The "Twilight" movies are more than a cultural sensation, they're a financial phenomenon. The latest, "Breaking Dawn," has ranked No. 1 at the U.S. box office for the past three weekends and has already earned $588 million worldwide. The entire franchise has brought in $2.4 billion so far and there’s still one more movie set for release next year.©Dave M. Benett/Getty Images non-NA
It's been a lot of reward for relatively little outlay. The first two movies were produced for $37 million and $50 million, respectively. The current film is the most expensive to date with an estimated budget of $110 million. Part of the reason the budget has risen is that stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson are getting paid more for playing Bella and her vampire boyfriend Edward, but they’re still not getting the $20 million paychecks that some big stars can command.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Hollywood’s Best Actors for the Buck
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Vancouver man trapped in automatic toilet
A Vancouver man is sharing a cautionary tale after getting stuck in one of the city's high-tech self-cleaning public toilets.
Paul Taylor says he was locked inside the public toilet for 45 minutes before city staff arrived to pry open the door with a crowbar.
The concept behind the self-cleaning toilets is simple: a user steps in, locks the door, and when the user exits, the facility flushes and cleans itself. The toilets are programmed to automatically unlock after 12 minutes as a safety measure.
But when Taylor used the toilet at the corner of Nelson and Granville streets last week, the door stayed locked. He tried the fail-safe lever, designed to open the door if it malfunctions, but he says that didn't work either.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Holiday tipping on a budget
This year, we've declared a moratorium on excessive holiday spending. We just can't afford to spend big money on celebrating. That means making and sticking to a clear list of what we plan to buy and how much we can afford to spend.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Tergiversate chosen as Dictionary.com's word of 2011
Dictionary.com has chosen a word you've probably never heard of as the word of the year for 2011.Laura Newcombe of Toronto, Canada, participates in the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee
The word is Tergiversate and it is a verb meaning "to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc." or to turn renegade. Basically it means you like to change your mind a lot.
Pronounced "ter-jiv-er-sate", editors say they chose it because it's associated with rapidly changing situations and is fitting to our political and economic times.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Top baby names for 2011
In January, Today’s Parent listed the top names and trends predicted to this year.(Thinkstock)
Now, as the year comes to a close, Baby Center has released its list of the most popular baby names of 2011.
Sophia and Aiden are still tops, and as Today’s Parent predicted, “last names as first names” were hot (Madison and Jackson) as were Biblical names (Jacob and Noah) and L-names (Lily, Lucas, Logan, Liam).
Boy names that end with “N” still reign supreme: Aiden, Jackson, Mason, Jayden, Ethan and Logan all made the top 10.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Paulina Gretzky back in love with Twitter, but not unconditionally
Earlier this week, the hockey world was rocked by scandal as the 22-year-old model/actress of a retired player deleted her Twitter account. Parades are planned, we imagine, now that she had made her triumphant return to the social media platform.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Apple iPhone 'self-combustion' on flight sparks probe
An iPhone that started spewing smoke and glowing red on an airplane in Australia has been submitted for analysis by transportation safety authorities.
The phone began "emitting a significant amount of dense smoke, accompanied by a red glow" on a flight from Lismore, near Brisbane, that had just landed in Sydney on Friday, reported the Regional Express airline in a news release.
The airline described the incident as a "mobile phone self-combustion."
A flight attendant managed to extinguish the red glow successfully, and no one was hurt, the airline said.
In a photo released by the airline, the phone appears cracked and discoloured following the incident.
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