The deal wont have benefits right away, and Disney stock sank on the news. Disney expects a short-term profit hit, and Marvel characters from X-Men to Daredevil are locked up in deals with other movie studios and theme parks. But Disneys CEO, Robert Iger, promised an action-packed future.

“Sparks will fly is the expression that comes to mind,” Iger told analysts.

Stan Lee, the 86-year-old co-creator of “Spider-Man” and many more of Marvels most famous characters, said he was thrilled to be informed of the marriage Monday morning.

“I love both companies,” he said. “From every point of view, this is a great match.”

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year and marks Disneys biggest acquisition since it purchased Pixar Animation Studios Inc., the maker of “Up” and “Cars,” for $7.4 billion in stock in 2006.

Marvel would follow another storied comic book publisher into the arms of a media conglomerate. DC Comics, the home of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, was bought by Warner Bros. - now part of Time Warner Inc. - in 1969.

Buying Marvel is meant to improve Disneys following among men and boys. Disney acknowledges it lost some of its footing with guys as it poured resources into female favorites such as “Hannah Montana” and the Jonas Brothers.

“Disney will have something guys grew up with and can experience with their kids, especially their sons,” said Gareb Shamus, whose company Wizard Entertainment Group runs several of the Comic-Con conventions around the nation.

Marvel TV shows already account for 20 hours per week of programming on Disneys recently rebranded, boy-focused cable network, Disney XD, and that looks likely to increase, Iger said. The shows are “right in the wheelhouse for boys,” he said.

There will be some lag before Marvels trove of characters are fully developed at Disney, because of licensing deals Marvel has with other studios.

For example, Sony Corp.s Columbia Pictures is developing the next three “Spider-Man” sequels, starting with “Spider-Man 4″ set for a May 2011 release. News Corp.s 20th Century Fox has the long-term movie rights to the “X-Men,” “Fantastic Four,” “Silver Surfer” and “Daredevil” franchises.

Separately, Viacom Inc.s Paramount Pictures has a five-picture distribution deal for Marvel-made movies, the first of which will be “Iron Man 2,” set for release next May. Paramount said it expects to continue working with Marvel and Disney.

General Electric Co.s Universal Studios has an attraction called Marvel Super Hero Island in Orlando, Fla., that will stay in existence as long as Universal wants to keep it there and follows the contract terms, Universal said.

Disney said it will honor and re-examine Marvels licensing deals upon expiration and may extend the profitable ones. Iger noted that when it bought Pixar, that company also had third-party licensing agreements that eventually expired, allowing the companies to move forward together.

Despite beginning to make its own movies, starting with “Iron Man” last year, licensing remained a key driver of Marvels $206 million and in profit and $676 million in revenue last year. Iger said Disney could give Marvel broader global distribution and better relationships with retailers to sell Marvel products.

However, analyst David Joyce of Miller Tabak & Co. noted that the $4 billion offer was at “full price.”

Source

One film slated to be part of the package is “The Yellow Handkerchief,” a love story starring William Hurt and “Twilight” star Kristen Stewart.

The lineup of independent fare will bolster the films from its three movie studio owners, whose movies together account for about a quarter of the box office revenues reaped by major Hollywood studios. The studio owners have distributed such blockbusters as “Iron Man” and the latest “Indiana Jones” in theaters and DVDs, and those movies will be exclusive to Epix among pay TV operators.

It follows the announcement last week that Epix had signed its first carriage deal with Verizon Communications Inc.s FiOS network, which has 2.5 million customers.

The film output deal also marked a snub to CBS Corp., which was interested in adding the Goldwyn films to its Showtime channel.

The studios decided last May to stop sending their movies to Showtime, which had paid them $300 million per year for the right to show them on pay TV, but was trying to negotiate a drastic cut in fees.

Instead, they partnered in a $150 million startup that promised to show their movies on TV and simultaneously on the Internet on an Epix-branded site, a beta version of which launched in May. The Web site will be restricted to Epix subscribers when it debuts.

Paramount parent Viacom Inc. owns 42 percent of the venture, while Lionsgate owner Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. each own 28.6 percent.

Epix CEO Mark Greenberg said the deal helps demonstrate the channels goal to have a variety of content along with original series, comedy specials and extras such as footage from set visits that are generally saved for special features on DVDs.

He said talks were ongoing with other independent moviemakers and that there would be “at least one more (output) deal done before the launch” on Oct. 1.

Talks with other cable, satellite and telecoms companies to distribute the channel are also in the works, Greenberg said. “A couple of months before you launch is when a lot of these deals come together.”

Epix will have to cut those deals before its invested capital runs out. In the first half of the year, it already paid Paramount $61 million for the rights to its movies, even though it has yet to launch the channel. Greenberg expects Epix to break even on an operational basis 18 months after launch.

“Its a bit of a startup situation and thats always a place where we like to get involved,” Gottlieb said. “We have total confidence that theyre going to launch and be very successful and well be successful alongside them.”

Source

Distributor Warner Bros. said “Terminator Salvation” pulled in $43 million over the same period, plus $13.4 million on opening day Thursday. Its total since debuting was $56.4 million.

The fourth movie in “The Terminator” series came in a bit behind 2003s “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” the last of the franchises installments to star Arnold Schwarzenegger. That third chapter took in $44 million in its first weekend.

Paramounts “Star Trek” held up well with $22 million, coming in at No. 3 and raising its total to $183.5 million. The movie is on the verge of becoming the years top-grossing movie so far, approaching the $193.1 million gross of DreamWorks Animations “Monsters vs. Aliens.”

The previous weekends No. 1 movie, Sonys “Angels & Demons,” fell to fourth-place with $21.4 million, lifting its domestic haul to $81.5 million. “Star Trek” and “Angels & Demons” were close enough on revenues that their ranks could change once final numbers are reported.

Box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com estimates that the industrys overall take for the first three days of the holiday weekend was running even with last year, when the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie had a $100 million three-day debut.

Source

The strong opening for “Obsessed” helped maintain Hollywoods hot streak, with overall revenues at about $112 million, up 23.5 percent from the same weekend last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

The busy summer season starts Friday with 20th Century Foxs spinoff “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” starring Hugh Jackman in the title role he played in three “X-Men” blockbusters.

Studios head into summer on a box-office tear, with receipts running at a record pace. Revenues for the year are at $3.06 billion, up 17.4 percent over last year. Factoring in higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 15.7 percent.

“We have never been in this strong a position heading into the summer season, ever,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

Zac Efrons “17 Again” and Channing Tatums “Fighting” were neck-and-neck for the No. 2 spot. With Sunday estimates of $11.7 million, the Warner Bros. comedy “17 Again” had the edge. After debuting in first-place a week earlier, “17 Again” raised its 10-day total to $40 million.

Rogue Pictures “Fighting,” starring Tatum and Terrence Howard in the story of a rising star in New York Citys underground bare-knuckle fight circuit, debuted with $11.4 million.

The two movies were close enough that rankings could change when final numbers come out Monday.

Paramounts drama “The Soloist” opened at No. 4 with $9.7 million. It stars Jamie Foxx as a schizophrenic music prodigy living on the streets of Los Angeles and Robert Downey Jr. as a reporter who befriends him.

Disneys nature documentary “Earth” premiered in fifth place with $8.6 million, bringing its total to $14.2 million since opening Wednesday.

“Obsessed” was not screened in advance for critics, and those who reviewed it generally trashed the movie as a lame retread of 1987s “Fatal Attraction,” which starred Glenn Close as a demented woman pursuing a married man, played by Michael Douglas.

But “Obsessed” had the lure of singer Knowles stepping out from her pop star image and duking it out with the crazy lady threatening her home and marriage.

Documentaries rarely open in nationwide release or break into the top 10, but Disney aimed for a wide audience with “Earth,” which traces families of polar bears, elephants and humpback whales over the course of a year.

Disney pledged to plant a tree for every viewer who sees the movie in the first week, with the number climbing to more than 2 million after five days. The film was tied to Earth Day and was the first release of the studios Disneynature label.

“We just felt like if we make an event out of this, tied it to this whole plant-a-tree effort, tied it to Earth Day, maybe we could break the mold and come up with the kind of opening that youd be satisfied with on a regular film,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Disneys motion-picture group.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “Obsessed,” $28.5 million.

Source

Films tailored to teen audiences ruled the marketplace for a second weekend. “17 Again” features Zac Efron, star of Walt Disney Co.s “High School Musical” movies. The film and television versions of “Hannah Montana,” also from Disney, star Miley Cyrus.

The total for “17 Again” is “not a shocking number but its still an excellent number,” said Brandon Gray, president of Sherman Oaks, California-based Box Office Mojo.

Year-to-date, domestic ticket sales have climbed 17.3 percent to $2.92 billion, according to Media By Numbers. Attendance is up 16 percent.

“The slate has been stronger,” Gray said in an interview yesterday. “On top of that, there have been some pictures that held up well above the norm.” He cited Clint Eastwoods “Gran Torino” as an example.

Through yesterday, Time Warner led Hollywood studios with $519.2 million in box-office sales, according to Box Office Mojo. News Corp. was second with $501.3 million and Viacom Inc. was third with $458.8 million.

State of Play

In “17 Again,” Efrons character awakens one morning to find that hes 17 years old. The joy of being young again is tempered when he finds himself in the same high school as his children. Matthew Perry stars as the older version of the character.

The film was expected to take in about $19 million, according to the estimate of Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru. Among 80 reviews compiled by the Web site RottenTomatoes.com, 53 were positive.

Universal Pictures political drama “State of Play” opened in second place with sales of $14.1 million. It stars Russell Crowe as a journalist investigating the death of an aide to a congressman and potential presidential candidate played by Ben Affleck. Universal is a unit of General Electric Co.

“Monsters vs. Aliens,” the 3-D feature from Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., earned $12.9 million in its fourth week and remained in third place. The movie, about a group of monsters called on to battle invaders from outer space, is the top- grossing film this year with $162.7 million in overall sales.

In “Hannah Montana: The Movie,” Miley Cyrus plays a teenage star who returns to her hometown to escape the pressure of fame. Her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, co-stars.

“Fast & Furious,” from Universal Pictures, fell to fifth from second with $12.3 million in sales. The film is the fourth in the series about illegal street racing. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, stars of the original “The Fast and the Furious,” return for the first time since the original film to reprise their roles. Diesel made a cameo appearance in “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” in 2006.

The action sequel “Crank: High Voltage” opened in sixth place with $6.5 million in sales. It stars Jason Statham as a man on the trail of criminals who removed his heart and replaced it with a battery-operated device. To stay alive, he needs frequent jolts of electricity.

The first film, “Crank,” cost about $12 million to make and took in $44.8 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Both are from Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

The following table has figures provided by studios to Media by Numbers. The amounts are based on actual ticket sales on April 17 and April 18 and estimates for yesterday.

                          Rev.           Avg./   Pct. Total Movie                   (mln) Theaters  Theater Chg. (mln)  Wks Wks ================================================================ 1 17 AGAIN              $24.1   3,255   $7,393   --  $24.1    1 2 STATE OF PLAY          14.1   2,803    5,030   --   14.1    1 3 MONSTERS VS. ALIENS    12.9   3,662    3,523   -41 162.7    4 4 HANNAH MONTANA         12.7   3,118    4,062   -61  56.1    2 5 FAST & FURIOUS         12.3   3,674    3,345   -55 136.7    3 6 CRANK: HIGH VOLTGE      6.5   2,223    2,928   --    6.5    1 7 OBSERVE AND REPORT      4.1   2,727    1,487   -63  18.7    2 8 KNOWING                 3.5   2,405    1,446   -46  73.7    5 9 I LOVE YOU, MAN         3.4   2,202    1,530   -46  64.7    5 10 THE HAUNTING IN        3.2   2,255    1,397   -47  51.9    4 11 DRAGONBALL EVOLUTION   1.6   2,181      722   -67   7.8    2 12 ADVENTURELAND          1.3   1,412      914   -62  14.0    3 

Source

“Its an unbelievable year for us,” Gelfond said in an interview with The Associated Press Friday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.

Gelfond didnt see the crisis eating into profits, which he said were still benefiting from Imaxs shift five years ago from film to a digital medium, cutting costs significantly. It still costs between $1 million and $1.5 million to convert a 35 mm film into Imax format, but Gelfond said good films easily recover that.

The Imax version of the “The Dark Knight,” the formats most successful film ever, raked in about $60 million last year on only 1 percent of screens it played on, he said. Imax takes in about 12.5 percent of profits from its screenings.

“The movie industry is generally fairly recession-proof,” Gelfond said. “People see the movies as a simple pleasure. You may not be able to go on vacation. You may not be able to eat in a four-star restaurant. But you can go to the movies and get relatively inexpensive escapism.”

An Imax screen is like high-definition for a movie theater. They can be anywhere from 40-feet high such as on 42nd street in New York - which Gelfond said was the highest grossing theater in America - to eight-story tall screens in London, Sydney and elsewhere in New York.

As many as 700 people can fit in a single cinema, making margins bigger than for normal movie halls.

“Its a premium experience at a premium price,” he said. “But its a simple premium. Its only about $3 more.”

Of course, for films like last years “Speed Racer,” which Gelfond said flopped in Imax as it did on normal screens, profits may still prove elusive.

But he said the demand for theaters and Imax showings was continuing to grow.

There are currently about 175 commercial Imax theaters in the world, Gelfond said. A backlog of 250 exists - 150 in the United States and 100 abroad - which the company hopes to build by late 2010 or early 2011 despite threats, he said.

“Most of the contracts we get paid 90 percent of the money before we ship. So theres not a great incentive to walk away,” he said. “On the other hand, particular internationally, some of the new projects are based on new construction. So were monitoring that.”

Source: wwl

Lionsgates horror sequel “Saw V,” the latest tale about psychokiller Jigsaw, slipped from second place to third with $10.1 million, lifting its 10-day total to $45.8 million.

Expanding nationwide after a weekend in limited release was Clint Eastwoods “Changeling,” which took in $9.4 million to finish at No. 4. The Universal Pictures drama stars Angelina Jolie as a single mother victimized by police who botched the investigation into her missing son.

Freestyle Releasings “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” debuted with $6 million to come in at No. 5. The movie stars Haley Bennett as a traumatized teen who finds fresh terror at her new school.

“RocknRolla” - the latest from Madonnas soon-to-be-ex-husband, Guy Ritchie - was a dud as it expanded from limited to nationwide release. The crime romp featuring Gerard Butler and Thandie Newton took in just $1.8 million, finishing well outside the top 10. Madonna and Ritchie announced their separation last month.

After a big surge the previous weekend, Hollywood revenues plunged. The top 12 movies took in $75.2 million, off 38 percent from the same weekend last year, when “American Gangster” opened with $43.6 million and “Bee Movie” debuted with $38 million.

Non-scary movies were hurt with Halloween falling on Friday. “High School Musical 3″ did just $1.7 million on Friday, but it rebounded with $8.2 million Saturday.

“The target audience was out collecting candy or trick-or-treating Friday, but Saturday came back like a monster,” said Mark Zoradi, president of Disneys motion-picture group.

Likewise, “Zack and Miri” opened with only $2.2 million Friday but pulled in $4.8 million Saturday. The movie also faced some audience resistance over the racy subject matter and the word “Porno” in the title.

“I would anecdotally speculate that that hurt us,” said Steve Bunnell, head of distribution for Weinstein, which had trouble placing ads because of the movies title and themes. “We were surprised that we ended up with the controversy. We thought everybody in America would understand that it was a joke.”

The film has nudity but is tame compared to hard-core adult films. Yet the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America initially slapped it with an NC-17 rating, the kiss of death at the box office.

James Bond got off to a big start overseas in advance of the U.S. debut of the super-spys latest adventure, with Sonys “Quantum of Solace” taking in $38.6 million in Great Britain, France and Sweden.

“Quantum of Solace” opens in 57 more countries this week and arrives in U.S. theaters Nov. 14. The film picks up where 2006s “Casino Royale” left off, with Bond (Daniel Craig) out for payback over his lovers death.

Hollywood blockbusters rarely open weeks in advance of their U.S. premiere, but the Bond franchise does a huge ratio of its business overseas. “Casino Royale” took in 72 percent of its $600 million worldwide total outside the United States, said Mark Zucker, Sonys president of international distribution.

“Bond is like a national hero in the UK,” Zucker said.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

Source: nckin