For theater owners, there is one name that can be considered to be a huge draw for moviegoers and that name can belongs to Will Smith. This was confirmed by a survey conducted recently that asked movie exhibitors which movie star is most pleasing for their business and the name of Smith come out on top of the list. Will Smith recently starred on Hancock and Seven Pounds and in the survey, he was the star that generated the most box office revenue for theaters. The survey was done by Quigley Publishing Company and the company conducts this survey on an annual basis.

Will Smith will be the second black actor to be chosen by this poll which was started in 1932. The company continues its tradition of asking the movie exhibitors to vote on the 10 stars which brought them with the most revenues and business. The first black man to have topped the poll was Sidney Poitier; he topped the poll in 1968. Smith’s two movies for 2008 raked money in the box office and this was especially true for his movie, Hancock. The movie Hancock grossed around $228 million and his second movie of the year was Seven Pounds which is still in theaters pulled in $39 million in two weeks of showing.

Other stars that made the list in the survey for the year include Robert Downey Jr, Christian Bale, Shia LeBeouf and Harrison Ford. The other members of the top 10 stars include Adam Sandler, Reese Witherspoon, George Clooney, Angeline Jolie and Daniel Craig. Johnny Depp who won last year was not part of the survey since he has no movie for the year and Tom Cruise was absent too. Tom Cruise is a seven-time winner.

Popularity: 1% [?]

This film which will just open in a few weeks is considered as the best movie for 2008. This was the decision made by the National Society of Film Critics. This is actually an animated film that was directed by Ari Folman. The other personalities behind the critically-acclaimed movie include David Polonsky as the Art Director, Yoni Goodman as the Chief Animator and Max Richter for score. This animated movie was produced for four years and this was a product of the efforts among three countries- that of Israel, Germany and France.

The film belongs to a rare category of films called the animated documentary. The animated documentary combines two genre, that of animation and documentary. This documentary tackles Ari Folman’s experience and his coming to terms with the repressed memories of his experiences and memories associated with the Israeli army in the 1982 Lebanon war. This was entered for the Palme’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival and this was received well by the festival. The movie did not win the prize. This was also entered at the Israeli Film Academy and eventually won six awards including the award for Best Picture. The movie was also featured for the 46th New York Film Festival. The movie is an entry as well for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards. This also got a nod for best foreign-language film for the Golden Globe. This film makes use of the multiple animation techniques.

Rolling Stone magazine calls the movie a potent and profound document of war and its aftermath done as a cartoon. The film is considered as unusual in a sense that the documentary is made as an animation. The movie fuses classical music, 80s rock music, realistic graphics and surrealistic scenes that are made in a comic-style.

Popularity: 1% [?]

The problems between Viacom and Time Warner Cable Inc have been ironed out. The problems are linked to the threat by Viacom to pull 19 of its cable channels from the Time Warner cable channel. The channels that were supposed to be pulled out include Nickelodeon, MTV, VH-1 and Comedy Central. The threatened pullout was supposed to happen right after the two-year contract between the two media outfits have expired. If the pullout pushed thru, then it can be expected that a huge backlash may happen since viewers will definitely miss ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ and ‘Dora the Explorer’. These two shows are considered to be very popular and huge draws. The new agreement happened minutes into 2009 as Viacom has granted the extension that will allow for the two media outfits to continue talking. With the extension of the deal, this then effectively avoided the non-appearance of Viacom’s programming that can be seen in 13.3 million homes that are being served by the Time Warner Cable Inc. The details of the deal will be finalized in the coming days.

After getting the news that they will no longer get the services of MTV and Nickelodeon, the angry and irate consumers contacted the Time Warner Cable call centers and said that they wanted these shows back. With the agreement, the management of the Time Warner Cable has expressed its pleasure. Viacom executives also showed gladness after reaching the said deal. In order to appeal to its consumers and to the other parties involved, Viacom has purchased newspaper advertisements that showed the tearful Dora the Explorer and an on-screen crawl on the channels was placed to tell the viewers about the programming blackout. Ads like these made by Viacom worked and these motivated viewers to call up Time Warner.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Quick; what’s the biggest entertainment story for 2008? It’s all about Heath Ledger of course. In a movie poll that was released this week, it was revealed that Heath Ledger who starred in the hit Batman ‘The Dark Knight’ beat all other entertainers and entertainment stories. In the said poll, the actor who played Joker in the hit movie topped the list as the biggest news story of the year, the most missed star and the best villain all thanks to the hit movie, ‘The Dark Knight’. The Australian actor died January 28 due to an accidental prescription drugs overdose and his demise shocked not only Hollywood but also the rest of the world. The survey was conducted by AOL on its site moviefone.com.

In the said survey, the actor or the death of the actor was deemed the biggest news story for 2008 and it was chosen by 83 percent of the respondents. Heath Ledger also topped the list for the most missed after their deaths and his votes edged out that of Paul Newman. Newman got 20 percent of the votes, while Heath Ledger gained 56 percent of the votes cast. These citations and awards aren’t just the citations that the actor has received since his death. He was also the recipient of the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild nominations for supporting role in the said movie. The Batman movie was released 6 months after his death. The movie also earned awards since this was the biggest-grossing box office movie worldwide and the receipts exceeded half a billion dollars, trailing only Titanic.

The year’s ‘chick flick’.

In the said survey the movie was also the movie ‘that is worth your cash’. The favorite of young girls, Twilight contested some of the honors though. ‘Twilight’ is adjudged the chick flick movie of the year.

Popularity: 5% [?]

According to reports and one report on reuters.com, actor Kevin Bacon may have been victimized by the so-called Madoff scheme. According to reports, the actor, his wife and another investment banker may have been victimized by the business and investments adopted by Bernard Madoff. An economist, Henry Kaufman was reported to have lost several millions of dollars. This money is the amount that he had invested in the brokerage account owned by Bernard L. Madoff. The economist did business with the brokerage firm for more than five years. The report on Henry Kaufman was thru a report on the Wall Street Journal. The spokesperson for the economist explained in an interview that the money lost by Mr. Kaufman is only around 2 percent of his total net worth and this is immaterial to the economist’s financial well being. This was the economist that was known and adored to forecasting the higher inflation and interest rates when he was still with the Salomon Brothers in the 70s and the 80s. Because of his forecasts, he was then called as ‘Doctor Doom’.

The case of Kevin Bacon and his wife was reported by the actor’s representative. The actor and the economist were not reached for a comment, according to the reuters.com report. Bernard Lawrence Madoff which is now the subject of investigation is a businessman and the former head of the NASDAQ stock market. He was the one who started the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Just recently he was arrested and then charged with securities fraud. Artists, actors and economists aren’t just the victims of the said scheme. It was reported that a number of wealthy people, banks, charities and even universities have been victimized by the scheme. The cost of the losses has been valued at around $50 billion but still others are figuring out the exact magnitude of the fraud.

Popularity: 5% [?]

In a survey that was conducted, it turned out that Sara Palin is considered by many as the most desirable celebrity neighbor. Sara Palin is the governor of Alaska and was the running mate of presidential candidate John McCain. The governor is desired by many, alongside Oprah Winfrey. In this survey that was posted over at MSN.com, the cellar dweller and the least liked neighbor include the usually-troubled Britney Spears.

According to the report that was posted on the website, the survey was released and published Tuesday. In that poll, Governor Sara Palin took 14 percent of the vote and she was closely followed by Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey is popular among women. And if the men are to be asked, then the men will love to have Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps as their best choice as their neighbors. Overall this popular Olympian is third on the list, lagging Sara Palin and Oprah Winfrey. The athlete notched 9 percent overall and trails the 14 percent posted by Sara Palin.

Aside from Britney Spears, the other celebrities that are on the bottom of the least or the least liked include Lindsay Lohan, and British couple David and Victoria Beckham. Britney Spears was least liked by 19 percent of the respondents in the survey and she was followed by Rosie O’Donnell which got 18 percent. Joe the Plumber got 8 percent and Lindsay Lohan got 7 percent. Of the more than 2000 people surveyed, only 2 percent said that they want to live next door to Posh and David Beckham. The said poll was commissioned by a real estate website called Zillow.com and the survey ran from December 15 until December 17.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Tina Fey is entertainer of the year. And this distinction was given to Tina Fey by the Associated Press. It’s a big year for Tina Fey as her show 30 Rock made waves commercially and artistically and her impersonation of Sara Palin really took off. Runners up for the award include Robert Downey Jr for his hit movie Iron Man and Heath Ledger, the actor who wowed his audience with his Joker character on the movie ‘Dark Knight’. This distinction has been the tradition of Associated Press for some time now to name those that had the greatest impact on culture and entertainment for the year. And for 2008, it’s definitely Tina Fey.

The recipient of the award was voted upon by newspaper editors and broadcast producers across the country. Among the three leading names considered for the award, it was Fey who got the most serious attention coming from voters. Her indelible impersonation of Governor Sara Palin on Saturday Night Live helped her win big approval from the audience. Her cameos on her old show helped her show get the ratings it deserved. According to some of the voters for the award, Tina Fey is the obvious choice since she is funny when the world needs to be funny and her entry further boosted the huge strides made by women in politics. And with that, Tina Fey stood out from all the rest of entertainers. This was also the year when Tina Fey starred in her first movie, ‘Baby Mia’ which grossed $60 million in the box office. Her entry to SNL was jumpstarted when John McCain selected Sara Palin. When she debut on SNL, ratings started to soar and she soon found an adoring audience. She gained audience because she was on the mark with impersonation- from winks to accents.

Popularity: 6% [?]

It’s supposed to be a big day for music purchases since its Christmas, but the figures released tells otherwise. Based on reports, the overall sales is down by 33 percent from last year. But though the sales are down, at least a number of musicians and their releases topped the 100,000 sales. To be exact around 17 titles topped 100,000 copies and the list is led by Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless’. The album by Swift has a small lead over Keysha Cole’s ‘Different Me’. The album of Keysha Cole sold 322,000 copies. This performance from the musician is her best showing so far. Her last album sold 281,000 during the first week.

Running third is ‘Intuition’ from Jamie Foxx and his album sold 265,000 during its first week. Foxx now has a habit of releasing albums during the season. Other releases that made its mark include the new Island release from Fall Out Boy and this sold 150,000 units and Anthony Hamilton submitted 133,000 units and this was ranked number 12 for the week. There are two other debuts in the market now that topped more than 100,000. These albums are from Rapper Plies and All-American Rejects. Soulja Boy is a new entry for the week and the new album from the rapper sold 46,000 units and this was good enough to send the album to the no 43 position.

Britney Spears remained strong in the market and for its second week, the album of Britney Spears just dropped two percentage points, just the usual drop most releases experience on its second week. AC/DC also made a rocking performance at the charts as its album sales shoot up 33 percent and the band sold around 143,000 units. Enya’s album is about to register great sales and this will become Christmas season’s winner.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Big movies from the biggest studios are competing for attention this Christmas season. So what are the big movies that are set to compete this Thursday in the US? Well some of the movies that will start their showing on Christmas day include the bigger stars in Hollywood. The movies will include Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler. Other noteworthy actors are joining in the fun too to get the most sales this weekend. And the question that needs to be asked is this; which film will land at the top of the box office? There are five movies that will open this Thursday.

The first one is the Tom Cruise starrer, Valkyrie. Tom Cruise plays a German military officer who conspires to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The movie is based on a true story. Tom Cruise is joined in the movie by Kenneth Brannagh and Tom Wilkinson. ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is another new movie opening this Thursday. The movie stars Brad Pitt and this is a fantasy drama about the man who ages backward. The character is born in his 80s and then he gets younger and younger. This movie also stars Cate Blanchett and this film is released by Paramount Pictures. The movie is expected to do well and has gained some extra buzz for the award’s season. The portrayal of Cate Blanchett is gaining buzz as well. Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson have a new movie as well and their movie tells the story about the couple who learns life lessons when they adopted a dog. Adam Sandler has ‘Bedtime Stories’ and again this will be a funny movie coming from the funny man. This is a fantasy movie. ‘The Spirit’ is another new movie this week and this is based on a graphic novel.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Will there be no Disney in the next installment of Narnia? If some of the news reports are to be believed, then yes Disney will no longer be in the picture when the next Narnia movie will be produced. The next installment of the Narnia series is the ‘Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’. Disney has announced that it will be opting out on the third installment of the Narnia series for budgetary and for logistical reasons and the company will not also exercise its right of option to co-produce and to co-finance the next movie which is in the pipeline. The original producer of the movie is Walden Media.

The first two installments of the movie, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and ‘Prince Caspian’ has been a joint effort of Disney and Walden Media. The first movie was a big hit as the movie took home $740 million for its global run with just a budget of $180 million and the second movie took home $420 million with a budget of $200 million. The drop in sales of the second movie may have prompted Disney to back out of the third movie in the pipeline. Another reason forwarded by some reports now centered on the waning popularity of fantasy movies. After the hit movies like Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series, a number of fantasy movie have posted slow gains in the market. An example is the ‘Golden Compass’ that starred Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Warner Bros and New Line Cinema has decided not to continue the other movies under the series. The third movie under the Narnia series has already been in pre-production and the movie was actually planned for a May 2010 show.

Popularity: 10% [?]