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Terry Gilliam: Avatar’s Success Hurts Other Filmmakers

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Celeb News, Filmmaking,

Terry Gilliam

has blasted Avatar for limiting the opportunities of less successful filmmakers.

The The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus director said James Cameron’s epic 3-D blockbuster - now the biggest grossing film in history - cost so much to make, it meant many other projects missed out on funding.

“There are so many small, beautiful filmmakers and actors and directors with so much potential that just can’t get a look in because the studios are pumping all their money into these huge projects,” Gilliam claimed. “There are such incredible lower-budget films that are magical, but we’ve got our work cut out with things like coming out. How are these young talents supposed to get a look in without the budget? That’s the sad thing, because they are just as good.”

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Box Office Breakdown: Dear John Brings Down Avatar

Amanda Seyfried in Dear John

Dear John—And they didn’t think we could do it. Take that, blue people! XOXO, Savannah

After an exhausting seven weeks at #1, found itself in entirely new territory: sitting back at #2. Although the film had broken nearly every record in the history books (and padded another $22.9 million to its domestic total), the 20th Century Fox feature ended its win streak nine weeks shy of E.T.‘s mark.

Taking the lead from James Cameron was the latest weeper from author Nicholas Sparks. - starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried - was the counterprogramming winner during Super Bowl weekend. The romantic drama earned an impressive $30.5 million and came narrowly close to besting the record set during the same sports frame in 2008. (That was when Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour generated $31.1 million.)

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Read More | Box Office Mojo

Comic Book Jobs: Who’s Hiring? Marvel, Full Moon and Lego (Sort of)

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,

Lego BatmanEveryone loves a good job, and people without a job would just like one. I can’t guarantee that any of these jobs are good, bad or fun, but I can see one thing for certain: they are jobs. Let the hunt begin!

Marvel Comics: If you can tell the difference between the Fantastic Four and the Howling Commandos and you’ve got some mad Adobe software skills as well (not just your free Acrobat Reader), then Marvel Comics’ New York office could be the place for you. Their digital production department is looking for a graphic designer with experience in comic book or traditional book production. The downside is that it’s a temp spot and it only pays $15 an hour, but hey, you’ll still be a part of the comic book industry.

Full Moon: Charles Band and the crew behind Full Moon Entertainment’s movies like Puppet Master, Demonic Toys, Dollman, and Trancers are looking for an eBay consultant to help them sell off their tons of warehoused material. It’s a 1000-piece collection “of rare and valuable items, many of them one of a kind. At this time, the intention is 20 pieces per week. They include giant film posters, original concept and production drawings, paintings, pen and ink comic book art, prototypes for figurines, and autographed items.” I worked on some of those Full Moon comics back in the 1990s and if some of the art they’re offering is from that era, there are some nice pieces in that collection including early J. H. Williams.

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Who’s Hiring? Marvel, Full Moon and Lego (Sort of)


2010 Academy Award Nominations

Academy Award nominations 2010

After the list of nominees were announced this morning, two movies rose to the top of the pack. Avatar and The Hurt Locker - helmed respectively by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow - both lead the field with nine nominations each. Thankfully, the formerly married directors still get along.

Even though this will be the first time since 1943 (when Casablanca won) that ten films will go up for Best Film, this year’s list only revealed a handful of surprises. Those who have been following other ceremonies during this awards season saw very little changes in the acting categories.

Here are some of the noteworthy mentions/omissions from today’s nominations:

  • Many had hoped The Hangover, Star Trek and/or (500) Days of Summer would go up for Best Picture. Many were left disappointed.
  • Is this the first time Daniel Day-Lewis wasn’t nominated for simply breathing?
  • Acting queen is up now up for her sweet 16th nomination for her role in Julie & Julia. (I believe I will one day see her 20th.)
  • Speaking of leading women, there will be three newcomers going up against vets Streep and (The Last Station): Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)—someone who wasn’t even an actress to begin with!
  • Disney/Pixar’s will be double-dipping it this year. The feature has been nominated in both the Best Film and Best Animated Film categories.

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Box Office Breakdown: Avatar Has the Edge Over Mel Gibson

Edge of Darkness

Despite success in recent years as a director, Mel Gibson hasn’t been seen in front of the cameras in quite some time. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have picked a worse weekend to make a return.

Gibson’s new film, , debuted to a respectable $17.2 million over the past three days. While that may - may - have been enough for a first place finish at any other time, the Warner Bros. feature brought in approximately half as much as that other film.

, with its $31.3 million take, is now approximately $10 million shy of officially taking the domestic crown from Titanic. (The 20th Century Fox film finally become the worldwide leader during the past week.) If the sci-fi extravaganza remains at #1 for

nine more weeks,

it’ll officially tie E.T. for that record.)

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Read More | Box Office Mojo

Box Office Breakdown: Avatar Just Hours Away from Worldwide Record

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories:

Avatar

Are we there yet?

Despite six weeks of chart-topping numbers, still hasn’t brought down the Titanic. Yes - the movie did finally surpass The Dark Knight on the domestic charts. And yes - the 20th Century Fox feature is now the top international earner at $1.29 billion. But James Cameron’s earlier blockbuster is still slightly ahead - by approximately $2 million - as far as worldwide receipts are concerned. (Monday’s ticket sales should change that for Avatar.) The 3D-adventure is also approximately $49.1 million shy of becoming the domestic king of the world.

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Read More | Box Office Mojo

Box Office Breakdown: Avatar Makes It a Five-Peat

Avatar's Michelle Rodriguez

The has slowly started to take on water.

Over the holiday weekend, added another $54.6 million to its domestic total ($505 million), bringing it that much closer to The Dark Knight‘s second-place spot. The Golden Globe-winning film, which now stands at approximately $1.6 billion internationally ($200 million shy of Titanic), also became the first film since The Sixth Sense to win five straight weeks in a row.

Meanwhile, - starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman - put up good numbers despite finishing in second place. Allen and Albert Hughes’ first movie since 2001’s From Hell raked in an impressive $38.4 million, giving Washington his second best debut ever. (American Gangster took in $43.6 million in 2007.) The receipts also made the film Warner Bros.’ best January opener to date.

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Read More | Box Office Mojo

Box Office Breakdown: Avatar Leaps Further Up the Charts

Leap Year

Hear that sound? That’s knocking on Titanic‘s door.

Over the past three days, Fox’s sci-fi blockbuster padded another $50.3 million to its total, officially making it the top entry of 2009. (Sorry, !) The movie now stands directly behind Jim Cameron’s other film on the international charts ($1.34 billion compared to $1.84 billion) and is ranked 7th on the domestic charts. (The Dark Knight sits on that list at #2 with $533,345,358.)

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Read More | Box Office Mojo

Cinema Scene: Thor Gets a Release Date, Taylor Lautner Gets a Big Paycheck

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow-Spider-Man‘s loss is Thor‘s gain. Paramount and Marvel Entertainment have now taken over the May 6, 2011 release date given up by Sony.

-Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will also be coming out in May 2011. The Disney feature will debut two weeks later on the 20th.

-Taylor Lautner will reportedly be paid $7.5 million to star in Northern Lights with Tom Cruise. Apparently hard

abs

work does pay off.

-The producers of The Hangover are having the last laugh. The movie has become the best-selling comedy on DVD….ever.

-There’s one thing you probably didn’t see in Avatar with your 3D glasses: the sex scene. Zoe Saldana said the moment, which should be on DVD, was cut for PG-13 purposes.


Box Office Breakdown: Avatar Dominating the Globe

Avatar

An absence of new movies meant very little change for the overall box office standings. A lack of competition, though, meant lots of movement for .

Over the weekend, the sci-fi extravaganza packed an additional $68.5 million to its already-impressive domestic total. The figure - a record for any entry in its third week - brought the film that much closer to becoming one of the top domestic grossers ever. Avatar ($352.1 million) is now only days away from passing 10th place finisher Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith ($380.3 million).

Internationally, is just a few rungs away from one of his other films. In just 17 days, the 20th Century Fox release has pulled in approximately $1.02 billion. That places Avatar behind only Titanic ($1.84 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest ($1.07 billion).

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Read More | Variety

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