Thompson on Hollywood

Redbox Explosion: Movies and Shakers

Swiftly growing Mint.com lures potential customers into its jaws with nifty charts like this one: where do people spend money on movies? The answer: Redbox is exploding.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2009 5:12 AM
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Avatar Day, Sony Acquires Parnassus, Tarantino, Screwball Ladies

We've been tracking news that Sony Pictures Classics would release The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus this fall. But as the NY-based specialty division rigorously refuses to confirm these talks, the rumors spread around the internet until Variety figured out a way to write the story so that Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group "is in advanced talks" to acquire the movie for SPC to release. It's easy to run a rumor, harder to run it down.

By Anne Thompson
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August 13, 2009 6:52 AM
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Movies Go to Facebook, Legos, Lebanon, Redbox and Wellywood

Media Watch: Vibe could be coming back to--digital--life, while it looks like those wild and crazy salad days at Conde Nast are finally over.

By Anne Thompson
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August 12, 2009 2:39 AM
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Lee Revamps Ride with the Devil

In the stellar career of Ang Lee, one movie stands out like a sore thumb, not only as one of his few boxoffice clunkers, but as a film which he edited for a studio. "Of the 11 films I worked on with Ang, it's the only one that was not his cut," says Lee's longtime writer-collaborator James Schamus, who will appear with Lee onstage at the Walter Reade after the work-in-progress director's cut of Ride with the Devil screens August 10 during the Film Society at Lincoln Center's complete Lee retrospective.

By Anne Thompson
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August 6, 2009 11:31 AM
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Major Studios Won't Consolidate, but Minors May Merge

The economy is a ruthless, Darwinian Master. Only the strong shall survive, and that applies to the mighty studios as well as everyone else. Sure, the theatrical market is holding up pretty well. But for every Fast & Furious, Star Trek and The Hangover there's a cynically bloated flop like Land of the Lost (for which Universal pulled print ads on its second weekend) or Imagine That. (The Wrap was inspired to do a quickie Stars Who Should Worry chart including Will Ferrell and Eddie Murphy, which probably got the site into more trouble than it was worth.)

By Anne Thompson
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June 16, 2009 7:19 AM
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Twilight Sells 3 Million DVDs

The Twilight DVD sold more than 3 million units when it was released March 21, which lands it in the top five best first day DVD releases over the past two years.

By Anne Thompson
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March 23, 2009 8:48 AM
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Twilight DVD: Deleted Scenes

The reason there's so much heat around Twilight again (and New Moon--Summit finally announced Dakota Fanning's casting as Jane) is that the DVD is coming out March 21. Access Hollywood aired two deleted scenes from Twilight. Sometimes directors cut scenes from movies for a reason.

By Anne Thompson
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March 9, 2009 5:21 AM
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Paging Dr. Jones; Ford Wants to play Indy and Jack Ryan Again

Lucasfilm has launched an unusual promo for today's DVD release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Here's the Lucasfilm marketing memo: