Heading into its second weekend, Disney’s Alice in Wonderland will continue to score big numbers. According to Flixster, the Tim Burton fantasy (which has a Tomatoscore of 52%) is pacing about five times ahead of this week’s new releases. That’s not hard, because none of the newcomers are crossing over from their target demo. (Trailers are on the jump.) UPDATE: Box office watchers can now place bets on their predictions.
Universal’s long-delayed Iraq-war thriller Green Zone, which reunites the director-star Bourne team of Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon, will appeal to men. Unimpressive marketing materials have stressed the film’s relationship to the Bourne movies; it’s more like Michael Mann’s angry Big Tobacco expose The Insider, which earned rave reviews but tiny box office. Green Zone isn’t tracking well, but will likely earn a range of rave to mixed reviews as it opens on 2999 screens.
Written by Brian Helgeland, inspired and shaped by Rajiv Chandrasekaran’s “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone,” the material will be familiar to anyone who saw the Iraq documentary No End in Sight. The villain of the piece is the Coalition Provisional Authority’s Paul Bremer-figure (Greg Kinnear), who allowed the disbanded Iraqi army to transform into deadly armed insurgents. Damon plays a warrant officer searching for WMDs who rather unbelievably allies himself with a rogue CIA officer (Brendan Gleeson) to track down an Iraqi general. Amy Ryan’s WSJ reporter resembles the NYT’s Judith Miller.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Box Office, Spring, Franchises, Twilight, Genres, Comedy, Drama, Headliners, Matt Damon, Rob Pattinson, Independents, Summit, Marketing, Reviews, Studios, Paramount, Fox Searchlight, Universal/Focus Features, Video, Trailers on March 11, 2010 at 6:21am PST | Permalink | Comments (7)
Shahrukh Khan is everywhere these days. He gave an interview for NPR on his recent swing through America to promote his latest, My Name is Khan, which Fox Searchlight opened strongly this weekend as it debuted in Berlin. The big question is whether this Bollywood superstar will ever make the move to star in a Hollywood movie. While the studios are chasing him, like fellow star Aamir Khan, he’s got it pretty good back home, where Bollywood’s insular filmmaking community is a family affair.
Director Paul Schrader has long hoped that Khan might star in his planned hybrid American/Bollywood movie, Xtrme City, a contemporary PG-13 bilingual gangster thriller co-written with top Bollywood scribe Mushtaq Sheikh (Om Shanti Om), set in the underworld of Mumbai. Schrader seeks two major stars, one from Bollywood, one from Hollywood, to play two soldiers who meet as U.N. peacekeepers, then get drawn into a kidnapping scheme in Mumbai. The film’s producers are David Weisman and Anubhav Sinha.
So it is not insignificant that on Friday Khan hosted at his suite at Berlin’s Regent Hotel a meeting with Schrader and director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were in town to promote Shutter Island. The group talked of many things for several hours, but that Schrader project is one that I’d like to see. And yes, it’s going to have musical numbers.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Directors, Martin Scorsese, Genres, Bollywood, Headliners, Leonardo DiCaprio, Studios, Fox Searchlight on February 14, 2010 at 1:24pm PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
Nothing is certain until it’s over. And that’s especially true for the Oscar race.
While it’s hard to imagine anything dive-bombing Christoph Waltz and Mo’Nique’s Oscar chances, Sandra Bullock is not a lock to beat Meryl Streep—although Bullock’s Santa Barbara tribute probably wowed the local Academy members on hand. Many older Academy members are rooting for Hollywood’s most-nominated actress (16 to Jack Nicholson and Katharine Hepburn’s 12), who channeled her mother to play Julia Child, and hasn’t won an Oscar since 1983’s Sophie’s Choice. And The Hurt Locker‘s Jeremy Renner, who actually played the piano and sang on The View (clip on jump), is challenging veteran Jeff Bridges, whose singing in Crazy Heart not only makes the movie, but should win him his first Oscar. Does Renner have a shot? Most folks didn’t call Adrien Brody’s win for The Pianist. But, as Mark Harris writes in his Oscar cover story in New York Magazine, it’s Bridges’ turn.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Directors, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Franchises, Avatar, Headliners, Meryl Streep, Sandra Bullock, Independents, Summit, The Hurt Locker, Marketing, Media, Studios, Fox Searchlight, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros./New Line, TV, Video on February 9, 2010 at 3:16pm PST | Permalink | Comments (3)
(500) Days of Summer‘s Joseph Gordon-Levitt (almost) dances up a storm in this music clip:
by Anne Thompson, posted to Genres, Romance, Studios, Fox Searchlight, Video on December 21, 2009 at 2:31pm PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
For those who harbored hopes that Wes Anderson’s animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox might be eligible for a costume prize, it isn’t. My pal Jane in the Academy would happily vote for it—even if it was shot in stop-motion. But when we looked up the credits, we saw no designer. I checked with Fox Searchlight, and they confirm that there’s no official costume designer for the film.
That’s because all the costumes were conceptualized by Anderson, reports Searchlight, “and then the production used real seamstresses to sew each and every tiny costume.”
Anderson himself was the main designer, because he came up with most of the ideas for how each character should be dressed. But that’s not going to sit well with costume designers in the Academy or the costume design guild awards.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Genres, Animation, Studios, Fox Searchlight on December 17, 2009 at 2:04pm PST | Permalink | Comments (2)
Kris Tapley and I discuss the week’s frenetic doings: National Board of Review, parties for The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart and The Lovely Bones, and the upcoming sci-fi monster Avatar.
MTV has posted last week’s MTV live stream with Avatar’s James Cameron, Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington; here’s Time’s Avatar takeout By Rebecca Winters Keegan, who has also written a Cameron bio, The Futurist.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Directors, Clint Eastwood, James Cameron, Kathryn Bigelow, Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino, Franchises, Avatar, Independents, Summit, Weinsteins, Studios, Paramount, Fox Searchlight on December 5, 2009 at 4:30pm PST | Permalink | Comments (2)
It was amusing watching announcers Matt Dillon and Taraji Henson maul the global Independent Spirit Awards nominees live on UStream Tuesday morning: they couldn’t wrap their tongues around many of the names. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire and The Last Station dominated with five nominations apiece. Best feature and best actor nominee 500 Days of Summer and best director James Gray (Two Lovers) were other big surprises. The announcement of Paramount’s breakout thriller Paranormal Activity for best first feature (made for $15,000), brought gasps in the room. Excellent move: that film defines an indie breakout.
UPDATE: The films that will get the most award-season boost from these noms are Lionsgate’s Precious (which was already well on its way) and Sony Pictures Classics’ The Last Station, which needs a higher profile; best actress nominee Helen Mirren should repeat on Oscar nominations morning. (UPDATE: The Palm Springs Fest just added her to its tribute list.) Precious stars Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique are inevitable Oscar noms at this point, and could win Indie Spirits for actress and supporting actress respectively. Fox Searchlight’s 500 Days of Summer is an unlikely Oscar contender (except for best original screenplay), as is best actor nominee Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a surprise entry, given the film’s comedic slant.
Oddly, the Coen brothers’ A Serious Man failed to land best feature or screenplay noms, but was recognized for director, cinematography (Roger Deakins) and the coveted Robert Altman Award for director, casting director and acting ensemble. The best actor race will be between Crazy Heart’s Jeff Bridges and A Single Man‘s Colin Firth, who will also be duking it out for the Oscar. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Julianne Moore both failed to win noms here. [Movieline spots some Spirit snubs.) Slowly but surely, Oren Moverman’s The Messenger is moving into awards contention, with four Spirit nominations. Its best Oscar shot: Woody Harrelson for supporting actor.
Among the docs, Gotham-winner Food, Inc. continues its push for Oscar glory, while I was glad to see Anvil! The Story of Anvil and SXSW winner 45365 get recognition. On the foreign front, SPC gets a slight leg up for An Education and director Lone Scherfig, and I was thrilled to see my favorite film of 2008 get a nom, Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments, which was submitted by Sweden last year but did not land an Oscar slot.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Indie Spirits, Oscars, Directors, Coens, Independents, Lionsgate/Roadside, Weinsteins, Studios, Paramount, Fox Searchlight, Sony/Screen Gems/Sony Pictures Classics, Universal/Focus Features on December 1, 2009 at 8:08am PST | Permalink | Comments (4)
As the Oscar race starts to come into focus, Kris Tapley of In Contention and I continue our weekly Oscar Talk. This week we both approve of Oscar co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin, agree that Jeff Bridges has a shot at winning an Oscar at last, and with the animation list long enough for five entries, we debate what they will be.
Here’s the link to iTunes.
by Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Studios, Fox Searchlight on November 7, 2009 at 4:06pm PST | Permalink | Comments (0)
Back in July, Fox Searchlight paid low seven figures for worldwide rights to Crazy Heart, a movie the distrib felt needed a little work in the editing room. (Here’s my announcement story.) It was one of the first buys by new co-presidents Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula after Peter Rice left to run Fox TV.
They were excited about what they could do with actor-writer-turned-director Scott Cooper’s drama about an over-the-hill, hard-drinking country singer who falls for a young reporter (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Robert Duvall and Colin Farrell are also crucially well-cast in supporting roles. Yes, I’ve seen the movie (in unfinished digital form). Searchlight has been mulling whether or not to take this one into the Oscar race. I was told on October 21 that they were opening it in the spring.
Now suddenly Searchlight is planning a limited release for Crazy Heart by year’s end (one week later than December 11, on December 16). Why? Well, they could use a winner right now.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Studios, Fox Searchlight, Writers, Screenwriters on November 4, 2009 at 3:14pm PST | Permalink | Comments (3)
What went wrong with Amelia?
As I suspected, the critics are piling on. Even Dave Germain of AP, who’s usually a hard-bitten news reporter, felt obliged to weigh in. Hilary Swank can kiss her hopes of a third Oscar good-bye. She never found the real Amelia Earhart behind the bland feminist flier hero. She never nailed it. Finally, while the final sequence ramps up the energy, the movie doesn’t come to life, or ring true. When director Mira Nair is on her own turf with Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding and The Namesake, she’s tops. She stumbles here.
My Sneak Previews class was eager to see Amelia; they turned out and gave it a healthy round of applause. They’re the target audience, still old enough to give a hoot about this aviatrix who died at 39 in 1937. It’s hard to recall that Earhart was once one of the ten most famous Americans in the world. The picture may do some business with older moviegoers who are comfortable with its old-fashioned virtues.
Read Moreby Anne Thompson, posted to Awards, Oscars, Genres, Biopics, Studios, Fox Searchlight, Writers, Screenwriters on October 23, 2009 at 9:11am PDT | Permalink | Comments (8)
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