In one of its biggest movie-acquisition deals in the last few years, USA Network has bought a package of more than 30 titles from Universal Pictures. Nine of them include network premiere rights, including Judd Apatow's sleeper comedy hit Bridesmaids; the Fast & the Furious sequel Fast Five; the latest installment…

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM: Rentrak is having system issues so box office will be a bit late today. But Paramount was so worried about its No Strings Attached being a stinker that the studio didn’t even bother to give me a pre-release briefing. I don’t necessarily blame them: any movie starring Ashton Kutcher is probably a…

SUNDAY AM: Knowing it was going to be a boring box office, I took off Saturday. First, I have zero interest in country music. Sony/Screen Gems’ Country Strong, which expanded into 1,424 theaters and made $7.3M in wider release, hitting the “high end” of the studio’s expectations, with a “B” CinemaScore. The only other…

SATURDAY PM/SUNDAY AM UPDATE, HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Overall, the movie industry domestic box ended the year at $10.3 billion, down from $10.6B in 2009. As I previously reported, Warner Bros will three-peat (a record) in winning the domestic market share for the 3rd year in a row with $1.885 billion, followed by…

MONDAY UPDATE: Actuals are in for the Christmas weekend, and the East Coast blizzards took their toll on box office. All the numbers were down 5% to 10% from studio projections, and Sunday’s moviegoing in the Northeast fell about 40%: Top 10 Actuals 1. The Little Fockers (Universal) [3,536 Theaters] Weekend $30.8M…

UPDATES ‘Little Fockers’ Needs A Week Of Pickups I’ve confirmed that those pickup shots which I first reported that Universal has scheduled for September on Little Fo…

EXCLUSIVE: Watching the sausage being made when it comes to major studio laughers isn’t pretty. So here’s a very typical example. Ever since shooting began on the threequel in the lucrative franchise, Universal has been trying to figure out how to improve its Little Fockers. At one point, replacing director Paul Weitz…