Thompson on Hollywood

Five Things We Learn from Esquire on Daniel Craig: Dragon Tattoo Violence, Tintin Leotard

Esquire learned many things from Daniel Craig, much more than his favorite word being "fuck" and his blue eyes being money-makers. The British star has several anticipated movies due in theaters and in the works and plenty to talk about: Cowboys & Aliens (trailer below, July 29), Dream House (September 30), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (teaser below, December 21), The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (December 23) and Bond 23 (2012). (At the time of the interview, Craig's Dream House co-star Rachel Weisz was his girlfriend, not yet his wife.)

By Sophia Savage
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July 7, 2011 5:18 AM
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Oscar Watch: Streep Keeps Pearls in Iron Lady Teaser: Faces New Oscar Rival

Pathe has released a new teaser (below) for Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady (December 16). Could this be Oscar number three for Academy perennial Meryl Streep, with a record 16 nominations?

By Anne Thompson and Sophia Savage
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July 7, 2011 4:51 AM
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Oscar Watch: Skin I Live In Gets October Date; Carnage Goes to November, Holiday Sked Shapes Up

The earlier a high-prestige art house movie opens in the fall, the less likely that its distributor harbors serious Oscar hopes for it. In other words, if Sony Pictures Classics moves Pedro Almodovar's retitled Skin I Live In from November to October, and slates Roman Polanski's Carnage on November 18, it means the latter is being given the Oscar advantage. Almodovar's kinky thriller starring Antonio Banderas met a mixed reception in Cannes. "This is not a move," asserts SPC co-president Michael Barker. "We never set the date until now. We were always going in the Fall. It is a great date."

By Anne Thompson
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June 27, 2011 1:50 AM
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Universal Moves Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy to Focus Features for November 18 Release

Universal Pictures had the first look at acquiring U.S. rights to Working Title's John Le Carre adaptation Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and did so out of Berlin.

By Anne Thompson
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June 1, 2011 11:58 AM
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The Hobbit Pics Get Official Titles and Release Dates

As is his wont, filmmaker Peter Jackson has posted news on The Hobbit's Facebook page of the two-parter's release dates --December 14, 2012 for Part One of the J.R.R. Tolkien classic prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and December 13, 2013 for Part Two.

By Anne Thompson
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May 31, 2011 12:44 PM
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Trailer Watch: Happy Feet 2 in 3-D, Get Your Fluffy On

Warner Bros.'s Happy Feet 2 in 3-D arrives November 18. Check out the trailer, complete with singing and dancing:

By Anne Thompson
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May 30, 2011 3:31 AM
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Trailer Watch: The Descendants: George Clooney Has Feelings, Too!

Writer-director Alexander Payne has a thing for dealing with middle-aged men in crisis -- Paul Giamatti in Sideways, Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt --and now, it's George Clooney in The Descendants. Payne co-adapted the story from Kaui Hart Hemmings' 2008 novel. The story explains itself in the trailer below. Fox Searchlight will release the film December 16 after a run on the fall fest circuit, from Venice to Toronto.

By Sophia Savage
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May 26, 2011 3:26 AM
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Cannes Update: Oscilloscope Buys We Need to Talk About Kevin, Swinton Gets Oscar Push

One of my favorite Cannes' competition films, Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, was deemed too tricky to handle by the bigger specialty distributors, who worried about the cost of an Oscar campaign for Tilda Swinton--a prerequisite for Luc Roeg's Independent Film Company.

By Anne Thompson
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May 23, 2011 9:18 AM
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Rango Early Reviews: "One Spectacular-Looking Movie," "Chaotic," "Wildly Imaginative" (UPDATED)

Rango is a gorgeous CGI animated homage to the Hollywood western from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski, ILM, screenwriter John Logan and a great voice cast led by Johnny Depp. The VFX masters at ILM put their genius to work on a piece of CGI animation (blessedly not in 3-D) , and the results are wondrous, from the character animation to the action sequences. But while Logan is an Oscar-nominated studio scribe (The Aviator) who knows his westerns, this is not a Pixar film. On the one hand the pacing lags, and on the other, they don't seem to have a handle on how to make it play for both adults and kids. (Younger viewers in the theater were bored.) But for any student of animation or western buff, Rango is a must-see.

By Anne Thompson
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March 1, 2011 9:27 AM
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Weekend Box Office: Gnomeo & Juliet Elves Bash Cage's Drive Angry 3D and Farrelly's Hall Pass

Animated holdover Gnomeo & Juliet surged ahead of yet another set of weak openers as the box office continues in the doldrums.(Here's our six reasons why.) See weekend trailers and Top Ten Box Office Chart below. Anthony D'Alessandro has the numbers:A band of CGI elves had the last laugh as Disney’s Gnomeo & Juliet stole the box office with $14.2 million, kicking former marquee champs, the Farrelly Brothers and Nicolas Cage, in the groin. The Farrelly’s Hall Pass, distributed by Warner Bros./New Line, slid to second with a $13.4 million three-day after showing signs of a No. 1 win on Friday with $4.6 million. Summit Entertainment’s Cage headliner Drive Angry 3D from Nu Image Pictures crashed and burned in ninth with $5.1 million – the lowest opening for a 3D live-action feature after Gulliver’s Travels ($6.3 million bow) and another sign in Nicolas Cage’s apocalyptic career. The success of Gnomeo proves that when there’s crap at the box office, family titles flourish, a pattern seen last April when the fourth frame of How to Train Your Dragon bested the bows of Jennifer Lopez’s The Back-up Plan and DC comics also-ran The Losers. After filing fourth on Friday with $3.16 million, Gnomeo climbed 101% yesterday to $6.3 million.