REALLY BUSY!

With Anime Expo, Tokyo In Tusla and San Diego Comic-Con all happening in the next 3 weeks I'm just super busy. Hence no time for blogging...


I plan on returning after the July 4th Holiday.

INTERESTING POINT ABOUT THE LATEST ROUND OF SUPERHERO FILMS

This point comes from a ScreenRant article about a possible Green Lantern 2:

On a somewhat depressing note, it’s hard not to notice that the opening box office takes for the past three big-budget superhero films (Thor, X-Men: First Class, and Green Lantern) have steadily declined, and that the second week box office drop-offs have steadily increased. Maybe Green Lantern is just performing so poorly because of the bad reviews and word-of-mouth. But what if audiences are legitimately getting sick of superhero films altogether, as they did in the 1990s with Joel Schumacher’s Batman films? It’s up to  Captain America: The First Avenger to break the pattern.

Its worth the read.

AMERICA WILL END ON JUNE 30, 2011

So in two days this is going to happen. Who wants to place a bet?

I remember these finical losers saying the same shit back in 1994. They said the Dow Jones would crash in the next 18 months (By the end of 1996) and only thier investments would save you.

Well here is what happened to that perdiction. 

The people who are hawking this doom like End of America 2011.com (no they get no link from me)  n and gloom are fraudsters according to the SEC.

On June 30th you will see what frauds they really are.

LT. DAN BAND FOR THE COMMON GOOD OPENING JULY 4TH

From the mighty John Nolte over at Big Hollywood. 



You can sign up in advance to see the film July 4th, here.

MUPPET DOMINATION

MERCHANDISE SALES DRIVES CARS 2 INTO A FRANCHISE

From the LATimes.

When it comes to sequels, "Cars 2" flies in the face of conventional Hollywood calculus. Its predecessor was the least well-reviewed of Pixar Animation Studios' 11 movies and among its poorest performers at the box office — at least, by the premier animation studio's sterling standards.

One attribute distinguishes "Cars" from most other films: it sparked a licensing bonanza that continued to fuel merchandise sales long after Lightning McQueen, Mater and the movie's other anthropomorphic autos rolled out of the megaplex. So animators at the Walt Disney Co.-owned studio got the green light to take a few more laps around the track — and introduce hundreds of new plane, train, boat and automobile characters — with "Cars 2," which opens in theaters this Friday.

"This is not the movie that you would expect Pixar to make a sequel of — yet they are," said Doug Creutz, a media analyst for Cowen and Co. "And the reason is it was a massive licensing success."

In the five years since its 2006 release, "Cars" has generated global retail sales approaching $10 billion, according to Disney. That ranks the Pixar film alongside such cinematic merchandising standouts as "Star Wars," "Spider-Man" and "Harry Potter," as well as its own paean to playthings, "Toy Story," according to researcher NPD.

No fewer than 300 toys — and countless other items, including bedding, backpacks and SpaghettiOs — are rolling out in stores, in anticipation of the "Cars 2" opening.

The article is good since it shows the many ways a franchise can make money. Here is an example from the article.

"The toy sales have actually gone up every year since the movie came out, and that's all over the world," Lasseter said in an interview. "The products are really a manifestation of the love of those characters ... and are a way that collectors, kids, families, can have the characters be with them beyond the boundary of the film."

It's a really interesting read as it gives the avarage person a rare glimpse into how a franchise can make money and prosper. 

A SLIMMED DOWN COW IS BETTER THAN NONE

From TheWrap.com

In 1997, Sumner Redstone warned Hollywood studios that the video store business was going into the toilet if it didn't get some help. His company, Viacom, then not only owned Paramount, but Blockbuster Entertainment as well. Rentals from Blockbuster's 6,000 stores put $3.9 billion dollars in the six major studios' pockets, and he argued that studios “can't live without a video rental business. We are your profit."

As a result, the studios agreed to share the cost of stocking Blockbuster's stores in return for a share of its rental revenues.

He won that battle, but lost the war.

Thirteen years later, two-thirds of America's video stores have closed and Blockbuster has gone bust. In April 2011, Dish Network bought it out of a bankruptcy auction with plans to convert what remains of its rental store business to streaming a la Netflix and movie vending machines. The other major rental store, Movie Gallery, had liquidated its 4,700 stores in April 2010.

"The store model is now dead," a former top executive close to Blockbuster wrote me recently. "The move to $1-per-day rentals has done it in."

The pioneer in dispensing $1 rental DVDs out of kiosks in fast-food restaurants and supermarkets is Redbox. It was created in 2004 as a joint venture between McDonald's and Coinstar, which then bought out McDonald's. By doing away with clerks, real estate leases, and the store itself, Redbox created a business model with which no brick-and-mortar stores could compete.

 Go read the whole article as it will give you a sense what the entrainment industry is facing. 

WHY MEGAN FOX LEFT THE TRANSFORMERS FRANCHISE

From TheWrap.com

In the July 2011 issue of GQ, Bay recalls how, after Fox likened him to Hitler and called him "a nightmare to work for," Spielberg ordered the career hit on Fox.


"She was in a different world, on her BlackBerry," Bay recalled, describing the starlet's onset behavior on "Transformers 2." "You gotta stay focused.
Then came what Bay described to GQ as "the Hitler thing." In a description of the A-list director as an onset taskmaster who could lighten up after the cameras stopped rolling, Fox worked in an off-the-cuff comparison of Bay to the infamous war criminal.

Steven [Spielberg] said, 'Fire her right now.'"

People sometimes forget that this is a business built entirely around relationships. Yes you can say nasty things about people online but in the end it will most likely mean you wont be working for those people.

Saying "I'm just a fan" doesnt cut it when you work in the industry.

HARRY POTTER FRANCHISE WILL GROSS OVER 7 BILLION USD

FULL DISCLOSURE: Harmony Gold has an agreement with Warner Brothers to produce a live action Robotech film.

Forbes has a pretty interesting article on the success of Harry Potter franchise and here is an excerpt.

When the final Harry Potter movie hits theaters next month, it will mark the end of the highest-grossing franchise in the history of movies (on an unadjusted basis). So far the movies have earned $6.3 billion at the global box office. If the next film performs as well as last year’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the franchise total will approach $7.3 billion. Considering the final Potter film will have the advantage of ticket price hiking 3-D, it could earn even more.

So Harry Potter has been a boon for the overall box office and anything that makes the box office numbers look better is good for Hollywood. No studio executives want to see stories about shrinking audiences and sinking revenue. That just helps to turn people off to the already high-priced experience of going to the movies.

But Harry Potter has also helped the struggling DVD market. According to IHS Screen Digest, U.S. spending on DVDs (including Blu-ray) grew 1.6% over April and the first two weeks of May thanks to the DVD release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. Of course the video market is still down 15% year-over-year but the decline improved by 6% over the first quarter dip.

 While its not Robotech related the article is a fascinating look at how a major studio makes money off a property and how that property can benefit other films as well. Its worth the read.

LIST OF TOP TWITTER FAILS

Fox News has posted a interesting and funny list of the top Twitter Fails in the past couple of years. As Fox so says:

The power of social media can be a double-edged sword. As quickly as it can build you up, it can bring you right back down. But don't take our word for it: Here are the 10 worst Twitter disasters.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LIST OF TOP TWITTER FAILS!

RED EYE THROWS A PARTY FOR ANDREW BREITBART COMPLETE WITH ROBOTS!

BANK OF KEV BLOGGER LISTED IN TOP 20 HOTTEST CONSERVATVIE WOMEN

 Tania Gail

Bank of Kev Blogger Tania Gail of MindnightBlueSays.com has been listed as one of the top 20 hottest conservative women by Right Wing News.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHERE TANIA RANKS IN THE TOP 20

Tania is everywhere!

HISTORIC DAY FOR THE WORLD OF NEW MEDIA

Years from now you can tell your kids that you watched it live when it all happened.

First Andrew Breitbart takes over Anthony Wieners press conference.



Then Anthony Weiner drops a bombshell.

WEINER TEXT PHOTO OF THE DAY

UNEMPLOYMENT RISES TO 9.1 %

Via Hot Air the information comes from today’s unemployment report from the BLS

Nonfarm payroll employment changed little (+54,000) in May, and the unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 9.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains continued in professional and business services, health care, and mining. Employment levels in other major private-sector industries were little changed, and local government employment continued to decline.

The number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1 percent) were essentially unchanged in May. The labor force, at 153.7 million, was little changed over the month.

In May, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) increased by 361,000 to 6.2 million; their share of unemployment increased to 45.1 percent. (See table A-12.)

The civilian labor force participation rate was 64.2 percent for the fifth consecutive month. The employment-population ratio remained at 58.4 percent in May.

From the Mighty Ed Morrissey

The number of unemployed in the workforce actually rose by almost 170,000, while the number of Americans not in the workforce fell by 105,000. That’s why the unemployment rate rose in this report.  However, the workforce level in May 2011 is still more than 500,000 fewer people than a year ago, when the Obama administration tried selling its “Recovery Summer” campaign.

Numbers of recently unemployed declined slightly, a bit of a surprise considering the rise in initial jobless claims over the last seven weeks.  Those jobless for less than 5 weeks dropped 27,000, and 5 to 14 weeks by 15,000 since April.  Those unemployed longer than 15 weeks went up 329,000, however, and are now at the highest level since January.  The increase all comes from those out of work more than 27 weeks, which rose by 361,000, corroborating the numbers before showing that some workers tried reentering the workforce in May and found no work waiting for them.  That category also saw its highest level since January.

Pretty depressing news, on top of high gas prices and inflation.


So as is our tradition when unemployment goes up we post a pic of a drunk and depressed Storm trooper.