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After thirty-three years of sentencing films to a gladiator-like fate with strategically positioned thumbs, Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert has decided to walk away from "At the Movies." The Associated Press has said Disney-ABC Domestic Television, which owns "At the Movies With Ebert and Roeper," has decided to take the program in a new direction. "'I will no longer be associated with it,'" the famous film critic has stated. Ebert's decision comes a day after cohort Richard Roeper decided to quit the show because of failure to agree on a contract extension with Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

At the Movies began in 1975 when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, two competing Chicago newspaper film reviewers, launched a public access show on Chicago's WTTW that was grounded in the roots of simplicity. "'Gene and I felt the formula was simplicity itself: Two film critics, sitting across the aisle from each other in a movie balcony, debating the new films of the week. We developed an entirely new concept for TV.'" In 1999, Siskel died of a brain tumor and fellow Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper was selected to partner with Ebert to continue the show. Roeper plans to proceed with a ninth year as the co-host of televised movie review show that lives up to the standards of what Siskel and Ebert established, but has not given more details. He does not, however, rule out the option of teaming up with Ebert again.

More than anything, Ebert and his companions are widely known for their "two thumbs up/two thumbs down" assessment of movies that was established when the show first aired. He and Siskel's widow, Marlene Iglitzen, still hold the rights to the trademark thumbs and are discussing plans to continue the tradition. He has, however, stated "'Disney cannot use the thumbs.'" For now, it is unclear in which direction Disney will take the show after Ebert and Roeper's departing and which bodily appendages will be used to grade films. Calls to the Disney office in regards to rumors of either a "two toothy smiles/two sad clown frowns" or "two erect members/two flaccid members" system of ranking were not immediately returned.

Ebert has been battling cancer in his throat and salivary gland and has not appeared on TV since a surgery in 2006 left him unable to speak. Despite that, he continues to write reviews and books.