cinema

Elizabeth Taylor fans have been flocking to eBay to pick up memorabilia since the movie star died last week, reportedly doubling prices for some merchandise. But are these collectibles worth the investment? Appraisers from Antiques Roadshow weigh in.

At least one analyst is predicting that fourth-quarter box-office sales are set to fall 12% as most 3-D movies have failed to attract big audiences this year. Even worse: The trend extends beyond movie theaters to the living room.

Among Thursday's best reads for investors from around the Web: Business lessons from the Beatles, Cody Willard's latest stock picks and the newest billionaire.

After months of delays, the deal is done: An investment group called Filmyard Holdings is the proud new owner of the storied Miramax Films. The sale was announced back in June, but concerns about bank financing pushed the closing date back until now.

Bidding for an original Darth Vader costume from the "Star Wars" movie series failed to reach the undisclosed reserve at a Christie's auction Thursday. Auctioneers had expected the costume to sell for between 160,000 pounds and 230,000 pounds ($250,000 to $365,000). The top bid was 150,000 British pounds (roughly $236,000).

After its drama with shareholder Carl Icahn, Lions Gate is apparently out of the bidding for MGM. Creditors of the storied studio -- which owns the James Bond franchise and half of the rights to "The Hobbit" films -- approved a merger with Spyglass Entertainment on Friday.

Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar is in talks to buy U.S. movie studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc in a deal worth more than $2 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. MGM owes creditors about $4 billion, mostly to hedge funds that purchases the studio's bank obligations at a discount. The...

Ticket sales at cinemas this summer fell to the lowest since 1997 as prices rose. Box office ticket sales from the first weekend of May through the Labor Day holiday are expected to slip 2.6% to 552 million, Bloomberg News reported. "The movies just didn't excite people the way they needed to,"...

The Walt Disney Co. has reached an agreement to sell storied arthouse-film company Miramax to a consortium of private investors for $660 million. The deal follows years of speculation over Miramax's fate after the 2005 departure of founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein.

The latest movie in the vampire-based Twilight franchise -- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse -- netted $30 million on its opening night, beating the previous installment's $26.3 million. Will it also beat its predecessor's total proceeds of $710 million?