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26 Dec 2011 10:43

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U.S.: 2011 box-office’s big drop: Major stars, horror flicks, family films flop

  • $500 million the expected drop in box office between 2010 and 2011
  • 4.5% decline the fall in box office this year, partly blamed on the lack of “Avatar”
  • hits The biggest hit of 2011? “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which scored $381 million in the U.S. alone. The latest “Transformers” and “Twilight” movies also scored this year.
  • bombs On a $150 million budget, “Mars Needs Moms” only made $39 million worldwide. Horror films struggled, and even major stars like Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts were no longer bankable.
  • surprises The two biggest were “Bridesmaids” (a female-focused twist on the Apatow film) and “The Help,” both of which had solid box-office runs. The secret? Both were aimed at older audiences. source
  • » Better news in 2012? Possibly. With such high-profile films as “The Hunger Games” and a remake of “21 Jump Street” hitting the theaters, it’s entirely possible that 2012 could hold up way better than 2011. And as “The Lion King” showed this year, 3D remakes are proving to be especially financially sound. Two fairly large ones — “Star Wars: Episode One” and “Beauty and the Beast” — will hit the box office in 2012.

22 Nov 2011 14:10

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Culture: How much would you pay for a Twilight wedding gown?

  • $799 price tag to buy a wedding dress from Twilight source
  • » Talk about high-end merchandising! To be clear, according to CostHelper, this wouldn’t fall into the upper range of wedding dress prices; $500-$1000 would be considered “mid-range.” The gown is being sold in sizes from women’s 0-30, which is nice, as not everybody who might want to dress like Kristen Stewart therefore inherits her svelte-ness. We admit a broad ignorance of weddings and romantic vampire-related fiction, so we’ll turn it over to you — anybody excited to wear a Twilight-inspired wedding dress? It is a nice looking dress, we’ll say that.

14 Oct 2010 10:42

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Culture: Coming soon: A TV-series remake of “Romeo & Juliet.” Yuck

  • Directed by the director of Twilight, Maybe? God, even worse! ABC has committed itself to creating not a contemporary version of the classic Shakespeare tragedy, but one set in the time of Shakespeare. And they want Catherine Hardwicke, the director of “Twilight” to shoot it. Good God. Why would anyone do this to the world? Plus, have they even considered how hard it’s going to be to work around the major plot point of the play, you know, that the lead characters offed themselves at the very end? source

04 Jul 2010 17:59

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Culture: “Twilight: Eclipse” lures fewer teenage girls than “New Moon”

  • $165M the amount “Twilight: New Moon” took in its first five days
  • $173M the amount studio heads expected “Twilight Eclipse” to get
  • $162M the amount the film earned at the box office instead (tiny violin) source

01 Jul 2010 10:43

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Culture: “Eclipse” eclipsed the last “Twilight” movie’s midnight showings

  • $30 million in early box office for the latest vampire tale source

09 Apr 2010 16:29

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Music: Was that Robert Pattinson/Kurt Cobain story untrue?

  • YES just proves never to trust
    The Sun, guys source

22 Nov 2009 12:11

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Culture: “New Moon” is about to kick some “Twilight” box office @$$

  • $140.7 million “Twilight: New Moon”‘s weekend box-office take – the third highest opening weekend ever and significantly above expectations
  • $193 million The original “Twilight”‘s entire box office take – a total “New Moon” should break by complete accident at this point source
 

21 Nov 2009 11:19

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Culture: New Moon’s record day: A bunch of vampires look pretty self-satisfied

$26.3 million in midnight showings alone. Over $70 million in first day sales anticipated. Both records. Is there anything this movie can’t do to annoy us? source

20 Nov 2009 21:49

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Culture: The “Twilight: New Moon” juggernaut is living up to its hype

  • $67.2 million the amount that “The Dark Knight” made at the box office on its first day – a record
  • $70 million the amount that “New Moon” is on track to make today after a wave of superhype source

19 Nov 2009 11:14

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Culture: Daily poll: The forthcoming release of “Twilight: New Moon”

  • As usual, ShortFormBlog has stuck behind its policy of only lightly covering pop culture phenomena that have become unstoppable juggernauts (unless it’s Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin – because the we can make fun). But today, a tinge of remorse hit our hearts over our utter lack of coverage of “New Moon,” which stands to make gobs and gobs of money tomorrow. Are you excited? Annoyed? Let us know. Vote above.