Comedian Bernie Mac died on August 9th, but he has two major films coming out this weekend: a leading role in the adult comedy "Soul Man" and a supporting role in "Madagascar: Escape2Africa." He voices a new character - the father of Alex the Lion.

Bernie Mac had roles in such films as "Mr. 3000", the "Oceans" series and "Transformers." His hit TV show on FOX lasted more than 100 episodes.

I hope (and predict) that "Madagascar 2" and "Soul Man" are the top two films at the box office this weekend. That would be a nice way for fans to show that they still care and remember Mac, even after his untimely death. He will be missed.

In other news...

"Iron Man" star Terrence Howard will not be in the 2010 sequel. Instead his character, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, will be played by Don Cheadle. And we hear that the role will be much bigger than in the original.

Reports are that Howard was the highest-paid actor in "Iron Man." That's hard to believe, but anything is possible in wacky Hollywood.

And, finally...producers of "The Simpsons" have agreed to another 3 years of the show. Next year it will become the longest running prime time sitcom of all time! I hope they can still find time to start working on the sequel to "The Simpsons Movie."

The Holiday Movie Season is just about here. Chances are you've already seen the trailers and know what's coming. But here's a look at the  Family Films that will be hitting theaters this Winter, after Santa has come and gone:

"Hotel For Dogs" - Paramount/Nickelodean. Emma Roberts, Don Cheadle. A group of kids start up a home for strays and try not to get caught. January 16.

"Paul Blart: Mall Cop" - Sony/Columbia. Kevin James stars as a crazy mall security guy who has to stop criminals from taking over his mall. January 16.

"Inkheart" - New Line Cinema (WB). This is Brendan Fraser's 3rd adventure film is 6 months. Oscar winner Helen Mirren co-stars. The story involves characters from books that come to life. Januart 23.

"The Pink Panther 2" - MGM. Steve Martin reprises his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Lily Tomlin is also in the cast. February 6.

And finally...OH MY GOSH..."The Jonas Brothers:Burning-Up!" Disney. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. February 27. 

The re-release of "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" in 3D opened last Friday in theaters nationwide. This is the 3rd year in a row that Disney is showing the film around Halloween. But it did not do well at all at the Box Office, making only $372,000.

Two years ago it opened at $2.5 million. Last year, $5.1 million. I went both years and really enjoyed it. This has become a holiday tradition in our family. But now I wonder if Disney will continue showing in it theaters every year.

The reason it did so poorly is because the movie was released as a special anniversary edition DVD earlier this summer. Or, maybe there just aren't enough "Nightmare" fans who want to keep going to see it every year. Disney made a bad decision releasing the DVD BEFORE Halloween. The studio should have waited until after it had it's 3-week run in theaters.

Let's hope Disney continues the tradition next year. It's a movie that needs to be seen on the big screen to be fully enjoyed.

One of the Regal Cinemas near where I live is adding an IMAX screen. In fact they're coverting one of the regular theaters into an IMAX.

Back in March, Regal and IMAX struck a deal to bring 20 new IMAX screens to Regal theaters around the country, and one of them is coming to my town! Sweet! It's supposed to be open by Thankgiving. That's pretty quick. Our area really needed an IMAX. The nearest one is practically 2-hours away.

Upcoming IMAX releases include: "Madagascar: Escape2Africa", "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and the re-release of "The Dark Knight" in January.

I'm looking forward to seeing and reviewing more IMAX films because it looks great and the effects are amazing (especially in IMAX 3-D) 

Two movies that I saw this past week, "The Express" and "City of Ember", both performed poorly at the box office. "The Express" grabbed $4.7M and "Ember" took in only $3.2M.

I think "The Express" is one of the best films of the year, while I didn't love "City of Ember" (see reviews below). Down through the years I have reviewed a lot of films that bombed at the box office - some that were really good and some that were terrible. You'd think that the good ones would do better than the bad ones, but that's not always the case.

Predicting how movies will do at the box office is always tricky and you can't judge by the quality of the film. But I don't like it when good movies such as "The Express" or "Be Kind Rewind" don't make a lot of money. Sure, people can always catch them when they come out on DVD, but making it high in the Top 10 that first weekend is a major accomplishment.

Disney is making a big mistake in their promotion of the upcoming animated movie, "Bolt." Before family films and during trailers, the studio is showing actual clips of the film. Long clips. Five minute clips. I've seen three of them so far before "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" and "The Express."

Disney thinks this is a way of getting people excited about seeing "Bolt." But, instead, they're spoiling the film for everyone who is planning on seeing it. I won't enjoy those scenes anymore because I've already seen them!

So I make this request to Disney Studios and the people who make Regal Cinema's "First Look-Play": STOP SHOWING THE "BOLT" SCENES.

And while I'm at it, I also wish that Regal would stop showing "Play" before all their PG films. "Play" is for little kids. They should save it for little kids movies and not PG films that aren't kiddie films (such as "The Express").  

It was certainly sad news last weekend when word came out that Paul Newman had died at the age of 83. His most famous roles, from the dozens of movies he made, were in the films "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "Cool Hand Luke."

But most kids know him best as the voice of Doc Hudson in Disney/Pixar's "Cars." It's too bad that someone else will have to try to do Doc's voice in the sequel.

Paul Newman was also a big fan of children. He donated millions of dollars to charities, including the Double H Hole in the Woods camp in Upstate New York, a place where kids with cancer and other critical illnesses go to have fun with their families and other kids.

He will be deeply missed.

Disney has a very busy end of the year coming-up with the releases of "Beverly Hills Chihuahua", "High School Musical 3", "Bolt" and the re-release of "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas." But the studio also made some big news this week by announcing plans for major projects in the future.

First, there will be a 4th "Pirates of the Caribbean" film...and Johnny Depp will definitely be back as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Depp will also play The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's live-action adaption of "Alice in Wonderland." The original Disney animated classic came out in 1951.

There will also be a "National Treasure 3." No suprise, since this year's "N.T. Book of Secrets" made almost $500 million worldwide.

The animated, "The Princess and the Frog", will be Disney's 2009 Holiday release. Oprah Winfrey will voice the Princess's mother is the film.

And, we already knew that "Cars 2" was set for a 2012 release...but before then Disney will be debuting "Cars-toons." These apparently will be shorts that will be shown in theaters before Disney and Disney-Pixar movies and on The Disney Channel.

Even at the age of 80 Mickey's showning no signs of slowing down.

My dad and I got a late start heading to see "Igor" the other night. When we got to the theater the "Regal First Look" was already underway (I usually try to catch the entire "First Look"). And the place was packed. In fact most of the upper level of the theater was filled. So we had to sit downstairs...which...to be honest...I had never done before in all my years of going to the movies.

And you know what? It was great. We got two seats in the middle of the back row that are usually reserved for the partners of customers in wheel chairs, but since they were not being used an usher told us to sit there. And they were amazing seats, maybe my new favorite seats for animated films (though probably a little too close to the screen for live-action films).

Before this my favorite seat location was upper level...three rows back...in the middle. But from now on I'm going to look for those back row, lower -level seats, and as long as they're not being used by people who really need them, they may get used by me.

Week One of the newest edition of the TV movie review show, "At The Movies", now starring Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz, was not very good. The two Ben's did not seem comfortable with each other or the set, which looked very cheap. Plus the lighting was bad and there was too much editing in the show during the discussions by the critics, especially during a segment involving three other critics from around the country.

But, Week Two's show, which I just saw, was much better. The set has been spruced-up and the choppy editing was gone. There's still a lot of work to do but at least they seem to have picked-up a little stream.

My overall grade for the show: C.

The new "At The Movies" will never be as good as the "Siskel and Ebert" and "Ebert and Roeper" editions but I'll keep watching.