Box Office Guru Wrapup: Audiences Have Wild Time with Ted and Mike

A pair of new R-rated films dominated the North American box office sending ticket sales soaring to a new record for the biggest June weekend in history. The comedy Ted and the drama Magic Mike both overperformed and connected with their target audiences while Tyler Perry's latest effort Madea's Witness Protection delivered his usual potent numbers. Overall, it was the third best weekend of 2012 as success came from a handful of original movies and not from one big franchise juggernaut opening. The marketplace is now in great shape entering what will be a gigantic July.

Family Guy fans came out in droves for creator Seth MacFarlane's directorial debut Ted which debuted at number one with an estimated $54.1M from 3,239 theaters for a sizzling $16,705 average. The raunchy buddy comedy about a man and his talking teddy bear scored the third largest opening ever for an R-rated comedy behind two major brand-based hits - The Hangover 2 ($85.9M) and Sex and the City ($56.8M). An original story not based on a well-known brand doing this level of business is incredible and reinforces the starpower of MacFarlane. Actors Mark Wahlberg and Mila Kunis also added star wattage and positive reviews helped too.

The Universal release cost $50M to produce and skewed towards men as expected. Studio research showed that males made up 56% of the crowd while 52% were 30 and older. The CinemaScore grade was a good A-. While distributors only retain a portion of the gross, and marketing costs are additional expenses, it is always good news to a studio when its opening weekend gross is higher than its film's budget. Friday saw a spectacular $20.7M bow, Saturday dipped 14% to $17.9M, and Universal is optimistically projecting a 13% slide on Sunday to $15.5M. Most other studios are estimating 20-30% declines for their films on Sunday. But with the Independence Day holiday falling on Wednesday and many young adults having extra leisure time this week, Ted should find its way to a solid showing in its first full week even though Tuesday sees the debut of the summer tentpole The Amazing Spider-Man which will start damaging competitors on Monday night when it begins its first midnight shows.

Channing Tatum scored his third hit of the year with the much-talked about male stripper movie Magic Mike which opened in second place with an estimated $39.2M from 2,930 locations for a sturdy $13,363 average. Women dominated the audience and business was incredibly front-loaded thanks to girls-night-out crowds that planned opening day outings. Friday premiered to a dazzling $19.4M which eventually accounted for half of all the weekend sales. Saturday tumbled by an alarming 41% to $11.4M while Warner Bros. expects Sunday to dip down 26% to $8.4M.

But the promise of beefcake with the likes of the red hot Tatum and co-star Matthew McConaughey was enough to spark excitement and good reviews didn't hurt either for the Steven Soderbergh-directed drama loosely based on producer/star Tatum's real-life stint as an exotic dancer. Studio data showed that 73% of the crowd was female and 57% was under 35. The CinemaScore grade was just a mediocre B. 2008's Sex and the City also saw a massive opening day rush from its audience of adult women. Its Saturday decline was 34% and its female share was 85%. If Magic Mike can hold up and keep attracting customers, it will become Tatum's third $100M+ grosser in six months. He's already seen his February romance hit The Vow reach $125M and his March buddy cop comedy 21 Jump Street make $138.3M.

Ted and Magic Mike offered a one-two punch of raunchy fun which paying audiences found irresistible as the overall box office broke the record for the biggest June weekend in history beating the last frame of June 2009 which saw the massive launch of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Even more impressive was that the top three films this weekend were not sequels and the top five had no action tentpoles. The R-rated newbies proved that young adults will still come out and pay for original stories that truly excite them.

Those looking for clean family-friendly entertainment found it in the Disney/Pixar hit Brave which dropped from first to third place with an estimated $34M. The 49% decline was sizable given how the film is not a sequel and that the new releases provided virtually zero competition. It also pleased crowds on opening weekend earning an encouraging A grade from CinemaScore. Brave has grossed $131.7M in its first ten days and has performed much like Pixar's 2008 offering WALL?E which debuted in late June to $63.1M, fell 49% in its sophomore session to $32.5M for a ten-day start of $127.2M. Brave had the advantage of some 3D surcharges while the robot pic had the Independence Day holiday help it. With a big holiday week coming up, Brave may find its way to the neighborhood of $235M by the end of its domestic release.

Tyler Perry scored yet another hit film with the Lionsgate comedy Madea's Witness Protection which debuted in fourth with an estimated $26.4M from 2,161 theaters for a potent $12,193 average. The filmmaker's fourth movie with Madea in the title played to his loyal fan base which continued to come out. This was Perry's first summer release as most of his offerings went out in the spring or fall. Witness Protection's debut was in line with the $25.1M bow of the last Madea pic Big Happy Family.

Holding up well again in its fourth round was Paramount's animated sequel Madagascar 3 which collected an estimated $11.8M, off just 40%. The DreamWorks Animation hit has now taken in $180M domestically matching the gross of its 2008 predecessor. Europe's Most Wanted will surpass the $193.2M of 2005's original Madagascar next weekend and find itself going past $200M too. International markets saw an estimated $16.2M pushing the overseas haul to $244.2M for a global take of $424M.

In its second weekend, the action-horror-history mashup pic Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter suffered a steep 63% tumble to an estimated $6M for $29M in ten days for Fox. Four films rounded out the top ten falling into the $4-5M range. Fox's sci-fi epic Prometheus took in an estimated $4.9M, down 50%, raising its total to $118.3M. The global haul now stands at $284.8M. Wes Anderson's indie hit Moonrise Kingdom jumped into the top ten for the first time thanks to an expansion from 395 to 854 theaters with an estimated $4.9M as well. The Focus release averaged $5,706 and has banked an impressive $18.4M to date with much more to come as its cume should double in the coming weeks.

Universal's effects-heavy fairy tale adventure Snow White and the Huntsman dropped 46% to an estimated $4.4M with $145.6M domestic to date. Disney's uplifting drama People Like Us was dead on arrival in its debut just barely making the top ten with an estimated $4.3M from 2,055 locations for a pitiful $2,095 average. With mixed reviews, the PG-13 pic starring Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks failed to excite any demographic and should fade away quickly.

Two big July tentpoles kicked off their global releases this weekend overseas ahead of their U.S. openings. Fox's animated comedy Ice Age: Continental Drift - the fourth installment in the franchise and second in 3D - debuted to an estimated $78M from 34 markets ranking number one in all of them. In some Latin American markets like Argentina and Columbia it broke the all-time opening weekend box office record. Drift is the latest chapter in a lucrative franchise that has now broken the $2 billion mark this weekend in global box office. Though results in North America have been mostly flat over the years, overseas growth has been mammoth with international grosses soaring from $207M to $461M to a stunning $691M for the last film Dawn of the Dinosaurs which accounted for 78% of its global tally. All signs indicate that interest for the Ice Age franchise - overseas at least - remains quite high. It opens domestically on July 13.

Over in Asia and parts of Europe this weekend, Sony's reboot The Amazing Spider-Man set off fireworks of its own with a $50.2M debut from 13 territories led by Korea's $13.4M and Japan's $11.4M. The results were phenomenal with the 3D webslinger crushing the opening for Avengers in both Korea and India by more than 70%. The Andrew Garfield starrer hits U.S. screens this Tuesday one day before the 4th of July holiday. Sam Raimi's trio of Spider-Man films - all in 2D - grossed a combined $2.5 billion worldwide from 2002 to 2007.

After eight long weeks in the domestic top ten, the super hero sensation The Avengers finally dropped from the list finishing in eleventh place with $4.2M and a total of $606.3M from North America and $1.45 billion worldwide. Following in the footsteps of other recent franchises, Sony's newest alien installment Men in Black 3 will end up as the lowest-grossing pic in the series domestically, but will be the top title globally thanks to growth in international markets for action and 3D films. Will Smith's comeback vehicle stands at $169.6M from North America and will conclude with $175-180M including 3D surcharges and today's higher ticket prices. The first two MIB flicks did $250.1M in 1997 and $190.4M in 2002. But the overseas tally on MIB3 rose to $429.8M putting the global take at $599.4M with the $600M barrier ready to fall on Monday. The first Agent J pic sold more tickets but its worldwide gross from fifteen years ago was $589M.

Summer moviegoers continued to flock to new independent films as Fox Searchlight's Sundance award-winner Beasts of the Southern Wild debuted to terrific results in its platform bow in New York and Los Angeles with an estimated $169,000 from four locations for a powerful $42,309 average per theater. Cume since the Wednesday launch was $220,000. It was especially impressive given that it had no stars and was from a first-time director. The critically acclaimed drama adds more markets this week on Wednesday and Friday and then goes much wider on July 13.

Woody Allen's latest European postcard To Rome with Love fared well in its second weekend expansion grossing an estimated $750,000 from 29 playdates (up from five last week) for a $25,862 average. The Sony Classics title has banked $1.3M to date and is scheduled to widen across the country this Friday. With Moonrise Kingdom heading to $35M+ and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel already above $40M, independent films this summer have carved out solid sales from upscale moviegoers interested in movies with more substance in a sea of mindless popcorn flicks.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $189.9M which was up 2% from last year when Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened at number one with $97.9M; and up 6% from 2010 when The Twilight Saga: Eclipse debuted on top with $64.8M. Both of those frames were helped by the 4th of July holiday.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1925471/news/1925471/

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Vote set on writing bank settlement into Calif law

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ? California will become the first state to write into law much of the national mortgage settlement negotiated this year with the nation's top five banks, if state lawmakers approve wide-ranging legislation on Monday.

Majority Democrats say they have the votes to send the homeowner protection package to Gov. Jerry Brown despite opposition from business and lending organizations.

The legislation would require large lenders to provide a single point of contact for homeowners who want to discuss loan modifications. It would prohibit lenders from foreclosing while they consider alternatives to foreclosures. And it would let California homeowners sue lenders to stop foreclosures or seek monetary damages if the lender violates state law.

The protections would benefit all California homeowners, not just those whose mortgages are with the five banks that signed the national settlement in February. And many of the restrictions would become permanent, while those in the nationwide agreement will end after five years.

Attorney General Kamala Harris said the compromise legislation negotiated with lawmakers "is going to bring transparency and fairness to California homeowners in a way they've never had before."

She helped negotiate the February settlement that requires Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Ally Financial Inc. to pay $18 billion in penalties to California homeowners.

Key portions of her original proposal to write the settlement into state law were stalled by opposition from some of her fellow Democrats in the Legislature, until the right to sue banks and other measures were significantly narrowed.

Lenders' organizations joined by the California Chamber of Commerce said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday that the final legislation is an improvement, though they still fear it will "encourage frivolous litigation" by borrowers who cannot realistically afford to stay in their homes.

"The point is...not to launch an avalanche of lawsuits. What it's really about is having some meaningful accountability to ensure that servicers follow the rules," said Paul Leonard, director of the California office of the Center for Responsible Lending.

Previous efforts have repeatedly failed to clear the Legislature. Leonard said the national mortgage settlement and Harris' involvement are likely to make the difference this year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-02-Foreclosures-California/id-2e5660aa23304b6f983cdbeec6e6f2b3

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UEFA under fire for 'manipulated' Euro 2012 images

By CIARAN FAHEY

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:29 p.m. ET June 30, 2012

BERLIN (AP) -UEFA has come under fire in Germany for allowing prerecorded scenes to be cut into live coverage of games from the European Championships.

Images of a German fan crying after Mario Balotelli's second goal in Thursday's 2-1 defeat to Italy were in fact taken before the semifinal, when she was overcome with emotion during the anthems.

The issue came to light when the woman received e-mails from friends at home wondering why she was so upset with almost an hour still to play.

"We are surprised and irritated," Joerg Schoenenborn, the Euro 2012 chief editor of German broadcaster ARD, told Saturday's Sueddeutschen Zeitung newspaper. "These pictures aren't acceptable for us, especially since we spoke to UEFA about this problem a few days ago. We're now looking for further talks."

UEFA told The Associated Press that it was striving to show "the human story of the game" in its television coverage, and had "no aim whatsoever to exercise any form of control over the images delivered to broadcasters."

European football's ruling body said footage of tears trickling down the fan's cheek was shown "to translate the emotion and the tension of the German fans for this game" but "our production did not agree with the editorial choice to put this at this exact place after the goal".

UEFA also said it had issued instructions "not to use these reactions again directly in a chain of replays of a live action, to avoid any misleading understanding."

ARD had first sought UEFA's clarification after Germany coach Joachim Loew was shown playfully knocking a ball from a ball boy's arm during the country's group game against Netherlands, despite the incident happening before the game took place.

UEFA said that footage was shown "to illustrate, in conformity with our editorial concept, the mood and ambiance of the event. The image was positive and in order not to mislead the audience, the director used replay wipes before and after, showing clearly that this event was not live."

Schoenenborn felt otherwise at the time, when he said: "Any form of censorship or manipulation is not acceptable for us. That's why we clearly told UEFA that the German public expects coverage to be live when it says it's live. Live is live and has to stay live."

UEFA said its "director guidelines" had been made available to all broadcasters.

But ZDF, which broadcast the Germany vs. Netherlands game, said it was unaware pre-match footage was being shown as part of the live match package. The channel's chief of sports, Dieter Gruschwitz, described it as "completely unusual."

"That does not correspond to our journalistic standards," ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey said.

"All these production techniques ... are fairly standard and well known by broadcasters," UEFA said.

Sueddeutschen Zeitung reported that UEFA maintains a policy of censorship in its TV coverage, avoiding any images of political banners, empty seats, pyrotechnics or streakers on the pitch.

"UEFA is committed to deliver an unbiased and complete coverage," the football body said.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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More newsGabriel Bouys / AFP - Getty Images

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48026139/ns/sports-soccer/

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Increase Your Air Jordan Pas Cher Self Improvement Using This ...

Self improvement ranges from modifications you want to make within your specialist daily life to modifications you want to make in your house Jordan Femme existence. Regardless of which a part of you daily life you want to give attention to, transforming one virtually always overlaps into the other. This informative article provides you with some workable suggestions which can be used within your self improvement trip.

Understand your problems and accept them. People have imperfections. You should acknowledge the flaws that happen to be your own personal. Identify your most significant, most obvious flaws. You need to even make time to recognize the tiny kinds. Work to cure any imperfections that can be remedied and simply acknowledge those who are not able to.

Maintain studying self improvement sources to identify new tips, maintain concentrate and obtain motivation. You will find loads of guides, tapes and videos on the market to help you in achieving your desired goals. If you make a habit of looking at these resources you are able to pick-up new guidelines to help make Air Jordan your own personal improvement program more productive.

Be accurate to the self, and be the ideal ?you? probable. Tell the truth about what you need to be satisfied and satisfied, and reject those ideas which do not provide correct joy into your life. Be the ideal ?you? that treats your self with value, enjoy and caring. In the event that variation people will not however are present, focus on locating and building it.

In relation to personal development make certain you stand up for what you believe in but that you do not cause damage on oneself or other people during this process. You should not really way too dominant or effective simply because you are unable to steer if others are afraid of you.

Faith might help some individuals. Possibly the faith you were increased Jordan Femme in will not be for you personally in the event you think about yourself an atheist. Certain people see religious beliefs as a method of discovering their place in the world, plus some individuals see it in order to enhance their daily living by following a specific approach.

A fantastic personal development suggestion is always to understand and confess to your self that there is a large space involving where your lifestyle is currently and that you want it to be. Unless you acknowledge and recognize your present scenario, you will get absolutely no way of changing and boosting your daily life.

Share your understanding with others. Don?t keep back info that Air Jordan Pas Cher other folks can use to improve their lives. Be selfless with information and facts and allow individuals near you to prosper correct alongside you. If you present other individuals that you are currently happy to discuss everything you know, they are going to reciprocate by sharing whatever they know along with you, and everybody will manage to benefit.

As i have said at the start of this article, self improvement runs the gamut of behaviours and activities you need to modify. If you are working on your connection skills both at home and operate or centering on Air Jordan effective time management to give you a much better job lifestyle harmony, use the guidelines given on this page to help make the search for growth less difficult.

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Source: http://globaldailychronicle.com/?p=168541

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Obama Campaign to Mimic Romney Bus Tour Strategy

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-campaign-mimic-romney-bus-tour-strategy-201100470.html

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Venture capital giant 3i to cut 160 jobs in bid to curb operating costs

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Source: http://www.scotsman.com/venture-capital-giant-3i-to-cut-160-jobs-in-bid-to-curb-operating-costs-1-2384810

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Heat Waves and Water Use Go Hand-in-Hand

Photo courtesy of Michael Melgar

With excessive heat spreading across the country, people are seeking relief by retreating indoors, turning up the AC, and staying well hydrated. In many parts of the country, particularly the Southeast and Southwest, the heat is exacerbated by ongoing drought, which means water is on everyone?s mind and is being used at increased rates.

It?s common during extended periods of hot and dry weather, like we?re experiencing now, for water use to increase, emailed Nancy Barber, Hydrologist with USGS?Georgia Water Science Center.

Most noticeable, explained Barber, is the increased demand for electricity for air conditioning, which means more water use at thermoelectric power plants ? an amount that?s already high. According to the USGS, 53 percent of fresh surface water extracted for human use (in 2005) was used to produce electricity.

Irrigation is also greatly affected by the heat. As temperatures increase, so too does evapotranspiration, and in turn, agriculture?s thirst. On a smaller scale, household use also increases due to more people spraying their gardens, jumping in the shower for another rinse, and the occasional topper to the backyard pool.

On a personal level, the best thing to do besides staying hydrated and taking it easy, is to be aware of one?s water use and conserve it where possible. Take shorter showers, stuff your dishwasher and clothes washer full before starting the load and, if necessary, only water the yard at an effective time ?(1pm, or solar noon, is not that time).

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d5a4d0d9f596ecff38777b25333c7e3c

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