Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Dark Knight will not rest. According to Boxofficemojo, the superhero flick finished in first place yet again over the weekend. It grossed an estimated $26 million at domestic theaters. Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Pineapple Express put forth a valiant effort to beat the Bat, but it came up a little short. That film came in second with roughly $22 million for the three-day weekend. It debuted on Wednesday, and its total gross to date is around $40 million. Sony was smart in opening it early so that it might gain some positive word of mouth for the weekend. Any movie going up against Dark Knight needs whatever assist it can get. Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow are becoming quite the Hollywood kings of R-rated youth-targeted comedies, and Pineapple Express will only serve to further cement their dominion in Tinsel Town.

Coming in third was The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, distributed by General Electric's (NYSE: GE) Universal. The fantasy flick took in $16 million and its total tally stands at $70 million. An okay performance, but nothing special. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 from Time Warner was in fourth place with a $10.7 million take. That wasn't too good for a film that I thought had a lot of buzz, but the budget on the project isn't too steep at under $30 million, so maybe this one will do all right. Sony's Step Brothers took hold of fifth position. Disney (NYSE: DIS) continues to do horribly with its bomb Swing Vote. It dropped to ninth place.

So Time Warner's studio division will have the success of The Dark Knight to look forward to in future quarters as the movie, which now has over $440 million to its credit, progresses through home video and other ancillary channels. Disney will not have anything to look forward to from Swing Vote. And here's something else for Time Warner: Star Wars: The Clone Wars opens August 15. Time Warner will bring the cartoon to the silver screen ahead of the animated TV series that is set to debut later on. I think Clone Wars will surprise everyone by doing better than expected. The merchandise from Hasbro (NYSE: HAS) is out in the marketplace now pushing George Lucas' new chapter in his famous franchise. May the Force be with the multiplex.

Disclosure: I own Disney and GE; positions can change at any time.

'The Dark Knight' continues its heroic box-office performance originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hasbro

Yet, the stock is down today, as of this writing, by over 2%. What the heck? Well, one thing that should be noted on the earnings growth is that it really isn't as huge as it appears on the surface. Last year at this time, the company took back some warrants issued to George Lucas' media empire that caused the GAAP earnings to come in at quite a low number. If you take the effect of them out of the equation, then, unfortunately, earnings only grew this quarter by a measly penny.

Of course, it's also a tepid market day, so that could also be working against the stock. However, inflation is an issue as well. According to this article from Reuters, the specter of rising input costs is being felt. But does this mean I should no longer be bullish on the company? While I feel that inflation is something to watch with Hasbro, I remain bullish on the shares, although I would wait for a pullback so a higher yield can be received for one's investment dollars. It's difficult, I suppose, to be bullish on a toy company when I am personally bearish on both the economy and the equities markets, but I do like the recent strength of Hasbro's stock and I like the prospects for its brands (e.g., Star Wars, Transformers) ahead of the holiday season. Hasbro's portfolio is keeping me going...hopefully it will keep the stock going, too.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Hasbro beats expectations, but the stock sells off -- what gives? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

At a mere $276 million, celebrity talk-show host and entertainment billionaire Oprah Winfrey could afford to buy Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), which closed Tuesday at $5.91 per share and keeps on climbing to over $6.50 a share in morning trading. The story alone and the associated publicity would be worth at least that. Furthermore, she could at least make an offer and demand a meeting with the Federal Reserve Board to discuss the issue.

If her offer was rejected, she would still be able to generate millions of dollars of publicity and perhaps she might want to acquire the asset, in particular if the Fed is going to protect the acquirer from potential losses. She could really become an international mogul, the likes of which has not been seen. We all know that Oprah wants to do good. She is so giving, this could be the ultimate.

I could just see the headlines: Oprah Winfrey takes on JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and the Federal Reserve to rescue John Q. Public.

Continue reading Bear Stearns going too cheap, Oprah Winfrey should buy it

Bear Stearns going too cheap, Oprah Winfrey should buy it originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount studios had a pretty kickin' year at the multiplex in 2007. According to Boxofficemojo.com, Paramount came out on top in terms of market share at 15.5%. It distributed some great hits -- Transformers, the DreamWorks Animation (NYSE: DWA) films Shrek the Third and Bee Movie, Will Ferrel's Blades of Glory comedy, and Eddie Murphy's Norbit. Viacom's movie business seems to be doing better. According to the latest 10Q for the reporting period ending September 30, 2007, operating income for the filmed-entertainment segment was $71.7 million versus a loss of nearly $8 million in the previous year's comparable quarter (the nine-month period still showed a loss). So, Paramount needs to keep the momentum going this year. How will it top the power of last summer's blockbuster Transformers? With a little swashbuckling help from Indiana Jones, of course!

To get things started, the media company sent out a press release alerting fans of fast-paced adventure that the first teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be released on February 14 during ABC's Good Morning America program and in theaters across the globe. For those of us who've been waiting with a will of patience that was oftentimes as excruciating and as taxing as sitting through yet another news item about Britney Spears' latest mental breakdown, this is one heck of a Valentine, although I do hate teaser trailers (they are, after all, such a tease!).

Will the new Indy flick be a big hit this summer? I think it will be, although it isn't an absolute given, since a lot of the younger demos probably find the Raiders aesthetic a bit antiquated these days; plus, there will be stiff competition from Disney's (NYSE: DIS) new Pixar cartoon Wall-E, Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Dark Knight, and Marvel's (NYSE: MVL) Incredible Hulk project. Still, we're talking about George Lucas and Steven Spielberg here, and they still retain a lot of cultural pull with all demographics. Viacom and Paramount will probably be happy with the results from Crystal Skull come the summer , although I think it's safe to assume that Lucas and Spielberg will be taking a large portion of the grosses. Nevertheless, Viacom is in on the action, and I'm sure it wouldn't want it any other way.

Disclosure: I own shares in Disney and Marvel.

Indiana Jones could deliver big profits for Viacom (VIA) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been three weeks since our Money Face-Off feature ran here at BloggingStocks and on AOL, offering you the opportunity to share who you though had the financial edge in a series of twenty head-to-head match-ups. So I thought I'd take another look and see how things have worked out.

It's hard to pick just one big winner. In terms of the largest lead over a rival, Ivanka Trump easily beats Paris Hilton with 89% of the vote. Others holding big leads over their opponents include Tiger Woods, Warren Buffett, Steven Spielberg, and Rupert Murdoch.

In terms of receiving the most votes, the clear leader is the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up, with just short of 150,000 votes. Other big vote getters were Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, Rudy Giuliani vs. Michael Bloomberg, and Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs. In terms of the liveliest discussions in the comments, the winners are Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart, Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, and Bono vs. Angelina Jolie. Also check out the comments for the J.K. Rowling vs. J.R.R Tolkien, Tiger Woods vs. David Beckham, and Ivanka Trump vs. Paris Hilton posts.

As for the face-off posts here that got the most attention, the clear winner is Erin Burnett vs. Maria Bartiromo, with more than 13,000 hits. Lindsay Lohan vs. Britney Spears and Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart also attracted lots of readers.

Results for all the face-offs follow below, but keep in mind that the voting is still open. It's not too late to add your vote or let us know what you think.

Continue reading Money Face-Off Big Winners: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Ivanka Trump, Erin Burnett

Money Face-Off Big Winners: Oprah, Tiger Woods, Ivanka Trump, Erin Burnett originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Oct 2007 12:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been a week since our Money Face-Off posts ran here on BloggingStocks, and less than that since the Money Face-Offs were featured on the AOL welcome page, and the response has been terrific. Many of the face-off polls have had more than 50,000 votes, a couple of them approaching 100,000.

The biggest response came to the Oprah Winfrey vs. Martha Stewart match-up. So far, about 75 percent of respondents feel that Oprah is the more successful media magnate. Not that much surprise there, as Oprah's fans are legion. Interestingly, though, of the twenty-some comments the post has received, most of them are pro-Martha.

Another clear leader is Bill Gates over rival Steve Jobs. About three quarters of poll votes have gone his way, despite all the buzz recently about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and the popularity of its products. Maybe readers are just happy that Gates is stepping down. Let us know what you think.

Alan Greenspan seems to be everywhere these days, promoting his new book, including Comedy Central's The Daily Show and NPR's Fresh Air. In our match-up of the current and former Fed chairs, Ben Bernanke vs. Alan Greenspan, more than 70 percent of respondents have voted for Greenspan. Comments to the post are mixed, but seem to me to focus on Greenspan, whether pro or con.

Continue reading Money Face-Off recap: Oprah and Tiger and Buffett, oh my!

Money Face-Off recap: Oprah and Tiger and Buffett, oh my! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:40:00 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 other Money Face-Off posts.

For pretentious film students and pop-culture-savvy hipsters alike, it's a debate as old as the hills of Tatooine ... who is the greatest movie mogul of all time? Is it George Lucas, mastermind behind the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series, or Steven Spielberg, director of such Oscar-nominated fare as E.T., Schindler's List, and Saving Private Ryan. The pair always come up in conversation next to one another, and they will be forever linked through Raiders of the Lost Ark -- the first Indiana Jones movie -- which Lucas scripted and executive produced, and Spielberg directed.

Let's take a look at the resumes. Lucas assumed the director's chair for four of the six Star Wars movies (the original 1977 film and the three prequels), and American Graffiti, all of which he wrote. His name appears in the production credits of 47 past and upcoming projects (according to IMDB.com), including multiple video-game titles. He's been nominated four times for an Academy Award -- for the direction and the writing of Star Wars (the original) and American Graffiti. Other than a 1992 memorial award, he has never won.

Continue reading Money Face-Off: George Lucas vs. Steven Spielberg

Money Face-Off: George Lucas vs. Steven Spielberg originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.