The Weekend Report
by Leonard Klady

Weekend movie going was dominated by a couple of unusual females as the debuts of Big Momma’s House 2 and Nanny McPhee ranked first and second in box office sales with respective estimates of $27.4 million and $14 million. There was also a passable national bow for the military romance Annapolis and good limited bows for the Imax formatted Roving Mars and the Brit import Tristram Shandy. However, there was no discernable pop for The Bubble. .

Weekend Estimates (Full List)
Domestic Market Share

3-Day Estimates	Weekend	% Change	Cume
Big Momma's House	27.4	-	37.4
Nanny McPhee	14.0	-	14.0
Underworld: Evolution	10.8	-60%	44.0
Annapolis	7.5	-	7.5
Hoodwinked	7.3	-30%	37.6
Brokeback Mountain	6.3	-16%	50.7
Glory Road	5.1	-42%	34.7
Last Holiday	4.9	-44%	32.7
Chronicles of Narnia	4.3	-31%	277.7
Fun with Dick & Jane	3.6	-37%	106.3

10 Days Of Sundance
It's STILL About The Movies, Stupid .. Part I
by David Poland

Why all the Sundance anxiety?

I am always a little shocked when I read a bevy of stories from very intelligent writers that seem to reflect last year's story instead of this year's story. This year, Sundance has suffered the long-simmering residual from last year's hype orgy in the hills.

Who Will Get Nominated? Day Eight: Best Picture For eight days, you can put your powers of Oscar prognostication to the test. Each day a different category. Each day someone wins an award season collection of DVDs. Friday: Best Actor

Sundance: Status Kuo
Episode Twelve: Return To And God Grew Tired Of Us (QT)
Another Look
At A Found Man Of Sudan

Episode Thirteen: Red Flowers
A Chat With The Director

Episode Fourteen: Wristcutters: A Love Story
Wristcutting with Shannon Sossamon & Director Goran Dukic

Episode Fifteen: The Annual Slamdance/Sundance Sledding Competition
Ride the wild snow with the filmmakers in the fifth year of the one-sided tradition

Episodes 1-11

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The Reeler
Another Thursday At Sundance
by ST VanAirsdale

I should have more to show for Thursday, I know, but this place is totally starting to depress me. There's just too much space and fewer and fewer people want to be here and my ghetto Internet hook-up at Reeler HQ West makes posting about as pleasurable an experience as circumcision. The parties become insufferable; the oily Hollywood douchebags scurry through the snow like rats. And when Jeff Lipsky's ham-fisted Flannel Pajamas turned out to be the only New York feature I could catch all day, my spirit crashed somewhat violently and I wound up having to watch two hours of C-Span just to help flush the immediate memory.

MCN DVD Wrap-Up
Junebug

It isn't often that so much heat is drawn to an independent movie as intellectually challenging and commercially fragile as "Junebug. More >

Mutiny City News: Revenge came in the form of a precocious redhead named Amy Adams.

The Hot Button: I must say this movie has grown on me, starting even as I watched it. Amy Adams gives a home run performance that stays just this side of impossibly cloying.

Plus: All Souls Day, The Aristocrats, Chan is Missing, Cisco Pike, Dallas, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, Educating Rita, Flightplan, Grizzly Man, Junebug, Lois & Clark, Lord of War, Missing, My Date with Drew, Oliver Twist, Partner(s), Puppetmaster vs. Demonic Toys, Sueno, The Tomorrow Show: Punk and New Wave, Thumbsucker, Two for the Money

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It's Oscartown, Jake
For Your Consideration
by Kristopher Tapley

Batman Begins has already been recognized by the Art Directors Guild, the Costume Designers Guild and, most surprisingly, the American Society of Cinematographers. It was also nicely represented with a few BAFTA nominations. I've come across a number of interviews with actors who have openly expressed love for the film - all of them dying to work with Nolan at this point, it seems.

The Ultimate DVD Geek
The Island
by Doug Pratt

Bay describes the basics of the production, and also attempts to justify his choices. "There are people who think that some of the product [placement] in this movie, that we were whoring out the movie and we were making the commercial. Now let's face it guys, the world is focused on products. Products surround us and for us to think in the year 2019 we're not still going to be focused and have products and labels, flying at us from every different vantage point, is just unreal, it's not a true world. So that's my statement for people who have given me a hard time for thinking I'm just trying to whore out the movie and just make a big advertisement."

Sundance on Ice
by Ray Pride

After seeing the deeply disturbing, angry, vital doc The Ground Truth: After the Killing Ends, about the abandonment of Iraq War veterans by the US government, I was hypnotized by the flag waving behind Cisero's, at a pour for filmmakers and journalists. Nearby, Mexican director Carlos Reygada (Battle of Heaven) and his crew are conspiring in Spanish and Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt (This Film Is Not Yet Rated) are talking about censorship.

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The Gurus Look At The Big Eight Categories ...

Best Picture
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Director

Updated throughout the day
Updated: 6:57 pm

SAG Awards Are On
Ensemble - Crash
Lead Actor - Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Lead Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Supporting Actor - Paul Giamatti
Supporting Actress - Rachel Weisz
The Complete List, Including TV

Newsweek Does Its Anual Presumptive Directors Roundtable

Disney's Only Been Doing It For A Decade
The Media Once Again Mistakes Good Marketing Of High-Profile, Micro-Budget Direct-To-DVD Biz For An Anti-Theatrical Trend

Anne Thompson Wraps Sundance In Her Blog

Using Digital Filmmaking To Preserve Personal Dignity And Integrity

The Last Stand of The X-Men?

Ang Lee Wins DGA For Brokeback Mountain... Werner Herzog Wins DGA's Best Documentary Director For Grizzly Man

For The First Time, The Audience And Jury Agree On The Drama And Doc Awards
God Grew Tired Of Us And Quinceanera Take Top Awards At Sundance
And - Watch The Star Of GGT Tell The Story Of The $25,000 Donor
Plus - Quinceaneraa Llikely To Land With Picturehosue
And For Adults Only - A Look At The Previous Work Of The Quinceaneraa Co-Director

"I'd like to thank the Academy for the big box office boost we're going to get. It truly is an honor just to be nominated!"

Trailer du Jour
The Notorious Bettie Page

House of Sand Wins Alfred P. Sloan Prize At Sundance

The Slamdance Awards

The Lipp Mounts Brokeback Marketing

The Paper Of Record Hits Sundance.... Deja Vu Ensues
Tony Pony's Up The View From The Thin Air Of Sundance Tower
Jean-Claude Clark On The Traditional Low Return On The Sundance Prize
Catching Up With Last Year's Shifting Indie-Nomics Using Sundance As a Prism

A Review Of Marshall Fine's Cassavetes Bio

Inside The Mind Of The Academy Historian

Lumenick On Sundance Studio Pix

Matt Dillon Still Skiing Indie Hills

Gunner Palace Has Been Rated... Twice: The Real Story From Michael Tucker

Smells Like ParaWorks/AOL Spirit
Some Disney/Pixar Details... Including Pixar's Staying In Emeryville

What Did They Give Away In "The Envelope Lounge?" And What Does Sundance Have To Do With The Oscars Anyway?
Why Does Sundance Remain A Draw For Unrelated Markets? Because Major Non-Tabloid Papers Do Stupid Stories Like This That Make It Financially Viable

Superman Returns In Pictures

Anne Thompson Wraps Up Sundance With Her Take On The Facts

Before Istvan Szabo Was An Oscar Winning Filmmaker He Was A Communist Informant

Bauer Martinez Picks Up The Widely Disliked Darwin Awards

Woody & Buzz Head Back To Pixar For Sequel Duty As Part Of The Deal

Two Films At Sundance, A Possible Nomination, And More To Come From Paul Giamatti

Al Gore, Superstar
"It's a movie about global warming. Starring Al Gore. Doing a slide show.With charts. About "soil evaporation."

The Genies Go C.R.A.Z.Y.

Quiz: Do You Know Your Malick?

As Munich Is Released In Britain, Controversy And Documentaries Follow

Ella Taylor Meets Emma Thompson

The Updated Sundance Acquisition Hit List
Stay
Stephanie Daley
Slamdance's Sasquatch Dumpling Gang
Half Nelson
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Sold List: Little Miss Sunshine, The Science of Sleep, Right At Your Door, The Night Listener, Wordplay, Factotum

A Dirty Italian Movie

The AP Wants To Party At Sundance

The Woz On Brokeback Humor
"I wish I knew how to quit you is the new Show me the money."

Freida Lee Mock On Wrestling With Angels During Her Sundance Premiere

Lions Gate Buys Right At Your Door For Worldwide Distribution

Roger Ebert Finds Flannel Pajamas And An Update On The Kid On Day Six

The Reeler At Sundance: Wordplay Goes To IFC Films

Bringing NASA's Real Mars Missions To An IMAX Screen

The Transgender "Trend"

"God Save the Hollywood Industry" And Other Sundance Moments

A McSweeney's Minute
Films As Reviewed By The City Of Los Angeles Herself

Pop Quiz: How Many Gossip Headlines Have You Read This Week

Chris Penn Dies At 43

Miramax Shooting At The Night Listener, Picturehouse Trying To Lock Up Half-Nelson, Deals For Stephanie Daley, Open Window, The Illusionist, And Still, Wordplay, Expected Soon

A Deal Driven By Fear
Earlier - It's A $7.4 Billion Marriage For Disney And Pixar

Germain On Dick's Ratings Rant

From The Guy Who Gave Us Dodgeball: Magnum PI: The Movie

Everybody Hates Chris Meets Smallville
WB + UPN = The CW

Mizrahi's Back For The Oscar Red Carpet, But Academy Is Watching Carefully
"I can predict we would be extraordinarily angry if that happened on our carpet. I cannot predict what we would do afterwards"

MTV Looks Back At The Lighter Side Of Cross-Dressing In Film

Factory Girl Finds A Home With The Weinstein Co

The Academy Museum Finds A Hollywood Location

Eve And The Fire Horse And Roger Ebert

Sundance: The Science Of Sleep Goes To Warner Independent
And - The News From Park City

Tourtellotte On The Immigration Subtext Of Sundance 2006

Spielberg Finally Gets A Bit Pissed About The Treatment Munich Has Gotten
Earlier - Tony Kushner Defends Munich Territory

The Reeler On Night Listener and Wordplay

Sundance: The Bidding War For The Science Of Sleep Begins
Earlier - Bobcat's Doggie Tale
And - Sunday, Sunday

The Producers Guild Loves Brokeback

Picture Sundance On Ice

Cannes Opens With Ron Howard And The DaVinci Code

September Dawn: History Of Religious Fervor And Violence Right Here At Home

Sundance Buzz Dead Wrong... As Usual... P-Rice Buys LMS For $10 Million
Earier - Sundance Buzz Says Paramount Buys Little Miss Sunshine Starring Steve Carrell

Smart Uses For CGI, Dreams John Patterson

New ClearPlay-Like Battle... Pre-Loaded iPods

Anthony Kaufman On The Withering Market In America For Foreign Films

The Sundance Kid Finds The Thought Of An Affleck/Damon Remake Depressing

The Always Intense Tony Franciosa Dies At Age 77