Report card 2011: Warner just shy of record 2010 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? This is the first in a series of Studio Report Cards from TheWrap. First up, Warner Bros.

Grade: B.

It's tough to criticize a year that included a $1.33 billion global box-office performance by the final "Harry Potter" movie, not to mention a $581.5 million worldwide gross by an R-rated comedy, "The Hangover Part II." But Warner's inability to turn "Green Lantern" into a much-needed new multi-hit franchise impacted its grade.

Despite boasting two of the biggest titles of the year in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" and "The Hangover Part II," Warner Bros. will finish 2011 narrowly down in global box-office revenue, falling second to Paramount in market share.

Warner Brothers, despite a strong box office performance, will fall short of the $1.88 billion it brought in domestically last year, even if the last tentpole on its 2011 calendar, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows," manages to match the $209 million domestic box office of the original Robert Downey Jr. film.

The studio had grossed $1.65 billion in U.S. and Canadian box office receipts through Sunday.

That's not to say it didn't have hits in 2011.

With Jeff Robinov taking over as studio president for Alan Horn earlier in the year, "Potter" went out with a bang, becoming the first movie in the eight-film franchise to break the billion-dollar barrier.

And the second "Hangover" became the most commercially successful R-rated comedy ever, grossing $581.5 million globally.

"We had hoped that the movie would be successful, based on how much people really enjoyed being with the guys the first time around," Robinov told TheWrap. " Todd Phillips is the best comedy guy out there."

With an estimated $2.67 billion in foreign receipts through Sunday, Warner's will also not quite reach the $2.93 billion it brought in internationally last year, not to mention its industry-leading $4.81 billion global total in 2010.

But that is not terribly surprising in a film market where attendance is down by 5 percent, and revenue has shrunk by about 4 percent. Many are calling 2011's slate one of the weakest Hollywood has offered the multiplex in years.

The studio -- which released 26 films in 2011, just one shy of 2010's 27 -- couldn't match its 2010 flurry of hits, which included "Inception," "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1," "Clash of the Titans" and "Valentine's Day."

But beyond franchises, there were sleeper hits, such as the ensemble comedy "Horrible Bosses," which grossed $209.6 million on a $35 million budget.

Overall filmed entertainment, meanwhile, has performed well this year on the Time Warner balance sheets.

While elsewhere home entertainment is down by double digits yet again, last year's penultimate "Harry Potter" movie pushed the conglomerate's revenue up 13 percent in the second quarter, and DVD and VOD sales of the final "Potter" will certainly give the company a huge boost in the fourth quarter.

But this year was also partly about what happens after "Harry Potter" in terms of multi-hit franchises.

Warner's officials note the anticipation of Christopher Nolan's final "Dark Knight" installment, which comes out in July, as well as its Zack Snyder-led "Superman" reboot," "Man of Steel," which is on the 2013 calendar.

The studio, however, missed in its attempt to develop a new hit superhero franchise, with the $200 million "Green Lantern" generating only $219.9 million worldwide.

And some of the studio's existing franchises stumbled: "Happy Feet Two," for example, has failed to re-create the South Pole magic of the Oscar-winning original, grossing just $106 million to date on a production cost of $100 million.

And the always-reliable "Final Destination," while still profitable, showed decline in 2011, with the franchise's fifth movie ($157.9 million in global receipts) falling a bit short of 2010's fourth installment, "The Final Destination" ($186.2 million).

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111213/media_nm/us_warnerbros

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Bomb targeting pilgrims kills 16 in Iraq's Hilla (Reuters)

BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? At least 16 people were killed and 31 wounded by a car bomb targeting Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq's Hilla city during a major religious ritual, local police sources said on Monday.

The bombing came at the height of Ashura, which commemorates the death of Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein and defines Shi'ite Islam and its split with Sunni Islam.

"A car bomb was parked near a Shi'ite pilgrims' procession inside the Nile area, and it killed 16 people, mostly women and children, and wounded 31 others," a police source at Hilla hospital said.

Another police source confirmed the initial death toll.

The attack underscored Iraq's fragile security as the last 10,000 American troops prepare to withdraw by the end of 2011, more than eight years after the invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein.

Sunni Islamist insurgents often target Shi'ite shrines and ceremonies in an attempt to inflame sectarian tensions still simmering close to the surface in Iraq.

Violence has eased sharply since its worst years in 2006-2007 when Sunni and Shi'ite armed groups killed thousands in intercommunal assassinations and bombings. But Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militias still carry out deadly attacks.

(Reporting by Baghdad newsroom,; writing by Patrick Markey; editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/wl_nm/us_iraq_violence

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U.S. official says no sign Iran shot down drone (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iranian media reported on Sunday that their country's military had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran, but a U.S. official said there was no indication the aircraft had been shot down.

NATO's U.S.-led mission in neighbouring Afghanistan said the Iranian report could refer to an unarmed U.S. spy drone that went missing there last week.

The incident comes at a time when Tehran is trying to contain foreign outrage at the storming of the British embassy on Tuesday, after London announced sanctions on Iran's central bank in connection with Iran's nuclear enrichment programme.

Iran has announced several times in the past that it shot down U.S., Israeli or British drones, in incidents that did not provoke high-profile responses.

"Iran's military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," Iran's Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted a military source as saying.

"The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces," the source said. "The Iranian military's response to the American spy drone's violation of our airspace will not be limited to Iran's borders."

Iranian officials were not available to comment further.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said in a statement: "The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week.

"The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."

A U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said: "There is absolutely no indication up to this point that Iranians shot down this drone."

ISOLATION

Tuesday's storming of the British embassy attracted swift condemnation from around the world, further isolating Iran.

Britain evacuated its diplomatic staff from Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from London in retaliation. Several other EU members like Germany, France and Spain also recalled their ambassadors from Tehran.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to resolve a dispute over a programme they suspect is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran says it would respond to any strike by attacking Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf.

In January Iran said it shot down two unmanned Western reconnaissance drones in the Gulf. In July Iran said it had shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over the holy city of Qom, near its Fordu nuclear site.

Western nations on Thursday significantly tightened sanctions against Iran, with the European Union expanding an Iranian blacklist and the U.S. Senate passing a measure that could severely disrupt Iran's oil income.

Iran warned the West on Sunday any move to block its oil exports would more than double crude prices with devastating consequences on a fragile global economy.

"As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the Sharq newspaper.

So far neither Washington nor Brussels has finalised a move against Iran's oil trade or its central bank. Crude prices were pushed up over the British embassy storming with ICE Brent January crude up 95 cents on Friday to settle at $109.94 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran, Caren Bohan and David Alexander in Washington and Missy Ryan in Bonn; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/wl_nm/us_iran_usa_drone

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HBT: Phils' meeting with Rollins doesn't go well

Jimmy Rollins? agent met recently with the Phillies and Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports that the meeting ?did not go all that well.?

Salisbury writes that Rollins continues to insist on a five-year contract, with the Phillies understandably balking at making that sort of commitment to a 33-year-old shortstop who?s already started to decline.

In the meantime the Phillies have increased their pursuit of free agent Aramis Ramirez and are said to be shopping Placido Polanco to potentially make room at third base. However, a source told Salisbury that he still expects Rollins to eventually re-sign with the Phillies and indicated that the team?s interest in Ramirez is only as a fallback option.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/05/phillies-meeting-with-jimmy-rollins-agent-did-not-go-all-that-well/related/

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Panetta on Mideast: 'Get to the Damn Table' (ABC News)

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?All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S.? Wins $50,000 DARPA Shredder Challenge

A San Francisco-based team has just won the DARPA Shredder Challenge. DARPA, the government agency whose work led to the creation of the Internet, challenged the public to reconstruct five shredded documents. The winning team, called "All Your Shreds Are Belong to U.S." completed the task in 33 days, spending nearly 600 man-hours building algorithms and piecing together more than 10,000 shreds. 9,000 teams registered to compete. The winning teams gets a $50,000 prize paid for by the U.S. Treasury.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/thJ4VrpTg44/

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Scorsese's 'Hugo' named best film by NBR awards

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, Asa Butterfield portrays Hugo Cabret in a scene from "Hugo." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, Asa Butterfield portrays Hugo Cabret in a scene from "Hugo." (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

In this image released by Paramount Pictures, actors Emily Mortimer, left, and Asa Butterfield listen to director Martin Scorsese on the set of "Hugo." The film, adapted from Brian Selznick's award-winning illustrated book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," is about a 12-year-old orphan who lives in a 1930 Paris train station. (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The National Board of Review picked Martin Scorsese's 3-D "Hugo" as the year's best film, an unusually kid friendly choice sure to add further intrigue to the Oscar hunt.

The group also picked Scorsese as best director for his whimsical film about an orphan who lives in a 1930s Paris train station. It's the director's first film in 3-D but one in which the adventure leads back to the early days of cinema and the wondrous films of French filmmaker George Melies.

It had been another movie nostalgic for the early days of movies ? the silent film "The Artist" ? that's thus far been the award season's early leader. That film didn't receive any individual awards, but it was named among the group's top films of the year. The others were "The Descendants," ''Drive," ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," ''The Ides of March," ''J. Edgar," ''Tree of Life" and "War Horse."

Alexander's Payne's "The Descendants," a warmly humorous film about a middle-aged Hawaiian (George Clooney) balancing a new commitment to parenthood, earned the most awards with three. Best actor went to Clooney, best supporting actress to the 20-year-old Shailene Woodley (who plays the eldest daughter) and best adapted screenplay to Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's script, taken from Kaui Hart Hemmings' novel.

Tilda Swinton was awarded best actress for her performance in Lynne Ramsey's drama about a school shooting in "We Need to Talk About Kevin." Best supporting actor went to the 81-year-old Christopher Plummer for his performance as a dying man who awakens to his latent homosexuality in "Beginners."

The National Board of Review, a group of film historians, students and academics founded in 1909, is one of the first notable groups to announce its picks for the year's best movies. Although it's usually the first group out of the gate, the New York Film Critics Circle moved ahead of them this year, selecting "The Artist" on Tuesday as the year's best film.

The National Board of Review has some pedigree in picking films that have gone on to win best picture at the Oscars. Last year, it selected "The Social Network" as the year's best film, while the academy chose "The King's Speech." Most likely, this year's picks only reinforce the notion that the field remains refreshingly wide open ahead of the Academy Awards nominations on Jan. 24.

NBR president Annie Schulhof drew a connection between "Hugo," ''The Artist" and the group's animation pick, Gore Verbinski's movie-reference-stuffed "Rango." She called them all celebrations of film history.

"It feels really good," Schulhof said. "We can learn so much from our cinematic past. Filmmakers today are celebrating and respecting it and bringing it forward to the new generation of filmgoers."

The group awarded best ensemble to the Civil Rights-era drama "The Help." Its spotlight award went to Michael Fassbender, the Irish actor who stars in four films this year: "A Dangerous Method," ''Shame," ''Jane Eyre" and "X-Men: First Class."

The West Memphis 3 documentary "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" was selected best documentary. Best foreign film went to the Iranian drama "A Separation."

Two actresses were honored for breakthrough performances: Felicity Jones in the young love drama "Like Crazy" and Rooney Mara in the adapted thriller "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo." J.C. Chandor was singled out for debut director for his first feature, the financial industry thriller "Margin Call."

Will Reiser was awarded best original screenplay for his script to the cancer comedy "50/50." Special achievement in filmmaking was given to the Harry Potter franchise for its "distinguished translation from book to film."

The NBRs also give an award for "freedom of expression," which it bestowed on two films: "Pariah," a drama about a black teenager embracing her lesbianism, and "Crime After Crime," a documentary about an incarcerated victim of domestic abuse.

A gala for the National Board of Review Awards will be held Jan. 10 at New York's Cipriani's, to be hosted by the "Today" show's Natalie Morales.

___

Online:

http://www.nbrmp.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-01-Film-National%20Board%20of%20Review/id-716f02d2765a46598b973d0bd5021774

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The eurozone crisis explained in 5 simple graphs

Governments have collapsed. Bailouts have run into the hundreds of billions of euros. Greece is drowning in debt, Italy ousted longtime leader Silvio Berlusconi in a bid to claw its way out, and Spaniards rejected the ruling Socialists, hoping that political change might spare them the woes of their neighbors. Still, the two-year debt crisis builds.?How did the eurozone get here?

The graphics below paint part of the picture: untaxed shadow economies, low productivity, and deficit spending. While deficits have been curtailed significantly since 2009 due to austerity measures, some see deeper systemic problems.

Take Greece. "For 10 years, investors basically believed that Greece was Germany," says Jacob Kirkegaard, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. But, he says, Greece is "fundamentally a corrupt, dysfunctional government that is unable to raise enough tax revenue to pay for all of its expenses." Then there's Spain. The size of its debt relative to its economy is a manageable 67 percent, but sluggish growth undermines investors' faith that it can repay loans. Those who lost money in Greece are in no hurry to lose more in Spain.

- Ariel Zirulnick,?Staff writer

The maximum debt allowed by the European Union is 60 percent of gross domestic product. None of the countries pictured meet that standard.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/mFg4RrF-a3U/The-eurozone-crisis-explained-in-5-simple-graphs

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Newt Gingrich's unpredictability raises concerns (tbo)

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