If there was any question whether Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland had Avatar-like staying power, this weekend’s box office confirmed that it does.

Wonderland, the updated take where Alice returns to Wonderland as a 19-year-old, only dropped 47% after an extremely strong opening weekend. At this point, experts predict Wonderland will take home $62 million this weekend, far-and-away the top movie at the box office.  It has grossed $208.6 million domestically in its first 10 days in theaters.

The other story this weekend was the dismal performance by Green Zone. The Matt Damon-starring film took home just $14.5 million, which was far under the $100 million it cost Universal and Relativity Media to make the film.

Taking third place this weekend was She’s Out of My League, which took $9.6 million in its opening weekend.  Remember Me, the film starring Robert Pattinson, grossed $8.3 million and Our Family Wedding took home $7.6 million in its opening weekend.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

For years, thousands of people around the country who either saw or knew of Will and Grace seemed to have the same feeling: Sean Hayes is really convincing as a gay guy.

And for years, Hayes refuted all the rumors and maintained that he was a straight man.

Until he came out in last week’s The Advocate.

The piece in The Advocate is kind of a run-of-the-mill article about Hayes and the difficulties he’s had as a closeted man for so many years.  But the interesting thing I found about the piece was the first section where the article frames Hayes as an obvious gay man who has a ton of mannerisms and such that make it a no-brainer that he is a homosexual.

In my opinion, it’s weird that this article would be framed this way because it’s almost as if the writer and editorial staff are encouraging other gay men to come out by saying these things about Hayes in his ‘coming out’ feature story.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

Oftentimes in our culture young celebrities – especially young female celebrities – are expected to be role models for girls of the same age and younger.

16-year-old Taylor Momsen, who plays Jenny on the CW’s Gossip Girl, would like to officially go on record and say that she doesn’t want young girls to look up to her.  In fact, she is blaming the media for not allowing her to smoke her cigarrettes out of the public eye.

“I didn’t get into this to be a role model for 7-year-olds. I have no interest in doing that, you know? If parents don’t like some of the stuff I do then they shouldn’t let their kids watch me.”

“I smoke, so what? Why do people give a s— what a 16-year-old girl who they’ve never met does? It’s not like I’m sitting there going, ‘Kids, you should go buy a pack of cigarettes.’ When I walk outside with a cigarette and someone takes a picture of it and puts it on the Internet, its not my problem. I’m just living my life and I’m not gonna live my life for other people.”

via

There you have it.  Jenny Humphrey is not a role model and, if she has her way, neither is Taylor Momsen.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

In the middle of its eighth season, Fox announced Wednesday that the current season will 24’s last.

Hint of the news leaked on the Internet Tuesday night and now, Wednesday afternoon, the guillotine has dropped. The Kiefer Sutherland-starring program will end after eight more episodes because of decreased ratings and rising costs.

But the good thing for 24 fans is that there have been serious talks of making a feature film to properly wrap things up.  So yes, it’s unfortunate 24 is going off the air because it represents the end of a beloved television show, but now, it won’t be a dissatisfying exit.  At least I don’t think it will be.

For more about the end of 24 and how the events of 9/11 made it so popular at the beginning of its run, please read Time magazine’s blog post about the show.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

The early ratings returns for last night’s Academy Awards indicate that more people watched this year’s show than last years, which might be attributed to the humongous success of Avatar. Or not.  We don’t really know at this point.

Anyway, the Oscars were up 20% from last year, averaging a 27.4 rating and a 41 share.  What this means, in terms of raw numbers, is that it’s more than likely that the Academy Awards were seen by over 40 million people in the United States (the numbers will be out later today).  36 million watched last year’s telecast.

Like I said in this post’s first paragraph, there’s a good chance that the increase in viewers is due to Avatar being nominated for so many awards.  If a movie is seen by a lot of people is nominated in several big categories, there’s a good chance that the Oscars will see its ratings rise. For example, the award show’s biggest audience ever was in 1998 – the year Titanic was up for all of its awards.  It was seen by 55.2 million people.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian will be back for a second season.

It comes as no surprise that E! has renewed Keeping Up with the Kardashians spinoff Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami for 10 more episodes, given the show’s huge ratings and the emergence of Kourtney and Khloe as legitimate celebrities.

The fourth season finale of Kardashians was seen by 4.8 million viewers and the spinoff deals with a Miami-based DASH Boutique.

“Millions of people tuned in to E! to see Kourtney and Khloe’s lives change completely this past year, and now fans can follow them on their next adventure in this new season of ‘Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami’,” said Lisa Berger, executive vp of programing at E!. “However, this time it’s a whole different world as the pair must embrace their new life roles and juggle their hectic careers as they head back to South Beach where fun always follows.”

via

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

I don’t know if this really warrents news, but JJ Abrams and Tom Cruise will co-produce Mission Impossible 4.

The reason I don’t know if this is actually news is because I’m not entirely sure Cruise or the Mission Impossible franchise has a legion of fans.  Or, you know, fans.

(I’ll take silence in the comments to mean that no, no one does actually care about Mission Impossible or the career choices Cruise makes.)

From Paramount CEO Brad Grey in the press release…

“Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise.”

I think Cruise was believable as a Jack Bauer-type 14 years ago when the first MI film was released.  But Cruise as the star of the MI franchise right now is about as believable as watching a 46-year-old Keifer Sutherland running around and killing everybody in 24.

It’s totally unrealistic and, for me, off-putting. Quite frankly, I don’t think there’s anything JJ Abrams can do to change that.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

Just weeks after, in essence, firing Conan O’Brien, NBC has ordered a pilot from O’Brien and The Tonight Show executive producer’s Conaco productions.

The pilot from O’Brien’s company has not yet been officially titled, but is currently being referred to as “Justice”.  It was written by John Eisendrath and reportedly centers around an ex-Supreme Court justice who leaves the country’s high court to start his own practice.  In Hollywood’s inner circles, it’s considered one of the season’s best pilots.

Ross and O’Brien will co-produce the project, making it a very real possibility that O’Brien could provide with the network that pulled the rug out from under him as the host of The Tonight Show with a hit show it has been seeking for several TV seasons.

This seems strange, doesn’t it?

The reason the pilot is on NBC is because Conaco operates under the NBC umbrella, basically making them a part of the NBC family.  And in O’Brien’s $33 million settlement to exit The Tonight Show, he and the network agreed that Conaco would continue to operate under the NBC umbrella until the end of the TV season.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

Gold-medal skater Evan Lysacek, the 24-year-0ld kid from Naperville, Illinois, has reportedly been dating a fellow Olympian.

The gold medalist is dating fellow gold medalist Nastia Liukin, who you may remember when she was tumbling on your television screen in between Michael Phelps winning gold medals during the 2008 Olympics. Luikin was apparently a big help during Lysacek’s run to the gold.

“She been so helpful to me,” Lysacek said in an interview.  “She has been through it herself. If I’m having a bad day, she tells me to have faith and to keep going. Sometimes your support system has more faith in you than yourself. And when she tells me things are going to be fine, I really believe it.”

The couple met at the 2008 NBC Special Skating & Gymnastics Spectacular in Rapid City.  They began dating last summer.

“We became good friends and have become really close since then”. Said Evan. “It was cool but nerve-racking watching her compete – to be on the balance beam like that? For me, it’s easier to do it than watch it.”

Liukin had a similar experience during this year’s winter Olympics.

“To see his dreams come true was amazing,” Liukin says. “Even though we’re not in the same sport, we got to connect at the same level because there’s nothing like the Olympics. It was nice to be on the other side of things and be the support system, but I was nervous.”

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.

Jay Leno comes back tonight!

YES!

Just kidding.  I, as I’m sure you are having clicked on this post after reading the headline, are a fan of Conan O’Brien’s.  Which left me feeling extremely excited when I read about O’Brien’s plan of taking his talk show on the road while he waits out the NBC timeout forced upon him in his buyout.

O’Brien, according to multiple sources, is set to take his show on the road for a couple months in order to keep creating revenue for himself and his out-of-work staff.  More importantly, O’Brien’s decision would make the thousands of members of Team Coco around the country extremely happy and would continue to keep his name on the tips of peoples’ tongues up until he is allowed to return to television is September of this year.

Expect more information about the tour in the days and weeks coming.

******************

This post was written by Eric Van Dril.  For more of his writing, visit RipcordNews.com.