Thompson on Hollywood

Weekend Box Office: The Horror!

The Final Destination got a major lift from premium 3-D ticket prices as rivals cried foul, "no fair." The Weinstein Co. inexplicably competed with itself as Rob Zombie's Halloween II came in third after strong second-week holdover Inglourious Basterds.

By Anne Thompson
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August 30, 2009 12:53 PM
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Weekend Read: Poland vs. Wells, Almodovar Talks Cruz, Time's Top 50 Sites, MTV Fall Preview

Hollywood Round-Up: MTV does the click per page routine with its fall movie preview, annoyingly.

By Anne Thompson
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August 28, 2009 7:42 AM
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Weekly Oscar-Talk Podcast Debut

I am happy to announce the debut of a weekly Friday kudo-podcast with In Contention's Kris Tapley. Here's the first Oscar Talk. We discuss the awards hopefuls so far and likely contenders coming out of upcoming fests; Meryl Streep’s remarkable emergence as a 60-year-old movie star; how the ten best picture slots could effect the Oscar race; new indie distribs Overture, Summit and Apparition; changing trends in Oscar campaigns; Paramount pushing Shutter Island to 2010; how Avatar Day went; and a Toronto preview.

By Anne Thompson
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August 28, 2009 6:22 AM
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Infographic: Hollywood's $400 Million Club

It's a select club. What distinguishes Transformers Revenge of the Fallen this summer is that it joined Hollywood's elite $400-Million Club with really bad reviews.

By Anne Thompson
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August 27, 2009 7:56 AM
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Awards buzz, Indie News, Disney Confab

In Indie news, despite Inglourious Basterds' rousing start, the Weinsteins aren't out of the woods. They weren't taking any chances. They upped their media spend by several millions in the week before the opening, targeting their weakest link, women. It worked. The WSJ explains why the Weinsteins face a long road ahead.

By Anne Thompson
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August 25, 2009 4:00 AM
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Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds Opens Strong

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds opened strong Friday night, raking in an estimated $14.3 million. (We'll see how it holds.) Reviews were mixed, 69 on Metacritic. Richard Corliss, Roger Ebert and Jim Hoberman were thumbs up on this cinephile's fantasy, while Ken Turan, David Denby and Manohla Dargis were thumbs down on the slow-paced, often ridiculous alternative take on history. Here's New Yorker blogger Richard Brody and LA Weekly's Tarantino Q & A.. UPDATE: Looks like a $37-million opening, and great opening overseas, too. The film performed similarly to last weekend's District 9.

By Anne Thompson
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August 23, 2009 2:36 AM
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Weekend B.O., District 9 No. One, Rise of Streep, Fall of G.I. Joe

Sony marketing took rookie Neill Blomkamp's $30-million VFX thriller to a terrific estimated $37 million--it wasn't the stunning reviews alone. All the Comic-Con raves and critics and folks on twitter and facebook had a viral impact. The R-rated sci-fi thriller opened well to its largely male base. A sustained hold will require other audience segments to come in--and I just don't know how this plays for women. They went to see The Time Traveler's Wife this weekend, which nabbed lousy reviews and came in at a solid $19 million.

By Anne Thompson
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August 17, 2009 8:54 AM
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Woodstock Now & Then, Mad Men Ads, Journalism Online, Shah Rukh Khan

The U.S. treatment of Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan stirs up a ruckus back in India. Shalini Dore and Jon Brooks explain.

By Anne Thompson
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August 17, 2009 8:16 AM
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Lasseter Talks Miyazaki and Ponyo

I've been spending a lot of time with John Lasseter lately. In May, the Disney/Pixar animation chief brought Up to open the Cannes Film Fest, where animator Pete Docter got the full auteur treatment. Then Lasseter brought Japanese master Hayao Miyazaki, who he says had a huge influence on Up, to do a U.S. tour to support his latest, Ponyo, from closing night June 28 of the Los Angeles Film Festival and accepting an award at Berkeley to July's Comic-Con and a full-scale Academy tribute.

By Anne Thompson
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August 14, 2009 10:30 AM
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Inglourious Basterds: Recut, Nine Clips

Quentin Tarantino's recut of Inglourious Basterds is one minute longer than the Cannes version, and much improved. It's a gorgeous movie with a great eclectic soundtrack crammed with everything from Ennio Morricone to a brilliant use of David Bowie's "Putting Out the Fire." (Trivia question: what movie debuted that song?)