Expect huge box office opening for 'The Princess and the Frog,' thanks to high ticket prices [updated]

"The Princess and the Frog," Disney's first hand-drawn animated feature in five years, isn't only a throwback in style.

When it opens Wednesday, it also will be the first Disney animated film since 2003's "Brother Bear" to start in limited release in New York and Los Angeles. Like that movie and many other of its traditional cartoons, including "The Lion King" and "Hercules," the studio is pairing the two initial runs of "Princess" with an "experience" that includes games, actresses dressed as Disney princesses, props, costumes and other activities that give kids fun time beyond the film. [Updated 3:05 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly said that "Brother Bear" was Disney's last hand-drawn animated film. It was 2004's "Home on the Range."]

All those extras mean ticket prices will be substantially higher than for a normal picture. Disney is charging $30 for general admission tickets, $50 for the best seats and $20 per person for groups at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City and on the studio lot in Burbank. (Disney's El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, its traditional spot for high-profile L.A. runs, is currently using its 3-D projection system to play "A Christmas Carol.")

The "ultimate Disney event," as the studio's website calls it, will play until Sunday, Dec. 13, the first weekend that "The Princess and the Frog" plays nationwide. Disney already has racked up more than $3.2 million in pre-sales. In Burbank, all but one show from Wednesday through Sunday is sold out, while the larger Ziegfeld in New York has fully booked half of its screenings over the holiday weekend.

In the meantime, high demand and inflated ticket prices -- more than six times the U.S. average at the top end -- means "Princess" should see huge grosses for a two-theater run. It's no accident that the top seven per-theater averages of all time on Box Office Mojo are all Disney animated runs, and it's very likely that "The Princess and the Frog" will join them this weekend, particularly with Friday being a holiday.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: A scene from "The Princess and the Frog." Credit: Walt Disney Studios

State budget cuts hit Hawaii Film Office

 
It's no day in paradise for Hollywood's self-described "Tropical Back Lot."

Confronting a fiscal crisis, Hawaii is laying off its film commissioner and two of her key staffers in the Hawaii Film Office in a bid to save the state money.

Two of the staffers got their pink slips today while state Film Commissioner Donne Dawson's last day on the job is Dec. 4. Only one of the four staff members will remain to handle permitting, representatives of the film office said.

Dawson, film commissioner since 2001, took the news in stride. "We've been engaged in an unprecedented fiscal crisis," she said. "Yes, it's extremely unfortunate. I do believe it poses a tremendous challenge to the industry going forward."

Several other cash-strapped states around the country have cut or gutted their film tax credit programs in the face of severe budget constraints and, in a few cases, outright scandals. Iowa suspend the state's tax credit program and launched a criminal probe into the activities of its former film chief after an audit raised questions about the office's handling of tax credits. No similar allegations have been raised in Hawaii.

Dawson's boss, Georja Skinner, lamented the decision, saying Dawson and her staff had done an "excellent job" building the film industry in Hawaii, but said the state's fiscal condition "necessitated a reduction in our workforce."

Skinner disputed reports that the film office was closing, saying she and her staff would step in to help run the office. A former freelance TV producer and Maui film commissioner, Skinner heads the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism's creative industries division. The division oversees the film office and a state-owned film studio, and manages the state 15% to 20% tax credit, which remains in effect.

Best known for TV shows "Hawaii Five-O," "Magnum P.I." and, more recently, ABC's hit show "Lost," Hawaii has never been known as a major production hub. But the state has hosted some high-profile films in recent years, including the fourth installment of "Indiana Jones" " and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

"It's important to emphasize that the Hawaii Film Office remains open for business," Skinner said.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly in an episode of "Lost." Credit: Mario Perez / ABC

Video game sales are to movie box office as house sales are to pet adoptions

In a culture that has become obsessed intrigued by movies' openings at the box office, it's no surprise that other products, particularly in the world of entertainment, want to compare their launches to those of the biggest films.

There's a danger, however, in comparing apples to kumquats.

Today Activision Blizzard Inc. revealed that its hugely anticipated video game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, generated $550 million in worldwide sales during its first five days. As the publisher trumpeted in a press release, that's substantially higher than the biggest five-day worldwide box office launch, a record held by "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." That's correct.

But that doesn't mean Modern Warfare 2 has been enjoyed by as many people or that it will be as profitable. The video game costs $60 to buy, after all ($150 for the "prestige edition," which includes an art book and night vision goggles), whereas movie tickets cost less than $10 on average (shocking as that may be to Los Angeles residents). More important, movies make the majority of their revenue when they're done playing in theaters, from DVD, pay television and other markets. Video games make virtually all of their money from retail sales. With the exception of the relatively tiny market for add-on digital content, they're done once they leave stores.

We're not saying the launch of Modern Warfare 2 isn't impressive. As a story in today's Times explains, it's a new record, a much-needed shot in the arm for the industry, and a reflection of careful planning and a massive $200-million investment by Activision Blizzard.

Just don't believe the hype that video games are now bigger than movies. Hollywood can rest easy. For now, anyway.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: A scene from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Credit: Activision Blizzard Inc.

New Disney movie chief pulls plug on costly 'Captain Nemo'

UPDATED:

In one of his first major creative moves as Walt Disney Studios' new movie chief, Rich Ross has made the costly decision to pull the plug on the planned $150-million production of "Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" -- the last project approved by his predecessor, Dick Cook.

The family adventure movie -- a high priority for Disney that the
studio envisioned as potential franchise along the lines of the
"Pirates of The Caribbean" -- was scheduled to begin shooting in
February in Mexico. Disney had already spent about $10 million hiring crews, who were prepping the movie and planning to build
elaborate sets in Rosarito Beach. Artwork and construction of
models were already underway.

Just a few weeks ago, Disney spent generously to hire writer Michael Chabon to quickly rewrite the script. The studio had recruited Chabon, author of "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," to rework "Nemo" after he had recently written a draft of its forthcoming production "John Carter of Mars," the first live-action film to be directed by Pixar Animation Studios director Andrew Stanton.

The "Captain Nemo" project is one of many under evaluation by Ross and his boss, Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Bob Iger, since Cook's ouster in mid-September.

One person close to the filmmakers of “Nemo” said that in recent weeks Iger and Ross had signaled that they had serious reservations about moving forward with the project.

In a meeting Monday with "Captain Nemo" director McG and producer Sean Bailey, Ross told them that the project was being halted. While neither McG nor Bailey returned calls, people familiar with their thinking said the duo was disappointed with the decision.

According to one person familiar with the situation, Ross made the decision based on creative concerns and plans to redevelop the movie, a new adaptation of Jules Vernes' classic novel, which the studio first brought to the big screen in 1954.

The news was first reported in Variety.

--Claudia Eller and Dawn C. Chmielewski

Photo: James Mason as Captain Nemo in Disney's 1954 version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." Credit: Wide World Photo.

Disney's dream that 'Christmas Carol' will be the new 'Polar Express' coming true

When "A Christmas Carol" opened to $30 million domestically on its opening weekend -- well below what prerelease research had suggested and historically very weak for a movie that cost nearly $200 million to produce -- Walt Disney Studios' president of domestic distribution, Chuck Viane, counseled patience.

"Christmas-themed movies opening in early November tend to have a much greater multiple than others and we know [director] Bob Zemeckis always tends to over-deliver on his multiple," Viane said, pointing to Zemeckis' last 3-D, motion-capture animated Christmas movie, "The Polar Express," which ultimately collected more than seven times its opening weekend take.

As it turns out, Viane was wrong. "A Christmas Carol" isn't holding as well as "The Polar Express." It's holding even better.

U.S. and Canadian ticket sales for "A Christmas Carol" fell just 25.8% this weekend, the third smallest drop for any movie in wide release so far this year. That's substantially less than the second weekend drop for "The Polar Express" in 2004, which was 32.8%.

With its extremely strong second weekend and its healthy weekday performances, particularly last Wednesday, which was Veterans Day, "A Christmas Carol" has grossed $63.3 million. That's $11.8 million more than "The Polar Express" at the end of its second weekend, even though the 2004 movie opened on a Wednesday, giving it two extra days in theaters.

If the current trend continues, "A Christmas Carol" should be at more than $80 million by next Sunday. Thanksgiving weekend should be particularly strong for the movie, given its holiday theme and family appeal. "The Polar Express" saw its grosses rise 23.8% on Thanksgiving weekend and "A Christmas Carol" could easily do even better.

The next major release that will compete directly for the family audience of "A Christmas Carol" is Disney's "The Princess and the Frog," which starts playing nationwide Dec. 11. The following Friday, "Avatar" opens and will take virtually all of the digital 3-D screens currently playing "Christmas Carol," on which it is doing the majority of its business. That should essentially end the movie's domestic run.

Disney opened "A Christmas Carol" in early November, well before the holiday, in order to play on 3-D screens for as long as possible before "Avatar."

By the time James Cameron's hugely anticipated and costly picture debuts, "A Christmas Carol" could end up with a domestic gross of around $200 million. That would make it something of a financial success, particularly if the movie ends up doing well overseas. So far, after launching in 21 international territories, it has grossed $34.6 million overseas.

Disney probably will also be well-positioned to reopen "A Christmas Carol" in 3-D theaters for several Christmases to come, as Warner Bros. did with "The Polar Express."

In more good box-office news today, Sony reported that "2012" collected $5 million more overseas than it estimated yesterday, giving the disaster flick a final worldwide weekend gross of $230.4 million.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: A scene from "A Christmas Carol." Credit: ImageMovers Digital

Fox confirms Emma Watts as production president

Twentieth Century Fox has confirmed the widely expected promotion of studio veteran Emma Watts to president of production.

For two years Watts had shared the job with Alex Young, who left last month to become a producer at the News Corp.-owned studio. Watts' contract has been extended for a few years.

Watts joined Fox in 1998 as a creative executive, working her way up to executive vice president and then co-president. Earlier in her career, she worked at production companies founded by director Oliver Stone and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons.

The 11-year Fox veteran is currently overseeing such movies as "Date Night," starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell; the family comedy "Tooth Fairy," headlined by Dwayne Johnson; and Oliver Stone's "Wall Street 2," teaming Michael Douglas and Shia LaBeouf.

-- Claudia Eller

Photo: Emma Watts. Credit: Twentieth Century Fox

Best Buy launching digital movie service with CinemaNow

One of the nation’s biggest sellers of DVDs is making a leap into digital movie downloading.

Best Buy Inc. is partnering with online video provider CinemaNow to create a new a movie downloading service that will be integrated into most Internet-connected electronics -- including televisions, DVD players, computers and phones – sold at the store.

Facing an industry-wide decline in physical media, Best Buy has recently been making an aggressive push into digital. Last year it acquired online music service Napster for $121 million. The partnership with CinemaNow, which is expected to launch late this year or in early 2010, marks a companion move in online movies and comes as DVD sales are down about 13% so far this year.

“Digital is developing as a channel and we’re forecasting that by 2012 it will be a significant, double-digital percentage of the movie business,” said Ryan Pirozzi, director of digital media for Best Buy.

The two companies are collaborating on a new online movie service, yet to be named, that Best Buy will pre-load on electronics from retailers including Samsung, Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba. CinemaNow is handling all of the back-end technology, as it does for Blockbuster Inc.’s similar service, while the retailer will handle everything seen by consumers, including design and pricing.

The two companies initially announced a partnership earlier this year whereby CinemaNow downloads have been available on Best Buy’s website and some of the store’s devices. But the new partnership, which lasts at least three years, signals a major step forward for the retail giant as it prepares to launch its own digital movie brand.

Best Buy will be paying CinemaNow, which is owned by Sonic Solutions, a fee along with a percentage of the service’s revenue for its work behind the scenes.

Legal movie downloads have been available in some form for about a decade. However the business has been impeded by limitations on availability, consumers’ ability to play video on different devices, and high pricing that have made DVDs and illegal downloads more attractive.

The market has recently become very competitive, however, as online movie services from Amazon.com and Netflix are competing against Apple’s iTunes Store.

Pirozzi said making online movie distribution simpler for consumers will be a top priority. The company plans to experiment with numerous business models including purchase, rentals, subscriptions and advertiser support. It will also emphasize the ability to watch movies on televisions as well as computers and mobile devices.

“This is certainly a very crowded space, and we’re going to work to translate our customer insights into a more compelling service than those out there currently,” he said.

Best Buy’s biggest advantage is its stores. The new movie downloading service will be marketed at retail locations, and employees will be trained to explain and promote it to customers.

--Ben Fritz

Photo: A Best Buy store in Culver City. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times.

'Terminator' to have new owner by January

He'll be back, but with a new owner.

An auction for the rights to make new "Terminator" movies will likely be done by January. Representatives for the Halcyon Co., which currently controls the franchise and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, have set their plans to sell off the rights to pay debts and recapitalize their company.

Last month, Halcyon hired FTI Capital Advisors to put the rights up for sale and manage the process. According to Kevin Shultz, senior managing director of FTI, an auction is expected to be held by January at the latest, pending bankruptcy court approval. By later this month, Halcyon may choose a "stalking horse," a potential buyer whose early bid puts it in first position and gives it exclusive access to perform due diligence. Any other company that wanted to buy the "Terminator" rights would then have to outbid the stalking horse.

Sony Pictures and Warner Bros., which distributed May's "Terminator Salvation," are considering bids, according to people close to the companies, as is independent studio Summit Entertainment. However, Shultz said the final buyer may not come from Hollywood, but from the world of private equity.

"There are financial buyers who have expressed strong interest," he said.

Halycon paid $25 million to buy the "Terminator" rights in 2007. In a previous bankruptcy court filing, Halcyon Co-Chief Executive Derek Anderson said he believed they were now worth more than $60 million.

Whoever buys "Terminator" would get rights to make future sequels as well as Halcyon's remaining income from "Salvation," which cost about $200 million to produce and grossed a so-so $371 million worldwide. The fourth movie in the 25-year-old series will be released on DVD in December.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: A scene from "Terminator Salvation." Credit: Warner Bros.

Picture sharpens for Digital Cinema rollout

The purse strings appear to be loosening for the long-delayed rollout of digital cinema.

Until recently, the credit crunch had discouraged lenders from forking over money to help pay to convert theaters to digital systems, which are required to show 3-D movies. That was causing considerable heartache among major studios, which have invested heavily in dozens of 3-D movies coming out in the next two years, including 17 in 2010 alone.

But there are signs that lenders are now willing to bankroll the costly conversion. The latest evidence of that came during the industry trade event Showeast this week when Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp., a Morristown, N.J. that supplies and installs digital equipment in theaters, announced that it had received commitments from GE Capital and French bank Societe Generale to finance $100 million to install 2,133 additional digital screens worldwide next year. 

Adam M. Mizel, chief financial officer for Cinedigm, called the commitments a "milestone" that will "enable exhibitors to take advantage of the significant benefits of digital cinema."

In August, JP Morgan Chase & Co. signaled that it was moving ahead with plans to secure $525 million in financing to retrofit up to 15,000 screens for digital technology over the next five years at AMC, Cinemark and Regal, the nation's largest theater chains.

Separately, Technicolor also announced this week that it was partnering with Deluxe Entertainment Services, Eastman Kodak Co. and Fujifilm to create a fund to help exhibitors finance up to 500 silver screens to be installed in North America and the United Kingdom. Silver screens are a component in digital systems and cost $5000 to $10,000 each. Technicolor has been marketing a low cost, film-based 3-D system to smaller theater circuits that can't afford to buy digital projectors, which can cost $75,000 each.

For now, 3-D has a long way to go before it becomes mainstream. Currently, 7,241 of nearly 39,000 screens in North America are digital, and only 3,061 of those are 3-D ready.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo credit: Gary McCarthy

Original 'Twilight' to be re-released night before sequel 'New Moon' opens

Wanting to capitalize on the teen vampire movie craze it stirred last year, Summit Entertainment is planning to re-release "Twilight" in more than 2,000 theaters on Nov. 19, the night before the arrival of the highly anticipated sequel, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

Summit's distribution executives have been in conversations with the nation's theater owners about a one-night-only screening of "Twilight" at 9:00 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. just prior to the 12:01 a.m. showings of "New Moon." Plans are just now being formalized, according to one person with knowledge of the matter, who said that exhibitors (who naturally have dollar signs in their eyes) are very high on the idea.

"Twilight" will likely wind up playing in many of the same theaters that will have those midnight screenings of "New Moon."

Released last November, "Twilight," the first film based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling book series, became a runaway hit both in theaters and on DVD. The vampire movie, which stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson as chaste lovers, grossed $383.5 million at the worldwide box office and is this year's top-selling DVD, with about 8 million units sold in the U.S. and Canada alone.

Even though the film is out on DVD, Summit is banking on herds of bloodthirsty teens coming back out for the social experience of sitting in a darkened theater, especially as excitement builds for "New Moon." For theater owners, the two-for could be a huge windfall.

This would mark the second time Summit has re-released "Twilight" on the big screen. In July, the movie had a one-night-only theatrical release during the annual Comic-Con Convention in San Diego on the night before the studio showed exclusive footage of "New Moon" there.

--Claudia Eller

Photo: Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson in "Twilight." Credit: Peter Sorel/Summit Entertainment.