The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

The down and dirty Hostel went for the chills and iced the type of impressive first weekend numbers that more than suggest a second offering will be served. Produced for less than $5 million, it’s an instant profit generator even if the bills still have to be processed.

In the course of compiling the 2005 market share I was reminded of something that I had forgotten. There were no great surprises, though perhaps a small blip, that box office declined by 5.4% rather than 6% or 7% had the year end releases continued to underperform.
Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Top Worldwide Grosses - 2005
Domestic Market Share - 2005

3-Day Estimates	Weekend	% Change	Cume
Hostel	19.4	-	19.4
The Chronicles of Narnia	15.5	-40%	247.7
King Kong	12.6	-49%	192.6
Fun with Dick and Jane	12.2	-26%	81.3
Cheaper by the Dozen 2	8.3	-43%	66.4
Munich	7.5	57%	25.2
Memoirs of a Geisha	5.8	-25%	39.6
Rumor Has It	5.7	-39%	35.2
Brokeback Mountain	4.8	32%	21.5
The Family Stone	4.5	-43%	53.2

The Updated Scoreboard
31 new critics.. not a single move up or down in the top 16. Brokeback Mountain extends lead... all nine Best Picture candidates in Top 19

The Big Scoreboard Of Bad
Stealth exposed in the Worst Of Year Scoreboard.

The Top Twenty: Batman Flies Into The Top Twenty

The Scoreboard At A Glace
Critics Awards, Top Tens And The Gurus All In A Row

The Individual Lists
The List of Critics
The Worst
Critics Awards Scoreboard

Digital Nation
The Consumer
Electronics Show
by Gary Dretzka

After eight years of spectacular growth, the sky-rocketing business of renting and selling DVD products has cooled its jets and made a soft-landing back on Earth. In its annual state-of-the-industry report, issued over hors d'oeuvres Thursday night in a Bellagio Hotel ballroom, the Digital Entertainment Group announced that consumer spending for DVDs was up merely 8 percent from last year’s numbers.

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20 Weeks To Oscar
"My Sister... My Daughter... My Sister... My Daughter... She's My Sister AND My Daughter!!!!"
by David Poland

You know the teacups at Disneyland? They look tame, but there isn't a ride in the park more likely to make you (or your mom) throw up? Welcome (yet again) to Oscar season 2005/6.

With Brokeback as pretty much the only lock for a Best Picture nomination right now, the mountain that I'm thinking most about is Cold Mountain. As in, will Munich be this year's Cold Mountain?

The Oscar Chart Quiz
1. The perfectly measured cocktail.
2. Veteran power.
4. The closest thing to a commercial favorite...
3. Will they embrace the former TV actor doing a tribute to TV?

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Passive or Active Tense,
and Other Conundrums:
The Best Films of 2005
by Robert Koehler

Like so much else that thinks of itself as writing about film, the most misdirected stream of commentary in 2005 was devoted to the supposed collapse of the moviegoing audience, layered with various helpings of sturm und drang about where “they” have all gone. I was struck at not just how this trendy topic utterly missed the problem, but that missing the problem -- or failing to notice -- characterizes so much film writing and what passes for reviewing right now.

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Best Picture
Best Director
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay

Crash rises... Geisha falls... Gurus see Cronenberg, Jackson, Meirelles fighting for last directing slots... Surprised by Virgin WGA nod...

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The Ultimate DVD Geek
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
by Doug Pratt

there is nothing dumb about Revenge of the Sith. There are annoying cheats and cribs that Lucas employs to fit his stories together, but the Machiavellian conflicts and emotional flaws of the characters are valid and thoughtful, and big blockbuster films have been constructed around much less. The film's spectacle, on the other hand, is utterly enthralling from its first image to its last. You can freeze almost any frame on the DVD and marvel at the scientifically-based fantasy architecture, engineering, biology, and so on.
The Ten Best Of 2005

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It's Oscartown, Jake
Head First
by Kristopher Tapley

On Wednesday, January 4, the Writers and Producers Guilds will announce their nominees. Neither group is particular good prognosticators of the Academy's Best Picture quintet. However, on Thursday the Screen Actors and Directors Guild will announce. The DGA in particular is like a lid for the casket, fit with nails from the various guild nominations to come throughout the rest of the month.

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Pride, Unprejudiced
by Ray Pride

There were at least 90 movies that I liked this year out of the several hundred I saw, and probably even overlooked a couple. Here’s a provisional ten best, twenty more, and a longer list of redeeming features or lovely passages (with some annotations). There are lists of best performances, documentaries, and cinematography, too. The only philosophical note: there are no guilty pleasures. The next column will have DVD lists and notes and such.

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Digital Nation
The Ten Best DVDs Of 2005
by Gary Dretzka

Of all the gods in the Pantheon of American cinema, Harold Lloyd may be the least known and underappreciated by todays audiences.

Had he lived to see the DVD release of The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection, Lloyd probably could have climbed up the sides of the same buildings he scaled in Safety Last, 82 years earlier, and no one in downtown Los Angeles would remember his name. But, his wasn't the story of a once-famous actor who slipped into despair and poverty after the introduction of talkies.

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 3:32 pm

Emanuel Levy Goes To Palm Springs, Sees Stars

MerMarr Reports That George Soros May Be The DreamWorks Library Buyer

All Joking Aside, A Key Win For Capote's Oscar Nomination Possibilities
The NSFC (Not The Nearly-Forgotten Society Of Film Critics... But Close This Year) Goes Capote, Hoffman, Witherspoon
But Why Is It That Capote Was Ranked So Low Or Not At All On So Many Of The Voters' Top Ten Lists?
And - Tom O'Neil Gets The Voting Details From The NSFC Exec Director
And -The Updated Scoreboard

Happy Musical News
As Confirmed By MCN Sources As Well, Tim Burton Back On Board Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, With Johnny Depp As The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street

Brokeback Curious
Screen Count Projection For BBM On Thursday At 483
Screen Count Actual On Friday Counted As 398 By Leonard Klady
Salt Lake City Theater De-Books BBM, Apparently, Mid-Week
Discuss The Box Office On The Blog

Joe Morgenstern Goes To The Pixar Exhibit

The Future Of TV On Demand

The Sunday Times
Pushing A Filmmaker With No Commercial (Or Sundance) Acceptance
Two Sons Of Francisco... Oscar Bait In America, Smash Hit In Brazil

Heath Ledger Finds Ennis Del Mar
"I wanted the light to be too bright for him and the world to be too loud."

The Professional Projectionist: A Dying Breed

Jim Emerson Rounds Up The Round-Ups Of The Round-Ups

Trouble For Bloodrayne Or Just Growing Pains For A New Distributor?

In The Land Of Irony, The Art Director Of Good Night, And Good Luck, Apparently Uncontacted Before The Paper oF Record Ran A Story About Her Alleged Mistake, Contacts A Blogger To Get A Correction
Earlier - Obsessing On Typefaces At The Movies

The First Great Movie Story Of 2006
Wal-Mart Scraps Computerized DVD Suggestion System That Pushed Planet Of The Apes To People Searching Martin Luther King, Jr.
Talk About It

Sundance Goes To Brooklyn

Gene Shalit (aka The Voice Of The Right Wing) Under Attack For Calling Brokeback Lover A Sexual Predator

Anne Thompson On The Slow And Steady Route To Oscar

David Poland Looks Forward To Sundance

Tom Hanks Rolled Out At Consumer Electronics Show

Breakfast On Pluto With Cillian Murphy
"I swapped notes with Gael Garcia Bernal. He told me, 'Wax, don't pluck.' But I plucked"

George A. Romero Talks About The Tales Of Hoffmann

Flying The Unfriendly Skies Of 9/11 In The Trailer For Flight 93

Sam Mendes Takes The Ollie Stone Route... Blames Stupid Americans For The Failure Of His Award Bait Movie

USA Today On The Jon Stewart Hire

Paramount Round-Up
indieWIRE Breaks Amy Israel To Acquisitions Post For Par Classics
Expect Megan Colligan For Publicity Announced In Next Days, Though She Is Still Scheduled To Be In Park City For Searchlight
And - Most Recent Word Is That Terry Press Will, Indeed, Stay At DW Animation, Oversee Oscar Campaigns For Ongoing DW Product
Plus - Possible Shift Of DW/WB Partnered Eastwood Film Flags Of Our Fathers To WB For Domestic Release

Wacky Awards Season Piece Du Jour
USA Today compares Kong & Brokeback

Discuss The Guild Nominations On The Blog

he Directors Guild Nominates
Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night and Good Luck, and Munich
The Updated Scoreboard
The Awards Lists So Far

The SAG Nominations

How Far Into Bed Will Pixar Get With Disney?

Envelope Scoops Jon Stewart As Oscar Host

Tourtellotte Rings In The New Post-WGA/PGA Oscar Year

The Reeler Wishes Rockin' Eamonn Bowles A Happy 50th

Chris Hewitt Offers His Seven Secrets To Seeing Better Movies

Sharon Waxman Walks The Line At Folsom

The Producer's Guild Nominations

The WGA Nominations
The Updated Scoreboard
The Awards Lists So Far

Loving Brokeback Mountain... A Blog Discussion For The Supportive

A Bouncing Baby Vongo

Ovitz' Nanny's Die-ary

Rex Reed Brings Out The 2005 Dead

Good Story From THR's Gregg Goldstein On Low Priced Films That Need Big Names To Get Small Budgets

5-25-77 - Trailer For A Movie That Looks Like It Could Be The Sleeper Hit Of Summer '06... If Only It Had A Distributor (52mg load)

Z Talks Acting - "I have the chance to feel like a geisha one day, and on another day maybe a scientist."

Hollywood Bitchslap's Annual Quote Whore Awards

Kansas City Film Critics Go For Munich

Carrie Rickey Qs and As

Ma-Moirs Of A Geisha Cellist

Enron, Street Fight, Cowboy, Fujimori, Penguins
The Documentary Screenplay Noms From WGA (Dramatic Noms Tomrrow By 12)

indieWIRE's Best Domestically Undistributed Films of 2005

The Ageless Michael Caine
"I'd always thought I was this handsome bloke with this great voice, and then this terrible geek came up on the screen and I realised my whole life was over."

A Bit Of 2006 Advice From Across The Pond For A Few Hollywood Big Names

The New Version of Video On Demand

A Freebie - What To Do When The 30 Second Spot Dies

Some Box Office Sanity From Eller & Bates

Using DVD To Milk The Minority Market

A Different Kind Of Holocaust Movie

Thomson On Munich - "Spielberg seems to have another thought on his conscience: that movies glorifying the action of a moment do not convey the grim calculation of history, whereby one squalid act leads to another, until moral superiority is mere rhetoric."

In A Free Opinion Piece, Bret Stephens Lays Out His Right Wing Argument Against Munich

Larry David's Brokeback Humor Piece Goes Free From The NYT

Casanova Score Goes for Baroque

Is There A Local Downside To Mega-Movies Being Made In New Zealand?

Punto De Dósforo?
Woody Reported Headed To Barcelona Next

Roger Ebert Remembers My Fair Lady

Cronenberg: Artist Of The Year