The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Tyler Perry evaded the “terrible twos” as his ribald, comic Madea’s Family Reunion was the clear weekend viewing favorite with an estimated $30.4 million. However, he didn’t get much support as two other national debuts - the animated Doogal and the thriller Running Scared - performed indifferently and most holdover titles experienced 40% to 60% declines that translated to rollbacks in the audience.
The Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Top Domestic Grosses
Domestic Market Share

3-Day Estimates	Weekend	% Change	Cume
Madea's Family Reunion	30.4	-	30.4
Eight Below	15.6	-23%	45.0
The Pink Panther	11.2	-33%	61.0
Date Movie	9.2	-52%	33.9
Curious George	7.1	-40%	43.2
Firewall	6.2	-31%	36.8
Final Destination 3	5.3	-48%	44.7
Doogal	3.4	-	3.4
Running Scared	2.9	-	2.9
Freedomland	2.8	-51%	10.7

The last Guru gang-up is here... Few surprises, lots of agreement and the locks, shocks and surprises that would rock. The Charts

20 Weeks To Oscar
Faster Oscarcat, Award, Award
by David Poland

It's looking like The Bookend Oscars this year... tune into see who gets Best Supporting Actor, take a three hour nap, then wake up to check out Best Picture. Nothing else seems terribly interesting... with due respect to the many whose hearts will be leaping out of their chests all day on Oscar day, regardless of how locked in many of the winners seem to be.

The Oscar Chart Quiz
1. Will Larry talk?
2. Could still pull the upset.
3. More nods to come.

MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Rent

It took 10 years for Rent to make the leap from Broadway to Hollywood, but only a month to disappear from the megaplexes. More >>

MCN Review: If Rent: The Movie was cut by 30 minutes, since somehow, on film, the rent battle becomes truly uninteresting, it might have been really terrific.

Pride, Unprejudiced: Chris Columbus says Rent is the movie he was born to make.

Plus: Wallace and Gromit, Domino, North Country, Rent, Zathura, All The President's Men, Emmanuel's Gift, Grey's Anatomy, The Journey, Just Like Heaven, La Bete Humaine, Midnight Cowboy, MirrorMask, Nine Lives, The Pretender, Proof, Significant Others, The Thing About My Folks, The Dick Cavett Show

___________________________

It's Oscartown, Jake
Romance, Passion
& A Murder Most Foul
by Kristopher Tapley

The imagination of Tim Burton is as identifiable as it is in the greatest of auteurs. From Beetlejuice to Big Fish, the sense that "this is a Tim Burton film" is incredibly potent with each passing frame. The director's films have warranted ten Oscar nominations and two wins since the 1985 release of his feature debut, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. But this is the first year in which Burton himself has received a nomination for his efforts.

The Ultimate DVD Geek
Cinderella Man
by Doug Pratt

It's a great story. Martin Scorsese has probably poisoned boxing movies forever with the revelation that most boxers are violent, pig-headed lugs, but Braddock was genuinely good-natured and emotionally stable. As a result, however, Howard may have replicated the family scenes as accurately as if he'd found film from a camera hidden in the walls of the original Braddock apartment, and yet the movie can't shake the sense that the scenes away from the boxing ring are somehow false or artificial, because everyone is so nice. But the fights are thrilling—most viewers will duck and bob right along with the fighters—and the film is as honorable in its intentions as it is rousing in its dramatic arc.
MCN Review
Dretzka's DVD Review
The Hot Button

Five short documentaries about the number 12… What did you want to be when you were 12? Did you ever see a 12-toed cat? People—and animals—will always surprise you.

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 11:21 am

Growing Up Bond

G-Whipp Chats 2005 With T-Ho

Rea On The Evolution Of Paul Walker

Expanding Production, Literally, In New York At Silvercup

Robin Wright Penn: The Update

A 19 Year Old Non-Actress Rationalizes Giving It Up For Regados' Art
"She thinks the scenes were more difficult for Hernandez than for her, probably because he's married."

Matthew McConaughey, Take 17

Is Blu-Ray Walking Dead? The Road To Hellville... Leading To A $499 Pricepoint Launch For Toshiba's HD-DVD

20 Years Of David Lynch

A Look At One Of The Oscar Nominated Short Films

The Latest On Pellicano From Times Expert Allison Weiner & David Halbfinger

Stacey Snider Delivers A Press Release Via Sharon Waxman, Confirming What We All Knew And Leaving The Hard Questions On The Pad

Crashing The NAACP Image Awards

The Beat That My Heart Skipped (A Remake Of James Toback's Fingers) Sweeps The Cesars With 8 Awards

The Long Expected Lawsuit Over The Book Of The DaVinci Code Gets Filed In London

Don Knotts Leaves Mayberry Forever At Age 81
And - The Night Stalker/The Old Man, Darrin McGavin, Passes Away At 83

What Capote Might Have Thought Of Capote

The Feminist Movement Contniues On The Risky Business Blog

Q: How Old Harrison Ford?
A: Old Harrison Ford Still Driven

Elaine May: Honored Filmmaker
Earlier - Elaine May Gets Recapped In NY

Why Arent Movies Screening For Critics? Tom Ortenberg Fesses Up to Lou Lumenick (Who Doesn't Give Credit to Fox & The Day After Tomorrow For Launching Global Critic Cooling)

What's Worth Watching In NY This Weekend? The Reeler Knows!

David Byrne + Fatboy Slim = An Imelda Marcos Musical

Aussie Soundstages Quiet

The New Almodovar's Spanish Trailer... Volver (no subtitles... but there is a shot of Penelope Cruz on a toilet, for what that's worth)

John Patterson Calls Them "The Gayest Oscars Ever"
"Oscar night is a moment when main street America can catch its unvarnished glimpse of Sodom-by-the-Sea and shudder at its liberal politics, its sexual degeneracy, and its pernicious plans for our children."

Dolly Parton Hopes To "Enhance" Next Year's Oscar BIllboard Campaign With A Win And A Close-Up

But Wasn't He Trying To Offer A Community Service Already?
Speaking Of Gender Issues, Lee Tamahori Deals His Way Out Of Charges

Gender, Risky Business' New Favorite Topic, Takes An Italian Oscar Turn
And - The Guardian's Sharon Krum Prepares Us for A Sexual Revolution

You Can Buy An Oscar Spot For Just $1.7 Million

A Picture In Repose From Spider-Man 3

International Trailering
Paul McGuigan's Lucky Number Sleven
Tom Tykwer's Perfume

The Truman Behind Capote

Redford's Sundance Diagnosis
"It's gotten to the point now — almost to a breaking point — where there's a fever that has taken over the festival."

Oscar, Schmosker - It's Really About The Gift Bag

Quiz: Do You Know Your Remakes?

The Battsek Also Rises

Dennis Lim Goes To Rotter-Rotter-dam-dam-dam

Worth1000's Movie Mating... From Raylien To Saving Napoleon Dynamite

Sidney Lumet Looks At The Truth Of Network 30 Years Later
"To borrow from the NRA, TV doesn’t corrupt people; people corrupt people.”

The Howard Stern Film Festival - "The Next Generation Of Weird But Brilliant Filmmakers A Festival They Can Call Their Own"

The Paper Of Record Has The Oscar Pneumonia And The BuyMoreAdsNow Flu

The L.A. Times Starts Yet Another Blog To Combat The Evil Of Blogs... Including One Blog Entry Linking To Page Six About - You Guessed It! - Blogging

Peter Howell Grills Himself Over His Susceptibility To Oscar Hype

Aussie Papers On the Next Luhrmann
Here | And Here | And Here

Just When You Thought The Stupidest University Study On Movies Had Been Done, Duke And 2 Other Schools Find A New Bottom

Are You Ready To Look Back At Hiroshima 60 Years Later In The Mushroom Club?

Traditional Media Announces The Death Of The Blog

More Media Consolidation
Fox To Start A Second Network To Suck Up The Stations Left Behind By The UPN/WB Merger

"I'm an excellent driver."
Fast Eddie Havens Jerks Around The Oscar Stats In Some Remarkable Ways

Bowles Looks At The Impact Of Brokeback

Nick Broomfeld Returns To South African Racist, The Subject Of His First Doc, To Come Full Circle

Lestat, The Wedding Singer, And Johnny Cash All Heading To Broadway(link now working!)

Teen Queen Lindsay Lohan Doesn't Want To Be Called A Teen Queen

Hello Dean, It's The Contagious Film Festival

The Death Of Wellspring As A Theatrical Distributor Is Finally Official