Uncle David’s House Of Box Office: Reboot
August 2, 2021
August 2, 2021
July 7, 2021
June 4, 2021
I haven’t been writing much (besides on Twitter) in a while. I just don’t want to contribute to the endless churn of writers pretending to know what they do not, suggesting that every event is defining, and basically acting like gossips. What can I add to the conversation? How about a domestic chart of the […]
May 4, 2021
So news today, on May The 4th Be (fill in your favorite), that Cinemark and a bunch of the smaller chains will unite for a 600-screen run for Zack Snyder’s latest masterwork, Army of the Dead, opening in 17 days. There are a lot of ways to look at this. Of course, the expected “they […]
April 26, 2021
“A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The restClung to the hope which springs eternal in the human breast;They thought, ‘If only Casey could but get a whack at that—We’d put up even money now, with Casey at the bat.’” “Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,The band […]
April 23, 2021
A handful of dead certs, say the Gurus, taking a nod from the last of the guilds voting.
April 18, 2021
I ran into this Vulture piece by Angelica Jade Bastién that is presented as a review of a new limited series this week. It is titled, “Them Is Pure Degradation Porn.“ My first reaction was to roll my eyes. I think the series is masterful and perhaps the most significant fictional work on the experience […]
April 16, 2021
The Gurus foresee Nomadland with The Trial of the Chicago 7 not far behind; each guru reveals Thee Little Wishes for wins that would make them grin.
April 12, 2021
Final voting starts on Thursday (the 15th)… end of Tuesday (the 20th). And still, outside of the nominees, their companies, their parents, their agents, and the possibility that Steven Soderbergh will do something really interesting… it’s such a “so what?” at this point. It’s been a pretty nice season. The Holy Complainers basically sat this […]
April 8, 2021
Writer’s block happens. But it isn’t happening to me right now. What is happening is that for over a week, I have been writing columns about different subjects and never quite getting to the end because everything feels like a bottomless pit. It’s not COVID anymore. I am feeling pretty good about that, even as […]
March 25, 2021
I wrote last week that the theatrical experimental window was closing. But then Disney did its reset for the coming summer. And it makes perfect sense, really. There are two clear, opposing ideas in play. First, for the bigger movies to make the money they hope to make, theaters need to be open and at […]
March 16, 2021
If a tree falls in the woods, but everyone is watching their TVs, does it make a noise? It’s been more than 24 hours since The Jonases, beautiful, talented, and from media other than film, adorably announced the *Oscar nominations. And for that day+, I have been – and it seems others have been, too […]
March 16, 2021
Like the movie business itself, the media wants answers about what will happen as the option of seeing movies in a movie theater becomes normal again. But as we saw this past weekend (March 5, 2021), landmarks like reopening New York theaters are not anything close to turning the key and getting back to March […]
March 14, 2021
When does a biography sing? When it makes you feel like you have a personal stake in the story. Autobiography and Industry Insight books written by William Goldman, Steven Soderbergh, Julia Phillips, Linda Obst and John Gregory Dunne have done that for me and stand with the most important books in my movie library. There […]
March 7, 2021
The best we can hope for from this event is… People will watch more of the nominees. Not Academy viewers, 80% of whom will be 80% of the way to completion (aside from docs, international, and shorts) when the nominations are announced, but real life people. That’s really it. If real people are paying attention […]
March 5, 2021
Picking top two predictions in acting and directing categories, with the customary top ten for Best Picture and top fives for original and adapted screenplays.
March 5, 2021
“Be aggressive. Be Be Aggressive.” It’s really that simple. And that complicated. Viacom has been stuck in Neutral for sixteen years. There has been a lot of great work by a lot of great people during those sixteen years. Please don’t misunderstand. Lots and lots of sensational trees have grown in that Viacom forest in […]
March 1, 2021
I love an industry rogue. Always have. George Christy died less than a year ago. Loved him. And I knew what an absurd pain-in-the-ass he could be. I understood his arrogance. I saw the man. Lived to 93 and still felt compelled to pretend to be straight. He carried a lot of baggage. He wasn’t […]
February 25, 2021
The greatest lesson of this *Oscar season is… how little imagination is now brought to Oscar season. There are literally hundreds of very smart people focused on the season for distributors, every one trying to figure out the next great thing to do, the key to opening the hearts and minds of The 10,000. Since […]
Uncle David’s House Of Box Office: Reboot
| August 2, 2021
A Year Later… Movie Content Scoreboard
| July 7, 2021
What Did Pandemic Box Office Actually Look Like
| June 4, 2021
"A subsidiary of South Korean entertainment company HYBE in April acquired Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings for $1.05 billion. Seoul-based CJ Entertainment and Merchandising invested in studio Skydance last year, as part of a $275 million strategic funding round with other investors."
South Korea Wants A Hollywood Footprint: JTBC Studios Acquires Majority Stake In Content Arm Of CAA
| July 25, 2021
The Staff And Board of The Canyon Cinema Foundation Address SFMOMA On Planned Elimination of Film Program
"SFMOMA’s recent decision to eliminate its Film Program (among other vital, inclusive, and community-focused programs) is a stunning disavowal of its own history. Moreso, it is a shocking divestment from SFMOMA’s stated commitment to “exhibiting film as an essential medium of modern and contemporary art” and to fostering a vibrant film culture in San Francisco. Following the renovation of its state-of-the-art Phyllis Wattis Theater in 2016, SFMOMA has demonstrated the ability, and financial willingness, to present film at the highest quality. Combining excellent film curation and world-class projection, SFMOMA has become a flagship of cinema exhibition in the Bay Area, which makes the decision to cut its Film Program especially puzzling. It is disappointing and disheartening to learn that a museum that claims to be a center for “the most innovative and challenging art of its time,” now holds the medium of film and the projected moving image in such low regard..." [More here]
July 24, 2021
DP/30: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, The Trial of the Chicago 7
| February 15, 2021
DP/30 Audio: Bombshell, Jay Roach
| December 13, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Jonathan Majors
| December 4, 2019
DP/30 Audio: The Mustang, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
| December 4, 2019