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Oscar documentary scandal: The real reason too many good movies got left out
22 hours ago | EW.com - The Movie Critics | See recent EW.com - The Movie Critics news »
The 15-film "short list" for this year's Best Documentary competition in the Academy Awards has provoked more than the usual shock and outrage, and for good reason. Every year, there's a certain level of white-noise griping about Oscar "snubs." This year's list, though, isn't just lackluster -- there's something fundamentally off about it. It's almost perverse. Compiled by a star chamber of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters (it's not specified how many of the 151 documentary branch members actually watch the films and produce the final roster), the list omits far too many of the documentaries -- like, »
- Owen Gleiberman
Movie Reviews: “Planet 51”
21 hours ago | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »
Planet 51, an animated film about an alternate Earth still living in the 1950s (while the inhabitants are green and sport antennas on their heads, they speak English) that is invaded by modern man, is likely to attract an alternate audience -- families. It's receiving so-so reviews. "Although not bowling me over, Planet 51 is a jolly and good-looking animated feature in glorious 2D," writes the Chicago Sun-Times's Roger Ebert, who is no fan of most animated 3D features. Stephen Holden in the New York Times calls it "agreeable but flagrantly unoriginal." Annie Biancolli in the San Francisco Chronicle regards Planet 51 as "an innocuous computerized bauble." And Nancy Churnin in the Dallas Morning News says it's "definitely a planet worth a visit." But Steven Rea of the Philadelphia Inquirer regards it as an "uninspired computer-animated feature that may satisfy undiscriminating pipsqueaks and nearly no one else." Jane Horwitz in the Washington Post agrees, noting, "Most of the jokes are geared to adults and are a little tasteless, yet the story itself seems aimed at kids." Similarly, Ty Burr writes in the Boston Globe that the movie is "obnoxiously written, with too many cutesy-dirty double-entendres that are meant to appeal to the grown-ups but that only make the movie seem cringingly infantile." »
Kick-Ass Gets A UK Distributor
20 November 2009 8:28 AM, PST | | See recent news »
Good news, British readers: Kick-Ass, the really exciting, very funny and slightly twisted new film from Matthew Vaughn, has found a UK distributor. Yes, Universal will be bringing us the tale of superheroes minus superpowers, which is good news for audiences still waiting more than a month after it found a Us distributor.The film is based, of course, on the Mark Millar comics about a boy who decides to become a superhero without the benefit of superpowers, super-suits or super-anything else. Except for maybe super-ability-to-get-his-ass-kicked.It stars Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage and Mark Strong. We suspect that the UK release date will closely mirror the planned Us release on April 16, but we'll bring you confirmation of that as soon as we have it. »
Theater Necking To Take On New Meaning
21 hours ago | Studio Briefing - Film News | See recent Studio Briefing - Film News news »
Defying conventional wisdom that teenage boys control the box office, box office analysts are predicting record crowds -- mostly of teenage girls -- for this weekend's opening of Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Today's (Friday) Los Angeles Times said that the film will likely sell about $90 million worth of tickets and could possibly cross the $100-million mark, putting it just behind the year's biggest ticket seller, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke quoted sources as saying that the movie's midnight take may have exceeded that of The Dark Knight. Both Transformers and Knight were aimed squarely at young men, while the Twilight movie is aimed at young women. Although today's ticket sales are likely to be enormous, Saturday's are likely to fall off dramatically, if the original Twilight is any indication. That movie saw a decline of 41 percent on its second day, then drop 62 percent on its second weekend, despite the fact that it, like its sequel, went into its second week with the benefit of the Thanksgiving holiday. The vampire/werewolf love-triangle will be doing battle with the second week of the end-of-the-world saga 2012, which is expected to lose more than half its opening-weekend audience, but still perform quite nicely. Two new films (besides New Moon) opening wide, Planet 51 and The Blind Side, are iffy propositions.
Update: The Twilight Saga: New Moon amassed a sensational $26.27 million for its midnight screenings, smashing the previous record, according to estimates released today (Friday) by its producer, Summit Entertainment. The result far outdistanced that for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which recorded a midnight opening of $22.20 million in July, to set a record for a five-day weekend, and The Dark Knight, which garnered $18.5 million in July of 2008, to set the record for a three-day weekend. »
IFC & Netflix Team To Stream 53 Indies
20 November 2009 8:39 AM, PST | IndieWIRE | See recent indieWIRE news »
IFC Entertainment and Netflix have announced a partnership that gives Netflix the U.S. rights to 53 unique titles from IFC Entertainment. Through this agreement select titles from IFC Entertainment’s library of independent films will become available to be streamed instantly to televisions and computers via the Netflix service. The deal was announced jointly by Lisa Schwartz, executive vice president for IFC Entertainment, and Robert Kyncl, vice president of content acquisition for … »
Oscar 2010: Animated Short Film Semi-Finalists
20 hours ago | | See recent news »
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 10 semi-finalists in the animated short film category of the 2010 Academy Awards. Thirty-seven entries had originally qualified in the category. They are: The Cat Piano, Eddie White and Ari Gibson, directors (The People’s Republic of Animation) French Roast, Fabrice O. Joubert, director (Pumpkin Factory/Bibo Films) Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, Nicky Phelan, director, and Darragh O’Connell, producer (Brown Bag Films) The Kinematograph, Tomek Baginski, director-producer (Platige Image) The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte), Javier Recio Gracia, director (Kandor Graphics and Green Moon) Logorama, Nicolas Schmerkin, producer (Autour de Minuit) A Matter of Loaf and Death, Nick Park, director (Aardman Animations Ltd.) Partly Cloudy, Peter [...] »
- Anna Robinson
Making The (Up) Grade: Rocky
31 minutes ago | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
While new Blu-rays of old movies are sometimes dubious replacements for prior editions (hence the need for this column), box sets released in the high-definition format have thus far been fairly helpful, at least in terms of shelf space: many or most of them forego a lot of the frills and flourishes of their standard-definition iterations in favor of more streamlined packaging. Unfortunately, that's also sometimes extended to their extras, thanks in no small part to the legal entanglements of transferring commentaries and bonus content from one format to another.
Both Warner Brothers and Fox have faced this challenge a couple of times thanks to their ownership/ adoption of the libraries of MGM and United Artists, which until a few years ago issued their own releases. Rocky, which is one of United Artists' premier franchises, was recently released on Blu-ray in The Undisputed Collection, a set that contains all »
- Todd Gilchrist
Friday Box Office: New Moon, New Record
33 minutes ago | Movieline | See recent Movieline news »
The Dark Knight may have had a lot of things going for it, but it didn't have Taylor Lautner's abs. Aided by a cuh-cuh-crazy gross from midnight shows on Thursday, The Twilight Saga: New Moon absolutely decimated the previous opening day record of $67.2 million set by The Dark Knight, banking $72.7 million from less screens and less theaters. Can it break Knight's all-time opening weekend record, $158.4 million? To be continued...
Full figures, after the jump: »
'Avatar' Watch: Running Time Announced and New Featurettes
2 hours ago | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
Though early rumors suggested the film was going to clock in at over three hours, 20th Century Fox claims James Cameron's Avatar will instead clock in at 150 minutes (or 2.5 hours), or about 156 minutes if you count the credits. The main reason why the film will run under three hours is because of the IMAX showings. Avatar will open in about 180 domestic IMAX theaters on December 18th, and because of the way the IMAX system is set up, the theaters that aren't converted over to digital projection can only hold about 170 minutes worth of film. But while Cameron's final edit came in significantly under 170 minutes, there's no saying whether there will be a cut on the DVD that will run over 170 minutes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Avatar will open on a minimum of 5,500 screens, with almost half of those screens equipped to show the film in 3D.
In other Avatar news, »
- Erik Davis
'New Moon' snaps 'Dark Knight' box-office record with $72.7 million opening day
3 hours ago | EW - Hollywood Insider.com | See recent EW.com - Hollywood Insider news »
The Twilight Saga: New Moon grossed $72.7 million on Friday, according to estimates from Summit Entertainment, shattering The Dark Knight's previous opening-day record of $67.2 million. (The figure includes the $26.3 million New Moon banked from midnight screenings, also a box office record.) The astronomic figure puts Bella, Edward, and Jacob on a clear path to possibly the biggest opening weekend ever, all the more impressive considering New Moon is opening in 342 fewer theaters than The Dark Knight did last year. Update: Meanwhile, it appears the vampires and werewolves of New Moon didn't devour the box office whole; the Sandra Bullock true-life »
- Adam B. Vary
Page 3
3 hours ago | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »
The above image can't possibly be called exploitation in the name of hit hunting. Why? Because sex and nudity don't lure us into the cinema, or at least it says so here a new report discussed at Miller McCune (via Cinematical). So why would it work with blog posts? Ahem. Page 3 is the eccentric little brother of Page 2 and compiles even more stories which, for whatever reason, didn’t make the front page of /Film. There’s a whole heap of different items after the break. Variety have charted the success so far of Princess and the Frog merchandise. 45,000 Tiana dolls sold to date, 17,000 in just the last week. Is that a lot? I thought they shifted a lot more Lightning McQueens than that. You can stream four tracks from the Dr. Parnassus soundtrack by Jeff and Mychael Danna at The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus Support Site. ...and when »
- Brendon Connelly
Friday Box Office - New Moon Busts All-Time Opening Day Record with $72.7 Million
3 hours ago | Collider.com | See recent Collider.com news »
It’s official! The all-time Opening Day record for any film premiering on any day has fallen. All hail the new king of the box office: The Twilight Saga: New Moon. See what the concentrated power of ten million screaming tween girls can accomplish? Official estimates from Summit Entertainment put New Moon at $72.7 million for Friday, including the $26.3 million the sequel brought in from its midnight engagements. That is more than $5 million above the former all-time record of $67.2 million set by The Dark Knight back in 2008 and a 100% increase on the $36 million debut of Twilight one year ago. The question now is whether New Moon can keep up this pace long enough to break The Dark Knight’s other record: $158.4 million in three days. Check back tomorrow to find out how it all plays out.
Title Friday Total 1 New Moon $72,700,000 $72.7 2 The Blind Side $10,920,000 $10.9 3 2012 $8,100,000 $89.8 4 Precious $3,600,000 $13.9 5 Planet 51 $3,150,000 $3.1 »
- Nicole Pedersen
'New Moon' Smashes 'Dark Knight's' Opening Day Record!
4 hours ago | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
According to Erc, The Twilight Saga: New Moon sold roughly $71 million (Variety is reporting $72.7 million) worth of tickets on its opening day -- a number that, if correct, far surpasses the current opening day box office record of $67 million set by The Dark Knight back in 2008. With its $26 million take in midnight showings, that gives the second installment in the Twilight franchise two pretty giant records: Best Midnight Opening and Best Single Day Opening. Next up for the franchise is the three-day opening weekend record, also held by The Dark Knight with $158 million.
So what does this say about us? Well, while it's not as critically acclaimed as, say, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (previous midnight opening record holder) or The Dark Knight, these numbers do show just how much of an impact the female audience can have on a box office take. Sure, when The Dark Knight broke »
- Erik Davis
'New Moon' Shreds Movie Records! Opens To $72.7M Biggest Friday, $125M Weekend
5 hours ago | Deadline Hollywood | See recent Deadline Hollywood news »
Breaking News! Saturday 8:20Am Update: "The night definitely belongs to Twilight." This is what a Hollywood insider told me early this morning after New Moon's late Friday night numbers came in. Summit Entertainment is now saying it debuted to $72.7 million from 4,024 North American theaters. This shatters both previous All-Time Friday and Single Day records of $67 million set by 2008's The Dark Knight. So Batman was beaten by the Twilight sequel's vampires and werewolves which won't sit well with the superhero-loyal moviegoing community. But Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight Saga" novels -- New Moon is the second in the series -- are now proving as [...] »
- Nikki Finke
Watch Jay Leno New Moon Special
6 hours ago | ShockYa | See recent ShockYa news »
Watch the Jay Leno New Moon special with guest Dakota Fanning. Dakota stars in the film “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” based on the novel by Stephenie Meyer. New Moon stars Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), Kristen Stewart (Adventureland, The Runaways), Nikki Reed (K-11), Ashley Greene (Skateland), Taylor Lautner, (My Own Worst Enemy), Jackson Rathbone (S. Darko) Dakota Fanning and Kellan Lutz. Click Here for more photos, news and videos from Twilight and New Moon. Movie Synopsis: After Bella recovers from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, she looks to celebrate her birthday with Edward and his family. However, a minor accident during [...] »
- Brian Corder
'New Moon' screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg blogs her premiere night experience
6 hours ago | EW - Hollywood Insider.com | See recent EW.com - Hollywood Insider news »
Melissa Rosenberg, the writer who adapted The Twilight Saga: New Moon for the big screen, sent EW her first-person account of the movie's the star-studded premiere earlier this week. Melissa Rosenberg: The family started coming to town a couple days before The Night. Excitement has been high, lots of discussions about wardrobe, and some last-minute shoe and shirt shopping. Finally, everyone's outfit is decided upon. The big day arrives. Around noon, the house starts filling with the friends and family who are joining me for the premiere. Garen Tolkin, fab make up and hair artist, arrives to glam me up. »
- EW staff
Right Now on TV Squad
6 hours ago | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »
Our brothers and sisters over at TV Squad have busted through the boob tube and brought with them the following juicy bits of must-see eye candy. Gird your loins, folks, Lost finally has a premiere date! Check out this latest installment of the TV Squad podcast. Joel Keller answers listener mail, covers AMC's The Prisoner, and discusses James Franco's guest stint on General Hospital. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force is going to be returning with a special Christmas episode on December 13. Remember that contest to create the newest Simpsons character? Well, they've announced a winner. Brooke Shields will be guesting on ABC's The Middle playing a suburban mother of four. ...and finally, Aaron Sorkin will be returning to television with yet another behind the scenes style show.
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- Matt Bradshaw
James McTeigue Discusses Ninja Assassin
8 hours ago | Reelzchannel.com | See recent ReelzChannel news »
Digital effects have become a mainstay of Hollywood action movies these days and director James McTeigue's (V for Vendetta) latest movie, Ninja Assassin, is no exception. However, in a recent interview with Coming Soon, McTeigue said that many of the weapons were real and that the movie's lead, Korean pop star Rain, trained "for five or six months," and that he had "incredible discipline."
Rain in the movie uses this blade and chain weapon, but when we're training him, it's with an actual martial arts weapon called the rope dart, so he trained with that so he knew how to swing it around, because then ultimately when you get into it, you need something for him to physically use. He'll use that, and the visual FX guys will put tracking markers on it, so that way, it gives the stunt guys something to react to and then we'll replace it later. »
- BrentJS Sprecher
Red Cliff Director, John Woo, on Next Secret's Out with Leonard Maltin
10 hours ago | Reelzchannel.com | See recent ReelzChannel news »
Leonard Maltin sits down with John Woo to discuss the director's war epic, Red Cliff, which tells the story of a legendary civil war in early-third-century China.
With thousands of extras in its battle scenes, Red Cliff is the most-expensive production in the history of Asian movies. The movie opens as power-hungry General Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from the Han dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei (Yong You) and Sun Quan (Chen Chang). Red Cliff shows the events during the end of the Han Dynasty and right before the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China.
Tune in for the Secret's Out premiere on Friday, November 27, at 6:30 Pm Et/ 3:30 Pm Pt. Or catch one of its encore showings.
Next Showing:
Red Cliff - Trailer
The battle that effectively ended the Han dynasty's »
- reelz reelz
Fantastic Mr. Fox Featurette Foxy Music
12 hours ago | ShockYa | See recent ShockYa news »
An inside look at Fantastic Mr. Fox, as we watch Alexandre Desplat compose original music for the film. “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” by director Wes Anderson (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) is based on the book by Roald Dahl. The film featuring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman. Synopsis: “Boggis and Bunce and Bean, One short, one fat, one lean. These horrible crooks, so different in looks, were nonetheless equally mean.” Mr. Fox, Mrs. Fox, and all their fox babies live under a hill under a tree, along with Badger, Rabbit, Weasel, and all of their families. To make ends meet, every night, Mr. Fox [...] »
- Brian Corder
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