News

Starz has announced the movie and TV titles that will be available on the service in February. The Starz February 2025 schedule includes the climactic season finale of The Couple Next Door, starring Sam Heughan from Outlander.

The Starz app expands in February with a diverse slate of films, including 1992, starring Tyrese Gibson, Asteroid City, Every Body, The Crow, Greedy People, White House Down and more.

The Couple Next Door

In honor of Black History Month, Starz shines a spotlight on Black filmmakers with its Focus on Black Directors collection, featuring powerful titles like The Butler, Law Abiding Citizen and Emperor.

For Valentine’s Day, get your heart racing with an action-packed selection, including Borderlands, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

1992 Starz Highlight

The Couple Next Door

The grass isn’t always greener in this seemingly idyllic neighborhood where danger lurks behind...

It’s last call for a number of great movies leaving HBO and HBO Max in March. Fortunately, the month is also packed with new movies and shows, but if you were planning to revisit any of the films below, now’s your chance.

The good news is you won’t have to squeeze in any binge-watching – there are no series leaving HBO Max this month, just films. Expiring titles of note include Sam Raimi’s definitive horror films “The Evil Dead” and “Evil Dead 2,” Wes Anderson’s charming coming-of-age romance “Moonrise Kingdom,” the Charlize Theron-led dramedy “Tully,” Judd Apatow’s “The King of Staten Island” starring Pete Davidson, and the musical drama “Dreamgirls,” starring Jennifer Hudson in the role that earned her the Oscar.

There are also several comedy favorites expiring in March, including both “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey,...

It’s a new year and everyone wants to put the vile cesspool that was 2020 behind them. Thankfully, HBO Max is coming out swinging to make the transition out of the hellyear even easier. HBO Max’s list of new releases for January 2021 is positively packed with notable film releases and even a fun HBO Max Original or two.

For starters, Search Party season 4 will arrive to HBO Max on Jan. 14. This season of the show with a now-surprising lifespan finds Dory Sief in the thrall of a deranged stalker…right after getting off on murder charges. These Brooklynites lead such fascinating lives! The other major original or note is the HBO documentary Tiger, that premieres on Jan. 10 and will delve into the complicated history of golfing legend Tiger Woods.

The real story this month, however, are the movies. Perhaps emboldened by its success with Wonder Woman 1984, HBO Max is...

Another year, and another daunting challenge to keep up with the number of streaming options available from the big online players. And to mark January 1st, there’s some new content to enjoy on the likes of Netflix, Disney Plus and HBO Max, among others, as well as several notable changes in licensing agreements that may affect how you can watch your favorite shows.

On Netflix, the biggest fresh release is the third season of Cobra Kai, which has been a hit for the service since making the move from YouTube. Critics are already dishing out praise for the latest block of episodes of The Karate Kid spinoff, which had its premiere date bumped up by a week. Other highlights, meanwhile, include Netflix documentary The Minimalists: Less Is Now, and a lot of licensed movies ranging from Bonnie and Clyde to Goodfellas.

By comparison, Disney+ have regained their rights to The Wolverine,...

So long, 2020, 2021 is here! Now that we’ve entered the New Year, the various major streaming services are starting January with a bang as they all have hefty hauls arriving this weekend. The first day of the month always sees a load of newly licensed titles go up across the platforms and that’s especially the case in January, as Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu and Prime Video have tons of great new movies and TV shows debuting this weekend.

For starters, there’s something for all tastes becoming available on Netflix on January 1st. We’ve got Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, animated comedy Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, both Sex in the City movies, Superbad, Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon, horror flick Gothika and not one but two films directed by Martin Scorsese, Goodfellas and The Departed, featuring DiCaprio again.

Ring in the new year with a heap of new titles on HBO Max.

While production on “Euphoria” remains halted amid the Covid-19 pandemic, fans who have been clamoring for Season 2 can rest easy with the second of HBO’s two special episodes, the first of which released on Dec. 6. The second, titled “Fuck Anyone Who’s Not a Sea Blob,” will focus on Jules (Hunter Schafer) and premiere Jan. 24.

The fourth season of acclaimed HBO Max original dark comedy “Search Party” will debut Jan. 14. The series follows four self-absorbed post-grads who become entangled in a mystery when a former college acquaintance disappears. Season 4 picks up as Dory (Alia Shawkat) is held prisoner by her stalker Chip (Cole Escola), awaiting her friends Portia (Meredith Hagner), Elliott (John Early) and Drew (John Reynolds) to connect the dots and save her.

And if you’re looking to revisit your childhood, HBO Max...

A new year is just around the corner and as folks start getting ready to say goodbye to the nightmare that was 2020, it’s time to look ahead at all the great movies and TV shows coming down the pipeline to keep us entertained over the next 12 months.

Hopes are high that things will begin to return to normal again and productions will be able to run smoother, meaning less delays and setbacks. And with 2021 absolutely packed with new releases right now, there’s more than enough to get excited about no matter where your interests lie.

But aside from just what’s coming to theaters and airing on television, we’ve also got all the streaming services still offering up a bevy of fresh content every month and January is no different. Indeed, the first few weeks of the new year will see Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu...

The first of the month is typically when the variety of streaming services on offer bolster their respective libraries with a mixture of original and pre-existing content, freshening things up for subscribers in the process. January 1st also happens to be the first day of 2021, though, so people might be expecting a little more than just a handful of new additions, and HBO Max are stepping up to the plate in a big way.

Of course, Wonder Woman 1984 is set to entice millions to sign up for Warner Bros.’ platform, especially when the entire slate of theatrical releases are also heading to the streaming site on the same day that they hit the big screen. And keen to capitalize on the inevitable influx of new customers, HBO Max is adding a massive amount of film and television titles on January 1st, with the onslaught set to continue over the next 30 days.

Hulu is out with its list of everything new arriving in August and everything leaving at the end of the month.

Highlights include “Ordinary Love,” a 2019 movie about how a couple endures a breast cancer diagnosis, and “Peanut Butter Falcon,” Shia Labeouf’s 2019 movie about a young man with Down syndrome who runs away from a nursing home to attend the wrestling school of his idol, the Salt Water Redneck.

Hulu Originals to look out for next month include Season 3 of “Find Me in Paris” and the Hulu Original premiere of “The Binge.”

Leaving at the end of the month are 2007’s “3:10 to Yuma,” 1973’s “Charlotte’s Web,” 1988’s “Rain Man,” and “The X-Files.”

Also Read: 'The Crown' Season 5 Won't Premiere Until 2022

Aug. 1

Monchhichi: Complete Season 1B (Cartoon Network)

The Pier (El Embarcadero): Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (BetaFilm)

UniKitty: Complete Season 2B (Cartoon Network)

71 (2015)

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

A Good Woman...

Hulu have a whole host of new titles coming to the service this month, everything from zombie thrillers and screwball comedies to action romps and music documentaries. Suffice it to say, there’s a lot to look forward to on the streaming service over the next few weeks and below, you can find the entire rundown of what’s on the way. Ready to dive in?

Available June 1

Celebrity Family Feud: Season 6 Premiere (ABC)

Press Your Luck: Season 2 Premiere (ABC)

Match Game: Season 5 Premiere (ABC)

Children’s Hospital: Complete Series (Adult Swim)

Mike Tyson Mysteries: Complete Seasons 1-3 (Adult Swim)

10 Year Plan (2014)

4th Man Out (2015)

Above & Beyond (2014)

Almost Adults (2016)

Born to be Wild (2011)

Casino (1995)

Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)

Cliffhanger (1993)

Constantine (2005)

Dave (1993)

Digging for Fire (2015)

Dirty Dancing (1987)

Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights (2004)

Equilibrium (2002)

Fair Game (2010)

Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

Futureworld (1976)

Grown Ups (2010)

Happily N’Ever After (2007)

Happily N’Ever After 2...

Hulu is out with its list of everything coming and going on the streaming service in June.

Highlights include a new episode of the Hulu original anthology series “Into the Dark” called “Good Boy,” which follows Maggie (Judy Greer), who gets an emotional support dog for her anxiety — but little does she know, he kills anyone who adds stress to her life. Also, take a closer look at the hip-hop group Lin-Manuel Miranda was in before he did “Hamilton” in a new documentary called “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme.”

Leaving at the end of the month are classics like “Bend It Like Beckham,” “Blazing Saddles” and “Kill Bill” volumes one and two.

Below is the full list of everything coming and going throughout the month of June:

Also Read: Hulu Launches New Group Viewing Feature

June 1

Celebrity Family Feud: Season 6 Premiere (ABC)

Press Your Luck: Season 2 Premiere (ABC...

There are a lot of popular streaming platforms to choose from, but Hulu has always stood alongside Netflix as one of the two essentials for households looking for diversity in content. In the past, they’ve been known for focusing more heavily on newer television content, while Netflix has always offered a larger selection of sought-after films. But now, it looks like Hulu’s June lineup is only going to continue the service’s recent trend of providing high quality movies to bring itself in line with their competitor.

First up, you can get wholesome with Mr. Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, which tells the story of an investigative journalist who learns some hard life lessons from one of television’s most beloved personalities. You can then supplement that wholesomeness with My Girl and My Girl 2 for some wonderful 90s nostalgia.

Speaking of nostalgia, you won...

June 2020 is set to be a big month for the whole streaming Disney family. Not only will ESPN+ have the entirety of The Last Dance on its servers for late-adopting sports fans to catch up with, but Disney+ will be premiering its long-awaited Artemis Fowl film. Over on its biggest streaming service in Hulu, however, Disney is taking things a bit more slowly.

This month finds only three major original releases for Hulu. Animated medieval comedy Crossing Swords premieres on June 12, then Ya love story Love Victor and cooking show Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi both arrive on June 19. All in all, that’s not a bad haul for originals for the typically slow summer months.

June 1 sees a pretty impressive crop of movies coming to Hulu’s library as well. October Sky, The X-Files (1998), and Casino will all be ready to stream at the beginning of the month.

One loveable polar bear goes on the adventure of a lifetime in the trailer for Norm of the North.

The CGI animated comedy tells the story of a bear who travels to New York City in the hope of convincing humans to save his homeland.

Rob Schneider voices a quippy polar bear whose friendly demeanor helps him to make friends wherever he goes.

The voice cast for Norm of the North also features Bill Nighy, Colm Meaney, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong and Game of Thrones' Michael McElhatton.

Norm of the North is produced by Lionsgate, the studio behind Happily N'Ever After and Battle for Terra.

A Us release is set for January 15, 2016.

Coming off a very surprising opening, American Sniper reinforced its status as a box office heavyweight by scoring one of the biggest second weekends ever.With over $200 million in the bank already, Sniper is now on track to be the highest-grossing movie from 2014 (it opened in New York and Los Angeles on Christmas Day). Among the new releases, Jennifer Lopez's The Boy Next Door got off to a decent start, while Mortdecai and Strange Magic were dead on arrival.Expanding to 3,705 locations*the widest release ever for an R-rated movie*American Sniper added $64.6 million this weekend. That ranks eighth all-time among second weekends, ahead of movies like The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games and The Passion of the Christ.That $64.6 million tally is off just 28 percent from the movie's opening frame, which is the best second weekend hold ever for a movie that opened above $80 million.With fantastic...

<< Continued from "'Sniper' to Easily Fight Off Weak Competition This Weekend"Opening at 2,648 locations, Mortdecai will likely be Johnny Depp's latest misfire at the domestic box office. He stars as the title character, a "debonair art dealer and part time rogue" who goes on a mission to recover a stolen painting.Marketing has positioned the movie as a broad slapstick comedy, and there's been a heavy emphasis placed on Mortdecai's silly-looking mustache. That includes a series of posters that feature each of the main stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Olivia Munn, wearing a similar mustache. While this quirky choice has helped differentiate the movie, it seems too slight to really translate in to ticket sales.In general, this is a pretty odd project. It's adapted from a series of novels by British author Kyril Bonfiglioli, which were originally published in the 1970s; while they surely have some fans,...

Friday Am Update: Neighbors earned an estimated $2.56 million from Thursday night shows beginning at 8 p.m. That's a strong result for a comedy; in comparison, Ted earned $2.63 million from midnight shows in June 2012. While it's unlikely that Neighbors comes close to Ted's $54.4 million debut, it still seems poised for at least $35 million this weekend. Forecast: It's Mother's Day weekend. Do you know what your neighbors are doing?If they're fans of R-rated humor, chances are they're on their way to see Seth Rogen/Zac Efron comedy Neighbors. Thanks to a highly relatable, laugh-out-loud marketing effort and strong early reactions, the Universal release could earn over $40 million this weekend. That would likely be enough to upset The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which is poised for a steep drop from its $91.6 million debut. The superhero sequel has received middling reviews (55 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and mixed word-of-mouth ("B+" CinemaScore): on both of those metrics,...

Over the course of his career Guillermo Del Toro has said yes to a lot of things. In fact, the writer/producer/director has so much on the go, we recently broke down the odds on which projects were actually going to get made. And those were just his directorial gigs. On the producing front, he's got as many projects brewing (if not more) and today he added one more. Reel FX announced that Del Toro would lend his talents as a producer on "Day Of The Dead," a new CG-animated film set to be helmed by Emmy Award winner Jorge R. Gutierrez ("El Tigre," "The Adventures of Manny Rivera") and penned by Gutierrez and fellow Emmy winner Doug Landale ("The Weekenders," "Happily N'Ever After") the film is described as a “Romeo and Juliet” style love story set against a Mexican Day of the Dead backdrop (no, not the zombie movie,...

[1] After months of bitter legal dispute [2] with production company Kanbar Entertainment, The Weinstein Co. has finally released the first trailer for Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil-- only a year and change after the film's original release date of January 15, 2010. The upcoming film is a sequel to 2006's moderate hit Hoodwinked, a modern CGI fairy tale along the lines of Shrek and Happily N'Ever After. The original Hoodwinked was a retelling of Red Riding Hood, and this time around they're taking a stab at reinterpreting Hansel and Gretel. Check out the trailer after the jump. CGI remains one corner of cinema that's tough for smaller or indie productions to crack -- those tens (or was it hundreds?) of thousands of individual hairs on Linguini's head in Ratatouille don't come cheap. The first Hoodwinked was a solid entry into the ever-expanding "sassy modern fairy tale" genre, with a surprisingly clever script, but...

Cinematic fairytales now come with a postmodern wink as standard. But a return to Disney innocence might be hard, writes Emily Barr – fairytales were never innocent to start with

Here is a one-question quiz for you. An animation of a Grimm fairytale is due to hit our screens in a fortnight. Do you think that Tangled is a straightforward, retelling of the brothers Grimm's version of Rapunzel? Or might it be a wildly postmodern, turning-convention-on-its-head rollercoaster ride with a kickass heroine, a wisecracking dude of a hero, and a crone who is scared of ageing, in place of the "wicked enchantress"?

Yes, gather round, children, and sit comfortably, for it is postmodern fairytale time once again. The smashing of storytelling convention is so normal that it has become a convention all of its own. Take a familiar story. Mix it up a bit and wink knowingly at the audience over the characters' shoulders.

Yes, there are an astonishing amount of Wizard of Oz remakes, adaptations, and sequels that currently seem to be on the way at the moment. Whether they'll all make it to the big screen remains to be seen, but that's not stopping others from adding to the pile.

Vanguard Films has a new re-imagining of the classic tale in development called Oz Wars that will use CGI and stop-motion animations. Unlike most of the other Oz projects in the works -- which seem to be staying generally close to the original story -- this one will be taking things to a seriously different level, being set in the contemporary world and bringing black magic, battle-ready warrior witches, monsters, and even martial arts to the table.

Vanguard has hired Mike Johnson to direct the movie, which is written by Rob Moreland. Johnson has previously co-directed Corpse Bride with Tim Burton, and directed episodes of The PJs.

Mike Johnson has signed on to direct the CG/Stop-Motion hybrid feature film Oz Wars. The Academy Award and Annie Award-nominee got his start as the Assistant Animation Rigger and Assistant Animator on The Nightmare Before Christmas. He was an animator on James and The Giant Peach, directed three episodes of the lat 1990's Fox clay animated television series The PJs, and was co-director of the 2005 film Corpse Bride. So basically, he has a long history with stop motion animation. Written by Rob Moreland (Space Chimps 1 & 2) and Athena Gam (Alien Rock Band), Oz Wars attempts to transform the Wizard of Oz narrative into "a contemporary, freaky action-packed PG-13 audience pleaser, with Dorothy caught up in a whirlwind of warrior witches, black magic, martial arts and monsters." It's being described as an animated film thats "not just for kids," as the world will be "dark, slick, sexy, and dangerous." Read the press release after the jump.

The Town was the talk of the box office over the weekend, Easy A received a lot of attention, Devil wasn't elevated, and Alpha and Omega didn't hunt. Overall business was a bit lower than the same weekend last year when Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs led. Striking approximately 3,500 screens at 2,861 locations, The Town hauled in $23.8 million, earning the comparison its marketing made to The Departed. The latter blazed onto the scene with $26.9 million on around 4,200 screens at 3,017 locations nearly four years ago (though its attendance was about 37 percent greater than The Town's). Like Departed, The Town busted out of its genre norm, grossing more in one weekend than the final grosses of Gone Baby Gone, Reindeer Games and Pride & Glory and more than doubling the opening weekend of We Own the Night. Its estimated initial attendance was in the realm of Cop Land and Sleepers. Upon closer inspection,...

Lionsgate hasn't had much luck with animated movies (e.g. Happily N'Ever After) but they're still trying to find a formula that works and a story that audiences enjoy. Due out in theaters this fall is another new 3D animated movie from Lionsgate called Alpha and Omega about two mismatched wolves who, obviously, end up together due to some crazy circumstance. The voice cast includes Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Christina Ricci, Christine Lakin and Danny Glover. This looks like it'll be a lot of fun with charming story, but not anything up to the level of Pixar. Anyway, give it a chance & check this out. Enjoy! Watch the official trailer for Crest Animation's Alpha and Omega: Video: Exclusive: 'Alpha and Omega' Trailer Two young wolves (voiced by Justin Long & Hayden Panettiere) are thrown together by circumstance. Alpha and Omega is co-directed by animation filmmakers Anthony Bell...

Prolific author Dean Koontz's Frankenstein novel series has already conquered the New York Times bestseller list and spawned a comic book adaptation, but now his "monster" may be making its way to the silver screen. According to Variety, Ralph Winter and Terry Botwick have acquired the rights to Frankenstein through their 1019 Entertainment production company with the goal of turning the property into a movie franchise.

Loosely based on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Koontz's series sees Victor Frankenstein, now known as Helios, still alive and well and living in New Orleans. Helios, having experimented on himself to prolong his life, now has access to modern technology, which he uses to engineer artificial humans or "bio androids." Shelley's monster is still very much "alive" in Koontz's series, as well. Giving himself the name Deucalion, the monster spends years at a Tibetan monastery until he learns of Helios' whereabouts. Together with two homicide detectives,...

I'm slightly surprised that we don't have more DVD options this week. After all, isn't it Black Frickin' Friday this week? Nothing against what we do have...Ok, that's not true; this is a really lousy week of new releases, at least as far as the recent theatrical fare is concerned.

If there's good news out of all of that, I guess it's that the next month is predictably stockpiled with big, big movies. And there is one legit heavy hitter this week, so perhaps we should stop complaining. (But really, it's the everything but the new movies that have my interest.)

Hancock

Will Smith as a superhero. I mean, that's all you need for a summer movie, right? Trouble is, Hancock just isn't as good as it could be. I loved the surly superhero approach, but if there was a blockbuster this year that really lost it in the third act.

We've finally got some news on Inkheart, the young adult action-adventure fantasy starring Brendan Fraser that was plucked off the 2008 schedule back at the beginning of the year.

Now, the only thing worse than being pulled of the release schedule a couple months before hitting theaters is being pushed back nine months to the dead zone of early January. Welcome to the suck, Inkheart.

This past January, New Line announced that the movie would not open in 2008, but at some point indeterminate in '09. The move was partially because of all the changes at New Line this year, aftershocks of silly things like lawsuits from Lord of the Rings and expensive moves that didn't pay off as handsomely as the company would've liked (The Golden Compass). But moving it to the second weekend in January? Well, that generally means the movie's not very good.

Don't believe me? Here are the...

On September 19th, we'll get our next animated family movie when Igor hits theaters. It's been an up and down couple of months for animated film, with Wall-e and Kung Fu Panda soaring to great heights and Space Chimps and Fly Me to the Moon never exactly taking off (pun intended).

Igor (John Cusack) is an assistant to a mad scientist who has his own aspirations of winning the annual Evil Science Fair, only Igor's not really evil at all. These new computer animated spins on classic genres can work or they can backfire. For example, Hoodwinked was good fun, but Happily N'Ever After is one of the worst cartoons I've ever endured.

Based on the trailers, Igor looks fun, and it's written by Chris McKenna, who previously gained some experience writing for American Dad, so we'll continue to hold out hope for it. And based on a series...

The CGI kids' film Space Chimps hits theaters days after the videogame hits every major platform, but that isn't as revealing as it once was; a lot of modern franchises go the same route. Still, with Space Chimps, it's hard to avoid noticing how much the actual movie feels like a middling-okay videogame, raising the question "Which is the actual product, and which is the peripheral spin-off?" Nothing about Space Chimps suggests a strong cinematic or artistic drive; it's fairly videogame-y itself, with characters bouncing around visually repetitive environments, having goal-focused encounters, and fighting a literal boss monster. The latest from Vanguard Animation looks a little better than the studio's previous films (the wretched Valiant and the shrug-worthy Happily N'Ever After) but story remains Vanguard's weak point. Andy Samberg voices Ham, a glib circus chimp who winds up in space through an eye-rolling contrivance: When a V'Ger-like space cloud...

Although 20th Century Fox's Night at the Museum and Sony Pictures' The Pursuit of Happyness captured the top two spots at the domestic boxoffice for the third weekend in a row, a portion of the audience was looking for something different during the first full frame of 2007, and that catapulted Universal Pictures' Children of Men into the No. 3 spot.

Universal's quick decision to expand wide the futuristic film directed by Alfonso Cuaron a week earlier than planned clearly paid off as it grossed an estimated $10.3 million in 1,209 theaters. Paramount Pictures also benefited from being nimble as it bowed its schoolroom drama Freedom Writers a week earlier than planned, grossing an estimated $9.7 million, good for fourth place.

Fox's Museum maintained the top spot for the third consecutive weekend with an estimated $24 million, bringing its cume to $164.1 million. Meanwhile, Sony held on to the No. 2 spot during the fourth weekend of release of the Will Smith starrer Happyness, which picked up an estimated $13 million.

Among the new releases, Lionsgate earned decent marks with its animated film Happily N'Ever After, which bowed to an estimated $6.8 million and the sixth-place spot. New Line Cinema's comedy Code Name: The Cleaner didn't fare as well, however; the Cedric the Entertainer starrer bowed in 11th place with a weekend gross of an estimated $4.6 million.

Overall, the top 12 movies generated an estimated $106.3 million, a small 0.46% increase over last year at this time, when Lionsgate bowed Hostel to $19.5 million.

The top 10 holdovers performed strongly in the marketplace, with nothing falling more than an estimated 43%.

In fifth place, Paramount's release of DreamWorks' musical Dreamgirls generated an additional $8.8 million for a strong $10,358 per-theater average, the best mark among the top 10. The film, still in a fairly limited release of 852 theaters, has grossed $54.4 million. Paramount intends to expand it to 1,800 theaters next frame.

In eighth place, Universal's R-rated spy drama The Good Shepherd fell $41% to $6.5 million. The film starring Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie has generated close to $50 million.

In ninth place, MGM's Rocky Balboa is holding strong; the underdog story generated another $6 million, pushing its gross to an estimated $60 million.

Among the limited releases, Picturehouse's Pan's Labyrinth continues to perform strongly. The R-rated adult fairy tale from director Guillermo Del Toro grossed $727,066 on 44 screens, up 17 screens from last frame. The film generated a per-screen average of $16,524, and its two-week cume stands at $1.8 million. Picturehouse intends to add 200 screens this weekend, and company head Bob Berney is considering an even larger expansion than initially planned for Jan.

Happily N'Ever After is a what-if spin on the Brothers Grimm that gives the bad guys and gals the upper hand -- at least until the movie finds its own happy ending. Like many animated features of late, it's often frenetic and overly talky. But the talented voice cast, led by Sigourney Weaver's deliciously hissable wicked stepmother, is a key strength. At the film's weekend premiere in Los Angeles, producer John H. Williams pointed out that the project was conceived before the first of his Shrek films. It's not mere timing that gives this movie the disadvantage, however; less splashy and less entertaining than that famous franchise, Happily isn't destined for a similar fairy-tale ending at the boxoffice.

Initially envisioned as a 2-D project, the CGI film sets its characters against storybook backdrops that are frequently lovely but lack the oomph audiences expect on the big screen. In the early going, first-time director Paul J. Bolger struggles to corral the story elements, with Rob Moreland's script trying way too hard. Postmodern touches strain, and the voiceover narration by palace servant Rick (Freddie Prinze Jr.) is too much of a so-so thing, the adult-aimed patter falling flat.

Prinze, however, has some nice romantic chemistry with his real-life spouse, Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays Ella (aka Cinderella), the object of Rick's unrequited affection. She, like all silly storybook girls, has set her sites on the wrong Prince Charming, a dashing doofus with an unearthly blond forelock who is played by a terrifically funny Patrick Warburton.

Atop the Prince's castle, Ella's wasp-waisted, ultra-evil stepmother, Frieda (Weaver), gets her scheming hands on the controls for Fairy Tale Land's Department of Security while the Wizard (George Carlin) is off golfing. On a crystal ball with Remote Control she can watch and tamper with the progress of fairy tales, taking a particular interest, of course, in Ella, her glass slipper and the Prince. In her first feature animation work, Weaver -- who played the villainous stepmother in Showtime's 1997 Snow White: A Tale of Terror -- relishes every wicked word of dialogue.

Another cast standout is Andy Dick as Mambo, the mischievous varmint -- meerkat, maybe? -- who serves as assistant to the Wizard along with the more obedient Munk, a cuddly boar (Wallace Shawn). They join forces with Ella while trolls, witches, wolves and other no-goodniks descend on the castle to revel in the tipping of the good/evil scales.

The voice sessions preceded the animation, which at its infrequent best matches the expressiveness of the acting. Once it settles down to its simple, solid premise, the film offers a few comic and visual sparks amid the mild lessons in selfhood and the importance of not living according to someone else's rule book. Perspectives on Fairy Tale Land's division of labor and management/staff relations are woven into the story surprisingly well, and among the especially original touches is the depiction of the Seven Dwarves as good ol' Southern boy survivalists.

Lionsgate has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to the computer-animated family comedy Happily N'Ever After, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr., George Carlin, Wallace Shawn and Andy Dick. Directed by Paul J. Bolger from a screenplay by Robert Moreland, the film is a satirical retelling of the classic Cinderella story and is set in Fairy Tale Land, where the age-old balance between good and evil has been thrown out of whack. Led by Cinderella's (aka Ella) power-mad stepmother, an unholy alliance of bad guys takes on the good guys. When Ella sees her own fairy tale take a radical turn, she sheds her damsel-in-distress trappings to lead the resistance.

BERLIN -- Just past the historic Oranienburger gate in the most chic quarter of East Berlin, a German company with Hollywood-sized ambitions is getting ready to take on the giants in the world of feature-length CGI. The Berlin Film Co. delivers its first film, the 3-D animated fairy tale Happily N'Ever After, on Feb. 28. Budgeted at $40 million and featuring the voices of Sigourney Weaver, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr., the family-friendly parody of well-known Grimm Brothers fairy tales is one of a throng of independent CGI projects hitting the marketplace. Like the Weinstein Co.'s Hoodwinked or such upcoming features as Foodfight! from Threshold and Yankee Irving from IDT, Happily intends to put paid to the notion that only Pixar or DreamWorks can make money with CGI cartoons.

The IDT Media animation unit Digital Production Solutions has entered into a production services agreement with BAF Berlin Animation Film, a German film production company, to co-produce Happily N'Ever After with Vanguard Films. According to the terms of the agreement, DPS will act as the single animation production company for the 3-D computer-generated motion picture. Happily's voice talents include Sigourney Weaver, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and George Carlin.