Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Less Than Titanic Take for ‘Avatar’
2. Director Eyes Tiger Woods for 'Hangover' Sequel
3. Tea Leoni’s Advice for Tiger Woods
4. Sarah Jessica Parker: President Obama Disappoints
5. Rock the Vote Sinks to New Lows for Obamacare
1. Less Than Titanic Take for ‘Avatar’
3D may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
“Avatar,” the long awaited, over-hyped, big budgeted James Cameron film opened below expectations, and the box-office dearth is causing a whole lot of consternation in Hollywood boardrooms.
The movie, which was supposed to be a Hollywood lifeboat, was #1 in North America with a nice $73 mill in box-office.
The problem is that the film was the most expensive in history, with estimates of over $300 million in production and another $200 million in marketing costs.
Similar to politics, movie box-office is an expectations game.
The flick’s $73 million is below expectations in the industry, since it was pegged to bring in between $80 and $100 million.
There are a lot of possible reasons for the shortfall, though. The snowstorm that hit the East Coast and dented the sales of Al Gore DVDs may also have had a negative impact on “Avatar.”
Audiences in major markets dropped precipitously on Saturday as compared to Friday, normally a bad sign for future revenue.
However, the studio and investors may have been saved from the red ink by strong overseas ticket sales of $159.2 million, resulting in a worldwide gross of $232.2 million.
Because it was a 3D film, the grosses are improved by the $3 to $5 additional charge that’s tacked on to each ticket.
“Avatar” did not do as well as “I Am Legend,” which brought in $77 million in December 2007. And it was a far cry from the “The Dark Knight,” which raked in more than $158 million in its #1 opening weekend take.
2. Director Eyes Tiger Woods for 'Hangover' Sequel/strong>
Plans for a sequel to Todd Phillips’ adult comedy hit, “The Hangover,” are already in the making, and it seems that the director has an unusual addition to the cast of the film that he’s been musing about—Tiger Woods.
Phillips had a good run at the box-office with the first “Hangover” flick and wouldn’t want to mess with his winning formula.
The first movie featured former boxer Mike Tyson, and Phillips sees Woods as a parallel pick, only with an extra helping of controversy.
“We are going to try and get Tiger Woods for the second one... and help him regain his image,” Phillips told HollyScoop. “Mike [Tyson] loved doing ‘The Hangover’ because he loved [bleeping] with the image people had of him. He knew we were not making fun of him but of the image people projected on him.”
Heather Graham, who intends to play a pregnant stripper in the movie, thinks the casting of Woods would be “hilarious” and that the idea “sounds brilliant.”
Personally, I’d recommend Tiger go for a “Caddyshack” sequel.
3. Tea Leoni’s Advice for Tiger Woods
Finally, there are some other stories to cover besides the latest Gloria Allred client who claims to have had an affair with beleaguered golf champ Tiger Woods.
One Hollywood actress who’s been carefully watching the media has experienced a similar Woods situation, only hers was from the cheat-ee perspective as opposed to the cheater.
Tea Leoni separated from her husband, actor David Duchovney, in 2008 because of his alleged sex addiction.
Leoni recently made a public appearance with Duchovney at her side, and the couple appears to have happily reconciled.
She was asked what advice she would give Tiger and his wife.
“I've been through some crazy things this past year, personally,” Leoni replied.
She added that she thinks “everybody just [needs to say] God bless and get through it.”
4. Sarah Jessica Parker: President Obama Disappoints
In a recent interview with the Daily Beast, Sarah Jessica Parker shared some of her conflicted feelings about President Obama.
The Dem actress revealed that her son James Wilkie had “expressed pride in Obama” but had also expressed to her “that he is unhappy at how much Obama is on television.”
Guess even a 6-year-old has a feel for the term “overexposed.”
“I refuse to lose hope in Obama,” Parker said. “Although healthcare is the biggest concern for me. I will be so blue if I lose hope in this man. I’m not a Pollyanna but I can’t abandon Obama at this early stage.”
Still, the actress took note of a presidential promise that was broken.
“The thing that I was hoping for was transparency in the healthcare debate because that’s the promise he made to me personally. That has disappointed me,” she said, expressing the disillusionment that so many Americans feel.
Of course, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to launch on the left's current whipping boy.
“As for Joe Lieberman’s role in the healthcare process . . . well, I just don’t understand it. James Wilkie is more mature than Joe Lieberman is. Lieberman has behaved like a petulant child,” Parker cracked.
5. Rock The Vote Sinks to New Lows for Obama-Care
Despite widespread public opposition to the current healthcare reform package, which is slated to be passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve, advocates have a new tool in their arsenal to court younger voters.
Sex, what else?
Rock the Vote, the celebrity weighted group that tries to reel in votes for Dems, recently released a video that encourages young folks to use sexual favors, or the withholding thereof, as a means of persuasion.
Libs of the past made a career out of ridiculing abstinence programs.
But some Rock the Vote libs are apparently on board with discouraging potential young voters from having sex with anyone who has reservations about the Dem healthcare bill.
It doesn’t stop there, though. The video also urges viewers to use sex to convince others to back the Democrat’s version of healthcare for the country.
“What would you withhold from someone who opposes healthcare reform? Cookies, a Christmas gift, sex?” viewers are asked.
The video also includes a demonstration of how people can use seductive techniques to convince others to support so-called reform.
To accompany the bad acting, the piece is dotted with profanity.
Mock the Vote better describes the group now.
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