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Awards || ||

'2016 Obama's America' Filmmakers Cry Oscar Bias

'2016 Obama's America' Filmmakers Cry Oscar Bias

The Oscar-winning producer of this year's anti-Obama doc 2016 Obama's America is calling foul after the Academy released its Documentary Shortlist for Oscar consideration earlier this week.

[Related: Academy Names 15 As Best Documentary Oscar Contenders; 'Central Park Five' Snubbed]

Gerald Molen, who produced 1994's Schindler's List (with Steven Spielberg and Branko Lustig) won the Academy Award for Best Picture said political bias is to blame for 2016 not making the cut of 15 titles to advance to the next round.

Directed by Dinesh D'Souza, the pic took in a cool $33.44 million domestically, earning more at the box office than the 15 who did advance to Oscar-nomination eligibility combined. Molen, however, said D'Souza believed the Academy - which is criticized by conservatives of being largely liberally biased - might snub the doc.

"Dinesh warned me this might happen," Molen said with a laugh, according to THR. "The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything from a conservative point of view is dead on arrival in Hollywood circles. The film’s outstanding success means that America went to see the documentary in spite of how Hollywood feels about it."

2016 Obama's America is not the only box office cash-cow that didn't make the short list for 2012. Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz's Katy Perry: Part of Me did not join the fifteen. Though not quite as successful as 2016, the Katy Perry movie did gross over $25.3 million domestically (and over $32 million worldwide).

Both D'Souza's 2016 and Michael Moore's 2004 not-so-subtle anti-Bush smash Fahrenheit 9/11 may indicate an emerging cinematic convention: Anti-presidential incumbent non-fictions turn out the crowds, but not the Oscar nominations. Fahrenheit outstripped 2016 at the box office, taking in over $119 million in 2004 dollars and it even scored the Cannes Palme d'Or that year. But it did not receive an Oscar nomination.

Still, the Oscar snub has caught the eire of its filmmakers and they're not above throwing a bit of light-hearted shade to some of those films that did make the list this week.

"I want to thank the Academy for not nominating our film,” D’Souza said. "By ignoring 2016, the top-performing box-office hit of 2012, and pretending that films like Searching for Sugar Man and This Is Not a Film are more deserving of an Oscar, our friends in Hollywood have removed any doubt average Americans may have had that liberal political ideology, not excellence, is the true standard of what receives awards."

[Source: THR]

Biz Break || ||

Al Pacino As A Decadent Rocker; Avengers Tops Halloween Costumes: Biz Break

Al Pacino As A Decadent Rocker; Avengers Tops Halloween Costumes: Biz Break

Also in Wednesday morning's new round-up: In the run-up to the election, a major cable company is offering its customers a free viewing of an anti-Obama doc; Details on Peter Jackson's The Hobbit and a book deal for a Spider-Man creator.
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Biz Break || ||

James Cameron Considers Chinese Na'vi In Avatar Sequels; Egypt Issues Arrest Warrants For Anti-Islam Vid: Biz Break

James Cameron Considers Chinese Na'vi In Avatar Sequels; Egypt Issues Arrest Warrants For Anti-Islam Vid: Biz Break

Also in Wednesday morning's round-up of news briefs, the Directors Guild of America set up dates for its awards. France has chosen its submission for foreign-language Oscar consideration. And, the producer of 2016: Obama's America denies racism charge.
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Weekend Receipts || ||

Wah-Wah-Weekend Receipts: Not Screened Cold Light Of Day Rings In Lousy Box Office Weekend

Wah-Wah-Weekend Receipts: Not Screened Cold Light Of Day Rings In Lousy Box Office Weekend

Woe is the poor, lonely Henry Cavill actioner Cold Light of Day, which opened in wide release and climbed its way to the bottom (well okay, #13) with a paltry $1.8 million take. As in, TOTAL. Not screening a film and giving it virtually no promotion will do that, even with the future Superman holding a gun and Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver posing like the T-800 on the poster. But it was also a terrible movie-going weekend all-around, with the bleakest numbers in recent memory spreading across all comers. Hit it for the Debbie Downer of Weekend Receipts and let's all look to Finding Nemo and Milla Jovovich's leather pants next week for salvation.
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Weekend Receipts || ||

The Possession And Lawless Top Labor Day Box Office

The Possession And Lawless Top Labor Day Box Office

Two newcomers, The Possession and Lawless topped the overall box office over Labor Day weekend, ending a summer that ended with not much of a bang. Overall, the Summer theatrical season fell nearly 3% from last year, winding up at $4.275 billion (vs $4.4 billion). The Expendables 2, which had topped the box office for two weekends, made a landing in the third spot with only slightly less screens. Today's grosses reflect a Friday through Monday Labor Day weekend numbers. The per cent change in revenue vs. the previous weekend only considers Friday - Sunday numbers.
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Review || ||

REVIEW: Right-Wing Attack Doc 2016: Obama's America Stumbles, Obsesses Over The Wrong Issues

REVIEW: Right-Wing Attack Doc 2016: Obama's America Stumbles, Obsesses Over The Wrong Issues

With the out-of-nowhere success of 2016: Obama’s America, the nation could finally have a conservative counterpart to Michael Moore. I say the nation rather than the Republicans, because a balanced box office is good for us all, at least as a reminder of our right to oppose the current government and make a profit in doing so. Similar to Moore’s release of Fahrenheit 9/11 during the summer of 2004, author-turned-filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza offers a one-sided, first-person documentary that challenges the incumbent President during his campaign for re-election. Unlike his liberal predecessor, however, D’Souza, who co-directs with writer/producer John Sullivan (Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed), doesn’t have much to fall back on in the way of entertainment value and so only delivers a transient attraction for the anti-Obama crowd.
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Newswire || ||

Rupert Murdoch Praises 2016: Obama's America As Fact Questions Loom

Rupert Murdoch Praises 2016: Obama's America As Fact Questions Loom

The feature documentary had a limited roll out in Texas and other locations in mid-July, but after expanding to additional screens in the lead-up to the Republican convention, it has reaped more than $10.5 million to date at the box office. (The doc is  second only, so far, to Katy Perry: Part of Me , which has earned in excess of $25.3 million domestically,  as the top non-fiction film of the year.)

Those box-office numbers could get a boost now that the anti-Obama doc has scored a high-power endorsement from conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The embattled News Corp. chairman gave 2016: Obama's America his thumbs up via Twitter, even as questions arise about the veracity of the film's assertions.
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Weekend Receipts || ||

Expendables 2 Reigns Over A Weak Box Office; Anti-Obama Doc 2016 One Bright Spot

Expendables 2 Reigns Over A Weak Box Office; Anti-Obama Doc 2016 One Bright Spot

The weekend box office was anything but stellar over the weekend. Expendables 2 and The Bourne Legacy remained the top two earners in the final weekend of August. One bright spot, however, was conservative doc 2016 Obama's America, which went wide after spending the first three weeks with limited runs. Its gross jumped over 400% and it landed in 8th place in the overall box office despite remaining in far fewer theaters than compared to other titles in the top 10. Newcomers Premium Rush and Hit and Run bowed softly.
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Newswire || ||

Obama Movies Yield Boom, Bust Over Opening Weekends

Obama Movies Yield Boom, Bust Over Opening Weekends

The market for films addressing Barack Obama's 2008 presidential candidacy and his term to date in the Oval Office has proven volatile at best: Hagiographies like the all-access, Edward Norton-produced By the People co-exist alongside a cottage industry of microbudget anti-Obama slam pieces like Hype, The Obama Deception and this past weekend's 2016: Obama's America. And thanks in part to election-year grassroots mania (and an interview with the president's Kenyan half-brother), the latter film may yet prove to be the most lucrative of the Obama subgenre to date. But this weekend's other release, The Obama Effect? Not so much.
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