Not to be terribly negative at the start of the new year – because any year that gifted us the Fassboner had to be a pretty good year, amirite? – but there were a handful of recurring trends in the movies of 2011 that could stand a rest as we charge ahead through 2012. First let’s list the good ones, the motifs in otherwise disparate films, from a wide range of filmmakers indie and studio-backed, new and established, that were actually kind of awesome to marinate in this past year. (Goslingmania comin' atcha!)
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While it didn't quite slay Jack and Jill at the box office -- a more resounding spanking might've restored my faith in humanity, but many, many folks still came out for the Adam Sandler twinsies comedy -- Tarsem's fantasy actioner Immortals exceeded expectations on its way to a surprising $32 million number one opening, the best ever debut for studio Relativity Media. Also: Puss in Boots and Tower Heist continued to slide down the ranks, with J. Edgar making a decent go of things to round out the Top 5. Dive in for your Weekend Receipts!
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There goes the Tower Heist contingent of this year's Oscars. Less than a day after Brett Ratner resigned as producer of the 84th Academy Awards telecast following a series of controversial remarks made while promoting Tower Heist, his star Eddie Murphy has forfeited his spot as this year's host.
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In this weekend's Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy stars as as a benevolent crook who helps a few Ponzi scheme victims attempt to recover their money. So how did a Brooklyn-area stand-up transform himself into an '80s comedic superstar, an unexpected dramatic talent and this February, an Academy Award host?
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While promoting Tower Heist during a recent television interview, Eddie Murphy took a moment to forecast that he will be the most awful Academy Awards host of all time. (Has he seen last year's ceremony co-hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco?) Click through to watch Murphy repeatedly cut off his Tower Heist co-star Ben Stiller to predict just how bad his Oscars show will be. Spoiler alert: It ends with a powder blue suit and a golden statuette shower.
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Whew! It's been quite the eventful week here at Movieline, what with Netflix's Qwikster dying on the vine, indie theater owners giving Universal and VOD what for, and the crazy real life developments you couldn't have dreamed up. (Random Task, we're looking at you... in fear.) Hit your Friday Week in Review and come tomorrow for the weekend stylings of Louis Virtel.
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Following the example set last week by Cinemark, a number of independent theater chains and movie theaters have pledged not to screen Universal's Tower Heist in protest over the studio's plans to drastically shorten the release window. Lyndon Golin, chief executive of Regency Theaters (which is joined by the Emagine and Galaxy chains) explained: "We certainly support Cinemark... If their position is they won't run it, then we won't run it either. Movies shown in the home on such a short window is a dagger to our business." [LA Times]
Stand back! Brace yourself! Nothing can prepare you for the rocking magnitude of the blast that is Movieline's Week in Review. Read on for all of it, but careful! Don't look directly into the light, and consider hiding the children. And in any case be stay to drop by this weekend for box-office updates and other fiery dispatches from the one and only Louis Virtel. Have a good one!
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The latest in what's sure to be an ongoing and convoluted affair: national theater chain Cinemark has lobbed the first return volley in the face of Universal's Tower Heist VOD experiment, refusing to play the Brett Ratner-directed Eddie Murphy-Ben Stiller comedy in any of its 300 locations and 3,800 screens come November 4. The question is: Will Universal back down from its $59.99 video-on-demand market test -- or will other exhibitors join Cinemark to boycott the move?
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The latest trailer for Tower Heist is out, and not a minute too soon as Universal prepares to undertake Hollywood's most adventurous journey yet on the VOD frontier: Releasing Brett Ratner's comedy to on-demand audiences just three weeks after its Nov. 4 theatrical opening. Exhibitors are pledging boycotts, pundits are wringing their hands, and competing studios are paying extra close attention to how it could all affect them. All of which misses the bottom line for viewers, which is: How much???
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Well, isn't this quite the youthful shake-up! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced the producers who will create next year's Oscars telecast: previous telecast director Don Mischer and Rush Hour/X-Men 3 director Brett Ratner. Does this mean less snooze and more explosions for the annual awards season centerpiece?
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Another day, another set of publicity stills from upcoming movies for all of us to wrap our snarky heads around. Peek into the distant future (all the way to fall 2011) and help Movieline figure out what's going on in these images from Brett Ratner's tower heist flick Tower Heist, Tate Taylor's period novel adaptation The Help, and John Singleton's Abduction, AKA Taylor Lautner Gets $7.5 Million to Play Tom Cruise.
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