Free Republic

The film industry’s troubles show no sign of easing. Domestic box office revenue for October 2025 came in at roughly $425 million, marking the worst performance in 27 years outside of the pandemic era, per Comscore data. This dismal figure falls well below even the unadjusted $385.2 million from October 1997, a time before blockbuster franchises dominated screens. Major releases failed to draw crowds. Disney’s *Tron: Ares*, with a reported net cost of $220 million, opened to just $33.2 million domestically and has scraped together only $65.1 million in the U.S., contributing to an estimated $132 million loss. Globally, it...

AP) BAKERSFIELD, Calif. Police say a 7-year-old girl died Saturday when her 5-year-old brother accidentally pushed a big screen TV onto her. The children were watching television in their mother's bedroom at about 8 a.m., while she slept. Police say the boy inadvertently pushed the television forward when he went behind it to plug in a video game. His sister was on the floor below. The girl suffered head injuries and died at a local hospital. Police are treating it as an accident.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The NFL has nixed a church's plans to use a wall projector to show the Colts-Bears Super Bowl game, saying it would violate copyright laws. NFL officials spotted a promotion of Fall Creek Baptist Church's "Super Bowl Bash" on the church Web site last week and overnighted a letter to the pastor demanding the party be canceled, the church said. < snip > But the NFL objected to the church's plans to use a projector to show the game, saying the law limits it to one TV no bigger than 55 inches. The church will likely abandon...

A former Adriana Furs employee testified yesterday in the trial of former Washington Teachers Union officials, identifying five fur coats that she said defendant Gwendolyn M. Hemphill or family members purchased. "She didn't want her husband to know she was buying a fur coat," said Aki Shabani of the first purchase in 1999 -- a full-length mink coat worth about $4,096, which had Mrs. Hemphill's name monogrammed on the inside. Mrs. Hemphill, 63, a former officer manager, and former union Treasurer James O. Baxter II, 50, are charged with conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the theft of nearly $5...

Rapid evolution for flat panel TVs 10:30 21 November 04 NewScientist.com news service Anyone planning to ditch their conventional cathode-ray tube TV in favour of a much wider flat panel TV will be spoilt for choice. With the rewards so great for companies who can dominate this market, competition between manufacturers is intense. The result is that flat panel TVs are being enhanced so rapidly that any performance comparisons quickly go out of date. Take a simple measure like screen size. At Japan’s leading consumer electronics show, CEATEC, held in Makuhari on Tokyo bay in September, hundreds of would-be...