'Little Fockers' is not Great, But Tops the Box Office

Little Fockers debuted at the top of the box office Wednesday but marked the beginning of sluggish movie returns for the holidays.

The movie brought in $7.2 million to $7.3 million range as it debuted domestically in 3,536 theaters. The third installment in the popular series has a long way to go before it meet’s distributor Universal’s expectations of $60 million.

In 2004, Meet the Fockers debuted to more than $12 million on the same Wednesday on its way to a $70 million five-day opening.

In this installment, Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) continues to go at it with his distrustful ex-CIA father-in-law Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro).

Now a proud and trusted father of twins, Samantha (Daisy Tahan) and Henry (Colin Baiocchi), Focker must contend with the responsibilities of their schooling (how to get his twins into the hot local private school?), their upcoming fifth birthday party and renovations to the family home. A lot is going on here, when Jessica Alba appears playing drug rep Andi Garcia.

Is Focker man enough to lead the family once heart patient Jack has departed? Is he a good provider? Does he still fancy his wife? Or, as Jack puts it: "Are you still sexually attracted to my daughter?" In other words, can he be the "God Focker."

Teri Polo, Dustin Hoffman, Barbara Streisand are back and Owen Wilson gets many of the best lines as his ditzy rich pal and love rival Kevin, who Jack believes would make a much more suitable son-in-law.

There’s also a fun performance from Jessica Alba as the sex-bomb who could undermine Focker’s marriage but the possibility generates little suspense. Misunderstandings rather than genuine temptation remains Focker’s undoing.

The Little Fockers get some laughs, but this movie appeared quickly put together to make money during the holiday season. It will, and it's fun in parts.

Relax and go see it, but don't expect a deep plot and great acting.

Harry Potter's Weekend Take: $330 Million

 "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1," cast a spell in more than 50 countries and collected $330 million in global ticket sales.

The tally includes a best-ever U.S. and Canadian debut of $125.1 million in this latest adventure of the teenage sorcerer and his friends at Hogwarts school. Six previous "Potter" films collected $5.4 billion globally for the Warner Bros studio.

In the United States and Canada, last week's champ, comedy "Megamind," came in a distant second with $16.2 million, just ahead of runaway train flick "Unstoppable" with $13.1 million. But given the popularity of the "Potter" movies, the other movies had not been expected to be much competition for No. 1.

The $125.1 million for "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" beat the previous best weekend debut for a "Potter" film in the United States and Canada, which was $102.7 million for "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in November 2005.

The movie, which is based on the final installment of the series of best-selling books by author J.K. Rowling, collected more than $30,000 per theater in just over 4,100 U.S. and Canadian venues. By contrast, "Megamind" took in $4,300 per location in nearly 3,800 theaters.

The movie played in some 54 overseas countries with highlights being 17.5 million pounds ($28 million) in the United Kingdom and A$15 million ($14 million) in Australia.

Amazon Starts Amazon Studios

Amazon.com Inc. is starting a Web business aimed at helping filmmakers get their movies onto the big screen.

Amazon Studios, which the online retailer announced Tuesday, is seeking full-length films and scripts from filmmakers and screenwriters that can be entered through its website, http://studios.amazon.com . It plans to distribute a total of $2.7 million to those who submit the best works by the end of next year. Amazon said this includes an annual award of $100,000 for the best script and $1 million for the best film it receives by Dec. 31, 2011, as well as monthly awards.  This could be the big break an undiscovered filmmaker needs.

Amazon Studios may then produce these projects as feature films through a "first-look" agreement with Warner Bros. Pictures, which means Amazon Studios is obligated to show Warner Bros. the projects first, but if the movie studio passes Amazon Studios can take them elsewhere.

In addition to the annual and monthly awards, it will pay $200,000 to the screenwriter or filmmaker behind a project that it ends up releasing as a feature film. The company will also pay an additional $400,000 if the film brings in over $60 million in U.S. box office sales. This is chump change for Amazon.

Several judges — who include Mark Gil, a producer and former Miramax and Warner Independent Pictures president, and Mike Werb, screenwriter of films including "Face/Off" and "The Mask" — will choose the best movies and scripts.

Amazon already has some experience in the film industry: It owns the Internet Movie Database, or IMDB, and holds a stake in LOVEFiLM International Ltd., which is a European subscription DVD rental company.

'Paranormal Activity 2' Scares its Way to #1 at the Box Office

The news is good for Paranormal Activity 2 as it entered theaters at the top of this weekend's box office. The highly-anticipated follow-up to the low-budget 2007 horror smash stuck to the practical effects and improvisational style of its predecessor. The movie continues the series' tradition of pulling in major bucks as well, making $41.5 million since landing in theaters Friday.  Not too shabby for a film that only cost $3 million to make.

The combination of being released in close proximity to Halloween and the lack of good horror flicks recently had to propel Paranormal 2 to the top. 

It also set the record for the largest three-day opening for a horror film, creeping past Friday the 13th‘s $40.6 million tally from last year. Although Paranormal 2 dropped 35 percent from Friday to Saturday, the haunted-house flick got enough people to storm out of their homes and into movie theaters for a whopping $20.1 million on Friday (including $6.3 million from Thursday midnight showings). The movie also easily surpassed its predecessor’s wide-release opening of $21.1 million.

According to Paramount, 61 percent of the audience was less than 25 years old, that usually means success for a horror movie.  How lonf until we see Paranormal 3?

'The Social Network' Remains #1

Showing that its buzz wasn't short-lived, Facebook movie "The Social Network" topped the box office for the second weekend in a row, with ticket sales down a small 31% from its debut at $15.5 million, according to an estimate from distributor Sony Pictures.

It was a slow weekend at the movies.  With nothing new generating enthusiasm, it was a slow overall weekend at movie theaters. Total receipts were down 15% from the weekend before Columbus Day last year, according to Hollywood.com.

College football games and baseball playoffs may have been factors. But it was also true that none of the new films caught on with young audiences, which often drive big box-office receipts. Instead, "Life As We Know It" and "Secretariat" competed for the adult female demographic, which are historically tougher to attract.

Ticket sales for "The Social Network" dropped only 31% this weekend. That was the second-lowest second weekend drop for any movie in wide release this year, behind "The Tooth Fairy."

Demonstrating that good word of mouth wasn't an isolated phenomenon, "Social Network" enjoyed minimal drops throughout the country, including smaller markets such as Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where receipts were off only 19%.

Combined with healthy weekday grosses, the movie's total take is now $46.1 million. "The Social Network" is now almost certain to be a financial winner for Sony and its co-financier Relativity Media, which spent just under $40 million on production.