Weekend Box Office Results for December 8-10, 2006 December 11, 2006
Posted by Russ T.C. in Box Office, Movies, News.1 comment so far
Here are the final (actual) box office movie results for the past weekend.
(Ranking - Film - Weekend Gross - Total Domestic Gross)
1. “Apocalypto” - $15,005,604 — $15,005,604
2. “Happy Feet” - $12,718,000 — $137,738,000
3. “The Holiday” - $12,778,913 — $12,778,913
4. “Casino Royale” - $8,926,207 — $129,020,082
5. “Blood Diamond” - $8,648,324 — $8,648,324
6. “Deja Vu” - $6,019,672 — $52,995,929
7. “Unaccompanied Minors” - $5,815,474 — $5,815,474
8. “The Nativity Story” - $5,713,854 — $15,907,450
9. “Deck the Halls” - $3,993,188 — $30,144,903
10. “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” - $3,254,729 — $77,184,019
Source: Box Office Mojo — ‘Apocalypto’ Impales Top Spot
SEGA acquires rights to “Alien” franchise for Video Games December 11, 2006
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SEGA of America, SEGA Europe and Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising today announced an agreement to bring the “Alien” movie franchise to next-generation gaming systems.
Multiple titles will be developed, including a first-person shotter and a role-playing game, with the first game hoped to be released in 2009.
“As a direct result of Fox’s efforts over the past 27 years, Alien has become one of the most recognized franchises in the motion picture industry,” said Simon Jeffery, President and Chief Operating Officer, SEGA of America, Inc. “SEGA will utilize the power of next-gen systems to blend the time-honored story with leading edge design technology to deliver a riveting and suspenseful gameplay experience.”
Alien premiered in 1979 and spawned three sequels. The franchise has grossed more than $557 million worldwide and has one numerous rewards including two Academy Awards.
Golden Globe Nominations to be announced this Thursday [Update] December 11, 2006
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The nominations for “The 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards” will be announced at the Beverly Hilton on December 14, 2006.
Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson and Mathew Perry, will join Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk that morning to give the nominations for 25 categories.
The awards ceremony will take place live on NBC at 8:00 PM on Monday, January 15, 2007.
Angelina Jolie may have role in Sin City 2 December 11, 2006
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ComingSoon.net is reporting that Angelina Jolie may be a part of the second Sin City movie, scheduled for release sometime in 2007.
The folks over at ComingSoon.net caught up with the actress at a press junket and asked her about her possible role in the second Sin City film.
“We talked about it and I read the comic,” Jolie said. “I don’t think the film is being made at this moment. When it’s actually going to be made I’m sure we’ll talk about it.
“It was a funny thing, because the idea came to me when I was pregnant,” she added. “So it was this idea… I’ve been Clover (in ‘The Good Shepherd’), depressed and quiet, and then I was feeling very maternal, pregnant. It was this idea of this sexy, violent and loud [character]… I thought maybe after I’m pregnant it would be nice to do.”
The character Ava in the graphic novel is the former lover of Dwight McCarthy (Clive Owen) who uses her innocence and beautiful looks to manipulate men.
HBO looking to launch Online Video Service December 11, 2006
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According to HBO’s Eric Kessler, president of sales and marketing for the channel, the network hopes to launch a broadband-video service sometime during the 2007 calendar year.
“We believe we can do with the broadband platform what we did with the on-demand product for our partners,” Kessler said. “Our goal is to create a broadband product with our affiliates that would continue to increase our usage and the value of HBO to our subscribers.”
No other details about the service have been announced, but it is expected to contain the same original series, specials and sports offerings currently available on HBO On Demand (a subscription based VOD channel).
Prince to perform during Super Bowl halftime show December 11, 2006
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It was announced today that the 11 time nominated and six-time winning Grammy performer Prince will be entertaining the audience of Super Bowl XLI, as well as the nation, on February 4th in Miami.
Prince makes the third straight Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame member to be the lead act during the Super Bowl, following up on Paul McCartney two years ago and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger last year.
ESPN aquires European Football (Soccer) December 11, 2006
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ESPN has picked up the rights to air the 2008 UEFA European Football Championshiops, sheculded for Saturday, June 7 through Sunday June 29, 2008.
The tournament, which will be played in Austria and Switzerland, is one of the most popular sporting events in the world today.
On the television front, all 31 games will be shown (exclusively) on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ABC as well as on ESPN Deportes.
ESPN Radio also has the broadcast rights to air the games on the radio if they so choose.
Soccer rated very highly during the past world cup on all the ESPN nets as well as on ABC, and ESPN has taken steps in recent months to continue expanding their soccer portfolio in an effort to capitialize and maintain the sports increase in ratings.
Broadcast TV Ratings for Sunday, December 10, 2006 December 11, 2006
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NBC takes the evening in households, viewers and adults 18-49 with one of their best “Sunday Night Football” presentations of the year.
Matt Damon says he’s open to playing Kirk in Trek XI December 11, 2006
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Matt Damon told Sci Fi Wire that he would be open to playing Captain James T. Kirk in the new Star Trek movie tentively titled “Star Trek XI”, but denied the rumors that he was already cast in the role.
“If the script was good, I’d do it,” Damon said in an interview while promoting his latest film, The Good Shepherd. “But, yeah, I heard that [rumor]. I think J.J. Abrams or somebody said that at press junket or something, and it got picked up [by the media and Star Trek fans].”
Many details are still being fleshed out surrounding the next Trek movie, which has a planned release date sometime around 2008/2009.
J.J. Abrams (of Lost and recently Mission: Impossible III fame) is set to co-write and produce “Trek XI”. Abrams is said to be mulling a directing role in the film as well.
Firefly to become video game December 11, 2006
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“Firefly”, the short lived (2002), but critically acclaimed and fan-loved Science Fiction series, will be resurrected once again (the show spawned a theatrical movie titled “Serenity” last year), but this time in video game form.
Wired.com is reporting that Multiverse has struck a deal with Fox Licensing to turn the show into a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in the vein of Star Wars Galaxies and Eve Online.
“We see virtual worlds as an extraordinarily promising new entertainment medium,” said Adam Kline, Fox Licensing’s vice president of media enterprises in an e-mail. “We believe Multiverse can deliver an experience that will remain true to the original series, while enabling a whole new level of personal involvement for fans.”
The online game will feature many different characters, not just the central characters.
“Television series can be really good properties to turn into MMOs, because when you make a TV series, not only do you need great characters, but you need to create a full, rich, compelling place,” Bridges says. “If you’re doing science fiction, you have to really think it out and create an incredibly rich environment that is compelling in its own right, and worth exploring and going back to week after week. That’s what Joss Whedon did with Firefly.”
Multiverse hopes to have a playable version of the game ready by 2008.
Source: [Wired] — Firefly Reborn as Online Universe
AFI Top 10 Film and Television names announced December 11, 2006
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AFI (the American Film Institute) has announced their 7th annual list of the top 10 film and television programs for the past year.
On the television front, NBC Universal was well represented with four series from NBC (”The Office”, “The West Wing”, “Heroes” and “Friday Night Lights”) as well as one series from Sci Fi (a division of NBC Universal) the critical darling “Battlestar Galactica”.
Other television series in the list were HBO’s “Elizabeth I” and “The Wire”, Showtime’s “Dexter”, Comedy Central’s “South Park” and Fox’s “24″.
On the film front, there was a wide mix of drama and comedy led by such movies as “Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan”, “Happy Feet”, “Babel”, “The Devil Wears Prada” and “United 93″.
Others in the category being honored were “Dreamgirls”, “Half Nelson”, “Inside Man”, “Letters from Iwo Jima” and “Little Miss Sunshine”.
The awards show will be held January 12th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, where the rational behind each award choice will be disclosed during a ceremony.
Source: [Variety] - AFI names top films of the year
