Meatballs Eats Up Box Office

Movie reviews: Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum can't save amnesia romance

(NEWSER) - In The Vow, Rachel McAdams plays a woman who must learn to love her husband again after amnesia wipes her memory. It's no surprise it was released ahead of Valentine's Day: It's pure mushiness, critics say.

• In the New York Daily News , Elizabeth Weitzman calls the film a "down-the-middle, by-the-numbers fantasy, in which no one is too quirky or interesting or challenging in any way." Still, "there’s no shortage of viewers ready to embrace an old-fashioned, guilty-pleasure romance."

'Muppets' hit No. 2 with $42M

(NEWSER) - Breaking Dawn was busily sucking the life out of the box office for a second weekend, taking in another $62.3 million between Wednesday and today. That performance brings its total to $221.3 million, reports the LA Times. But Twilight wasn't the only draw at the box office, with The Muppets pulling in a hefty $42 million over the holiday weekend. Arthur Christmas took third place with $17 million; Hugo grabbed fourth with $15.4 million. More»

Sopranos writer to pen script

(NEWSER) - The Whitey Bulger story begs for the cinematic treatment—and it’s getting just that, courtesy of two guys who know a thing or two about Boston. Ben Affleck will direct Matt Damon as Bulger in the Warner Bros. release, with a script by Sopranos writer/producer Terence Winter. “I don't think it's been announced yet that we're doing it,” Damon tells GQ . “But the sooner it's announced the better, just because everyone else will back off. I’m really excited about it." More»

Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet star in Steven Soderbergh film

(NEWSER) - Critics applaud Steven Soderbergh’s latest effort, Contagion, a deeply disturbing imagining of a global pandemic that features an all-star cast (Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne):

• It’s “easily the scariest of the disaster films” since 9/11, writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post . What’s more, it “takes great pains to present its situations realistically, and includes a lot of intelligent speculation about what sort of political, economic, and ethical questions would be raised by such a disaster.”

Superhero trounces boy wizard at the box office

(NEWSER) - Just a week after the final Harry Potter movie smashed all kinds of records, Captain America unceremoniously unseated the boy wizard, reports the LA Times. The 3D comic book extravaganza raked in $65.8 million, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 took a dive to $48.1 million—which the Times notes is down 72% over last week's opening weekend juggernaut. Friends With Benefits was third, with $18.5 million, while Transformers grabbed $12 million and Horrible Bosses took in $11.7 million. More»