Typecasting happens behind the camera as often as it does in front of it. Shawn Levy, whose brand as a Hollywood director was typified by family blockbusters like Cheaper by the Dozen and Night at the Museum, wanted the production company those hits yielded, 21 Laps, to be much more than a vehicle for him to crank out…

It’s been quite a ride for Arrival, the sci-fi movie starring Amy Adams that Paramount scooped up close to three years ago at the Cannes Film Festival for a record $20 million. As we forecasted last month, the Denis Villeneuve-directed movie was destined to hit the century mark before Oscar night, becoming the third…

Well that didn’t settle much! For only the third time since 1984 (some 32 years ago), the Writers Guild and the Oscars are possibly going to have two different winners in the Original and Adapted Screenplay categories, though you can put an asterisk on that statistic since they are both likely to have Moonlight as a…

Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins and Arrival’s Eric Heisserer were the big film winners tonight at the 69th annual WGA Awards tonight, which were handed out at dual ceremonies in New York and Los Angeles. On the TV side, FX swept the top categories with Atlanta — from writers Donald Glover, Stephen Glover, Stefani Robinson…

Hey exhibitors — are you listening? A recent Movio/AARP study recently highlighted that the 50+ age group is one of the more devoted moviegoing demos, particularly during Oscar season. During the period of Jan. 1, 2016-Feb. 5, 2017, those 50 and over repped 56% of the crowd for Oscar-nominated movies versus a 20%…

There can only be one winner, but each of the Best Picture nominees overcame creative, financial and logistical hurdles to get this close to the finish line. Here are their war stories. Arrival When Ted Chiang's sci-fi Story of Your Life first came across Denis Villeneuve's desk, it wasn't an immediate choice for the…

Editors Note: This story originally ran on December 12, 2016. When Arrival director Denis Villeneuve first read Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life, he couldn't see a clear way to make a movie out of it. "The short story is more intellectual in a good way," Villeneuve says. "It’s more about language and not your political…

UPDATE with full list of winners: Lionsgate’s La La Land was named the Best Film at the 70th annual BAFTA Awards in London, capping a night in which it won a leading five awards and further cemented its frontrunner status at the Oscars two weeks from now. Damian Chazelle was named Best Director and Emma Stone won…

Sony Corp earlier this week warned of a $962M goodwill impairment charge for its Pictures division, and today in Tokyo it cut its net profit forecast for the year ending March 31, 2017. In announcing third-quarter results, the Japanese electronics giant said it now expects net income for the full fiscal year to be 26B…

Better to be a best picture Oscar nominee than a winner. At the box office, that is. This weekend, eight of the nine best picture nominees saw on average a near-two fold bump in their weekend-to-weekend stateside ticket sales. By Oscar night, their total cumes will have jumped an average of 44% since last Tuesday’s…

Every presidency comes with its own type of cinema. The Ronald Reagan administration of 1981-1989, which led into the tail end of the Cold War, saw a number of raunchy escapist comedies like Porky’s and National Lampoon’s Vacation, as well as the rise of the American action hero in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s canon and…

The Motion Picture Sound Editors have unveiled nominees for the 64th annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards recognizing achievements in feature film, TV, animation and web-based productions. Winners will be announced February 19 in a ceremony at the Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles. The group previously announced that…