Universal sets screenwriters loose on Twitter – helped Ted to gross near $200 million

The teddy bear’s first tweet, from an account called @WhatTedSaid set up by the Universal Pictures marketing department, was “Hello, Twitter. Kindly go f— yourself.” The author of the greeting was Alec Sulkin, co-screenwriter of the R-rated comedy “Ted,” who together with his collaborator Wellesley Wild was paid extra by the studio to build buzz …

Amazing (gross) limited edition – Walking Dead Season 2

  The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season Having trouble waiting until October to get your zombie suspense fix? Pick up The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season ($70) on Blu-ray. This limited edition set includes all 13 episodes from the second season, as well as audio commentaries, webisodes, deleted scenes, over 10 new featurettes, all spread …

YouTube is finally making money – lot’s of it!

Is Google making money off of YouTube? You betcha, Google execs told shareholders today, without offering the slightest bit of detail. Par for the course. So, in lieu of real numbers from Google, here’s a Wall Street estimate: Google is making a ton of money from YouTube. More specifically: The video site should generate more than $3.6 billion …

America exports the magic of (billion-dollar) movies

When it comes to exports, America brings movies to the world. So which ones are having the biggest impact? “The Avengers” is likely to stand with”Avatar,””Titanic”and iterations of “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Lord of the Rings,””Toy Story” and”Transformers,” as one of a new breed of globally dominant film franchises. via LA Times These are …

We all pay taxes – Barack & Michelle made $800k, donated $170k, & paid $160k in taxes

As we all get finished with our taxes so do the President and First Lady. It turns out that the Obama’s came in with a 20.5% tax rate on income of $789,674 (married filing jointly), including donations worth $172,130. The bulk of that income came from presidential salaries, $394,821, and book sales, $441,369. In 2010, …

10 biggest movie flops of 2011 – feel like losing a hundred million?

Mars Needs Moms – budget $150 million, gross $39 million Conan the Barbarian – budget $90 million, gross $48.8 million The Big Year – budget $41 million, gross $7.4 million The Rum Diary – budget $45 million, gross $21.6 million Anonymous – budget $30 million, gross $14.8 million The Thing – budget $38 million, gross …

10 Top grossing movies of 2011 – nine sequels and one animation movie

Not very strong year for original content with nine sequels topping on the list, but a great year for cashing in on franchises. The final Harry Potter movie set several records, including the biggest single-day domestic gross of $92.1 million and best worldwide debut of $481.5. Rio, the only non-sequel on the list, caps off …