Can Indie Movies Survive?

http://gawker.com/5465348/can-indie-movies-survive

Indie films have become the lost children of Hollywood in recent years. Author Edward Jay Epstein explains why Hollywood is abandoning the indie movie business in favor of merchandisable CGI spectacles like Avatar.

If you are a producer of indie movies, the great sucking sound you may be hearing is Avatar draining money from your future projects. While this brilliant Pocahantas-meets-Jurassic Park mashup may be a bonanza for Rupert Murdoch’s 20th Century Fox studio, which gets a distribution fee on every dollar it brings in from theaters, video stores, and TV, and its producer-director James Cameron, who gets a cut of the gross after it reached its Hollywood-defined $500 million cash break even point, it will further convince the heads of the major studios that their salvation lies in putting their money in “high value” movies laden with mesmerizing visual effects that can be simultaneously opened on more than 5,000 screens around the world and lend themselves to sequels, merchandise tie-ins, toy licensing, and theme parks rides. Read More »

82ND OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED!

The Oscars were announced earlier this morning in Los Angeles by Anne Hathaway and Academy President Tom Sherak. As expected, AVATAR got a ton of kudos with 9 total nominations but in a pleasant surprise it was tied with THE HURT LOCKER which also had 9 noms. This was the first year that 10 nominees were announced for Best Picture allowing movies like DISTRICT 9, THE BLIND SIDE and UP to make their way into the top category. UP becomes the first animated film since BEAUTY AND THE BEAST to be nominated for Best Picture. Read More »

Golden Globe Awards

The Golden Globe Awards were handed out on Sunday night and there were plenty of surprises. AVATAR was the big winner taking Best Motion Picture and Best Director for James Cameron. THE HANGOVER upset critical fave 500 DAYS OF SUMMER to take the Best Picture, Musical or Comedy and both Sandra Bullock and Robert Downey, Jr. were surprise winners. Take a look at a full list of the winners below (winners are in bold). Stay tuned for more coverage from the Globes tomorrow included a full photo gallery at Movie Hotties and a complete recap!

For full details see here

Modest returns for Pay TV movies

More Australians watched Pay TV than any other television network last year — although movies do not appear to be much of an audience draw.

Source: www.tradeguys.com.au
Online - 6th Jan 2010

According to figures issued by the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association, Pay TV channels accounted for over 22 percent of all metropolitan viewing in 2009, putting it ahead of the other Free To Air networks.

However, that percentage is based on viewing across all Pay TV channels and audiences remain relatively small for individual programs. Read More »

Box Office Analysis Week 49

Source: www.boxofficemojo.com

“You’re money and you know it!”

This is Sandra Bullock’s year and we’re just sitting around watching her movies, apparently. After posting the biggest opening weekend of her career with THE PROPOSAL this past summer with $33.6M (which ended up being her highest grossing film to boot with $164M), Bullock beat that mark with the opening for THE BLIND SIDE three weeks ago, $34.1M, and appears to be headed to yet another personal best, as the film just moved from 2nd place for the past two weeks (behind NEW MOON, of course) into 1st place in its third week of release and has already earned $129M — not to mention being the major surprise hit of the season! Read More »