Captivating Connections.

box office experience a summer of slug.

"Despite a varied crop of wide openers that targeted differing demos -- with the ogre holdover added to the mix -- box office receipts were down a steep 23% compared to the same weekend last year."

buy your toy story 3 tix on facebook.

"The Walt Disney Company has created what it believes is a first-of-its-kind application allowing Facebook users to buy tickets to 'Toy Story 3' without leaving the social networking site and while, at the same time, prodding their friends to come along.

The application, called Disney Tickets Together, could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining purchases with the powerful forces of social networking. When you buy a ticket through Disney’s application, for instance, it alerts your Facebook friends and prompts you to invite them to buy tickets of their own.

Disney quietly introduced the service on May 26 with a simple post on the site’s official 'Toy Story 3' page, which has over 732,000 followers. While many theaters will not make tickets available for the film, which was made by Disney’s Pixar unit, for another week — its release date is June 18 — early results indicate that people are using the application to buy tickets in groups as large as 80, according to Disney.

'The whole idea is that no friend gets left behind,' said Oliver Luckett, senior vice president and general manager of DigiSynd, a Disney subsidiary that manages the entertainment giant’s social networking presence."

Oh, you know I'll be rocking this for my tix :)

avatar kicks batman's butt.

"Topping the frame with an estimated weekend gross of $36 million for a cume of $552.8 million, 20th Century Fox and James Cameron's 'Avatar' has jumped past Warner Bros.' 'The Dark Knight' with $533.3 million to become the second highest grossing film ever at the domestic box office.

Still behind 'Titanic' in U.S. totals, 'Avatar' made history overseas."

on the 12th day of christmas, the box office gave to me...

...a record breaking number (and a partridge in a peartree).

(Cut me some slack here, I'm a Heeb).

Anyways, you get the point: It was a record breaking holiday season for the film industry...

"There was enough Christmas cheer for nearly everyone at the domestic B.O., which tallied its biggest weekend in history as a number of films -- led by 20th Century's 3D juggernaut 'Avatar' -- benefited from moviegoers stuffing themselves silly.

Revenues for the frame reached an estimated $280 million, overtaking the $260 million earned the weekend 'The Dark Knight' opened in July 2008.

In another milestone, domestic ticket sales for 2009 jumped the $10 billion mark for the first time ever, capping a record-breaking year that is running 12% ahead of last year. Attendance is up more than 5%."

let's go to the movies.

" The summer haul was the biggest ever at the worldwide box office as 3-D dinosaurs, the maturing boy wizard and oversized 'bots smashed through the records set in summer 2007.

Early estimates show ticket sales for the overseas B.O. clocking in at $5.8 billion, with the majority of those revenues coming from Hollywood tentpoles.

That's a 7% uptick over summer 2007, the previous record-holder for best summer thanks to beefy franchises "Pirates of the Caribbean," "Spider-Man" and "Shrek," as well as the first "Transformers."

Domestic box office revenues officially surpassed 2007 levels on Wednesday, when ticket sales reached $4.20 billion vs. $4.16 billion two years ago. That's a 1% uptick, but with Labor Day weekend still to come, that gain will increase."

pay-for-view on youtube?

Interesting..

"YouTube, the largest video site, is in negotiations with major Hollywood studios for a deal that would let its visitors pay to watch full-length movies, according to two people briefed on the negotiations.

If an agreement is reached, it would be a major change for YouTube, which has built a huge audience by offering an eclectic collection of free video clips and earns most of its revenue from advertising. It would also put YouTube, which is owned by Google, in direct competition with services from Netflix, Amazon and Apple, which allow users to buy or rent movies online.

YouTube, which already offers some older movies on its site free, is talking with Lionsgate Entertainment, Sony and Warner Brothers about making newer ones available, said one person briefed on the talks, which were intended to be confidential."

tweets with a purpose.

Cool new site alert:

"Twitter's ability to affect box office results — fast and furious tweets helped sink 'Brüno' and buoy 'The Hangover' — just got a shot in the arm.

SkinniPopcorn.com, introduced last week by the British interactive design company called magneticNorth, bills itself as “the world’s first social media movie buzz barometer.” Go to the site, click on the “now showing” button, and see an unedited, unfiltered stream of Twitter commentary.

It is a twist on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, which aggregate film reviews. Skinni Popcorn amasses tweets instead. The site focuses on mainstream Hollywood releases.

'Combing through reviews is such a pain,' said Brendan Dawes, the company’s creative director. 'We wanted gut commentary, a very quick snapshot. Is it worth seeing or not?'”

did twitter hurt bruno?

You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about Sacha Baron Cohen  or the movie Bruno that just came out.

There's an interesting question circulating, though, since the film did NOT do as well as expected:

Is Twitter to blame??

sprint looking to upgrade you.

How cool is this?

"This month through December, Sprint Nextel is sponsoring a cinema-centric marketing effort, placing kiosks in about 500 movie theaters nationwide. Sprint customers can scan in a code from their phones, and the kiosks will print coupons, like a free upgrade to a bigger popcorn or larger soda."

burger king & paramount have a summer fling.

BK & Paramount Pictures are coming together for some summer promo opportunities:

"With Paramount Pictures on the verge of kicking off its family-friendly blockbuster film slate, the movie house has joined forces with Burger King for a string of summer promos.

The release of Star Trek (May 8) will see a national advertising spot for kids featuring half-Klingon, half-King characters called Kingons, promoting new BK Star Trek drinking glasses. BK Kids Meals premiums will see star and bolt-shaped Chicken Tenders, which include one of 16 all-sound Star Trek toys that highlight the characters, technology, sounds and phrases from the film.

Then beginning June 22, with the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the restaurant will switch over to a Transformers-themed BK Kids Meal, which will include one of eight character/vehicle toys from the film, with national, kid-targeted TV advertising helmed by director Michael Bay.

And to round out its summer Paramount promos, Burger King will usher in G.I. Joe BK Kids Meals premiums starting July 27 as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits the big screen. Each Kids Meal will include one of eight toys, ranging from gadgets, action figures and vehicles.