After less than a month at the multiplexes, Disney-Pixar’s 3-D toon “Up” has enough lift to likely become the second-highest-grossing Pixar title at the domestic B.O. after “Finding Nemo.” “Up’s” boffo run is the latest example of how 3-D runs can boost a film’s bottom line through higher ticket prices. The film’s 3-D runs make up only 40% of the total screen count, yet they contribute 60% of the gross. At the rate it’s going, “Up” will soon surpass the $206.4 million grossed by Pixar’s “Ratatouille” in summer 2007, and the $223.8 million grossed domestically by Pixar’s “Wall-E” last summer. “Finding Nemo,” released in 2003, cumed $339.7 million domestically. Next-best Pixar grosser is “The Incredibles” at $261.4 million. Based on its performance, box office observers now believe “Up” has every chance of surpassing “Incredibles.” – from Variety

Up should soar this weekend. The new Pixar film is getting raves and should net somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million. The other newcomer is Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell, which is getting fine reviews and will offer solid counter programing to the family movies coming out. Look for around $25 million. Night at the Museum 2 should do a solid $30-35 million. Star Trek and Terminator Salvation should do in the $20 million range.

New this week:

Up
Reviews have been nothing short of spectacular. Catch this one.

Drag Me to Hell
Great return to the horror genre for Sam Raimi. He hasn’t forgotten his sense of humor. Could be a sleeper hit.

Given the inherent three-dimensional quality evident in Pixar’s cutting-edge output, the fact that the studio’s 10th animated film is the first to be presented in digital 3-D wouldn’t seem to be particularly groundbreaking in and of itself. But what gives “Up” such a joyously buoyant lift is the refreshingly nongimmicky way in which the process has been incorporated into the big picture — and what a wonderful big picture it is. Winsome, touching and arguably the funniest Pixar effort ever, the gorgeously rendered, high-flying adventure is a tidy 90-minute distillation of all the signature touches that came before it. – From The Hollywood Reporter

Disney has released 38 photos from Pixar’s Up. Some of the photos you may have seen before. Others, like the photo above, you have not. You can even view some live-action production photos, showing you some of the people behind the film, for instance the actor who plays Russell. – From SlashFilm

The 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ are to preem at the 66th Venice Film Festival in September. The premieres are to mark the fest’s historic lifetime award to John Lasseter and the Pixar directors that was announced in January. Both 3-D versions will unspool on September 6 with the Golden Lion award ceremony at the Palazzo del Cinema at Venice Lido sandwiched between them. In a statement the fest organizers said for “first time in the history of the Venice Film Festival, the award will honor not only the achievement of a single filmmaker but also the contribution of the directors of a visionary studio.” – From Variety

“The operation will be small in size and dedicated to producing short-form quality computer animation for theme parks, DVDs, television and theatrical exhibition … for several different divisions of the Walt Disney Co.,” Disney/Pixar president Ed Catmull said. “We have a somewhat unfulfilled demand,” he said. “We wanted to do various things with ‘Toy Story’ to keep the characters alive. People like to see them somewhat regularly.” He pointed to Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter, who would like to do more with the “Cars” characters.

Pixar’s new film Up has begun to screen for press, here is some of the few bits of early buzz to leak onto the web
and twitter. Big shocker… people loved it:

Movie Matters : “Up is at times quite breathtaking.”

trevorhale: UP wasn’t the best Pixar movie, but I still enjoyed the hell out of it.

21463848-22125404_normalmarcusleshock: Looks like PIxar has done it again. I cried like a baby during “Up.”

From SlashFilm

At tonight’s premiere of Coraline, one of the celebrities on the red carpet was Brad Bird, director of my favorite movie of 2007, Ratatouille and the also excellent Iron Giant. Brad’s next project isn’t an animated feature but a live action one called 1906, about the enormous earthquake that hit the city of San Fran on April 18th, 1906. Myself, my buddy Silas and the guy whose name I can’t remember because I’ve had waaay too many glasses of wine tonight had a chance to talk to Brad about 1906, Toy Story 3 and other projects. I tried to really probe him about Toy Story 3 but he was starting to get ushered away by publicists at that point. – From Latino Review

Hollywood’s Oscar race heated up on Tuesday when a trio of movies drew honours from critics, including the surprise choice of animated “Wall-E” as the year’s best film by a major group of reviewers.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) chose Disney/Pixar’s “Wall-E,” about a love-struck robot stranded on Earth, as the best movie of 2008 and picked the action-packed Batman flick “The Dark Knight” as runner-up.

Earlier Tuesday, the Broadcast Film Critics Association named nominees for top movies and performances with “Milk,” about slain gay activist Harvey Milk, and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a romance starring Brad Pitt, leading rivals with eight nominations each, including best film.

- from Reuters

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has gone populist on its picks for best movies of 2008, choosing the animated smash “WALL-E” as No. 1 and the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” as runner-up on Tuesday.
Sean Penn was named best actor for the film biography “Milk,” while Sally Hawkins received the best-actress prize for the British comic drama “Happy-Go-Lucky.”
The late Heath Ledger won the critics group’s supporting-actor honor for his turn as the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” while Penelope Cruz was chosen for supporting actress in the Woody Allen romance “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” as well as her role in the drama “Elegy.” – from Yahoo

Silence can speak a thousand words and, perhaps, collect a handful of hardware.
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Tuesday named the Disney-Pixar charmer WALL-E the Best Picture of 2008, the first time the cinema-honoring society has ever tapped an animated film for its top prize.
Already garnering speculation about a possible run at Best Picture at the upcoming Oscars, this is looking to be a very joyous awards season for the detritus-collecting robot and his Buster Keaton-caliber mode of silent expression.

- from E!

A small, waste-collecting robot captured the hearts of consumers last week, much as it did in theaters earlier this year.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s “WALL-E” was the top seller and No. 2 renter on the home entertainment charts, topping the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart and scoring a strong second-place finish on Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week ending Nov. 23.

“WALL-E” also was the week’s No. 1 Blu-ray Disc seller.

- from THR