By Bill Bonfanti on 11/26/2008 12:18 PM

This Thanksgiving weekend, moviegoers can be thankful for 3 new releases; holiday comedy Four Christmases, epic drama Australia and action sequel Transporter 3. There are also 3 major holdovers that can make a nice dent in the box office; last week’s #1 Twilight will try to retain the top spot, while animated comedy, Bolt will try not to slip off too much and of course James Bond will continue to slay audiences with Quantum of Solace.

Four Christmases is a holiday comedy that forces an unmarried couple (Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn) to attend four Christmas celebrations in one day. The question is why Vince, why? After last year’s box office bomb Fred Claus, why in the world is Vince Vaughn starring in another Christmas themed movie? Was he visited by 3 ghosts that told him he had to change his comedy ways before its too late and discover the comedy in Christmas? Furthermore,...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/25/2008 3:22 PM

It’s time to take a look at some of the upcoming releases for the month of December. There are quite a bunch of films storming multiplexes, some that look great and some not so much.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/24/2008 2:46 PM

Twilight kicked major butt at the box office this weekend, grossing $70.6M, the fourth biggest November opening of all time.   Twilight grossed $36M on Friday (including Thursday midnight showings), then fell 41% to $21M on Saturday, followed by another dip of 35% Sunday to gross $13.7M. As impressive as its total weekend gross is, the declines do not bode well for Twilights future at the box office. With much of the upfront demand out of the way, Twilight will most likely take a big tumble next weekend. The only chance of having legs at the box office is if teen girls come back for repeated showings, very much like they did for Titanic. However, Titanic was 10 years ago and moviegoers habits have changed drastically since then. These days’ movies generally don’t have a long run at the box office like they used to. I remember when I was a kid, seeing ads in the newspaper that said, Back...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/21/2008 4:55 PM

The Shield, an amazing series comes to an end this Tuesday.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/20/2008 4:25 PM

This is sure to be a huge weekend at the multiplexes as the big screen adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s best-selling vampire novel, Twilight, is set to take a nice bite out of the box office and Disney unleashes its new animated canine comedy, Bolt. Holdovers, Quantum of Solace and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa are also set to perform well to make this a big box office weekend indeed. The top 4 films alone should have a total gross in the neighborhood of $160M.

Twilight is sure to be #1 with its rabid fan base in a full frenzy for this movie. Advance ticket sales have been through the roof and reviews have been decent. Most people in the industry are comparing the box office chances of Twilight to the success of the Harry Potter movies. I for one think this comparison is weak at best. There is nothing similar about these franchises other than the fact that they started as hit novels. The...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/19/2008 1:38 PM

I love TV. I don’t know what I’d do without it. In the spirit of that love, I’d like to share my thoughts about the current TV season. I watch so many shows that I’ll be breaking down each TV round up by network, and today we are going to take a look at FOX.

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/17/2008 5:04 PM

A movie based on the board game, Monopoly... Really?

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/17/2008 2:42 PM

Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig in his second outing as super spy James Bond, took the box office by force this weekend, taking the #1 spot with $70.4M. This was the highest debut ever for a James Bond film, crushing the previous record of $47M set by 2002’s Die Another Die, starring Pierce Brosnan in his last outing as Mr. Bond. Quantum of Solace also surged 70% from the opening weekend gross of Craig’s first Bond film, Casino Royale, which made $40.8M in its first frame. 

Among holdovers, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa enjoyed a healthy second weekend, slipping 43% to gross $36.1M for a total cume of $118M. The 43% drop was on par with the second weekend drops of this year’s other animated film hits, Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E, which went on to gross $215M and $223M respectively. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa should end up in the same range. 

Role Models, starring Paul...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/13/2008 10:57 AM

James Bond is back in Quantum of Solace, the 22nd entry in the popular franchise and he has the box office all to himself this weekend. Daniel Craig returns in his second outing as the dashing spy and expectations are through the roof after the successful reboot of the franchise with 2006’s Casino Royale. Casino Royale was met with universal applause for its grittier take on the Bond character, which is more in line with the action series of today, such as the Jason Bourne trilogy. Unlike other James Bond films which were self contained, Quantum of Solace is different from the other films in the franchise in that it is more like a sequel with the story continuing from the last film. The film picks up with Bond seeking revenge for the murder of his girlfriend, Vesper, in the previous film. During his quest for revenge, Bond stumbles upon a dastardly plot by the shadowy organization known as QUANTUM,...

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By Bill Bonfanti on 11/10/2008 12:29 PM

The freaks from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, dominated the box office this weekend, grossing $63.5M, and had the seventh biggest opening of all time for an animated feature. It also enjoyed the best opening for any animated film this year, just edging out this summer’s hit, WALL-E, which grossed $63.1M on its opening weekend.

Role Models starring Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott as two men under a court order to mentor two kids scored big in its first weekend grossing $19.3M. This was a great opening for this movie and it should perform well over the next couple of weeks as the reviews have been good and word of mouth will be positive. This is exactly the kind of success that both Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott needed to cement their status as bankable comedy stars.

This weekend’s final new release, Soul Men, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac opened to a disappointing $5.6M. This...

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