OVER TWO MILLION WATCHED SUPER BOWL LIVE STREAM

This is the first time the NFL live-streamed the Super Bowl and the hook was what they called a “second screen” experience, which sounds like the idea was to convince those watching the game on television to also keep their computers on.

How many people, though, watched because they didn’t have access to a television? In the car, for instance? The NFL has to sell this as a “second screen” experience or else cable and satellite providers will howl. If this kind of programming starts streaming, people will cancel their cable packages.

Two million is less than 2% of those who watched the Super Bowl, but that’s still a lot of people.

Right now, the NFL and content providers make a fortune off of cable fees, but you have to wonder  if numbers like these won’t have them looking for a way to cut out the middle man.

WHY DENZEL WASHINGTON IS THE LAST OLD-FASHIONED MOVIE STAR

The author of this piece makes some good observations, but misses the big one. Denzel has never insulted, talked down to, or offended his audience. I’ve seen him hug Obama, I’ve seen him visiting our troops in the Middle East, but there’s nothing divisive about him — nothing anyone can hold against him. That used to be the norm in Hollywood — class — and now it’s an endangered species. Washington is also a family man and openly Christian. What’s not to like about him?

Audiences also trust Denzel not to offend with his film choices. He not only chooses quality projects, but also sucker-punch free projects. We can relax during a Denzel Washington film. We can settle in and not worry about the cheap shot.

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‘BLADE RUNNER’ MAKERS AT ALCON SAY HARRISON FORD NOT IN TALKS TO STAR

But the scuttlebutt sure got the project a lot of attention. Well done, Hollywood. Well done.

AXL ROSE TURNS 50 TODAY

Which means I’m like a hundred or something.

You know, this whole passage of time thing is really starting to freak me out.

FILM SCHOOL REJECTS: IF REDBOX TAKES OVER THE WORLD, TITLES WILL BE LIMITED TO WHAT FITS IN A REDBOX

Interesting observation:

I can’t see these two stories happening [Redbox making a move on streaming and Blockbuster's kiosks] at the same time being seen as anything other than a stake aimed directly at the hearts of Netflix and Blockbuster, and as a play by Redbox to take over all aspects of the home video industry. The question I have to ask is, with a new streaming service and a lot more kiosk locations, does this mean Redbox has plans to diversify the titles that they offer the public in a given week, or are we going to see the model of everyone watching the same three movies at the same time become even more prevalent?

It would be easy for me to dismiss this as “the market at work,” but the selection at Redbox is, obviously, light, and should Redbox take over the world, then what?

For starters, I think the Redbox move into streaming is in part due to them recognizing that there’s money to made with more titles. I also think that Redbox jumping into streaming will be a net-plus for consumers and Hollywood — though Hollywood is too dumb to understand that now.

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MEL GIBSON’S FILM ‘GET THE GRINGO’ BYPASSES THEATERS WITH DIRECTV VOD DEAL

“Get the Gringo” is actually the new title. The film has been advertised as “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.”

This is a radical move on Gibson’s part. “Get the Gringo’ will never see the inside of a movie theatre (other than some special screenings). Instead, 20 million DirecTV subscribers will have the opportunity to VOD the film for a very reasonable $10.99. Then, later in the year, the film will move to other VOD outlets and Fox will release it on home video.  

The smartest move here is the price point. $10.99 is a very attractive figure for a brand-spanking new Mel Gibson action picture. You’re able to enjoy this in the comfort of your own home with the entire family. Also, the advertising is much cheaper. Everything is done through DirecTV, who has a stake in the success of the film, as opposed to mass media markets.  

While “Margin Call” was also released in theatres, it still managed to gross a very impressive $4 million on VOD while in theatres, and that’s without the attraction of an A-list star in an action flick.

Crunch the numbers. 2 million buys, or 10% of DirecTV subscribers, equals $22 million. Toss in the subsequent VOD release and DVD and what you have here is a potential game changer.

Another brilliant move on Gibson’s part (his Icon produced) was to not allow himself to be put in a position where theatre owners could blackmail him. “Tower Heist” was a theatrical release that wanted to experiment with same-day VOD. Theatre chains freaked and threatened to not screen the film. Universal blinked and that was that.

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REDBOX VOWS TO ACQUIRE WARNER BROS DVDS ‘THROUGH ALTERNATIVE MEANS’

I love capitalism, and now you get another look into why Hollywood loves Castro and hates liberty:

Looks like Redbox has told Warner Bros to take a hike with its effort to double the waiting period for new rental DVDs to 56 days. When the contract to acquire discs directly from Warner Bros expires today Redbox will “work to provide Warner Brothers’ movies through alternative means[.]” …

(Earlier this morning Walmart agreed to continue housing Redbox kiosks to early 2015.) But Warner Bros also is taking a gamble: There’s nothing to stop Redbox from flooding the market with used Warner Bros DVDs a few weeks after they’re released, when rental demand for the titles lets up. Still, Warner Bros wants to increase the delay before providing discs to low-cost rental companies because it believes that will help to boost sales.

Warners next step is to convince retailers to only sell a limited number of titles to each customer, that way it’s more difficult for Redbox to acquire the number of titles necessary to fill their kiosks. But there are two incredibly stupid points made in this articlee worth pointing out:

Redbox is taking a big risk by choosing to buy Warner Bros discs from outside sources: That could be more costly. What’s more, the company may not be able to buy enough copies of hit films to satisfy its customers[.]

What? A ‘big risk?” As opposed to satisfying NO customers at all by not having any of these titles? But the article’s closer is the real howler:

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NEW ‘TERMINATOR’ FILM TO BE R-RATED

That’s the ONLY news on ‘Terminator 5.’ Nothing else is really happening, just a tweet from the woman funding the film.

This might be heresy, but I thought “Terminator 3″ was damn good and could care less about the rating. The story was tight, held my attention, surprised at the end, and contained all kinds of superb action scenes. “Terminator: Salvation,” on the other hand, was utter crap; a third act right out of a Sy-Fy Channel movie.

Worry about the storytelling. Let that process take you to the rating, not the other way around.

MONTY PYTHON MEMBERS SET TO REUNITE FOR SCI-FI COMEDY ‘ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING‘

“Life of Brian,” “Meaning of Life,” and “Holy Grail” are all brilliant, but something happens to these guys as they get older. They lose their comedic edge and just get meaner towards “safe” targets, and an obvious political correctness seeps into their work:

“a group of aliens who endow an earthling with the power to do ‘absolutely anything’ to see what a mess he’ll make of things — which is precisely what happens. There’s also a talking dog named Dennis who seems to understand more about the mayhem that ensues than anyone else does.”

Who knows where this could lead, but let’s hope that self-importance is off limits. As a Christian and Catholic, it’s an honor to get my butt kicked by the boys in the trio of films listed above because the films are clever, not mean-spirited, avoid preaching, and come from a  less fascist time when it was still okay to make fun of everyone.

Because liberals ruin everything, that’s just not the case today.

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STEVEN SPIELBERG MIGHT PART RED SEA FOR WARNER BROS.

Which Spielberg will show up to direct this one? If it’s the “Munich” Spielberg, the moral illiterate who sees an equivalency between Islamists who target the innocent and Israelis who target those who target the innocent — no thanks.  If it’s the “Saving Private Ryan” Spielberg, the moral illiterate who told us saving a single man was  ”the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess” also known as World War II — no thanks.

RUSSELL BRAND WILL STAR IN ANOTHER MOVIE — A FAMILY COMEDY

After the remake of “Arthur” flopped rather spectacularly, Hollywood is proving once again they are just about tapped out of stars. Brand is THE most unlikable, charmless, and creepiest guy Hollywood has ever tried to turn into a leading man. And not creepy in a Karloff, Lugosi, Lorre kind of way — not creepy in a way that delights. You wouldn’t let him near your daughter. He should be doing extra stand-ins as Prisoner Number Five in insane asylums.  But here we go again.

EVANGELINE LILY CHATS ABOUT ‘THE HOBBIT’

If she manages her career well, Evangeline Lily has, in my humble opinion, what it takes to be a genuine star, a real box office attraction like Sandra Bullock. She’s undeniably talented, looks great on the big screen (see “Real Steel”), and her presence has the exact right qualities: strong, intelligent, sexy, womanly, approachable, and she carries herself with dignity.

She reminds me of Elizabeth Banks before she did the sleazy “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”

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HOLLYWOOD’S NEWEST CRYBABIES: LEPERS … AND INDIA

It doesn’t bother me when crybabies crybaby. That’s what crybabies do, especially GLAAD and CAIR — two of the biggest, fascist crybabies in the history of crybabying.

What bothers me is that the politically correct cowards that run Hollywood only listen to certain crybabies. Southerners, Christians, stay-at-home-moms, Republicans, and pro-lifers continue to take hellacious beatings in all things pop culture. Everyone else is hands off at the first sound of a crybaby.

Those of us on the right can take a joke better than anyone; it’s being singled out by Hollywood cowards who pose as “edgy” that’s galling — the double standard.  Take us back to the good old days of “Blazing Saddles,” and we’ll never complain again.

It’s not satire when you’re singled out. It’s bigotry.

AMAZON PONDERS NEW CHALLENGE TO NETFLIX IN STREAMING MARKET

There’s a bigger story here than just this:

Ever since Netflix first alienated its consumers last summer with a price hike – ruining a perfect record of consumer satisfaction – the market seemed to open for new challengers. That door swung a bit wider after Netflix and Starz failed to agree to terms, further limiting the service’s movie offerings.

At the moment, Amazon has deals with the likes of CBS, Fox, Disney and NBCUniversal.

Hollywood is fighting streaming harder than they would ever fight terrorists and yet you have two of the biggest entertainment retailers on the planet — Netflix and Amazon — expanding this service. It was only a matter of time before someone stepped in to challenge Netflix Streaming, and Amazon is the perfect choice.

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ARMOND WHITE SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Why “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” was Better Than “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

Armond White: It’s a way of looking at the entire year of film and giving people an overview of what the films were attempting and what other films achieved. I looked at The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo– the David Fincher version as a remake, so I contrasted it with Rise of the Planet of the Apes which was also a remake but a far superior remake. Certainly a less pretentious piece of film making, also, not a hateful illustration of human ugliness. It’s a movie that’s kind of a wild vision of contemporary frustration which I think is more helpful than the brutality that was on display with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. So on two levels– as a remake there was something better than The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and also as a movie dealing with contemporary concerns there was a better film than that one. Which happened to be Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Armond Explains Why “Jack and Jill” is Better Than “The Descendants”

Armond White:  I will defend Jack and Jill. I get a kick out of the things Adam Sandler does. And one of the things that he does, and he does it explicitly in Jack and Jill, is that he deals with ethnicity. And he deals with family pride and family shame. These are the same subjects as The Descendants except it kind of glosses it over and uses superficial tv drama and morbidity to disguise the fact that its story is actually about ethnicity. It’s actually about how white folks came to Hawaii and took over and owned the land. And so it’s cast primarily with European descendants. And I’m watching the movie and thinking where are the indigenous Hawaiians? And this might be so in many cases but the film doesn’t deal with it. It’s just a superficial soap opera about the travails of the middle class and I was not interested in that. See Jack and Jill. It was all about ethnicity and what it is about ethnicity that we all have in common. And it can be tragic but Adam Sandler finds the humor in it. And it’s wonderful.

More at the link.

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Hulu isn’t just for watching your favorite TV shows of today – and yesterday – any more.

The streaming platform is planning original content just like its 21st century peer Netflix, and one of the first new Hulu shows out of the gate feels like “West Wing Lite.”

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“Battleground,” debuting Feb. 14 on Hulu, takes us behind-the-scenes, “Office” style, of a senatorial campaign. The candidate in question is a Democrat, so expect plenty of scenes about believing in the cause, fighting the power, changing the system, etc.

The first glimpse of the new show does feature those moments, but the focus appears to be on the lifestyles of the young, overworked campaign staffers as opposed to policy wonk soliloquies.

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NETFLIX USERS STREAM 3000 LIFETIMES’ WORTH OF VIDEOS IN 3 MONTHS

And Hollywood thinks they can put this genie back in the bottle. Never.

DID YOU KNOW KING KONG ALMOST BATTLED FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER?

Alternate title: Did you know the greatest movie ever almost got made?

TELEVISION SERIES THAT OUTSTAYED THEIR WELCOME

They forgot the season premiere of “Thirtysomething.”

COMING SOON TO HOME VIDEO

TEXAS KILLING FIELDS, JAN 31:  Anchor Bay Films is proud to announce the release of TEXAS KILLING FIELDS on both Blu-ray™ and DVD  January 31, 2012.  Directed by Ami Canaan Mann, produced by Michael Mann and Michael Jaffe, and based on the real life, headline-making series of unsolved murders, TEXAS KILLING FIELDS is a haunting story of two detectives and one desperate race to catch a killer. The release also contains audio commentary with Director Ami Canaan Mann and Writer Donald F. Ferrarone.

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DVD RELEASE DELAYS LEAVE RETAILERS UNFAZED

This is why Hollywood hates the free market:

Netflix appeared to shrug off the latest announcement from Warner Bros. Home Video that it will double the delay — to 56 days — between the time it releases its DVDs to retailers and the time it makes them available at wholesale prices to online renters and kiosk operators. Warner Bros. was not allowing those DVDs to be streamed anyway, and since Netflix is focusing on its streaming business and apparently attempting to phase out its DVD-by-mail business, the new delay would seem to have little impact on its overall strategy. B. Riley & Co. analyst Eric Wold told Bloomberg News that while Netflix may seem unaffected by the move, for kiosk operators like Redbox and Blockbuster Express, where new releases dominate their rentals, “that kind of delay would really hurt them.” Both kiosk operators are expected to begin buying new releases at retail discounters like Wal-Mart and Best Buy and making them available on a next-day basis.

The customers are just as willing to wait, and by the time those 56 days roll around, we’ll probably have forgotten all about these stupid movies.

‘AVATAR’ SEQUELS MAY BE FURTHER AWAY THAN YOU EXPECTED

Is that a promise?

Bleeding Cool recently caught up with AVATAR producer Jon Landau, who told them that the first of James Cameron’s sequels is “four years away”, which potentially puts AVATAR 2 in theaters around 2015 or 2016.

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This is all about collapsing DVD sales, but what the studios refuse to come to terms with is that if their movies didn’t stink, we would purchase more of them. Right now, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is selling plenty of DVD copies. That’s because it’s a terrific film. See how that works? Furthermore, through the Blockbuster Pass, I will  still only pay what I would watch through Netflix. So this move makes even less sense.

And now you know why Hollywood hates capitalism.

Anyway, more desperate and counter-productive behavior from an industry increasingly unable to create a product the customers would like to own:

Warner Bros., which was the first to impose a 28-day embargo on the release of DVDs to Netflix, RedBox, and other cheap rental companies, is likely to double that delay this year, according to published reports on Thursday. The studio, which is believed to have taken a big hit on DVD sales in the third quarter, is expected to announce the new delay at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week. Universal and 20th Century Fox, which also impose 28-day embargoes on Netflix and Redbox, are also expected to double that time period.

This will fix nothing. Oh, there might be a small bump for pay-per-view and brick-and-mortar Blockbuster, but the real money is in sales, and not only are we losing our passion and the all-important “impulse” to buy new films, we are also getting used to waiting for a longer period of time to see them. And that’s a huge mistake on Hollywood’s part. Sixty days after the release-hype dies down, the movie is released to two of the biggest outlets on the planet. Moreover, this genius move will only hurt sales. That’s how short-sighted  and desperate it is.

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‘SCORPION KING 3′ ON BLU-RAY AND DVD JAN 10

In a dangerous, action-packed battle to regain his glory and reclaim the empire, Mathayus’s journey is steeped in intrigue, sorcery and romance, fueling this new film that spawned from the billion-dollar The Mummy film franchise. The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption tops the series once again, featuring even more of the heart-stopping action, mind-bending stunts and astonishing plot twists that have earned the series millions of fans the world over. The film’s spectacular fight scenes, choreographed by renowned stunt experts Kawee “Seng” Sirikanerut (Ongbok, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Civilization) and Supoj “Jimmy” Khaowwong (Batman Begins), are showcased within enchanting ancient palaces, against a backdrop of breathtaking desert vistas.

The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption stars Golden Globe® winner Ron Perlman (“Sons of Anarchy,” Hellboy II: The Golden Army) as Horus, the powerful King of Egypt and Billy Zane (The Roommate, Titanic) as the villainous Talus.  Directed by Roel Reiné, the film also stars Victor Webster (“Castle,” Surrogates) as Mathayus and UFC star Kimbo Slice (Locked Down), Bostin Christopher (Unbreakable); six-time WWE World Champion Dave Bautista (House of the Rising Sun), and Temeura Morrison (Green Lantern, Stars Wars: Episode 3 — Revenge of the Sith), Selina Lo (Shanghai) and Krystal Vee (Streetfighter: The Legend of Chin-Li).

Clips here, here, here, and here.

UNSEEN SCENES: DELETED SEQUENCE FROM JOHN WAYNE’S ‘MCQ’

John Wayne, along with Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra, turned down the role of “Dirty” Harry Callahan that made Clint Eastwood a superstar, and in the hopes of making up for it, Duke starred in two urban actioners, “McQ” (1974) and “Brannigan” (1975), the latter of which I still remember seeing in a theatre with my dad.

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Director David Fincher and two-time Oscar winner Kevin Spacey are ready to change the way we think about Netflix – and the TV landscape at large.

The pair are teaming up for the new political thriller “House of Cards,” a 13-episode series created specifically for Netflix. Spacey will star and produce the show, while Fincher (“The Social Network”) will share producing credits and direct the pilot episode. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley announced today the show will start shooting in his state starting this spring.

The series is based on the novel and British miniseries of the same name dealing with political ambition and intrigue.

Media consumers won’t have to wait much longer to sample the kind of original fare Netflix has in mind as it broadens its content base.

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Fascinating analysis. Four key points have been cherry-picked by me, but you’ll want to read the whole thing.

THR:

1. “We believe 2012 will be a watershed year for the media industry and serve as a historic inflection point for traditional TV consumption,” Greenfield wrote. “While TV viewing has consistently risen as choice (channels) and access (VCR/DVR) expanded, we believe consumers have reached a breaking point. There are simply not enough hours in the day for online activities to be purely incremental.” …

2. Movie-going is also “less and less compelling,” meaning that attendance will remain in secular decline, he argued. “3D, IMAX, XD – are they really worth the extra money? Maybe for a one or two movies a year, but Hollywood is increasingly looking to premium exhibition formats as the solution to falling top-line revenues (as home entertainment profits drop),” he wrote. “Unfortunately, bad movies at premium prices are still bad movies and end up alienating your best customers.” …

3. Digital video platforms could benefit though as Greenfield predicts that Google’s YouTube will increases its video spending 10-fold and enable some subscription offerings, while Amazon.com will launch a stand-alone subscription video streaming service, and Facebook will become a video platform. …

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NETFLIX SERIES ‘LILYHAMMER’ STREAMS FEBRUARY 6

Here’s part of the press release:

“Lilyhammer,” a gripping fish-out-of-water story set in Norway and starring “The Sopranos” mainstay and E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt, is a new Original Series premiering on Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) to watch instantly on February 6, 2012 in the USA, Canada and Latin America.

“Lilyhammer,” follows New York mobster Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano as he enters the federal witness protection program after ratting on his boss. A sports fan, Frank wants to make his new life in Lillehammer, the Norwegian town that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics – or as he calls it “Lilyhammer.” Frank has visions of a paradise of “clean air, fresh white snow and gorgeous broads” far away from the temptations of the Big Apple and from mob hit men. Reality, of course, turns out to be spectacularly different.

All eight first season episodes of “Lilyhammer” will be available on February 6 so Netflix members can enjoy the series by streaming over the Internet to connected TVs, tablets, game consoles, computers and mobile phones.

Netflix’ smartest move was not doling the first season’s episodes out one by one. Instead, if we like it, we get to feast on it.

I’m convinced this is the future of television and that nothing will ever be the same again.

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Good article from the “L.A. Times,” touching on how the Internet has forever altered television viewing habits and what this means for the business end of it:

Television production studio executives long have been wary of Hulu and other forms of Internet distribution, fearing they would lead to increased piracy and destroy lucrative secondary markets, including syndication and DVD sales. But video streaming services offered by Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.com are becoming an unexpected boon to the TV syndication market. By writing checks to license library content from networks, the Internet services are injecting new revenue into the TV business and breathing new life into middling shows.

“The introduction of the subscription video-on-demand platform has broadened the opportunities for exploitation of product in a very positive way for consumers and studios,” said Ken Werner, president of Warner Bros. domestic television distribution. “You do not need to accumulate 100 episodes of a series because 40 hours of programming is a lot, so many of these shows work perfectly well on these new services.”

Something the article does miss, though, is how television marathons and DVD have also altered our viewing habits. We like to gorge now, watch more than just a single episode at a time and lose ourselves in that world for hours. This is one reason serialized dramas such as “Mad Men,” “24,” “Breaking Bad,” and the like are such favorites. These shows are addictive — in the best way.

Yesterday, the wife and I watched 5 episodes in a row of “Sons of Anarchy,” and when a new DVD arrives via Blockbuster of “The Closer,” we usually knock out all four episodes in just a sitting or two.

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I push the squeaky metal glass door open to the store known as Blockbuster. I’m here to return one B-movie for another one to feed my copious addiction to way-too-cool-for-its-own-good genre fiction.

I drop the movie off and get a half-assed “hello” from one of the cashiers. I take one look around and the place is dead. I can’t even remember what I came here for. I start browsing. All I can hear is the static of the old TVs playing what is probably “Schindler’s List,” but the poor quality of the sets make it look like an Ed Wood movie and the cashiers talking about what level they are in “Skyrim.” I grab my movie and head to the counter.

The college-age, bearded cashier scans my movie without much thought. Clearly, he probably wants to be somewhere else … and maybe I do, too. He’s nice enough, and I even hear the other cashier explain the plot of the movie “Super 8″ to a customer over the phone which is impressive in this day and age of the too-ironic-to-be-good-at my-minimum-wage-job attitude. I leave the store to hop in my gas-guzzling truck to head home to the cool tune of about $10 in gas ( I live two miles away – an over exaggeration, but not by much, sadly).

If I still had Netflix, my movie viewing night would have gone a little something like this: I pop open my laptop, pick the genre I want and start watching whatever I want and, if I get bored, I just stop the movie and start a new one. Hmm. Easy as pie. And we know how we all love pie! Because we are American! Hoo-ah (except meat pie — is that even real!?).

Considering you probably watch your movies through Netflix and your movie watching life is just as easy, if not more easy than what I just wrote, you’re probably laughing at my one of many Blockbuster experiences and wondering why the hell I don’t just wake up … oh, but I have. It’s time to wake you up, sirs and ma’ams.

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I may be a movie critic by trade, but I still love me some television.

Yet this week I ordered a new Blu-ray player capable of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus to my flat-screen set. It’s the first step in what likely will be my move away from traditional cable TV services.

If someone like me is thinking about “cutting the cord” then the cable industry should take the subject very seriously.

Don’t tell that to HBO Co-President Eric Kessler. The cable executive told a gathering at VideoSchmooze NYC earlier this week that there is “no chance” his company will make its original content available to non-HBO subscribers and that cord cutting is a passing fad.

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BOX OFFICE ANALYSIS:

The box office slump hit pretty hard over the holiday weekend. While retail sales everywhere else skyrocketed to record numbers, Hollywood took a 12% hit when compared to this time last year. It’s going to be difficult to predict how some of these films ultimately do. Now that we’re in the holiday season, something like “Hugo” that looks like a bust could have surprising legs straight through to Christmas and actually end up doing pretty well.

The upcoming competition doesn’t look overwhelming, especially for films aimed at kids. “Hugo,” “The Muppets,” and  ”Arthur Christmas” have the field pretty much to themselves until December 16 when the third “Alvin and the Chipmunks” opens.

1. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1: $62.3M — Keeping pretty close pace with its predecessor. With a $110M budget and a total take of $221M in just 10 days, the break-even is probably close to $300M, which is what “Eclipse” did domestically. Another $400M poured in from overseas. These movies are money-making machines.

2. The Muppets: $42.2M — Word of mouth almost assures this will have legs through Christmas. Everyone seems to love it.

3. Happy Feet Two: $18.4M — With a total take of $44M over 10 days, this is a genuine flop. Again, I think the politics of the previous entry turned off a lot of parents. People enjoyed “Happy Feet;” I know I did, but the liberal eco-messaging diminished the fun and left a bad taste. Especially off-putting is how that messaging was aimed at children. Hollywood used to teach universal values to our kids. Honesty, bravery, and loyalty were the themes of the day. Now it’s divisive issues like global warming and gay marriage. Hollywood overstepped on this one and 600 people lost their jobs.

4. Arthur Christmas $17M: — This has to be a disappointment. Because it’s the only offering this season with “Christmas” in the title, that might help as the season rolls on, but the overall concept seemed tired to me. How many movies are out there that promise to show us how Santa is able to deliver all those toys in just one night? Hollywood has to remember that home video is a reality. They might not have been born when it was released, but everyone over the age of eight has already seen “The Santa Clause.”

5. Hugo: $15.4M — Scorsese’s 3D entry had a terrific per screen take of $12,000, but that’s a wee bit less than the “Muppets” and far less than “Breaking Dawn” in its second week. There’s talk that the epic will expand closer to Christmas, but by then it will have to compete with Spielberg’s “Tintin.” Reportedly, the film cost well over $100M to produce.

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