News

<CENTER>FUELED BY ENTHUSIASTIC AUDIENCE RESPONSE, THE POLAR EXPRESS PROVES A RUNAWAY TRAIN AT THE BOX OFFICE, PUSHING CUMULATIVE GROSSES OVER $100 MILLION AND STILL GOING STRONG</CENTER>

Among major holdovers, The Polar Express was again the strongest, shedding 11% to $9.6 million for $109.8 million in 33 days. IMAX theaters again contributed over $2 million, down just 1%, and in total $16.4 million. Robert Zemeckis' $165 million production is headed for over $150 million.

LOS ANGELES, JANUARY 11, 2004—Sideways was voted Best Picture of the Year, it was announced tonight by Henry Sheehan, President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA). The runner up was Million Dollar Baby. Martin ScorseseJulie DelpyCharlie KaufmanYimou ZhangMichael MoorePaul CameronBrad Bird

The Polar Express may have been a lump of coal out of the gate, but the Christmas season, word-of-mouth and IMAX have provided the fuel for it to become the big engine that could. Tom HanksRobert Zemeckis

Oliver Stone's Alexander may go down as a colossal failure at the box office—the three-hour epic has made less than a quarter of its $155 million budget domestically. As director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge!) and DreamWorks ponder their own Alexander the Great, a movie about the man who had conquered the world by the time he was 25 isn't inherently misguided. Scholars say Alexander's legend is irresistibly larger than life. Mel Gibson

Though not as sharp or observant as his earlier outings into his surreal, comic universe, writer and director Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is pleasantly weird, if slightly disappointing.

Oliver Stone may be taking a bad rap for historical inaccuracies in his epic Alexander. Scholars suggest his presentation of Alexander the Great demonstrates a fairly solid grasp of what is known about the man who conquered the world. Colin FarrellAngelina JolieVal Kilmer

In Ocean's Eleven, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) gathered a group of thieves to steal $160 million from a casino vault in Las Vegas; it promised the thrill of the heist, and that's what's lacking in Steven Soderbergh's sequel, Ocean's Twelve.

INSTANT FAME COMES TO LUCKY WINNERS OF THE MOVIES™ LOGO COMPETITION

What promised to be a slam-dunk finale for the Blade franchise, Blade: Trinity has all the elements horror fans could hope for in a genre flick, but none of the bite.

Celebrating the centennial of George Stevens' birth, Warner Bros. releases several movies from the famed director. Chief among them is Gunga Din, the rousing adventure classic from 1939 inspired by the Rudyard Kipling poem and featuring Cary Grant. Well timed for the holidays is the moving 1948 family drama I Remember Mama starring Irene Dunne. Stevens' first major feature Alice Adams (1935) showcases a Katharine Hepburn in her prime. Warner Bros. also issues the documentaries George Stevens—A Filmmaker's Journey and D-Day to Berlin, the latter featuring color footage Stevens shot during World War II. Garry Marshall

The Incredibles raced to $104.6 million overseas after enjoying a $36.3 million weekend from 24 territories. Robert ZemeckisOliver StoneNicolas CageJulianne Moore

BURBANK AND EMERYVILLE, CA, December 7, 2004—Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios today announced that they are moving the release date of Pixar's upcoming animated feature film, Cars, to June 9, 2006. Release dates for major international territories have also been set for summer 2006 - France on July 12, Germany and Switzerland on July 13, the UK and Spain on July 14, Japan on July 15 and Italy on September 1. Owen Wilson

With no new wide openers, the action could be found among the limited releases over the post-Thanksgiving frame, thanks to such sexually-charged pictures as Closer, Kinsey and Bad Education. Julia RobertsJude LawNatalie PortmanClive OwenZiyi ZhangJim Caviezel

For the third weekend in a row, movies appealing to families grabbed the top four slots. Jerry BruckheimerDwayne JohnsonNicolas CageRobert ZemeckisOliver Stone

Q. Family movies have recently dominated the box office. On Thanksgiving weekend, the top five movies were rated G (Gereral Audiences or PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). When was the last time this happened on a given weekend and did it ever happen more than one weekend in a row?

Mike Nichols (The Graduate, Working Girl) must have been in a bad mood when he picked Patrick Marber's play, Closer, to direct for the cinema. This star vehicle is one long, moaning diatribe against romantic love with pretty people looking dour, talking in riddles and agonizing in self-pity. It is the screen's most pretentious display of pedantic nonsense this year.

The Incredibles soared overseas with a $44.3 million weekend on 4,362 screens in 22 markets, delivering distributor Buena Vista International's single biggest weekend ever. Thanks to huge openings in European markets, the Pixar animated feature increased its international total to $59.3 million. Oliver StoneNicolas CageJerry BruckheimerRichard GereJennifer LopezDenzel Washington

<CENTER>'THE POLAR EXPRESS' BUILDS MOMENTUM, WITH CUMULATIVE GROSS OF $82,175,000, AS HOLIDAY AUDIENCES EMBRACE FILM Tom HanksRobert Zemeckis

<CENTER>NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED FORDennis QuaidSofia CoppolaBill MurrayCharlize TheronDeclan Quinn