While Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull couldn't quite break the Memorial Day weekend record ($139.8M), it did come close by grossing a robust $126M ($151M) over the long holiday. As the only new film in wide release, it won the weekend by a wide margin. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian fell to $28.6M ($96.6M) in its second frame while mega-blockbuster Iron Man continued to do great business, finishing just......

Don't fucking push any levers! | Photo courtesy of Paramount By now you've probably read everything you want to read about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. All I'll add is a few interesting stats: the total domestic box office of all the films that Harrison Ford has appeared in is a staggering $3,094,851,491. That's just ahead of the films that George Lucas has produced ($2,977,630,768) and behind the movies that......

An old friend returns. | Photo courtesy of Paramount Let's get this out of the way right at the top--yes, it's very good and, yes, it is every bit an Indiana Jones movie. Is it another Raiders of the Lost Ark? Well, no, but nothing is and nothing ever will be again. However, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is fully the equal of Temple of Doom or The Last Crusade. If it's the last......

Wouldn't have been the same with Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones, would it? | Photo courtesy of Paramount If you're as excited as I am about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (please don't ruin it, George Lucas!), then you've probably already started re-watching Indy's earlier adventures. If you don't have the existing DVD box-set then this new one is definitely worth grabbing. The movies are the same but there are......

NPR's All Things Considered recently ran a story pulled from Action Figure Insider on unused Star Wars merchandise created while the prequels were in development. The story goes that Jason Geyer, a toy developer at a small agency, got the chance to design products for the upcoming Episode One, but because production was so hush-hush, he had to do it while not privy to any info on the film. So Geyer and his team brainstormed......

Photo courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd Like many fans of the original trilogy, I was relieved that the disaster of the "prequels" mercifully ended after Revenge of the Sith. I can't relate to you the sheer embarrassment I felt when my boyhood hero, Darth Vader--a character to whom I ritualistically sacrificed neighborhood pets as a child!--weakly mewled, "Nooo!" after hearing of his beloved Padme's death. Well, fans of the original trilogy are about to feel......

Let's start over, shall we? Disney is investing $1.1 billion into California (Mis)adventure, the ghost town of an amusement park next to Disneyland. The Rose Queen for the Pasadena Rose Parade was announced this morning and her name is Dusty. We just love that name for a girl. Staring now, there is no excuse for anyone of any age to ever go "I don't get blogging." The world's oldest blogger celebrated her birthday this......

Though my allegiance has switched over to the Landmark, many film lovers in Los Angeles regard the Arclight as the best multiplex in town. It programs studio pictures right alongside esoteric indies, it offers great concessions, its screenings are commercial-free and it schedules cool events with celebrated films and filmmakers. This Wednesday, tickets go on sale for one of those very events. In fact, this one may be the coolest in awhile. To celebrate......

And you shall know Mr. Bowie by the size of his purple spandex package… The 35mm reissue of the 1986 Jim Henson/George Lucas magnum opus, LABYRINTH, is now playing at the Nuart Theatre. The new print will continue showing in all its goblin glory until Thursday August 2nd. Tonight, there is a post-show Q&A with the entire Froud brood -- Brian Froud, the conceptual fantasy designer, Wendy Froud, the puppet designer, and baby-actor extraordinaire,......

George Lucas is notoriously stringent when it comes to copyright and trademark issues, but it looks like the director has finally realized that remix is the aesthetic of the new millennium, or at least this first decade of it. The Wall Street Journal reported that Lucasfilm is taking approximately 250 clips from the various Star Wars movies and making them available to fans who want to download and use them in Internet mash-ups, re-mixes and......

Tonight - Tuesday - May 1, 2007 NCIS/The Unit (CBS, 8-10:00 p.m.) This week the gimmick is a blind photographer - dude, what's your Flickr site?/Parachute malfunction Brando (TCM, 8-??) Biography of Marlon Brando followed by several of his films, starting with A Streetcar Named Desire. Dateline NBC (NBC, 8:00 p.m.) Boys confess to 2004 murder of 12-year-old girl Gilmore Girls/Veronica Mars (the CW, 8-10:00 p.m.) Lorelai eating, drinking, shopping, karaoke/Veronica investigates vandalism of......

Law & Order: Criminal Intent offers what will no doubt be a sensitive meditation on the perils of fame in a May episode that closely parallels the Anna Nicole Smith saga. Original Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kristy Swanson, in her puffy, post-pregnancy state (that's the kind of glow you can only get from stealing another woman's husband and having his baby) will play the ersatz Anna Nicole and… (wait for it)… David Cross will......

Who would have ever thought that one Jamie Kennedy and Stu Stone music video wouldn't satisfy our demand for twisted childhood nostalgia. Earlier we told you about "Circle Circle Dot Dot," but it simply doesn't have the star power of "Rollin W Saget." That's right -- Bob Saget, be-yotch. Toss in some cameos by John Stamos and George Lucas (we're guessing the Paris Hilton is a look-alike), and this is the 'illist clip this......

It seems like most of the better bands and clubs are taking this week off. No offense to those bands who are playing and those clubs that are open, but, come on, we're just keeping it real. Because of that we will show you some video from the Rose Parade. What's interesting from this angle is the speed in which the pace of the parade was truckin' -- and the fact that most of......

Yesterday's Rose Parade was easily one of the best in recent memory. From dragons that breathed fire, to a Louisiana marching band that showed the world what soul was all about, to American Idols singing, to even a dude in a jet pack literally flying down the parade route, it almost felt like everyone knew that they had to knock it up a notch this year because of the Grand Marshal and his invited......

Trojans 32, Wolverines 18 - After losing two games in the Rose Bowl in 2006 (one against Texas in the national championship, the other against UCLA to keep them out of another national championship), USC had a lot of doubters. Not any more. While LA news outlets have probably told you the score and a few key stats, here are the best story lines you probably haven't heard: - This was the first game......

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away there was the coolest movie ever: Star Wars. As it was loved by men, women, and children of all ages, a year after the movie was released it was decided to produce a Christmas Special that would appear on CBS, some think aimed at kids. The two hour "holiday" special was so bad that even children hated it. Roundly panned, it was deemed by......

Trojans make ritual sacrifice to please Lucas. AP Photo by J. Pat Carter. The flag of Troy flies over Hollywood today as members of the separatist USC Mafia celebrate a landmark day in their fight to become a sovereign nation. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General George Lucas donated $175 million from his personal war chest to outfit and supply the cinematic powerhouse. “The force is strong in Troy,” remarked Lucas. “And......

It seems that the rumors are indeed true, as they often are. This week The Walt Disney Company announced its purchase of animation powerhouse Pixar in a deal worth around $7.4 Billion. The all-share deal will make Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple who is also the largest shareholder in Pixar, around $3.5 Billion and the single largest shareholder in Disney. Jobs will now be a commanding presence in the film, entertainment, technology,......

What's the buzz at the water cooler these days? Of course the water cooler was beaten to death (no pun intended) with the happenings of PopeGate 2005, and then we seemed to quickly burn through the "hot at the moment" rumors of Dave Chappelle going mental, checking into a hospital, fleeing to Mars, take your pick. But now, no one can escape THE REVENGE OF THE SITH. Every local place LAist has stopped in......

It's fortunate that, when a National Election doesn't go your way, there are a myriad of other entertaining things to get your mind off the fact that the country is going to hell in a handbasket. And today, LAist is proud to get you obessive-compulsive Bush-haters off that bandwagon and onto another obsessive-compulsively sad one. Star Wars. Thanks to The Force dot Net, LAist is happy to announce that today marks the World Premiere......

Tonight is a great night for film lovers with three sneak previews on the way—the first is especially compelling for anyone who lives in Los Angeles. It's a good night to get out and see a movie, so get rolling! At 7:30 PM at the Egyptian Theatre, see the Alternative Screen Independent Film Showcase, presented by LA.com and the Los Angeles Conservancy, featuring a sneak preview of Los Angeles Plays Itself. "A must see......