the buzz log
New Record for "New Moon"
The vampire sequel "New Moon" may not be scoring big with critics. But that sure won't be true for the box office. Hordes of Twi-hards stampeded movie theaters for a first look at a midnight viewing.
In fact, fans helped make the teen sensation a record-breaker, with the largest audience ever for a midnight movie. The picture reportedly raked in over $26 million, and beat out similar midnight showings of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and "The Dark Knight."
Of course, we could have guessed that the Robert Pattinson vehicle would go over well: One-day lookups on the Web have soared over 100% for "new moon movie." Movie buffs have also been busy searching on "new moon movie tickets," and "pre order new moon tickets."
All this suggests, says USA Today, a movie weekend that could be the biggest of the year. Stay tuned for further record-breaking news.
Filed under: Movies
Buzz Multiplex: All About Dahl
Doomsday thrills may be gripping moviegoers, but the stealth hit may come from the animated limited release "Fantastic Mr. Fox," a "rascally" caper about a fox who settles down but can't reform his thieving ways.
"Fox" is catching praise and Web attention for its throwback stop-motion artistry and its pedigree. The voice cast features George Clooney and Meryl Streep, and director Wes Anderson ("The Royal Tenenbaums") based his first animated film on a book by the late children's author Roald Dahl.
The match-up of Anderson's surreal quirk and Dahl's dark-flavored impishness has restored the director's cred. Unlike the disappointment felt by many fans of "Where the Wild Things Are," book lovers are pleased with adaptation's "existential heft." Critics are talking Oscar about the sly "Fox" doing well in a "record" year for animation: Colorful competition includes Pixar's "Up" and "Disney's A Christmas Carol."
But the online love's all for Dahl: Web fans have pushed his searches on Yahoo! up 89%. And the man, who died in 1990, deserves the attention.
Bullied Child, Adventurous Adult
Among the many books Dahl wrote, one was an autobiography that told of his troubled childhood and adventurous youth. His father died when Dahl was three, leaving his mother to raise six kids. Beatings and bullying were common at his school. Maybe eager to leave home far behind, Doahl worked for Shell Oil in an African jungle before becoming a fighter pilot during World War II. He almost died after being mistakenly directed into a no-man's land.
Big Screen Books
No surprise that kind of living lent a dark undertone to his writings, whether for kids or adults. The new movie's triggering sentimental queries for "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (+26%) and "Matilda," both adapted into cinematic favorites (even if Dahl distanced himself from the film "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"). Other works that got the celluloid treatment: "James and the Giant Peach, "James and the Giant Peach, "Danny the Champion of the World," "The Witches," and the adult short-story, "The Smoker" (snagged by Quentin Tarantino for the ill-received "Four Rooms").
The Bond Connection
If children's books, housewife-crime tales and freaky ghost stories weren't enough, Dahl didn't do badly with screenplay adaptions either, including "You Only Live Twice" and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."
Still Giving
His fearless nature didn't end during the war: He helped create the Dahl-Wade-Till valve, which drained fluid from the brain and let people, like his son Theo, live without being hooked up to a machine. The altruism came from personal tragedies, including his own blood disorder, his first wife's triple strokes while pregnant, and his son's brain-damage from an accident.
In addition to a museum, playful websites, and awards, his name also lives on in a nonprofit foundation that offers assistance to "young people with brain and blood problems." Classic Dahl.
The Buzz—and Truths—Around Doomsday
Talk about your confluence of doomsday scenarios.
Today isn't merely Friday the 13th, bad enough for those who suffer paraskavedekatriaphobia. (That's fear of the day, versus triskaidekaphobia, which is a general fearful aversion of the number 13). It's also "2012"—as in opening day for the disaster movie.
A film from Roland Emmerich is enough to get anyone diving under folding velvet seats. The marketing campaign though has been feeding a Search frenzy for months into the so-called Mayan doomsday prediction, which supposedly puts 'cataclysmic event' on the calendar for 12/12/12. Lookups are agog over "12/12/2012," "will the world end in 2012," "what will happen in 2012," "mayan 2012 prediction," and—because this pessimist always has to get his nose into everything—"nostradamus 2012 prediction."
Those who know—from astronomy doctoral students to Mayan elders (and the Buzz Log for that matter)—have explained that the whole thing is a hoax. Let's review:
End of a Cycle, Not the World
Dec. 12, 2012 is basically the solstice, and time for Mayans to buy a new calendar. Remember 2000? (Or 1999, depending on how you define the end of a millennium). Dec. 31, 2000 marked the end of the millennia, per the Gregorian calendar. The world did not end. Instead, people bought 2001 calendars, and tried for the next 9 years to figure out what to call the decade.
Listen to your Mayan Elders
Many a Mayan elder has rolled his eyes up at the hysteria caused by a Western movie—and one that can't even get cultural details straight. An elder from Guatemala declared himself "fed up with this stuff." A medicine man from Pittsburgh, who's probably joining film critics in calling the thriller "hogwash," says people trying to profit off paranoia has been brandishing the Aztec calendar, instead of a Mayan one. Oops.
True, some have been going on talks about how Mother Earth has been mistreated, and how the "survivors of the year zero are children of the sun and fire." Those talks are mostly about changing up behavior to be more environmentally sensitive, and to make a new era better.
Running Out of Myths
But why the persistence? How about Monument Six, that ancient stone tablet talking up the Mayan god Bolon Yokte, who deals with war and creation? The stone's so badly eroded, it's tough to read all the inscription, but translations about him descending from the sky helped launch the frenzy. But other Mayan inscriptions look forward to dates in 4772. By then, people will probably have other things to worry about.
Also, some experts theorize that Westerners have run out of myths, and so are projecting their 21st century fears (climate change, swine flu, recession, you name it) by borrowing from others. The elders would really like people to return their mythology, just the way you found them.
Doomsday Capitalism
Then again, the facts shouldn't get in the way of making a quick buck. Bad science means a burgeoning industry on both sides, with skeptics and fearmongers writing books, selling T-shirts, and protective gear to prepare for the end of days. And with another two years to go, there's still time to cash in. Now that's scary.
Oh, as for Friday the 13th? Eh, you never know. Take the day off.
Filed under: Movies, Religion, Hoaxes, Superstition, Cultures, Prophecy
The Buzz Around Gabourey Sidibe: Wonderfully 'Precious'
"Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" has broken some theatrical records—and in no small thanks to newcomer lead Gabourey Sidibe.
The Sundance Festival favorite had been building massive buzz on the Web and off. New York audiences talked up the film, directed by Lee Daniels (the man behind "Monster's Ball") and produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. Opening weekend searches were coming from about two-thirds of the nation, led by Southern states.
All this has translated into a box-office record for a film opening in under 50 theaters: Playing on only 18 screens, "Precious" pulled in $1.8 million for the opening weekend. That works out to a staggering $104,025 per theater, which slips the drama into the top 15 per-theater-averages of all time. (Only a mere $5,460 kept it from cracking the Top 10 slot, currently occupied by "Brokeback Mountain.")
The clamor has rippled even more online: Search numbers have leapt up 525%, putting the drama into the top 600 searches on Yahoo! in the past seven days.
Much attention has been focused on the cast, and now even more people are turning their eyes (and focusing their searches on) Sidibe—her Web profile's up about 480%. Here's a look at the Hollywood neophyte who might be making a date with Oscar one day soon.
Odds Against
Stepping into the lead role, Sidibe had to take on some monumental tasks, besides just holding her own in a standout cast that includes mega-stars like Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz.
The 26-year-old had to play an abused, obese 16-year-old convincingly. She had to be good enough to satisfy fans of a 1996 literary classic. And, she had to portray a character, Precious Jones, who weighs in at more than 300 pounds in an industry that tends to slim down its leading ladies.
Turning on the Charm...and the Talent
It turned out that Sidibe, a psychology student and receptionist, couldn't have been more perfect for the role. The New York native wasn't unfamiliar with bright lights, hanging out at the performances of her gospel-singer mom. But that hard lifestyle of constantly trying to get gigs was exactly why Sidibe aimed for a steady desk job. Her best friend convinced her to audition, and so Sidibe competed with 1,000 others testing for the part.
As The New York Times puts it, "she blew everyone away." The director fell in love ("with all my soul"). Since then, others have fallen in line. She has already received one prestigious award. Rolling Stones critic Peter Travers calls her "glorious," and her talk-show appearances literally leave people cheering.
Far From Precious
While she was Brooklyn-born and Harlem-raised, Sidibe's similarities to the character Precious ends there. Sidibe is one of six kids, and her mother Alice Tan Ridley is a loving teacher as well as a gospel singer—known by NYC locals as the godmother of soul of the Times Square subway station. To understand the horribly abused Precious, the college student fell into familiar academic mode and delved into research about abuse. Given all the Oscar talk around her performance, Sidibe's studying more than paid off.
Level-Headed Grownup
In a Huffington Post interview, Sidibe said she felt "immense responsibility" to do Precious justice, and that her confidence came from her age (24, when she auditioned): "I know Precious because I know who I am." Sidibe keeps it real. She also said that a role model doesn't come "because I'm in a movie. My first responsibility is to my family and to myself."
Fame isn't over yet, although Sidibe understands that her background and build, atypical for Hollywood, mean people make snap judgments. “I think people look at me and don’t expect much," she told an Indiewire reporter, "even though, I expect a whole lot." In her new career as an actor, Sidibe sees her new life as "an office job...and my office happens to be a red carpet or a room full of interviewers." Now that's a grownup attitude.
Buzz Multiplex Charts: Better Based on Fiction Than Fact
Top Three Movies of the Week, as ranked by Yahoo! searches
1. "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire" (R, limited release). A film adaptation of the 1996 award-winning novel took 13 years, so little wonder that pent-up anticipation has exploded online. The searches have been phenomenal, partly helped by the directorial creds (Lee Daniels produced "Monster's Ball") and an eclectic cast (Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz). Plaudits are already being loaded on star Gabourey Sidibe, who takes on the unspeakable role of horribly abused, obese 16 year old. Despite the R rating, expect the females to queue up (they make up 77% of searches) where they can.
2. "The Fourth Kind" (PG-13). Milla Jovovich has carved a niche of sorts in vanquishing 15th-century English colonialists, corporate-created zombies, and the occasional evil police force. Who better (well, besides the recently departed guv) to lead a "fact-based" drama about UFOs mixing it up with Alaskans. The film has hoax written all over it, but viral marketing helps it snag the No. 2 slot (and inspire searches like "nome alaska abductions" and "alien abduction"). Now let's see if the 13-44 year olds crowd will actually pay for a ticket. Except in Alaska: The movie's evidently not showing there.
3. "The Men Who Stare At Goats" (R). Even more fact-based than Nome abductions, the spoof checks out elite psychics practicing their skills on behalf of military intelligence (so to speak). Ewan McGregor plays the reporter checking out mind-reading warrior George Clooney. Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges add to the over-40 powerhouse crew (well, McGregor's 38). Quirky title aside, the critics aren't just mostly unimpressed—they're making bleating noises. Well, at least fainting goats are getting some online love.
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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