EXCLUSIVE: Casey Affleck has withdrawn from presenting the Best Actress Award at the upcoming Oscars, Deadline hears. He has notified the Academy he will not be attending the event, sources said. I’ve heard that Affleck did not want to become a distraction from the focus that should be on the performances of the…

It's been a good year for Amazon Studios. The company has proved its worth as a major player in the independent film market thanks to the critical and box office success of Manchester by the Sea, which it picked up in Sundance last year for $10 million before steering it to Oscar success in the Best Actor and…

As the majors prepare to bet billions on their summer blockbusters, Amazon, a relatively new player, is setting forth a very different sort of slate. Instead of fostering superheroes, Amazon's three summer films will focus on an eccentric British explorer in 1924, an impoverished Pakistani standup in Chicago, and two…

Casey Affleck practically swept through awards season winning almost everything in sight (well, except SAG) on his way to grabbing the biggest one of all: he Best Actor Oscar. It came Sunday for his unforgettable turn in Manchester By The Sea, the Amazon/Roadside Attractions release that has made more than $40 million…

While the Writers Guild have specified several needs for their upcoming March 13 contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Manchester by the Sea original screenplay Oscar winner Kenneth Lonergan mentioned that “creative control” is one point that should not be overlooked in contract…

It was a stunning upset, Moonlight won Best Picture tonight — after a historic gaffe in which La La Land was announced as the winner. Presenter Faye Dunaway read La La Land for the top award, and its principals came to the stage. But, in what many thought was a joke, Moonlight later was announced as Best Picture…

Kenneth Lonergan took home his first Oscar statuette tonight for Best Original Screenplay for the powerful Manchester By The Sea. “This movie is about people trying to take care of each other in terrible adversity,” Lonergan said in accepting the award. “And thank you (to star) Casey Affleck, Casey Affleck, Casey…

Whenever you walk into a theater or screening room to review a movie you never know whether you are about to experience a masterpiece or a complete turkey. In the case of Oscar’s nine nominated Best Picture contenders this year — all of which I reviewed on video and in print for Deadline when they were first released…

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%…

Editors Note: This story originally ran on November 18, 2016. Casey Affleck's haunting and haunted performance in Kenneth Lonergan's Manchester by the Sea might have been amongst the first crop of fresh Oscar candidates when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January. But the fact that he's still a…

With two big BAFTA wins on Sunday for screenplay and lead actor Casey Affleck,  a very good shot at taking a WGA Original Screenplay award this coming Sunday,  a domestic box office gross nearing $50 million  , and six Academy Award nominations  Manchester By The Sea is riding higher than even anyone expected after…

The road to Best Picture for independent films is usually filled with uncertainty and adversity. Only in hindsight does it seem like some beneficent movie god plotted the course, and that calamities along the way would in retrospect seem like big breaks. Manchester by the Sea might be defined by its rapturous 2016…