Actress and honoree Jessica Simpson is interviewed at the US Weekly Hot Hollywood Style issue party in Hollywood, California April 26, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Mario Anzuoni
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Friday, 28 December 2012
Christmas box-office haul paces Hollywood for record year
Actor Dennis Christopher attends the 'Django Unchained' premiere in New York December 11, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Andrew KellyBy Eric KelseyLOS ANGELES | Wed Dec 26, 2012 2:37pm EST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A strong Christmas-day box office performance by musical "Les Miserables" and western "Django Unchained" put Hollywood on pace to set an all-time box office record with $10.8 billion in annual revenue, box-office tracker Hollywood.com said on Wednesday.
Universal Pictures' star-studded "Les Miserables" took in a weekday Christmas record of $18.2 million in the United States and Canada when it opened on Tuesday, according to studio estimates of weekday ticket sales.
Quentin Tarantino's spaghetti western "Django Unchained," starring Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio, hauled nearly $15 million for The Weinstein Co.
Studios "are definitely on the road to a record year with $10.8 billion expected (up 6 percent over last year and beating the previous record of $10.6 billion in 2009)," Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Reuters in an email, adding that the number of tickets sold should climb 6 percent from 2011 to 1.36 billion.
Dergarabedian credits a successful marketing year for studios as a chief reason for the projected box-office record, as well as spring and summer smashes "The Hunger Games" and "The Avengers" helping boost revenue.
"It was not just the fact that most of the movies delivered, it was the timing of their release dates and the marketing was obviously effective as well with social media continuing to provide an outlet for the movie-going peer group to talk about their favorite flicks," Dergarabedian said.
"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," based on the J.R.R. Tolkein classic fantasy novel, brought in $11.4 million on Christmas day after ruling the box office with nearly $37 million in sales over the weekend.
Billy Crystal family film "Parental Guidance" debuted in fourth place with about $6.4 million in Christmas sales while Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher," which featured author Lee Child's character in an investigation into a sniper shooting, was fifth with some $5.3 million.
"The Hobbit" was distributed by Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros. Studio. News Corp's 20th Century Fox released "Parental Guidance" and Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom, released "Jack Reacher." Universal Pictures is owned by Comcast Corp.
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Edited by Ronald Grover and Andrew Hay)
Friday, 21 December 2012
"It's a Wonderful Life" is top Christmas film with critics
NBC television network will air director Frank Capra's classic movie ''It's A Wonderful Life'' starring Jimmy Stewart (C), shown with the film's cast in an undated publicity photo, on December 25, 2000 (8-11p.m. ET).
Credit: Reuters/Handout OldLOS ANGELES | Fri Dec 21, 2012 10:04am EST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When it comes to Christmas films, "It's a Wonderful Life" can still melt critics' hearts nearly 70 years after it was released, according to a survey of the best-reviewed Christmas films.
The survey, to be released on Friday by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, found that the 1946 redemption story starring Jimmy Stewart edged out the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire musical "Holiday Inn" and Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
World War Two drama "Stalag 17," released in 1953, and 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" round out the top five.
"It's a Wonderful Life" vaulted to the top spot from No. 5 in 2009, when the list was last compiled, bumping "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from its best-reviewed status.
Films that use the holiday as a backdrop for the plot such as 1988's "Die Hard," which was No. 6 on the list, and 1983's "Trading Places" at No. 9, were also eligible, the website said.
Rotten Tomatoes, which analyzes film reviews and assigns a score based on total critical reception, applied that same formula to Christmas films for the list, Matt Atchity, the website's editor in chief, told Reuters.
"You look at the list and it's all the classics ... the cream floats to the top," Atchity said, adding that the rankings were weighted to reflect the amount of reviews a film received, which could artificially boost or decline a score.
Films from the 1960s and 1970s were notably absent from the list. Atchity said studios were more focused at that time on work by big-name directors than on seasonal films.
Here are the 25 best-reviewed Christmas films of all time, according to website Rotten Tomatoes:
* "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
* "Holiday Inn" (1942)
* "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)
* "Stalag 17" (1953)
* "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)
* "Die Hard" (1988)
* "Arthur Christmas" (2011)
* "A Christmas Story" (1983)
* "Trading Places" (1983)
* "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" (2010)
* "Lethal Weapon" (1987)
* "A Midnight Clear" (1992)
* "A Christmas Tale" (2008)
* "While You Were Sleeping" (1995)
* "Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)" (1951)
* "Elf" (2003)
* "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2005)
* "Gremlins" (1984)
* "The Santa Clause" (1994)
* "The Bishop's Wife" (1947)
* "Bad Santa" (2003)
* "8 Women" (2002)
* "Batman Returns" (1992)
* "White Christmas" (1954)
* "The Ref" (1994)
The full list can been seen ">here
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
"It's a Wonderful Life" is top Christmas film with critics
LOS ANGELES | Thu Dec 20, 2012 6:55pm EST
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - When it comes to Christmas films, "It's a Wonderful Life" can still melt critics' hearts nearly 70 years after it was released, according to a survey of the best-reviewed Christmas films.
The survey, to be released on Friday by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, found that the 1946 redemption story starring Jimmy Stewart edged out the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire musical "Holiday Inn" and Tim Burton's 1993 stop-motion fantasy "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
World War Two drama "Stalag 17," released in 1953, and 1947's "Miracle on 34th Street" round out the top five.
"It's a Wonderful Life" vaulted to the top spot from No. 5 in 2009, when the list was last compiled, bumping "The Nightmare Before Christmas" from its best-reviewed status.
Films that use the holiday as a backdrop for the plot such as 1988's "Die Hard," which was No. 6 on the list, and 1983's "Trading Places" at No. 9, were also eligible, the website said.
Rotten Tomatoes, which analyzes film reviews and assigns a score based on total critical reception, applied that same formula to Christmas films for the list, Matt Atchity, the website's editor in chief, told Reuters.
"You look at the list and it's all the classics ... the cream floats to the top," Atchity said, adding that the rankings were weighted to reflect the amount of reviews a film received, which could artificially boost or decline a score.
Films from the 1960s and 1970s were notably absent from the list. Atchity said studios were more focused at that time on work by big-name directors than on seasonal films.
Here are the 25 best-reviewed Christmas films of all time, according to website Rotten Tomatoes:
* "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
* "Holiday Inn" (1942)
* "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993)
* "Stalag 17" (1953)
* "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947)
* "Die Hard" (1988)
* "Arthur Christmas" (2011)
* "A Christmas Story" (1983)
* "Trading Places" (1983)
* "Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale" (2010)
* "Lethal Weapon" (1987)
* "A Midnight Clear" (1992)
* "A Christmas Tale" (2008)
* "While You Were Sleeping" (1995)
* "Scrooge (A Christmas Carol)" (1951)
* "Elf" (2003)
* "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (2005)
* "Gremlins" (1984)
* "The Santa Clause" (1994)
* "The Bishop's Wife" (1947)
* "Bad Santa" (2003)
* "8 Women" (2002)
* "Batman Returns" (1992)
* "White Christmas" (1954)
* "The Ref" (1994)
The full list can been seen ">here
(Reporting by Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)
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