Good news, everyone! 2012 has been a pretty great year for the film industry. Ticket sales were up worldwide by 5% over 2011, and a record box office haul of $10 billion means plenty of celebrating at studio holiday parties. Of course, Biggie wasn't lying when he preached the harsh truth that with mo' money comes mo' problems, and so it is that while bootleg film watching didn't quite rival ticket sales, with hundreds of millions of illegal downloads piracy is nothing to sneeze at.
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The annual pageant of youth, taste and class hardware bacchanal known as the MTV Movie Awards has announced its nominations for 2012, with this year's most formidable blockbuster to date, The Hunger Games, doing battle against the most formidable blockbusters of last year's calendar, including Bridesmaids, Breaking Dawn: Part I, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Help, and others. And Drive loyalists rejoice! Your favorite head-shattering action-drama of 2011 has been honored with three nominations as well. Read on for the full list of contenders who will go at it in a fully-product placement-optimized Gibson Amphitheater on June 3.
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Despite the stiff competition of the NCAA tournament and the local bar, the multiplex fared all right over St. Patrick's Day weekend: The single new wide release 21 Jump Street was a hit, and The Lorax retained its blockbuster status in its third week of release. Not bad! Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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Everything went pretty much according to plan at the box office over the weekend: Scurrilous liberal plot The Lorax indoctrinated enough kids and families to reign over a second consecutive week, while Disney's super-expensive sci-fi gamble John Carter settled somewhat anemically into second place. But it's not all bad for our boy on Barsoom. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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Two teen-oriented comedies this season share much in common, from a gleeful embracing of the spirit of youthful recklessness to the idea that geeks will indeed inherit the earth. One is among the better comedies we’re likely to see this year; the other is by far, on its face, the sleaziest. Both were penned by the same actor-turned-screenwriter, Michael Bacall, who also captured the slings and arrows of slacker youth heroism in 2010’s Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. So why are Project X and 21 Jump Street so diametrically opposed when it comes to depicting the youth of today?
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In case you missed all of the weekend’s riveting PR stunts accidental leaks, here’s all you need to know: Christina Hendricks, Olivia Munn, and one of the stars from the debauchery fest Project X got caught up in an assortment of salacious news that warns us once again against the dangers of doing sexy things in the vicinity of recording devices if you’re famous. (Unless, ahem, you've got a project to push.) Nude pics, Photoshopped naughtiness, and even – gasp! – a secret porn past were revealed thanks to the Internet; hit the jump to catch up as we wait for the inevitable awesome Taiwanese animated recap to drop.
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What a weekend for Dr. Seuss's The Lorax: The environmentally tinged adaptation became the latest of the beloved author's film spinoffs to capture the top box-office perch. Meanwhile, the raunchy Project X settled in quietly behind it, earning roughly a dollar per topless scene en route to second place. Your Weekend Receipts are here.
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The reviews are in for the Todd Phillips-produced uber-party comedy Project X, and three out of four critics agree: It is the douchiest, most mean-spirited debauch of the year. (To date, anyway; we'll see what kind of revisionist zest Steven Spielberg and co. bring to Lincoln.) Hop aboard Movieline's scorched-earth golf cart and let's go for a spin...
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I’m pretty sure I ruined the night of a pair teenage boys huddled in the back row of a recent screening of Project X, a party disaster movie targeted at kids who find the Hangover franchise too sophisticated. All I did was sit down beside them, but I may as well have poked my head up into their treehouse. Girls ruin everything, especially the unmitigated enjoyment of a new Todd Phillips movie. A few seconds after the lights went down, as a shrill junior impresario named Costa (Oliver Cooper) was shouting 2 Live Crew lyrics about wanting pussy, the one beside me began twisting in an agony I came to enjoy much more than the movie we were watching.
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Todd Phillips doesn't feel like directing the new Hangover right now, so he's taking time to helm a cray-zay party movie where a self-declared "uncool" kid throws the bash of the century. Cars jump into pools! Music blares! Girls lick on some popsicles under Fiona Apple "Criminal" lighting! Parents call to make sure everything is going OK. It's like a grittier version of Blank Check. I've been waiting for this since '94.
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