rick munarriz posts

Feed

Did Disney's new nature movie make enough green?

Disney (NYSE: DIS) did its best to act like a good corporate citizen when it released a "green" film on Earth Day. The title? Appropriately, it's Earth. I didn't see the movie, I'm sure it was decent enough.

Over the three-day weekend, Boxofficemojo says that Earth grossed $8.5 million as of early estimates. If you include the Wednesday and Thursday showings, Earth has so far banked about $14 million for itself.

In terms of ranking, though, that $8.5 million statistic places the project in fifth place, behind such multiplex entries as Sony's (NYSE: SNE) thriller Obsessed, starring Beyonce, Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) 17 Again, and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) The Soloist.

Continue reading Did Disney's new nature movie make enough green?

Time Warner rescued by Superman?

superman returns billboardSomewhere in the deep dark attics of Time Warner, Superman has been waiting. He's been gathering star dust, or whatever it is that superheroes gather when they lie in attics so long. Up until last year, he was stored right next to Batman -- until he, you know, Begined with the $200 million, eighth-highest-grossing movie of 2005.

It was about time Superman answered the call and swooped down to save Time Warner from its no-big-movie-having self, says Rick Munarriz for the Motley Fool. The company has no top-10 movies this year, despite big hopes with action block-wanna-be-busters V for Vendetta, Firewall, and Poseidon.

That will certainly change with Superman Returns, says Munarriz, and he doesn't even much care if the movie doesn't make back its $260 million production budget. If people love it (and they will!), "it can turn the spigot for more cost-effective sequels in the coming years. This is about more than just one film or one Halloween season with a few more trick-or-treating Superman kiddies than in years past. It's about making a statement."

I, for one, hope Superman can save Time Warner -- if only for the fun I'll have writing headlines about it. [Photo opendoorexit]

Will eBay justify Skype purchase through ringtones? No, says Fool, but take a look at songs

cell phone in the coffee shopThere's nothing like a ringtone to set a girl apart from the other hangers-out at the coffee shop. Ringtone sales have been huge, says the Motley Fool's Rick Aristotle Munarriz, for companies like Infospace. But when Skype started selling ringtones, it was to a big ol' yawn from users - who really needs to set his computer ringtone apart from the other computers in his home office?

Munarriz sees a lot of potential, however, in the music download market. His belief is that Skype's 100 million-plus registered users might finally be monetized through music (and, naturally, video downloads and concert tickets), at last justifying eBay's purchase.

I have a hard time seeing this as such a huge advantage, personally - I'm a faithful Skype user, but I've never spent a penny with them. And music won't be the place where I start.

I own a few shares of eBay and zero Skype ringtones.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-74.9212,454.83
NASDAQ-1.852,837.53
S&P 500-2.861,317.82

Last updated: May 28, 2012: 10:35 PM

Hot Stocks

General Electric

19.20-0.05(-0.26)

Alcoa

8.630.00(0.00)

Apple Inc

562.29-3.03(-0.54)

Google Inc 'A'

591.53-12.13(-2.01)

Bank of America

7.15+0.01(+0.14)

Wal-Mart Stores

65.31+0.24(+0.37)

Exxon Mobil Corp

82.08-0.53(-0.64)

Ford

10.60+0.01(+0.09)

Citigroup

26.47-0.19(-0.71)

IBM

194.30-1.79(-0.91)

Yahoo

15.36+0.01(+0.07)

Starbucks

54.56-0.20(-0.37)

Microsoft

29.06-0.01(-0.03)

Home Depot

49.44-0.27(-0.54)

DailyFinance Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance

Page Loaded in 1338258919418 ms.