Thompson on Hollywood

Tribeca Film Festival Jurors Include Eckhart, Alba, Braff, Goldberg

The 2010 Tribeca Film Festival--which opens April 21 and runs through May 2--has selected some 35 jurors for its six juries. Jessica Alba, Selma Blair, Zach Braff, Hope Davis, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Facinelli, America Ferrera, Whoopi Goldberg, John Hamburg, Alicia Keys, Aidan Quinn, John Ridley, Gary Ross, Brooke Shields and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey will vote for competition winners to be announced at the Awards Night Party on April 29. The full list of jurors and their respective categories is below:

By Anne Thompson
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April 13, 2010 5:31 AM
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Tribeca: Exclusive Monogamy Preview

Forget celebrity bad boys like Eliot Spitzer, Tiki Barber, Jesse James and Tiger Woods. Fidelity in everyday relationships seems to be a hot topic in films these days, from Date Night to micro-indies like Breaking Upwards and The Freebie. Add Dana Adam Shapiro's feature directing debut Monogamy to the list. The low-budget indie-financed film debuts April 24 at the Tribeca Film Festival (Submarine is selling). Check the exclusive clip below.

By Anne Thompson
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April 13, 2010 4:03 AM
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Critics Update: Variety, Salon, Movieline Moves

Many people seem to be failing to recognize the distinction between the end of the old media economic model that could afford to pay critics six-figure salaries and the new paradigm which demands that critics deliver more for less--often online. Certainly, indieWIRE is not paying its new in-house critic Eric Kohn what Variety was paying Todd McCarthy. And despite what Variety editor Tim Gray's carefully-worded editorial suggests, he did not offer new deals to its laid-off critics McCarthy and David Rooney before delivering them their new unemployed status. Nor has it closed new deals with them since the March lay-offs. Meanwhile, as I announced Friday, Mail.com's Jay Penske, the owner of Deadline and Hollywoodlife, has lured Salon critic Stephanie Zacharek to review for another one of his flotilla of entertainment sites, Movieline. Salon tried to keep her, but Movieline made her an offer she couldn't refuse. She will definitely class up the joint, which has lost one of its three initial hires from Defamer, Seth Abramovitch; Kyle Buchanan and S.T. VanAirsdale remain. Zacharek leaves colleague Andrew O'Hehir behind; Salon plans to reconfigure her job.

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 11:02 AM
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Is Pitt Signed to Star in Moneyball?

While Deadline and The Playlist have many details of Sony's pending not-yet-greenlit Moneyball production, written sequentially by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, to be directed by Bennett Miller and starring Jonah Hill, the part I'm not sure about is Brad Pitt.

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 10:29 AM
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Breaking Upwards: Wein and Lister Jones Give DIY Primer

"Nothing is better than five weeks of word of mouth in a movie theater."

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 9:15 AM
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Conan O'Brien Blows Off Fox, Signs Mega-Deal with TBS

“In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theaters, and now I’m headed to basic cable," said Conan O'Brien on the occasion of his ground-breaking new deal with Time Warner's TBS. "My plan is working perfectly.”

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 8:19 AM
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Disney's Iger Meets with Weinstein, Gets Cash Offer

It would be great to see Disney chairman Robert Iger--the subject of a recent lionizing profile in the NYT--do the right thing where Miramax is concerned.

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 7:42 AM
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Treme: Another HBO Must-See from The Wire's David Simon

I couldn't wait to watch Sunday night's latest HBO series, Treme, from The Wire's David Simon, set in post-Katrina New Orleans. I was not disappointed. TOH critic Tim Appelo has the review:

By Tim Appelo
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April 11, 2010 11:26 AM
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Date Night's Tina Fey Rechannels Sarah Palin on SNL

Tina Fey is the hardest-working woman in show business, creating and starring in NBC's hit sitcom 30 Rock and starring with Steve Carell in Date Night, which is far smarter and more grown-up than most studio comedies these days. Fey's no fool: to boost the movie's opening weekend, she returned to SNL to rechannel Sarah Palin, who is, conveniently, back in the news. Fey announced the "all Sarah Palin all the time" "Sarah Palin Network," with such new series as "Todd!" and "Hey Journalist, I Gotcha!":

By Anne Thompson
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April 11, 2010 8:24 AM
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Date Night Scores as Titans Crashes

Twentieth Century Fox execs woke up Sunday morning to the news that their Steve Carell-Tina Fey action romantic comedy Date Night stole the No. 1 box office spot away from Warner Bros.’ Clash of the Titans. It was a matter of dollars and cents, reports TOH box office analyst Anthony D'Alessandro, with an estimated $27.1 million at 3,374 venues versus $26.9 million for the Greek epic, which crashed 56%. UPDATE: By Monday, though, Titans squeaked ahead on the numbers ($26.7 million), thanks to premium 3D ticket prices and an overestimation by Fox on Date Night, which only scored $25.2 million.