sony's comedy "Jack and Jill" managed to beat DreamWorks Animation's "Puss in Boots" for second place.
The PG movie, directed by Dennis Dugan and starring Sandler and Al Pacino, grossed $26 million. It had a budget estimated at $79 million.
            "When you have this type of film ... it's going to have a great multiple," Rory Bruer, Sony's president of worldwide distribution, told TheWrap Sunday. "But quite frankly, Adam's movies always have great multiples. The play has always been to open on this earlier date with the big reward working into the holiday weekend -- the big Thanksgiving weekend."
              Sony said that 53 percent of the film's opening weekend ticket sales came from families, and that 52 percent came from moviegoers 25 and older; 57 percent of the audience was female.
The movie has a Thanksgiving theme. It's about Jack Sadelstein, a guy who dreads Thanksgiving because it means a visit from his twin sister, Jill.
"Jack and Jill" had a Cinemascore of "B" and opened at 3,438 locations.
             The Eastwood-directed "J. Edgar," the Warner Bros. biopic of former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, had a budget estimated at $35 million and barely met studio expectations.
             Still, Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman told TheWrap that he was pleased with the weekend.
"We positioned the movie in a way to get the opening that we did," he said. "We're going into the Hollywood playtime right now, and we're the only real adult choice in the marketplace."
Fellman added that the movie is "certainly in position as we move forward into the holiday season with a lot of family movies, to capture the adult audience -- and, of course, we're looking at some year-end accolades as well."
"J. Edgar," which had a Cinemascore of "B," opened in 1,910 locations.
In limited release, the Lars von Trier movie "Melancholia" grossed $270,000 at 19 locations, for a strong per-screen average of just over $14,200 a theater. [Source from: reuters.com]

#	Title	Nov 11 - 13	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Immortals	$ 32,206,425	1	$ 32,206,425	Relativity
2	Jack and Jill	25,003,575	1	25,003,575	Sony
3	Puss in Boots	24,726,193	3	108,035,359	Paramount
4	Tower Heist	12,773,765	2	43,465,615	Universal
5	J. Edgar	11,217,324	1	11,315,858	Warner Bros.
6	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	5,915,143	2	23,237,525	Warner Bros.
7	In Time	4,081,881	3	30,598,618	Fox
8	Paranormal Activity 3	3,611,283	4	100,808,835	Paramount
9	Footloose	2,726,736	5	48,767,514	Paramount
10	Real Steel	1,864,688	6	81,612,804	Disney

11	Moneyball	1,066,267	8	71,857,836	Sony
12	Courageous	1,012,220	7	31,565,808	Sony
13	The Ides of March	944,292	6	38,358,318	Sony
14	The Rum Diary	803,456	3	12,371,440	FilmDistrict
15	Dolphin Tale	693,294	8	69,634,072	Warner Bros.
16	Anonymous	582,527	3	3,753,918	Sony
17	Margin Call	545,521	4	3,312,204	Roadside Attr.
18	50/50	507,529	7	33,841,644	Summit
19	Like Crazy	504,512	3	1,055,778	Paramount
20	The Three Musketeers	496,871	4	19,167,175	Summit

Blu-ray 8th & 11th November Release

2011-11-20T11:42:00.003+08:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2010 / 130 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 11, 2011

Overall Grade Must own. No compromise.

Genres: Fantasy, adventure, family,
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson
Director: David Yates

Plot Synopsis: The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the film all Harry Potter fans have waited 10 years to see, and the good news is that it's worth the hype--visually stunning, action packed, faithful to the book, and mature not just in its themes and emotion but in the acting by its cast, some of whom had spent half their lives making Harry Potter movies. Part 2 cuts right to the chase: Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) has stolen the Elder Wand, one of the three objects required to give someone power over death (a.k.a. the Deathly Hallows), with the intent to hunt and kill Harry. Meanwhile, Harry's quest to destroy the rest of the Horcruxes (each containing a bit of Voldemort's soul) leads him first to a thrilling (and hilarious--love that Polyjuice Potion!) trip to Gringotts Bank, then back to Hogwarts, where a spectacular battle pitting the young students and professors (a showcase of the British thesps who have stolen every scene of the series: Maggie Smith's McGonagall, Jim Broadbent's Slughorn, David Thewlis's Lupin) against a dark army of Dementors, ogres, and Bellatrix Lestrange (Helena Bonham Carter, with far less crazy eyes to make this round). As predicted all throughout the saga, Harry also has his final showdown with Voldemort--neither can live while the other survives--though the physics of that predicament might need a set of crib notes to explain. But while each installment has become progressively grimmer, this finale is the most balanced between light and dark (the dark is quite dark--several familiar characters die, with one significant death particularly grisly); the humor is sprinkled in at the most welcome times, thanks to the deft adaptation by Steve Kloves (who scribed all but one of the films from J.K. Rowling's books) and direction by four-time Potter director David Yates. The climactic kiss between Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson), capping off a decade of romantic tension, is perfectly tuned to their idiosyncratic relationship, and Daniel Radcliffe has, over the last decade, certainly proven he was the right kid for the job all along. As Prof. Snape, the most perfect of casting choices in the best-cast franchise of all time, Alan Rickman breaks your heart. Only the epilogue (and the lack of chemistry between Harry and love Ginny Weasley, barely present here) stand a little shaky, but no matter: the most lucrative franchise in movie history to date has just reached its conclusion, and it's done so without losing its soul.

Disc Features:
Disc 1

Focus Points (HD, 26 min.) – This is a collection of short featurettes that covers a variety of behind the scenes material.

Pottermore (HD, 1 min.) – A commercial for the online experience called 'Pottermore' with J.K. Rowling teasing fans about even more 'Potter'-filled fun.
Final Farewells From the Cast (HD, 3 min.) – A few of the big name actors reminisce about the last decade working on these movies.

Disc 2

Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 min.) – There are quite a few good scenes in this short six minutes. Scenes that would have added a bit more to the movie and could've been used for some kind of director's cut if possible. There's a scene that explains much more about where Hermione got clothes that looked like Bellatrix's. There's a scene that gives a better explanation about the mirror Harry has been carrying around all this time. Another extended scene with Aberforth that shows his deeper disdain he had for his brother. And a comical scene where the Syltherin students are locked in the Hogwarts dungeon.

Disc 1

Maximum Movie Mode (HD, 2 hr. 47 min.) – As always Warner has outdone itself with its picture-in-picture commentary on the movie. This is an extensive, exhaustive look inside the making of the film.

Disc 2

A Conversation with J.K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe (HD, 53 min.) – This is one of the best special features in this set. Rowling and Radcliffe sit down with each other and candidly talk about their experiences with the story. Radcliffe asks her questions like what bits of the movies is she mad that they took stuff out of the books, and what stuff she was annoyed they added in. Radcliffe discusses his time working on the movies and how he was allergic to the Potter glasses at first.
The Goblins of Gringotts (HD, 10 min.) – This is more, or less, a look at how the goblins for the film were designed and how they evolved from the very first movie up until now.

The Women of 'Harry Potter' (HD, 22 min.) – Rowling takes point here and talks about the pride she has in her strong female characters which she created for her books.
Lego 'Harry Potter' Game Demo (HD)
BD-Live (HD)

The Change-Up Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray+DVD+Digital Copy)

Universal / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 08, 2011

Genres: Comedy, drama, romance
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jason Bateman, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde, Craig Bierko, Alan Arkin
Director: David Dobkin

Plot Synopsis: Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman star in the outrageous comedy from the director of Wedding Crashers and the writers of The Hangover. One drunken night, two friends admit that they wish they had the other's life. Mitch (Reynolds) thinks Dave has it all: a beautiful, loving family and a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm. But Dave (Bateman) thinks Mitch's stress-free life without obligation or consequence is the real dream come true. The next morning they wake up, hungover, in each other's bodies, and proceed to freak out! With time not on their side, Mitch and Dave comically struggle to avoid completely destroying each other's lives before they can find a way to get their old ones back.

Disc Features:

Fist Fight Deleted Scene (HD, 7 min.)
Gag Reel (HD, 5 min.)
Time for a Change (HD, 7 min.)
Family Matters (HD, 5 min.) – This featurette is dedicated to showing the state-of-the-art effects that went into making the babies shoot poop into Bateman's mouth.
Feature Commentary with Director David Dobkin

My Scenes
D-Box MOTION CODE
pocket BLU app

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Puss In Boots 2nd Week Box Office Domination Nov.4 - Nov.6

2011-11-13T15:02:00.001+08:00

(Reuters) - "Puss in Boots" snatched the domestic box office title from a band of working-class thieves in the new Eddie Murphy action-comedy "Tower Heist," studio estimates released on Sunday showed.
          "Puss in Boots," an animated spinoff from the blockbuster "Shrek" movies, nabbed an estimated $48 million in global ticket sales during its second weekend in theaters.
That included an unexpectedly strong $33 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters, putting the 3D family film in first place domestically for the second week in a row.
           This week's win came as a surprise as industry watchers had forecast "Tower Heist" would steal the show. Domestic sales for "Puss" dropped just 3 percent from last week, far less than the typical decline of at least 40 percent after a debut weekend.
         "This is unexpectedly great news. I really think it's driven by strong word of mouth and critic and fan momentum," said Anne Globe, chief marketing officer for DreamWorks Animation, which produced the film.
The studio made a big push to bring in families this weekend after competing a week ago with Halloween, baseball's World Series and a snowstorm in the U.S. Northeast. Investors were disappointed with the $34 million domestic take for "Puss" last weekend, sending DreamWorks Animation shares down nearly 8 percent on Monday.
         Over the first two weekends, "Puss" has $114.5 million in total worldwide sales.
"Tower Heist" was in second place for the weekend with $25.1 million in North American sales, at the low end of studio projections.
         Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures, noted a "general malaise" at the box office with slow overall sales for several weekends. But she said "Heist" had strong reviews in studio exit polls and drew an older crowd with 62 percent of the audience over 30.
        "Twenty-five million for a movie that appeals to an older audience is a good result," Rocco said.
The film tells the story of Manhattan high-rise employees, led by comic heavyweights Murphy and Ben Stiller, who plan a robbery to regain their losses from a Wall Street swindler.
Financed with Relativity Media at a cost of about $85 million, the movie added $9.5 million from overseas markets for a combined weekend total of $34.6 million.
OVERALL BOX OFFICE SLUGGISH
        In third place, pot-smoking duo Harold & Kumar underachieved with their holiday misadventures. "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas" took in $13.1 million domestically, short of studio expectations of at least $15 million for the third film in the low-budget series.
Still, the movie should easily turn a profit as production cost just $19 million and "Harold & Kumar" films typically perform well on home video, said Jeff Goldstein, executive vice president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros.
"We'll be in the black," Goldstein said.
          Overall, the weekend continued a slow streak for moviegoing this fall. Ticket sales for the top 12 films were 26 percent below the same weekend a year ago, according to Hollywood.com Box Office.
          In fourth place, low-budget horror sequel "Paranormal Activity 3" earned $8.5 million in domestic sales.
          Fifth spot for the weekend belonged to science fiction thriller "In Time" starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. It had $7.7 million in sales at domestic theaters during its second weekend of release.
Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp, released "Tower Heist." Time Warner unit Warner Bros. distributed "Harold & Kumar," which was produced by New Line Cinema. "Puss in Boots" was produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Paramount also released "Paranormal Activity 3." "In Time" was released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.[Source from: reuters.com]

#	Title	Nov 4 - 6	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Puss in Boots	$ 33,054,644	2	$ 75,527,682	Paramount
2	Tower Heist	24,025,190	1	24,025,190	Universal
3	A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas	12,954,142	1	12,954,142	Warner Bros.
4	Paranormal Activity 3	8,333,691	3	95,116,745	Paramount
5	In Time	7,481,592	2	23,990,237	Fox
6	Footloose	4,470,135	4	44,719,755	Paramount
7	Real Steel	3,436,086	5	78,779,328	Disney
8	The Rum Diary	2,920,481	2	10,356,215	FilmDistrict
9	The Ides of March	1,938,197	5	36,738,482	Sony
10	Moneyball	1,786,441	7	70,213,831	Sony

11	The Three Musketeers	1,698,634	3	18,047,630	Summit
12	Courageous	1,539,563	6	29,951,296	Sony
13	Anonymous	1,233,006	2	2,683,332	Sony
14	Dolphin Tale	1,022,266	7	68,617,383	Warner Bros.
15	50/50	953,636	6	32,974,877	Summit
16	Margin Call	718,321	3	2,516,831	Roadside Attr.
17	Johnny English Reborn	676,245	3	7,725,155	Universal
18	Martha Marcy May Marlene	455,772	3	1,021,024	Fox Searchlight
19	R.A. One	384,362	2	2,229,372	Eros
20	The Help	333,158	13	167,427,819	Disney

Blu-ray 1st November Release

2011-11-13T14:50:00.002+08:00

Cars 2 (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: November 01, 2011

Genres: Animation, comedy, family, adventure
Starring: Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine
Director: Brad Lewis, John Lasseter

Plot Synopsis: Lightning McQueen (voice by Owen Wilson), Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (Bonnie Hunt), and the rest of the gang from Radiator Springs return to the screen in this sequel to Pixar's Cars (2006). But instead of evoking a nostalgic vision of Route 66 through the American Southwest, director John Lasseter and his artists spoof James Bond films in a fast-paced adventure that mixes espionage and road racing. After a successful season on the track, Lightning is looking forward to some rest at home, but Mater gets him involved in an elaborate three-part international race sponsored by Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard) to promote his new synthetic auto fuel. While serving on Lightning's pit crew, Mater inadvertently gets mixed up with two British secret agent cars, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer), who are investigating a plot to sabotage the race. Myriad complications ensue before Lightning and Mater get back to the (relative) peace of Radiator Springs. The Pixar artists clearly had a lot of fun spoofing locations in Tokyo, London, Paris, and the Italian Riviera, and creating auto versions of sumo wrestlers, kabuki actors, Queen Elizabeth II, and a doting Italian mother. The use of 3-D adds adrenaline to the racing sequences. Cars 2 lacks the emotional impact of Toy Story 2, Up, and most of the other Pixar features, but that will do little to lessen its appeal to its target audience, boys who love cars, driving games, and car toys. Cars 2 is screening with Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, a new short with Woody, Buzz, Barbie, Ken, and the rest of the Toy Story gang.

Water for Elephants (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 120 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 01, 2011

Genres: Drama, romance
Starring: Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon
Director: Francis Lawrence

Plot Synopsis: Sara Gruen's bestselling novel comes to glossy life in this period romance. A sparkle-free Robert Pattinson plays Jacob Jankowski, who studies veterinary medicine during the Great Depression. After a family tragedy, he loses everything, including the chance to graduate from prestigious Cornell, so he hops a train, where he finds himself part of the struggling Benzini Brothers Circus. Ringleader August (Christoph Waltz, echoing his Oscar-winning Inglourious Basterds performance) has doubts about the softhearted lad, but a fellow Pole smoothes the way, and Jacob becomes the company vet, which leads him to platinum-blond equestrian Marlena (Reese Witherspoon), August's wife. The two make eyes at each other, but an affair would surely end badly, so they concentrate on their work. When Marlena's prize steed falls ill, August purchases an elephant, hoping Rosie will turn their fortunes around, and enlists Jacob to train her. Unfortunately, she's slow to respond to commands until Jankowski unlocks her secret--and after August has beaten the poor thing into submission. After that, things start to look up until Jacob steals a kiss from his dream girl. As in The Notebook, the film it most closely resembles, an elderly version of the central character (Hal Holbrook, touching) narrates in the present day (screenwriter Richard LaGravenese also adapted The Bridges of Madison County). He tells an interesting tale, so it's too bad the leads strike so few sparks. For those who find big-top classics like Nightmare Alley too dark, however, Francis Lawrence's feel-better variant may be just the ticket.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary with Director Francis Lawrence and Writer Richard LaGravensese --
Robert Pattinson Spotlight (HD, 4 mins)
Feature Performer Reese Witherspon (HD, 3 mins)
Traveling Show: Page to Screen (HD, 9 mins)
Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 mins).

Crazy, Stupid, Love (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 01, 2011

Genres: Comedy, drama, romance
Starring: Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Emma Stone
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Plot Synopsis: Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling lead an all-star cast in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Fortysomething straight-laced Cal Weaver (Carell) is living the dream—good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart, Emily (Julianne Moore). So when Cal learns that his wife has cheated on him and wants a divorce, his “perfect” life quickly unravels. Cal, who hasn't dated in decades, stands out as the epitome of un-smooth so handsome player Jacob Palmer (Gosling) takes him on as wingman and protégé, opening Cal’s eyes to the many options before him: flirty women, manly drinks and a sense of style. Despite Cal's makeover and his many new conquests, the one thing that can’t be made over is his heart, which seems to keep leading Cal back to where he began. Brimming with inspired performances, critics are calling this gem of a romantic comedy “a movie that understands love”

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Puss In Boots Conquer Worldwide Box Office Oct.28 - Oct.30

2011-11-13T14:17:00.000+08:00

Release Date:October 28th, 2011
Starring:
Director:Chris Miller
Writer:Charles Perrault, Brian Lynch, David H. Steinberg, Tom Wheeler, Jon Zack
Studio:DreamWorks Animation
Genre:Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Fantasy, 3D
Official Site:pussinbootsthemovie.com
Rating: PG - for some adventure action and mild rude humor
Runtime:1 hour 30 minutes

           Last weekend the animated comedy Puss in Boots debuted at number one over the pre-Halloween frame while other new releases failed to generate much excitement averaging under $4,000 a piece. The overall marketplace got hit hard by a double whammy of game seven of the World Series on Friday which attracted over 25 million viewers followed by a powerful winter storm hitting the highly populated northeast region of the country on Saturday affecting tens of millions of people with unusually early snowfalls. Films with better word-of-mouth may grab some of that lost cash in the weeks ahead if good buzz can spread.
          With its second top spot debut from a franchise film in as many weeks, Paramount hit number one with the launch of its Shrek spin-off toon Puss in Boots which debuted to $34.1M according to final studio figures. The figure was one of the lowest debuts for a high-profile 3D toon in recent years and was a far cry from the openings of other DreamWorks titles like last year's triumvirate of Megamind ($46M), the leggy How to Train Your Dragon ($43.7M), and Shrek Forever After ($70.8M) which was the last installment of this franchise. Even this year's earlier non-sequel animated entries like Fox's 3D Rio and Paramount's 2D Rango debuted higher with $39.2M and $38.1M, respectively. The PG-rated cat pic averaged $8,603 from 3,952 theaters including 2,827 offering 3D.
          However, all indicators point to Puss in Boots having good legs in the weeks ahead despite the slow start. Weather and also pre-Halloween activities for kids helped to softened the bow but audiences and critics alike are giving high marks to the product suggesting good buzz will keep it relevant. Reviews were quite good and an encouraging A- CinemaScore grade bodes well for the weeks ahead. Studios typically pick the first weekend of November as the time to launch the holiday season's first high-profile animated entry or kidpic as it's been for the last ten consecutive years. In fact, Puss was originally slated for November 4 but was moved earlier one week to have a longer run before competitors roll in. Led by the voice of Antonio Banderas, the toon has clear sailing until Happy Feet Two arrives on November 18.
          Puss in Boots claimed the record for best Halloween weekend opening of all-time. The milestone is not exactly one that comes with much bragging rights since the holiday falls on a different day each year and its activities often cause distractions that reduce box office activity. Horror films typically are the ones that excel with the previous top three best debuts for the holiday being recent installments of the Saw franchise. Studios rarely program big non-horror titles around Halloween.
          Puss in Boots skewed more to moms with females making up 59% of the crowd and 55% being 25 and older. Banderas and co-star Salma Hayek helped to mobilize the Latino-American audience which accounted for 35% of business spending nearly $12M this weekend. 3D screens including 270 IMAX locations accounted for 51% of the gross giving the film a higher share than recent animated films like Cars 2, Kung Fu Panda 2, and The Smurfs.
          Overseas, Puss in Boots launched to spectacular results in Russia which led the three-market debut of $17M this weekend. $15M came from the increasingly important Russian market making it the second biggest DreamWorks bow ever after the fourth Shrek as well as the third largest debut of 2011 after the latest 3D sequels for Pirates of the Caribbean and Transformers which were both monster hits there. With its international cast and setting, Puss in Boots should do robust business overseas where animated films typically perform incredibly well accounting for 70-75% of global box office.
         After scoring the best opening ever during the September-October corridor, the horror threequel Paranormal Activity 3 fell sharply in its second frame dropping 66% to $18.1M. That gave the $5M production a stellar $80.9M after only ten days of release with Monday's Halloween holiday likely to deliver another solid day of business since horror films historically draw big audiences during evening shows on the pumpkin holiday. The Paramount hit has already come close to the $84.8M of the last installment of the lucrative franchise and is headed for a finish in the neighborhood of the $107.9M of the first chapter in the series. Overseas, the third Paranormal grossed an estimated $17M boosting the international tally to $54.2M and the global haul to $135M with top-tier markets Japan and Germany still to open. The trilogy as a whole has now grossed a mammoth $506M worldwide plus tons more on DVD.
          Justin Timberlake's sci-fi thriller In Time opened in third place with a mediocre $12.1M averaging a moderate $3,860 from 3,122 theaters. The PG-13 film about a world in the near future when only the wealthy can afford to buy time to extend their own lifespans played evenly across genders and skewed older with 58% being 25 and up. Reviews were more on the negative side and moviegoers were not that much more impressed as the Fox release got a B- CinemaScore. Timberlake has been growing his resume in the world of film with supporting turns in The Social Network and Bad Teacher followed by a lead role in the romantic comedy Friends With Benefits which had a nice late summer run grossing $55.8M.
          The dance remake Footloose followed in fourth place with $5.5M, down 47%, giving Paramount $38.5M after 17 days. A final gross near $50M seems likely.
          Johnny Depp stumbled into fifth place with his new offering The Rum Diary which bowed to a weak $5.1M. Playing in 2,272 locations, the R-rated drama about a New York journalist relocating to Puerto Rico averaged a poor $2,260 per theater. The older-skewing FilmDistrict release did not wow critics and even ticket buyers were disappointed as the troubling C CinemaScore and tiny 4% Saturday jump indicated large declines ahead. The opening for Rum was reminiscent of the debuts for many of Depp's quirkier dramas prior to Pirates of the Caribbean vaulting him to the level of the top box office draws in the world. Those included $6.6M for The Ninth Gate, $4M for The Astronaut's Wife, $3.3M for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and $4.6M for Don Juan de Marco.
          Two-time chart-topper Real Steel got clobbered in its fourth round falling 56% to $4.8M boosting Disney's cume to $73.9M making it the fourth biggest grosser of the fall after The Lion King 3D ($93.2M), Paranormal Activity 3, and Contagion ($74.1M) which it will surpass later this week. Audiences also fled from The Three Musketeers which tumbled 60% in its second frame to $3.5M for a dull ten-day tally of $14.8M for Summit. A $20M final may result.
          Sony filled up the rest of the spots in the top ten with its fall slate. George Clooney's Oscar hopeful The Ides of March grossed $2.8M, down 42%, for a $33.6M total. Brad Pitt's Moneyball fell 40% to $2.4M while the faith-based hit Courageous dipped only 26% to $1.8M. Totals stand at $67.4M and $27.7M.
          In limited release, Sony's Shakespeare drama Anonymous generated a lukewarm response from American audiences with $1M debut from only 265 theaters for a lackluster $3,856 average. The PG-13 film was originally set for a nationwide bow but the studio shifted gears less than two weeks before opening day to a moderate release instead. Anonymous earned a good A- CinemaScore from those few that did come out and pay to see it, but overall interest domestically had never been high at all. The audience breakdown was 51% female while 65% was 30 and over. Reviews were mixed.
          Doing well in platform release was the award-winning Sundance drama Like Crazy which debuted in just four theaters with $123,140 for a solid $30,785 average. Reviews were generally good for the PG-13 Paramount release which toured a number of film festivals generating buzz before heading into its commercial release.

#	Title	Oct 28 - 30	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Puss in Boots	$ 34,077,439	1	$ 34,077,439	Paramount
2	Paranormal Activity 3	18,144,516	2	80,919,170	Paramount
3	In Time	12,050,368	1	12,050,368	Fox
4	Footloose	5,502,026	3	38,544,825	Paramount
5	The Rum Diary	5,135,369	1	5,135,369	FilmDistrict
6	Real Steel	4,783,149	4	73,941,416	Disney
7	The Three Musketeers	3,507,359	2	14,847,237	Summit
8	The Ides of March	2,804,435	4	33,600,618	Sony
9	Moneyball	2,387,049	6	67,408,099	Sony
10	Courageous	1,838,096	5	27,681,975	Sony

11	Johnny English Reborn	1,693,915	2	6,465,685	Universal
12	R.A. One	1,654,023	1	1,654,023	Eros
13	Dolphin Tale	1,633,429	6	67,035,293	Warner Bros.
14	50/50	1,408,150	5	31,339,863	Summit
15	Anonymous	1,021,768	1	1,021,768	Sony
16	The Thing	857,325	3	16,075,075	Universal
17	Margin Call	721,316	2	1,482,563	Roadside Attr.
18	Dream House	397,815	5	20,834,395	Universal
19	The Help	392,658	12	166,904,059	Disney
20	The Way	358,267	4	1,610,024	PDA

Blu-ray 25th October Release

2011-11-06T16:07:00.001+08:00

Captain America: The First Avenger (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Paramount / 2011 / 125 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Genres: Action, fantasy, super-hero
Starring: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson
Director: Joe Johnston

Plot Synopsis: The Marvel Comics superhero Captain America was born of World War II, so if you're going to do the origin story in a movie you'd better set it in the 1940s. But how, then, to reconcile that hero with the 21st-century mega-blockbuster The Avengers, a 2012 summit meeting of the Marvel giants, where Captain America joins Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk and other super pals? Stick around, and we'll get to that. In 1943, a sawed-off (but gung-ho) military reject named Steve Rogers is enlisted in a super-secret experiment masterminded by adorable scientist Stanley Tucci and skeptical military bigwig Tommy Lee Jones. Rogers emerges, taller and sporting greatly expanded pectoral muscles, along with a keen ability to bounce back from injury. In both sections Rogers is played by Chris Evans, whose sly humor makes him a good choice for the otherwise stalwart Cap. (Benjamin Button-esque effects create the shrinky Rogers, with Evans's head attached.) The film comes up with a viable explanation for the red-white-and-blue suit 'n' shield--Rogers is initially trotted out as a war bonds fundraiser, in costume--and a rousing first combat mission for our hero, who finally gets fed up with being a poster boy. Director Joe Johnston (The Wolfman) makes a lot of pretty pictures along the way, although the war action goes generic for a while and the climax feels a little rushed. Kudos to Hugo Weaving, who makes his Nazi villain a grand adversary (with, if the ear doesn't lie, an imitation of Werner Herzog's accent). If most of the movie is enjoyable, the final 15 minutes or so reveals a curious weakness in the overall design: because Captain America needs to pop up in The Avengers, the resolution of the 1943 story line must include a bridge to the 21st century, which makes for some tortured (and unsatisfying) plot developments. Nevertheless: that shield is really cool.

Disc Features:

Audio Commentary - With Joe Johnston, Shelly Johnson, and Jeffrey Ford.
Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer (HD, 4 min) -
Featurettes (HD, 48 min) - Seven spotlights (Outfitting a Hero, Howling Commandos, Heightened Technology, The Transformation, Behind the Skull, Captain America's Origin, and The Assembly Begins), with no play all option.
Deleted Scenes (HD, 5 min) - Four axed scenes, playable individual or all together, with optional commentary by Johnston, Johnson, and Ford, the commentary track's participants.
Trailers (HD) - Four trailers. Two for the film, one for a video game, and another for an Avengers cartoon.

Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy (Blu-ray + Digital Copy)

Universal Studios / 1993 / 348 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Highly recommended

Genres: Action, family, adventure
Starring: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Julianne Moore
Director: Steven Spielberg, Joe Johnston

Plot Synopsis: Experience one of the biggest movie trilogies of all time like never before with the Jurassic Park Ultimate Trilogy! “You won’t believe your eyes” (Rolling Stone) when dinosaurs once again roam the Earth in an amazing theme park on a remote island. From Academy Award®-winning directors Steven Spielberg (Jurassic Park, The Lost World: Jurassic Park) and Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), the action-packed adventures find man up against prehistoric predators in the ultimate battle for survival. Featuring visually stunning imagery and groundbreaking filmmaking that has been hailed as “a triumph of special effects artistry” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times), this epic trilogy is sheer movie-making magic that was 65 million years in the making. “Welcome to Jurassic Park.”

Disc Features:
Disc One

Return to Jurassic Park: Dawn of a New Era (HD, 25 min) — The first in a six-part documentary series discusses not only the making of the movie but also gives viewers an inside look at the original direction filmmakers were going to take before realizing CGI was the way to go. Cast & crew interviews are mostly recollections on working with Stan Winston's special effects, surviving a real-life hurricane and working with Spielberg.
Return to Jurassic Park: Making Prehistory (HD, 20 min) — The second part takes a much closer at the filming itself, particularly the special effects and acting with the animatronics. V
Return to Jurassic Park: The Next Step in Evolution (HD, 15 min) — As one would suspect by the title, the third segment of the exhaustive documentary gives fans a great discussion on the computer-generated images and the digital composites created by Industrial Light & Magic.
Archival Featurettes (SD, 66 min) — A few of the supplements from other releases are collected here, which starts with an aged EPK piece on the making of the film and filled with many of the same snippets found on the above segments.
Behind the Scene (SD, 27 min) — The rest of the bonuses are stored here, like storyboards and a gallery of stills & art concepts from ILM.
Jurassic Park: Making the Game (1080i/60, 5 min) — A quick glance at the video game with interviews of the creators.
Trailer (SD) — The original preview brings the first disc to a close.

Disc Two

Return to Jurassic Park: Finding The Lost World (HD, 28 min) — In the fourth entry to the documentary series, the discussion obviously turns towards filmmakers returning for a sequel, which Spielberg explains was always the plan in the back of his mind. At first, the thought was something different than what was made, but with Crichton already releasing a follow-up book, filmmakers decided to go in that much darker direction.
Return to Jurassic Park: Something Survived (HD, 17 min) — The fifth segment focuses on the more technical aspects of the production, particularly the film's conclusion and how it was essentially written into the story on a whim.
Archival Featurettes (SD, 84 min) — As in the first disc, this section gathers together the bonus material from past DVD releases of the sequel. The making-of piece is the standard fare exploring every aspect of the production and followed by basically a shorter version of the same featurette. Then there's an amusing animated short from ILM as a thank you to Spielberg and an interesting conversation with author Michael Crichton on the Jurassic Park novels.
Behind the Scenes (SD, 21 min) — As before, the remaining bonus features are stored here, which mostly sees a large collection of storyboards and a few still galleries.
Deleted Scenes (SD)
Trailer (SD) — The original theatrical previews ends the assortment.

Disc Three

Return to Jurassic Park: The Third Adventure (HD, 25 min) — The final installment to the six-part documentary features certain members of the cast and crew reminiscing about the production and working with director Joe Johnston. Viewers can enjoy lots of good BTS footage while everyone talks about practical effects, set design, shooting on location as well as in a soundstage and the choice of the Spinosaurus as the new villain. Really interesting stuff, especially if you're a fan of the movie.
Audio Commentary — The conversation features the special F/X team Stan Winston, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Michael Lantieri, providing an enjoyably detailed technical look at the film.
Archival Featurettes (SD, 78 min) — Once again, this section brings together various supplements from past home video releases, such as the original making-of piece with cast & crew interviews and lots of BTS footage on the visual effects. This is followed by a brief overview on the dinosaurs featured in the movie and another slightly longer look at the same creatures and the special effects used to bring them to life by touring Stan Winston's workshop. The remaining featurettes focus on the film's sound effects, a look at the storyboard artwork of Ed Verreaux and finally, we spend a few minutes digging up dinosaurs with renowned paleontologist Jack Horner.
Behind the Scenes (SD, 29 min) — The next assortment of short featurettes has viewers tour Stan Winston's studios, followed by three segments of the animatronics at work on the set and compared to the finished product. The visit to ILM studios shows the process of creating CGI creatures with specific lifelike details and making it all work with the live action sequences. Another piece allows fans a 360-degree view of the dinosaurs featured in the film. Storyboard comparison and a still gallery complete this section.
Trailer (SD) — Also included is the original theatrical preview of the movie.

Winnie the Pooh (Three-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 69 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Highly recommended

Genres: Animation, family, adventure
Starring: Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Peter Cullen and John Cleese
Director: Don Hall, Stephen J.Anderson

Plot Synopsis: Author A.A. Milne's beloved bear, Winnie the Pooh, joins forces with his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood to help two of their own in Disney's hand-drawn charmer. Though he describes himself as a "bear of very little brain," Pooh (Jim Cummings) proves he's all heart when sad-sack Eeyore's tail goes missing and a terrible creature called the "Backson" abducts Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter), their human protector (the schoolboy actually leaves a note saying he will be "back soon"). Granted, our hero spends the entire journey dreaming about glorious pots of "hunny," but when push comes to shove, he prioritizes his pals over his tummy, which rumbles and expands as his hunger pangs increase. Wisely, co-directors Don Hall and Stephen J. Anderson avoid the distraction of instantly recognizable actors in favor of animation veterans, like Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants), who voices the resourceful Rabbit. While Sebastian Cabot narrated the Winnie featurettes of yore, comedian John Cleese, who sometimes speaks directly to Pooh, ably steps into his shoes, and talk-show host Craig Ferguson also makes a mark as the know-it-all Owl. At 68 minutes, not including short film "The Ballad of Nessie," this John Lasseter-produced feature should captivate most young viewers, even those accustomed to faster-paced, computer-animated features, like Lasseter's directorial efforts for Pixar. Musician M. Ward and singer/actress Zooey Deschanel of the band She & Him add to the old-fashioned charm with their retro-sounding songs. And be sure to stay through the closing credits for the funny surprise at the end.

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

"Paranormal 3" Breaks Records At Weekend Box Office Oct.21 - Oct.23

2011-10-30T13:13:00.000+08:00

          Last weekend, horror movie "Paranormal Activity 3" jolted awake a sleepy movie box office with an estimated $80 million in global ticket sales over the weekend.
          The third installment of the low-budget haunted house movies topped domestic charts with $54 million from U.S. and Canadian theaters, the highest-grossing domestic debut for a horror film and a record for an October release.
          The movie added $26 million from international markets over the weekend, distributor Paramount Pictures said on Sunday.
          Like the first two films in the series, "Paranormal 3" was released just before Halloween and produced on a budget tiny by Hollywood standards. The latest movie, the most expensive of the trio, cost $5 million to make.
          The film opened with after-midnight showings on Thursday night and easily beat the studio's forecast for a domestic debut of around $35 million. The movie is a prequel about two young sisters and their creepy encounters with an invisible presence in their home, all recorded by surveillance cameras.
A largely positive response from critics helped bring in an older-than-25 crowd in addition to the teenagers and young adults who usually flock to horror flicks, said Don Harris, Paramount's president of domestic distribution.
          "This is the best of the series. It was well-reviewed," Harris said, adding that "people like to be scared in a Hitchcock-ian way. This isn't a bloody franchise."
           The film's strong performance boosted a sluggish box office that has limped along sharply below last year for several weekends this fall following a record summer. This weekend's top 12 films grossed 45 percent more than last weekend's, although 6 percent less than the same weekend a year ago, according to figures from Hollywood.com Box Office.
           Robot boxing movie "Real Steel," the domestic box-office champ the past two weekends, slipped to second place with $11.3 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters. The film, starring Hugh Jackman as a father who bonds with his son as they restore a battle-ready robot, has earned $153.3 million globally through its first three weekends of release.
          A remake of 1980s dance classic "Footloose" finished third on the domestic charts with $10.9 million, dropping just 30 percent from its debut weekend and earning a total of $30.9 million to date.
'MUSKETEERS' STRUGGLE
          New release "The Three Musketeers," a 3D action version of the classic novel about a sword-fighting trio, finished in fourth place with a weaker-than-expected $8.8 million. Critics were not enthused with the film, with just 28 percent giving a positive review on movie website Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences polled by survey firm CinemaScore gave the film a B rating on average.
          Overseas, the movie has grossed $64.4 million for a combined global total standing at $73.2 million.
Comedy "Johnny English Reborn" debuted in the North American market at eighth place with a dismal $3.8 million. But the film starring British "Mr. Bean" actor Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling secret agent has already chalked up success overseas, pulling in $104.5 million in international markets since its release five weeks ago.
Fifth place domestically went to George Clooney's political thriller "The Ides of March," which brought in $4.9 million during its third weekend of release. Clooney has directed, co-written and co-starred in the film about a primary fight between two presidential candidates.
            Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc, released "Paranormal Activity 3" and "Footloose." Summit Entertainment distributed "The Three Musketeers." Walt Disney Co released "Real Steel," which was produced by DreamWorks. "Johnny English Reborn" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp, and Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures released "The Ides of March." [source from: www.reuters.com]

#	Title	Oct 21 - 23	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Paranormal Activity 3	$ 52,568,183	1	$ 52,568,183	Paramount
2	Real Steel	10,824,512	3	66,732,152	Disney
3	Footloose	10,351,207	2	30,364,238	Paramount
4	The Three Musketeers	8,674,452	1	8,674,452	Summit
5	The Ides of March	4,853,051	3	29,112,377	Sony
6	Dolphin Tale	4,217,260	5	64,407,935	Warner Bros.
7	Moneyball	3,981,852	5	63,640,746	Sony
8	Johnny English Reborn	3,833,300	1	3,833,300	Universal
9	The Thing	3,069,875	2	14,049,220	Universal
10	50/50	2,835,208	4	28,820,748	Summit

11	Courageous	2,494,020	4	24,975,186	Sony
12	The Big Year	1,681,040	2	6,000,418	Fox
13	The Lion King 3D	1,254,237	6	92,608,537	Disney
14	Dream House	1,132,170	4	20,179,850	Universal
15	The Mighty Macs	963,221	1	963,221	Quaker Media
16	Contagion	853,062	7	73,474,354	Warner Bros.
17	The Help	713,429	11	166,190,265	Disney
18	Drive	608,534	6	33,188,983	FilmDistrict
19	Abduction	581,021	5	26,792,620	Lionsgate
20	Margin Call	561,904	1	561,904	Roadside Attr.

Blu-ray 18th October Release

2011-10-23T14:36:00.002+08:00

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Two-Disc Blu-ray / DVD Combo in Blu-ray Packaging)

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 136 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: October 18, 2011

Strongly recommended

Genres: Action, adventure, pirates
Starring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Ian McShane and Geoffrey Rush
Director: Rob Marshall

Plot Synopsis: From Disney and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer comes all the fun, epic adventure and humor that ignited the original. Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. A tale of truth, betrayal, youth, demise - and mermaids! When Jack crosses paths with a woman from his past (Penelope Cruz), he's not sure if it's love, or if she's a ruthless con artist using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth. Forced aboard the ship of the most feared pirate ever, Jack doesn't know who to fear more -Blackbeard (Ian McShane) or the woman from his past. Directed by Rob Marshall, it's filled with eye-popping battle scenes, mystery and all-out wit.

Bad Teacher (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Sony / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: October 18, 2011

Genres: Comedy
Starring: Jason Segel, Cameron Diaz , Justin Timberlake
Director: Jake Kasdan

Plot Synopsis: As any kid who's ever forcibly shot milk through their nasal passages can testify, the key to a great gross joke isn't so much the content as it is the delivery. The proudly crass Bad Teacher certainly has great big gobs of greasy, grimy potential, chief among them its central performance by an exceedingly game Cameron Diaz, but it occasionally fails to nail the dismount. This film from director Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) is exactly what the title says: after getting dumped by her rich boyfriend, a lying, cheating, and perpetually boozing middle-school teacher (Diaz) hatches a scheme to con her school out of enough money to pay for cosmetic surgery, while squaring off against the aggressively cheerful teacher across the hall (a very funny Lucy Punch). Lessons are not learned, thankfully. Although the title and attitude recall the effortlessly filthy Bad Santa, Bad Teacher feels more like a spiritual sequel to Diaz's earlier Sweetest Thing, a women-can-be-gross-too comedy that spent more time congratulating itself on how far it was willing to go instead of actually going there. While Bad Teacher certainly has its number of belly laughs and worthy outrages (particularly during a hilariously awkward love scene between Diaz and a nerded-up Justin Timberlake), it's hard not to end up with a general feeling of missed opportunities. Too often, it toes the bad-taste line, when it should be jumping over it with a rocket cycle.

Disc Features:

Bad Teacher PS3 Wallpaper/Theme
JAMS Yearbook- Hidden Moments
Boner
The Bachelor
Extended Russell Rejection
Way Behind The Scenes with Jason and Justin
Raising More Than Funds
A Very Odd Blacksmith Story
Swimming With The Dolphins
Good Teacher

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Real Steel Unbeateable For 2nd Week At The Box Office Oct.14 - Oct.16

2011-10-23T14:02:00.002+08:00

         Last weekend, the worldwide protests against remakes came out in full force this weekend as the robot boxers of Real Steel squeaked out a victory over the 80s remakes of Footloose and The Thing, while the weekend's other new release The Big Year crashed and burned. Overall the box office dropped nearly 34% from last year.
          Holding on for a second straight weekend at the top of the charts was the Hugh Jackman robot boxing family drama Real Steel which fell a respectable 40% from last weekend to $16.3M, according to final studio figures, bringing its total to $51.7M. With two more weeks before Puss in Boots comes gunning for the family audience, a final in the $90-100M range is likely, with that century mark a definite possibility.
        The heavily hyped remake Footloose landed in second place this weekend with $15.6M from 3,549 dance halls, for a per screen average of a so-so $4,383. The film opened at number one on Friday, but lost steam as the weekend went along and families came out to see Real Steel, which was on top on Saturday and Sunday. With a CinemaScore of an astounding A, it seems the people who actually went out to see Footloose really liked it, but getting past the stigma of remaking a beloved 80s classic was apparently a bit too much to overcome for Paramount.
          Another 80s remake landed with a thud in third place as Universal's horror flick The Thing grossed $8.5M from 2,996 screens, for a per screen average of a very sad $2,835. Other horror remakes have done reasonably well with tremendously front-loaded opening weekends before falling apart (Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street to name a couple) but it seems the name recognition of The Thing didn't have quite the cachet of the others. With a CinemaScore of a B-, expect The Thing to see quick trip to DVD.
         Holdovers took the next five spots on the charts, each falling less than 33% from last weekend. Fourth place belonged to George Clooney with his political thriller The Ides of March which dropped a slim 32% in its second weekend to $7.1M, bringing its cume to $21.8M. A final in the $50M range seems likely unless it manages to pick up a bunch of year-end awards, at which point the idea of a re-release (or re-expansion) seems likely to happen which could push its total higher. Fifth place went to the dolphin tale Dolphin Tale, which took in $6.2M bringing its total to $58.6M. And the film it's been running neck and neck with since their openings last month came in close behind in sixth as Moneyball took in $5.5M seeing its total rise to $57.7M
          Two tales of courage took seventh and eighth this weekend. The cancer dramedy 50/50 had the lowest drop in the top ten, falling only 25% to $4.3M, bringing its cume to $24.3M. And the religious-themed Courageous held on well in its third weekend, falling 32% to $3.3M, bringing its total to $21.3M for distributor Sony.
          We had to take out a pair of binoculars to see the Steve Martin/Owen Wilson/Jack Black comedy The Big Year on the charts, but there it is, tucked into ninth place this weekend with $3.3M from 2,150 screens, for a dismal per screen average of $1,513. With a CinemaScore of a B- this is another film that won't last very long in theaters. Apparently it's not just sequels and remakes that people are protesting against.
          Rounding out the top ten was the animated mega-hit The Lion King which roared its way to $2.8M in the fifth weekend of its two-week limited release. Its total for the re-release is $90.5M with its overall total now at $419.1M, putting it at number nine on the all-time blockbuster list, just ahead of Disney stablemate Toy Story 3 ($415M in 2010) and just behind yet another Disney film, 2006's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($423.3M).
         Outside of the top ten, Sony Picture Classics had a limited release for the Pedro Almodovar thriller The Skin I Live In starring Antonio Banderas. Released on only 6 screens, the film grossed $223,119 for a scorching per screen average of $37,187.

#	Title	Oct 14 - 16	Weeks	Cumulative	Distributor

1	Real Steel	$ 16,291,655	2	$ 51,731,456	Disney
2	Footloose	15,556,113	1	15,556,113	Paramount
3	The Thing	8,493,665	1	8,493,665	Universal
4	The Ides of March	7,108,846	2	21,763,235	Sony
5	Dolphin Tale	6,233,185	4	58,560,166	Warner Bros.
6	Moneyball	5,456,730	4	57,668,988	Sony
7	50/50	4,260,087	3	24,279,152	Summit
8	Courageous	3,305,238	3	21,282,828	Sony
9	The Big Year	3,251,884	1	3,251,884	Fox
10	The Lion King 3D	2,792,403	5	90,536,318	Disney

11	Dream House	2,465,220	3	18,384,590	Universal
12	Contagion	1,811,190	6	71,999,503	Warner Bros.
13	Abduction	1,427,194	4	25,778,685	Lionsgate
14	The Help	1,187,684	10	164,905,972	Disney
15	What's Your Number?	1,145,159	3	12,950,926	Fox
16	Drive	1,116,149	5	32,113,455	FilmDistrict
17	Killer Elite	1,031,220	4	23,763,724	Open Road
18	The Smurfs	440,526	12	140,037,807	Sony
19	Harry Potter / Deathly Hallows Part 2	284,548	14	380,235,400	Warner Bros.
20	Kevin Hart: Laugh At My Pain	272,941	6	7,362,836	Code Black

Blu-ray 11th October Release

2011-10-23T13:55:00.000+08:00

Green Lantern (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 120 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: October 14, 2011

Genres: Action, sci-fi, comic-based
Starring: Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston
Director: Seth Gordon

Plot Synopsis: In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, an elite force of protectors for peace and justice has existed for centuries. They are the Green Lantern Corps. When a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of the Corps' newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds). Bringing the popular superhero to the big screen for the first time, Green Lantern also stars Blake Lively (Gossip Girl), Peter Sarsgaard (Orphan), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Academy Award® nominee Angela Bassett* and Academy Award® winner Tim Robbins**.
Disc Features:
- Theatrical Feature & Extended Cut Films
- Maximum Movie Mode with PiP
- Ryan Reynolds Becomes Green Lantern
- Universe According to Green Lantern
- WBA Green Lantern Animated Series Promotion
- Digital Enhanced new Justice League book #1
- Deleted Scenes

Horrible Bosses (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + UltraViolet Digital Copy)

New Line Cinema / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: October 11, 2011

Recommended

Genres: Comedy
Starring: Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston
Director: Seth Gordon

Plot Synopsis: For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few too many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con, the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers...permanently. There’s only one problem: even the best-laid plans are only as foolproof as the brains behind them.

Disc Features:
Now includes Instant Streaming with UltraViolet Digital Copy
Extended Cut Feature Film with 8 minutes of all new hilarious moments not seen in theatres
Theatrical Cut Feature Film
My Least Favorite Career
Surviving A Horrible Boss
Being Mean Is So Much Fun
Deleted Scenes
Making of the Horrible Bosses soundtrack

Zookeeper (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

Sony / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: October 11, 2011

Genres: Comedy, family
Starring: Kevin James, Rosario Dawson, Adam Sandler
Director:

Plot Synopsis: Picture talking animals giving mating advice to a zookeeper who's an absolute loser with women, add a hefty dose of slapstick humor, and you've pretty much summed up Zookeeper. Griffin is a disaster with the ladies, as was proved by his failed marriage proposal to the self-absorbed Stephanie several years ago, but he's really good with animals. The animals have listened to Griffin pine over Stephanie for years, so when they overhear Stephanie saying that perhaps her rejection of Griffin was too hasty, they take action. They decide to help Griffin rekindle the relationship and become the alpha male that Stephanie wants him to be. The animals are masters at mating, but their plan to show Griffin how to act quickly breaks down and they inadvertently begin talking out loud to him. After his initial shock, Griffin starts to take the animals' advice seriously--from how to walk and roar to the extreme of marking his territory. Surprisingly, the animals' advice really works and Griffin is about to get everything he's ever dreamed of--or is he? There's plenty of star power in this film--from Kevin James as Griffin, to the voice talents of Sylvester Stallone as Joe the lion and Cher as his lioness, Adam Sandler as Donald the monkey, and Nick Nolte as Bernie the gorilla--but somehow they're all somewhat underwhelming. This film has more than its share of cheap laughs, often at the expense of some part of Griffin's body, and some viewers will find that just right for a night's entertainment. Those looking for a moral to the story will discover that it's wise to be careful what you wish for and that what you think you want may not be anything like what you really need. Zookeeper isn't a great film destined for repeated watchings, but it's not meant to be--it's a comedy that will make you laugh a bit today and forget it the second you leave the theater.

Disc Features:

Laughing is Contagious (HD, 6 min)
Bernie the Gorilla (HD, 7 min)

The Furry Co-Stars (HD, 6 min)
Creating the Visual Effects (HD, 9 min)
Trailers (HD)

Other releases/ Back catalog releases:

Scream Videoⓒ

Blu-ray 3rd January Release

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Thriller, drama Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law

Disc Features:

Sony / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: January 03, 2012

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Action, shark Starring: Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan Plot Synopsis: A weekend at a lake house in the louisiana gulf turns into a nightmare for seven vacationers as they are subjected to shark attacks.

Disc Features:

Sony / 2011 / 546 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: January 03, 2012

Ghost Protocol Closing The Curtain of 2011 For Box-Office Dec.30 - Jan.1

Blu-ray 27th December Release

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: December 27, 2011

Disc Features:

Starz/Anchor Bay / 2011 / 88 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: December 27, 2011

Paramount / 2011 / 467 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: December 27, 2011

Genres: Drama, History Starring: Jeremy Irons

M.I: Ghost Protocol Is The Christmas Weekend Choice For Box-Office Dec.23 - Dec.25

Blu-ray 20th December Release

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated PG Street Date: December 20, 2011

Disc Features:

Sony / 2011 / 111 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: December 20, 2011

Disc Features:

Lionsgate / 2011 / 107 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Drama Starring: Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany Director: J.C.Chandor Plot Synopsis: A thriller that revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Sony / 2011 / 110 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: December 20, 2011

Disc Features:

Sherlock Holmes 2 Settling The Score Before X'Mas For Box-Office Dec.16 - Dec.18

Blu-ray 13th December Release

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: December 13, 2011

Disc Features:

DreamWorks / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG Street Date: December 13, 2011

Overall Grade Strongly recommended

Disc Features:

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: December 13, 2011

Disc Features:

New Year's Eve It's The Surprise Hit For Box-Office Dec.9 - Dec.11

Blu-ray 6th December Release

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Comedy Starring: Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis Director: Todd Philips

Disc Features:

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 146 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Drama Starring: Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard Director: Tate Taylor

Disc Features:

Universal / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: December 06, 2011

Overall Grade Recommended

Genres: Action, adventure, sci-fi, western Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Abigail Spencer Director: Jon Favreu

Disc Features:

Breaking Dawn Breaking 3rd Week As Box Office Champ Dec.2 - Dec.4

Blu-ray 29th November Release

Sony / 2011 / Rated G Street Date: November 29, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 109 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: November 29, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 108 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: November 29, 2011

Thanksgiving Weekend Still Belongs To Twilight Saga for Box Office Nov.25 - Nov.27

Blu-ray 22nd November Release

Paramount / 2011 / 112 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: November 22, 2011

Lionsgate / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: November 22, 2011

Anchor Bay/Weinstein / 2011 / Rated PG Street Date: November 22, 2011

Twilight's Wedding of The Year Scores Box Office Nov.18 - Nov.20

Blu-ray 15th November Release

Universal / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: November 15, 2011

20th Century Fox / 1961 / 152 Minutes / Unrated Street Date: November 15, 2011

The Immortals Champs Box Office Nov.11 - Nov.13

Blu-ray 8th & 11th November Release

Warner Brothers / 2010 / 130 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: November 11, 2011

Universal / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: November 08, 2011

Puss In Boots 2nd Week Box Office Domination Nov.4 - Nov.6

Blu-ray 1st November Release

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated G Street Date: November 01, 2011

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 120 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: November 01, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: November 01, 2011

Puss In Boots Conquer Worldwide Box Office Oct.28 - Oct.30

Blu-ray 25th October Release

Paramount / 2011 / 125 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: October 25, 2011

Universal Studios / 1993 / 348 Minutes / Rated PG-13 Street Date: October 25, 2011

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 69 Minutes / Rated G Street Date: October 25, 2011

"Paranormal 3" Breaks Records At Weekend Box Office Oct.21 - Oct.23

Blu-ray 18th October Release

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 136 Minutes / Rated PG Street Date: October 18, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R Street Date: October 18, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Thriller, drama
Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslet, Jude Law

Sony / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: January 03, 2012

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Genres: Action, shark

Starring: Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan

Plot Synopsis: A weekend at a lake house in the louisiana gulf turns into a nightmare for seven vacationers as they are subjected to shark attacks.

Sony / 2011 / 546 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: January 03, 2012

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Starz/Anchor Bay / 2011 / 88 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Paramount / 2011 / 467 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: December 27, 2011

Genres: Drama, History
Starring: Jeremy Irons

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 111 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Lionsgate / 2011 / 107 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 20, 2011

Genres: Drama

Starring: Kevin Spacey and Paul Bettany
Director: J.C.Chandor

Plot Synopsis: A thriller that revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Sony / 2011 / 110 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 20, 2011

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 105 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 13, 2011

DreamWorks / 2011 / 91 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: December 13, 2011

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 13, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Comedy
Starring: Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis
Director: Todd Philips

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 146 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Drama
Starring: Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard
Director: Tate Taylor

Universal / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: December 06, 2011

Genres: Action, adventure, sci-fi, western
Starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Abigail Spencer
Director: Jon Favreu

Sony / 2011 / Rated G
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 109 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 108 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 29, 2011

Paramount / 2011 / 112 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Lionsgate / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Anchor Bay/Weinstein / 2011 / Rated PG
Street Date: November 22, 2011

Universal / 2011 / 99 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 15, 2011

20th Century Fox / 1961 / 152 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: November 15, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2010 / 130 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 11, 2011

Universal / 2011 / 113 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: November 08, 2011

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: November 01, 2011

20th Century Fox / 2011 / 120 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 01, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 118 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: November 01, 2011

Paramount / 2011 / 125 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Universal Studios / 1993 / 348 Minutes / Rated PG-13
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 69 Minutes / Rated G
Street Date: October 25, 2011

Disney/Buena Vista / 2011 / 136 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: October 18, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 92 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: October 18, 2011

Warner Brothers / 2011 / 120 Minutes / Unrated
Street Date: October 14, 2011

New Line Cinema / 2011 / 106 Minutes / Rated R
Street Date: October 11, 2011

Sony / 2011 / 102 Minutes / Rated PG
Street Date: October 11, 2011