In the new book “The Obamas,” New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, writes about a secret White House cover-up. What officials at the nation’s capital tried to keep under wraps wasn’t classified military information, but apparently a 2009 Halloween party attended by the cast of Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland:

White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged.

I can see why Kitty Kelly, whose claim to fame is being the author of unauthorized biographies of Nancy Reagan, Frank Sinatra, the Bush family and Oprah, skipped this one. There may be a juicy story lurking somewhere in the Obama White House, but this isn’t it. For me, the picture brought an unexpected bout of 2009 nostalgia. Read more…

How do you follow up the highest grossing movie of all time? A movie that broke box office records and, for better or for worse, can be attributed with starting the 3D trend that has yet to produce a movie that has captivated audiences as much as its forebear. James Cameron has answered that question with the recent announcement that he is working on a second and third sequel to Avatar, with the plan to film both concurrently. Filming will begin in 2011 but 20th Century Fox announced the second film won’t be released until December 2014 and the third a year later. Cameron said in a statement:

In the second and third films, which will be self-contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of Avatar‘s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. Read more…

If it seems like Hollywood studios are treating 3-D like the second coming, or at least as the next best thing since the advent of sound, it’s because for them, it is. Disney, Universal and MGM were in dire straits in 2009 and most their big releases flopped on arrival. The result was executive layoffs and in MGM’s case; a declaration of bankruptcy. In addition to releasing a string of hugely expensive financial disappointments, their paranoia over declining DVD profits came to a head with lawsuits filed against companies like Redbox and Austrailian internet service provider iinet. It’s no wonder that they’ve have been doing headstands since the release of Avatar, Read more…

Tim Burton‘s 3-D epic, Alice In Wonderland, is in its third week of box office glory, much to James Cameron‘s chagrin. The writer/director was enjoying a monopoly in Imax theaters and on 3-D screens across the country before Alice waltzed into town. With the help of the higher 3-D ticket prices, Avatar enjoyed multiple weeks at the top of the box office and became the highest grossing film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. Now it’s #8 on the chart and Read more…

In his Oscar speech for Titanic in 1998, James Cameron (seen above dipping into his own product) declared himself “King of the World.” Some would argue that he’s been re-elected, seeing as his new film, Avatar, has become the highest grossing movie of all time (booting Titanic out of the water), not adjusted for inflation — the real honor belongs to Gone with the Wind. I beg to differ. It’s 3-D technology that is actually Read more…

Avatar came out on top at the box office, beating out the Denzel Washington-starring biblical action/adventure extravaganza, The Book of Eli. The 3-D epic took in another $41M, bringing its domestic total just shy of the $500M mark. It has already grossed over a billion worldwide and, with this week’s earnings, it has overtaken Star Wars to become the third highest grossing movie ever. No wonder George Lucas looked so grumpy at last night’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony where Avatar won Read more…

Not even acerbic funnyman Ricky Gervais could save this years Golden Globes ceremony from tanking. With the mess going on behind-the-scenes at NBC and the horror in Haiti, it was more difficult than ever for the celebrities to take this event seriously — much less the viewers. Read more…

With no new releases opening this weekend, the first box office figures of 2010 look a lot like 2009. Avatar continued to build on strong word of mouth to take the top spot once again. Should James Cameron happen to get another Oscar for directing the 3D epic, maybe this time he can change his “King of the World” boast from his 1997 Titanic speech to “King of the Universe”, seeing as the 3D epic, which took in another $68M domestically, has Read more…

Avatar came out on top in what was the biggest holiday weekend box office ever. James Cameron‘s 3-D epic edged out Sherlock Holmes (which shattered some records of its own with the highest gross ever for a Christmas day release) and Read more…

The snowstorms hitting the northeast didn’t put a chill on the box office for Avatar. James Cameron‘s long awaited 3D epic easily took the top spot with $73M. It’s the biggest opening ever for a non-sequel. The question of whether the movie will make back its reported $400M+ budget, a figure which makes it the most expensive movie in history, Read more…