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North American box office: ‘A Christmas Carol’ generates little holiday cheer

4 hours ago | www.flickfilosopher.com | See recent FlickFilosopher news »

“That’s opening already?” someone asked me incredulously when I mentioned A Christmas Carol, and as I explained to him: Disney knows it’ll play at least middling well through the entire holiday season, particularly with no Harry Potter movie to contend with (though it will have another Disney toon, The Princess and the Frog, as competition). And Disney will have to milk it for all it’s worth -- it cost $200 million to make; whether it’s worth that is your call -- because a $30 million opening is not great. Nine Novembers ago, Jim Carrey delivered another kiddie Christmas flick, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, to an opening of $55 million... though Robert Zemeckis’s The Polar Express didn’t do quite so well when it opened in November 2004: $23 million. Then again, as Box Office Mojo notes: »

- MaryAnn Johanson

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“Carol” Has A Dickens Of A Time

15 hours ago | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »

Moviegoers were about as tight-fisted at the box office over the weekend as Ebenezer Scrooge was at the grindstone in his day. The top film, Disney's A Christmas Carol, which stars Jim Carrey as Scrooge and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, opened with an estimated $31 million, far below analysts' expectations of about $40-45 million -- and less than half what Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa earned when it opened with $63.1 million during the comparable weekend a year ago. But while most critics called the performance of the movie disappointing, particularly for a movie that was said to have cost close to $200 million, others pointed out that it took in more than Robert Zemeckis's previous motion-capture animation films, including The Polar Express, which opened with $23 million, and Beowulf, with $28 million. Besides, Disney apparently intends to milk it for another seven weekends before Christmas. "You know you're in for a marathon rather than a dash," Chuck Viane, Disney's president of domestic theatrical distribution, told Reuters. Slipping to second place was the Michael Jackson concert documentary This Is It, which dropped a moderate 39.7 percent to $14 million. (It continued to perform strongly overseas, however.) The comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats opened in third place with a better-than-expected $13.3 million. Another new film, The Fourth Kind, followed with $12.5 million. Rounding out the top five was Paranormal Activity, which fell 48 percent to $8.6 million. Nevertheless, the $15,000 film's total gross has now risen to $97 million, putting it on track to pass the $100-million mark before next weekend. Meanwhile the critically praised Precious opened in just 18 theaters with $1.8 million -- or a staggering $100,000 per theater. »

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

18 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

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It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited but you weren’t as excited and… »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

18 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

- - -

It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited but you weren’t as excited and… »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

18 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

- - -

It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited but you weren’t as excited and… »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

18 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

- - -

It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited but you weren’t as excited and… »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

18 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Hoskins, Colin Firth

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

- - -

It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited but you weren’t as excited and… »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Movie Review: Disney's A Christmas Carol

19 hours ago | The Movie Fanatic | See recent The Movie Fanatic news »

Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Release Date: November 6, 2009

Running Time: 96 mins.

MPAA Rating: PG

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

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Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none It happens every year, almost without fail.  Christmas day comes around and as I am tearing through my presents there is always that one gift.  You know the one where the person giving it to you is so excited they hold it back so you have to open it last so they can make a big spectacle of it.  Usually the bigger deal they make, the more I dread it.  Not because I am ungrateful, but my appreciation hardly ever matches their excitement.  Then there’s that whole awkward exchange where they think you don’t like it and you tell them you do but they don’t buy it because they were super excited »

- jndubbs@gmail.com (Jeremy Welsch)

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Weekend Box Office: 'Christmas Carol' and 'Precious' Bow Big

22 hours ago | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

I was considering a title pun on Richard Kelly getting Box-ed out -- which works on multiple levels!! -- but I couldn't pull the trigger. That, though, is my main concern this weekend, to be honest: I am heartbroken (though not surprised) that Kelly's wonderful, hugely ambitious sci-fi flick couldn't get a foothold at the box office. People at my Thursday night screening thought they had seen one of the worst movies ever, which I guess is what happens when you're led to expect harmless PG-13 horror and get something so radically different. I also suspect that Donnie Darko would have been similarly received had it opened on 2,600 screens instead of building its cult cred in mini-release and on DVD.

Anyway, The Boxearned $7.9 million -- not a total disaster for a $25 million movie, but not exactly a resume-builder for Kelly to the extent he has commercial ambitions. It was roundly »

- Eugene Novikov

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Us Box Office Visited By Three Ghosts...

9 November 2009 1:15 AM, PST | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »

It came as a surprise to very few people when A Christmas Carol topped the Us box office this weekend, since studio chiefs and analysts were all visited by ghosts pretty much guaranteeing it. That it took $31 million in the process, however, was something of a disappointment, despite doing better than The Polar Express, director Robert Zemeckis' last attempt at a Christmas classic.A whopping 74% of that total, however, came from 3D screenings, reaffirming the box office power of the third dimension, and if Carol does manage to follow The Polar Express' model and keep packing them in until January, it could end up doing extremely well despite the relatively slow start.It was still some distance ahead of the competition, however: Michael Jackson's This Is It fell to second with $14m, while new release The Men Who Stare At Goats took $13.3m, which is better than Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, »

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A Christmas Carol Review

9 November 2009 12:59 AM, PST | Filmofilia | See recent Filmofilia news »

Charles Dickens’ beloved holiday story “A Christmas Carol” gets the 3D treatment, and the result is a visually stunning big-screen experience I’m sure many cinema goers out there will enjoy to the fullest extent. As far as I’m concerned, my feelings about this one are mixed.

The story doesn’t really require a lengthy introduction. The holiday season is in full swing, and Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) despises Christmas and everyone celebrating it. Then he’s visited by three ghosts who take him on an emotional journey, and before you know it, his meanness is gone for good…read more [ScreeningLog]

It’s hard to believe that Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol 166 years ago, but here we are in 2009 and Robert Zemeckis has spent $180 million to produce a motion-capture animated film that retells the famous story. The movie opens this weekend on more than 2,000 digital 3D screens and »

- Allan Ford

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Moviegoers Stingy with Scrooge

8 November 2009 5:22 PM, PST | Box Office Mojo | See recent BoxOfficeMojo.com news »

It was a miserly start to the Holiday movie season as the high profile movie positioned to bring the most cheer, A Christmas Carol, stumbled a bit out of the gate. Overall weekend business was off 14 percent from the same timeframe last year, when Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa landed, and was on the low end for early November.

Haunting approximately 6,500 screens at 3,683 sites, A Christmas Carol churned out an estimated $31 million, selling fewer tickets than Elf and The Santa Clause 2 and far fewer than star Jim Carrey's last Christmas movie, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. On the other hand, Carol's opening grossed more than The Polar Express, the previous performance-capture animated Christmas movie from director Robert Zemeckis that chugged strongly throughout the 2004 season despite its disappointing $23.3 million start, but that picture was muted by The Incredibles whereas Carol had no such direct competitor. According to distributor Walt Disney Pictures' exit polling, »

- Brandon Gray

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Weekend Box Office - Christmas Comes Early... Again

8 November 2009 4:57 PM, PST | cinemablend.com | See recent Cinema Blend news »

It was one thing when Wal-mart pushed up its Christmas-time product pimping from Thanksgiving to the end of Halloween. It was even more annoying when Hollywood joined the bandwagon. And yet, while Disney's release of A Christmas Carol a solid seven weeks ahead of Christmas seems like ridiculous timing, it may be the movie's only prayer of recovering a painfully high budget. The $200 million Buena Vista sunk into transforming Jim Carrey into creepy CGI Scrooge is the most Robert Zemeckis has spent yet on his motion-capture animation obsession. It's also more than his last movie, Beowulf, grossed world-wide. Following this weekend's limp $31 million first place opening it looks like the film will need a Christmas miracle to break even. So, what were the execs over at Bv thinking? They likely saw what happened with Zemeckis' The Polar Express and figured lightning would probably strike twice. Five years ago Express opened »

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A Christmas Carol Tops Weekend Box Office with $31 Million

8 November 2009 9:23 AM, PST | TheHDRoom | See recent TheHDRoom news »

A Christmas Carol unsurprisingly topped the weekend box office with an estimated $31 million in receipts.

The latest foray by Robert Zemeckis into motion-capture filmmaking came in lower than initial expectations but easily bested the $23.3 million open by The Polar Express, his last holiday CGI film. With the holiday season only now ramping up, A Christmas Carol should continue to play strong for weeks to come.

Joining A Christmas Carol as newcomers crossing the $10 million opening weekend mark are The Men Who Stare at Goats starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor with $13.3 million and The Fourth Kind starring Milla Jovovich with $12.5 million. None of those could top Michael Jackson's This Is It which scored second place with $14 million.

The other newcomer, The Box, failed to cross $10 million with a $7.9 million gross. It was edged out by Paranormal Activity which added another $8.6 million to brings its domestic tally to $97.4 million overall.

The »

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A Christmas Carol Rings in $9 Million Friday Box Office Opening

7 November 2009 11:01 AM, PST | TheHDRoom | See recent TheHDRoom news »

Disney's A Christmas Carol easily won the battle of four new films at the box office on Friday by pulling in an estimated $9 million.

The Robert Zemeckis motion-capture holiday spectacle starring Jim Carrey in numerous roles bested mo-cap The Polar Express' $6.2 opening Friday but fell a little short of mo-capped Beowulf's $10 million. At its current clip, A Christmas Carol should wrap the weekend with a few million of $25 million.

Second place went to The Fourth Kind with Milla Jovovich at $5 million while The Men Who Stare at Goats earned $4.6 million behind George Clooney and Ewan McGregor.

Richard Kelly's The Box was the odd man out, coming in at $2.85 million or fifth place. Complete estimated weekend box office results will be available midday Sunday. »

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Zemeckis Wants Starr And McCartney For Yellow Submarine Remake

6 November 2009 5:36 PM, PST | WENN | See recent WENN news »

Moviemaker Robert Zemeckis wants surviving Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to play themselves in his planned remake of the Fab Four's animated classic Yellow Submarine.

Zemeckis and Disney bosses have brokered a deal that would allow them to rework the 1968 film and create a performance-capture 3-D digital production.

And Zemeckis - the man behind The Polar Express and Jim Carrey's new animated version of A Christmas Carol - wants to get the Beatles involved.

He tells MTV, "We haven’t gotten the word yet on the two surviving Beatles, whether they’re interested in doing it or not." »

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Review: ‘A Christmas Carol’

6 November 2009 4:30 PM, PST | The Flickcast | See recent The Flickcast news »

Charles Dickens purists, fear not. Robert Zemeckis remains faithful to the beloved tale, all the while putting his own spin on the story. This version is a little more exciting,  and a lot more sinister than previous outings (it also happens to be in 3D),  but I loved it.

I don’t think I really need to spend much time on the plot. Everyone knows the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the original curmudgeon who hates everyone and everything and is just downright unpleasant. One Christmas Eve, he is visited by four ghosts;  his former business partner Marley;  the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.

After seeing himself through the eyes of others that he visits with these ghosts, Ebenezer changes his wicked ways. His long suffering but loyal employee, Bob Cratchit,  has a son who is very ill and the no »

- Shannon Hood

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Kevin Carr’s Weekly Report Card for 11.06.09

6 November 2009 2:34 PM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

A Christmas Carol Studio: Disney Rated: PG for scary sequences and images. Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins and Robin Wright Penn Directed by: Robert Zemeckis What it’s about: If you don’t know this by now, you should be barred from the holiday season worldwide. What I liked: By this time, you should know exactly what to expect when you get a Robert Zemeckis motion-capture film. Like The Polar Express and Beowulf, A Christmas Carol is heavy on the effects and virtual camerawork and relatively weak on the character and plot. We’ve seen this story adapted so many times in so many forms – from feature films to re-tellings on our favorite 80s sit com – that there is almost no unique way to approach it. The uniqueness of this version is that the full-blown CGI extravaganza hasn’t been done yet. In this sense, it does work. The »

- Kevin Carr

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Zemeckis, Christmas, and the Uncanny Valley

6 November 2009 12:25 PM, PST | newsinfilm.com | See recent newsinfilm news »

This weekend brings Disney’s A Christmas Carol, the third motion capture movie from filmmaker Robert Zemeckis.  Nearly $200 million was spent to re-create multiple performances by Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, and more with the latest technology that captures their expressions and animates their movements using digital, three-dimensional models.

Zemeckis’ first mo-cap movie, The Polar Express, was widely criticized for the “dead eye” effect, which turned a whimsical holiday adaptation into a creepy nightmare for some.  While the techniques have improved since the initial outing, this season’s release rests on the precipice of the uncanny valley, a hypothesis that postulates humans are repulsed by life-like renderings such as robotics and other objects with human qualities.

The phrase was coined in 1970 by Dr. Masahiro Mori, a Japanese roboticist who believed human empathy would exist up until the point where the human-like qualities are between “barely human” and “fully human.”  The robot, »

- Jeff Leins

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Review: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

6 November 2009 10:07 AM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

My feelings towards Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol have always been of two minds. I love the tale from the wit and greed-filled banter to the ghostly apparitions to the grand redemption at the end. The same goes for the multiple film and TV versions of the story. I'm partial to the George C. Scott version from the eighties, but Scrooged and The Muppet Christmas Carol tie for a close second. The problem I have with the story though is that very same magnificent redemption I mentioned as loving not three sentences ago. I've just never been convinced that Scrooge honestly changes for any reason other than selfish self-preservation. Sure he seems concerned about Tiny Tim's imminent demise, but it's his own untended gravestone that really pushes him towards turning over a new leaf isn't it? Now thanks to Robert Zemeckis' continuing desire to avoid telling original stories in favor of digitally manipulated versions of »

- Rob Hunter

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2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003

1-20 of 145 articles from 2009   « Prev | Next »

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