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Notes from Movieland: Do the Distribution Dance
After a veritable maze of introductions, letters, meetings, “possibly"s and even a "yes" or two that transformed into "no" with the grinding of time, my little indie movie finally met her distribution match: The prince to my Red princess, the Bogart to my Bacall, the Captain to my Maria. When I was still a starry-eyed novice, I truly believed in the conventional distribution route. So did most of my fellow moviemakers. We were all after that golden carrot, which, it seems, isn’t as edible as I was led to believe.
September 30th, 2008 | Category: Notes From Movieland | By Anne Norda
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Eagle Eye Soars to Number One at Weekend Box Office
Shia LaBeouf and D.J. Caruso (who teamed up for 2007's Disturbia) thrilled audiences once again, taking the number one spot at the box office with action flick Eagle Eye.
September 29th, 2008 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By Kristin Forte
MM Remembers: Paul Newman
Back somewhere in 1975, just before Paul Newman started filming The Drowning Pool in and around my hometown of New Orleans, he joined a few of his co-stars (including his wife, Joanne Woodward), for a small press reception in a secure meeting room at the city's main airport. (Looking back, I have to wonder if this little get-together occurred just a few minutes after Newman and company first arrived in The Big Easy.) Newman seemed amiable—perhaps because, judging from his long pauses and languid movements, he'd prepared for the reception by having a beer or two, or five or six—and more than a little mischievous. He sat on a chair near where Woodward was seated, facing me while she chatted with another journalist. And every so often while we talked, he'd turn around, make sure she wasn't looking at him, and... and... well, reach out to grab her ass.
September 27th, 2008 | Category: MM Remembers | By Joe Leydon
New W. Trailer Revealed!
On October 17, before anyone can cast their vote for the next President of the United States, Lionsgate will release W., directed by Academy Award winner Oliver Stone. Much like Stone himself, the movie's subject, George W. Bush has weathered public ridicule, scathing reviews and controversial projects throughout his professional career. It is this and more that is chronicled in the much-anticipated fall drama. Here, a sneak peak.
September 26th, 2008 | Category: MM First Look, News/Commentary, Video | By Mallory Potosky
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>InTheaters Now: Choke, Miracle at St. Anna, Eagle Eye, Nights in Rodanthe & The Lucky Ones
Richard Gere and Diane Lane re-team for Nights in Rodanthe, Spike Lee puts his print on the war joint, a Sundance darling gets its day and Shia LaBeouf sets his sights on another box office takeover.
September 26th, 2008 | Category: In Theaters Now | By Jessica Wall
Sony Partners with The Film Foundation for Truly Classic Movies
Lovers of classic films can breathe a sigh of sweet relief as it has been announced that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) and Martin Scorsese’s non-profit film preservation organization, The Film Foundation, have teamed up to release onto DVD beloved titles from the Sony catalog that have been out of circulation for years. The two organizations plan to release the DVDs under the “Collector’s Choice” banner with each movie being restored and remastered.
September 23rd, 2008 | Category: News/Commentary | By Douglas Polisin
Lakeview Terrace Arrests Weekend Audiences
The new Samuel L. Jackson thriller Lakeview Terrace took the top spot at the box office this past weekend, earning $15.6 million. The rest of the top five were made up of new releases and second-week victors.
September 22nd, 2008 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By Kristin Forte
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>In Theaters Now: Lakeview Terrace, The Duchess, Appaloosa & Ghost Town
This weekend's offerings feature a little bit of everything: A corrupt cop, an English royal and Ricky Gervais as Bertram Pincus, the man who can see dead people. These and more are awaiting audiences now.
September 19th, 2008 | Category: In Theaters Now | By Kyle Rupprecht
2008 Spike TV Awards Give Genre Fans Something to “Scream” About
Hungering for an awards show that celebrates genres the Oscars usually steer clear of? The 2008 Spike TV Scream Awards, now in its third year, prides itself on being the first awards show to honor the best in horror, fantasy and sci-fi feature films, television shows and comics. Even better, fans get to choose who the lucky winners will be by voting on the show’s Website.
September 18th, 2008 | Category: MM In The News | By Kyle Rupprecht
Shakespeare on Film: The IndiePix Collection
Anthony Hopkins, lest ye be a fool, take note: If you want to fully fit your upcoming role as King Lear, it may be wise to check out the IndiePix Shakespeare collection. The 10 films within the collection, which range from Laurence Olivier’s classic interpretations of Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948), and Richard III (1955) to Bollywood’s own Maqbool and Omkara (renditions of Macbeth and Othello respectively), shed new light on Shakespeare’s work, bringing him into “a new media” and offering students another way of examining his themes amongst a global background.
September 17th, 2008 | Category: News/Commentary | By Douglas Polisin
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Vote in the “Where Nightmares Come Alive” Film Competition
Cast your vote in Universal Studios Hollywood's "Where Nightmares Come Alive" short film competition. As part of the theme park's Halloween Horror Nights, the competition will screen the winner at the Eyegore Awards, an event honoring the horror and sci-fi genres that will feature an audience of celebrities (past award recipients include Janet Leigh, Rob Zombie and Joss Whedon) and studio executives.
September 16th, 2008 | Category: | By Jessica Wall
Burn After Reading Fires Up the Box Office
Four new films took the top spots this past weekend: The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading reigned supreme, grossing $19.4 million. Tyler Perry's latest flick, The Family That Preys, was a close second with $18 million. Righteous Kill, the only non-comedy in the top four, came in third with $16.5 million, while number four went to remake The Women with $10 million. The Dark Knight was finally knocked out of the top five but managed to keep an impressive hold on the charts, making $4 million and coming in at number seven.
September 15th, 2008 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By Kristin Forte
In Theaters Now: The Women, Burn After Reading, The Family That Preys & Towelhead
Estrogen makes a comeback in theaters this weekend, with the all-star cast of The Women, Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard's cross-country trek in The Family That Preys and newcomer Summer Bishil, who stars in the coming-of-age drama Towelhead. Oh yeah, and the Coen brothers return with Burn After Reading.
September 12th, 2008 | Category: In Theaters Now | By Lauren Barbato
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Become Enlightened at the Women In Film Entertainment Forum and Business Leadership Awards
Now in its third year, the Women In Film Entertainment Forum will take place on November 1 and 2, 2008 at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City. This year, Women In Film is bestowing its Business Leadership Awards on two extraordinarily accomplished honorees: Susanne Daniels, former president of entertainment at Lifetime and WB Networks, and current media consultant to Lifetime Television Network, and Rena Ronson, senior vice president at William Morris Agency and co-head of William Morris Independent.
September 9th, 2008 | Category: Happenings, News/Commentary | By Kyle Rupprecht
Notes from Movieland: Vampire/Zombie Funnels Art
I met with Antonio (Tony) Manriquez at the Borders cafe in Sherman Oaks last week. Tony directed his first feature film at the ripe age of 14 and landed in Sundance with his fellow student moviemakers. I like him a ton. At the age of 28, he wears a cloak of worldliness that continually surprises me. In contrast to his jaded edginess, he possesses a passion for everything and anything to do with moviemaking that is truly scrumptious. I love his unabashed nerdiness when discussing the history and theory of film. Tony teaches moviemaking to Los Angeles high school kids and Final Cut Pro to adults. That’s how I met him. I was taking a Photoshop course at the North Hollywood Adult Learning Center and he was teaching the editing course right afterwards.
September 8th, 2008 | Category: Notes From Movieland | By Anne Norda
Bangkok Dangerous Was Top at the Weekend Box Office
Bangkok Dangerous fended off competition from summer mainstays Tropic Thunder and The Dark Knight to top the weekend box office.
September 7th, 2008 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By Kristin Forte
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>James Schamus Honored with Trailblazer Award at Woodstock
James Schamus, the man behind Focus Features (think The Constant Gardener, Atonement), was chosen to receive the 2008 Trailblazer Award from the Woodstock Film Festival. Prior to working at Focus he was co-president of independent production company Good Machine for 11 years and won numerous awards for his own work, including the award for Best Screenplay at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival for The Ice Storm.
September 5th, 2008 | Category: | By Jessica Wall
In Theaters Now: Bangkok Dangerous & Everybody Wants to Be Italian
It's an international affair at this weekend's box office as Bangkok Dangerous and Everybody Wants to Be Italian head to theaters.
September 5th, 2008 | Category: In Theaters Now | By Lauren Barbato
“Give ‘Till It Hurts” at the Fourth Annual SAW Blood Drive
SAW fans may get to save a life or two with the Fourth Annual SAW “Give ‘Till It Hurts” blood drive. Benefiting the Red Cross, the blood drive is set to coincide with the Halloween premiere of SAW V, the latest entry in the gruesome Lionsgate Films horror franchise, opening nationwide on October 26.
September 3rd, 2008 | Category: Happenings, News/Commentary | By Kyle Rupprecht
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' . $phpAds_raw['html'] . ''; } ?>Tropic Thunder Holds Strong Over Labor Day Weekend
Despite competition from four new wide releases over the long holiday weekend, Ben Stiller’s Tropic Thunder managed to stay on top of the box office for its third straight weekend in a row, earning $14.3 million.
The new sci-fi clunker Babylon A.D., starring Vin Diesel, held the number two spot with a mediocre $12 million, putting it just ahead of The Dark Knight’s seventh weekend total of $11 million. The Dark Knight now becomes only the second movie in history to pass $500 million at the U.S. box office, doing so in just about half the time it took Titanic to reach that historic mark.
Rounding out the top five were the Anna Faris comedy The House Bunny with $10.2 million and the new Don Cheadle espionage thriller Traitor, which opened in fifth place with $10 million.
Next weekend, Ben Stiller and Batman face competition from Nicolas Cage in Bangkok Dangerous. Will an actor and the caped crusader be able to defeat Dangerous Cage? Find out in next week’s Top of the Box Office report.
September 2nd, 2008 | Category: Top of the Box Office | By Kyle Rupprecht
ASC Looking for TV’s Greatest DPs
It’s true; television has saturated our entire culture. We see it everywhere we look: Hovering above bars, glowing in store windows, blaring in gyms, even talking to us in the back seat of a taxi. TV has become such an accessible medium that we forget that large amounts of work actually go into bringing us our favorite shows. Luckily, the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) has not forgotten. Move aside big screen cinematographers, it’s time to give your boob-tube brethren a chance to shine! The ASC has recently asked for entries in both the categories of Best Cinematography for an Episodic TV Series and Best Cinematography in a Movie of the Week, Miniseries, or Pilot Episode for their Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards.
September 2nd, 2008 | Category: News/Commentary | By Douglas Polisin
USC’s Elizabeth Daley to Receive The Charles S. Swartz Award
The Hollywood Post Alliance’s first-ever Charles S. Swartz Award will be bestowed upon Elizabeth M. Daley, dean of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. The award honors a person, group, company or technology that has made a significant artistic, technological, business or educational impact on post-production.
September 1st, 2008 | Category: News/Commentary | By Kristin Forte
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