Vampires

It was a highly animated weekend at the box office, as moviegoers spent more than $85 million to see both "Brave" and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. " "Brave" is the 13th film from Pixar Animation to open in the No. 1 position at the multiplex, as the 3-D film debuted with a strong $66.7 million this weekend, according to an estimate from distributor Walt Disney Studios. Meanwhile, the 3-D animated "Madagascar 3" continued to do strong business even on its third weekend in theaters, grossing an additional $20 million.

Random facts we learned on Sunday's episode of "True Blood": -- Vampires cannot use tanning beds to commit suicide. -- Bleach is not a normal ingredient in Merlotte's gumbo recipe. The suicidal vampire, of course, is Tara, who's still struggling to come to terms with her new nature, and it's Lafayette, naturally, who inexplicably poisons a pot of stew before glancing up and catching a familiar-looking demon reflected back at him in the mirror. What did Jesus say about that old dark magic again?

The competition will cower in the face of "Brave" at the box office this weekend, as the 3-D animated picture is expected to dominate at the multiplex. The movie, from Walt Disney Studios' Pixar animation unit, probably will open with a strong sum of around $65 million in ticket sales, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys. That's far more than either of the other two new films hitting theaters this weekend are expected to make. The supernatural 3-D action movie "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" will probably start off with a so-so $20 million, though distributor 20th Century Fox is predicting a weaker opening of around $16 million.

For decades, movie stars have used the talk-show circuit to drum up awareness of an upcoming film. Now, film studios are drafting a new group of celebrities to aid in the promotional pitch: YouTubers. Twentieth Century Fox commissioned the filmmakers behind the popular FreddieW channel on YouTube - Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch - to create a promotion for "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," a supernatural thriller in which the 16th president tackles slavery and battles the undead.

How can a studio to interest young moviegoers in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," a supernatural thriller in which the 16th president tackles slavery as well as the undead? YouTube is a good place to start. Twentieth Century Fox commissioned two YouTube filmmakers -- Freddie Wong and Brandon Laatsch -- to create a promotion for the film that would grab the attention of Wong and Laatsch's YouTube channel's 3.3 million viewers. The result was " 8-Bitham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," a video that blends the film's premise with a classic, side-scrolling video game setup.  The clip -- which is broken into game-like "levels," depicts a villainous, vampiric John Wilkes Booth kidnapping Mary Lincoln.

Just when you think you know a president, you find out the guy was also crusader against legions of undead monsters. That's the premise behind "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," based on the mash-up novel by Seth Grahame-Smith (who also wrote the script) and directed by Timur Bekmambetov ("Wanted"). Alas, Honest Abe's newly revealed line of work isn't going over so well with movie critics, many of whom are panning the film. The Times' Kenneth Turan concedes that "Vampire Hunter" offers an intriguing idea but says it fails in execution: "... [A]

After the coffee. Before finding a new hiding place for my pine tar. The Skinny: I'm hoping Oklahoma City can extend the NBA Finals to at least six games. Thursday's headlines include a look at whether "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" will slay audiences this weekend, a shake-up is in the works at NBC's "Today" and TBS shells out big bucks for reruns of "2 Broke Girls. " Daily Dose: If you thought you might escape the hype for Charlie Sheen's new FX sitcom "Anger Management" by watching the Mets - Yankees games Saturday, think again.

History remembers him as Honest Abe, Father Abraham, the Great Emancipator, even the Illinois Rail Splitter. But"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"? Who knew? Now, the secret life of the 16th president of the United States and his passion for ridding the world of "immortal blood sucking demons" is revealed for all to see. In 3-D, no less. It turns out that it wasn't just the lack of air-conditioning that made Lincoln miserable in the fetid air of 1860sWashington, D.C., it was all the undead he had to eradicate before the slaves could be freed and the Union made whole.

The swoony, sparkly vampires in the "Twilight" saga have sold a bloody fortune at the box office, thanks largely to a devoted fan base of young women and teenage girls. But will young adult men respond in the same way to the vicious vein-drainers in the far more grown-up"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"? Opening in wide release Friday against Pixar's animated"Brave" and Focus Features' apocalyptic love story"Seeking a Friend for the End of the World," Fox's "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" presents an alternative biography of the 16th president in which the great orator is actually an ax-wielding monster slayer determined to avenge the death of his mother and rid the nation of an unseen, undead menace.

If there's a formula for the success of “True Blood,” it might lie in the alchemical properties of blood, sex and magic. But for his final turn as show runner, series creator Alan Ball has mentioned that he plans to emphasize religion and politics. Those subjects are hardly new to Bon Temps, but in Sunday's episode, “Authority Always Wins,” we begin to learn the details concerning the central conceit of the season. There is, it seems, a vampire bible, an original testament that describes how Lilith, Adam's “first wife,” was made in the image of God: a vampire.