KOCH DIES ON DAY KOCH OPENS

In an eerie coincidence, Koch, a documentary about former New York Mayor Ed Koch, opened in two New York theaters on Friday just hours after his death at the age of 88. The film grossed $40,000 over the weekend (or $20,000 per theater), a solid figure for a documentary. Sadly, Koch did not review it […]

FRUITVALE IS THE BIG WINNER AT SUNDANCE

In the end, the film that most critics thought would take top honors at the Sundance Film Festival did. Fruitvale, which tells the story of the seemingly senseless shooting of 22-year-old Oscar Grant by a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officer at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on New Year’s Day of 2009, came […]

ANTI-OBAMA DOCUMENTARY NOW NO. 2 POLITICAL DOC EVER

On the weekend following President Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, the anti-Obama documentary 2016: Obama’s America became the second-highest-grossing political documentary ever, behind only Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. Its weekend take of $3.3 million brought its total gross to $26.2 million and pushed it past Moore’s other documentaries, 2007’s Sicko with $24.5 […]

SCORSESE TO PRODUCE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT CRITIC ROGER EBERT

Martin Scorsese, who has famously chronicled on film the careers of legendary rock performers including The Rolling Stones, The Band, and Bob Dylan, plans to exec produce a documentary about Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. Reports indicate that the documentary will be written by Steven Zaillian, who won a screenwriting Oscar for Schindler’s List, […]

MOVIE TO OPEN ON FACEBOOK AND THEATERS ON SAME DAY

For the first time, Facebook will stream a movie online on the same day that it opens in theaters. The movie, Marley, a documentary about the late reggae singer Bob Marley, will be available for a rental fee of $6.99 beginning April 20th. Theater owners by and large have opposed such “day and date” releases, […]

MOVIEGOERS TO COVER COST OF CAMERON’S DEEP SEA EXPLORATION

So, who paid for James Cameron’s pioneering voyage to the bottom of the sea last weekend? Well, he indicated in an interview with reporters in London, you and I did. It was already known that Cameron had a massive lighting display rigged up on the body of the Deepsea Challenger, together with 4 3D movie […]

CAMERON RETURNS FROM BOTTOM OF SEA

Director James Cameron has completed his solo dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, seven miles below the Pacific’s surface, bringing with him to the surface 3D footage taken by four video cameras mounted on his submersible vessel, the Deepsea Challenger. But, he indicated, there was little to film. “I just sat there looking […]

JAMES CAMERON LANDS AT BOTTOM OF DEEPEST ABYSS

Director James Cameron has arrived at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, seven miles below the ocean’s surface, the deepest place on Earth, National Geographic reported today (Sunday). He is the first person to attempt such a solo deep-sea voyage. Arriving at the bottom, he signaled “All systems OK” to his support crew at the […]

WEINSTEIN TO APPEAL RATING FOR BULLY DOC

Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Co., plans to fight the R rating meted out to the Lee Hirsch documentary Bully, which deals with what the filmmaker calls the bullying crisis in American schools that has scarred the lives of countless children and resulted in numerous suicides. The film purportedly includes several utterances of profanity […]

VENEZUELA BLAMES UNIVISION FOR OUSTER OF DIPLOMAT

The Venezuelan government has accused U.S. Spanish-language broadcaster Univision of airing “groundless accusations” in a TV documentary that led to its consul general, Livia Acosta Noguera, in Miami being declared persona non grata by the U.S. and placing the consulate’s staff in harm’s way. The staff has been directed to return to Caracas. The ouster […]

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