Hollywood Ink: Fox Triumph Commemorated With Photoshop Failure

· For this, the last Hollywood Ink of 2009, it's only fitting that we revel in the little miracles that trade news occasionally tosses our way. But enough about Fox's astonishing December run -- a one-two punch of Avatar and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel that helped lift the studio past the $4 billion global box-office mark for the year. I've been transfixed for much of the last day with the inspired-ish artwork that accompanied this story at The Wrap, which reduces Rupert Murdoch and studio bosses Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos to their golden chipmunk trio. "Failure" might be too harsh a description for this handiwork, but anything that gets one thinking about these guys macking on the Chipettes while Zachary Levi cleans their cages is, frankly, just a pop-culture bridge too far. [The Wrap]

The Weinsteins stand by Nine, Sherlock Holmes trickles down, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.

· Despite continuing financial woes and a considerable Oscar push on several other, better-received films' behalves, The Weinstein Company insists that it will stay the course with Nine. As of this writing, the studio plans to hold all of its 1,412 theaters Friday despite an expansion last week that found the ambitious awards hopeful lagging in eighth place. "The film is working," a representative said. Someone cracked the New Year's champagne early. [THR]

· Meanwhile, last week's number-two film Sherlock Holmes is having quite the positive effect on the sleuth's earlier film properties. DVD distributor MPI Media noted Wednesday that sales of its Holmes back catalog jumped by one-third since Robert Downey Jr.'s revisionist reboot splashed down in multiplexes last weekend. Elementary, etc., etc. [THR]

· More bad news for newspapers, which hemorrhaged ad revenue at an unprecedented rate as studios refined their interactive marketing strategies in 2009. One estimate has newspaper ad spending trimmed from 14 percent of the average film's marketing budget in 2002 to only 4 percent in 2009. Oy. Well. Happy New Year anyway! [Variety]