Tag Archives: chicken-little

Daniel Gerson, Academy Award-Winning Screenwriter, Dies at 49

Very sad news today out of Hollywood: Daniel Gerson, an Academy Award-winning screenwriter who co-wrote Monsters, Inc., passed away Saturday at home in Los Angeles.  He was 49 years old. Best known for collaborating with Robert L. Baird on Disney-Pixar films, Gerson was also responsible for Monsters University and Big Hero 6, winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for the latter. But Monsters, Inc. was his biggest commercial success, earning $562 million around the world, along with four Academy Award nominations. Gerson’s family announced this sad news in a New York Times obituary. Other well-known films on the screenwriter’s resume include Chicken Little (2005), Cars (2006), Up (2009) and Inside Out (2015). Gerson grew up on the Upper West Side in New York City and attended Cornell University and  New York University film school after that. He later started his career as a writer on such TV shows as the NBC sitcom Something So Right and Fox Family’s The New Addams Family. We send our condolences to his friends, family members and loved ones. He is survived by his wife, two children and parents and was working on Cars 3 when he passed away. View Slideshow: Celebrities Who Passed Away in 2016

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Daniel Gerson, Academy Award-Winning Screenwriter, Dies at 49

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Smashes The Box Office; ‘Flight’ Soars

Fallout from Hurricane Sandy may have kept some crowds away from theaters over the weekend, but that did not stop Disney animated feature Wreck-It Ralph from packing a wallop at the box office. Box office in the top 12 headed northward to $124.6 million, 20 per cent higher than the previous week. 1. Wreck-It Ralph Gross: $49,038,712 Screens: 3,752 (PSA: $13,070) Week: 1 The Disney animation had a terrific bow, cashing in on great reviews and a solid marketing campaign. The feature also made $12 million internationally, making the title Disney’s top animated pic The $49 million plus domestic total compares to $40.1 million for Chicken Little in 2005. The opening compares to Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted , which brought in over $60 million when it opened in June. But Ralph helped bring up an overall box office which eclipsed the previous weekend. 2. Flight Gross: $24,900,566 Screens: 1,884 (PSA: $13,217) Week: 1 Flight cruised with strong results in its opening weekend, even edging out the weekend’s number one box office winner, Wreck-It Ralph in terms of per screen average. The results were stronger than expected and shows Denzel Washington, who is tipped to be a force this Awards Season due to his performance, is an audience draw. This is Washington’s fifth best debut. 3. Argo Gross: $10,209,103 (Cume: $75,860,240) Screens: 2,774 (PSA: $3,680) Week: 4 (Change: – 16%) The Ben Affleck-directed feature in which he also stars is continuing to show very solid momentum now one month into its theatrical life. Word-of-mouth is propelling the feature’s box office prowess and it will likely hit the $100 million mark in the next few weeks. 4. The Man With the Iron Fists Gross: $7,910,980 Screens: 1,868 (PSA: $4,235) Week: 1 The gross is in line with what was expected, but it’s still a bit of a downer. It should reach a lucrative overseas market. 5. Taken 2 Gross: $5,919,493 (Cume: $125,586,929) Screens: 2,639 (PSA: $2,243) Week: 5 (Change: – 23%) The film dropped 356 theaters in its fifth weekend, though it actually managed to climb the chart one notch compared to the previous weekend. Its 23% drop is also a sign of momentum and it should top out at $145 million.

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‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Smashes The Box Office; ‘Flight’ Soars