News

Steve CarellTina FeyMark WahlbergJames Franco

The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Princess and the Frog and The Wolfman and other high profile pictures officially ended their box office runs on Thursday, April 1. In other words, their distributors decided to stop tracking them, even though they may still be playing at a handful of theaters. For instance, New Moon, which has been out on video since Mar. 20, continued to show on at least five theaters, while Wolfman still haunted over 100 sites. Nancy MeyersMeryl StreepAlec BaldwinRobin WilliamsJohn Travolta

Easter Weekend was dominated by 3D spectacles as Clash of the Titans, How to Train Your Dragon and Alice in Wonderland all drew big crowds. Jennifer AnistonGerard Butler

The Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Administration released their weekly bulletin, which featured new ratings for Death at a Funeral, Animal Kingdom and Last Night. Chris RockMartin LawrenceGuy PearceKeira KnightleySam WorthingtonEva Mendes

Walt Disney Studios announced that documentary African Cats will be released April 22, 2011. This will mark the third straight year that Disney has scheduled a Disneynature movie for Earth Day, following Earth in 2009 and the upcoming Oceans in 2010. Jennifer Lopez

Generating more than $832 million, last month was the highest-grossing March ever, surpassing the $795 million of the previous milestone, March 2007. Business was up ten percent over February and 29 percent over March 2009, thanks to the would-be event picture, Alice in Wonderland, delivering massive returns unlike Watchmen last year. A first quarter gross record was also established: the haul for January, February and March came in at $2.65 billion, up nine percent over 2009 through the same point.

The Kraken was released, and it devoured the Easter bunny. Tyler PerryMiley CyrusLiam Neeson

Clash of the Titans raked in an estimated $26.4 million on approximately 6,700 screens at 3,777 sites, but it wasn't the only busy movie on Good Friday: Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? pulled in an estimated $12.3 million on around 2,900 screens at 2,155 sites, while The Last Song collected an estimated $7.1 million on close to 3,300 screens at 2,673 sites.

The box office surged in the first quarter of 2010, and, thanks to Avatar, 20th Century Fox was the top-grossing distributor by a long shot. Here's an analysis of how Fox and each studio in the top ten fared for the first quarter:

Alice in Wonderland busted past the $300 million mark on Thursday, its 28th day of release. The fantasy ranks as the 12th fastest picture ever to reach the milestone. It's also the second 3D-infused title to make over $300 million, following Avatar, which reached that level in just 15 days. Tim BurtonJohnny Depp

This Easter weekend, Clash of the Titans is the intended colossus, striking over 5,200 screens at 3,777 venues. The mythological action picture got a jump on the weekend by debuting nationwide at 8 p.m. Thursday and grossed $4.2 million for the night (including midnight shows), which didn't rank in the pantheon of comparable starts but appeared to be in the same realm as 300's $2.5 million midnight launch. On the same weekend (non-Easter) last year, Fast and Furious courted a similar audience to Clash and accelerated to $71 million in three days flat, while the Easter opening record is held by Scary Movie 4 with $40.2 million. Liam NeesonSam WorthingtonMiley Cyrus

Another Presidents' Day weekend, another book adaptation trying to be the next youth fantasy franchise. Sci-fi fantasy I Am Number Four, based on the unpublished novel of the same name, will arrive in theaters on Feb. 18, 2011, distributor Walt Disney Pictures announced today, opening opposite sci-fi action picture Battle: Los Angeles. D.J. CarusoMichael BaySteven SpielbergDrew BarrymoreJustin LongJulia Roberts

Topping the Wednesday box office, The Last Song opened to $5.1 million on approximately 3,300 screens at 2,673 theaters, more than doubling the Wednesday launch of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants among past similar titles. Miley Cyrus

Universal Pictures has lined up Summer 2011 release dates for two of its comedies. The {lnk46418}Untitled Kristen Wiig/Judd Apatow Comedy{/lnk} is set for May 13, 2011, while The Change-Up lands on Aug. 5, 2011. Paul FeigRyan ReynoldsDavid Dobkin

The Motion Picture Association of America's Classification and Rating Administration released their weekly bulletin, which included new ratings for Splice, Your Highness and Secretariat. Adrien BrodySarah PolleyDavid Gordon GreenJames FrancoNatalie PortmanDiane LaneKevin James

Universal Pictures officially added three movies from Rogue Pictures to their 2011 slate today. Dramatic comedy Kids in America launches Jan. 28, thriller The Dark Fields opens Mar. 18, and fantasy epic War of Gods attacks theaters Nov. 11. Paramount Pictures also made an adjustment to their release schedule today, moving comedy Morning Glory from July 30 to Nov 12. Henry CavillKellan LutzFreida PintoTarsemBradley CooperRobert De NiroGore VerbinskiJohnny DeppTopher GraceAnna FarisJohn Cusack

Legendary Pictures, in conjunction with Warner Bros., plans to release a Godzilla reboot in 2012, according to a press release issued earlier today by the company. This will be the first English language Godzilla movie since 1998, when director Roland Emmerich unleashed the monster upon Manhattan, grossing $379 million worldwide.

John CusackJude LawJulianne MooreLiam NeesonAmanda Seyfried

On Friday, How to Train Your Dragon landed on top with an estimated $12.2 million on approximately 7,000 screens at 4,055 theaters, which was the highest-grossing opening day ever for a dragon-centric movie (surpassing Eragon).