Like Zoom and Pulse, Step Up should probably have avoided the critics, too. Few find much to like about it -- even the title. "Step Up isn't a movie," writes Richard Roeper in the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's a sign you see when you enter the lightly elevated booths at the Rock Bottom Brewery." Nearly all the critics say that the movie sticks to the formula for such flicks to a T. "You know those footprints pasted on the floor by dance instructors so students know where to move next?" writes Steve Persall in the St. Petersburg Times. "Step Up operates in much the same, structured way: one, two, three, flirt; one, two, three, conflict; one, two, three, shake your booty to a lather; rinse off and repeat." "Step Up is so predictable, so remarkably so, you might wonder how such a movie got made," comments Bob Longino in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. On the other hand, the film receives a positive review in the New York Times, with critic Jeannette Catsoulis writing: "Step Up is a likable product that's refreshingly free of vulgarity." And Jessica Reaves writes in the Chicago Tribune: "While predictability and occasionally wooden dialogue keep this from being a truly good movie, it's certainly entertaining enough to please its intended audience."

Paramount executives met urgently Thursday to consider their marketing strategy for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, which opened on Wednesday. The Associated Press reported that some executives had wanted to scale back advertising for the film but that they eventually decided not to change their marketing plans. Paramount distribution chief Don Harris told the wire service: "The events of yesterday and today make this story even more poignant. ... But I don't know whether it helps or hurts." Paramount said that on opening day Wednesday the film earned $4.48 million, slightly below the $4.54 million earned by last weekend's top film, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Nevertheless, it exceeded most analysts' expectations. "I think what it does is make the movie more relevant and will resonate with audiences in a profound way given these recent events," Exhibitor Relations chief Paul Dergarabedian told today's Los Angeles Daily News. "But to me, this is not a movie that was released to make big bucks anyway; it's about getting an important story told." Three other films, Zoom, Pulse and Step Up are opening today (Friday), but the first two were not screened for critics.

Shares in Movie Gallery, the nation's No.2 video chain behind Blockbuster, plunged 54 percent Thursday after it disclosed that it had lost $14.9 million in the second quarter. It had posted a loss of $12.2 million during the same quarter a year ago. Analysts blamed the tumble on Movie Gallery's decision to acquire Hollywood Entertainment last year for $862 million and the debt it subsequently incurred in doing so. "It was a really painful day for a lot of investors in this company," one unnamed money manager told the New York Post. "It's a mess," entertainment analyst Dennis McAlpine remarked in USA Today. "They bit off more than they expected." Another big loser Thursday was Canadian-based IMAX, whose shares plummeted 41 percent after reporting that its efforts to find a buyer had been unsuccessful. The company has also seen mixed results from the release of several standard theatrical features on its giant-screen venues. Superman Returns turned out to be a huge hit on IMAX screens, but Poseidon, V for Vendetta and Ant Bully were at best mediocre.

With more computer-animated features released this year than at any time in history, families have concluded that they can afford to see only so many and are steering clear of recent ones, some movie executives have concluded. In an interview with London's Financial Times, News Corp president Peter Chernin commented: "You're just seeing too many [animated] movies in the market, and the average box office ... is coming down." Even Pixar's Cars, one of the biggest hits of the summer with $234 million in ticket sales, appeared to be affected by the deluge. Entertainment analyst Dennis McAlpine told the FT: "It should have opened a little bigger, and it should have lasted a little longer." Likewise DreamWorks Animation's Over the Hedge was regarded as a disappointment, even though it took in $150 million.

Daniel Craig has clearly been stung by blogs that have criticized his selection as the new James Bond in the upcoming Casino Royale. "If I went onto the Internet and started looking at what some people were saying about me -- which, sadly, I have done -- it would drive me insane," the British actor told Entertainment Weekly in its latest edition out today (Friday). "They hate me. They don't think I'm right for the role. It's as simple as that. They're passionate about it, which I understand, but I do wish they'd reserve judgment." Nevertheless, Craig acknowledges that he has tried to take "Bond to a place he'd never been before." He told the magazine, "I watched every single Bond movie three or four times, taking in everything I could about how the character had been portrayed in the past, then threw all that away once I started doing the role." It was not clear why he had studied the past performances so diligently if he had intended to throw away all that he had learned about the character.

News Corp's Fox News Channel, whose deployment of overseas correspondents is not nearly so extensive as rival CNN's, was able to take full advantage of corporate sibling Sky News in the U.K. Thursday as the story of the airline terrorist plot unfolded. Sky News reporters were deployed not only at London's major airports but also throughout the city for local reaction and at Scotland Yard for official accounts. CNN International, however, hit the air first, providing wall-to-wall coverage, sans commercials, for its first four hours of coverage, from 1:15 to 5:30 a.m. EDT. The cable news network even put its marketing director, Mark Haviland, on the air as he waited at Heathrow Airport for his flight to Italy to be rescheduled. CNN also asked passengers who were caught up in the airport chaos to send them videos from their camera phones via CNN Exchange. In a statement, the cable news network also observed: "As the only satellite-delivered television service available to waiting air travelers throughout the United States, CNN Airport Network has served as an essential news and information source about the latest terrorism threat." Meanwhile, despite its NBC News resources, MSNBC did not begin coverage of the story until two hours after its rivals did.

The CBS Public Eye blog said Thursday that the network has been deluged with complaints about Mike Wallace's scheduled interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad due to air Sunday on 60 Minutes. A typical complaint, it indicated, was this one: "What is it with CBS? First Saddam Hussein, now this creep! Don't you guys have any allegiance to America anymore? Goodness, it is where you got your start and where your world headquarters are. I'm switching to Fox." Another wrote: "Mike Wallace you should be ashamed of yourself! You should remember that Iran is part of the Axis of Evil. How dare you interview Iranian President. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the ENEMY." The CBS blog indicated that it had received a few congratulatory messages, like this one: "The administration's policy of attacking anyone who states a truth different from theirs is anti-democracy, anti-America. It takes courage to stand up to the mindless hate and hysteria that is being engendered by our power hungry leaders." Commenting on the messages, Vaughn Vergers, who runs the CBS blog, observed: "The media's job is to present information, the journalist's job is to ask the questions, the audience's job is to judge the answers."

Almost no one has any idea what the initials ESPN stand for (it's Entertainment & Sports Programming Network), but just about everyone knows what it means -- sports on TV. For that reason, apparently, ABC has decided to drop its own identification with the sports programs that it airs and substitute the ESPN brand beginning Sept. 2. "We believe that by expanding the ESPN brand to the ABC television network ... we'll be able to serve fans better," ESPN/ABC Sports President George Bodenheimer told the Hollywood Reporter Thursday. Several analysts regarded the move as the destruction of the house that former ABC Chairman Roone Arledge built with Monday Night Football and Wide World of Sports. "My heart just weeps for Roone's legacy," Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, told today's (Friday) New York Times. Another critic was longtime ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson, who commented to the Times: "A lot of people worked to make ABC what it was, and they deserve more than to have their legacy callously tossed aside." But Frank Gifford, who replaced Jackson on MNF in 1971, remarked, "The tail took over the dog. ... The tail outgrew the dog. The world has changed."

The last time Jack Black hosted a major event in New York, he was upstaged by a giant ape. When it was announced Thursday that he will host the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards from Radio City Music Hall on Aug. 31, Black said he plans to control "the thunder." In a statement released by MTV, Black was quoted as saying. "I've got my top men working on it as we speak in my thunder laboratory. Radio City Music Hall will never be the same." Besides starring in King Kong, Black has also appeared in such music-oriented films as School of Rock and High Fidelity and will next be seen in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny in November. He starred this year in the hit comedy Nacho Libre. MTV President Christina Norman said, "Jack Black is the perfect mix of comedy, rock, irreverence, and star-power that will set the tone for an amazing show."