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The box office had a taste of magic mushroom on Friday as Alice in Wonderland grew out of all proportion to a record $41 million. It was the biggest opening in history for any film outside of May, June, July or Nevember. Analysts quickly set aside their predictions that it would earn $70-75 million over the entire three-day weekend and began speculating that it had a reasonable chance of hitting $100 million. The current record for a March opening is held by Warner Bros.' 300, which collected $70.89 million over its three-day debut in 2006. (Alice's Friday total included receipts from midnight previews the night before.)

Source: Studio Briefing

Avatar will lose all of its IMAX screens as well as nearly 300 of its 3D ones as well as Alice in Wonderland takes over as the 3D box-office favorite this weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, Alice will be appearing in 3,728 2D and 3D theaters this weekend, while Avatar will be reduced to 2,163 after opening in 3,461 twelve weeks ago. The reduced number of theaters has barely slowed Avatar's pace. On Wednesday it was the top-grossing film at the box office on a per-theater basis and No. 2 overall, barely edged out by Shutter Island. Its total domestic gross has shot up to $712 million, and it is likely to see another surge following Sunday's Oscar ceremony, where it is nominated in nine categories. Still, virtually all box-office gurus are forecasting that Alice will take the crown as opening-weekend champ of 2010. Several suggest that it could earn as much as $70-75 million including a midnight Thursday/Friday preview. The Los Angeles Times said on Thursday that the film's weekend domestic gross could exceed $90 million. Avatar opened in December with $77.03 million. The record for a winter opening is held by Mel Gibson's 2004 religious epic, The Passion of The Christ, with $83.8 million. However, some writers cautioned that the box office could be negatively impacted on Sunday by the Academy Awards telecast, which is expected to be watched by 35-40 million viewers, many of them traditional Sunday moviegoers.

Source: Studio Briefing

Most studios have decided to give Alice a wide berth, assuming that it would be futile to challenge it this weekend. The sole exception is Overture Films' cop drama Brooklyn's Finest, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes, which is opening in fewer than 2,000 theaters. "These are fine actors," Roger Ebert writes about the stars, who play cops acting outside the law. "The milieu involves a tough, poker-playing, substance-abusing, hard-bitten world where the law meets crime, and the two sides have more in common with each other than with civilians." But he is turned off by "the level of the violence and killing" in which "the gun becomes the instrument of merciless self-will." John Anderson in the Washington Post says that ticket buyers are likely to be put off by "what is not just a relentlessly violent but [a] relentlessly grim drama." Linda Barnard in the Toronto Star observes: "Violent and almost cartoonish in its use of blood, Brooklyn's Finest underwent some editing since its premiere at Sundance a year ago, most notably a change to the ending. What's missing is a sense of purpose and a satisfying story." On the other hand, Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News comments that the film "has an unexpectedly epic emotional sweep and a trio of great performances to anchor it." A.O. Scott in the New York Times also praises the performances. "Particular scenes are not always entirely credible," he writes "but the sheer charismatic force of much of the acting keeps you in the movie." Likewise Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer remarks that the three stars "are all very good, even if the guys they're playing are, if not bad, then tragically corrupt, or corrupted."

Source: Studio Briefing

Roman Polanski's Ghost Writer is expanding to 143 theaters this weekend, and winning additional critical praise as it does. The Chicago Sun-Times's Roger Ebert, who initially reviewed the movie last month, gives it four stars and remarks that it "is the work of a man who knows how to direct a thriller. Smooth, calm, confident, it builds suspense instead of depending on shock and action." Stars Pierce Brosnan and Ewan McGregor also receive much praise for their performances, and Elizabeth Weitzman in the New York Daily News singles out McGregor's, which she calls "his best work in recent memory." Polanski, she writes, is "an expert at building the sort of intense atmosphere that leaves his audience in a state of edgy paranoia. It's a safe bet you'll be looking over your shoulder when you leave the theater to head home." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times, who also reviewed the movie last month, describes it as "a dark pearl of a movie whose great flair and precision make it Polanski's best work in quite a while." But Kyle Smith in the New York Post dismisses it as a "corny paranoid thriller." And Roger Moore, who gives the movie 2 1/2 stars, concludes in the Orlando Sentinel: "It's not one of Polanski's masterpieces, but The Ghost Writer doesn't dilute his reputation as a master of suspense."

Source: Studio Briefing

Disney is opening Tim Burton's 3D Alice in Wonderland at midnight tonight (Thursday/Friday) on about 1,000 screens in the hope of boosting its weekend total, which some box-office analysts predict could exceed Avatar's $77-million debut. Alice, starring Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska in the title role and featuring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, and Helena Bonham Carter as other Lewis Carroll characters, will move into about 3,700 theaters by Friday evening. It is also scheduled to open overseas in 41 countries. The Hollywood Reporter noted that "pre-release tracking looks strong in all demos, with must-see interest apparent well beyond family moviegoers." Somewhat ironically, the film's main rival is not any other movie currently on screen -- but all the top films of 2009, as Sunday's Oscar ceremonies are certain to draw many moviegoers away from theaters.

Source: Studio Briefing

Like many of the kids who first pored over Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, critics have found both delight and displeasure in Tim Burton's visualization of those books in Disney's newest Alice in Wonderland. In the late 60s, Disney's 1951 animated version sometimes appeared on the walls of Ken Kesey's "Acid Tests" accompanied by psychedelic rock music, and there was much speculation that the film's animators must have been high on LSD when they created it. However, Lou Lumenick in the New York Post, writing about the new Alice, comments, "It seems unlikely hipsters will be lighting up to this all-too-earnest tale of female empowerment in the Victorian era." Nevertheless, in what is otherwise a negative review, Lumenick concludes, "Burton, one of the great visual artists in Hollywood history, is incapable of making an uninteresting movie." And several other critics agree that the images Burton creates for this Alice are the best thing about it. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert comments, "Alice plays better as an adult hallucination, which is how Burton rather brilliantly interprets it until a pointless third act flies off the rails. ,,, Burton is above all a brilliant visual artist, and his film is a pleasure to regard." (Ebert, who has complained that 3D glasses dim the screen, then adds: "I look forward to admiring it in 2D, where it will look brighter and more colorful. No artist who can create these images is enhancing them in any way by adding the annoying third dimension." J. Hoberman in the Village Voice agrees, noting that the 3D imaging was added in post production and seems "shallow and largely superfluous.") Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune writes that "its best and strangest interludes assert Burton's skills as a fantasist" and suggests that the film is "best approached as corporate undertaking, undertaken successfully." That's the way Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times approaches it, too, but he writes that it would be nicer if it "felt less like corporate moves and more like situations that came from the heart." Turan finds little enchantment in the film. "It has its successful moments," he concedes, "but it's surprisingly inert overall." And a few critics find little at all to admire about the film -- including the visuals, Colin Covert in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune complains: "The film looks as though a dozen production designers competed with one another to see who could achieve the most outrageous folly."

Source: Studio Briefing

Big-name movie stars are no longer the draw they once were and their current salaries reflect that reality, the New York Times observed today (Thursday), pointing out that when the estimated salaries of all 10 acting nominees are combined, the total is only a little larger than the $20 million Julia Roberts received for 2001's Erin Brockovich or Russell Crowe for 2004's Master and Commander. The newspaper quoted film industry lawyer Peter Dekom as saying that nowadays stars "attract an over-30 audience, which is going to the movies less in an impaired economy." The "fashionable deal" these days, the Times noted, is referred to as "Cb zero" for "cash-break zero," meaning that a star begins collecting a share of profits only after a studio has made its production costs back -- a far cry from the time when stars received a percentage of the first-dollar gross receipts.

Source: Studio Briefing

Harrison Ford has revealed that George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and he have "agreed on a germ of an idea" for the next Indiana Jones sequel "and we're seeing what comes of it." In an interview with the BBC's Newsbeat, Ford cautioned that actual production of the sequel is probably a long way away. "The process works like this," he said. "We come to some basic agreement, and then George goes away for a long time and works on it. Then Steven and I get it in some form, some embryonic form. Then if we like it we start working with George on it and at some point down the line [the final script is] ready and we do it."

Source: Studio Briefing

DVD kiosk operators could face a significant legal obstacle if prosecutors in other jurisdictions follow the lead of Vanderburgh County (Evansville), Indiana Prosecuting Attorney Stanley Levco who has warned that the kiosks violate state law prohibiting "dissemination of certain matter to minors." A letter sent to the operators said, "We suggest that the machine or machines dispensing these materials at your location no longer provide access to videos, movies, games, etc. which contain an R rating, PG rating or unrated or are for mature audiences. We have been in contact with the Sheriff who will begin checking within the next few weeks to make sure your kiosks no longer contain these videos." Home Media magazine said Wednesday that the letters were instigated by several Evansville video stores, who complained to the prosecuting attorney. Paul Black, who represents the owner of the Evansville video stores, told the trade publications, "We're not on a particular crusade, but you can just walk up to any of these kiosks and rent adult material." And Ted Engen, president of the Video Buyers Group, commented, "Video stores are held to one standard, and these kiosks are held to a different standard. It's wrong."

Source: Studio Briefing

RealNetworks has decided to settle its dispute with Hollywood studios over its RealDVD copying software. As part of the settlement, RealNetworks will pay the studios some $4.5 million in fees associated with the case and agree not to pursue its appeal of the injunction prohibiting it from distributing the software. Studios had claimed that the software allowed anyone to rent a movie and make duplicate copies, all for the cost of a rental. The decision by RealNetworks to throw in the towel comes two months after the resignation of its founder, Rob Glaser, as CEO. In a statement, acting CEO Robert Kimball said, "Until this dispute, Real had always enjoyed a productive working relationship with Hollywood. With this litigation resolved, I hope that in the future we can find mutually beneficial ways to use Real technology to bring Hollywood's great work to consumers."

Source: Studio Briefing

Army Sgt. Jeffrey Sarver has sued the producers of The Hurt Locker, claiming that the central character in the movie is based on him and that he received no compensation from the filmmakers. A statement issued by Sarver's lawyer claims that screenwriter Mark Boal based "virtually all of the situations" in the movie on his observations of Sarver or interviews with him and that Sarver had coined the term "the hurt locker." While Boal had indeed made Sarver the central figure in his original Playboy article titled, "The Man in the Bomb Suit," he told today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times that the "film is a work of fiction inspired by many people's stories." Boal also claimed that "the hurt locker" is "military slang that's in common usage. I heard it from lots of other people other than him." Furthermore, Boal maintains, he had invited Sarver to see a preview of The Hurt Locker in New York and that when it was over, he remarked, "Nice job." Boal said that he "didn't know there was a problem until recently, when the lawyers got involved."

Source: Studio Briefing

Movie stars just aren't what they used to be, Barbara Walters suggested in an interview with Reuters days before her 29th and final Oscars special is due to air on ABC. Walters told the wire service that she had decided to end The Barbara Walters Special, which will air Sunday featuring Sandra Bullock and Mo'Nique, because she felt that there were no longer any big "gets" to be got. "I felt ... that I had interviewed the greatest stars and that wasn't so special anymore," she said. "Now there are so many entertainment programs and the stars are on almost everything." And many of them, she noted, make TV appearances after coming out of rehab. "I didn't want to do that"

Source: Studio Briefing

Award-winning Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was barred by Iranian authorities from attending the Berlin Film Festival last month, was arrested late Monday at his home in Tehran, his son told an opposition website Tuesday. Although a conservative news site, Tabnak, reported that Panahi was arrested because he was producing "an anti-regime film," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatobadi told the Isna news agency, "The arrest of Jafar Panai is not because he is an artist or for political reason." Panahi has been a vocal critic of the current Iranian regime, and his films have reflected his sentiments. Despite the fact that several of them have won prestigious awards at film festivals, most have never been shown in Iran.

Source: Studio Briefing

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert, who lost his ability to speak following cancer surgery in 2006, has demonstrated a newly developed speech-synthesis technology that allows him speak through a computer. Appearing on the Oprah Winfrey show with his wife Chaz at his side, Ebert typed his responses to questions on an Apple laptop computer -- it was not clear whether the technology was developed for the Macintosh operating system -- and his words were read by the computer in his own voice. The system was created by Scotland-based CereProc, which used recordings made by Ebert for DVD commentaries to produce a computer voice that sounds like him. "It's what they call a beta," Ebert said during the interview. "It still needs improvement." Nevertheless, the voice sounded remarkably lifelike -- or as Ebert put it, "uncanny." Ebert also used the occasion to make his usual Oscar predictions: Best picture: The Hurt Locker; Best director: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker; Best actor: Jeff Bridges, for Crazy Heart; Best Actress: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side.

Source: Studio Briefing

For the 11th consecutive weekend, James Cameron's Avatar ruled the world as it raked in an additional $36.1 million overseas and $13.7 million domestically. Its foreign total now stands a $1.84 billion, its domestic total at $706.6 million, and its worldwide total at 2.55 billion. Over the weekend, the movie passed the $700 million mark domestically, the first film in history to do so. Nevertheless, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island topped the box office for the second week in a row as it earned $22.7 million, beating two newcomers, Kevin Smith's Cop Out, which took in a better-than-expected $18.2 million, just ahead of Breck Eisner's The Crazies, which managed to bring in $16.1 million, a huge chunk of its reported $20-million production cost.

Source: Studio Briefing

Los Angeles authorities on Monday jailed Los Angeles businessman Kayvan Setareh for posting an illegal "supergraphic" advertisement for DreamWorks Animation's upcoming feature How to Train Your Dragon over about eight stories of a building located across the street from the theater where Sunday night's Oscar ceremony will be televised. Setareh was cited for alleged misdemeanor violations of three city codes banning supergraphics, which are commonly used to advertise motion pictures. Some officials speculated that Setareh was paid a premium fee to post the sign on a building that would likely be seen in the background during ABC's red-carpet coverage on Sunday night. Setareh's bail was set at $1 million, an uncommon -- if not a record -- amount for a misdemeanor offense. But Chief Deputy City Attorney William Carter told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times said that the high bail was justified because the sign had not been checked out by city building inspectors. "You have a supergraphic that weighs hundreds, if not thousands of pounds. ... If it were not installed correctly, it could fall and injure or kill people on a highly congested corner where hundreds of thousands of people walk every day," he said. Late Monday, Setareh agreed to have the sign removed by Wednesday morning in exchange for a reduction of bail to $100,000.On the opposite corner, on the building where the Academy Award ceremony is to be held, is an equally large supergraphic touting the Oscar telecast itself.

Source: Studio Briefing

Blockbuster, which gave up nearly 17 percent of its annual revenue when it did away with late fees in 2004, has brought them back again in a new form. As of Monday the rental period for movies has been shortened to five days from seven, with a $1-per-day late-fee charged for each additional day for up to 10 days. The new policy puts Blockbuster somewhere between online renter Netflix, which charges no late fee, and kiosk operator Redbox, which charges $1 per day for up to 25 days (when the DVD is considered purchased). Blockbuster maintained that the new policy was intended to prod customers to return DVDs to its stores within five days. A spokesperson told Home Media magazine, "If a customer is keeping a release out past the initial rental agreement, they are keeping that title away from somebody else," Nevertheless, the spokesperson insisted, "This is not a late fee. This is an additional daily rate." In a related matter, Netflix said on Monday that its expects its DVD rental shipments to increase 18 percent this year.

Source: Studio Briefing

On a weekend notable mostly for the fact that Avatar crossed the $700-million mark, Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island remained in first place for the second consecutive week despite falling 46 percent from last weekend. The thriller, which stars Leonard DiCaprio, earned $22.2 million, while a pair of newcomers, Cop Out and The Crazies, performed well above expectations. Cop Out, the Kevin Smith comedy starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, opened in second place with $18.6 million, representing Smith's best opening ever, while The Crazies, a remake of the George Romero horror classic, took in about $16.5 million, a solid figure considering the fact that the movie reportedly cost just $20 million to produce. Both films received mostly negative reviews. Avatar, now in its 11th weekend, brought in another $14 million, down just 14 percent from last weekend, bringing its domestic total to $706.9 million. Rounding out the top five was Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief with $9.8 million.

Source: Studio Briefing

Film critic Roger Ebert is scheduled to return to television on Tuesday using a voice synthesizer developed by Dr. Matthew Aylett, chief technical officer of Scotland-based CereProc that used old Ebert recordings to produce a "prototype" that can speak the words he types on his computer. Ebert will be demonstrating the system, which he calls Roger Jr., when he is interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on her syndicated afternoon show. In a Chicago Sun-Times article on Sunday, he wrote that the voice "needs to be smoother in tone and steadier in pacing, but the little rascal is good. ... To hear him coming from my own computer made me ridiculously happy." It has been reported that advances in speech synthesis have been coming at a remarkable rate. Some predict that the original voices of classic cartoon characters could soon be recreated (Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny) or even that Leonardo DiCaprio's voice could be transformed into Frank Sinatra's when Martin Scorsese's planned biopic of the singer is produced.

Source: Studio Briefing

Not only has James Cameron decided to make a sequel to Avatar, he's also begun casting it -- and, it turns out, one of the persons he wants to include in it is Sigourney Weaver. Appearing on a French TV show, Le Grand Journal, Weaver disclosed that Cameron had spoken to her about reviving her role as Dr. Grace Augustine -- reviving it in more ways than one, given the fact that in the original film, the character appears to die after a failed effort by the alien Na'vi people to try to transfer her injured human body into her avatar one. "Ah," Weaver revealed, she didn't die but entered the Tree of Souls. "I'm actually in the tree. If you'll remember the special effect, I go into the tree," she said during the interview. She insisted that she didn't want to "promise" anything else about Cameron's plans but said, "I think there are a few ideas about how to keep the family together." Weaver was in Paris to present the prestigious C?sar d'Honneur to Harrison Ford at France's C?sar Awards, France's equivalent of the Oscars. At the awards, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino beat out Avatar as best foreign film. (Other English-language films in the category included last year's Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire and contender Milk as well as this year's Golden Globes winner in the foreign-language category, The White Ribbon.) Jacques Audiard's A Prophet (Un Prophete) won nine awards, including French film of the year and best director.

Source: Studio Briefing