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THE BIGGEST STAR TO TAKE THE STAGE during the Academy Awards arguably was the #OscarsSoWhite controversy as Chris Rock hammered home Hollywood’s diversity issues during the three-plus-hour telecast. But now that the curtain has closed, the question becomes how the industry will avoid a repeat. The wheels already might be in motion: Since the Oscar nominations were announced Jan. 14, a slew of diverse stories and color-blind castings have gained momentum. Newly announced projects include the young Barack Obama movie Barry and Disney’s immigrant story Dr. Q. (Those come on the heels of the record-breaking $17.5 million Sundance deal for Nate Parker’s slave drama The Birth of a Nation). “There’s definitely a big conversation taking place right now in our business,” says Management 360 partner Darin Friedman. “From both the…
Female Filmmaker Scorecard February studio movies directed and written by women* 0 DIRECTORS WRITERS 2 *10 studio releases; 6 major studios and Lionsgate WITH LOS ANGELES JUDGE DAVID Cowan setting a May 6 trial to determine the competency of ailing billionaire Sumner Redstone, the battle for the 92-year-old mogul’s media empire is moving closer to a denouement. It’s been years since Hollywood has witnessed a fight this epic over the fate of legacy properties — in this case, CBS and Viacom. Cowan said in his Feb. 29 decision that he needs to hear from witnesses to determine whether Redstone’s former companion Manuela Herzer is right in arguing that the frail billionaire lacked the mental capacity to remove her as his health-care representative in October. Redstone’s attorneys say he was capable…
SPOTLIGHT’S BEST PICTURE VICTORY CAME ON the heels of an aggressive six-month Oscar campaign that’s been applauded for its effectiveness by the film’s backers and competitors alike. The Open Road Films release benefited from the strength of its ensemble cast (which resonated with the Academy’s actors branch) and from the employment of a preferential ballot for best picture voting (nearly everyone at least likes Spotlight, while rivals The Revenant and The Big Short were considered more love or hate). But it was Spotlight’s awards campaign — which began in earnest at the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals — that helped send it over the top. Open Road chief Tom Ortenberg, whose 5-year-old company becomes the youngest to release a best picture winner, retained LTLA’s Lisa Taback, the veteran awards…
BY EARLY AFTERNOON ON Feb. 26, film distributors started to see grosses for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny pop up on reporting service comScore. Then they disappeared. Netflix and Imax decided not to disclose opening-weekend grosses, sparking buzz the numbers weren’t good. The film’s release was controversial from the get-go. Cinema owners who operate Imax screens were furious in fall 2014 when Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos and Imax announced a deal to make the long-awaited follow-up to Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning film, released in 2000, available on the streaming service and Imax theaters at the same time. Imax, the film’s U.S. distributor, backed off, and the film later was pushed from August to now. Yuen Woo-ping’s Sword of Destiny, whose lead producer is The Weinstein Co., ultimately…
OSCAR WINNER BRIE Larson’s breakout role was in Short Term 12, a SXSW hit in 2013. This year, the Austin festival that kicks off March 11 includes hundreds of aspiring Larsons, the next wave of wannabe tech moguls and Netflix’s first homegrown movie in Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, featuring the return of the character Pee-wee Herman. The film festival, once an afterthought amid buzzier music and digital gatherings, has emerged as a key launchpad for studios and indies courting young tastemakers. “SXSW is a unique event in terms of the types of people who are there from the entertainment, tech and media worlds,” says Patrick Starzan, senior vp marketing at Funny or Die, which will host Tracy Morgan in his first SXSW appearance. Here’s the rundown: FILM The 2015 movie lineup…
34.4 MILLION TV VIEWERS (Down 7.5 percent from 37.2 million viewers in 2015.) It was the third-lowest-rated Oscars broadcast on record (after 2008 and 2003), but black viewers dropped by just 2 percent from last year. 7.2 MILLION TWEETS (Up 22 percent from 5.9 million tweets in 2015.) A U.S. audience of 12.9 million people saw an Oscar-related tweet during the ceremony and the hours surrounding ABC’s live broadcast. Most-Used Oscars Instagram Emojis Chris Rock, Not All That Polarizing Where the Buzz Was Loudest FACEBOOK 1. USA 2. Mexico 3. Brazil 4. India 5. Canada TWITTER 1. USA 2. Brazil 3. Mexico 4. Argentina 5. Canada Top Facebook Moments 24 million people around the world had 67 million interactions (posts, likes and comments) related to the 88th Academy Awards 1.…
