Summer 2010 won’t set a box-office high, and fewer tickets have been sold than in any swimsuit season in more than a decade.

The industry’s near-flat summer revenue is largely because of a shorter industry season this year, featuring 18 weekends compared to a year-earlier 19. The box-office season ends Monday, with projections showing $4.24 billion in industry coin collected between May 7 and Labor Day, or slightly 1% less than in summer 2009.

But summer admissions are down almost 6%, to a projected 538 million. Hollywood hasn’t marked a new summer admissions high since 2004, when 642 million tickets were sold, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

Exhibitors charged an average $7.88 for summer movie tickets, up 4.5% from $7.54 last summer, NATO said. That compares with an almost 6% ticket-price jump between summer 2008 and last year, when the spread of premium pricing in 3D venues fueled a more dramatic inflation in moviegoing costs.

Summer 2010 produced 11 films that rang up more than $100 million apiece, three fewer than last year. That simply means there were too few attractive films in the market, Corcoran suggested.

According to The Hollywood Reporter

“There’s been too much emphasis on the increase in ticket prices,” the NATO spokesman said. “It’s too quick and easy to point to ticket prices and say that’s the reason a summer does better or worse. The difference in almost any year is how attractive the movies are to an audience.”

But, as usual, the summer triggered a few likely franchises.

Among the list of winners from Moviefone
•Paramount and Disney
•Sony
•Summit — Four words: ‘The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.’ Along with summer’s third biggest movie ($298 million), however, Summit also distributed another sizable romantic hit with ‘Letters to Juliet’ ($53 million).
•Kids
•Indies

Sure, the fight between Team Robsten and Team Nonsten has been raging on the boards (and Twitter too) since the beginning of time—or at least since Twilight—but now it’s time to really see which side has more support.

How so, you ask?

By taking it to Facebook, of course. This seems to be the reason the site was invented, after all. Who cares about keeping in touch with friends and family? It’s all about showing support for R.Pattz and K.Stew (or your lack of support, if you’re one of them).

So if you celebrated the joyous Robsten Day and almost passed out when they swapped spit on camera, get your mouse clicking and “Like!” the Team Robsten page. Spread the word too—not that I need to tell you all twice.

And if you’re one of those downers who think the duo is strictly a PR stunt, or one who would rather see Rob with Nikki Reed (or Reese Witherspoon?) or Kristen with Garret Hedlund, TomStu or—gag—Taylor Lautner, then stop bitchin’ and get your butt over to the Team Nonsten page.

See you on Facebook (you’ve been checking out my F.B. page for frequent goss, too, right?). Be sure to check back for the big celebration when Team Robsten slaughters pitiful Team Nonsten.

Pick Your Team on Facebook: Team Robsten or Team Nonsten

As I was riding in the car today I heard a Dos Equis (beer) commercial that had me dying laughing…I thought, why not apply this to the sexiest Twilight guy…Robert Pattinson. Have you ever heard a “He’s the most interesting man in the world” commercial. Well you are missing out so…….

Men who spend hours in the gym bulking up to impress women might be wasting their time, as new research shows that the ladies prefer lean limbs in a partner.

New Zealand anthropologist Barnaby Dixson has studied what the sexes find attractive about each other based on history and across cultures.

The results revealed that women preferred a leaner, less muscle-bound physiques – aka Robert Pattinson over Jason Statham.

Although many men pumping iron in the gym assume they’re about to be jumped by hundreds of women, they might be better spent becoming svelte with more cardiovascular exercise.

Dixson said: ‘On a biological level, women are more likely to pick a leaner, even slightly more effeminate man as they equate those physical traits with being more caring and gentle and therefore a better prospect as a partner.’

He also found that both men and women are most attracted to others who are of the same attractiveness as themselves, the Daily Mail reported.

‘Women and men with those traits we consider biologically perfect will constantly attract the most high quality partners.

‘Humans simply do not mate randomly; it is very time consuming…. To pick a life partner,’ he said.

Glee, iCarly, MasterChef, Twilight and Avatar are amongst the nominees vying for a win at the 2010 Kids’ Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon has announced nominees for the event which takes place on Friday October 8th.

After two years in Melbourne, this year the slime-fest will return to Sydney, to take place at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. The KCA’s attracts A-List stars and stages a mammoth live awards event, which garners wide media coverage and gauges how brands are resonating with Australian kids.

However the Nominee list is drawn up by Nickelodeon, which has put several of its own shows cor contention, including iCarly, and Camp Orange: Castle Mountain for Fave TV Show alongside Disney Channel’s Wizards Of Waverly Place and TEN’s Glee.

This overlooks numerous other titles on Free to Air and other Pay TV channels including MasterChef, Australia’s Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Dance Academy, Prank Patrol, Hey Hey it’s Saturday -to name a few.

Other categories pit entire casts alongside individuals for Fave TV Star, while Glee is even nominated as Fave International Band (surely it’s a TV show with a Soundtrack?).

Earlier this year the ASTRA Awards also shortlisted TV shows and stars for the “Favourite” categories before viewers had any input.

Hosts and guests for this year’s awards are are yet to be anounced.

2010 Nominees:

Fave International Band:
Glee
Black Eyed Peas
Paramore
Big Time Rush

Fave Reality Show:
Camp Orange
The Biggest Loser
Australia’s Got Talent
MasterChef

Fave TV Show:
iCarly
Glee
Wizards Of Waverly Place
Camp Orange: Castle Mountain

Fave TV Star:
Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly)
Big Time Rush Cast (Big Time Rush)
Selena Gomez (Wizards Of Waverly Place)
Adam & Callum (MasterChef)

Fave Movie:
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Shrek 4
Toy Story 3
Avatar

Fave Movie Star:
Miley Cyrus
Kristen Stewart
Robert Pattinson
Xavier Samuel

Fave Aussie Musos:
Jessica Mauboy
Vanessa Amorosi
Short Stack
Guy Sebastian

Fresh Aussie Musos:
Amy Meredith
Orianthi
Stan Walker
Cody Simpson

Fave Song:
Telephone Lady GaGa feat. Beyonce
California Gurls Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg
Tik Tok Ke$ha
In My Head Jason Derulo

Top Toon:
SpongeBob SquarePants
The Simpsons
Phineas and Ferb
Avatar: The Last Airbender

Best Book:
Twilight series
Tomorrow, When The War Began
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows
Diary Of A Wimpy Kid

Big Kid Award:
Josh Thomas (Talkin’ Bout Your Generation)
Luke & Wyatt (Camp Orange; Kids’ Choice TV)
Jerry Trainor (iCarly)
Drake Bell (Drake and Josh)

Fave Kiss:
The Last Song – Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse‐ Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson
Valentine’s Day‐ Taylor Lautner and Taylor Swift

Cutest Couple:
Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens
Miranda Kerr & Orlando Bloom
Miley Cyrus & Liam Hemsworth
Robert Pattinson & Kristen Stewart

The LOL Award:
Luke & Wyatt
Hamish & Andy
iCarly cast
Shaun Micallef

Hottest Hottie:
Justin Bieber
Taylor Lautner
Rachael Finch
Taylor Swift

Awesome Aussie:
Bindi Irwin
Rove
Tim Cahill
Torah Bright

Voting opens today and closes Sunday 26th September at midnight, with voting available through www.nickelodeon.com.au as well as through Foxtel Interactive TV or the Austar website.

Winners will be announced at the 8th Annual Australian Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards at Sydney Entertainment Centre on Friday October 8 to be broadcast on Friday October 8th from 7.00pm.

Tickets go on sale Monday August 23 through Ticketmaster.

Ever since Rob started filming Water for Elephants, there’s been lots of mention of The Oscars aka The Academy Awards. The film is being buzzed about and so are the actors, including Rob *cue the surprised face*

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at Rob at, what we dubbed that year as the ROBscars!

What I like to refer to as THE BEST 18 SECONDS WITH ROB EVER!

The Teen Choice Awards airs tonight on Fox, but the show was recorded yesterday in LA. We had a sneak peek at the fun to come with lots of photos from the event, including highlights from host Katy Perry and jokes about the Kardashians courtesy of George Lopez. Robert Pattinson came face to face with his Robert Is Bothered impersonator Jimmy Fallon, and Sandra Bullock had some fun with her pal Betty White. So, tell us — what Teen Choice Awards moment are you most excited to see?

Which Teen Choice Awards Moment Are You Most Excited to See?

George Lopez — Looks like the Kardashians were in on the joke!

Robert and Jimmy — They’re hilarious when they get together.

Sandra and Betty — The pals love to spice things up.

Katy Perry — Love to see her hosting, singing, and changing costumes.

Dear Ted:
Sadly, I must admit defeat. I shall never persuade you to give me salacious tidbits about the hot and talented William Fichtner, nor shall I ever persuade myself to care about Robsten so, alas, we part. Let me also just add, although I do in fact have a rescue kitty, and I take very good care of her, I really don’t like her all that much.
—Diane

Dear Pussy-Whipped:
Considering that this is your 2,659th email about this man, Diane, I think this is best—for everyone. I’m sure your kitty doesn’t like you either, since you spend all your time ogling the very unhot, very not R.Pattz, William Fichtner. Here’s a split shot of the two, just so you (and the world) can see how wrong you truly, truly are. But dare we say, don’t they look like they could be related, oddly enough? You know, if he was Rob’s Benjamin Button-suffering uncle or something? Ta!

According to the philosopher Miley Cyrus, “It’s always gonna be an uphill battle/ Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.” But Miley Cyrus is a mere human, and therefore does not speak the same language as the combatants in EW.com’s Sexy Beast single-elimination bracket tournament. Yes folks, our roster of 64 players has been cut in half, then cut in half again, and the first of our Sweet Sixteen battles include players from True Blood, V, Doctor Who, X-Men, Beowulf, Twilight, and Underworld. And for the first time in Sexy Beast history, we’ve got lady beasts facing gentlemen beasts! So click through past the jump to vote for your favorites in a quartet of bodacious bouts, and to get a look at lists of the 16 seeded players (and the actors who portray ‘em) in all four of our beastly divisions. (Eliminated beasts have their names crossed out: Let’s have a moment of sexy silence for ‘em now!) Plus, you can click here to see the entire 64-player bracket (then click again on the image for a zoomed-in view). Polls are open for 48 hours only, so support your favorites in battle, lest they be relegated to a prison where Miley Cyrus music is on repeat loop!

Dear Rob

Seriously? You do nothing interesting for WEEKS on end & then you have to go rub it in my face that my blogging partner in crime & internet wife is out of the country & unavailable by parading around looking like this:

Everything looks better with a 1960s effect from Picnik. You’re welcome

Couldn’t you have done this last week so that we could have breakin’ it down? Cause this picture DEMANDS a break-down. And doing it myself doesn’t seem like the best idea….. but, whatever, here I go:

UC: It’s official. I’ve died & gone to heaven, UC
UC: Why’s that, UC?
UC: Did you SEE the pictures of Rob arriving in Nashvile, Tennessee?
UC: Yes. But BACK UP.. Let’s discuss the fact that he is IN Tennessee. How unbelievable is this? Do YOU know what happened in Tennessee?
UC: Did Dolly Parton’s left boob burst once?
UC: No- YOU went to college there. Dammit. # 1,000th reason why you never should have moved (the first reason is Calypso Cafe in case anyone is wondering)
UC: Dang… I could have set-stalked Rob.
UC: Set-stalked? Aim higher- you could’ve BONED him.
UC: Boned? Did you really say that?
UC: Yes. And after you could’ve introduced him to Calypso Cafe
UC: Yummmmmmm. To both things

UC: Let’s break this down piece-by-piece. First the most obvious thing
UC: Right- that he’s smiling- clearly TN agrees with him. He probably felt my presence from when I was last there.
UC: Probably, but he’s in Georgia here.
UC: Still- I went there once.
UC: Well, I meant the other most obvious thing:
UC & UC at the same time: TWEED
UC: It’s like he knows…
UC: Right..about me and you
UC: well, I meant Me & Moon (And @Calliopeblabs who was with us when we first discussed TWEED)
UC: But they aren’t here, so roll with it, UC- this is Rob’s little message to just you. He wants to get serious. Probably during all the boning
UC: TN, & tweed- you’re right… this is all about me. And his desire to bone me.

UC: Is he wearing fat pants though?
UC: Yeah.. I was gonna say- did he raid Big Daddy’s closet for those?
UC: I mean.. the girth.. of his thighs…. is that just a bag angle?
UC: Either that or he really hit the Southern food hard in his first few hours visiting… I hear those fried pickles can be a bitch on the figure
UC: But they can be a major delight in the mouth
UC: Pickles are always a delight in the mouth

UC: So obviously he’s in tweed for us, but THEN he goes and carries an old fashioned DADCASE!? Where do you even find one of those?
UC: Heaven, obviously
UC: Do you think he put little snacks from his trailer in it before he left to film the scene?
UC: Well, he’s holding a cookie- so I’m going to say that’s a given
UC: I wonder if the hot pocket cheese melted in the sun
UC: It’s Rob Pattinson- boy notorious for never cleaning his hotel room- so I’m gonna have to say that’s also a given… I bet the inside of that beautiful, leather Dadcase is smeared with processed cheese, pickle juice, cookie crumbs & a take-out menu from Calypso Cafe
UC: You have a one-track mind
UC: Rob & Calypso

UC: Okay, I’m about to blow your mind with a new picture of Rob
UC: I doubt it- while he’s been super hot in pictures throughout the past year, I can honestly say my mind hasn’t been blown since the GQ pics oh so long ago.
UC: Just you wait:

Yes I blurred out the picture but made the focal point Rob’s gorgeousness

UC: OMG- I have no words. You’re right- Mind Blown!
UC: The black vest- the white shirt…. the black color hiding what might be fat pants from overeating at Cracker Barrel for lunch
UC: at a time like this….. only one thought is going through my head
UC: How much you regret leaving the south because right now you could potentially be boning that
UC: No… I miss Moon
UC: Oh… me too…

Love,
UC and, well, UC

Our talented guest blogger Jessegirl is back again and this time has written a very comprehensive and interesting article on critic bias and the audience reaction to Remember Me.

I would like to dedicate this piece to those who had the vision, courage, respect and integrity to bring this beautiful film to the screen, so that the sorrow of September 11th and those innocents who died there will not be forgotten.
-jessegirl- July 26, 2010

“You must have been watching another movie!”

It is curious how a masterpiece like Remember Me has not been better received by critics. Even more puzzling is how determined they were to use their influence to actively keep people away, apparently based on the film’s ending, the touted ‘twist’. Clap for the critics, who did this job particularly well. Domestically, RM’s (RM=Remember Me) gross was lower than it could have been. Given that RM wasn’t a blockbuster, huge box office was never expected.

However, the majority of those people who did go to see it were baffled by RM’s poor critical ratings; many viewers disagreed markedly with the critics. The refrain echoed by so many was: “You must have been watching a different movie.” I’ve addressed this disconnect elsewhere but here I’ll tackle the thorny issue of the movie’s ending.

I hope I do this topic justice but it is really too large to cover in a little piece like this. I’m aware that I cannot cover all bases; I just hope I speak to the important ones adequately. At the end, I’ve listed the sources from which I obtained the quotes. The three articles—Brevet, Bartyzel and Reesman—and their comments, are a rich source for discovering rare critical impartiality and substantive viewer comments. I participated and it was an interesting experience. Laremy Legel’s review is one of the best.

I know why the vampire sparkles!
July 26th, 2010 by ktholt

I finally read Twilight, and after hours of internet research, I’ve found a solution to a major problem I had with the story. I know why the vampire sparkles!

Of course, innate body glitter is just the latest thing wrong with vampires at large, so I’ll start with the broader picture and work my way to the answer to that new riddle.

First, I assert that vampires must be giant, highly evolved insects. That makes sense because most of the hematophages in the natural world are bugs.

Second, like many real bloodsuckers, vampires must feed before they reproduce. However, unlike anything in the natural world, vampires seem to reproduce entirely through horizontal gene transfer. If they don’t kill their victim outright, then vampire genes invade the host and trigger…

Metamorphosis. According to Twilight, the process takes days and is excruciatingly painful, which is logical given that the victim undergoes complete hystolysis and histogenesis without the benefit of a pupal stage, let alone general anesthesia.

But wait! How do vampires retain the memories of their human lives? Well, butterflies are apparently able to remember things they learned as caterpillars. While it’s doubtful that the same processes would apply identically to higher-order animals, anything is apparently possible with enough suspension of disbelief.

Furthermore, vampires appear to be ectothermic, or never warmer than their environment. ‘Cold-blooded’, in other words. Their stone-like ‘skin’ also seems more like an exoskeleton than warm, soft, human tissue.

What about vampires’ superhuman abilities? The Tiger Beetle is technically ‘the fastest running land animal’. The strongest animal is the world is the horned dung beetle. Insects also have incredible vision; most see colors invisible to humans and bees see in color at five times the speed we’re able. Vampires and other insects don’t breathe like we do, nor do they possess a human heartbeat. As an added bonus, invertebrates are notoriously hard to kill.

By now, I’m sure you’re all with me; vampires are bugs. But what kind? It took me a while to figure it out, but now I’m convinced that vampires are nothing more than overgrown, parasitic…

Butterflies!

There you have it. Vampires are gorgeous, metamorphosis is a key part of their development, and they are natural experts at camouflage and mimicry. Some butterflies have even been observed feeding on blood.

Why do they sparkle? That’s easy: Vampires, like butterflies, are covered in tiny iridescent scales.

I guess this is a good theory for the next time a fan boy scoffs about how Robert the Sparkly Vampire is ruining vampire literature

Dear Rob,

Paparazzi videos usually don’t make me sad but that one (X17) definitely did. I don’t know if it’s your sad panda face when you stop the car for the billionth time, the way the engine wheezed thudded to life making it sound like your morning smokers hack or the fact that it’s Sunday night and tomorrow I have to go back to work, but whatever it is that video made me a little sad for you.

Sure, in the grand scheme of things you don’t have it rough at all and some lame dudes with cameras following you around is annoying and a bit of a safety hazard at best. I have to remember you get paid a LOT of money and this is one of those unfortunate side effects that comes with being stupidly rich and famous and good looking.

BUT I do admire your chutzpa in stopping the car and trying to wait them out. Though you know they’ll take pictures and ask you stupid stuff about the loquat crumble recipe and call you “Edward” as long as you let them. So it was a flawed attempt at using logic on the paparazzi, they don’t work that way, sadly. Even when you tried to reason telling them they’d taken “millions of pictures” and that should be enough. It should Rob, it should! But why do they want more? Are they waiting for Kristen to meet you in the parking lot of a fireplace store? Or are they hoping to catch you and John Stamos hanging out at Bob Saget’s house again? It makes me wonder how long you stood out there, in the middle of the street waiting for them to leave you alone, then talking to cops and then most bizarrely talking to that girl about the cars or the Kardashians? I couldn’t tell. Whatever it is that was the most odd part of the evening.

But what can we do as fans? We’ve already been hit up by some emails saying that the respect Rob campaign should be started up again. What were we doing since the last supposed “bad” paparazzi run in that prompted the respect stuff? Disrespecting you? (Nice and slow, right Freya?) Ok, ok just on the occasional Friday when we drop some Rob Porn on the ladies. But really, should we be boycotting mags and their sites and telling people we’re “proud to be paparazzi free?” HALE NAH, cause we love us a good pap picture, without those we wouldn’t have the underwear shopping trip or the wrist holding pic or those blessed Nova pictures from last week? So where does that leave us?

Prompted by your own mid-street stand-in I propose as a way of showing our respect that all Rob fans walk into the middle of the street tomorrow at noon for a moment of silence and sad panda faces in remembrance of your weekend paparazzi show down. Now if we happen to obstruct traffic, or ask your coworker to follow you into the street with a point-and-shoot digital camera to reenact the moment or repeatedly get into your busted Kia Sephia and crank the engine than that’s just bonus points. Super fans will go the extra mile to show how much they respect your street side showdown.

In an effort to make this not such a sad video can someone please remix this and add the song “Dancing in the Street” by Martha and the Vandellas so that our new Respect Rob movement will have a theme song and now every time a Rob fan is out drunk Karaoke-ing and this song comes on we all have a moment of silence to let the paparazzi know we will NOT stand for this any long. But we WILL stand in the street!

Now it’s time to start taking photos of ourselves in the middle of the street so we can post them here to show how much we’re REAL Rob fans.

You agree I assume, right Rob? You’ll join us next time Dancin’ in the Street comes on the oldies station in the Nova?