SPIN FACTOR^® - The HSX Blog

The house that Freddy built has finally remade its original franchise film, A Nightmare on Elm Street [NELMS].  Jackie Earl Haley [JEHAL] takes over the killer role of Freddy Krueger made famous by Robert Englund.   The last horror film featuring the disfigured murderer of teens in their dreams, Freddy vs. Jason opened to $36.4 million in 2003.  New Line then rebooted Jason’s franchise starter Friday the 13^th to a $43.6 million opening weekend last year.   While Friday the 13^th incorporated...

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Less than two months before its wide release on June 18th, Warner Bros. has finally debuted its first trailer for Jonah Hex [JOHEX].   The action adventure stars Josh Brolin [JBROL] as sorta a Ghost Rider of the Old West.   The troubled production has undergone massive reshoots, though the quickly edited trailer looks decent enough.  Showing off Megan Fox [MEFOX] never hurts.  With such a late start in marketing, Warner Bros. is showing as much love for Jonah Hex as their last film that got...

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Walt Disney has released the first trailer for the horse racing drama Secretariat [SCTRT] "based on the impossible true story". Secretariat won the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred racing in 1973.  Despite rumors that marketing wanted to change the film's title, Disney wisely stuck with the name of the horse.  The name has the same ring as Seabiscuit, the other horse racing drama which was only a "possible true story". 

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Shania Twain brought out the best of the American Idol contestants on Tuesday evening.  The country chanteuse served as mentor for the hopefuls who shined performing her songs.  Some of the singers delivered their best performances ever finally making this a truly nail-biting competition. 

The most exciting part of the evening for this writer was the comeback of Siobhan Magnus [AI9SMA].  Now it’s not an “official comeback” as Magnus never stopped performing.  Her talent and mainly her...

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Four weeks after debuting at number one,  How to Train Your Dragon reclaimed the top spot with an estimated $15.0 million.  The animated fantasy declined just 23% in its fifth weekend to up its war chest to $178.0 million.

The Back-Up Plan [PLANB] opened in second place with a respectable $12.25 million.  The Jennifer Lopez [JLOPE] romantic comedy should exhibit good legs, not unlike adult-skewing holdover Date Night [DATEN], which finished at the third spot with $10.6 million.  The Steve...

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One day after Paramount announced the film will undergo the 3D treatment, The Last Airbender [BENDR] gets a third trailer on Apple.   The new trailer highlights the fantasy film's special effects as the four warring nations (Air, Water, Fire and Earth) unleash their elemental attacks upon one another.  With its release date set for July 2nd, The Last Airbender has two months to add another dimension.  The 3D conversion of Clash of the Titans also took two months and we all saw how terrible...

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After the first Twilight moped its way through a forbidden romance and the sequel New Moon depressed itself through a love triangle, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse [TWLI3] looks to break out into an action film. The Cullens family and the Quileuete wolf pack join forces to battle an army of vampires created by the vengeful Victoria.  With bigger action set pieces primed for its summer release, Eclipse is poised to bring out the Twihards as well as a few of their boyfriends.

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Although DreamWorks Animation estimated a gross that put How to Train Your Dragon back atop the box office last weekend, the film actually ended up in second place behind Kick-Ass [KCKAS].  With lackluster new offerings from the studios this weekend, the animated fantasy gets another chance to regain the top spot in its fifth weekend.  A decline around 25% would still bring in $15 million, which should be enough for Dragon to swoop back into first place.

Although The Losers [LOSRS] boasts...

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In what has become an annual tradition on Earth Day, Disneynature will release the documentary African Cats [AFCAT] next year on April 22, 2011.  Here's the teaser trailer attached to Oceans [OCENS], which opens today in wide release.

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Alicia Keys was the guest mentor this week as contestants picked songs of inspiration.  The seven gave their performances last night.  Let’s take a look at who is in and who is in hot water.

Keys is one who moves her audiences to tears and she coached her mentees to do the same.  Crystal Bowersox [AI9CBO] and Lee Dwayze [AI9LDE] took the theme to heart and came out as the two best performers of the evening.  It is quite possible that the final showdown will be between these two versatile...

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