'Conservative' Movies Make More Money Than 'Liberal' Movies

by Paul Bond

Patriotism and traditional values, like those displayed in "Thor," "The Artist," "Soul Surfer" and "Hugo," are what moviegoers want, says a group that will honor such films at an awards gala Friday.

This year’s annual report sells for $1,000 and the price includes tickets to the Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala at the Universal Hilton Hotel. The report praises such 2011 releases as Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, Battle Los Angeles, Moneyball, We Bought a Zoo and Hugo while heaping scorn on the likes of Super 8, Red State, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Bad Teacher and Happy Feet Two.

For two decades, that has been the message that Movieguide has been pushing, and on Friday when it celebrates its 20-year-anniversary with an awards show airing on The Hallmark Channel, the organization will present a 76-page report designed to back up its assertions.

The Movieguide report rates movies using more than two dozen criteria, such as whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism or if it promotes or denigrates biblical principles. Violence, sex, political correctness, revisionist history, environmentalism, feminism, homosexuality and more hot-button political issues are all taken into consideration.

This year’s report concludes that seven of the Top 10 films of 2011 scored high on Movieguide’s index and, therefore, qualify as films with “strong or very strong Christian, biblical, moral and redemptive content.”

Movieguide identified 91 movies in 2011 that scored high in “conservative/moral categories” and they earned an average of $59 million apiece. On the other hand, it identified 105 movies that scored high in “liberal/leftist categories,” and each of those titles earned an average of just $11 million.

The average movie scoring four stars from Movieguide earned $53.5 million while the ones that scored just one star earned $10.6 million.

Exceptions abound, of course, notable ones being The Hangover Part II and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, hit movies that earned $581 million and $702 million worldwide, respectively, but are panned by Movieguide as films that promote “fringe worldviews” and “obscene behavior.”

“Most moviegoers want good to conquer evil, truth to triumph over falsehood, justice to prevail over injustice and true beauty to overcome ugliness,” Movieguide editor Ted Baehr writes in the report.

Friday’s awards gala, where the report will be made public, is hosted by Baehr, sponsored by the Christian Film & Television Commission and will be emceed by actor Dean Cain. Scheduled presenters include Joe Montegna, Corbin Bernsen, Kevin Sorbo and Pat Boone.

Nominees for Best Movie for Mature Audiences are:

The Artist

Captain America: The First Avenger

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Sarah’s Key

Seven Days in Utopia

Thor

The Tree of Life

The Way

Nominees for Best Movie for Family Audiences are:

The Adventures of Tintin

Cars 2

Courageous

Hugo

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never

Mars Needs Moms

Mr. Popper’s Penguins

The Muppets

Puss in Boots

Soul Surfer

Norway's TV 2 sold to Egmont

Danish media group Egmont has become the sole owner of Norwegian commercial broadcaster TV 2, Egmont and Norwegian media group A-pressen said, Norway Post reported. Egmont bought A-pressen's 50% stake in TV 2 for 2.1 billion Norwegian crowns ($348 million) in cash, the groups said in a joint statement. Egmont said that through acquiring TV 2, it makes a strategic leap towards more TV in its business.  ”As TV is a key element in our strategy, it was an obvious choice for us to purchase.

Today, Egmont makes a significant strategic leap towards more TV and more live pictures in our business. TV 2 is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Egmont,” said Steffen Kragh, CEO of Egmont. 

In 2010 TV 2 had the most profitable annual result so far, and the goal is to continue the positive development for TV 2The acquisition does not in itself cause changes for TV 2.

”Egmont guarantees that TV 2 still is an independent media house with a local Norwegian profile and that TV 2 continues to build good and close relations to the Norwegian people,” said Steffen Kragh.

Tom Cruise to Be Oscar Presenter

This year's Academy Awards show just gained some major star power with the announcement that Tom Cruise will be an Oscar presenter.

The announcement that the 49-year-old star was selected as a presenter was made Wednesday by show producers Brian Grazer and Don Mischer.

Cruise is a three-time Academy Award-nominated actor whose latest film, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, is the highest grossing of the MI franchise. He'll also be seen on the big screen this June in the highly-anticipated musical Rock of Ages.

Other Oscar presenters previously announced include Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and the cast of the hit comedy Bridesmaids. 

Billy Crystal will host the 84th Academy Awards show on Sunday, February 26, live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

Katy Perry to perform at Grammys for first U.S. performance after split

By: Molly Sullivan

HollywoodNews.com: Katy Perry is getting back in the game after her split with Russell Brand was announced as it has been revealed that she will be performing at the Grammys this year.

Perry has reportedly been added to the list of performers as she will put on her first U.S. performance since her split with Brand, states UsMagazine.com. Perry is nominated for Record of the Year (“Firework”) and Best Pop Solo Performance.

Perry did perform at the Grammmys last year where she showed images from her wedding with Brand.

Will you tune in?

'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide

L.A. NOW Southern California -- this just in

'Soul Train' creator Don Cornelius dead in apparent suicide.

"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius was found dead at his Sherman Oaks on home Wednesday morning.

Law enforcement sources said police arrived at Cornelius' home around 4 a.m. He apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

The sources said there was no sign of foul play, but the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating.

In a 2010 interview with The Times, he said he was excited about a movie project he was developing about "Soul Train."

"We've been in discussions with several people about getting a movie off the ground. It wouldn't be the 'Soul Train' dance show, it would be more of a biographical look at the project," he said. "It's going to be about some of the things that really happened on the show."

According to a Times article, Cornelius’ “Soul Train” became the longest-running first-run nationally syndicated show in television history, bringing African American music and style to the world for 35 years.

Cornelius stopped hosting the show in 1993, and “Soul Train” ceased production in 2006.

[Updated at 7:31 a.m.: Cornelius was 75 and had recently been divorced.

The sources say he was discovered by a family member early Wednesday morning, suffering from a gunshot wound to the head. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.]

Dutch zoo fits elephant with contact lens

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

THE HAGUE - An elephant in Amsterdam's zoo has made history after being fitted with a jumbo-sized contact lens following an eye injury, a statement said Monday.

"Win Thida is the first elephant in Europe with a contact lens," the Artis zoo said on its website.

The 44-year-old Asian elephant accidently scratched its left cornea while playing and the eye was constantly watering. The procedure lasted about an hour, the statement said.

Paterno's long goodbye ends with public memorial

By Dave Warner

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — A simple two-word message flashed this week on the electronic signboard outside Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.

“Thanks JoePa.”

On Thursday, a capacity crowd of more than 12,000 is expected to pack the arena for one more tribute to Joe Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer.

His death at age 85 came less than three months after his stunning ouster as head coach in the wake of child sex-abuse charges against a retired assistant. But this week, thousands of alumni, fans, students and former players in Happy Valley are remembering Paterno for his record-setting career, his love for the school and his generosity.

Small clusters of mourners continued to visit Paterno’s statue outside the school’s football stadium hours before the memorial.

Sharon Winter, a 1963 graduate and long-time season ticket holder from Wernersville, dabbed tears from her eyes as she looked at the hundreds of items that well-wishers since Paterno’s death.

“If you haven’t lived it, you can’t explain it,” said Winter, who, with her husband Carl, keeps an apartment in State College. “We never knew the place without Joe. He’s always been a part of our lives and who we are.”

Many Penn Staters found themselves reflecting on Paterno’s impact and the road ahead.

“What’s Joe’s legacy? The answer, is his legacy is us,” former NFL and Nittany Lions receiver Jimmy Cefalo said Wednesday before Paterno’s funeral. Cefalo is scheduled to be one of the speakers at the tribute called “A Memorial for Joe” at the arena across the street from Beaver Stadium — the place Paterno helped turned into a college football landmark.

Paterno’s son, former Nittany Lions quarterback coach Jay Paterno, also is expected to speak at the memorial, which will cap three days of public mourning for Paterno. Viewings were held Tuesday and Wednesday morning, before the funeral and burial service for Paterno on Wednesday afternoon at the campus interfaith center where family members attended church services.

Cefalo, who played for Penn State in the ‘70s, said it will be the most difficult speech of his life. But he offered a hint of what he might say.

“Generations of these young people from coal mines and steel towns who he gave a foundation to,” Cefalo said. “It’s not (the Division I record) 409 wins, it’s not two national championships, and it’s not five-time coach of the year (awards). It’s us.”

The memorial Thursday is expected to feature a speaker for each decade of Paterno’s coaching career, according to Charles V. Pittman, a former player who said he will represent the 1960s.

Pittman said he was in Paterno’s first class and was the coach’s first All-America running back. Pittman’s son later played for the Nittany Lions as well, making them the first father-son pair to play for Paterno, Pittman said. They wrote a book about their experiences called “Playing for Paterno.”

Pittman said he spoke with Paterno two or three times a year. In 2002, the coach chided Pittman for moving to South Bend, Ind. — home of rival Notre Dame — to take a job as a newspaper executive.

“He called me a traitor,” said Pittman, senior vice president for publishing at Schurz Communications Inc., an Indiana-based company that owns television and radio stations and newspapers, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Associated Press.

Pittman attended Wednesday’s funeral, which also drew other notable guests including former NFL players Franco Harris and Matt Millen; and former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. Nike founder Phil Knight and actor William Baldwin were there, too.

A procession wound through the Penn State campus and the surrounding State College community. Quiet mourners lined the route, watching with grief and reverence as the electric-blue hearse carrying Paterno’s casket slowly drove by.

Some took pictures with their cellphones, or waved to his widow. Others craned their necks hoping for a better glimpse through the crowd sometimes four or more deep.

A family spokesman, Dan McGinn, said Paterno’s grandchildren escorted the casket down the aisle during the opening procession, and again at the end of the service. Jay Paterno and his brother, Scott, were among the pallbearers.

"Joepa's Final Gift"

by Nanette Zerbe - State College resident

"Of all the accomplishments and victories Joe achieved, his best and final lesson was that in the midst of blame, shame and misunderstanding, he forgave and gave. That is how a good man dies with dignity and at peace."