Box Office Weekly #052 (MP3 - 14.0 MB - 20 min)
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In todays show: TiVo twists the knife into the writhing back of A.C. Nielsen … England reminds us that showbiz is our number one export… and In my commentary I look back at the biggest forgotten film studio of the eighties. All this and [...]

Tonight marks the 52nd Episode of Box Office Weekly. This means, I guess, that it’s an anniverary or birthday or something. I’m neurotic about birthdays (and Christmas, hospitals and clowns) so this is the only mention you’ll find of it here.
You are even less likely to see me covering clowns on the show, by the [...]

You’ll recall that two weeks ago I urged readers to vote in the CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER show, which was having a spot of bother about racist remarks directed toward Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actress. Well, you might think that the remarks of a single American blog can’t influence world events, but Jade Goody, (a “celebrity” [...]

The Screen Actors Guild gets together and awards it own this time of year, in anticipation of getting together at the Academy Awards and awarding its own along with others. First of all, courtesy Hollywood Reporter, the list of winners.
FILM
Actor: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Supporting actor: Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”
Supporting [...]

There are some things that you take for granted, and then you miss them when they are gone. Like your youth. Other things, they go and you don’t even know that they are gone. I’m thinking here of Cannon Films.
The eighties was a heady time for the American movie business. Foreign investors somehow decided that [...]

MARILYN MANSON, DITA VON TEASE CALL IT QUITS
You’d think that if anybody had a chance to make it work in that business… on the bright side, Marilyn’s on the market again ladies!
OSCAR NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
In a stunning upset, EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR snubbed.
DEBBIE DOES DALLAS TO BE FIRST PORN DISTRIBUTED IN BLU-RAY FORMAT
Unfortuntately it is simultaneously [...]

AdWeek reports from the war-torn front lines of the the network/advertiser battleground, where a new element is preparing to change the rules of engagement forever.
A couple of weeks ago on the podcast I reported on Neilsen’s new rating service, which will offer viewing figures for 30 second increments. Advertisers have been asking for this for [...]

There is a problem in Canada - they have an unusually large community of film pirates who take camcorders into the theaters, tape the movies, and upload them to the internet. 20th Century Fox says it’s considering witholding its movies from theatres in which these illegal tapes are made:
Failing that, Fox will delay the release [...]

Box Office Weekly #051 (MP3 - 15.7 MB - 23 min)
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In todays show: The Academy Award nominations are out - now you only have to feel guilty about missing 5 movies! … Good news and bad news as Tim Allen is nominated for thee awards In the same category … And in my commentary [...]

Get the full list here.
THE DEPARTED is one of Scorcese’s least innovative gangster pictures, a kind of extended running gag peppered with violence. He’s done similar work elsewhere, much better work which should have won best picture. Therefore, he’s likely to win for this one.
THE PAINTED VEIL nominated for nothing. Zilch. Nada. Bob Yari is [...]