Thompson on Hollywood

Weekend Box Office Top Ten Led by Flicks Starring Oscar Rivals Chastain and Lawrence; Schwarzenegger, Wahlberg, Crowe Flop

Box Office

Three films starring Best Actress Oscar nominees nabbed the top positions, while three other films loaded with "A" list male actors struggled at the weekend box office. Jessica Chastain leads the way, with her horror film "Mama" grossing far above expectations, while her nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty" held on strong in its second wide week. Meantime, "Silver Linings Playbook," starring Chastain's Oscar rival Jennifer Lawrence, who went on Saturday Night Live, finally went wide to reasonable success.

By Tom Brueggemann
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January 20, 2013 1:29 PM
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'Perks of Being a Wallflower' Joins Usual Suspects for Six USC Scripter Award Nominations

Awards

"Perks of Being a Wallflower" joins usual suspects "Argo," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," and "Silver Linings Playbook" as contenders for the 25th annual USC Libraries Scripter awards. Usually five films are nominated, but this year a tie resulted in six nods.

By Anne Thompson and Beth Hanna
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January 15, 2013 11:22 AM
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Weekend Box Office Top Ten: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Takes Top Spot; Four Oscar Contenders Pass $100 Million

Box Office

The initial wide release of "Zero Dark Thirty" easily made number one for the weekend, becoming only the second of the nine Best Picture Oscar contenders to attain that position ("Argo" did so for one week in October). Unusually, four Oscar rivals have already grossed over $100 million, one is closing in on that marker and another ("Silver Linings Playbook") be positioned to make a run at it.

By Tom Brueggemann
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January 13, 2013 1:23 PM
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ACE Eddie Award Nominations

Awards

The American Cinema Editors' (ACE) have picked their nominations for the 63rd annual Eddie Awards, recognizing outstanding editing across nine categories. This group is often revealing of where the Academy is going in the final Oscar stretch. Thus "Argo," "Life of Pi," "Lincoln," "Skyfall" and "Zero Dark Thirty" received nods for Best Edited Feature Film (Drama). Of that group only "Skyfall" did not earn a best picture Oscar nomination. Also on the Oscar best picture as well as the ACE comedy/musical list are "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook."

By Anne Thompson
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January 11, 2013 11:43 AM
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New York Film Fest is Big Oscar Nom Winner; Sundance, Cannes, Toronto All Shine

Awards

The New York Film Festival - showing a more selective line-up than any other major one except Telluride - was the big winner when the Oscar nominations were announce this morning. The two films with the most nominations - "Lincoln" (12) and "The Life of Pi" (11) both world premiered at their event...

By Tom Brueggemann
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January 10, 2013 1:50 PM
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Oscar Nominations 2013: Indies Score, Nine Best Pics Led by 'Lincoln' with 12, Plus 'Beasts,' 'Amour' UPDATED

Awards

Oscar nominations morning brought some welcome presents to independents "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (four nominations) and "Amour" (five) especially, as each film landed on the best picture list of nine and earned writing and directing nominations for Benh Zeitlin and Michael Haneke. Left off the directors list: Ben Affleck, Tom Hooper and Kathryn Bigelow, although their films were included in the top nine. The directors branch is known for making idiosyncratic choices, but rarely have the DGA and Academy lists been so different.

By Anne Thompson
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January 10, 2013 9:12 AM
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David O. Russell on What Bradley Cooper Whispers at the End of 'Silver Linings Playbook'

News

The inaudible whisper has become an indie film convention, most notably seen (and not heard) at the end of Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation," and most recently in one of the final scenes of David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook."

By Beth Hanna
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January 9, 2013 2:07 PM
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Jennifer Lawrence is Vanity Fair's 'Most Desirable' Cover Girl, Says Acting is Stupid

News

Jennifer Lawrence is Vanity Fair's February cover girl. They call her "the rare celebrity who sounds more like a human being than a well-coached product," as well as the world's "most desirable woman."

By Sophia Savage
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January 2, 2013 1:19 PM
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Highlights from LA Times Directors Roundtable with Bigelow, Affleck, Russell, Lee, Hooper and Gervasi

News

Six directors talk shop for the LA Times' directors roundtable. John Horn is joined by Kathryn Bigelow ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Ben Affleck ("Argo"), Tom Hooper ("Les Miserables"), David O. Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Ang Lee ("Life of Pi") and Sacha Gervasi ("Hitchcock") to discuss their films, working with actors...