Ratatouille topped last week's DVD sales chart, while I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry was the No. 1 rental pick. My sons checked out the Rat last week, but weren't wowed by it. "Too many damn frogs in this film," scoffed Jared, who with Jacob turned 5 on Tuesday.Elsewhere, DVD releases have been set for The Bourne Ultimatum (Dec. 11), Resident Evil: Extinction (Jan. 1), Barney & Friends: Celebrating Around the World (Jan. 29, 2008) and Perfect Strangers: The Complete First and Second Season (Feb. 28) — and yes, I shall be ridiculous, thank you.
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Fox's "Idol Gives Back" and HBO's The Addiction Project will each receive the Governors Award, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' highest honor, for "harnessing the power of television to inform viewers about two very significant issues."... History Channel has added three "bonus" episodes to Ice Road Truckers, cable's highest-rated nonscripted series, to air Aug. 17 at 3 pm/ET, Aug. 26 at 9 and Sept. 2 at 9.... This September TBS will launch TBS Hot Corner, an interactive broadband channel offering on-demand Major League Baseball news, interviews and other content, as well as expanded coverage during game telecasts.... USA has secured network-TV rights to The Bourne Ultimatum and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, to air as early as January 2010 and December 2009, respectively. The price tag? Twelve percent of the total domestic box office for each.
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Cowabunga, dude! The Simpsons Movie didn't just open big, it opened Homer's-belly big! With a haul of $71.9 million, it was not only the No. 1 flick of the week, it was also the fifth biggest debut of the year. Rounding out the top five are I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, with a $19.1 million take; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, adding $17.1 million to its kitty; Hairspray, catching another $15.6 million in its Miss Baltimore Crab nets; and the new Catherine Zeta-Jones romcom No Reservations, with a paltry $11.8 million. Of course, even Zeets' numbers looked pretty sweet compared to those of our beleaguered LiLo: Her new (last?) pic, I Know Who Killed Me, generated only $3.4 million in ticket sales. See ya soon in The Surreal Life house, honey.
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The weekend box office title may, just may, be up for grabs. Despite awful, awful reviews, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry opened with an estimated $34.8 million, versus $32.2 mil for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was anchored down a bit by a certain book's release. Final figures to be released Monday will confirm this week's crown. Either way, the box office was up 3.5 percent compared to a year ago.Rounding out the top five were Hairspray (debuting to $27.8 million, two-thirds of which came from female filmgoers), Transformers ($20.5 mil) and Ratatouille ($11 mil), which I still can't convince my kids to see. #*$@ing Cars loyalists!
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