“FOCUS” TO WHIP “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY”

Moviegoers this weekend are expected to focus their attention on Focus, an R-rated rom-com starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie. With around $20-25 million in ticket sales, according to tracking surveys, it will likely take over the top spot at the box office from Fifty Shades of Grey, which had subdued its rivals for the […]

FCC VOTES TO REGULATE INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS

Film and TV producers, labor leaders, and minority activists joined in applause Thursday for the FCC’s vote to place restrictions on Internet service providers (ISPs) that would assure equal access to the Internet. Studio and network chiefs, however, were conspicuously silent, appearing to take a wait-and-see stance until they could determine how the commission’s action […]

“FIFTY SHADES” PLUNGES; “HOT TUB” SUBMERGES

Fifty Shades of Grey, which soared to a record-breaking opening a week ago, turned a darker shade of gray over the weekend as it plunged more than 76 percent to $22.3 million. Nevertheless it bested three rival newcomers, McFarland, USA, which opened with $11 million; The DUFF, with $10.8 million; and Hot Tub Time Machine […]

“BIRDMAN” WINS BEST FILM OSCAR

Birdman was awarded the Oscar Sunday night for best film of 2014 and its creator, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, received Oscars for best director and best original screenplay. Julianne Moore won the lead actress award for her performance as a woman beset by the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease in Still Alice, while Eddie Redmayne won the […]

“BIRDMAN” WINS TOP SPIRIT AWARD

On the eve of the Oscars, Birdman won the best feature award at the Spirit Awards, which honors independent films made in the U.S. for less than $20 million. Michael Keaton, the film’s star, won for best actor, while Julianne Moore took the best actress trophy for her performance in Still Alice. Richard Linklater was […]

“FIFTY SHADES” TO STAY HOT; “HOT TUB 2” TO DEBUT COLD

Three new films are set to debut this weekend — Hot Tub Time Machine 2, McFarland, USA and The DUFF — but, according to tracking studies and industry analysts, none of them stands a chance against the second week of Fifty Shades of Grey. That film, say the pundits, will likely take in another $30 […]

“SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE” SPECIAL SETS HIGH MARK FOR NBC

NBC may have been too timid to air its Saturday Night Live 40th anniversary special on a Saturday night. (The general belief is that only sports broadcasts can successfully draw big audiences on that night.) But its Sunday-night telecast — which occupied all of primetime — averaged 23.1 million viewers, spiking to 26.2 million during […]

DISSIDENT IRANIAN DIRECTOR WINS TOP FILM AWARD IN BERLIN

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Taxi has won the international competition for the top Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. The film, in which Panahi himself plays a taxi driver chatting with passengers, was made in defiance of a court ruling barring Panahi from making films for 20 years as punishment for making […]

“FIFTY SHADES” SHINES WITH $81.7 MILLION

Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey shackled records for R-rated movies over the weekend, dominating its rivals with $81.7 million in estimated ticket sales. While that figure fell short of the $91.8 million all-time record for an R-rated film set by The Matrix Reloaded in 2003, it easily set a new high mark for Valentines Day […]

NY TIMES MEDIA COLUMNIST DAVID CARR DIES IN NEWSROOM

Celebrated New York Times media columnist (“The Media Equation”) David Carr collapsed in the newsroom Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital. Earlier in the evening he had presided over a panel discussion of the Oscar-nominated documentary Citizenfour with filmmaker Laura Poitras and former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald seated next to […]

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