AVENGERS OVERWHELMS OVERSEAS

If results in Australia are any indication, predictions that The Avengers will take over as the No. 1 film at the box office this year may be right on the mark. According to trade reports, the movie opened down-under on Wednesday with $6 million, exceeded only by the last Harry Potter movie, which took in […]

KEVIN SPACEY CHASTISES DISRUPTIVE AUDIENCE MEMBERS

Only days after the New York Times reported on plans to wire a theater under construction in Bellevue, WA to enable audience members to text, tweet, and post comments on Facebook during movies, Kevin Spacey has been applauded in Sydney, Australia for his remarks onstage about audience members disrupting his performance in Shakespeare’s Richard III. […]

ANIMATORS FOLLOW FLIGHT OF PENGUINS

Presumably concluding that there will be no Happy Feet Three after HF2 apparently flopped at the box office, Australian animation house Dr. D. Studios has reportedly informed 600 of its 700 employees that they will be laid off early next month. But the Australian film industry website Inside Film (http://www. if.com.au) has indicated that other […]

WITCHING HOUR COMES EARLY IN AUSTRALIA

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 obliterated box-office records in Australia as it opened with $7.44 million, a whopping 32 percent above the previous record holder, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King., which collected $5.63 million during its debut in 2003. (Although the movie is opening in numerous foreign markets on […]

HORROR MOVIE TO DEBUT ONLINE — AND IT’S FREE

BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer file sharing software regarded by movie studios as the principal weapon of pirates, is being employed by a group of Australian filmmakers to finance a movie and perhaps even make a profit with it. Their movie, The Tunnel, a horror flick set in abandoned underground tunnels in Sydney, will be available for […]

MOVIE REVIEWS: SANCTUM

Universal is clearly flinging out the James Cameron-produced Sanctum over Super Bowl weekend in the realization that it’s not likely to perform much better on a weekend when people actually go to the movies. The movie, filmed overseas (Australia) and underseas in 3D, is drowning in reproving reviews. “A documentary on the formation of stalagmites […]

HOBBIT GREENLIT

Despite reports that Warner Bros./New Line has “officially” given the green light to start production on the two-part Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit, no date was mentioned in the studio’s announcement. Published reports said on Friday that MGM and Warner’s have reached an agreement on financing the movie, and the film’s producer/director, Peter […]

UNIONS, STUDIOS BATTLE OVER THE HOBBIT

The three studios that are due to produce and distribute the Lord of the Rings prequel The Hobbit, have responded to the decision by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to instruct their members not to work on the film, an action taken in support of Australia’s Media, […]

U.S. ACTORS UNIONS ORDER MEMBERS NOT TO WORK ON THE HOBBIT

Throwing their considerable weight behind the New Zealand branch of Australia’s actors’ union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have notified their members not to accept work on Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit. Jackson quickly […]

CROCODILE DUNDEE: A “PRISONER” IN HIS OWN COUNTRY?

Paul Hogan, who played Crocodile Dundee in the movies and was the poster boy for Australian tourism for many years, has wound up essentially a prisoner in his own country. Hogan, who now lives in Los Angeles, arrived in Australia last week to attend the funeral of his mother but was prevented from leaving until […]