Just five days after Halloween it’s beginning to look, um… a bit like Christmas at the box office.  “Disney’s A Christmas Carol” opened in the widest release yet for a 3D feature on Friday: 2,035 screens including 181 in IMAX. Disney also booked a few 2D screens a grand total of 3,683 theatres. So with all that exposure, and those extra-fat 3D ticket prices, it comes as no surprise to find Ebenezer Scrooge on top with an estimated Friday total of $9 million. More of a surprise is the strong second place showing of new entry “The Fourth Kind” with Milla Jovovich. The alien-abduction pic took in just under $5 million after opening in 2,529 theatres. George Clooney and “The Men Who Stare at Goats” came in third with $4.5 million from 2,443 theatres and Richard Kelly’s “The Box” barely edged out the “Paranormal Activity” phenomenon to take fifth place with just under $3 million. Check back tomorrow for details and snarky comments on all of the week’s new releases.

When it was announced that Robert Zemeckis was directing an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” starring Jim Carrey and made with 3D motion-capture, my response was viciously negative.  Zemeckis had left behind movies like “Back to the Future” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, movies with characters and charming stories, in favor of 3D motion-captured films featuring CG characters who resembled the voice actor except they were trapped deep within the uncanny valley (the place where CG facsimiles of people look like very expensive animatronics).  Throwing Jim Carrey into the mix to have him constantly mug for the camera made the idea of a 3D motion-captured film even more unappealing.  And “A Christmas Carol”?  How many times do we need to see this story?  Seeing it in 3D with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge was an argument not to make the movie.  (Hit the jump to find out why all these perceived flaws are actually the film’s greatest strengths.)

With director Robert Zemeckis’ (”Beowulf”, “The Polar Express”) animated version of “A Christmas Carol” opening on November 6th, Walt Disney has provided us with six clips from the film.  While I normally love to check out the clips that we’re provided, the movie is being released in “Disney 3D” and that’s the way I want to see the footage for the first time.  However, since I know a lot of you want to check out the footage right now, the clips are after the jump.  Again, if you’re planning on seeing “A Christmas Carol” in a theater, make sure you see it in 3D!

Yahoo! Movies just ran a new featurette called “Behind the Scenes: Perfect Partnership” for Disney’s animated “A Christmas Carol.”  The Charles Dickens adaptation/remake is the latest film in Robert Zemeckis’ CG stint, following “The Polar Express” and “Beowulf.”  Those last two unsettled audiences by residing pretty safely in some “uncanny valley” territory, but he seems to be avoiding it this time by going a little less realistic.  Consequently, if you ask me, the aesthetics of this new one seem a little too like a video game.  Check out the featurette, with some stellar footage and select quotes from Robert Zemeckis and star Jim Carey, after the jump.

Scarlett Johansson is not just a beautiful actress.  Well, she’s mostly that, but she’s also an ambassador for the charity Oxfam.  I think they do stuff with food.  As part of her charity work, Ms. Johansson announced today that she will be auctioning off two tickets to the 2010 premiere of a little movie called “Iron Man 2″.  The winner of the coveted seats will also get a chance to chat up the Black Widow in a personal meet-and-greet before the show.  Find out how to get your hands on Johansson’s…tickets after the jump.

Disney has now announced what we will be seeing at the D23 expo this year. The event will take place from September 10-13 in Anaheim, California and it has a pretty fun and exciting line up. Over the 4 days Disney will be showing exclusive sneak peeks of “A Christmas Carol”, Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, “Prince of Persia”, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, “Tron: Legacy”, and “Toy Story 3″. Selected scenes from “Beauty and the Beast” in 3D and the 3D double feature of “Toy Story 1 & 2″ will be shown along with some newly restored prints of classic Disney films such as “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Sleeping Beauty”. To find out what else will take place at D23 and how you can attend. check out the full press release after the jump.

Comic-Con is on like Donkey Kong. After waiting in a massive line full of “Twilight” fans in Burger King hats, and then sitting in Hall-H for an extra hour, things are finally getting started.

Read on for minute-by-minute coverage of Hall-H’s 3D presentations including “A Christmas Carol”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Tron Legacy”, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, “The Hole”, and “The Final Destination”.  Also, please forgive any typos or grammar mistakes as I wrote this train-of-thought and trying to keep pace with the action on stage.  Finally, if you want to read Matt’s thoughts on the Disney 3D Presentation, click here.

And on with the 3D after the jump…

There are some great human beings in the world (although there are definitely some douchebags and I might get to them later…) and sometimes, spending so much time at home being snarky towards everything, I forget that.  I met some great folks in line yesterday as I was waiting to get a “Dexter” bag and met some more today while standing in the line for Hall H (a special thank you to Jackson Bishop (best name ever, BTW) and thanks to total saint giving me a special pass, I was able to get a VIP seat and it is amazing.

Hit the jump for more.  Trust me: you’ll want to know about what I saw for Disney’s 3D Presentation of “A Christmas Carol”, “Alice in Wonderland”, and “Tron Legacy” (now the official title).  And please forgive the rapid-fire approach.  I was writing as fast as I could so there are probably typos, bad grammar, and incomplete thoughts.  Finally, I’ll be sure to post pictures later in the day.

The first trailer for Robert Zemeckis’s “A Christmas Carol” has leaked its way onto YouTube and until Disney pulls it, you can watch the trailer after the jump. The only thing to know before watching is, the trailer is in Italian and it was recorded with a video camera inside a movie theater. So…it’s not really the best way to watch the footage for the first time. Saying that, you can still get a good look at what Zemeckis is going for and if you enjoyed “Beowulf” and “The Polar Express”, it looks like he’s doing more of the same. I’d imagine with this trailer leaking, we’ll get the official one any day now. Until then, take a look after the jump:

Last year was my first time visiting Comic-Con. This year I am ready. I am pumped. I am bringing a large bodyguard who will push tiny nerds out of my way so I can grab more swag.

The official Comic-Con website has just posted the schedule for Thursday and for Wednesday’s “Preview Night”, which you can only attending if you’ve purchased a four-day pass. Friday and Saturday tend to be the Con’s biggest days with the largest events but Thursday and Sunday are no slouches. I’ve included the full schedule for Thursday, July 23rd after the jump and highlighted what I think may be worth your time (although my interests skew more towards movies and television as opposed to comics, action figures, and games).  Keep checking back as the schedules for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will most likely be announced over the next few days.

Oh, and if you need an explanation for the hard-hat in the image above, click here.

Walt Disney Studios has just announced their 2009 Comic-Con plans and it’s filled with “firsts”. That’s because Hayao Miyazaki, John Lasseter, Robert Zemeckis and Tim Burton will take part in their first ever Comic-Con. If you’re a fan of any of these guys, it should be a hell of a presentation.

Also, with the abundance of great projects at Disney right now, their footage is going to be some of the highlights of the convention. According to the press release, they’re showing footage from “Ponyo”, all the “Toy Story” movies, “A Christmas Carol”, “The Princess and the Frog”, “Beauty and the Beast in 3D”, “Alice in Wonderland”, and “TRON”! If you thought last year’s “Tron” footage was cool, I promise you this year is going to blow you away.

For more details on what Disney is planning on doing, the full press release is after the jump:

I am probably going to end up liking this new poster for “A Christmas Carol” more than I like the movie.  What a great image of a weird candle-person’s flame providing a flicker of a character’s face.  That appears to have more depth and resonance than a needless, 3D motion-capture movie with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge in the five-billionth adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”.  I guarantee you that other than his visual wizardry, Zemeckis has nothing new to offer this story and while it will be visually impressive, it will ultimately leave you wondering “What’s the point?”

Hit the jump to check out the new poster from dvd-forum.at.  “A Christmas Carol” hits theatres on November 6th.

Since Walt Disney premiered some footage from “A Christmas Carol” at Cannes yesterday, the company has finally started to release some promotional stuff and the first image and footage is below. If you’ve been curious what Jim Carrey would look like as Ebenezer Scrooge, you’re about to get your first look.

While some have not been impressed with Robert Zemeckis’ motion capture movies, I think they’re very cool to see in IMAX, but they’re not the same when you take the experience home.

Will “A Christmas Carol” be the first movie that works as a conventional movie as well as something in IMAX 3-D? We’ll know this Christmas.

Anyway, here’s the first image and the footage.

There was a bit of a deluge in the world of movie posters today.  Today we have the official one-sheet [via Yahoo!] for Robert Zemeckis’ unnecessary motion-capture adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” starring Jim Carrey as a man who mugs for the camera and makes silly voices.  The plot description may officially list his name as “Ebenezer Scrooge” but I’m sure if Dickens’ saw the character, he wouldn’t recognize the resemblance to what he wrote (of course, this would be after the shock to the system of absorbing 130 years of history, technology, etc.).

Check out the poster after the jump.