New Moon & Blind Side Dominate Turkey Weekend

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

Thanksgiving weekend saw a healthy increase in business from last year but most of that business was divided between the same two movies that dominated last weekend as The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit) and Sandra Bullock's football drama The Blind Side (Warner Bros.) remained on top with $82 million between them over the three days after the holiday on Thursday.

The "Twilight" sequel dropped 70% from its record-setting opening weekend to earn an estimated $42.5 million over the three days and $66 million since Wednesday. It has earned $230.7 million in total since opening last week, 22% more than the previous installment grossed in its entire theatrical run. The popular supernatural romance also continues to do well internationally, having grossed roughly $85 million in other regions this weekend, adding up to a total worldwide gross of $473.7 million in just ten days.

The Blind Side (Warner Bros.) is already the surprise hit of the fall and holiday movie season, but it did even better in its second weekend than its first, grossing $40.1 million over the three-day weekend, up 17% from last week. Produced for less than $30 million, the sports-based drama has grossed an astounding $100.3 million in just ten days.

Roland Emmerich's disaster movie 2012 (Sony Pictures) took third place over the weekend with an estimated $18 million and a total gross of roughly $139 million after three weeks in theaters.

Disney's PG comedy Old Dogs, starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, settled for third place, opening with an estimated $16.8 million over the three-day weekend and $24.1 million since opening on Wednesday. With a moderate budget of $35 million, it's not a terrible opening but it's somewhat disappointing compared to how other PG Disney comedies have fared over the Thanksgiving weekend in the past. One presumes that the awful reviews and other choices kept audiences away.

On the other hand, helped by the official start of the holiday shopping season, Disney's A Christmas Carol received a nice 30% bump from last weekend, bringing in $16 million over the three-day weekend to bring its total to $105 million.

The martial arts action flick Ninja Assassin (Warner Bros.), starring Korean pop singer Rain, grossed $21 million in its first five days in 2,503 theaters, $13.1 million of that over the weekend, to take sixth place.

Sony's second animated comedy of the fall movie season, Planet 51, dropped to seventh place with $10.2 million, down 17% from its opening weekend, to boost its total to $28.4 million.

Eighth and ninth place were movies that have been doing solid business in limited release and hoped to bring in more audiences over the holiday. Lee Daniels' inspirational drama Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate) didn't add many theaters on Wednesday, but it did come out slightly ahead of Wes Anderson's stop-motion animation version of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox, which expanded into 2,033 theaters. Both movies grossed roughly $7 million over the three-day weekend. Precious has grossed $32.5 million to date and should roll out into more locations with awards nominations being announced in the coming weeks, while Anderson's movie has grossed just over $10 million all-inclusive.

Grant Heslov's political comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture Films) rounded out the Top 10 with $1.5 million and a $30 million gross to date.

The top 10 grossed $172 million over the three-day weekend up 13% from the holiday weekend last year when the holiday comedy Four Christmases

Opening in 111 theaters on Wednesday, John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road (Dimension Films) starring Viggo Mortensen performed strongly, taking in $2 million to claim 11th place, just ahead of Troy Duffy's The Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day, which added 169 theaters on Wednesday and added $1.2 million to its total take of $5.7 million.

Disney's first 2D animated movie in many years, The Princess and the Frog, opened in exclusive engagements in New York and L.A., where it grossed $712 thousand over the three-day weekend and $1.1 million since Wednesday. Its theater average of $356k per venue, boosted by higher ticket prices for the special engagement's enhanced experience, helped put the animated movie amongst the top 3 highest averages, amongst previous Disney movies such as The Lion King and Pocahontas.

Hangover 2 Script Half-Finished, Moving Out of Vegas Read more: Hangover 2 Script Half-Finished, Moving Out of Vegas

Talking to EW, The Hangover director Todd Phillips gave the low down on the status of a sequel. He’s currently midway through the script, although no plot details are known yet. Phillips mentioned that he was thinking of ideas for a sequel while they were filming, and that Warner Brothers asked for a sequel as soon as they saw how well the film tested. He also promises that Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis will definitely be returning for another adventure.

Phillips went on to confirm that Hangover 2 won’t reuse the plot of the first film (don’t be surprised if an alcohol-induced headache remains a key component), and it will have an entirely new setting.

What people loved about The Hangover was not Las Vegas or the bachelor party but these three characters. I think you can take those characters and put them in other situations, and you don’t need the sell of Vegas and a bachelor party and all that other stuff.

Changing locations was definitely the first thought that popped into my head when we first started hearing talk of a sequel, and I won’t be surprised if they end up focusing on another party-capital location. Hangover in the Big City? Big Hangover in Little China (with a Kurt Russell cameo, of course)? Something Something Hangover Miami? Surely, the possibilities are endless.

We can most likely expect yet another random celebrity cameo, and I’m also hoping that Ken Jeong returns, because he was one of my favorite elements of the first film. I’m not too concerned that Phillips is scripting the sequel instead of original writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore—the man gave us Road Trip and Old School after all.

Phillips is currently working on his next project, Due Date, starring Robert Downey Jr., Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan, and Jaime Foxx, which reunites him with the college-slacker genre.

USA Renews Psych For Fifth Season

Psych has been renewed for a fifth season, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The super-sleuthing USA comedy — which stars James Roday as a fake psychic who solves crimes with his excellent observational skills and Dulé Hill as his best friend and partner — has been given a 16-episode order. Season 5 is likely to kick off in summer 2010.

The second half of Psych's fourth season will return to its usual Fridays at 10/9c slot in January. But for the first time in the show's history, it will not follow Monk, which airs its series finale Dec 4.

Twihards Steer New Moon to New Records

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

There was little question last week that the second chapter of Stephenie Meyers' supernatural romance drama The Twilight Saga: New Moon with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson would open big, but after setting a new midnight record on Thursday and a new single day record on Friday with $72.7 million, it has left even the most jaded critic of the franchise flabbergasted at how well the movie performed. In its first three days, "New Moon" grossed an estimated $140.7 million, the third-biggest opening weekend domestically of all time with a per-site average of just under $35,000 per venue, the fourth largest per-theater average for a wide release. The movie also surpassed the previous November opening record for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by a wide margin. Essentially, it grossed almost exactly twice the opening weekend gross of the first Twilight exactly a year ago. The first installment went on to gross roughly $190 million, but with so much clear frontloading to Friday, it's difficult to tell how well the sequel will hold up compared to the original movie. With Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up, it should be able to at least get to $300 million in its theatrical run, which once again puts it up against the "Harry Potter" franchise, the sixth installment which is currently the #2 movie of the year with $301.8 million. On top of that, the Chris Weitz-directed epic took in $118.1 million internationally in 25 markets for a total global take in just three days of $258.8 million.

An even bigger surprise this weekend may have been the success of Sandra Bullock's football drama The Blind Side (Warner Bros.), which has grossed an estimated $34.5 million in three days, over twice even the most optimistic prediction for the weekend, and averaging roughly $11,000 per site in over 3,100 theaters. One presumes that the combination of strong last-minute reviews and the spillover from sold-out "New Moon" screenings helped the movie perform strongly, and if that number holds up, it will be the actresses' biggest opening to date, even surpassing her recent summer hit comedy The Proposal, which opened with $33.6 million and grossed $164 million total.

After opening with $65 million last weekend, Roland Emmerich's disaster movie 2012 (Sony Pictures), starring John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor, dropped dramatically, losing 59% of its business in its second weekend to end up in third place with $26.5 million and a ten-day total of $108.2 million, still well below its reported $200 million production budget.

The weakest showing this weekend for a new movie in the Top 10 went to Sony's animated sci-fi comedy Planet 51, featuring the voice of Dwayne Johnson, which underperformed compared to other animated movies released by Sony, grossing an estimated $12.6 million in over 3,000 theaters.

Disney's A Christmas Carol dropped 45% to take fifth place with $12.2 million and a three week total of just under $80 million. It has a long way to go to make back its own $200 million production budget.

Lee Daniels' inspirational drama Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate) expanded even wider into roughly 640 theaters but dropped to sixth place with $11 million and a three week total of $21.4 million, nearly double its production budget.

Grant Heslov's political comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture Films) dropped to seventh place with $2.7 million and $27.6 million total.

The rest of the movies in the Top 10 made less than $2 million and cumulatively, the Top 10 grossed roughly $245 million, up over $90 million or 59% from the same weekend last year when Twilight topped the box office with just under $70 million.

Opening in limited release, Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, starring Nicolas Cage, grossed $257 thousand in 27 theaters in select cities, averaging roughly $9,500 per site. Opening in two theaters in New York City, Spain's #1 auteur Pedro Almodovar's new movie Broken Embraces, once again pairing him with Penelope Cruz, brought in a respectable $108 thousand.

Judd Apatow on Sequels: No Superbad 2, Pineapple Express 2 Maybe Read more: Judd Apatow on Sequels: No Superbad 2, Pineapple Express 2 Maybe

The Apatow-verse still hasn’t dealt with sequels as of yet, but it’s bound to happen eventually. Yesterday Judd Apatow appeared on the Funny or Die Writer’s Room and talked about topics ranging from his first project and living with Adam Sandler, to potential sequels for films he’s directed or produced. In regards to the latter, he offered up some info on the potential for Superbad and Pineapple Express sequels.

Apatow seemed pretty confident that Superbad 2 probably won’t happen anytime soon, despite how much he’s begged Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. He says “they don’t want to ruin it”, and that “it’s a gem of a movie, and they don’t want a crappy second.” He goes on to say that there’s a little talk of a Pineapple Express sequel, and that we’d “have a better shot at seeing that.”

While I had fun with Superbad, I’d personally much rather see any film in the Pineapple Express universe—if only to see James Franco reprise his role. Superbad’s story seemed fairly well contained, whereas Pineapple Express could potentially continue as a series of stoner adventures a la Cheech and Chong.

Apatow also makes quick mention of Get Him to the Greek, the spin-off film from Forgetting Sarah Marshall. The film is the closest thing the Apatow-verse has gotten to a sequel (he calls it a “sideways sequel”). He says “It’s sort of like My Favorite Year on heroin”.

To a degree, I much prefer the fact that the Apatow films (both directed and produced) have each been somewhat different. I appreciate that they’d rather move on to new and original ideas instead of trying to create an endless franchise. This is a philsophy I wish formerly-great comedians like Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin could follow as well.

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo Reunite For Another Vacation

Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo will be reprising their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold from the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, but not for another big screen sequel (not yet, at least…).

You might recall that last month we told you that New Line/Warner Bros had signed Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus director David Dobkin to produce and possibly direct a new film in the National Lampoon’s Vacation series which would follow Rusty Griswold, the son of Clark Griswold, who is now a father in his own right and takes his family on a, you guessed it, road trip vacation. Although New Line/WB hopes to sign Chase and D’Angelo to return as grandparents in the new film, no deals are in place.

So if not the big screen, when, where and why?

The Griswolds will be reuniting insead for an advertising campaign to be launched during the 2010 Superbowl. The television spot is for HomeAway vacation rentals (a natural fit) and according to US Weekly, will also feature an exact replica of the film’s iconic Wagon Queen Family Truckster. We’ll post the commercial once it comes online, but I’m sure you’ll see it first on February 7th 2010 during the big game.

As for the developing Vacation sequel/reboot… we’ve heard a screenwriter has yet to be hired for the project. If anyone hears anything, please let us know.

ABC Sets Lost Premiere Date

First the island moved; now Lost is moving to a new night. The sixth and final season of the ABC series is scheduled for a two-hour premiere Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 9/8c, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

Last season, the Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse-produced drama held the Wednesday night slot; during Season 4, it ran on Thursday nights.

ABC also announced the regular cast members for Season 6, including Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Emile de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Jeff Fahey, Matthew Fox, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Ken Leung, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O'Quinn and Zuleikha Robinson.

V star Elizabeth Mitchell is missing from the list, but she has been flying to Hawaii often to shoot guest stints for the show.

NBC's Chuck Returning on Jan. 10

NBC's Chuck is returning on Sunday, Jan., 10, at 9/8c with back-to-back episodes. The spy series will then move to Monday nights at 8/9c beginning Jan. 11, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

When the show returns, Chuck (Zachary Levi) is dealing with his transformation into the Intersect 2.0. In his quest to become an actual agent, the nerdy spook must keep his emotions in check to protect the ones he loves.

Season 3 boasts guests including Angie Harmon, Brandon Routh, Robert Patrick, Kristin Kreuk, Armand Assante, Steve Austin and Vinne Jones.

Yes, Chuck is pushing Heroes into the 9/8c timeslot, but not without a sweet parting gift. On Jan. 4, Heroes will air a special two-hour episode.

Iverson, Grizzlies part ways after tumultuous start

The saga of Allen Iverson and the Memphis Grizzlies lasted less than two months. Monday, the two sides agreed to release the 34-year-old from his one-year contract, meaning Iverson will become a free agent when he clears waivers.

Iverson, who'd signed a $3.5 million contract in September, had been away from the team for the past 10 days, taking a leave of absence from the team to deal with what both he and the team called a private family matter. But it also was crystal clear that Iverson was not going to abide by the team's decision that he come off the bench instead of start, and that meant a long-term relationship between the two was ultimately going to be impossible.

"I'm sorry it didnt work out," Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley said by telephone in confirming the agreement, first reported by the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "We had our problems but he also has personal problems. We just couldn't put it together. The people of Memphis are doing to be disturbed and I'm disturbed, because I was really looking forward to it. But that happens in this business sometimes."

Heisley insisted several times that he wasn't angry with Iverson, who only played in three regular season games for Memphis, averaging 12.3 points, after suffering a torn hamstring early in training camp that caused him to miss the whole preseason. Once he came back, Coach Lionel Hollins had chosen to go with Mike Conley as his starter at the point, and preferred Iverson come off the bench. Iverson chafed at that potential role, and said that he had never discussed his place in the rotation with Hollins during his absence.

His third and last game with Memphis was Nov. 6 in Los Angeles against the Lakers. The next day, he requested and was granted a leave of absence, saying he had to attend to a family matter. Heisley met several times with Iverson, his longtime business manager, Gary Moore, as well as his agent, Leon Rose. Heisley spoke with Rose as late as Monday morning trying to reach an accommodation before the team decided to agree to the release.

"He said he had a personal problem and came in to talk to me about that," Heisley said. "I said 'go back and take whatever time you need, and when you're ready you can come back'...I feel like he's being honest with me. I think he respects me. I've leveled with him all down the line. I've always understood that it was going to be very difficult for Allen. He wants to start. He is a player who has a reputation.

"We made it clear that he would have to earn time because we've moved down the road. He wasn't angry about that. He was disappointed. I don't want you to think I'm not deeply disappointed. I am. But in no way am I going to put it on Allen. If he hadn't been injured during training camp it may have been different, because he would have had a chance to prove that he deserved to play more minutes."

Heisley said his "biggest sorrow" is that fans in Memphis didn't see Iverson play. "They were really looking forward to it, and I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of heat for that," he said. He also insisted that the team's signing of veteran point guard Jamaal Tinsley this weekend was completely unrelated to the Iverson issue. He said that if Iverson had come back, the team hoped to play him more at shooting guard, with Tinsley playing the point. Tinsley has been out of basketball for more than a year, after being told by the Indiana Pacers in the spring of 2008 not to return to the team and to stay away from the Pacers' practice facilities while they tried to trade him.

Indiana spent all of last season trying to make a deal, before finally agreeing to settle on the final two years and $14.7 million on his contract, buying him out for more than $10 million.

"I thought there was a good chance he might come back," Heisley said. "But he really did have a personal problem. I don't know what it is and frankly I didn't want to get into it...I guess he just felt rather than try and play, he would step aside. I don't know if somebody's going to pick him up this season. I hope so. Even if he doesn't play for me, I hope he does, because I think he's a fantastic player. I think it's good for Allen and good for the league that he's playing...It just didn't work out. My attitude is I have no ill feelings one way or another. I'm glad he gave us the opportunity to try and make it work."

Iverson came to Memphis after playing most of one season in Detroit, following his trade from the Denver Nuggets to the Pistons early last season. He averaged 17.4 points in 54 games, but had the same issues with the Pistons that he ultimately had with Memphis, saying he would rather retire than come off the bench, as he did late in the season once Richard Hamilton returned from an injury.

The 2001 NBA Most Valuable Player has scored 24,020 regular season points in 13 seasons, led the 76ers to the Finals in 2001 and made nine All-Star teams. He remains one of the league's most popular players, with jersey sales annually among the top 10 players.

Emmerich's 2012 Destroys at the Box Office

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend.

Roland Emmerich kicked off the holiday season in earnest with the biggest single movie weekend box office take since July, as his latest disaster flick 2012 (Sony Pictures), starring John Cusack and Chiwetel Ejiofor, brought in an estimated $65 million over the weekend, making it the seventh-biggest November opener ever. Produced for $200 million, Emmerich's latest simultaneously brought in $160 million outside the United States for a 3-day worldwide gross of $225 million.

In its second weekend, Disney's A Christmas Carol, Robert Zemeckis' animated Charles Dickens adaptation starring Jim Carrey, had a moderate drop of 26% to end up in second place with $22.3 million. It has grossed $63.3 million in ten days playing in regular, IMAX and digital 3D theaters.

Grant Heslov's political comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats (Overture Films), starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor remained in third place with an estimated $6.2 million and $23.4 million total gross.

Nipping at its heels, Lee Daniels' runaway hit Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire (Lionsgate) expanded into 174 theaters and did well enough to end up in fourth place with $6.1 million, averaging over $35 thousand per site. The indie drama reportedly made for $10 million has grossed $9 million so far with plans to expand even wider over the next two weekends.

Michael Jackson's This Is It (Sony) took its biggest drop, plummeting over 60% to end up in fifth place with $5.1 million and $68.2 million total. The Milla Jovovich thriller The Fourth Kind (Universal) dropped to sixth place with a similar drop to bring in $4.7 million this weekend and $20.5 million total. It remained just ahead of Paramount's Paranormal Activity with $4.6 million, as it crossed the $100 million mark on Friday.

Richard Curtis' seaward musical comedy Pirate Radio (Focus Features) ended up outside the Top 10 at #11 with less than $2.9 million in 882 theaters.

The Top 10 grossed roughly $126 million, which was down 6% from last year when Sony's Quantum of Solace topped the box office with $67.5 million.

Opening in four theaters in New York and L.A., Wes Anderson's animated adaptation of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr. Fox (20th Century Fox) brought in $260 thousand, roughly $65k per site, while Oren Moverman's The Messenger (Oscilloscope Labs) brought in $50 thousand in the same number of theaters.