A lot of movie theaters are citing the economy as the reason for their drop-off in sales. But one of the cinemas not following that trend is the Alamo Drafthouse. While the national industry experienced a 3.4% drop in domestic box office, Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas announced Thursday that their domestic box office sales increased for 2011, up 2.6% over 2010 sales. The amazing figure includes all locations in the circuit that have been open since January 2010. Total net sales, including figures from the cinema eatery’s food & beverage sales, were up 4.8% since 2010. The top 10 grossing titles for Alamo Drafthouse Cinema locations for 2011 were: 1) “The…

The young Hailee Steinfeld, who starred opposite Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges, in the Cohen brothers True Grit is eying a new lead role in Ender’s Game. Gavin Hood will be directing the adaption from the novel of Orson Scott Card with the hopes of signing Steinfeld to play the character Petra Arkanian, who is the only girl in the Salamander Army. For the unknown, Ender’s Game, per Variety, follows a gamer who was hired on by the government to put an end to the threat of an “insect like alien race.” Hugo’s Asa Butterfield will play the gamer, while Steinfeld is being courted to play her trusted right hand…

The Coen Brothers’ latest masterpiece “True Grit” has been released on DVD, digital download and Blu-ray today, June 7. The film is about a girl named Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) who is seeking revenge for her father’s murder by asking a crackshot Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to kill her father’s killer (Josh Brolin). The special features include the following, according to Amazon: Mattie’s True Grit HD From Bustles to Buckskin – Dressing for the 1880s HD Colts, Winchesters & Remingtons: The Guns of a Post-Civil War Western HD Re-Creating Fort Smith HD The Cast HD Charles Portis – The Greatest Writer You’ve Never Heard Of… HD The Cinematography of True…

Here’s the complete list of Oscar winners for the Academy Awards 2011. Best Motion Picture of the Year The King’s Speech Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role The King’s Speech – Colin Firth Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Natalie Portman for Black Swan Best Achievement in Directing Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Toy Story 3 – Randy Newman(“We Belong Together”) Best Achievement in Editing The Social Network – Kirk Baxter, Angus Wall Best Achievement in Visual Effects Inception – Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin Best Documentary, Features Inside…

With just a day left to go until the big show, I’d like to bet you’ve had enough Oscar predictions – especially considering quite a handful of the biggest honors are considered locks. Well, I offer you something a little different; not who I think will win, but who I think should win. Best Picture: The King’s Speech Every Best Picture nominee achieves some degree of filmmaking prowess, otherwise, they wouldn’t be nominated in the first place. Rather than pick apart the elements and compare the contenders by the writing, directing acting, etc., this category comes down to something far simpler, yet something tougher to achieve – poignancy. Which of…

The box office is not looking too hot. So far this year, it’s underperformed significantly as compared to 2010. That year did have Avatar pulling in massive amounts of cash at this point, but even comparing the 2011 numbers to the totals in 2009 and 2008 shows we’re off to particularly slow start. So, is this the weekend we could finally see some higher numbers? Quite possibly. With four new wide releases, two of which certainly have a shot at cracking $20 million, we could see a nice improvement. First up is Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. No, documentaries aren’t typically cash cows, but this is Justin Bieber we’re talking…

Ready for a good scare this weekend? I hope so because there are two potentially terrifying wide releases hitting theaters this weekend, one about a violent college roommate and another about a team of trapped cave divers. Of the two, you’d think Sanctum would have the edge, not just because it’ll benefit from 3D ticket prices, but also because it’s debuting in more theaters and is attracting quite a bit of attention for having James Cameron as a producer. Of Cameron’s wide releases, he’s never opened with less than $25.9 million and that was for True Lies back in 1994. A somewhat reasonable comparison here could be 2008′s Jumper. That…

The box office results for the weekend of January 28th-30th sees “The Rite” winning over a balanced weekend in 2011. Meanwhile, a “Mechanic”, a “King” and a “Hornet” own the top five. Here are the studio estimates: 1. The Rite ($15 million) 2. No Strings Attached ($13.6 million) 3. The Green Hornet ($11.5 million) 4. The Mechanic ($11.5 million) 5. The King’s Speech ($11.1 million) 6. True Grit 2010 ($7.6 million) 7. The Dilemma ($5.4 million) 8. Black Swan ($5.1 million) 9. The Fighter ($4 million) 10. Yogi Bear ($3.1 million) Analysis Not only did “The Rite” exorcise the demons, but it may have inadvertently done the same to an…

Before the first month of the year comes to an end, we’ll get two brand new wide releases, neither of which really has a shot at cracking the $20 million mark. First up is CBS Films’ remake, The Mechanic starring Jason Statham. Statham has a fairly loyal following, which is no surprise considering he’s latched onto the action genre and always delivers big time. His only January release was In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale, which hit theaters back in 2008 and pulled in just $4.8 million its first weekend. Of course, Freestyle Releasing isn’t exactly known to deliver big money makers, but neither is CBS…

The box office results for the weekend of January 21st -23rd has romantic-comedy “No Strings Attached” hitting the top spot. Without any other new releases entering the arena, the holdovers maintained their respective spots. Here are the studio estimates: 1. No Strings Attached ($20.3 million) 2. The Green Hornet ($18.1 million) 3. The Dilemma ($9.7 million) 4. The King’s Speech ($9.1 million) 5. True Grit 2010 ($8 million) 6. Black Swan ($6.2 million) 7. The Fighter ($4.5 million) 8. Little Fockers ($4.4 million) 9. Yogi Bear ($4 million) 10. TRON: Legacy ($3.7 million) Analysis In what was a lackluster weekend overall at the box office, “No Strings Attached” quietly snatched…