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Home Entertainment Spending Up For First Time Since 2008, Average Movie Ticket Prices Fall 12 Cents To $7.94 By Angie Han/Nov. 2, 2011 10:00 am EST As for the theatergoing experience, the National Association of Theater Owners (via Variety) has reported that the cost of an average movie ticket in the US has fallen this quarter to $7.94, a 1.48% reduction from last quarter’s all-time high of $8.06. This brings the average ticket price for 2011 so far down to $7....

Infographic: The Critical Decline Of The Top 10 Highest Grossing Films Since 1950 By Peter Sciretta/April 20, 2011 10:00 am EST Very Small Array has created an interesting graph showing the Rotten Tomatoes’ tomatometer score of the top ten highest grossing films per year, tracked over the last 60 years. And as you might expect, with exception of 2010, 1999, and 1997, we’ve been on a downward spiral. It use to be more common that the highest grossing films of the year would also have critical acclaim (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws…etc), but the last 20 years the split between box office dollars and quality have diverged....

Is ‘Inception’ Being Converted To 3D? Studio Is Noncommittal By Russ Fischer/Feb. 25, 2011 1:36 pm EST Earlier this week, Battle: Los Angeles director and future Wrath of the Titans director Jonathan Liebesman casually mentioned that Warner Bros. is converting Christopher Nolan’s Inception to 3D, possibly for a DVD release. Cue a slight bit of confusion: we’ve known that Christopher Nolan is a lot more interested in shooting for IMAX than 3D, but that if pressured by audience tastes he would release a 3D film, and that it would be post-converted so that he could shoot film....

John August To Write Monsterpocalypse For Tim Burton? By Peter Sciretta/June 10, 2010 8:00 am EST Last month, it was reported that Tim Burton had become attached as a creative consultant, producer and possibly director of the Disney/Dreamworks film based on Monsterpocalypse, a board game Russ described as “part strategy, part Kaiju Big Battel, and part Rampage!, all played out with miniatures on a tabletop.” Now HeatVision reports that John August is in negotiations to pen the feature adaptation, which might further confirm Burton’s possible involvement as director....

Liam Hemsworth, Kit Harrington, And More Compete For Male Leads In Stephenie Meyer Adaptation ‘The Host’ By Angie Han/Nov. 1, 2011 12:00 pm EST With the uber-successful Twilight film series due to end next November, Hollywood is turning its attention that other Stephenie Meyer adaptation, the sci-fi romance The Host. In Time writer/director Andrew Niccol boarded the project earlier this year with Saoirse Ronan set to star, and now a group of young up-and-comers are getting ready to compete for the two male leads....

Magnet Picks Up Distro Rights To ‘Vanishing On 7th Street’ And ‘Black Death’ By Russ Fischer/Oct. 20, 2010 5:30 pm EST We’ve now got a very good idea what to expect out of Magnet’s Six-Shooter Film Series come early 2011. (Assuming the company repeats the pattern established over the past two years.) Earlier this week the company, which is the genre arm of Magnolia, picked up The Troll Hunter, and now it has bought distribution rights to both Christopher Smith’s Black Death and Brad Anderson’s Vanishing on 7th Street....

Mondo Kicks Off ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Poster Series By Germain Lussier/July 5, 2012 5:49 pm EST They’ve done Star Wars, they’ve done Star Trek, and now Mondo will complete the holy trilogy of geek properties. At Thursday night’s tenth Mondo Mystery Movie, they revealed the first in a series of posters for The Lord of the Rings, based on the novels by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first poster for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is by Aaron Horkey and you can see it in all its glory after the jump....

MTV Will Premiere First ‘Hunger Games’ Footage Sunday, Releases One Second Clip By Germain Lussier/Aug. 25, 2011 12:30 pm EST While you surely have had the MTV Video Music Awards circled on your calendar for months, now there’s a non-music reason to check it out. (Non-music on MTV? That’s crazy talk!) Jennifer Lawrence will be on hand to premiere the first footage from The Hunger Games, Gary Ross’ adaptation of the Suzanne Collins novel about young kids forced to kill each other on live television....

Paul Thomas Anderson Says His Pynchon Adaptation ‘Inherent Vice’ May Be Next By Russ Fischer/Sept. 4, 2012 5:17 pm EST It wasn’t quite two years ago that we heard that Paul Thomas Anderson might follow up The Master with one of the first major film adaptations of a Thomas Pynchon novel. The book in question is Pynchon’s most recent, Inherent Vice, which follows a burnt-out detective who gets roped into a caper revolving around a real estate mogul....

By Devindra Hardawar/July 21, 2011 5:15 pm EST Lost alum Damon Lindelof hit the stage at Comic-Con today to chat about Prometheus, Ridley Scott’s upcoming science fiction film (which is also co-written by Lindelof). Star Charlize Theron joined Lindelof on stage, and there was also a (not so) surprising appearance by Scott and co-star Noomi Rapace piped in from Iceland, where the film is being shot. Theron said that her role was unusual for her....

Rumor: Martin Freeman Reportedly Turned Down Role Of Bilbo Baggins In ‘The Hobbit’ By Russ Fischer/Sept. 7, 2010 1:37 pm EST Belive this one at your own risk: The Sun in the UK is reporting that, due to his commitment to the BBC series Sherlock, Martin Freeman has turned down an offer to play Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. The idea that Freeman might be offered the part isn’t at all difficult to believe, and he’s long been one of the first names mentioned in fantasy casting of the film....

Spoilers Abound In New ‘Scream 4’ Photos, Wes Craven Addresses Script Issues By Germain Lussier/March 17, 2011 3:00 pm EST Scream 4 is done. It’s out there. And as we ride a wave of publicity, press screenings and more leading up towards the April 15 release, fans will have to dodge an obstacle course of spoilers revealing who dies, when they die, how they die and, of course, who or what is Ghostface this time around....

Star Wars: ‘The Phantom Menace 3D’ Trailer Attached To ‘Three Musketeers;’ Darth Maul Back From The Dead In ‘The Clone Wars’ By Russ Fischer/Oct. 12, 2011 4:30 pm EST Raise your hand if you went to see Meet Joe Black in 1998 just to catch the first teaser trailer for The Phantom Menace. (And, unwittingly, to see Brad Pitt bounced around by cars.) Now raise your hand if you would pay to see an unrelated movie just to catch the first glimpse of Star Wars post-converted to 3D....

The Alamo Drafthouse Expands Into Suburban Washington, DC By Russ Fischer/Jan. 16, 2012 5:00 am EST Germain was just wondering earlier this week about a possible Los Angeles location for the expanding Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, which operates well-loved movie theaters in central Texas. Turns out the next big Alamo Drafthouse opening will be on the outskirts of Washington, DC, in Ashburn, VA. Starting in Spring 2012 the retail developers involved in a planned community area called One Loudoun will begin construction on a 34,000 sq....

This Week In Trailers: Happily Never After, Lovely Molly, How To Grow A Band, StreetDance 2: 3D, Babycall By Christopher Stipp/April 6, 2012 5:00 pm EST For those diehards who have been waiting for the latest from Pål Sletaune you can stop yer bitchin’ and start your grinnin'. Honestly, I don’t know who Sletaune is but I do know that Noomi Rapace is in what looks like a taut thriller that could really entertain....

Three New Images From ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ By Germain Lussier/Aug. 26, 2011 7:00 am EST Is it just me or is Rooney Mara really scary? Not in The Social Network or A Nightmare on Elm Street but from what we’ve seen of her playing Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s American remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Mara looks terrifying. She’s more frightening than Noomi Rapace was in the Swedish original....

VOTD: ‘[the Films Of] Ridley Scott’ By Angie Han/Oct. 10, 2011 11:00 am EST Last month, Kees van Dijkhuizen hinted that this month’s installment of “[the films of]” would be “the biggest episode yet,” and it seems he’s made good on that promise. With 19 films under his belt, Ridley Scott is the most prolific of the filmmakers van Dijkhuizen’s profiled so far, as well as the most established. Impressively, van Dijkhuizen has managed to keep the runtime under three minutes while still paying appropriate homage to each of the director’s films....

Watch Some ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance’ Deleted Scenes And Raw Set Footage By Russ Fischer/Aug. 24, 2012 10:47 am EST OK, so while the idea of the guys behind Crank making a Ghost Rider film seemed like a good idea on paper, it didn’t quite work out that way. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance has a few good sequences, sure, but most of it is fairly dire. But there is a bit more entertainment to be had from the production....

Watch The First Footage From Jay Chandrasekar’s ‘The Babymakers’ By Angie Han/Dec. 26, 2011 2:00 pm EST In a weird way, it seems appropriate that the first footage from Jay Chandrasekar’s The Babymakers would leak over the holidays. After all, the season is about family, and this film is ostensibly about starting a family. Of course, this being a film from the guy who directed Beerfest, what it really ends up being about is a lot of semen jokes....

‘Water For Elephants’ International Trailer By Peter Sciretta/Jan. 18, 2011 4:00 pm EST Official Plot Synopsis: Veterinary school student Jacob (Pattinson) meets and falls in love with Marlena (Witherspoon), a star performer in a circus of a bygone era. They discover beauty amidst the world of the Big Top, and come together through their compassion for a special elephant. Against all odds – including the wrath of Marlena’s charismatic but dangerous husband, August (Christopher Waltz) – Jacob and Marlena find lifelong love....