Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug Bags $31M on First Day at U.S. Box Office

“Desolation of Smaug” on $75M pace. “Frozen” eyes $25M and 2nd after “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas” starts slowly

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” dominated in its debut at the North American box office Friday, rolling up $31 million and putting itself on pace for a three-day total of around $75 million.
While massive, Peter Jackson’s hotly anticipated sequel first-day numbers are slightly behind those put up by the first film in the trilogy, “An Unexpected Journey,” which took in $37 million on its opening Friday and totaled $85 for the weekend.
That one was in 4,045 theaters, but “Desolation of Smaug,” from Warner Bros., New Line and MGM, is on 3,903 screens and facing more formidable competition. First-night audiences gave “Smaug” an “A-” CinemaScore, in line with critics who have been generally positive.
The Friday gross includes $8.8 million from Thursday midnight screenings. “Smaug” is getting a bottom-line boost from around 3,000 3D sites, which along with Imax and high-frame-rate screenings bring ticket upcharges.

Last weekend’s No. 1 movie “Frozen” took in $5.1 million Friday and is looking at a three-day total of around $25 million in its third week of wide release. It was actually a little behind the weekend’s other wide release, “Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas,” after Friday, but the Disney Animation 3D kids film is expected to surge when families turn out on Saturday and Sunday. It’s in 3,716 theaters.
Lionsgate’s “Madea Christmas” brought in $5.7 million from 2,194 locations Friday, putting it on pace for weekend in the $16 million range, on the low end of expectations for the holiday comedy. Perry’s Madea movies have on average opened to $28 million and his last one, 2012’s “Madea’s Witness Protection,” opened to $25 million. “Madea’s Christmas” received an “A-” CinemaScore, so word of mouth may help.
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” was fourth on Friday with $4.1 million, and will likely finish the weekend with around $14 million. If that holds up, Jennifer Lawrence’s blockbuster sequel will have brought in nearly $360 million domestically since opening a month ago.



Disney’s “Thor: The Dark World,” Relativity’s Christian Bale drama “Out of the Furnace” and the Vince Vaughn comedy “Delivery Man” followed, and all will wind up at between $2 million and $3 million for the weekend.
Oscar hopefuls “Philomena” and “The Book Thief” were next, with Open Road film’s action thriller “Homefront” rounding out the top ten.
“Hours,” one of the final films of the late Paul Walker, debuted softly on 16 screens with about $16,000. Distributor Pantelion has said it will donate portions of the film’s box office to the actor’s charity Reach Out Worldwide. “Hours” was completed months before the Nov. 30 auto crash that took Walker’s life.

Beyonce cops backlash over X-rated new album

SHE released her latest album by uploading tracks and videos straight to iTunes, claiming she wants to speak 'directly to her fans with no filter'.

And it seems that Beyonce has got her wish.
Within hours, hundreds of fans slammed the star's record for its X-rated lyrics and 'pornographic' videos in which she twerks and dresses scantily.

On social networking sites, the 32-year-old singer was called 'vile' and 'disgusting' for the provocative tracks, including songs titled Blow and Drunk in Love.

Some users questioned whether she was a fit role model to millions of young fans.
The star, who rose to fame in girl band Destiny's Child, has often campaigned for women's rights. But fans said she should now be ashamed of herself for following in the footsteps of Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, who have shocked viewers with their erotic music videos.

Xbox One backwards-compatibility prank breaking consoles

This online prank will destroy your Xbox One console. Do not attempt. Source: supplied Source: Supplied

FAKE instructions showing Xbox One owners how to "hack" their console to play old Xbox 360 games has been leaving consoles bricked and completely useless.

Daily Dot has reported that website 4chan, which also conned soppy iPhone owners earlier this year into thinking the new iOS will make their mobiles waterproof, has returned to wreak havoc among the unsuspecting public this time by posting a way to unlock backwards compatibility to play old games.
The instructions carry Xbox branding and look quite genuine but DO NOT be fooled. This is an evil prank that causes Xbox One consoles to "brick" rendering them utterly useless. And there are no instructions to fix it.
It's understandable that some Xbox One owners would be keen to try this hack out as not being able to play catalogues of old 360 games bought over the years was one of the bugbears of the new console. But even Xbox Live big cheese Larry Hryb has waded in by stating there is no way for backwards compatibility and to stay away from the 4chan instructions.
Not being able to play your old Xbox 360 games on the new Xbox One is one of the crosses we have to bear so we advise ignoring any instructions saying you can, unless it's an official announcement from Microsoft.

Gamer unleashes his fury!

Hell hath no fury like a competitive gamer. Watch this guy unleash the nerdiest attitude you'll ever see. Source: YouTube 

COMPETITIVE gaming is a funny old show where hundreds of video game nuts all huddle around their screens with headsets on vying for glory. It's even funnier when one kid (who's clearly had way too much Red Bull) gets a bit overexcited….

In this video we see the hilarious chest-thumping and screeching of one super intense competitive gamer who gets all up in the face of the opposing team. Bellowing "you'll never beat me" and telling the opposition "to get out" as he slaps his pigeon chest like a video game gangster.
He would have had them quaking, we're sure. When his voice breaks, he'd be a lot more intimidating.
Warning: video does contain swearing. Tell his mum, if you want.

Intense video gamer

 

We miss the days where we'd just wave a fist at someone who placed a sinister banana in our path on Mario Kart.