No Xmas Cheer: ‘We Bought A Zoo’ Opens Weak Friday; ‘Mission: Impossible’ Still #1

By NIKKI FINKE | Saturday December 24, 2011 @ 1:01am ESTTags: Christmas movie box office, holiday box office, Mission: Impissible 4, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, We Bought a Zoo

Box Office Brawl: Warner Bros Demands Recount From Rivals Paramount & Sony

FRIDAY PM, 2ND UPDATE: My sources are giving me these estimated numbers for the North American box office for today and the Christmas weekend. The latest news is that Fox is suffering another disappointing debut: We Bought A Zoo opened very weak despite heavy TV advertising and two rounds of national sneaks to build word of mouth. You’d think all those animals would have put people in seats. Sure looks as if the Grinch stole Hollywood’s moviegoers overall this weekend. But remember, Christmas Eve always is one of the softest days for filmgoing in the U.S. and Canada, and many international theaters particularly in Europe close early Christmas Eve and on Christmas. Plus, Monday is a U.S. national holiday. “We are basing the ups and downs on 2005 where Xmas fell on a Sunday. So it is still kind of a crap shoot but these are where we think things will shake out,” one exec told me about his studio’s projections. Because of the mid-week openings and expansions, there has been little clarity on whether the entire holiday will bring out moviegoers but Hollywood is wincing at the very real possibility it won’t based on the weakness of the past days’ box office. It should be noted that the following weekend’s grosses containing New Year’s will actually be higher than this weekend’s and lead to much better multiples and totals than usual. Refined numbers and full analysis to come:

Latest Top 10 (order determined by Friday’s gross)

1. Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Paramount) Week 2 [3,448 Theaters]
Debuted Friday December 16 in limited release; Expanded Tuesday night December 20; Officially went wide Wednesday December 21
Tuesday $1.7M, Wednesday $8.9M (including $2M midnights), Thursday $6.2M, Friday $9.5M
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $20.1M, Estimated 4-day Holiday $37.5M
Estimated Domestic Cume $61.5M, Estimated International Cume $105M

2. Sherlock Holmes: Game Of Shadows (Warner Bros) Week 2 [3,703 Theaters]
Opened wide Friday December 16
Wednesday $4.2M, Thursday $4.8M, Friday $6.5M
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $16.6M (-58%), Estimated 4-Day Holiday $26.7M
Estimated Domestic Cume $83.6M, Estimated International Cume $27.1M

3. Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (Fox) Week 1 [3,726 Theaters]
Opened wide Friday December 16
Wednesday $3.5M, Thursday $3.9M, Friday $5.4M
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $12.2M (-47%), Estimated 4-Day Holiday $21.6M
Estimated Domestic Cume $57.1M

4. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Sony) NEW [2,914 Theaters]
Debuted Tuesday night December 20; Opened Wednesday December 21
Tuesday $1.6M, Wednesday $5M, Thursday $3.1M, Friday $4.6M
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $12.3M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $19.2M
Estimated Domestic Cume $26.9M, Estimated International Cume $950K

5. The Adventures Of Tintin (Paramount) NEW [3,087 Theaters]
Opened Wednesday December 21
Wednesday $2.3M, Thursday $2.4M, Friday $3.7M
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $9.3M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $14.5M
Estimated Domestic Cume $24M, Estimated International Cume (Sony) $241M

6. We Bought A Zoo (Fox) NEW [3,117 Theaters]
Friday $3M,
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $7.9M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $12.3M

7. New Year’s Eve (Warner Bros) Week 3 [2,585 Theaters]
Friday $1.1M,
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $3.1M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $4.7M, Cume $34.1M

8. Arthur Christmas (Sony) Week 5 [1,804 Theaters]
Friday $1M,
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $2.5M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $4.2M
Estimated Cume $45.7M

9. The Muppets (Disney) Week 5 [1,859 Theaters]
Friday $983K,
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $2.3M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $3.8M
Estimated Cume $77.4M

10) Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 (Summit) Week 6 [1,603 Theaters]
Friday $639K,
Estimated 3-Day Weekend $1.5M, Estimated 4-Day Holiday $2.3M
Estimated Cume $271.1M

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Baz Luhrmann Injured On ‘The Great Gatsby’

By NIKKI FINKE | Saturday December 24, 2011 @ 12:09am ESTTags: Baz Luhrmann, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby

This week Warner Bros released the first official stills for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby. Now Australian news reports say an on-set injury to the filmmaker forced an early end to this year’s shooting of the pic due in theaters next Christmas. The director cracked his head on a camera crane, as detailed by co-producer Anton Monsted to the Sydney Morning Herald: ”We were on quite a cramped set and he was ducking under the crane. He struck his head on the weights on the end of the camera crane. He split open his head and we had to get the doctor.” Producers decided to stop filming and allow the cast and crew to get home for Christmas a day earlier than planned. Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire, et al will return for additional shots in the new year. The hot $125M budgeted pic has been shooting at Fox Studios and locations around Sydney for the past 83 days.

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Analyst Richard Greenfield On 2012 Showbiz

By NIKKI FINKE | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 7:05pm ESTTags: entertainment news, Hollywood business news, media news

Richard Greenfield, a media analyst for BTIG LLC, talks about the outlook for the entertainment industries. He speaks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance Midday”:

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Fox Sports Wins Round Against The Dodgers

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 5:30pm ESTTags: Fox Sports, Los Angeles Dodgers

Fox Sports has won a temporary stay that bars the Los Angeles Dodgers from shopping broadcasting rights to new bidders until a judge considers the network’s appeal of the federal bankruptcy court ruling in favor of the team. Federal Judge Leonard P. Stark ruled today in Delaware that Fox Sports has a “strong likelihood of success” on its appeal of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court ruling. Fox Sports’ current contract precludes the Dodgers shopping the rights until October 2012. Because the Dodgers are in bankruptcy, the bankruptcy court judge said that condition was unenforceable. The appeals court judge disagreed and granted a stay until he decides Fox’s appeal.

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AMC Renews ‘Hell On Wheels’ For Season 2

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 4:39pm ESTTags: AMC, Hell on Wheels
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve learned that AMC has renewed its newest series, period Western Hell On Wheels, for a second season. That means that 5 out of the network’s 6 original scripted series to date have now gone beyond their maiden season. Hell On Wheels, developed by Endemol USA and produced by Entertainment One and Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures, got off to a strong start in November. It debuted with 4.4 million viewers, ranking as AMC’s second-highest-rated series premiere behind mega-hit The Walking Dead in total viewers as well as adults 18-49 and 25-54. Hell On Wheels has slipped since but consistently delivers more than 2 million viewers in first-run broadcasts, most recently 2.3 million last week. The series has aired 7 episodes of its freshman series to date, with Episode 8 slated for Jan. 1. Hell On Wheels is set in post-Civil War America circa 1865 and centers on a Confederate soldier (Anson Mount) who sets out to exact revenge on the Union soldiers who killed his wife. The series was created Joe and Tony Gayton who are executive producing with Endemol USA’s Jeremy Gold and showrunner John Shiban. David Von Ancken, who directed the pilot, also serves as an executive producer on the current first season. eOne’s Michael Rosenberg oversees production.

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Academy Report Paints A Pretty Picture

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 4:18pm ESTTags: Academy Awards, Academy Museum Of Motion Pictures, Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

As glossy as the image the industry it represents prefers to project, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is the picture of financial health, according to its recently released annual report. The Oscars remain the Academy’s biggest single source of income with $85.5 million for fiscal year 2011 versus $82.7 million for 2010, roughly a 3.4% increase. Expenses related to the Academy Awards amounted to $35.6 million for 2011 leaving Oscars net revenue of about $49.9 million. Oscars-related expenses including production of the show for 2010 were about $33.3 million which left $49.4 million net revenue for Academy Awards-related activities. Significantly, the organization’s expenses for 2011 also include $2.3 million set aside for museum development for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. The Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art have agreed to develop plans to establish the facility in the former May Company building at the corner of Fairfax and Wilshire. Expenses also include theater operations, fellowships, the Fairbanks Center which includes the Margaret Herrick Library and the Pickford Center. Read More »

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Fox’s ‘The X Factor’ Ends Bumpy First Season On High(ish) Note

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 1:58pm ESTTags: Ratings, The X Factor
Nellie Andreeva

Finally, a big ratings bump for The X Factor. Fox series’ first season finale last night (3.8/11 in adults 18-49, 12.6 million total viewers) was up 31% from last week’s result show in 18-49 but did not hit a series high. It was a solid finish for the heavily promoted singing competition from Simon Cowell whose protege, Melanie Amaro, won the $5 million prize. But The X Factor never came close to the ratings heights of the show that made Cowell a star in the U.S., American Idol. The first season finale of the long-running Fox reality series, which aired in the summer of 2002 with very little promotion, drew a 10.7 rating among adults 18-49 and 22.8 million viewers. However, The X Factor season ender edged the first season finale of NBC’s breakout The Voice, which also aired over the summer and averaged a 3.7 demo rating and 11 million viewers in June. Comparisons to both finales are relatively apples-to-apples because, despite airing in season, The X Factor ran during a pre-holiday week with depressed viewership levels.

It was a rocky first season of The X Factor, which didn’t lack the controversies Cowell is so well known about in the U.K. From the abrupt sacking of judge Cheryl Cole a week into filming and her replacement with Nicole Scherzinger to the accusations of juicing performances and using lip-singing to the … Read More »

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‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Trailer: 12.5 Million iTunes Downloads In 24 Hours

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 1:50pm ESTTags: iTunes, The Dark Knight Rises

BURBANK, CA, December 23, 2011 – The new trailer for Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” smashed the record for most combined downloads through the iTunes Movie Trailers site (www.itunes.com/ trailers) and the iTunes Trailers iOS app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The trailer went online at 10:00 Monday morning, December 19, and was viewed more than 12.5 million times in its first 24 hours, breaking the previous record by well over two million. The trailer can be viewed in HD at http: //trailers.apple.com/trailers/
wb/thedarkknightrises/.

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Marc Graboff To Run ‘American Idol’ Parent Company CKX

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 11:27am ESTTags: CKX, Marc Graboff
Nellie Andreeva

Former top NBC executive Marc Graboff, who left the network last month, is finalizing a deal to run CKX, the parent company of Fox’s juggernaut American Idol. I’ve learned that Graboff will serve as president of CKX, with his contract expected to be completed in the first week of January. The company will not have a CEO, at least for the time being, with current CEO Michael Ferrel expected to exit at the end of the year. The news of Graboff’s hire at CKX was first reported by the New York Post.

Through his acquisition of 19 Entertainment, CKX owns Fox’s Amerian Idol and So You Think You Can Dance. The company also has a controlling interest in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which owns the commercial use of the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley, the operation of the Graceland museum and related attractions, as well as revenue stemming from any Elvis Presley TV specials, films and some of his music. I’ve learned that private-equity firm Apollo Management, which bought CKX for $510 million in June, plans to grow the company, with Graboff expected to spearhead the process, both through acquisitions of other production companies and organically, through development of original content for TV and digital.

Graboff, who left NBC for the CKX gig, had a major presence at the network for the past 11 years, steadily rising in the ranks  from  head of business affairs to chairman of … Read More »

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Box Office Brawl: Warner Bros Demands Recount From Rivals Paramount & Sony

By NIKKI FINKE | Friday December 23, 2011 @ 9:19am ESTTags: holiday box office, Hollywood studios

EXCLUSIVE: Showing just how fiercely competitive the slumping box office is right now, Warner Bros is griping to me about how rival movie studios are reporting their North American numbers this holiday week. These kind of controversies don’t develop often in Hollywood, but when they do, they can be ugly. The Warner Bros complaint is over both Paramount and Sony reporting Tuesday’s eveing grosses as part of Wednesday’s midnight take for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo respectively. Nobody is disputing the accuracy of the figures. Just where and when the money is accounted. That’s because there is a certain code of honor among these Hollywood thieves — a tacit agreement that every studio will try to report box office numbers as accurately as possible. But there’s also a significant PR advantage to artificially moving a disappointing film up a slot in the Top 10 by inflating numbers. Warner Bros is especially touchy because its sequel Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows was supposed to be the big Christmas-New Years movie and instead opened to disappointing domestic grosses last weekend. Since then it’s been holding well. But Warner Bros points out that Sherlock should have been #2 for Wednesday if the two rival studios hadn’t combined Tuesday evening’s numbers with Wednesday’s numbers. That’s not considered fair play, as this WB exec’s email to me shows:

The real news Wednesday night was how well Sherlock is holding. MI4 opened wide on Tuesday at 5PM and included the entire day ($2M) into Wednesday’s gross of

… Read More »

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KTLA Weatherman Henry DiCarlo Walks Off The Air In A Huff

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 11:16pm ESTTags: Henry DiCarlo, KTLA, TV weathermen

Neither viewers nor his in-studio anchors were quite ready for KTLA weatherman Henry DiCarlo’s abrupt on-air walkout over being told to cut his report short.

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News Corp In Talks With DC Attorney For Corporate Counsel Post

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 10:55pm ESTTags: Gerson Zweifach, News Corp, Phone Hacking

News Corp is in discussions with D.C. attorney Gerson Zweifach as its new general counsel, Bloomberg reported late this afternoon. Whoever takes the job could assume a crucial role for News Corp as investigations and Parliamentary testimony continue in the U.K. phone-hacking scandal. During his more than 29 years at Williams & Connolly LLP, Zweifach has trial experience in a wide variety of legal areas including antitrust, securities, libel and commercial cases, according to the firm’s website. There have been at least 21 arrests in fallout from the News of the World case including a female police officer who was picked up and released this week. News Corp board member Joel Klein is overseeing the company’s internal investigation of its journalists’ behavior. Zweifach would replace Lawrence Jacobs, who left in June. Some at the company say Jacobs quit because he felt Klein was encroaching on his turf. News International subsidiary board menber Janet Nova has been serving as interim general counsel.

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Entertainment Law Firm Now Has Slogan

By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 10:19pm ESTTags: entertainment law firms, Greenberg Glusker, Hollywood law

I noticed this on the back of the envelope to Greenberg Glusker’s 2011 holiday card: a slogan – “The Counsel You Keep”. And it’s trademarked no less.

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Showbiz Flack Dies In Hollywood Ending

By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 10:10pm ESTTags: Hollywood publicists, Scotty Dugan

In a tragedy with a peculiar Hollywood twist, a showbiz flack collapsed and died Wednesday while waiting for a Los Angeles subway train on his way to the memorial for music executive-turned-film producer John Attterberry whose pic God’s Country had cast one of the publicist’s clients. Scotty Dugan of Dugan & Story PR was best known for submitting over-the-top press releases about under-the-radar subjects.

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Hollywood Writer Gets Notes On Film Script Of ‘Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer’

By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 9:49pm ESTTags: Hollywood writers

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OSCARS: 97 Original Scores in 2011 Race

By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 8:47pm ESTTags: 84th Academy Awards, Oscars 2011 Best Original Score

Beverly Hills, CA – Ninety-seven scores from eligible feature-length motion pictures are in contention for nominations in the Original Score category for the 84th Academy Awards®, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.

The eligible scores along with the composer are listed below in alphabetical order by film title:

“The Adjustment Bureau,” Thomas Newman, composer
“The Adventures of Tintin,” John Williams, composer
“African Cats,” Nicholas Hooper, composer
“Albert Nobbs,” Brian Byrne, composer
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked,” Mark Mothersbaugh, composer
“Anonymous,” Thomas Wander and Harald Kloser, composers
“Another Earth,” Phil Mossman and Will Bates, composers
“Answers to Nothing,” Craig Richey, composer
“Arthur Christmas,” Harry Gregson-Williams, composer
“The Artist,” Ludovic Bource, composer
“@urFRENZ,” Lisbeth Scott, composer
“Atlas Shrugged Part 1,” Elia Cmiral, composer
“Battle: Los Angeles,” Brian Tyler, composer
“Beastly,” Marcelo Zarvos, composer
“The Big Year,” Theodore Shapiro, composer
“Captain America: The First Avenger,” Alan Silvestri, composer
“Cars 2,” Michael Giacchino, composer
“Cedar Rapids,” Christophe Beck, composer
“Conan the Barbarian,” Tyler Bates, composer
“The Conspirator,” Mark Isham, composer
“Contagion,” Cliff Martinez, composer
“Coriolanus,” Ilan Eshkeri, composer
“DAM999,” Ousepachan, composer
“The Darkest Hour,” Tyler Bates, composer
“The Debt,” Thomas Newman, composer
“Dolphin Tale,” Mark Isham, composer
“Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, composers
“Dream House,” John Debney, composer
“The Eagle,” Atli Orvarsson, composer
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” Alexandre Desplat, composer
“Fast Five,” Brian Tyler, composer
“The First Grader,” Alex Heffes, composer
“The Flowers of War,” Qigang Chen, composer
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composers
“The Greatest Miracle,” Mark McKenzie, composer
“Green Lantern,” James Newton Howard, composer
“Hanna,” Tom Rowlands, composer
“Happy Feet Two,” John Powell,

… Read More »

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OSCARS: ‘The Help’ Gets In The Holiday – And Awards – Spirit

By PETE HAMMOND | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 8:15pm ESTTags: DreamWorks, The Help, Viola Davis
Pete Hammond

Dreamworks’  awards contender The Help got into the spirit of the season and held their first annual Help holiday cocktail party Wednesday night at Soho House in West Hollywood. Call me cynical but this is probably also The Help’s LAST annual holiday cocktail party as I doubt Dreamworks is going to gather the cast and filmmakers to do this every year.

Nevertheless this is one group that had plenty to celebrate considering the box office and awards haul it has collected so far. That includes five Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture Drama, four SAG award nominations including Outstanding Cast, eight Critics Choice Nominations including Best Picture, a spot on the AFI’s 10 Best List, and numerous acting awards from critics groups. The August release which has grossed $169 million domestically has continued to stay in the picture so successfully that it is looking likely to grab multiple Oscar nominations including one for Best Picture.

Among those at the packed party last night were stars Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Jessica Chastain and Mary Steenburgen along with producers Chris Columbus and Brunson Green. The industry crowd included producers Larry Mark, Donald DeLine, Brian Oliver and other Academy members and press. Davis told me she is trying not to become too overwhelmed by all the awards attention. “I look at it as a big tidal wave. It is either going to completely roll over and consume me or I am going to ride it,” she said. Despite all the recognition (she won … Read More »

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Russian & Chinese Filmmakers Plan Remake Of ‘Yolki’ (Six Degrees Of Celebration)

By MIKE FLEMING | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 7:54pm ESTTags: Eva Jin, Timur Bekmambetov, Yolki
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In one of the first partnerships of its kind, Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is teaming with Chinese filmmaker Eva Jin (Sophie’s Revenge) on a Russian/Chinese remake of Yolki (Six Degrees of Celebration). They will be among several filmmakers who’ll direct segments of the film. The deal comes after Yolki 2 topped the box office in Russia last weekend with $7.8 million gross. The 2010 first film became Russia’s most successful local movie in the past three years. Yolki tells the stories of eight different Russians – from eight different time zones – and how their destinies intersect one New Years Eve.  The remake will be framed around the Chinese New Year. There will be eight stories connected by a young orphan girl who must deliver a message to the President and whose only hope is to use the theory of “six degrees of separation” – that all people on Earth, from the lowliest migrant worker to government leaders, are connected by six handshakes. As was done in the Russian original, multiple filmmakers will direct the various story lines. Bekmambetov (who co-directed the original) and Jin will each direct one of the vignettes. Dede Nickerson will Executive Produce. Bekmambetov and Jin are discussing a 2013 release. Bekmambetov just wrapped Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for Fox.

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Hot Trailer: Liam Neeson In ‘The Grey’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 7:13pm ESTTags: Joe Carnahan, Liam Neeson, The Grey

Open Road Films released a new 90-second spot for Joe Carnahan’s chilly thriller The Grey starring Liam Neeson. It opens January 27. The trailer first was cut for Harry Knowles’s Aint It Cool News website after the film killed at Harry’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon, the 24-hour movie fest that has become a launching pad for films that appeal to the geek set.

rtmp://streaming.deadline.com/ondemand/video/The_Grey_20111222.flv
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