Last week at this time, I was reporting on the success of Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne Johnson, an actor who used to be a full-time grappler known as The Rock for World Wrestling Entertainment (NYSE: WWE). The film opened in the number-one position, taking in $24.4 million.

Well, I'm sorry to say now that the project might not have the best legs in the business. It dropped to fourth place this time around after grossing an amount that, as of early estimates, is over 46% less than what it grossed in its debut weekend.

Continue reading Disney's 'Race to Witch Mountain' loses its magic

Disney's 'Race to Witch Mountain' loses its magic originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jordan Stein over at Minyanville wrote a great piece about how the economy is causing a little bit of deflation for the salaries of Hollywood stars. As an example, Stein pointed out how Disney (NYSE: DIS) doesn't want to go overboard in terms of compensating Nicolas Cage for his services in the next National Treasure feature. That's a popular franchise, and Cage is arguably a key to its success. But guess what? Doesn't matter, because money is tight, and Hollywood managements need to inject some sanity into negotiations.

Which, of course, has always been the problem. There's never been any sanity when it comes to negotiations in Tinsel Town. Stars are overpaid, and they take too much of the gross dollars generated by celluloid assets. If we were talking about private studios, I wouldn't mind. But I own shares of Disney and believe that overpaid talent is one reason why the stock hasn't done much over a decade.

However, I'm not so sure that things are changing that much in Hollywood. If you read the entire article that Stein referenced, you'll note that it implies that individuals such as Will Smith and Johnny Depp aren't seeing reductions in their compensation packages. It might be great that Mickey Rourke may have been offered only $250,000 by Marvel (NYSE: MVL) for an opportunity to be in the Iron Man sequel, but unless bigger stars see reductions in their bottom lines, then the system cannot truly change.

Continue reading Is the economy hurting Hollywood paychecks?

Is the economy hurting Hollywood paychecks? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

According to Boxofficemojo.com, the fight for top dog at the domestic multiplex is a close one. Both Bangkok Dangerous, from Lions Gate Entertainment (NYSE: LGF), and Tropic Thunder, from Viacom (NYSE: VIA), have almost the same statistic. Bangkok is estimated to have taken in $7.8 million, while Thunder has approximately $7.5 million to its credit. It will be interesting to see who ultimately takes the honors, but I can tell you that from my perspective, it wasn't a great weekend for Lions Gate shareholders.

The reason I say this is because I thought Nicolas Cage would have brought in more moviegoers. The marketing campaign seemed to predict an opening of well over $10 million. Heck, I would have preferred $20 million considering that the budget on the picture has been reported to be about $45 million. But I must remember that we are no longer in the competitive, fast marketplace of summer. The month of September is certainly more mellow, although that doesn't mean that it can't have a breakout hit.

Sony (NYSE: SNE) came in third with House Bunny, and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) continues to add to its Dark Knight treasure chest at position number four. Batman now has over $512 million to his domestic credit. Imagine all the upgrades to the Batcave that such an amount of money could finance!

Continue reading 'Bangkok Dangerous' roars over the weekend for Lions Gate

'Bangkok Dangerous' roars over the weekend for Lions Gate originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Nicolas Cage helps give Disney a holiday present

Nicolas Cage helps give Disney a holiday present originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 24 Dec 2007 16:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.