Do You Hear The Academy Singing? The Daunting Oscar Odds Of 'Les Miserables'

The Academy Award nominations brought good news and bad news to one of my favorite movies of the year.  Les Misérables eight nominations including Best Picture, Actor, for Hugh Jackman, and Supporting  Actress, for Anne Hathaway. That ain't chopped liver, but the highly  publicized snubbing of its director Tom Hooper along with its absence in all-important bellwether categories like screenplay and editing means what was once considered a front runner is now a real long shot to actually win Oscar’s top prize. more »

James Franco, Michael Winterbottom, Jane Campion & More Head To Berlin International Film Festival

The Berlin International Film Festival continues to roll-out its program for its February event, adding new titles to its Panorama and other sections. Many of the titles will debut as world and international premieres, with some titles headed to the festival post-Sundance. New work from the U.S. include Travis Mathews and James Franco's Interior. Leather Bar, Stacie Passon's Concussion, Shane Carruth's Upstream Color as well as new work from Ken Loach and Jane Campion.
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Oscar Index: Day-Lewis, Chastain, Jones & Hathaway Lead In Final Stretch

The big winner when the Oscar nominations were announced Thursday might have been not the nominees themselves, but venerable Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman, who once famously proclaimed about Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.” Not even the canniest Oscar pundit or deeply embedded Hollywood insider could have predicted that three of the Director’s Guild of America nominees—two of them perceived front-runners—would not get an Oscar nomination. more »

Academy Award Nominations: Best Song Picks Are 'Les Miserables'-y Safe

So you might have heard that the 85^th Academy Awards nominations have been announced . Good for you, person who wakes up early in the morning. This year's nominees contains some shocking snubs — no best director for Tarantino or Bigelow? — as well as some pleasant surprises, but if the majority of the nominees will have us bitching or raving until March, the Best Original Song category plays it as frustratingly safe as ever. more »

Academy Award Nominees Announced - 'Lincoln' Leads 2013 Oscar Noms

Lincoln topped the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards Thursday morning in Los Angeles, the Steven Spielberg-directed film took 12 noms including the Best Picture and Director categories as well as Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actor for Tommy Lee Jones and Best Supporting Actress for Sally Field.
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'Les Misérables''s Tom Hooper Talks Anne Hathaway's 'Dark Place' In Palm Springs

Les Misérables director Tom Hooper may have been bypassed with a nomination Wednesday by the British Film Academy for Best Director (though the film itself received nine nominations), but at the Palm Springs International Film Festival this week, he received the event's Sonny Bono Visionary Award at a celeb-filled event that included Naomi Watts, Bradley Cooper, Helen Mirren, Sally Field and Ben Affleck. At the festival, Hooper talked about the creation of Les Misérables, why the story made him cry and the "dark box" Anne Hathaway traveled to as she took on the role of Fantine.
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'Lincoln,' 'Les Misérables,' 'Life Of Pi' Lead British Film Academy Nominations

Lincoln, Les Misérables and Life of Pi lead the pack Wendesday among the 2013 British Academy Film Award nominations, with Spielberg's pic on the 16th U.S. president receiving ten nominations including Best Film while Les Mis and Pi each received nine, also picking up Best Film noms.
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Directors Guild Award Nominations: Was The Wrong Director Snubbed?

Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell were edged out of the pack in today's Directors Guild Award nominations announcement, giving way to a rather conservative quintet of Oscar hopefuls. So let the DGA backlash begin: Between Ben Affleck (Argo), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), which nominee should have gotten the shaft to make the DGA race even remotely interesting?
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Producers Guild Of America Unveils 2013 Nominees

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) weighed in with their nominations for the best of 2012 for both motion pictures and television. Oscar heavy-weights including Lincoln, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Misérables, Argo and Silver Linings Playbook made the cut along with other awards contenders including Beasts of the Southern Wild, Moonrise Kingdom and Life of Pi made the list for the organization's Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures.
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'The Hobbit' Perched Atop The Box Office Again

Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey surpassed the competition at the box office over the long New Years weekend, outgrossing powerhouse newcomers Django Unchained and Les Misérables in their first full weekends in theaters.

The first installment of the Hobbit trilogy grossed a chart-topping $48.3 million in the Friday to Tuesday holiday period in 4,100 theaters. That was nearly $3.788 million more than the overall box office's runner-up, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained, though it should be noted that that title screened in 1,090 fewer theaters. The result is that Django scored the highest per screen average among the top 10, with $14,788 vs. The Hobbit's $11,780. Django grossed $44.513 million over the long weekend.

Fellow Christmas opener Les Misérables took in $41.14 million over the five-day holiday, placing third and a strong $14,620 average.

The Box Office Top 10 with numbers from the New Years Friday - Tuesday holiday:

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Gross: $48,300,511 (Cume: $238,001,325)
Theaters: 4,100 (PSA: $11,780)

2. Django Unchained
Gross: $44,513,232 (Cume: $77,833,497 - Xmas Day Opener)
Theaters: 3,010 (PSA: $14,788)

3. Les Misérables
Gross: $41,140,685 (Cume: $87,579,110 - Xmas Day Opener)
Theaters: 2,814 (PSA: $14,620)

4. Parental Guidance
Gross: $23,667,732 (Cume: $38,456,424 - Xmas Day Opener)
Theaters: 3,367 (PSA: $7,029)

5. Jack Reacher
Gross: $21,262,535 (Cume: $51,815,693)
Theaters: 3,352 (PSA: $6,343)

6. This Is 40
Gross: $18,678,740 (Cume: $42,609,030)
Theaters: 2,914 (PSA: $6,410)

7. Lincoln
Gross: $12,122,623 (Cume: $136,652,420)
Theaters: 1,966 (PSA: $6,166)

8. The Guilt Trip
Grosss: $10,424,431 (Cume: $24,834,787)
Theaters: 2,431 (PSA: $4,288)

9. Monsters, Inc.
Gross: $9,831,867 (Cume: $21,958,331)
Theaters: 2,618 (PSA: $2,463)

10. Rise of the Guardians
Gross: $7,644,497 (Cume: $92,891,627)
Theaters: 2,055 (PSA: $2,381)

[Source: Box Office Mojo]

Listen To Anne Hathaway Sing 'I Dreamed A Dream,' Pinpoint Exactly When She Earns That 'Les Mis' Oscar

We can all agree that Anne Hathaway's brief but gloriously tragic turn in Tom Hooper's Les Miserables earned her the enviable position as Best Supporting Actress front runner. Now you can listen to her movie-topping number "I Dreamed A Dream" online and pinpoint the exact moment when that Oscar statuette officially writes "Anne Hathaway's syphilitic whore" on its nameplate, because all you other Supporting Actress hopefuls can just give up and go home already*.
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TALKBACK: Who Gave The Best (And Worst) Performances Of 'Les Miserables?'

If you and the fam headed to the multiplex to watch one of the season's big new releases this week, chances are you caught Tom Hooper's epic weepie Les Miserables or Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. (Or maybe the in-laws dragged you to Parental Guidance, in which case, my condolences.) We'll get spoilery all over Django later, but for now let's get to hashing out the answer to the question that's been on every showtune-lover's mind for months: Which Les Miz cast member totally nailed the live-sung suffering for the big screen (and whose warblings made us les miserables)? more »

'Les Misérables' And 'Django' Second & Third Biggest Xmas Openers Ever

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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Tom Hooper Defends His 'Les Misérables ' Close-Ups & Reveals Who's The Bigger Musical Geek: Jackman or Hathaway

Now that Les Misérables is expected to surpass its opening-day box-office expectations by  $5 million-10 million, director Tom Hooper could pretend that adapting the beloved musical for the big screen was a walk in the park — but he'd be lying. On Thursday,  Hooper spoke to Movieline from his Sydney, Australia hotel room and, as he watched a massive tanker navigate Sydney Harbor, likened the challenge of directing the film to piloting an unwieldy boat through a very tricky channel. more »

Oscar Index: Critics Have 'Amour' For 'Zero Dark Thirty' & 'The Master,' But Who's 'Les Miserables' This Christmas?

Academy ballots were mailed out last week to 5,586 voting members, the most significant news on the Oscar front. Not that it was a quiet week in Lake Globesbegone. The New York Times’ critics A.O. Scott and Manohla Dargis both named Amour 2012’s best film, as did the Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan. The AP triumvirate of Christy Lemire, David Germain and Jake Coyle anointed Argo, Moonrise Kingdom and Amour, respectively.
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