Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $142.1 million. 2. Shrek The Third – $69.1 million. 3. Spiderman 3 – $18.0 million. 4. Bug – $4.2 million. 5. Waitress – $4.0 million. 6. 28 Weeks Later – $3.3 million. 7. Disturbia – $2.4 million. 8. Georgia Rule – $2.38 million. 9. Fracture – $1.6 million. 10. Wild Hogs – $1.4 million.
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End had a big weekend as everyone expected. It landed in the second spot for biggest opening weekend ever behind Spiderman 3. However, the three of them combined this weekend helped to set the highest overall box office weekend ever with $255.3 million.
There is a battle going on between Sony and Disney over the opening weekends of Sony’s Spiderman 3 and Disney’s Pirates Of The Caribbean. Disney recently claimed that the new Pirates movie did the highest six day worldwide opening ever for a movie. Sony however doesn’t agree. A Sony spokesman had this to say: “At World’s End” opened in at least two territories — Italy and France — on the previous Tuesday, effectively adding a seventh day of grosses to a span Disney trumpeted as a six-day record. Disney countered by saying that: “We had previews that generated $1.4 million. And in keeping with industry practice, we rolled it into the opening day.” Sony claimed a $232 million six day opening for Spiderman 3 worldwide which included 18 overseas markets. That was when Disney/BVI claimed a $251 million six day opening for Pirates. Both companies have been taking shots at each other about the box office figures leading to each claim. Sony’s spokesman also said: “While there may or may not be other territories that opened prior to Wednesday, we believe that as more day-and-date releases enter the market, there should be a consistent standard in international boxoffice reporting. This issue is larger than an opening-week boxoffice statistic.” He also claimed that Spiderman 3 made $418.1 million worldwide in seven days of release with $256.7 million being from overseas. Disney has not made an official statement as a rebuttal.
In a move that I wonder may have something to do with the previous paragraph and trying to get in that opening weekend race, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will now open two days earlier than planned. It will open July 11th but no reason was given for the change.
Here is my Smallville viewing update in which I am trying to cram all these seasons of Smallville in before I hear spoilers in a couple of weeks. Last week, I was halfway through season two. A week later, I am just past halfway on season four. Whew!! I got thirteen episodes watched on Saturday!! I had been kind of taking my time through the series but realized I was running out of time. If I can get all these seasons watched in two weeks, it will be a thing of TV viewing beauty. LOL. I really liked season three a lot. I think it is my favorite season so far. Those Luthors are a curious bunch. It’s funny how well the writers play Lex and Lionel off of each other. You can never figure out if they’re working against each other, working together, playing someone else, or working with someone else. After four seasons of this show, I’m still left guessing. Funny storyline in one episode of season three that saw Clark get involved with a girl that was obsessed with him. Actually, he only went on one, sort of, date with her and she was obsessed with him after that. Yes, this is a storyline that has been done in countless shows over the years but Smallville put a very good twist on it. What if the girl that was obsessed was able to transport anywhere she wanted and whenever she wanted. It was a clever story idea. So, I’m in season four of six seasons. I’m on pace to get them all watched at this point. I’m really enjoying Smallville!!
Anyone that was thinking about buying Veronica Mars last week on DVD with that sale, I’ve got a better deal for you this week. Best Buy has seasons one and two of Veronica Mars on sale for $19.99 each this week.
Kevin Reilly was removed as the head of NBC. It is really amazing just how far that network has fallen. They were the top of the class for so many years but now find themselves in fourth place among the big networks. The only network that they rank above is the CW. Reilly was actually just signed to an extension not long ago which surprised many people. The network was said to not be very excited about their new fall lineup that was announced a couple of weeks ago. One thing that I always used to notice about NBC was that they always had shows in waiting when their big blockbuster shows would end. The latest example? When Seinfeld was about to go off into the sunset, Friends was sitting there ready to be the number one show. This trend goes back to the 80’s with NBC. Cosby Show, Cheers, and into the 90’s with Seinfeld. When Friends signed off, they had nothing. They actually brought Friends back for that last 10th season because they had nothing else to go with. They hoped to build a hit to put in that Friends time slot. When they didn’t, the option they came up with was a Friends spinoff. There was always a hit show ready in waiting and now they don’t have that. So, now NBC sits in fourth place with only one big new hit show which is Heroes. The American Dreams fan in me just makes me grin a little and think, now, those ratings for American Dreams weren’t so bad after all, were they? Replacing Reilly will be Ben Silverman who has been behind the production of several shows including The Office, Ugly Betty, Biggest Loser, and more.
AOL recently did a poll on what they thought was the top 20 American Idol performances ever. Well, I say poll but they didn’t conduct a vote or anything. They came up with it on their own. Hmm, not sure what to make of this list. Some ranked too high, too low, ah, who am I kidding? It’s all a matter of taste on who you like and what you like. Everyone’s lists would be different. They have an interesting list here. Let me know what you think of their top 20.
- Fantasia – Summertime
- Bo Bice – In A Dream
- Melinda Doolittle – My Funny Valentine
- Chris Daughtry – Wanted Dead Or Alive
- Kelly Clarkson – Stuff Like That There
- Blake Lewis – You Give Love A Bad Name
- Clay Aiken – Bridge Over Troubled Water
- Carrie Underwood – Alone
- Jennifer Hudson – I Have Nothing
- Katharine McPhee – Over The Rainbow
- Ruben Studdard – Superstar
- Jordin Sparks – I Who Have Nothing
- Elliott Yamin – Open Arms
- LaKisha Jones – And I’m Telling You
- Constantine Maroulis – Bohemian Rhapsody
- Paris Bennett – Midnight Train To Georgia
- Taylor Hicks – Takin’ It To The Streets
- Mandisa – I’m Every Woman
- Diana DeGarmo – Don’t Cry Out Loud
- Kellie Pickler – Something To Talk About
Also, Entertainment Weekly did their picks of top 10 performances ever on Idol and here is their list. I think I like their list better.
- Carrie Underwood – Alone.
- Kelly Clarkson – Stuff Like That There.
- Clay Aiken – Bridge Over Troubled Water.
- Fantasia Barrino – Summertime.
- Jennifer Hudson – Weekend In New England.
- Chris Daughtry – Hemorrhage (In My Hands).
- Melinda Doolittle – My Funny Valentine.
- Elliott Yamin – A Song For You .
- Ruben Studdard – Nights On Broadway.
- Katharine McPhee – Over The Rainbow.
August will see the DVD release of the first season of 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter. I recommend everyone picking up this first season which had me laughing out loud through the whole season. Several classic episodes in this one. My favorite may be the episode where a bet is made that everyone in the family has to give up a habit of theirs. The winner gets to pick where the family goes on vacation too. Funny episode that sees John Ritter’s character trying to sabotage the kids into giving in. I don’t think there was a bad episode on this season. It’s such a shame that this show didn’t get to play out like it deserved to as the show just never was the same after John Ritter passed away. It was still good but not as good as that excellent first season. The DVD set will contain 28 episodes.
Also announced for an August DVD release is the 7th season of Home Improvement.
The CW launched their new show Hidden Palms last night which has been heavily promoted on the network. The rating? 1.3. I could kick the CW some more but I’ll just leave it at that.
I like the concept of MTV doing a reunion type show of Real World seasons. That could be fun. The problem? They picked the wrong cast. Las Vegas!!?? That is the season that made me quit watching The Real World. I loved the show up until that season. Love the reunion concept but they picked the wrong cast to do it with. Who would I have picked? Problem with my picks are that I couldn’t see a lot of the casts being interested in doing it. I think the only way that you could do it is if EVERYONE from a cast was interested in doing it. I would love to see the first season of New York reunite. They were the social experiment that started the whole thing and were an interesting group of people. Season two would probably be a storm and a half if they were reunited. Plus, Dominic has never shown up for the previous reunions. You could do season three although I’d feel bad having them getting back together to deal with Puck. There are obviously several seasons to choose from but I would have went with a different season than Las Vegas.
As I have mentioned previously, TV viewership is down across the board. There are many reasons as to why as maybe people are watching stuff online, doing other things, going outside, or whatever. One point that I would like to bring up is the question of are the networks chasing viewers away? I’m talking about people fed up with getting interested in a show only to have it canceled after two episodes. Networks promote a new show to the moon to get viewers but then leave them hanging with nothing if the show doesn’t knock a home run out of the park ratings wise. When shows do stay on the air, you have to chase it around sometimes with schedule changes, hiatus’, and other problems. I recently came upon a column that I HIGHLY recommend reading especially if you are a frustrated viewer like myself. This was written a few weeks ago. I actually emailed this guy too telling him how much I liked the column. After reading this article, my first thought was AMEN!!
http://www.sacbee.com/157/story/164325.html
TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, June 5th and it is a big TV on DVD day. Too much for me actually but I will be picking up one of these and I bet you can guess which one. Here are the releases for Tuesday: The Bill (Complete 1st Series), Chappelle’s Show (The Best Of), CHiPs (Season 1), The Cosby Show (Seasons 3 & 4), Dante’s Cove (Season 2), Dark Angel (Season 1 & 2 re-release in thin pack form), The Dead Zone (Season 5), The Fall Guy (Season 1 – Volume 1, Season 1 – Volume 2, Complete 1st season), Flight 29 Down (Volume 1), The Henry Rollins Show (Season 1), Hex (Season 1), Hogan’s Heroes (Season 6), Mission Impossible (Season 2), The Outer Limits (Volume 1), Rescue Me (Season 3), Robin Hood (Season 1), Seinfeld (Season 8), Silverwing (Season 1), SpongeBob SquarePants (Bikini Bottom Adventures), Survivorman (Survivorman), The Sweeney (Complete 1st Series), The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (Best of Stand-up Comedians), Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (Season 1), What’s New Scooby Doo? (Season 2).
TV Line Of The Week: Lois talking to Mrs. Kent about Chloe’s crush on Clark – From Smallville.
“It’s funny. I never thought she’d fall for the farm boy type.” – Lois
“Trust me. That can happen to the best of us.” – Mrs. Kent
“Not me. Give me a nerd with glasses any day of the week.” – Lois
Wishing all of you a great weekend!!
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