Continue reading Disney will continue 'High School Musical' franchise -- smart move?

Disney will continue 'High School Musical' franchise -- smart move? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Viacom (NYSE: VIA), a media company that competes with Disney (NYSE: DIS), Sony (NYSE: SNE), News Corp. (NYSE: NWS), and General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC Universal, and which used to be under one umbrella with CBS (NYSE: CBS), missed expectations with its Q4 results. Adjusted income from continuing operations was 76 cents per diluted share. According to Stocks in the News, that was two pennies below what Wall Street was looking for.

Shares of Viacom were up almost 4% on the report, which was issued on Thursday. I don't think I would have been a buyer on this news. In fact, I found it kind of funny that there was a bid for the stock considering that earnings-per-share declined 10% on a year-over-year basis and revenues were flat.

Continue reading Viacom misses in Q4 -- should investors forget the stock?

Viacom misses in Q4 -- should investors forget the stock? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post is part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst in Money 2008 feature.

Well, 2008 has come and gone. If you were looking to be entertained over the past 12 months, you had a lot of choices. From Batman's battle with the maniacal Joker to Hannah Montana singing her little heart out in 3-D, there was something for everyone. Let's look at five of the hottest properties that made their way into the heart of the cultural mindshare in '08.

Up first is The Dark Knight, the second iteration of director Christopher Nolan's new vision of the Caped Crusader. That movie killed at the box office, and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) could not have been happier. Knight scored almost $1 billion at the global box office. More than half that number was captured in the domestic marketplace. There's no question that the movie mesmerized the collective intellect of the audience. There's also no question that Heath Ledger, who tragically passed away earlier in the year, impressed everyone with his portrayal of the chaotic and cruel Joker villain. I, however, do have a question. Is it just me, or was Knight not as awesome a film as the hype makes it out to be? I saw it, thought it was okay. I don't know, I'm just not sure that this new entry in the cinematic Batman mythos would have brought in as many bucks if the notoriety of Ledger's death wasn't attached to these particular reels of celluloid. To be honest, I didn't think Ledger did that unique of a job. And I thought The Joker's voice was annoying, almost sounding like Sam Raimi -- did anyone else happen to think that? Maybe it's just me. Nevertheless, I salute the success of Knight and respect the project for the impact it had on theaters 'round the world.

Continue reading Best & Worst in Money 2008: Hottest in entertainment

Best & Worst in Money 2008: Hottest in entertainment originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 06 Dec 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.