At The Movies

Into The Woods
In this fairy tale mashup, a childless baker (James Corden) and his wife (Emily Blunt) learn that their inability to reproduce dates back to a curse that the witch next door (Meryl Streep) placed on the baker’s father. He crept into her garden and stole not only greens but also her magic beans, and she’s willing to reverse the curse if the Baker can supply her with four items that will allow her to cast a spell. Those items involve other residents of the kingdom: the crimson cloak belonging to Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford); the white cow that Jack (Daniel Huttlestone, Les Misérables) must take to market at the insistence of his mother (Tracey Ullman); the blonde hair that grows all the way down the height of the tower where Rapunzel (Mackenzie Mauzy) has spent her life imprisoned by the witch; and the beautiful golden slipper that Cinderella (Anna Kendrick) wears to the king’s festival after wishing at her mother’s gravesite.

On DVD

The Equalizer
Robert McCall (Denzel Washington), a former covert operations officer, has retired and tries to live a quiet life, working days at a hardware store. He meets and forms a relationship with Teri (Chloë Grace Moretz), a teenage prostitute who needs his help. However, as a result, he finds himself embroiled with the Russian Mafia and has to resort to his old ways to set things right. Based on the 1980s TV series of the same name.

The Buzz...

American Sniper, Boyhood, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, Nightcrawler and Whiplash are among the top film nominees for Ace Eddie honors as chosen by the American Cinema Editors. The film drama category has six contenders this year due to a tie. The winners will be announced Jan. 30 in a ceremony at the Beverly Hilton.

The Star Wars: Episode 7 universe is about to be busted open like never before. While the franchise expanded to include novels, comic books, video games, action figures and a spin-off animated series, Disney has now made a deal with a major YouTube channel operator to branch out into the digital realm. While you probably have never heard of Maker Studios, you might have seen one or two of their YouTube series. It's the largest operator of YouTube channels on the Web right now, and it incorporates a variety of shows like the style centric The Fashion Statement to the geek friendly Friend Zone. According to Bloomberg, they've made a deal with Disney to create Star Wars themed content covering everything from Star Wars fashion to games.

A new name has come up as a possible candidate for the leading role of Kara Zor-El in CBS’s Supergirl, from executive producers Greg Berlanti and Ali Adler. 30 year old British actress Gemma Atkinson (Casualty, Night of the Living 3D Dead) is reportedly being considered for the role, according to the British tabloid, The Sun, which had previously stated that Atkinson was in talks to star in Emmerdale, a long-running British soap opera.

Last year's box office admissions were the lowest in twenty years. Preliminary estimates state that 1.26 billion people purchased tickets for a movie theater between the first and last day of 2014. That's the lowest number since 1995, and only slightly ahead of 1994. To be fair, this isn't a radical plunge since admissions fell to 1.28 billion people in 2011, although this will be the biggest year over year decline in nine years with box office slipping six percent from 2013.

New Year’s is supposed to be about new beginnings, but for Sylvester Stallone, 2015 promises to be another blast from the past. This month, he returns to the fighting city of Philadelphia to play Rocky Balboa for the seventh time. Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler is set to film Creed, with Balboa serving as the aging trainer to Apollo Creed’s grandson, an up and coming boxer played by Michael B. Jordan. Assuming the mentor role once represented by Burgess Meredith’s Mickey shouldn’t be too physically taxing for the 68 year old Stallone, but don’t think for a second he’s given up being the action hero. Later this year, he’ll play Rambo, presumably for the last time. Over the holiday, Stallone tweeted that he’d be making the gangster biopic Scarpa after Rambo: Last Blood.

Finnish-German science fiction film Iron Sky: The Coming Race has completed its latest crowdfunding campaign, raising more than $500,000 on IndieGoGo. More than 7,000 fans from 75 countries took part in the campaign. “It’s amazing to see fans support us so heavily”, said producer Tero Kaukomaa. “This goes to show there’s an audience out there waiting for original science fiction films and they’re not afraid to show it.” The main source of funds in the campaign came from the offer of extra roles, which raised nearly $150,000 of the total amount from more than 300 fans. Parts ranged from citizens of a Moonbase to being eaten by a dinosaur, costing from $200 to $5,000.

In the annual battle of the New Year's Eve specials, there was a clear winner Wednesday night: Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve on ABC easily dominated rival shows. With a lineup that included Taylor Swift, Idina Menzel and One Direction, ABC's coverage averaged 9.6 million viewers and a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating across three hours of primetime. That performance was also up slightly from last year's telecast. In second place was NBC's New Year's Eve with Carson Daly (5.4 million, 1.5) and in distant third came Pitbull's New Year's Revolution Pt. 1 on Fox (2.2 million).

Newlyweds in the New Year? Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher drummed up speculation that they may have tied the knot; at least, that's what the actor's New Year's Eve Facebook post might imply. The new dad shared a picture late Wednesday night of the celeb couple's well wishes to fans written out in the sand. His sign-off? Love, "The Kutchers."

America still can't get enough of Sheldon and his brainy pals. After eight seasons on CBS, The Big Bang Theory, starring Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco, remains the most-watched comedy on broadcast TV. The veteran sitcom is joined in the winners' circle by CBS's other mammoth, and very mature hit NCIS, which remains TV's most watched drama after 12 seasons.