Thompson on Hollywood

McQueen's 'Twelve Years a Slave,' Starring Pitt, Ejiofor and Fassbender, Gets Oscar-Friendly 2013 Release Date

News

Fox Searchlight took a huge gamble picking up Steve McQueen's Toronto 2010 entry "Shame," starring Michael Fassbender as a tormented sex addict, which hit theaters in 2011. Fans of McQueen's work (which also includes 2008's "Hunger") have been chomping at the bit for his next film. Searchlight is giving his "Twelve Years a Slave" --starring dream team Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Paul Giamatti, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano and Fassbender--a limited release on the Oscar-friendly date of December 27, 2013.

By Beth Hanna
|
April 2, 2013 2:06 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Sundance: Fox Searchlight Acquires 'Way, Way Back' For Almost $10 Million; Stars Carell, Collette, Janney, Rudolph and Rockwell

News

Fox Searchlight has picked up the rights to Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's "The Way, Way Back," which premiered at Sundance on January 21. The acquisition is a big buy, reportedly just under $10 million...

By Anne Thompson and Jay Fernandez
|
January 22, 2013 1:31 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Fox Searchlight to Rerelease 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' in Wake of Four Oscar Nominations

Awards

Fox Searchlight Pictures will re-release Benh Zeitlin’s "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which last week was nominated for four Oscars including picture, director, adapted screenplay and the youngest best actress nominee ever, Quvezhane Wallis. The film will play in select cities on January 18, a year after the movie debuted at Sundance and took home the grand jury prize and excellence in cinematography award.

By Anne Thompson
|
January 16, 2013 7:58 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Arthouse Audit: 'Hitchcock' and 'Rust and Bone' Fight for Attention

Box Office

In a weekend that had adult audiences flocking to theaters in numbers rarely seen apart from Christmas and New Year's weeks, core specialized theaters struggled to get their normal share of the action. Three potentially award-contending films opened, all with the kind of pedigree expected to make them stand out in the crowd. All of them did gain some traction, but none marked a successful Thanksgiving weekend opening.

By Tom Brueggemann
|
November 25, 2012 4:27 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Rating 'Psycho,' Behind-the-Scenes 'Hitchcock' and the Universal Hitchcock Fifteen

Features

I got over the awful HBO "The Girl," starring Toby Jones as Alfred Hitchcock and Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren, by watching the entire Dick Cavett Hitchcock interview. I had more fun with Thursday night's AFI FEST world premiere of Sacha Gervasi's light-hearted "Hitchcock," starring a superb ensemble led by Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren as the master auteur and his collaborator and wife Alma Reville, who the director thanked when he won his AFI Achievement Award, but I confess that I'd rather stick with the real thing.

By Anne Thompson
|
November 2, 2012 2:23 PM
|
6 Comments

More:

EXCLUSIVE: 'Hitchcock' Set Visit with Gervasi, Hopkins, Mirren: "we explore the darker recesses of his mind"

Features

When it opens Nov. 23, Fox Searchlight’s “Hitchcock,” starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren, will join a ‘frenzy,’ if you will, of new attention focused on the British master of suspense, including the HBO/BBC co-production “The Girl” and a year-long London celebration by the British Film Institute of Hitchcock’s entire oeuvre going back to the silent film era.

By Amy Dawes
|
October 23, 2012 12:14 PM
|
2 Comments

More:

Fox Searchlight Moves Up Oscar Contender 'The Sessions' to October 19

News

Fox Searchlight has moved up the limited release date of Ben Lewin's Sundance hit-turned-Oscar contender "The Sessions" to October 19, a week earlier than originally announced. The film recently screened at TIFF.

By Beth Hanna
|
September 14, 2012 4:10 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Producers Berger and Yerxa Talk 'Ruby Sparks,' 'Nebraska,' 'Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman,' 'Louder than Bombs'

Interviews

At a time when it has never been tougher to get a movie made, credit is due to indie producers Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger, who have slowly but surely turned out quality indie pics ever since they hung their Bona Fide Productions shingle back in 1993. Their most recent film, romantic comedy "Ruby Sparks," marks the return to the screen of Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, the husband and wife team who directed sleeper hit "Little Miss Sunshine"

By Anne Thompson
|
August 14, 2012 4:19 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Nicole Holofcener Starts Shooting New Movie for Fox Searchlight, Starring Keener and Louis-Dreyfus

News

Nicole Holofcener has started filming her fifth film, untitled, in Los Angeles. She has assembled quite a cast: regular alter-ego Catherine Keener ("Please Give"), Julia Louis-Dreyfus ("Veep"), James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos"), Toni Collette ("Little Miss Sunshine") and 16-year-old fashion blogger (Rookie) and would-be actress, Tavi Gevinson, making her film debut. (That's why she was at the "Ruby Sparks" premiere!)

By Anne Thompson
|
August 6, 2012 6:18 PM
|
1 Comment

More:

Arthouse Audit: New Releases Led by 'Ruby Sparks' Are Hurt By Olympics

Box Office

Four years ago at the 2008 Olympics opening, specialized distributors avoided the date like the plague for new releases. This year, several anticipated films opened--and none showed strength consistent with what has been a robust late spring/summer. As the games tend to appeal to older audiences, this is not particularly surprising.