1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($21.3 million)
2. "Paranormal Activity" ($16.5 million)
3. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($7.3 million)
3. "Couples Retreat" ($6.1 million)
5. "Saw VI" ($5.6 million)

Would-be moviegoers opted for a weekend filled with trick-or-treating, costume partying and other similar shenanigans in celebration of Saturday night's Halloween, with a select few heading into movie theaters as a way to embrace the holiday. But it wasn't the ghost and slasher-heavy horror flicks that won the weekend — instead, "Michael Jackson's This Is It" commanded the box office with a $21.3 million first place finish. Read more...

1. "Michael Jackson's This Is It" ($7.9 million)
2. "Paranormal Activity" ($6.1 million)
3. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($2.42 million)
4. "Couples Retreat" ($2.38 million)
5. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($1.9 million)

There are ghosts and serial killers aplenty in movie theaters this Halloween weekend, but it appears that moviegoers are looking to celebrate the haunted festivities with none other than Michael Jackson.

The deceased pop sensation is the subject of "Michael Jackson's This Is It," the Sony distributed documentary chronicling Jackson's rehearsals for a massive concert series that never came to pass due to his death. "This Is It" unsurprisingly wound up in first place on Friday evening with $7.9 million, which brings the film's cumulative total to $19.1 million since its opening last Wednesday — but the Jackson documentary hasn't moonwalked all the way to the bank, certainly not in the way that Sony and concert promoter AEG had expected. Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: It has been seven years since filmmaker Spike Jonze released a feature, but now he's suddenly flooding the market with content. In addition to the recently released "Where the Wild Things Are," Jonze also just premiered "We Were Once a Fairytale," a short film starring Kanye West and featuring the 808s & Heartbreak track "See You in My Nightmares." The film, which surfaced online on West's official blog last week (only to be taken down), casts the rapper as a troubled, chemical-addled star who goes to the bathroom at a club to exorcise his demons, only to literally pull a small beast out of his chest. It's a graphic, surreal, dreamlike production — one that fits both director and star perfectly.

"We rehearsed the night before we shot, and talked about trying to get to that raw place, that sad, pathetic, drunken, lost place," Jonze told The New York Times. "I told him the more shameless it is, the more pathetic it is, the better. He just went for it."

Continue reading Kanye West 'Just Went For It' In 'We Were Once A Fairytale,' Spike Jonze Says

1. "Paranormal Activity" ($22 million)
2. "Saw VI" ($14.8 million)
3. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($14.4 million)
4. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($12.7 million)
5. "Couples Retreat" ($11.1 million)

Aside from the Ghostbusters themselves, it's hard to imagine a force powerful enough to topple "Paranormal Activity," the independently financed and created horror film from director Oren Peli. Now with its largest theater count to date at 1,945, "Paranormal" has finally ascended to the top spot at the box office with a $22 million weekend finish. Read more...

1. "Paranormal Activity" ($7.6 million)
2. "Saw VI" ($7 million)
3. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($4.4 million)
4. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($4.1 million)
5. "Couples Retreat" ($3.7 million)

T'was the weekend before Halloween and all through Hollywood, not a feature was stirring — except for "Paranormal Activity," the slow-boiling low-budget horror flick that has shocked-and-awed both moviegoers and box office watch dogs. For the first time since its September release, "Paranormal" debuted in the number one spot with a $7.6 million intake on Friday, heralding a potential $21 million weekend according to Deadline Hollywood Daily's best projections. Read more...

1. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($32.5 million)
2. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($21.3 million)
3. "Paranormal Activity" ($20.3 million)
4. "Couples Retreat" ($17.9 million)
5. "The Stepfather" ($12.3 million)

The wild rumpus was in full swing at the box office this weekend as "Where The Wild Things Are," the Spike Jonze-directed adaptation of Maurice Sendak's much-beloved children's book, decisively outgrossed the competition for a first place finish. "Wild Things" managed a $32.5 million intake by Sunday's conclusion, which wasn't quite as high as what some watchdogs thought the film might earn, but it's not a bad start towards earning back its $80 million budget. Read more...

1. "Where The Wild Things Are" ($12 million)
2. "Law Abiding Citizen" ($7.7 million)
3. "Paranormal Activity" ($6.6 million)
4. "Couples Retreat" ($5.8 million)
5. "The Stepfather" ($4.3 million)

I know where the wild things are, and apparently so do many of you as the Spike Jonze-directed "Where The Wild Things Are" captured the box office crown on its opening day yesterday. The monster-filled epic, which features the voices of James Gandolfini and Forest Whitaker, earned $12 million on Friday much to the surprise of box office analysts. Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that the film was expected to make only $30 million at best this weekend, but the excellent Friday night performance could lead the picture straight past $38 million. Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: Anyone wanting to turn Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" into a movie must face a steep challenge. The 1963 book — esteemed as a classic for ... I guess "kids of all ages" would be the term — is only 48 pages long, and consists largely of Sendak's cozy-strange illustrations; there's very little text. So to assist in plumping up this story for a 90-minute film, director Spike Jonze brought in writer Dave Eggers, who last lent his alt-lit touch to the languid "Away We Go." The result is a picture whose pleasures are almost entirely visual. The dialogue gets some energetic spin from the actors involved, but — no surprise — there's too much of it, and it wears you down.

The story, for those who may have forgotten, or never known, concerns a little boy named Max. In the movie as in the book, Max (played wonderfully well by newcomer Max Records) is a handful. He's raucous and needy in the usual little-boy manner, and is constantly being fobbed off to go play alone by his single mom (Catherine Keener), who's preoccupied with her job, and by his older sister (Pepita Emerichs), who's preoccupied with being a teenager. After pitching a fit in the kitchen one night, Max runs off into the nearby woods, where he wanders for a while before coming upon a small boat pulled up on a beach. Climbing aboard, he sails away in search of a more agreeable life.

Continue reading 'Where The Wild Things Are': Fretting Zoo, By Kurt Loder

Entertainment, like life, can be pretty confusing. Marketing, whether it be televised commercials, print ads and posters, or viral campaigns, is so pervasive that a movie's basic premise and characters can be overwhelmingly familiar long before you even see the movie in question. Hell, one time I watched thirty minutes of "The Fisher King" thinking it was "Mrs. Doubtfire" before I realized that Robin Williams was playing a crazy drifter, not a cross-dressing divorcee. You can see how that would be an easy mistake to make, right?

This week, we're all excited. "Where the Wild Things Are", the Spike Jonze-directed live-action riff on the beloved children's book by Maurice Sendak, is finally hitting theaters. Finally! Let's not lose our heads though. Let's not let our excitement for "Where the Wild Things Are" lead us into watching other movies that we might easily confuse it with. For example, we must be especially wary of the late '90s mystery/thriller "Wild Things." Here's an easy guide to prevent media-induced dementia from directing you to the wrong movie. Read more...

Some of you die-hards might have seen it last night, but "Where the Wild Things Are" is officially OUT as of today. Reviews have been punctuated by mixed emotions, but now the movie can be weighed where it really matters: in the court of public opinion.

The clip below is the last one in our vault, and I think it's a nice way to cap off MTV's week-long lead-in to the release of "Wild Things." See Max (Max Records) and a few of his Wild pals engage in a friendly game of "bean everyone with dirt clods." The humorous exchange between Max and Judith (Catherine O'Hara) at the end of clip is one of my favorite moments from the movie. Enjoy!