Gross Behavior
Admission Slips ..
by Leonard Klady

Just as movies in the age of television offers a manifestly sharp contrast in eras without that particular box, the fact that one has considerable revenue potential from such areas as DVD and Pay-cable exploitation alters the perspective of movies released prior to those elements. And it's not simply new technologies that alter the landscape. The manner in which films are released and advertised has undergone significant change that makes side-by-side comparisons of current releases with films that opened in 1989 or 1995 of limited value.

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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

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

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.

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: 2:31 pm

Maybe They'd Sell More Tickets If They Renamed It "Hate Story"
Perhaps The Most Successful Dogma95 Film, Festen (aka The Celebration) To Hit Broadway... But All Anyone Seems To Want To Talk About Is Ali "Sexy At 67" McGraw

South Park Apparently Will Return Fire Against Alleged Scientology-Driven Censorship

The Chicago 10
Marty Richards Says He Had It Coming... Sues The Weinsteins/Miramax/Disney For $10 Million

Sharon Stone, 14 Years Later

Cinema Scope 26: David Bordwell And Something Worthy Of The Art We Love

The Cannes Schedule Is Starting To Take Form

They Aren't Sure How Much Chicago Has Made, But They're Pretty Sure Miramax Owes Them $10 Million Of It

Ebert's Overlooked Lineup For 2006

"It may not be a Gibson-level, dead-language epic smash, but never underestimate the entertainment value of an undersexed priest."

Trailer du Jour
New From The Da Vinci Code

Ross Johnson Looks At Pellicano's Strategy & Argument

"The movie business is a little like the drug business. We are the pushers, and our customers are the users. Even if business is good, you have to keep giving people what they want."

Michael Wilmington On The 35 Year History Between Robert Towne And Ask The Dust

One Editor Finds The Teen Movie Blue Velvet Could Have Been
And - The Relationship Movie Vin Diesel And Paul Walker Could Have Had
And - The Mountain Ledger, Gyllenhaal And Mel Gibson Could Have Climbed

The Spring Movie Preview

The Sometimes Scary, But Always Interesting Tommy Lee Jones
"He can talk with equal ease and authority about how to rope a steer or to decode an arcane religious allegory."

The Big Three - Lee, Foster And Washington

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