Guess we've got to hand it to Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. I oftentimes criticize the enormous compensation packages of celebrity thespians, but I'll give credit where credit is due. These two stars have powered News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Marley and Me to great success (I suppose that dog helped out, too).

In its second weekend out in the marketplace, the film was again in the top slot at domestic theaters, with current estimates pegging its three-day gross at around $24 million. Marley is now well past the $100 million mark.

Another movie is doing well at the box office, one that I thought wasn't going to be so hot. Again, it has a big star to thank, to some degree at least. Adam Sandler and his Bedtime Stories flick, distributed by Disney (NYSE: DIS), came in second over the weekend, grossing about $20 million. It's total tally is at $85 million after two weekends.

Then there's Brad Pitt's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, from Viacom (NYSE: VIA). Button was third with $18 million, and now has almost $80 million in its box-office bank account.

Continue reading 'Marley and Me' tops first box-office weekend of the year

'Marley and Me' tops first box-office weekend of the year originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of our Money Face-Offs feature. Let us know who you think comes out ahead in this head-to-head match-up, and check out our other Money Face-Off posts.

In October 2005, I went to hear Bono, the lead singer of rock band U2 and global poverty-fighter, at New York University. He wasn't there to sing, although he was met outside the door by a crowd of adoring fans. He was there to advocate for the world's poor, sick, and hungry, sharing top billing with renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs.

During his talk, Bono explained how Sachs was his mentor, teaching him about the roots of poverty in the developing world, traveling with him to Africa, and convincing him it was possible to end global poverty. But lately, he lamented, when he called Sachs, he was told, "Sorry, he's with Angelina Jolie."

That line brought down the house. At that point, film actress Jolie was just coming under Sachs' tutelage. She was an increasingly important celebrity advocate for the poor, but she had nowhere near the creds of Bono, who was that year nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and named Time magazine's person of the year.

Fast forward two years and the picture has changed a bit. Bono is still large on the world stage as a humanitarian, social activist and rock star. But Jolie, in large part due to constant media focus on her relationship with actor Brad Pitt, has lately become a more prominent fixture in the news media.

Jolie has been a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Refugee Agency since 2001, but her involvement with Pitt starting in 2005 has increased her influence. Marketers now rank her among the most influential celebrities in the world. She has been photographed repeatedly on UN missions to Africa and Asia, adopting three children from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: Bono vs. Angelina Jolie

Money Face-Off: Bono vs. Angelina Jolie originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Kudos to a reader named Kathleen for pointing out that we missed "vetted" in our list of the most overused buzzwords. I also agree with her that the mashing together of celebrity couple names like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (Brangelina) has got to stop.

We probably should have vetted our buzzword list with Kathleen (who didn't give her last name) before publishing it. Vetted, like all buzzwords, is a fancy-sounding word that describes something simple. It started out meaning reviewing or checking out for accuracy as in the qualifications of a nominee for a cabinet position on an article for scientific journal. Now, it's being bandied about to describe every type of review. For example, officials in Louisville are vetting a dog ordinance. When words like vetting get overused, their original meaning becomes diluted.

Finally, please dear God, when will the name mashing madness end? I mean first there was Bennifer, now Brangelina. I think Stephen Colbert created the ultimate celebrity couple when he merged William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman into Filliam H. Muffman. With the 2008 presidential election gearing up, I'm afraid the name mashing will only get worse. I'll get the process started with Hillbama (Hillary Cilnton and Barack Obama).

--Jonathan Berr is the editor of http://www.desperateinvestors.com

Vetted deserves a place in Buzzword Hall of Shame as does Brangelina originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 29 Dec 2006 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So Time Warner opened this morning at 16.93, and this afternoon it closed at 17.36, a 2.78 % gain.

2.78%. That was the change today. Not bad. Not good.

What does 2.78% gain mean, really?

Well, let's think about what a 2.78 % gain would have meant at certain moments in history.

• 1066 was the year of the Norman Conquest of England. A 2.78% gain would have meant the Normans invaded in June of 1095.
• In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittberg Cathedral. A 2.78% gain would have resulted in 97.6 Theses nailed to the door of the Wittberg Cathedral.
• Abraham Lincoln began the Gettysburg Address with the famous words, "Four score and seven years ago." (This is apparently how you say the number 87 if you are a president in the nineteenth century.) A 2.78% gain would have forced him to begin the Gettysburg Address, "Four score and 7.19 years ago."
• In 1988, the Scottish band The Proclaimers had an enormous hit with the single "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)". A 2.78% gain would have forced The Proclaimers to re-name that song "I'm Gonna Be (513.9 Miles)".
• Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, and Morgan Freeman all starred in the 1995 thriller Seven. A 2.78% gain would have forced the movie to be called Seven-Point-One-Nine.

  That, dear readers, is what a gain of 2.78% means.

What does 2.78 % mean? TWX closing bell report originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 27 Apr 2006 17:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As if  you hadn't heard enough about hybrids lately -- the Toyota Prius, for instance, or the tomato genetically modified with salmon DNA -- now  Warner Home Video decides to drop a hybrid DVD on us.

That right, a hybrid DVD. What that means is that on one side, it's a standard DVD while on the other side, it's a high-definition DVD (those in the know will refer to it as "HD DVD." That's just FYI).  On May 9, Warner Home Video will roll out the the company's very first hybrid DVD -- the Jennifer Aniston vehicle Rumor Has It -- at $39.99.

Clearly, this news raises some pretty important questions:

• will owning a hybrid DVD will allow you to be as smugly self-righteous as owning a hybrid car?
• will Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston's beau, get insecure because Dodgeball is only available in standard DVD format?
• will the release of the Rumor Has It hybrid overshadow forthcoming Angelina Jolie - Brad Pitt hybrid?

Warner launches DVD hybrid with Jennifer Aniston; Brangelina response unclear originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 26 Apr 2006 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.