The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Heavily promoted to emphasize its artistic connection to The Matrix, tracking suggested a buoyant domestic opening between $25 million and $30 million for V for Vendetta that proved accurate.

“The picture had even better exit polls than the first Matrix,” noted producer Joel Silver. “We were also surprised to see that the audience was on average pretty much split between those older and younger than 25 years old. Those are both good signs that it will continue to play well.”
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Domestic Market Share

3-Day Estimates	Weekend	% Change	Cume
V For Vendetta	24.7	-	24.7
Failure to Launch	15.6	-36%	48.3
The Shaggy Dog	13.5	-17%	35.8
She's the Man	10.9	-	10.9
The Hills Have Eyes	7.5	-52%	28.2
16 Blocks	4.6	-38%	30.1
Eight Below	4.2	-25%	73.1
Madea's Family Vacation	3.0	-49%	60.1
The Pink Panther	2.5	-30%	78.6
Aquamarine	2.0	-48%	15.7

Digital Dretzka
ShoWest Wraps It Up
by Gary Dretzka

ShoWest 2006 threw itself a wrap party Thursday night, but not before Warner Bros. availed itself of the opportunity to brag on its upcoming slate of “event” movies. The company, which once was known for sponsoring the most star-studded of all ShoWest banquets, has been a no-show for the last few years. Instead, the “new” MGM – a company with more lives than a pride of big cats – paid for the luncheon, while WB honcho Alan Horn chipped in for dessert. It arrived in the form of extended clips from Poseidon, Superman Returns, Lady in the Water and Happy Feet.
A Prairie Home Companion Preview
Skip The Butter, Add The Floss
Cars Hits The ShoWest Track In Gary Dretzka's New MCN Blog, Digital Dretzka
ShoWest & The Ghost Of Cinema Future

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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Ryan's Daughter
by Doug Pratt

Imagine the ‘straight A' student who receives, deservedly, a ‘B' on his term project and you will capture the quandary surrounding David Lean's 1970 mega-feature, Ryan's Daughter, which has been released as a fine Two-Disc Special Edition by Warner Home Video (65170, $27). Lean himself was devastated, as any over-achiever would be, by the reception that greeted the feature, and apparently went into a filmmaking funk that lasted more than a decade. Those who were jealous of his previous successes decried the film as an utter failure, though of course it is not, it just isn't quite as good as his other movies.

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Pride, Unprejudiced
by Ray Pride

Two long interviews in this column: writer-director Gavin Hood talks about his Oscar-winning South African Tsotsi, and Eugene Jarecki talks about Why We Fight and its analysis of war, money and belief in the U.S. as well as his forceful reaction to a rancorous review by the New Yorker's David Denby.

The idea for the film began with Jarecki's first encounter with President Eisenhower's 1961 farewell address to the nation, in which he coined the phrase "the military-industrial complex," warning of the potential of its gathering power to bulldoze democracy.

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The Hot Button
Reverse Overanalysis
by David Poland

Reverse Overanalysis is the process of attempting to discover the technical principles of the film world through analysis of the structure, function and operation of certain occurrences in the film business. In Reverse Engineering, this analysis is usually done with the intention to construct a new device or program that does the same thing without actually copying anything from the original. In R.O., it is usually done with the intention of explaining something irritating and to offer a construction that will be less irritating, even exhilarating.
Part I
Part II
Part III

Gross Behavior
The ShoWest Must Go On ..
by Leonard Klady

Last year, NATO's John Fithian attempted to make lemonade from the fact that frequent film goers - people that went to the multiplex at least once a month - were going even more often. He also made mention that respondents in their poll that characterized themselves as "nevers" or "rarelys" were also on the rise. While the media generally bit hard on his spin, exhibitors were distressed that their audience was shrinking in numbers and there was a potential manifest destiny that favored younger viewers and that was alienating older customers.

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MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Walk The Line

June Carter and Johnny Cash led a far more complicated life than James Mangold's biopic would lead casual fans to believe, and their next 30 years together would supply more than enough material for a sequel … More >

MCN Review by David Poland: It is a movie about a princess and a prince, both of whom were also frogs and who could only become King and Queen by kissing one another.

MCN Review by Ray Pride: Cash poises his finger over the teeth of the blade of a table saw, a life on a string, soon to draw taut.

Plus: Ballykissangel, Bleak House, Dog Day Afternoon, Domino, Drew Carey Show, The Ice Harvest, Howl's Moving Castle, Jarhead, Lady & The Tramp, The Memory of a Killer, Network, Police Woman, Pornography: The Secret History of Civilization, Pride and Prejudice, Prime, , Where the Truth Lies, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 11:16 am

In"American animated features, the characters chatter incessantly, as if they're trying to use up their last 500 minutes from Verizon."

Napolean Dynamite's Jon Heder, Not Exactly Your Typical Hollywood Up-And-Comer

Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Mask .. Please

Following In the Footsteps Of Penguins

Scott Bowles Offers ShoWest Highlights

Easy Rider, The Not So Easy Sequel

Of Tom Cruise, South Park, Scientology And That Pesky First Amendment

John Patterson's Latest Rant: Heist Movies

The Woz Looks At Oscar 2007 - The Big Pictures

Ben Stein's Own Little Theories About Hollywood And The Oscars
"Stop spitting in the face of Americans and maybe we will go to the movies."

The Sell Off Of The Dreamworks Library Is (Close To) Done

The French Still Love Jerry Lewis, And The Legion Of Honour Proves It

Growing Up With Winona Ryder
"After kooky, gravitas is difficult and sophistication is nearly impossible."

More Tribeca Titles

Universal Stays The Course... Pretty Much
Shmuger & Linde Take The Reins

Star Wars: The Live Action TV Series

Auctioning Off George Clooney's Very Own Personal Oscar Gift Bag

Nudity As Art? More Like Proving "I Was Hot"

Talking With John Hurt, About V For Vendetta Second & Shooting Dogs, Still Without US Distribution First

"If any further proof of America’s obesity crisis were needed, representatives of seat manufacturers confirmed that the width of the average movie theater chair has expanded from around 18-20 inches, to 22-24 inches"

The FCC Fines CBS $3.6 Million For PG Sex At 10P EST... Oy!

Jack Black Marries A High School Pal

Nikki Finke Gets Bernie Brillstein On The Record Clarifying That The NYT Pellicano/Grey Story Was Old, Boring News And That Putting Linda Doucette Into The Center Of Things Was A Joke (The Only Significant Thing About The Story Was That The NYT Named Grey In Reference To Pellicano Instead Of Avoiding It)... But Still Nikki Can't Stop Yammering About Her Favorite "Important" Story Since The Gay Mafia

Richard Corliss Looks At This Week's Idea Of The Future Of Cinema Through The Eyes Of Six Directors Who, For Corliss, Represent All Directors
And Selling That Digital Future At SXSW

"How ironic that people on the right are angry about V for Vendetta when they are, in general, the same people who might argue that America should use its might to keep the world safe from, say, communism, or these days, angry Middle Easterners on the political fringe."

Lincoln Mercury Follows In The Footsteps Of BMW, VW, And Ford With Online Shorts As An Eyeball Draw

Horn Reports Last Year's News Out Of This Year's ShoWest

Tribeca Announces Its Competition Titles, Featuring Color Me Kubrick's US Premiere And The Hope That The Third Jake Kasden Movie Will Be As Good As His First

Dave White Has A List Of Ten Talented Names You Should Know (If You Are Reading This, You Likely Do Know) And Why You Should Know Them

MGM Studio City: The Korean Theme Park

Bald And Beautiful Natalie Portman

The Winners At SXSW

Corliss Talks To George Lucas On Indy 4, Digital Cinema And Why Big Screens Are Better

Ralph Fiennes' Conscience In The Land Of The Blind

Li'l Ol' Peter Bart Answers Some Li'l Ol' Questions From Li'l Ol' SXSW

The Genies Spell C.R.A.Z.Y.

Empire's Best Picture Of The Year Award Goes To King Kong
"It doesn't say Brokeback Mountain. It says Best Film King Kong. You've given it to us. What insanity is this?"

The Launch Of HD-DVDs Allegedly Pushed Back Due To Technical Difficulties

If It's John Travolta, Jennifer Lopez, Luke Wilson And Shirley MacLaine It Must Be Dallas: The Motion Picture

Sharon Stone's Baser Instincts
"I wanted a lot of sex in the sequel, and I wanted more nudity. I was coming from a really kinky place."

Looking Back At Ingrid Bergman

At 82 Bettie Page Is More Famous Now Than Ever

Trailer du Jour
Jeff Bridges' The Amateurs

Richard Corliss Dives Into The Film Vs. Digital Debate

Cate Blanchett Will Revisit Elizabeth 15 Years Later

The Hells Angels Call Disney Out

Maureen Stapleton Passes On At 80
"I've been asked repeatedly what the 'key' to acting is, and as far as I'm concerned, the main thing is to keep the audience awake."

The Grey-Pellicano-Shandling Connection
And - Nikki Finke Blogs It

Sharon Waxman Continues Rumor Of Shmuger To Universal's Big Chair, Likely With A Partner
Munoz/Eller Says Linde/Shmuger

Roger Ebert Remembers Cat People

And When Will They Start Looking Hard At Pixar/Disney?
The Paper Of Record Catches Up With New Media On The Paranoiamount Deal
December 12, 2005 - "Paramount is not buying DreamWorks. They are renting the cachet of Steven Spielberg & David Geffen for a few years."