Burn Leads Box Office Boom

No Country follow-up funny, but not the brothers' best

(NEWSER) - Burn After Reading is your standard Coen Brothers comedy: It’s black, clever, and zany, and David Ansen writes in Newsweek that he “enjoyed just about every heartlessly jolly minute of it.” The film is nominally a spy/thriller spoof, its sidewinder plot involving airhead gym employees trying to sell supposed secrets to the Russians. But really, it’s less a spoof than an “escalating farce of idiotic behavior” from a “cast of delusional dunces who are a wonder to behold.” More»

Football flick capitalizes on strong Thanksgiving weekend

(NEWSER) - Building on strong word-of-mouth and an unexpectedly lucrative Thanksgiving weekend, The Blind Side caught and passed New Moon at the weekend box office. The Sandra Bullock vehicle pulled in $20.4 million to $15.7 million for the teen vampire sequel. Both dwarfed Brothers, which underperformed despite stars Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Tobey Maguire, the Los Angeles Times reports. Another big name, George Clooney, has reason for optimism after Up in the Air raked in $1.2 million in only 15 locations. The top five: More»

Which films will be remembered, and which ones deserve it?

(NEWSER) - The shifting sands of entertainment technology make a look at the past decade's movies a tricky proposition simply because standing the test of time means something different almost daily. "The possibility of a digital, on-demand afterlife guarantees at least a theoretically universal long-tail immortality to blockbusters and curiosities alike," New York Times film critic AO Scott writes in summing up the work era succeeded "the rise of the indies in the ’90s." More»

Tyler Perry's newest success defies advertising formula

(NEWSER) - The box office was good to I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which took in $24 million this weekend, USA Today reports. Tyler Perry’s latest flick rode the same under-the-radar marketing blitz that drew legions of Christians and African Americans to his Madea movies. The digitally-animated 9 made $10.9 million this weekend for a five-day haul of $15.3 million, while Inglourious Basterds ($6.5 million), All About Steve ($5.8 million), and The Final Destination ($5.5 million) rounded out the top five. More»

(NEWSER) - Inglourious Basterds had a glorious opening weekend, scalping the box office for $37.6 million to give Quentin Tarantino the best opening of his career, USA Today reports. District 9 continued its strong showing in second place with $18.9 million, while GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra ($12.5 million), The Time Traveler's Wife ($10 million), and Julie & Julia ($9 million) rounded out the top five. More»