Thompson on Hollywood

The Fighter's Success Has Many Fathers

Careful what you wish for.

By Anne Thompson
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December 14, 2010 4:18 AM
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Golden Globes Nominations Led by King's Speech, with Seven

While The Golden Globes nominations have an impact on momentum going into the Oscar race, they are not predictive. That's partly because the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (some 80 foreign correspondents) break their categories into Drama and Comedy or Musical. Thus it becomes easy to dismiss certain titles that the Oscars are likely to ignore, including Frankie & Alice, Burlesque, Barney's Version, Easy A, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Red, Casino Jack, The Tourist, and Love & Other Drugs. (Full list of nominees below.)

By Anne Thompson
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December 14, 2010 1:42 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Families Flock to Holdovers Tangled and Harry Potter, Black Swan Soars

Holdovers held sway at the tepid post-Thanksgiving box office, as families continued to flock to Tangled and Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows--Part I. Martial arts flick The Warriors Way stumbled out of the gate, while fest-fave Black Swan soared in limited release, reports Anthony D'Alessandro:After feasting away at a smorgasbord of offerings over the Thanksgiving five-day stretch, moviegoers decided to take a nap this weekend. Even though the post-holiday frame is notorious for being of one of the lowest weekends of the year as audiences return to their routines, family box office champs generally dominate. Sure enough, Disney’s Tangled and Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I held the top two spots with $21.5 million and $16.7 million respectively. Battling for third place were Cher musical Burlesque and runaway train actioner Unstoppable at $6.1 million apiece.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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December 5, 2010 5:48 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Megamind Slows Unstoppable; Morning Glory Stalls in Fourth Place

Mighty Megamind held off all takers with an estimated $30-million on its second weekend, while well-reviewed Denzel Washington actioner Unstoppable followed behind with $23.5 million, and newsroom comedy Morning Glory took a miserable fourth place--after raunch-fest holdover Due Date and VFX-crammed newcomer Skyline. Anthony D'Alessandro reports:Superhero toon Megamind put the brakes on runaway train movie Unstoppable at the weekend box office. The Paramount/DreamWorks animated title remained more powerful than a locomotive in its second session, maintaining first place with $30.1 million at 3,949 theaters while Tony Scott’s choo-choo actioner arrived in second with estimates of $23.5 million at 3,207 whistle stops – the director’s second highest three-day take, behind 1987’s Beverly Hills Cop II ($26.3 million). Despite the competition from a speeding-bullet train, Rogue Pictures’ alien invasion feature Skyline, released through Universal, was able to chip $11.7 million at 2,880 while crowds failed to wake up to Paramount’s Morning Glory with $9.6 million at 2,518.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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November 14, 2010 5:11 AM
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In Production: New Bond Secrets, Damon's Zoo Co-Star, Singh Directs One of Three Snow Whites

- Writer Jeffery Deaver's The Bone Collector was made into a film back in 1999 starring Angelina Jolie and Denzel Washington. Now Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. has enlisted him to reinvent James Bond. Project X will be published in May and plot details are hush-hush, but Deaver did reveal to USA Today that the story "is set in the present day, in 2011. Bond is a young agent for the British secret service. He's 29 or 30 years old, and he's an Afghan war vet." Deaver is picking up the story from where Fleming's fourteen novels left off, not from the cinematic adaptations, he says: "I want to stay true to the original James Bond, who many people don't know much about." He acknowledges that while Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig have contributed to the Bond legacy, "the original Bond was [actually] a very dark, edgy character." The first Bond, Connery, came closest to incarnating Fleming's Cold War British spy.

By Sophia Savage
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November 2, 2010 7:23 AM
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Weekend Box Office: The Social Network Clicks to Top

The most buzzed-about launch of the fall season, The Social Network met (but did not exceed) expectations with a $23-million start, while hard-R vampire thriller Let Me In proved to be a classic tweener: too bloody violent for upscale smart-house crowds and too European for mainstream gore-hounds. Anthony D'Alessandro explains:Sony’s PG-13 Facebook origin myth The Social Network effortlessly clicked its way to the top box office spot with $23 million – a number which was in line with studio estimates, but fell short of crashing any ticket booth’s computer with a fall record. Two R-rated thrillers, Overture’s vampire remake Let Me In and Paramount’s Renee Zellweger-Bradley Cooper vehicle Case 39, each cannibalized their target femme demo, tying with $5.3 million apiece.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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October 3, 2010 4:17 AM
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Relativity Media Firms Up Release Slate, Adds Three Pictures

Relativity Media is moving forward as Hollywood's newest distributor, finalizing its 2010-2011 release slate with a mix of Overture, Relativity and Rogue titles and a service deal.

By Anne Thompson
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August 12, 2010 8:44 AM
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Relativity's Ammer Out as Overture's Adee Moves In

There's only enough room at any distrib for one head of marketing, so recent Relativity Media hire Geoff Ammer, a well-liked marketing vet who was hired as worldwide marketing president by CEO Ryan Kavanaugh in January, is out, as Overture marketing chief Peter Adee moves in.

By Anne Thompson
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August 10, 2010 11:09 AM
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Relativity Media's Rogue Pacts with New Virgin Production Arm

Wasting no time, Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media, having acquired Universal's Rogue label and Overture's distribution and marketing divisions, has pacted with Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which has formed a new film and television production arm. The next step for Relativity may be going public.