Seuss' Lorax Slated to Be 3D Movie

'Project X' takes second, beating 'Act of Valor' and 'Safe House'

(NEWSER) - The tree-loving furry thing in Dr. Seuss' The Lorax helped set a 2012 box office record by opening with $70.7 million this weekend, trouncing The Vow's $41 million open last month, the Los Angeles Times reports. Raunchy party flick Project X took second place with a solid $20.8 million debut. Filling out the top five were holdovers Act of Valor ($13.7 million), Safe House ($7.2 million), and Tyler Perry's Good Deeds ($7 million). Also, The Artist made its best showing so far with $3.9 million after winning the Best Picture Oscar last Sunday. More»

Another Dr. Seuss film disaster

(NEWSER) - The Lorax may have a sound environmental message, but it's lost in a subpar movie that warps Dr. Seuss' original sentiment. One critic found the movie so vile he was inspired to write a Seuss-esque poem of his own:

• "There’s no fun in The Lorax, no joy in its theme / It’s as boring as sales tax / I’m ready to ream," writes Kyle Smith in the New York Post . "The Lorax stands small as a hectoring runt / Even Al Gore’s ax was never so blunt." As for the songs: "You’ll forget them before this young March hits the ides / I have heard better tunes on Clay Aiken’s B-sides."

Thieves grabbed bronze statue from Audrey Geisel's estate

(NEWSER) - Some Grinch has made off with Dr. Seuss' very own Lorax: Thieves apparently stole a two-foot, 300-pound bronze statue of the creature from the garden of Theodore Geisel's 90-year-old widow over the weekend, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune . "It’s a valuable piece because there are only two of them, and it’s an iconic figure," says the property manager of Audrey Geisel's La Jolla estate, who noticed the statue missing Monday morning. "You can't sell it on eBay," he warns. "If you return it, we won’t press any charges." More»

'Bippolo Seed' and other stories found in old magazines

(NEWSER) - Cat In the Hat fans will soon be able to get to know Gustav the Goldfish, the Zinniga-Zanniga, and other Dr. Seuss characters not seen since the '50s. The stories were discovered in old magazine pages offered for sale by a Massachusetts dentist and collector of the beloved children's author's work, NPR reports. A Random House exec traveled to his home, signed him up to write a book about Seuss, and jumped at the chance to publish the lost stories he had compiled. More»

Seuss' elephant tale succeeds where others have failed

(NEWSER) - The big-screen adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! succeeds in large part because the film's actors are not seen. "Unlike those behind the recent live-action grotesqueries The Grinch and Cat in the Hat," observes Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, the makers of the CG-animated Horton succeed by calling on "the great, good medic of metrical writing." More»