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05 Dec 2010 10:46

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Culture: Can Mel Gibson make comeback with “The Beaver”? (See the trailer)

  • As comeback roles go, you don’t get weirder than this. Mel Gibson with a stuffed beaver, somehow getting his mojo back. Is that “Salisbury Hill” we hear in the background? No? Well, it should be there. Or Peter Gabriel should be getting royalties for this trailer. source

02 Dec 2010 20:59

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Offbeat: Two can play that game: Dude rejiggers cheating girlfriend’s Netflix

  • One Reddit user decided to hit his cheating girlfriend where it hurts. So he went to Netflix and started ratings until he was able to come up with this really harsh list of I-know-you’re-cheating classics. Wait a second … Bambi? source

21 Nov 2010 12:25

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Culture: Latest Harry Potter scores massive box-office opening

  • $125.1
    million
    the amount that the not-in-3D-at-all “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1” made in its first weekend
  • $102.7
    million
    the amount that the next highest opener in the series, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” made in its first weekend in 2005 source
  • » One of the best openings of all-time: While it didn’t top 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” it did score the sixth-best opening of all-time and helped continue the series’ run as the most popular franchise in Hollywood history. What’s a Hogwart?

20 Nov 2010 11:28

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Culture: New Harry Potter movie casts spell on everyone except us

  • $24
    million
    the amount “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” made in its midnight showings Thursday
  • $61.1
    million
    the amount the film made in its first full day in theaters – the fifth biggest single-day gross ever source

18 Nov 2010 21:04

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Culture, U.S.: Diamonds, Will Ferrell, both very profitable

  • $46
    million
    price paid for a bright pink diamond, the most expensive ever sold, auctioned off Tuesday by Sotheby’s
  • $46
    million
    made by “MegaMind” its opening weekend two weeks ago; it was the highest-grossing film that week  source

14 Nov 2010 21:13

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Culture: Denzel Washington’s “Unstoppable” unstoppable, except it isn’t

  • $30
    million
    the amount “Megamind” made in its second weekend; it’s closing in on $100 million after two weeks
  • $23
    million
    the amount “Unstoppable” made, which is ironic in the really funny way that we enjoy source

24 Oct 2010 12:43

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Culture: “Paranormal Activity 2” no “Blair Witch”-style flash in the pan

  • $41.5
    million
    the amount “Paranormal Activity 2” made in its first weekend; the first film, released a year ago, had a “Blair Witch”-style theatrical run
  • $13.3
    million
    the amount the unsuccessful “Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2” made in its first weekend; it made just $26 million in its entire run source
  • » Another thing to point out: The theatrical run of the first “Paranormal Activity” has the distinction of making a huge amount of money in a small number of theaters. In its third weekend, it made $7.6 million in just 160 theaters, scoring an unheard-of $49,379 per-theater average. And they didn’t even need 3D to pull it off, either. They just needed $15,000 and a great gimmick.
 

17 Oct 2010 13:41

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Culture: Idiots rule the world: “Jackass 3D” tops box office, and then some

  • $50
    million
    the amount “Jackass 3D” made in its first weekend, topping the box office by a wide margin
  • $20
    million
    the amount it cost to make the film, which was helped greatly by 3D ticket sales source
  • » Compared to the series: The latest film in the “Jackass” franchise, which is known for having a really huge opening weekend and falling off fast, is doing pretty good even by those standards. The most successful film in the series, “Jackass: Number Two” has made $72 million, which “Jackass 3D” is bound to top by accident. It might have also helped that the franchise has been relatively dormant for a few years.

29 Sep 2010 21:06

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Culture: Reviews: “The Social Network” receives epic amount of praise

  • » What Roger Ebert says: If you only trust Roger Ebert like us, you can feel free to know that this is in fact the movie of the century: “David Fincher’s film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive.” So yeah, we’ll be at the theater on Friday wearing a “Free Zuckerberg” shirt.

26 Sep 2010 01:06

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Culture: Pixar finally gets a woman in the director’s chair

  • bad Pixar, one of the most creative film companies in the world, has been a guys-only club in the director’s chair for its entire existence.
  • good That’s about to change with “Brave,” due in 2012 – which will be written and directed by Brenda Chapman. source