Thompson on Hollywood

Academy Selects Scientific Achievement Short List

The Motion Picture Academy's scientific and technical awards committee has selected 15 achievements for further awards consideration. Now anyone else with similar devices or prior claims can offer their achievements to the committee, by August 31.

By Anne Thompson
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August 20, 2010 5:36 AM
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Mid-Summer Box Office Wrap: Top Ten Chart, Studio Report Card

At mid-summer, the box office is lagging just behind last year's pace and ticket sales are flat, reports Anthony D'Alessandro, who charts the season's winners, losers and studio market shares so far (as of last weekend). Will red-hot Inception take the number one box office crown from Toy Story 3? Stay tuned, as numbers and rankings will change by Labor Day.

By Anthony D'Allessandro
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August 5, 2010 5:37 AM
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3-D Stats are Trending Down

Hollywood would like to think that 3-D cures all ills. But the stats don't lie, as a discerning public picks and chooses the 3-D movies that are clearly worth paying a premium for. Check out The Wrap's analylsis of 3-D performance. The studios may want to reconsider throwing good money after bad when they try to buttress their returns on a bad B-movie with retrofitted 3-D. I quickly started to tune out Step Up 3-D, which actually had some good dancing, which I would much rather have seen in good old-fashioned 2-D. The intrusive 3-D wore out its welcome real fast. (Variety's Justin Chang disagrees.)

By Anne Thompson
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August 4, 2010 7:04 AM
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Boffo Holiday Weekend Box Office, But Twilight Saga: Eclipse Doesn't Beat Spider-Man 2 or New Moon

After a slow start to the summer season, movie ticket sales finally took off over the 4th of July weekend, driven by two powerful sequels, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Toy Story 3, and a review-proof family adventure from M. Night Shyamalan, The Last Airbender. Anthony D'Alessandro does the numbers.

By Anne Thompson
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July 5, 2010 4:20 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Toy Story 3 Clobbers Newbies Grown Ups, Knight and Day

Winning the weekend box office is about want-to-see. Audiences of all ages were compelled to check out Toy Story 3, which combines the magic of Pixar with beloved characters returning in a sequel that makes grown men cry. Moviegoers could wait for Adam Sandler comedy Grown Ups and Tom Cruise's comeback bid Knight and Day, which try as they might, Twentieth Century Fox marketers could not turn into a must-see. Anthony D'Alessandro does the studio numbers, while Peter Knegt does the indies.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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June 27, 2010 3:54 AM
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Starz Seeks Next Sopranos, Shyamalan Circulates New Script, 3-D Decline, Jonah Hex Misfire

- In a bid to compete with HBO and Showtime, Starz has acquired the U.S. rights to remake the successful and critically acclaimed Aussie drama Underbelly, based on a real life '70s crime family. Former HBO chief Chris Albrecht (who launched The Sopranos) took over as Starz CEO last December. Vulture reports that Underbelly, along with UK show Torchwood and a planned Camelot saga, spearhead Starz's latest programming push. While the crime theme underlines both The Sopranos and Underbelly, it is new for Albrecht to look outside for inspiration. During his twenty-plus years at HBO, he tended to create original programming in-house. Things have changed; old content finds sizable viewership on channels like AMC, and audiences' appeal can be targeted more globally than locally.

By Sophia Savage
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June 22, 2010 3:32 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Toy Story 3 Breaks Disney/Pixar Record, Jonah Hex D.O.A.

After a rousing $41 million Friday, universally praised Pixar sequel Toy Story 3 racked up an estimated $109 million three-day weekend, a record, reports Anthony D'Alessandro. That makes Pixar's unbroken string of blockbusters 11 for 11. The western Jonah Hex was dead on arrival.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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June 20, 2010 4:06 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Toy Story 3 Opens to $41 Million, Jonah Hex Flops

The early weekend box office reports are showing a record-breaking $41 million Friday opening for Toy Story 3, which is on track to gross $115-120 million for the weekend, and eventually seize the summer box-office crown. (Mubi posts a review round-up of weekend openers.)

By Anne Thompson
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June 19, 2010 8:40 AM
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Oscar Talk Summer Edition: Post-Cannes, Box Office Blues

In our second Oscar Talk Summer Edition, In Contention's Kris Tapley and I cover his cross-country road trip, award contenders emerging from Cannes, and the disappointing summer so far, with some debate over indie darlings Winter's Bone and The Kids Are Alright, which opens next week's Los Angeles Film Festival.

By Anne Thompson
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June 12, 2010 3:57 AM
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Summer Fizzle: Audiences Avoid the Blahs, Inception Pops (Video Featurette)

If Chris Nolan's eagerly awaited Inception scores at the box office this July 18, it's partly because moviegoers are responding to something that they haven't seen before. Check out the new featurette with Nolan and Leonardo DiCaprio below.