However creating a Christmas classic certainly requires a magical mixture of ingredients.  A few cups of sentiment, a drop of imaginary wonder, spoonfuls of yuletide joy and unforgettable quotes that make it a definitive holiday trademark.

15. “Elf” - “Buddy the elf, what’s your favorite color?” Will Ferrell stars as Buddy, who thinks he is one of Santa’s little helpers, but is clearly out of place. One of the most hilarious Christmas stories ever written and Ferrell at his finest.

14. “A Christmas Carol” (Original B&W Version) - The 1951 British classic stars Alastair Sim as Scrooge and has its share of darkness and happiness as old Ebenezer is haunted by three spirits on Christmas Eve. The funniest moment is when Scrooge’s housekeeper Mrs. Dilber awakes him on Christmas morning and he raises her pay from 2 shillings a week to 10, she responds almost half frightened, “Merry Christmas Mr. Scrooge. In keeping with the situation!”

13. “The Office” – Season two’s “Christmas Party” is the show’s first Christmas episode and overall best holiday installment in the series. Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) turns the Secret Santa gift exchange into a “Yankee Swap” because he’s angry he blew the $20 limit on his giftee by getting an iPod, therefore he ends up with Phyllis’ DIY potholders, and Jim’s carefully selected gift that was supposed to go to Pam ends up going to Dwight.

12. “The O.C.” - I absolutely loved this show growing up! It was the perfect teen drama for my years in high school. One particular episode comes to mind around the holiday season, ”The Best Christmukkah Ever”, where Seth (Adam Brody) creates a holiday that celebrates his Christian and Jewish faith. In one memorable scene when things start to go awry at the family party, Ryan (Ben McKenzie) says to Seth, “You better pray for a Chrismukkah miracle.” Seth responds, “I’ve got Jesus and Moses on my side, man.” Plus, who can forget the Santa hat yarmulkes?

11. “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” – By far, the best out of the three, if you even count the third. When I think of ”Home Alone 2,” the Bird Lady, Duncan’s Toy Chest, the sticky bandits and Gangster Johnny all come to mind. But the one moment that sticks out is when Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) stands in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center, wishing to see his family again. Even though the film is a comedy, there is just something so touching about that moment when his mom runs and hugs him. Also, who can forget the short cameo of Donald Trump in the Plaza hotel?

10. “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” – This TV special defines Christmastime.  When Hermey, the elf who desperately wants to be a dentist, and Rudolph meet for the first time in the snow bank, Hermey says, “Hey, what do you say we both be independent together?” One of the best on-screen friendships was formed.

9. “Jingle All the Way” – Before Arnold went loopy, he played Howard, a father who decides on Christmas Eve that he’s going out to get the most sought-after Christmas toy ever for his son. He runs into Sinbad, Robert Conrad and James Belushi on the way, before turning up as actual Turbo Man himself at the Christmas Parade.

8. “Friends” – “The One with the Holiday Armadillo” is probably the best “Friends” episode of all-time. Ross (David Schwimmer) doesn’t have any luck finding a Santa outfit around Christmas, and he wants to get his son excited about Hanukkah. So what’s the next best thing at the costume shop? An armadillo outfit, of course!

7. “A Christmas Story” – I could make a whole list of favorite moments just from this movie, but the leg lamp is a classic scene that everyone loves.

6. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” - Tim Burton’s wonderfully animated classic can be watched from October to December. The film tells the story of Jack Skellington, the king of Halloweentown, and how the spirit of Christmas wins him over. If Christmas can win over the Pumpkin King, it must be a magical holiday.

5. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” - That moment when Charlie chooses the weakest tree in the bunch and the other moment when the Peanut gang start decorating the tree and it grows 50 more limbs in 10 seconds.

4. “Love Actually” – One of my favorite movies ever and a film that has a huge cast of characters whose lives interwine and is played out beautifully. The scene when Mark (Andrew Lincoln) admits that he’s in love with his best friend’s girl (Keira Knightley) via poster board makes girls swoon everywhere.

3. ”How the Grinch Stole Christmas” - If you say you didn’t like this TV special, you’re lying. The 1966 animated short film is narrated by the talented Boris Karloff, who wasn’t even included in the original credits! It’s one of the few Christmas specials from the 1960s that is regularly replayed on television today. The character of Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two) is seriously underestimated. It wasn’t just the singing of the Whos that got the Grinch to rethink his evil plan, it was Cindy Lou Who who first pulled those heartstrings from the moment he saw her.

2. “The Muppet Christmas Carol” - A dedicated performance by Michael Caine as Scrooge and the full cast of Muppets make this movie the best version of ‘A Christmas Carol,’ even though we still have no idea what kind of animal Gonzo is.

1. “It’s a Wonderful Life” - Frank Capra’s classic black and white film is the ultimate of Christmas movies! When Clarence the angel (Henry Travers) appears on that snowy bridge, just as George Bailey (James Stewart) is contemplating jumping off it on Christmas Eve, goosebumps spring up on my arms every single time. Clarence then takes George through all of the significant points in his life where he’s touched the lives of others. and George really does find that he had a “wonderful life.” The most memorable scene in the movie is when George runs back to the bridge, begging Clarence to give him his life back. It starts snowing and George realizes he’s back in Bedford Falls and reunites with his family. The best “feel-good” movie that ever existed.

As you prepare to fill up on stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie, I’ve whipped up a short list of favorite Thanksgiving moments on screen.

10. “The Mouse and the Mayflower” – I watched this made-for-TV movie growing up, and it’s probably my all-time favorite Thanksgiving story. The score really sets it apart from the rest, with original songs “November” and “Mayflower,” which my family and I always associate with the holiday. Families will love it for the cutesy mice and the fun little story about how Thanksgiving came to be.

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9. “Pieces of April” - Before she was Mrs. Cruise, Katie Holmes starred as April, the family oddball who is stressed about preparing Thanksgiving dinner for her entire clan in her small apartment with a broken oven. If anything, it’s kind of a hoot to see Holmes dressed in punk clothes.

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8. “Everybody Loves Raymond” – Debra tries to get everyone to eat Tofurkey (tofu turkey) because its healthier for them, and, needless to say, it doesn’t go over well.

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7. “South Park” - The kids have to perform in “Helen Keller” for their Thanksgiving Extravaganza, so of course they replace Helen Keller’s dog with a pet turkey. Absolutely hilarious. Plus, who wouldn’t be intrigued by “Helen Keller: The Musical”?

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6. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” - In the episode “Pangs,” Angel returns, Willow’s upset, Xander get a syphilis scare, Buffy makes a bear when really she’s trying to make dinner and Spike gives us hilarious insight to Thanksgiving. “I just can’t take all this namby-pamby boo-hooing about the bloody Indians. You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That’s what conquering nations do. That’s what Caesar did, and he’s not going around saying, ‘I came, I conquered, I felt really bad about it.’ The history of the world is not people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story.”

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5. “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” – Who doesn’t love this TV special? Charlie, Linus, Woodstock and Snoopy throw together a last-minute dinner that Peppermint Patty happily invites herself over to. A classic holiday special for all ages.

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4. “Friends” - A series known for its popular, guest-laden Thanksgiving episodes offers up some of the most hilarious plots around turkey time. One episode in particular, “The One with the Rumor,” guest stars Jennifer Aniston’s then-beau Brad Pitt as the former President of the “I Hate Rachel Green Club” from high school. Pure genius on the writers’ part and an all-around goofy dinner scene.

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3. “The Ice Storm” – Set on Thanksgiving weekend of 1973, “The Ice Storm” focuses on a wealthy Connecticut family who seems to be living the dream, when really all the characters’ lives are falling apart. Beautifully acted by a stellar cast including a young Tobey Maguire, Elijah Wood and Christina Ricci, the film marks director Ang Lee’s American debut.

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2. “Miracle on 34^th Street” – Yes, the film is more associated with a different holiday, but the premise of “34th Street” revolves around the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC. The film remains a sentimental classic.

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1. “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” -Steve Martin and John Candy are a comedic match made in heaven. This is the ultimate Thanksgiving movie where Martin is struggling to make it home in time for the holiday and encounters problems along the way – including several dysfunctional means of transportation. Candy, an obnoxious shower curtain ring salesman, eventually becomes Martin’s travel companion since they are both trying to get to Chicago. Hilarious and ultimately heartwarming, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” is one of the season’s best.

In the new comedy Horrible Bosses, Jennifer Aniston plays an overbearing dentist named Julia who tortures her assistant Dale (Charlie Day) by sexually harassing him. She’s one of three managers (along with Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey) meant to be so detestable that their underlings plot to murder them. She constantly corners Dale, asking him to perform lewd sexual acts. In one scene, Aniston’s character calls him into her office, wearing nothing but a white lab coat. When he expresses discomfort, she taunts him like a high-school bully. “You’re starting to sound like a little faggot there, Dale,” she says.

[...]

So remember folks, the First Amendment provides for freedom of speech, just so long as you don’t offend any gay people.  Just ask Tracy Morgan…

This is just a defense mechanism the leftist employs to avoid having to actually examine their movement. Cult members need to have criticism of their cult obscured. It’s the equivalent of “The first rule of Fight Club is you don’t talk about Fight Club…”

There’s a grain of truth here, though. All leftists share core ideas – particularly hatred of conservatives and an infinite faith in big government – but there is a range of thought, not unlike denominations within religions. There are variations in doctrine and tactics between Marxists, Alinskyites, Mother Jones populist progressives, Nation socialists, Daily Kos Democrats, Counterpunch communists, and Dissent social democrats. Grouping them all together under the label “the Left” is no more inaccurate than describing Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, and Lutherans as Christian.

Today, thanks to the extraordinary journalism and research of Ben Shapiro for his must-read book Primetime Propaganda, the focus is on one “church” in particular: the Hollywood Left.

Primetime Propaganda is not a content analysis of the last 60 years of TV. Instead, Shapiro wore his Harvard Law baseball cap and interviewed some of Hollywood’s most influential television creators. Assuming from his alma mater and last name that he was one of them, the Hollywood insiders were too honest for their own good. Time and again Shapiro found them confessing that A) Yes, the Left dominates Hollywood, B) Yes, conservatives are blacklisted, C) Yes, they did try and use television to push their politics, and D) No, they did not see anything wrong with any of this in the slightest.

(For the evidence on tape see Big Hollywood’s thorough archive of the many damning admissions from the creators of history’s most influential TV shows.)

The revelations Shapiro unearths are only the beginning. This is also a masterful history book that will transform readers’ understanding of television. Shapiro leaps back to the 1950s and in the first 220 pages of the book interweaves his blockbuster interviews with the story of how a small clique of executives, producers, and writers created most of the TV shows that have shaped four generations of Americans. The heart of the book is the second and third chapter, focusing on the history of TV comedies and dramas. Shapiro goes down the line from The Honeymooners to All in the Family to Cheers and Friends. He documents the subversion of the cop and legal dramas from the early days of righteous cops and prosecutors to the nihilism of Hill Street Blues and Picket Fences.

The picture that emerges from Shapiro is of Hollywood leftists distinct from Washington, DC Democratic Party leftists, ACORN community organizing leftists, and the academic Ivory Tower leftists. The defining characteristic of the Hollywood leftist is an embarrassing abundance of anti-intellectualism. Most of the producers and writers Shapiro profiles have barely thought through their politics. If that’s the case then what drives Hollywood to embed leftist ideas in their programs and exclude conservatives? Superficial notions about what feels right. The Hollywood Left fantasizes that they are the champions of the “have-nots,” the outsiders, the oppressed.

This anti-intellectualism is why in Hollywood the ABSOLUTE MOST IMPORTANT politics are the social issues. (As evidence that Hollywood leftists care about these subjects above all others, observe how they will tolerate hawkish, fiscally conservative Republicans as long as they’re pro-gay and pro-choice. Shapiro’s example: “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry.)

Hollywood is not a town of deep thinkers. It’s a bubble filled with deep feelers. Next time a Hollywood leftist is on TV spouting their clichés note how often they “feel” instead of “think.” That’s a Freudian slip confessing a disagreement not with what conservatives think but in how conservatives think. The rejection is not just the Western tradition of individual liberty, but in the Enlightenment process of rational thought.

What are the unique implications for apostates of this church of the Left?

In parts two, three, and four of this series I’ll explore Roger L. Simon’s Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine, David Mamet’s The Secret Knowledge, and Andrew Breitbart’s Righteous Indignation. Each author’s book is an important component in the revolt against the Hollywood Left’s mental gulag. They each bring the best of what their generation has to offer in the fight to retake our culture and our country. Read all three along with Shapiro’s book and a comprehensive picture of the Hollywood Left – and the means for defeating it – emerges.

That’s the claim by a right-wing author who says he’s exposed a left-wing plot behind some top TV shows

The TV series Friends undermined family values; Sesame Street taught ethnic minorities about civil disobedience; Happy Days had a subtle anti-Vietnam subtext; and the 1980s cop show MacGyver tried to persuade pistol-packing Americans that guns are bad. That, at least, is the considered opinion of Ben Shapiro, an investigative author and right-wing columnist who will publish a detailed exposé tomorrow telling how Hollywood producers, writers and actors have been secretly using TV to promote what he calls a “radical” left-leaning political agenda.

Shapiro’s book, Primetime Propaganda runs to 416 pages and revolves around comments by 70-odd industry heavyweights who he approached for interviews. The book promises to “profile the biggest names in showbusiness over the past 50 years” and includes a series of “gotcha” moments, in which the architects of the best-watched TV shows of modern times tell how they tried to use the medium of broadcasting to, as Shapiro puts it, “shape America in their own leftist image”.

“I was shocked by the openness of the Hollywood crowd when it came to admitting anti-conservative discrimination inside the industry,” Shapiro told The Independent on Sunday. “They weren’t ashamed of it. In fact, some were actually proud of it.”

The book’s contents will only add weight to allegations – often aired by conservative Americans – that Hollywood is the exclusive domain of leftie propagandists. Earlier this year, Republicans called for funding cuts to the public broadcaster NPR after one of its executives was secretly taped calling supporters of the Tea Party “racist”.

Among Shapiro’s most revelatory interviewees is Marta Kauffman, the co-creator of Friends, who recalls how she hired a “bunch of liberals” to run the programme to “put out there what we believe”. In 1999, she admitted casting the actress sister of Newt Gingrich, the prominent Republican, to play a preacher at a lesbian wedding because she wanted to annoy conservatives.

“When we did the lesbian wedding, we knew there was going to be some flack,” said Kauffman. “I have to say, when we cast Candice Gingrich as the minister of that wedding, there was a bit of a ‘fuck you’ in it to the right-wing, directly.”

Full article here.

There was a considerable span of time where NBC was the dominant force in television.  They were behind a long series of hit shows that included The Cosby Show, Cheers, Night Court, Will and Grace, Seinfeld, Hill Street Blues, etc.  NBC’s “Must See TV” lineup gave people reasons to stay conscious on a Thursday evening that didn’t involve preparing their livers for a Friday night of clubbing.  Something happened in 2004.  Maybe it was the re-election of George W.  Bush or maybe it was the ending of their last truly great series “Friends,” but at some point in time that year, something broke both NBC’s spirit and their brain.  

It started simply enough.  Then Network President, Jeff Zucker, tried to replace “Friends” with two sub standard shows, Coupling and Joey.  Coupling was a British show that NBC tried to bring to an American audience.  The problem was that this program was the Brits low rent version of Friends.  Replacing a popular show, with something that looks a little like it, but without the charm is sort of like trying to replace your first love with a latex based product bought at a Fredrick’s of Hollywood outlet.  It’s just not the same.  Coupling didn’t work out and neither did the show, Joey.  Building a spin-off around the least intriguing character of the Friends cast was a mistake on par with the New Coke, the show After M.A.S.H. and “Hope and Change.”  After that the bad decisions just kept on coming. 

They cancelled My Name is Earl (a show three years removed from its ratings peak, but still viable with over six million viewers) and replaced it with the horrible Parks and Recreation.  From a ratings perspective, My Name is Earl was (at its worst) more successful then Parks and Recreation was at its best. 

From 2004 to 2010, NBC was the broadcast network version of the Trail of Tears.  They piled blunder on top of blunder with nonsensical moves that included trying to turn their massive layoffs of hundreds of workers and deep cost cuts into a marketing campaign.  They veiled their failures in with the publicity campaign NBC 2.0. Nobody was buying this, and the networks average rating sank to 3.1.  NBC followed up this marketing disaster by resurrecting such shows nobody wanted to see rise from the grave.  Despite this, Knight Rider and American Gladiators were brought back from the dead.  During the writers’ strike, network President, Jeff Zucker, believed it would be a good idea to go on prime time television and mock the people who actually bring to life what we see when we tune into a program.  

While all of the above would be considered lethal errors, the crown jewel of incompetence that NBC managed to perpetrate involved The Tonight Show.  In 2004 Zucker gave Jay Leno a five year heads up that Conan O’Brien would be taking over Johnny Carson’s seat in 2009.  After leading up to the Leno/O’Brien transition for half a decade Conan only lasted 8 months as the in the job.  He left the network (after they paid him $33 million to go away) and Jay Leno was reinstalled as The Tonight Show host.  

This laundry list of gaffes would be acceptable for any network owned by a guy named Shemp, but not for NBC.  This is something that the powers that be at Comcast probably realize, and there will probably be some big changes coming to the Peacock network. 

Nobody knows what Comcast will do with the network, but just about anything they do that doesn’t involve water boarding the cast of The Office has got be an improvement on the current product.  Comcast, being a cable provider, has been exposed to a diverse world of programming that is well beyond the borders of the media bubble that Zucker and his sycophants lived in.  It is likely they would not have botched The Tonight Show handoff, resurrected Knight Rider, or passed on bringing Battlestar Galactica to network television.  

Those of us who love television are waiting with great anticipation to see what happens to the Peacock under the new regime.

Yep. This news sent shock waves through my soul, as I could only wonder if a drill bit existed that could extricate Mr. Arquette from the deep, deep hole his mouth dragged him into.

I speak of his interview with Howard Stern a few days ago. In it, Arquette spilled the beans on his marital troubles. He told the world that his wife initiated the separation, quoting her telling him, “I don’t want to be your mother anymore.” He then confessed they didn’t have sex for five months and that after they split up -he had casual sex with “the girl in the paper.” He differentiated sex with her and sex with his wife, in a manner that did him no favors.

You can find what he said, here. 

And so the disarming, goofy actor made the biggest mistake a married man could ever make: he was honest.

You see, people, there all sorts of secret societies: the Freemasons, the Hibernians, the Illuminati, the modern Woodman of America, and of course, the Order of the Fist – which I belonged to until an accident led to a very awkward afternoon in the ER.

But the most secretive group I know are married people, and even if you tried, you could not find a single book or pamphlet which reveals what married life is like for those involved. Instead, we see the courtship, the giant wedding album, the romantic bliss of a honeymoon – and then we wave bye-bye to the couple forever, leaving them on that mysterious island of matrimony.

But for a brief, idiotic moment, Arquette performed a selfless service, and pulled back the curtain of couple-hood for everyone to see –– and by doing so, might have doomed his own marriage.

This pretty much makes up for Scream 2 and Scream 3.

And if you disagree with me, you’re a racist, homophobic, malaxophobe.

The new movie developed by New Line and now released by Warner Bros is based on the book of the same name co-written by former Sex & the City scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tucillo. The line itself has come to be a reassuring fallback for women in the dating scene (and I’m guessing single guys have adopted the mentality as well in the rough-and-tumble world of dating).

Produced by Flower Films, founded by Barrymore and Nancy Juvonen (wife to soon-to-be late night TV host Jimmy Fallon), Not That Into You features a blockbuster cast, including Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Ben Affleck (Hollywoodland), Kevin Connolly (from HBO’s Entourage), Justin Long (the Mac guy from the Apple vs. PC commercials), Bradley Cooper (Wedding Crashers), Scarlett Johansson (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and Barrymore herself. But the star who seems to add the most sizzle to the project is the one who’s literally “lived” the catch-phrase.

Emmy winner Jennifer Aniston, who reached super-stardom as Rachel on NBC’s mega-hit Friends, has been almost constant tabloid fodder since she fell into the arms of Brad Pitt. Among Hollywood’s most bankable big screen actors, the marriage seemed to elevate her to show biz royalty – until she found out that Brad was “just not that into” her.

Aniston turns 40 on Wednesday, but she made an appearance on Ellen and talked about the milestone, “I found a really long gray hair, and it kind of flipped me out. It’s not my first, but it’s the fact that it was so long. I was like, ‘Oh that’s been there. How many others are there, and what does that mean? It actually brought me to tears, slightly.” Gray hair or not, she continues to have an “on-again-off-again” romance with Grammy winning pop star John Mayer, who is about nine years her junior.

Since her divorce from Pitt, the almost-40 actress has proved to be formidable at the box office.

JENNIFER ANISTON’S LAST FIVE MOVIES
Rumor Has It – $7.5M opening (first full weekend) – $43M cume
Friends with Money – $3.2M (wide break) – $13.3M cume
The Break-Up – $39.1M opening – $118.7M cume
Marley & Me – $36.3M opening – $140M (to-date – likely to reach $145M)
He’s Just Not That Into You – $27.4M opening (projected) – $90M cume (projected)
AVERAGE OPENING WEEKEND- $23M
AVERAGE DOMESTIC GROSS – $82M

BRAD PITT’S LAST FIVE MOVIES
Babel – $5.5M opening (wide break) – $34.3M cume
Ocean’s Thirteen – $36.1M opening – $117.1M cume
The Assassination of Jesse James – $532K opening (widest weekend) – $3.9M cume
Burn After Reading – $19.1M opening – $60.3M cume
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – $26.8M opening – $117.6M (to-date likely to reach $126M)
AVERAGE OPENING WEEKEND – $17.6M
AVERAGE DOMESTIC GROSS – $68.3M

There’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges problem when comparing these resumes, and Brad certainly has more acclaim with Golden Globe nominations for Babel and Burn After Reading and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Benjamin Button, but Jen is no slouch when it comes to selling tickets. She will next be seen starring alongside The Dark Knight’s Aaron Eckhart in Universal’s Traveling due later in the year.

Checking in at #2 is the excellent Luc Besson-produced and Pierre Morel-directed action flick Taken, starring Liam Neeson. The tale of the world’s most “kick-ass” Dad trying to rescue his daughter seized another $6.3M on its second Friday and that should translate to an outstanding $20.3M for a new 10-day cume of $53.36M. That represents a spectacular hold with just an 18% dip from opening weekend.

The surprise third-place finisher is Henry Selick’s Coraline (Focus), based on Neil Gaiman’s Hugo Award winning novel. Riding a tidal wave of positive reviews (88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and featuring state-of-the-art 3-D technology, the stop-action animated film has generated $4.5M in opening day sales, and studio estimates put it at $16.33M for the frame. That is well above the number that pre-release tracking suggested.

The film was made for a relatively hefty $60M, and the languid pace of digital conversion at America’s multiplexes means that there are only about 900 screens showing Coraline in 3-D with the other 1,400 or so in traditional 2-D presentation. Given the movie’s dark tone and the limited availability of 3-D, Focus will be thrilled with a $16M start.

The major disappointment of the 3-day is Pink Panther 2 (Sony). The reviews have been horrific (14% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), and Steve Martin must realize that, although he may be cashing a big paycheck, the brilliant Peter Sellers is almost certainly “spinning in his grave.” After a $20.2M opening for the original sub-par remake in 2006, Pink Panther 2 appears to be a dud with a meager $3.4M Friday. The picture is skewing young and got a decent Saturday and Sunday matinee bounce, but the sequel’s opening frame will be about $11M, down a full 45% from Martin’s last go-round as Inspector Clouseau.

The other new wide release is Push (Summit Entertainment), which is in the mold of NBC’s Heroes and the X-Men franchise. Reviews are pretty awful (27% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and the box office performance equally disappointing. The picture delivered only $3.5M or so on Friday (#5 for the day), and it will stumble to a soft $10.2M according to Summit, #6 for the weekend behind Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony). The under-estimated Kevin James comedy meanwhile, will add another $11M or so over the 3-day for a new cume of $97M.

EXCLUSIVE STEVE MASON EARLY FRIDAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW – He’s Not That Into You (Warner Bros) – $10.5M, $3,307 PTA, $10.5M cume
2. Taken (Fox) – $6.3M, $1,979 PTA, $39.36M cume
3. NEW – Coraline (Focus) – $4.5M, $1,958 PTA, $4.5M cume
4. NEW – Push (Summit) – $3.5M, $1,513 PTA, $3.5M cume
5. NEW – Pink Panther 2 (Sony) – $3.4M, $1,513 PTA, $3.4M cume
6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $2.7M, $852 PTA, $88.7M cume
7. The Uninvited (Paramount) – $2.1M, $896 PTA, $14.07M cume
8. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $2.05M, $1,189 PTA, $72.07M cume
9. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $2M, $739 PTA, $1156.03M cume
10. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony) – $1.15M, $563 PTA, $36.9M cume
10. Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $1.1M, $402 PTA, $50.5M cume
12. New in Town (Lionsgate) – $1.05M, $541 PTA, $9.67M cume

STUDIO ESTIMATES FOR FEBRUARY 6-8
1. NEW – He’s Not That Into You (Warner Bros) – $27.46M, $8,650 PTA, $27.46M cume
2. Taken (Fox) – $20.3M, $6,376 PTA, $53.36M cume
3. NEW – Coraline (Focus) – $16.33M, $7,105 PTA, $16.33M cume
4. NEW – Pink Panther 2 (Sony) – $12M, $3,700 PTA, $12M cume
5. Paul Blart: Mall Cop (Sony) – $11M, $3,471 PTA, $97M cume
6. NEW – Push (Summit) – $10.2M, $4,412 PTA, $10.2M cume
7. Gran Torino (Warner Bros) – $7.42M, $2,743 PTA, $120.28M cume
8. Slumdog Millionaire (Fox Searchlight) – $7.4M, $4,292 PTA, $77.42M cume
9. The Uninvited (Paramount) – $6.4M, $2,730 PTA, $18.37M cume
10. Hotel For Dogs (Dreamworks/Paramount) – $5.82M, $2,129 PTA, $55.23M cume
11. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (Sony) – $3.9M, $1,910 PTA, $39.65M cume
12. New in Town (Lionsgate) – $3.3M, $1,700 PTA, $11.92M cume

Steve Mason is on Facebook and now also on Twitter.