Thomas J. McLean is an AwardsLine contributor. Expect Gravity to be as powerful and inevitable a force in the visual-effects category at this year's Oscars as, well, gravity. Offering more than just snazzy visuals — about 95% of what's on screen is digital — Gravity's visual-effects supervisor Tim Webber fulfilled…

EXCLUSIVE: Tonight, the 27th American Cinematheque Award honors Hollywood’s longest-running and most commercially successful producer in Jerry Bruckheimer. Over the past 40 years, Bruckheimer has been the most consistent generator of films that filled theaters, moved popcorn and displayed more onscreen explosions than…

The producer “will probably end up making more films for us” including a fifth Pirates Of The Caribbean, the Disney CEO told CNBC’s Jim Cramer today. And last week’s decision to let their first-look deal expire next year was not tied to the fact that Disney might write down as much as $190M from losses tied to The Lone…

Related: Deadline’s 10 Best TV Stories Of The Week The fallout from the box office flop of The Lone Ranger continues for Disney with a big expected write down in the offering while stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer complain that it was the critics that killed the film…

Lone Ranger stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer waited until they hit the UK press circuit to explain why the expensive Disney tent pole flopped big time at the summer box office. “This is the deal with American critics,” said Armie Hammer speaking to Yahoo UK/Ireland. “They’ve been gunning for our movie since it was…

CFO Jay Rasulo just told analysts that the company is “disappointed” in the film’s performance and likely will take a charge of anywhere from $160M to $190M next quarter. The company isn’t ready to be more specific because the film is only open in 40% of its markets; it hits Japan in September. But CEO Bob Iger says…

Can this stunt help goose The Lone Ranger‘s lackluster box office? Disney and Britain’s Sky are partnering to film a live 3-minute TV ad for the movie featuring stars Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer at the July 21 UK premiere. The spot will be broadcast exclusively across 11 Sky channels starting at 5:56 PM that day…

Disney‘s stock price is up 1% in mid-day trading — even as the Street begins to speculate how much the studio will have to write down on the updated Western starring Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp. The Lone Ranger only generated $48.9M in domestic box office sales — putting it on a trajectory that’s far too low to cover…

SUNDAY NOON, 13TH UPDATE: As predicted fireworks blazed at the Fourth Of July box office which headed to $229M domestic through Sunday (+16% from last year) and a new 3-day weekend record for the holiday. But there was only bad news for Disney’s #2 too-expensive The Lone Ranger (3,904 theaters) which opened…

Listen to (and share) episode 33 of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Deadline's awards columnist talks with host David Bloom about whether one of Hawk Koch's last initiatives, making the Motion Picture Academy membership more diverse, may have the most long-term impact; weekend events…

Top Gun 2 is still aiming for lift off, said Jerry Bruckheimer today. "For 30 years we've been trying to make a sequel and we're not going to stop. We still want to do it with Tom [Cruise] and Paramount are still interested in making it," the producer said Sunday at the Produced By conference. "What Tom tells me is…

Most execs like to raise expectations when they address investors. But Disney CFO Jay Rasulo did just the opposite when he opened his appearance today at the Nomura U.S. Media & Telecom Summit. After seeing some analysts’ rosy forecasts for the current quarter, he says that “maybe I wasn’t clear” in earlier…