OPENING: 3 Days to Kill (REL) opens in second for an est. $12.2M 3-day; Pompeii (SONY) takes No. 3 with $10.3M. The Wind Rises (DIS) very strong in limited release. NOTEWORTHY: Oscar-nominated films still in theaters held well. UPDATED: MONDAY, 1:34 PM: Final numbers are in. Everything looks as expected with one, two…

What is it going to take for an animated pic to shatter the Best Picture live action ceiling? When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created an animated feature category back in 2001, it was an official nod to the fact that the genre has evolved into a true art form. Before the category's existence, it…

In this week's podcast, Deadline Awards Columnist Pete Hammond and host David Bloom look at the impact of those all-over-the-map BAFTA Awards, which gave Gravity lots of love but handed 12 Years A Slave two important wins. They also look at what questions are being asked by Fox Searchlight's Oscar campaign for 12 Years…

Oscar-winning Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, who won the Best Animated Feature Academy Award in 2002 for Spirited Away, is back in contention this year with The Wind Rises, the film he says will be his last as a director. Could that be a factor in how the Academy votes? The film — about the man who designed…

Disney's Frozen was on fire tonight at the 41st Annie Awards and now is generating real heat for the upcoming Academy Awards. Having made $864.4M worldwide at the box office since its late-November release, the 3D fantasy musical snagged 5 Annies tonight. Frozen won Best Animated Feature, Best Directing for Chris Buck…

The Boston Society of Film Critics went big for Steve McQueen‘s slavery drama 12 Years A Slave today, awarding the Fox Searchlight Oscar contender three end-of-year awards including Best Picture, Best Actor (for Chiwetel Ejiofor), and Best Director. Meanwhile, Best Animated Film honors went to Hayao Miyazaki‘s…

EXCLUSIVE: We've seen the subtitled trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu) released during the Toronto Film Festival and now here's a first look at the domestic version. A mix of the real-life stories of aircraft designer Jiro Horikoshi and the poet Tatsuo Hori, The Wind Rises tells a poignant tale…

‘The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’ To Close Camerimage Fest Camerimage, the international film festival of the art of cinematography, said today that Ben Stiller's new comedy-drama The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty will close the 21st edition of the festival, which runs November 16-23 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Stiller also…

After a nine-week streak, Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises has slipped from the No. 1 spot at the Japanese box office. Ataru: The First Love & The Last Kill, an adaptation of a popular TV series, overtook the animation master’s final feature at the weekend, making over $3.5M. FilmBizAsia reports that it is only the…

‘The Wind Rises’ Makes It Eight Straight Weeks At No. 1 In Japan Hayao Miyazaki's The Wind Rises is still No. 1 at the Japanese box office after eight consecutive weekends. The Studio Ghibli release was up 13.6% this weekend after the director made his retirement official at a press conference in Tokyo last week. Per…

Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Wind Rises is set for limited release in North American theaters on February 21 and will expand a week later, Disney and Studio Ghibli announced tonight. Under the Touchstone Pictures banner, the film also will play Oscar-qualifying engagements in New York and Los Angeles on November 8-14. The Wind…

Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki has held a press conference in Tokyo to speak about his recently announced retirement. Last Sunday in Venice, Koju Hoshino, president of Miyazaki's production company Studio Ghibli, said that the anime master's competition film, The Wind Rises, would be his last. Today, Miyazaki said…