The rules are out and email has been hit. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences have restricted the amount of email that can be sent to its members, limiting it to "only one piece of mail and one email per film company" each week. There are also increased restrictions on third parties distributing materials and the number of screenings Academy members can be invited to (mostly without food or drink).
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Also in Tuesday afternoon's round-up of news briefs, the AMPAS, the organization behind the annual Oscar ceremony adds new members to its Board of Governors and re-elects others including Tom Hanks. New York's Museum of Modern Art long-time senior film curator sets retirement; Entertainment One takes rights to Daniel Radcliffe rom-com; PJ Byrne joins Scorsese pic and a lead role for a Sundance breakout actor.
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Also in Thursday afternoon's round up of news briefs, the folks at the Academy announced some new rules in various categories governing the Oscars. A comedy and a thriller head to U.S. theaters and a Halle Berry thriller gets some legs.
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Also in Tuesday afternoon's Biz Break: Exclusive Media takes rights to Zac Efron/Dennis Quaid starrer, Universal picks up rights to Kathryn Bigelow's untitled bin Laden film, and with the initial craze over 3-D fading comes scrutiny over the medium.
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The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is expanding its efforts to safeguard film history: As part of its $2 million "Film-to-Film" initiative, prints of titles such as 42nd Street (1933), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Barry Lyndon (1975), Grease (1978), The Princess Bride (1987) and others have been acquired by the organization that runs the annual Oscars ceremony for preservation.
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Thirty-five students from 20 U.S. colleges are eligible for the 39th Student Academy Awards, AMPAS said Wednesday. Academy members will view the finalists’ films at special screenings and vote to select the winners. Prizes include Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash grants of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000. U.S. winners will join international students winners for a week of industry and social activities June 9 in Los Angeles. The list of finalists follows.
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Wednesday morning's news roundup includes a fire at Tyler Perry's studios in Atlanta, an AMPAS celebration for Gene Kelly's centennial and a rare screening of the first Oscar-winner, Wings. The Hunger Games partners form a new label, Fandor plans a new indie news site and Justin Bieber's manager joins a doc spotlighting America's school dropout crisis.
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ActionFest, the annual all-action-movie film festival in Asheville, N.C., honored stunt coordinator Jack Gill this weekend with its Man of Action Award. Gill used the platform to discuss his ongoing campaign to add an Oscar category for stunt coordinators, explaining to a panel audience why it’s taken 21 years — and how he’s talking to the voting Academy members of a special committee, one by one — to convince them that stunt professionals are artists just like other film technicians honored on Hollywood's biggest night.
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If you feel like whiling away the afternoon following updates about a room full of wealthy entertainers and/or movie-industry craftspeople eating, the Academy's Twitter feed might be for you.
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It's been quite a day, and quite a week for Oscar watchers, but just imagine what Academy president Tom Sherak and Co. have been dealing with on the inside of the RatnerGate hullaballoo! They're probably thanking their lucky stars for Oscar-winning uber-producer Brian Grazer, who has agreed to step in to patch together the 2012 Academy Award telecast. Hit the jump to read invisible sighs of relief between the lines of the AMPAS official press release.
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