A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... well, OK, 30 years ago (on May 25, 1983) in our own galaxy, came the theatrical release of "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi." The installment triumphantly wrapped up the "Star Wars" saga for all time. Or...

On paper, 'Star Trek Into Darkness' looks like a smash. It earned a starship-load of money, debuted at No. 1, and dethroned two-week box office champ "Iron Man 3." And yet, box office analysts think it underperformed, falling far short of the $100 million premiere they'd expected.

Are...

Much of the buzz surrounding the forthcoming "Star Trek Into Darkness" has centered on the new villain John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a mysterious man who may have ties to familiar menaces from installments past. Which makes one realize that a "Star Trek" movie is often only as good...

On paper, "Tyler Perry Presents Peeples" should have done decent business this weekend. Even though he didn't write or direct it, the meet-the-parents comedy had Perry's name on it as producer and promoter. It features two popular TV stars, Craig Robinson and Kerry Washington, in the leads. It's...

"The Great Gatsby" has been a staple on the high school and college syllabus for nearly a century, so it's probably not a big spoiler to remind you that Jay Gatsby dies near the end, shot to death in his swimming pool by George Wilson, who mistakenly blames Gatsby for...

If you saw "Iron Man 3" in a North American theater this weekend and didn't have its major plot twist spoiled for you, consider yourself lucky. After all, people in nearly every movie market around the world got to see the movie a week before you did.

It's...

It doesn't take a brainiac like Tony Stark to predict that "Iron Man 3" will be one of the summer's biggest hits. All you have to do is look at the nearly $200 million it already earned in overseas markets this weekend. The movie's a certified smash even...

"Valley Girl" could have (like) been a (totally) lame teensploitation comedy (fer shure), created to capitalize on the novelty 1982 hit song by Frank Zappa and his 14-year-old daughter, Moon Unit. Instead, the film turned the song's satiric jabs at the slang and fashions of the San Fernando...

Even before Tom Cruise's "Oblivion" opened in North America on Thursday night, the 50-year-old must have been grinning his famous grin. Before the movie had sold a single ticket here, it was a surefire hit.

In his native land, Cruise takes a lot of ribbing, whether...

According to legend, Jennifer Beals was so broke before she landed the starring role in "Flashdance" that she spent the night before her audition sleeping in Central Park. Since then, she's done pretty well for herself, as have some of the others associated with the landmark dance drama (released 30...

Baseball may be the national pastime, but baseball movies generally don't do very well at the box office. Neither do movies with unknown stars, or thoughtful historical dramas for grown-ups (at least, not in April), or, for that matter, movies featuring Harrison Ford (at least, not lately). The new Jackie...

Jonathan Winters, who died Friday at 87, was a beloved comic whirlwind for generations, one whose influence on movie comics from Robin Williams to Jim Carrey to Sacha Baron Cohen is very apparent.

So why didn't he make a bigger splash on film? The paradox of WInters's...

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who died Monday at 87, had a much greater impact on the world of film than just inspiring an Oscar-winning role for Meryl Streep in 2011's "The Iron Lady."

The woman who led Great Britain from 1979 to 1990 cast a long shadow...

To no one's surprise, the remake of "The Evil Dead" opened at No. 1 this weekend, scaring up an estimated $26 million from horror film fans. Still, that's a remarkable number, considering that its about 11 times what the 1981 "Evil Dead" earned over its entire domestic theatrical...

We will never see Roger Ebert's like again.

There was much to admire about the legendary film critic -- his taste, his generosity to friends and strangers (especially writers who basked in his encouragement), and his tireless work ethic, even as his health deteriorated and robbed him of the ability...

Today, it seems audiences know "Bye Bye Birdie" only from the prominent mention of it on "Mad Men," when the Sterling Cooper agency tried to copy Ann-Margret's minimalist opening number for a diet soda commercial. But when the movie musical premiered 50 years ago (on April...

Sure, "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" marched to an easy box office victory this weekend, earning an estimated $41.2 million in North America and landing in second place on the all-time list of top Easter Weekend openings. But does that make it a smash hit, or is it a disappointment that should...

If we say Michael Keaton's name three times, will we summon him back into the limelight? It's been exactly 25 years since we learned how to bring forth the undead (or send them back to limbo) by watching Keaton's "Beetlejuice" (released on March 30, 1988), and...

Fifty years after its release (on March 28, 1963), we can't stop talking about Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." We're still terrified by it, perhaps because Hitchcock wisely avoided providing any explanation for the avian attacks on Bodega Bay. We're still fascinated by how it was made, especially because,...

White-House-under-siege thriller "Olympus Has Fallen" debuted this weekend in second place with an estimated $30.5 million, a full $14 million behind the top finisher, new cartoon "The Croods." Nonetheless, it's "Olympus" that looks like the big winner this week, for several reasons:

It outperformed...