In case you were wondering, action movie cliches are probably public domain. We now know this because a lawsuit alleging that Sylvester Stallone plagiarized a script called The Cordoba Caper for The Expendables has been rejected by federal judge Jed Rakoff, essentially on those grounds.
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Actor Charles Durning, who starred in the 1982 film Tootsie died on Christmas Eve in New York. His long time agent Judith Moss confirmed his death at 89, BBC reports.
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Django Unchained will not be making filmmaker Spike Lee's year-end top 10 list nor any other list for that matter because he says he won't see it. The outspoken Red Hook Summer director said the slavery-centered feature by Quentin Tarantino may deal with the topic in a manner that is less than respectful.
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Good news, everyone! 2012 has been a pretty great year for the film industry. Ticket sales were up worldwide by 5% over 2011, and a record box office haul of $10 billion means plenty of celebrating at studio holiday parties. Of course, Biggie wasn't lying when he preached the harsh truth that with mo' money comes mo' problems, and so it is that while bootleg film watching didn't quite rival ticket sales, with hundreds of millions of illegal downloads piracy is nothing to sneeze at.
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You've probably heard by now that actress and noted possessor of ethereal beauty Kate Winslet went and married herself a new husband earlier this month. We have no idea if these two crazy kids can make it work, but here's hoping they decide to have kids, because husband number 3 is walking around with the unlikely name of Ned Rocknroll.
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The man who nearly single-handedly made puppets cool has gone to see the great manipulator in the sky. Gerry Anderson, creator of the pioneering puppetry technique called 'Supermarionation' and the popular series Thunderbirds, died Wednesday in Oxfordshire, England, at the age of 83 from complications due to Alzheimer's disease. He is survived by four children, and by his third wife, Mary.
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Last Spring, Forbes named Kristen Stewart Hollywood's highest paid star, but the title of "most bankable star" is another matter altogether. Natalie Portman gives the best cash return, according to those denizens of wealth at Forbes, beating out the likes of Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Shia LaBeouf and Daniel Radcliffe.
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While stars such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and perhaps even Harrison Ford have indicated they may make a return to Disney's Star Wars, the narrow pool of once possible directors has narrowed more.
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Christmas Day was anything but misérable for Les Misérables at the box office. The Oscar hopeful scored the second biggest single-day Christmas opening, cashing in with $18 million, according to Hollywood.com.
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Year on year, Hollywood's box office receipts rise. And while the 2012 numbers came in higher than 2011, the year marked a specifically good turn for the movie industry: the number of actual tickets sold went up for the first time in three years.
The year's big numbers come despite a generally slow summer blockbuster season.
The number of admissions have had a general decline for a decade, with the number of tickets sold flat lining in 2011 with 1.29 billion, which was the lowest number since 1995, according to A.P. Dollar amounts typically rise despite the decline of audiences numbers due to the rise in ticket prices. But for 2012, ticket sales rose 5.6 percent to 1.36 billion by December 31.
The number is still significantly below the peak of 1.6 billion sold in 2002. On the overall revenue side, the domestic box office should top out 6 percent ahead of the $10.2 billion figure last year and also top Hollywood's previous $10.6 billion record set in 2009.
Leading the list of box office hits was Disney's The Avengers with $623 million domestically ($1.5 billion worldwide) and Warner Bros.' third Batman installment The Dark Knight Rises with $448 million domestically ($1.1 billion worldwide). Lionsgate's The Hunger Games grossed over $408 million ($686.5 million) while Sony's James Bond pic Skyfall reached nearly $280 million as of Sunday (and will likely surpass $1 billion this week); The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 has a domestic total so far of nearly $282 million ($759.1 million worldwide); The Amazing Spider-Man topped out at just over $262 million in the U.S. ($752 million worldwide). Other big 2012 titles included Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted ($216 million) and Ice Age: Continental Drift ($161 million).
And Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has totaled $157 million domestically since opening December 14th in the U.S.
While it's good news for Hollywood, the future of the box office dollar continues to like overseas. International audiences used to amount to less than half of a typical release, but that figure has swelled to two or even three times dollars spent domestically. Even pics such as Battleship and John Carter which tanked in the U.S. came out decently overseas ($209.7 million abroad for John Carter and $237.6 million for Battleship).
The domestic market has also been hampered with the advent of ever-sophisticated home entertainment systems, portable devices and video games. Still, most agree the big screen experience with an audience is the best way to see a movie.
"Every home has a kitchen, but you can't get into a good restaurant on Saturday night," Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros told A.P. "People want to escape. That's the nature of society. The adult population just is not going to sit home seven days a week, even though they have technology in their home that's certainly an improvement over what it was 10 years ago. People want to get out of the house, and no matter what they throw in the face of theatrical exhibition, it continues to perform at a strong level."
[Sources: A.P., Box Office Mojo]
After speculation mounted last that Ben Affleck would possibly hang up his filmmaking and acting hats for a U.S. Senate run from Massachusetts, the Argo director and star said he won't be running for office at least for the time being.
Last week, Boston's CBS affiliate reported that Massachusetts Democrats were wooing Affleck to run for the seat that will be vacated by John Kerry after his likely confirmation as Secretary of State, replacing Hillary Rodham Clinton. The low probability that he'd run did get a bit of a boost when his publicist didn't directly deny he was considering a run and he didn't completely say 'no' when asked about running during an appearance on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday.
But, Affleck took to Facebook to give final confirmation of his Senate bow out. He will continue to work for the Eastern Congo Initiative, a non-profit group that gives humanitarian aid in the war-torn African region and other causes. Affleck has gone to Congress to testify on behalf of his work for the group. In his Facebook message, he also gives a shout-out to the presumed new Secretary of State.
Affleck's Facebook statement follows:
I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office. Right now it's a privilege to spend my time working with Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI), supporting our veterans, drawing attention to the great many who go hungry in the U.S. everyday and using filmmaking to entertain and foster discussion about issues like our relationship to Iran.
We are about to get a great Secretary of State and there are some phenomenal candidates in Massachusetts for his Senate seat. I look forward to an amazing campaign.
Happy Holidays to All.
[Source: A.P.]
Amour is a true rarity, and for lovers of cinema it is one of the year's high notes, though it's most certainly no easy ride. Austria's Best Foreign-language contender in the Oscars race, the feature by director Michael Haneke is a true masterpiece dealing with a topic most would rather ignore. The feature, which will be released by Sony Pictures Classics this weekend Stateside, most certainly is in the running for more than one Oscar nomination or at least it should be. Amour deservedly won the Palme d'Or in Cannes in May where it debuted and was even picked by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association as their Best Film of 2012. That is some feat for a film that centers on an elderly Parisian couple who are suddenly faced with illness and life's sunset, beating out Hollywood's big contenders.
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She's been a bride with a torn wedding dress in Bachelorette, a voice in animation in Ice Age: Continental Drift and a pitch perfect Fat Amy in, well… Pitch Perfect. And for her next act, Rebel Wilson wants her MTV.
Wilson follows in the footsteps of 2012 host Russell Brand who followed Jason Sudeikis and other past notables like Andy Samberg (2009), Mike Myers (2008), Sarah Silverman (2007) and even Lindsay Lohan (2004).
The Australian-born actress with a name that's too cool for school has been tapped as the host of the 2013 MTV Movie Awards. The network announced the news during the season finale of Jersey Shore &mdash' natch! &mdash for the big event taking place Sunday, April 14th.
Get your golden popcorn on! And who will win Best Kiss? Not those vampires again?!?
She gives good candy in this promo:
Even as Zero Dark Thirty has come under fire by key Senators criticizing its depiction of torture in the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, the film shrugged off the pressure, at least at the box office, in its initial limited roll out Wednesday.
[Related: Golden Globes Unveil 70th Edition Nominees]
The Sony release opted for a specialty-style roll-out Wednesday, opening in limited locations in New York and Los Angeles before it heads wide January 11, not so coincidentally, the day after Oscar nominations are unveiled. The pic, which re-teams Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal (The Hurt Locker), scored the biggest Wednesday limited opening ever (without a Disney-style stage show), according to Deadline.com. The film starring Jessica Chastain grossed a tremendous $124,848 in one day from just five theaters giving it a stellar mid-week $24,969 average.
The numbers outstrip the likes of other Wednesday openers American Beauty which took in $73K with six theaters and Little Miss Sunshine with $66K from 7 runs.
The film has been an early darling for critics with prestige organizations including the New York Film Critics Circle, the Chicago Film Critics Association and the National Board of Review giving the two-and-a-half-hour-plus feature its choice for Best Film of 2012. It also received four Golden Globe noms, including Best Motion Picture, Drama though others such as Lincoln, Django Unchained and Les Misérables scored more.
Still, Zero Dark Thirty is expected to be a heavy-hitter come Oscar nomination morning. Some, however, have begun to speculate whether the percolating controversy over the film's perceived suggestions that water-boarding, extreme isolation and other techniques were useful in ultimately locating Bin Laden and how that may affect Academy voters should the story hold staying power in the headlines.
A report from A.P. yesterday said that former Vietnam War-era P.O.W. Senator John McCain slammed the film after viewing a screener earlier this week and BBC reports that McCain and two other Senate colleagues made their objections official in a letter to the head of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The letter said the pic is "perpetuating the myth that torture is effective" and that "the fundamental problem is that people who see Zero Dark Thirty will believe that the events it portrays are facts." It goes on to say, "the film therefore has the potential to shape American public opinion in a disturbing and misleading manner," and that the "use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America's values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged."
Also signing the letter, which was made public, were Senators Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin, all of whom are members of the Senate Intelligence committee.
Bigelow has said that her film depicts a "variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods." She and Boal have also indicated their distaste for torture in statements last week.
Back in the 90s there was a persistent (and very silly) rumor that Jet Li secretly had a ton of triad tattoos on his arms and chest, which is why he never took off his shirt on camera. Dumb, yes, but stuff like that made the Hong Kong movie biz seem so much more dangerous than ours. Now Jackie Chan has done his part by claiming in an interview with a Chinese publication that he once carried a huge arsenal for protection from organized criminals.
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