Thompson on Hollywood

Avatar Behind-the-Scenes Featurette

As more finished footage becomes available for James Cameron's Avatar---which is about 75% CG--Fox is releasing more material in advance of the December 18 release.

By Anne Thompson
|
October 29, 2009 7:20 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

New Avatar Trailer is Up

I know there are a lot of Avatar naysayers out there but when the hairs rise on the back of my neck I know there's something real going on. I felt it with Twilight and I feel it with this latest Avatar trailer which went up on Yahoo at 10 am PST (video on jump).

By Anne Thompson
|
October 29, 2009 5:18 AM
|
5 Comments

More:

Avatar Watch: Action Figures, Concept Art, Novel

While James Cameron and the VFX wizards at Weta Digital in Wellywood are trying to finish the last big effects sequences in Avatar--which is set for December 18 release--Cameron is also working on many of the ancillary marketing and licensing sidelines that will help sell this pricey 3-D movie. (The official sticker price is $237 million, but we can safely assume that that figure is 1) low and 2) counting.)

By Anne Thompson
|
October 6, 2009 6:52 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

Buzz Boosts Zombieland, Moore, Paranormal Activity; Whip It Limps

Lessons learned from the weekend box office:

By Anne Thompson
|
October 4, 2009 9:49 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Toronto: Winners, Losers, Oscar Contenders

There was plenty to see in Toronto. Here's how the films shook out for me.

By Anne Thompson
|
September 20, 2009 3:20 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Toronto Wrap: Indie Bloodbath

If industry-watchers didn't see it coming, they figured it out at this year's Toronto Film Festival.

By Anne Thompson
|
September 19, 2009 9:09 AM
|
17 Comments

More:

Weekend Box Office: Jennifer's Body Horror Tweener

As predicted, Jennifer's Body opened soft at the boxoffice. Fox marketed a horror movie aimed at men, who like Megan Fox. Twentieth Century Fox hung the marketing on the Transformers star, but girls don't want to see her. The studio failed to get women to watch Karyn Kusama and Diablo Cody's angry feminist movie. Thus Jennifer's Body is a classic tweener: neither a horror thriller for men, nor a coming-of-age horror-comedy for women. (It didn't earn strong reviews.) If Searchlight had marketed it, they might have been able to target the right smart crowd. (At a low-end cost of $16 million, the movie should come out ahead in any case.)

By Anne Thompson
|
September 19, 2009 9:03 AM
|
11 Comments

More:

Toronto Day One: Creation, The Informant!, Jennifer's Body

The reason why film festivals pick movies like Creation for opening night is that they have all the right credentials: respected producer (Jeremy Thomas) and director (Jon Amiel) and two major stars (Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly) willing to show up for the gala TIFF screenings and party. But Creation was DOA tonight.

By Anne Thompson
|
September 11, 2009 1:38 AM
|
8 Comments

More:

Avatar Day

James Cameron himself wasn't happy that the Avatar online trailer preceded the Avatar Day IMAX 3-D screenings on Friday. The reason that happened, according to Fox, is that the trailer went out at the same time as the first 10 AM screenings in New Zealand Tokyo on the other side of the world. It was a synchronous global release. The Apple site was so overwhelmed with clicks that it crashed at first. More than 4 million people streamed the Avatar trailer on that first day, breaking the prior record of 1.7 million set by Star Trek. So that was good news for Fox. Curiosity was high.