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The Morning Fix: “Money Ball” fallout; the big man on the Paramount lot; `Harry Potter’ and the shrinking DVD biz

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After the coffee. Before setting the DVR to record ‘Jon & Kate’ tonight.

Sandra Bullock drinks ‘The Hangover’ under the table. Sandra Bullock’s romantic comedy ‘The Proposal’ opened at number-one with $34.1 million in box office. The movie brought females to the theaters in droves and pushed ‘The Hangover’ to second place. Box office round up from The Los Angeles Times, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter. Lets count the number of jokes about about ‘The Proposal’ being accepted by movie goers.

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Why did Sony really pull the plug on Brad Pitt’s ‘Money Ball?’ Blogger David Poland weighs in on the decision as does Variety. Was it the script? A blow to star salaries or that it a movie about baseball’s economics might not play overseas?

Mr. Carr goes to Google. New York Times media columnist David Carr visits Google -- ‘the Wal-Mart of the Internet, a huge force that can set terms and price’ -- to find out if you can be powerful and still not be evil. The jury’s still out on that one but their products sure do work well for him. Elsewhere in The New York Times: Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura has become the big man on the Paramount Pictures campus. Former CNN newscaster Bobbie Battista finds new life doing fake news for ‘The Onion.’

Harry Potter and the shrinking DVD market. Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter franchise may face more pressure to do gangbusters at the box office since the back end DVD market is on the decline, says The Los Angeles Times.

You say tomato...NBC and CBS love to take shots at each other in the media. But the two oldest broadcast networks do have completely different approaches to the business. Advertising Age looks at the strategies of each and who has an edge.

In today’s Los Angeles Times: An Apple without Steve Jobs? at the helm. Maybe it’s time. It still goes to 11. Spinal Tap is on the comeback trail.

-- Joe Flint

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