The BBC reports that Fede Alvarez, a Uruguay producer, landed a $30 million contract for a Hollywood film because of his YouTube movie that cost just $300 to make. Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Evil Dead) is sponsoring the Youtuber.
A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m (£18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film.
The movie will be sponsored by director Sam Raimi, whose credits include the Spiderman and Evil Dead films.
Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
When you watch the short film you will see why he landed a movie deal. The film is very impressive for its $300 budget. Take a look:
L.A. Times journalist and entertainment writer Patrick Goldstein now has a blog called The Big Picture. Goldstein once angered the blogosphere with an article called Beware of Blog and Defamer gives him the blog-hater label. Like many journalists Goldstein is now blogging himself - Mediabistro suggests he try it in his underwear.
The LAT hopes to put Goldstein's knowledge and sources to work in a blog that brings responsible journalism to the faster-than-pulp pace of 24/7 online entertainment reporting.
The Big Picture is one of our favorite columns at the paper, and we're excited to see what it evolves into as a longtime journo wades into the world of full-time blogger. No word yet on whether he'll be reporting in his underwear (we highly recommend it).
Goldstein does read blogs - we hope Patrick Goldstein also likes blogging since he appears to have no choice now but to blog.
It appears he does and that he is motivated to be part of the conversations taking place in the blogosphere. Goldstein has a thoughtful entry about how blogging is changing journalism in his post called, "This blogging life." Goldstein thinks that someday blogs will be the backbone of the L.A. Times newspaper.
That's the idea behind launching the Big Picture blog. As much as I've loved writing a once-a-week column, the world of entertainment and pop culture is moving so fast that it's become impossible to keep up with all the action without weighing in more often than once a week. Over the past few years, I've found myself addicted to reading blogs. The best ones offer a wonderfully brainy, personal and irreverent way of seeing the world. You'll see the paper now has 40-plus blogs, with more being launched all the time.
My guess is that someday soon our blogs will be the backbone of the paper. Journalists have discovered, to our chagrin, that information is everywhere these days. But readers still crave informed analysis and lively writing, which is something we can focus on as newspapers make the transition from mass circulation entities to niche-oriented publications. So while I've got lots to learn about the blogging life--and will surely stumble many times along the way--I'm eager to be a part of that new conversation.
It turns out the Oscars show was more exciting than we expected. It's a good thing we went in with low expectations as Nikki Finke suggested. Jon Stewart was there to provide humor and save us from the lack of exciting films. No Country For Old Men won four Oscars including Best Picture. You can see a complete list of winners here. Gary Busey went crazy and tried to hog the microphone and kiss Jennifer Garner. Marion Cotillard was a surprise Best Actress winner. Here are some highlights from the blogosphere.
Jon Stewart had a funny "Gaydolf Titler" joke - although Tom O'Neil didn't like it. This joke was also a good one: ""Democrats do have an historic race going. Hillary Clinton vs Barack Obama. Normally, when you see a black man or a woman president an asteroid is about to hit the Statue of Liberty. How will we know it's the future? Silver unitards, that can't be all?" About.com lists a few others. The BBC said Stewart sparkled. Defamer says critics agree that Jon Stewart had a good night.
Jon Stewart also joked about John McCain's 100 years in Iraq statement.
The Gary Busey video. More Busey coverage here and here. Yahoo Buzz says many people are searching for Busey bringing the crazy.
Poor Amy Adams had to perform a Disney song from Enchanted called "Happy Working Song" on stage all by herself. Would it have been too much trouble to get Amy some mice or birds?
Whoopi Goldberg was upset for being left out of a clip about Oscar hosts. L.A. Timeswrites, "This snub may have been unintentional, but to not include a clip of the first woman to solo as Oscar host (and four times at that -- 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001) really is inexcusable."
Marion Cotillard's Oscar win was the one real surprise of the night. There are many views for her Best Actress acceptance speech on YouTube.
Tilda Swinton's acceptance speech is getting attention because of the comparison she made to the Oscar statue and her agent's buttocks.
Hooray for Books: The winner in the Best Picture category No Country For Old Men was based on a book by Cormac McCarthy.
There's far less buzz for this year's Oscars than there was in 2006 and 2007. The 100-day writer's strike may have helped to dampen the buzz. During the strike we weren't sure if there would even be an oscars. Writers are now back at work but there hasn't been much time to hype up the Academy Awards. Another big problem this year is that most of the films nominated for awards have been seen by very few people. When you look at last year's list of winners you see films you recognize but this year's nominees are filled will films that many people have not seen. And another problem that may make these Oscars less memorable is the threat of a wind-driven rain. At least there will be a tent to protect the red carpet and plastic to cover the giant Oscar statues. Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily writes in her blog that it is "best to expect the worst Oscars ever." If you lower your expectations enough it still might be a fun night. Here are some highlights from the blogosphere.
Showbiz Spy blogs that Angeline Jolie and Jennifer Aniston will come face-to-face at a pre-Oscars party.
Waxy.org has data about pirating Oscar films and DVD release dates. (via Wired)
Sicko director Michael Moore oddly wants to bring resigned Cuba leader Fidel Castro to the Oscars.
Simon Doonan from the New York Observerthinks Valentino will dominate this year's Oscars red carpet.
VH1's blog says Paris Hilton was banned from attending the Oscars.
Broadway singer Kristin Chenoweth says Oscars prep can be nerve-wracking. She will be singing "That's How You Know" from the Enchanted film. More on the Oscar-nominated songs here.
Wired takes a closer look at some of the year's nominated Afghanistan and Iraq War documentaries.
Another sign there is less buzz. Some of those Oscar blogs we linked to last year (scroll to end of post to see) have less coverage, little coverage or no coverage this year.
What in the world do teenagers think about the Oscars? Cinematical asked some teens to find out.
Make it Work Meryl: Tim Gunn is hoping actress Meryl Streep can make it work at the Oscars this year. He's a little worried after what she wore last year.
IndieWire blogs that the Coen Brothers are posed for a big night. No Country Old Men is nominated for eight awards.
The very popular Miley Cyrus will be performing tonight. Some pictures of her rehearsing can be found here.
Defamer says Kevin O'Donnell is the the Susan Lucci of the sound-mixing set.
Cinematical offers a list of flicks that should have won Oscars.
Look at this Oscar fashion from a post on InsideSoCal.com. It's Oscar the muppet fashion.
Screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) is going to wear Stuart Weitzman's million-dollar shoes to the Oscars. (via Defamer). Or maybe she isn't? Diablo already scored at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Check back Monday. We will have another roundup after the Oscars are over. If you are looking for live-blogging try this list from BuzzFeed or run a Technorati search.
Wired has an article about Screenwriter Diablo Cody who they describe as an "up-and-coming scribe who's making waves in Hollywood." Cody was a stripper in Minneapolis before chronicling the details in her blog and in a book called Candy Girl. She's now a screenwriter involved in several projects. Cody first became noticed because of her blog called The Pussy Surprise so it is no surprise that one of Cody's tips for finding Hollywood success it to start blogging.
Step Two: Start Blogging and Wait to Be Discovered
After college, Cody left her native Chicago for the romantic Twin Cities -- trading Post-it Notes for pasties while exploring the frosty Minneapolis underworld as a stripper. She described the perils of pole-dancing on the popular Pussy Ranch blog.
Because there are only a few blogs online these days (Technorati currently tracks a mere 112 million), it was a safe bet that a successful Los Angeles literary manager (Mason Novick) would find Cody's work and inquire from 3,000 miles away about her literary ambitions.
"Before Mason found me, all I'd written was the blogs for City Pages in Minneapolis," Cody said. "He asked me if I'd thought about writing something else. I started my book after that."
Once you get noticed you then write your memoirs. Afer that you write and sell your first screenplay. It's all pretty simple. Cody tells Wired, "I think there's room for more talented bloggers to break into Hollywood. It seemed like a fluke when I did it, but I won't be the last blogger to have a film produced." Cody's path was unusual but she is correct that she won't be the last blogger to make the jump to Hollywood. The next blogger to sell a screenplay could be you.
Writers Write, Inc. Launches Blog Covering Fantasy and Science Fiction
Writers Write, Inc., the parent company of BloggersBlog.com, has added a new blog to its blog network called FantasySFBlog.com. Fantasy/SF Blog is a daily blog covering what's new and interesting in the worlds of fantasy, SF, and horror, including books, movies, TV and gaming.
MTV has a new movie blog called the MTV Movies Blog. Cinematical calls it more of an upgrade than a "new" movie blog.
Oh great. Just what the world needs. Another lame-ass corporate-owned movie blog that doesn't know a freakin' thing about ... just kidding! We're actually quite happy to share the news that MTV Movies is now offering a brand spankin' new movie blog. Or at least I'm happy about it, and here's why: I'm a big fan of MTV's movie coverage. For the last year or so, they've done some really solid stuff. Aside from the clunky interface and long load times at the website, those guys do a damn good job with the scoops, the news and some consistently excellent interviews. So it's not like a "new" blog as much as it is an upgrade. A much more aesthetically pleasing and bandwidth-friendly upgrade.
Here is how the new blog describes itself.
Welcome to the MTV Movies Blog, updated throughout the day with exclusive movie news, trailers, interviews and more. Our team of film experts joins with celebrity contributors - from Eli Roth to Judd Apatow - to ensure that when it comes to the hottest flicks, you'll hear it first.
The blog is loaded with film news and should please movie fans. The blogroll is a little skimpy but they are linking out to blogs and other sources in posts like this roundup called the dailies.
Eventually we will hit an awards season where every major media company already has an awards blog. Until then newspapers and magazines will continue to launch Oscar blogs a month or two before the big event. In past years we have seen awards blog launches like the New York Times'Carpetbagger, the L.A. Times'The Envelope and USA Today'sO-Factor. This year Vanity Fair is offering a new blog called Little Gold Men. The blog has the tagline, "Vanity Fair's Daily Guide to the Oscar Season." Jessica Coen, the former editor of Gawker, is the blog's writer. On her personal blog she blogs about having to write in the first person and being unable to use certain words and phrases.
Vanity Fair does have at least one other blog -- James Wolcott's political blog. They also have a collection of blog links on their On the Web section. Will Vanity Fair stop at just two blogs? No. Expect more. (via Eat the Press)
Note: For the most recent Oscar posts please visit ShoppingBlog.com's Oscar section.
The new Borat movie has been a hit at the box office. The numerous video clips on YouTube.com and the viral video offering the first 4 minutes of the film have probably helped. Blog buzz pushed Snakes on a Plane to number one at the Box Office but it did not result in big numbers. The Borat film has accomplished both blog buzz and big box office numbers. It probably helped that actor Sacha Baron Cohen did several media appearances in character. You can still see some of them while they still remain online: CNN, Letterman, Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and John Stewart. Borat has a lot of fans but some bloggers appear to be already tired of Borat -- there is talk of a Borat backlash. Technorati shows over 50,000 English language Borat posts. The posts started to trail off but climbed upward again just in the past few days.
Borat didn't follow in Snakes on a Plane's tracks as a Variety article suggested it might. "Well ahead of its Nov. 3 release, 20th Century Fox's "Borat" has become a sensation in some quarters. But weak tracking so far -- two weeks out from its opening, the Sacha Baron Cohen satire is trailing the also-anemic audience interest ratings for "The Santa Clause 3" -- has already raised concern that the pic will follow in the footsteps of "Snakes on a Plane" in failing to convert intense niche interest into a big box office grosses."
My Old Kentucky Blog: "Good stuff. So much hype, but still managed to make me almost laugh myself out of my seat a few times. Maybe an oddly abrupt ending, but it was basically impossible to top the Kazakhstani wedding bag. Genius."
A very nice second week at the box office for Borat.
Plastic Bag: "So it was with this in mind that I went to see the film with my little brother and all I can say in response is what the hell film were they watching?! There are some very funny bits in it, and some very scary bits as well, but they were heavily overwhelmed by clumsy shit jokes, big testicles and fat naked people running around."
DCist: "Did you welcome a dozen channels of dedicated election coverage as a break from Borat media over-exposure, but really couldn't enjoy it because you lived in constant fear that Sasha Baron Cohen would crash the set at CNN, send Wolf Blitzer screaming for the exit, and reduce Lou Dobbs to tears?"
Overlawyered rounds up the news about the college fraternity students that are suing Borat. TMZ posts links to the PDF file containing the lawsuit documents.
The Borat character is similar to Mahir Cagri, the "I Kiss You" web celebrity that briefly came into our lives a few years ago. Boing Boing says he is Mahir 2.0.
Cram it with Walnuts: "Seriously, is this it? Have we reached our artistic peak? Is this the best our western culture can give us for entertainment?"
Aaaron Schwartz blogs about the meaning of Borat: "In reality, Borat is about the existence and enforcement of cultural norms. In place after place, Borat goes somewhere and does exactly what you're not supposed to do. By doing so, he demonstrates exactly what are cultural assumptions are, makes us laugh uncomfortably at their violation while we start to question their legitimacy, and then documents the punishment inflicted for violating them."
Dean's World says Borat makes him "wince" and posts some facts about Kazakhstan. (via The Moderate Voice)
LAist suspects that some of the backlash could be a marketing ploy. "But I suspect that most of the "Borat backlash" is the clever work of 20th Century Fox marketing executives who are smart enough to understand that any publicity is good publicity. I'd be willing to bet that the trail for most of these negative Borat stories eventually leads back to the film's producers and marketing team, which probably prodded, planted, exacerbated or invented them wholesale."
New Lycos Service Combines Streaming Video and Live Chat
Reuters reports that the somewhat forgotten Lycos website is launching an interactive video channel, called Lycos Cinema, that will stream full-length movies and let users chat about them.
Having missed much of the explosive growth of its rivals Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., Lycos, now part of the second largest Korean Internet portal Daum Communications Corp. will launch a high-speed Internet video channel this week and let viewers watch movies simultaneously across the Internet and discuss them.
The service, called Lycos Cinema (http://cinema.lycos.com/) aims to combine two tenets of new Internet businesses -- online video and social networking, embodied by popular sites YouTube Inc. and News Corp.'s MySpace social network.
The ability to upload your own videos will come as early as December or early next year, Lycos Chief Operating Officer Brian Kalinowski told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
"The technology we've created allows for the virtual living room," Kalinowski said.
Lycos Chief Operating Officer Brian Kalinowski told Reuters that people will be able to upload their own videos by December or early 2007. There is nothing new about streaming video or online chat but together they might make be compelling enough to interest teens. It could get irritating if an annoying troll is posting spoilers in the chat room.
News.com reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment is allowing Grouper to let bloggers embed copyrighted film snippets from 100 films. Examples of some of the snippets include a clip containing Jack Nicholson's famous line from A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!" and the "Show Me the Money" scene from Jerry Maguire.
Grouper.com, acquired last August by Sony Pictures Entertainment, is offering snippets from 100 Sony films and TV shows for users to integrate into blogs and on social networking sites such as MySpace, the company said Thursday.
***
This is the latest attempt to solve the copyright issue plaguing the video-sharing sector. Hollywood studios and other media companies are cracking down on sites that allow users to upload their copyright material without compensating them.
Universal Music Group filed suit against Grouper and Bolt.com for allowing users to post UMG's copyright material on those sites. Video sharing's largest player, YouTube, was sued last summer by a Los Angeles journalist after he saw several postings on the site of a video he shot of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
You can see the clips on Grouper's new ScreenBites channel. News.com says Sony is hoping the the short film clips will encourage people to buy the full-length films. There are a few tv clips on ScreenBites as well -- like this clip from Married With Children.
The Rocky Balboa film comes out December 22nd. You would know that if you kept up with the official Rocky Balboa blog. The blog has been posting since it launched back in January, although it took a break in March and April. The posting frequency seems to be increasing as the film's release date gets closer. The blog uses large stills from the film and provides links to even larger ones. For example, in this post there is a large 400x600 graphic ... but if that isn't big enough for you a link is provided to a huge 979x1475 graphic. Using large pictures is a smart way to promote a film. The blog also contains comments from actor Sylvester Stallone. Here we find that Stallone has been painting bizarre flowers.
SYLVESTER STALLONE: I do. [LAUGHS] I, you know, the other day I, I usually paint characters or situations that are, you know, kind of emotional... bizarre. But lately I've been painting, dare I say it, flowers for the house. But they're bizarre flowers.
If you want to learn more about Sylvester Stallone there is always the StalloneZone, a fan site that has been running for over ten years.
Blog Details Efforts to Get Brenda Starr Film Made
Actress Jenna Mattison has started a blog called Project Starr Light. The blog chronicles her attempts to get the Brend Starr comic made into a film for TV with her playing Brenda Starr. Editor & Publisherreports that the blog is on Zap2it which is a Tribune Media Services site. Tribune also syndicates the Brenda Starr comic so Tribune is aware of the film project.
The "Project Starrlight" blog is on the Zap2it entertainment Web site produced by Tribune Media Services, which also syndicates "Brenda Starr." The comic, created by the late Dale Messick, is now done by Mary Schmich and June Brigman.
Mattison's credits include writing, producing, and starring in the independent films "Fish Without a Bicycle" and "The Third Wish." She has also appeared on "Party of Five," "Beverly Hills 90210," "Married With Children," and other TV shows.
You can read more about Mattison's previous tv and film appearances here on IMDB.com and you can read more about her pitch idea in her initial blog post. Today, Mattison blogs that the Brenda Starr pitch received its first rejection from ABC Family. Hopefully, she will find success at another network.
The promotional blast from the blogosphere was not as big as had been anticipated but it was just enough to push Snakes on a Plane to the number one box office spot for the weekend. Earlier reports indicating Snakes on a Plane had come in at number two had to be revised when the final box office data came in earlier today. Here is some bloggers are saying about Snakes on a Plane.
Tinyscreenfuls was going to see the film until it became an R-rated film: "The sad thing about Snakes on a Plane is that I was really looking forward to seeing it. It was originally going to be rated PG-13, but the studio actually went back and did a 5 day reshoot to add more foul language, nudity, and who knows what else, because people were apparently asking for it (beware some foul language on that IMDB page). I don’t know what is more dismaying - the fact that they went to the expense of doing a reshoot, or the fact that people were clamoring for it."
The Hot Blog has more about the R-rating preventing some from seeing the film.
Does Snakes on a Plane mean we have conquered our post-911 fears and put them behind us? A Slate article and New York Times article seem to say yes. Immodest Proposals blogs that Snakes is just a fun movie. At least the film allowed for some Liquids on a Plane fun so we could all find a laugh in the new overzealous travel restrictions.
Thord Hedengren at the Blog Herald compares the hype to the The Blair Witch Project from 1999.
Transformatum blogs how Snakes on a Plane is becoming an expression.
Here is a good spoof that has TSA changing the snake threat level. If only the TSA would take the snake threat as seriously as they do water bottles. (via W. David Stephenson)
NGO reports that snakes are actually regular airplane travelers. "L.A.'s airport is the busiest port for the importation of live animals into the U.S., receiving seven or eight shipments of reptiles every week from Southeast Asia, South America, and Africa. A typical shipment of 30 crates may contain 200 to 300 pythons, 100 to 200 turtles and tortoises, and thousands of small lizards, Osborn says." Just think -- there could be snakes on your next plane.
A T.M.I. post has a snake expert debunking the movie. "That was an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake," Cole says. "They are a heavy ground dweller. Hanging from something is totally uncharacteristic of them." But what if the Eastern diamondback rattlesnake was on drugs like in the film?
Snakes on a Plane on an arm. More about the tattoo here
Boing Boing has some creative uses for the phrase "Snakes on a Plane."
Adfreak says SoaP was too scary to drum up huge box office numbers. "It's one thing to watch a quick clip, or parody, about snakes on a plane on your computer, which you can click away from at any time. It's another thing to be held hostage by your fear in a movie theater. Snakes on a plane? If the reactions my family witnessed over the years to our sweet little pets was any indication, snakes are just way too scary."
LAist makes a Rocky Horror comparison. "And whether it's a good film is really not the point. It's like Rocky Horror for a generation that doesn't know what Rocky Horror is. It's like a wish-list of every gross and awesome thing you can imagine. It's like the best movie ever."
Just Us Nerds points out that the Sci-Fi channel joined in on the snake fun over the weekend. "On Sunday, in what I assume was a tribute to this weekend's release of Snakes On a Plane, The Sci-Fi Channel played Boa, Python, Python 2, and Boa Vs. Python, all in a row."
Brand New Day blogs that SoaP should have opened in March when Google searches apparently peaked.
Church of a Customer has five tips for marketers and also says don't believe the SoaP naysayers. "Some traditional media outlets that were so quick to trumpet months of unprecedented Internet buzz called the take 'disappointing' and a 'letdown.' Don't believe the hype. 'Snakes on a Plane' was a first in many ways and if anything, proved that giving fans a stake in the outcome made the movie more successful than it would have been otherwise."
The Fast Company blog blames film geeks for over-hyping the film. "The over-hyping of this particular one wasn't so much the studio's fault as it was the film geek audience that championed it almost purely on the merits (or drawbacks) of its name." Fast Company also needs an update. SoaP was the #1 film over the weekend -- check Box Office Mojo again.
1.Snakes on a Plane $13,806,311 (not including Thursday)
2.Talladega Nights $13,755,387
Snakes on a Plane, a film with enormous web buzz behind it, debuts in theatres today. Soon we will know how big the box office score is for this Internet phenomenon. There have been over 50,000 blog posts on Technorati about Snakes on a Plane with blog posts recently spiking to nearly 3,000 per day. You can see the posts soaring on this graph from BlogPulse.com. BlogPulse also says Samuel L. Jackson was the fourth most-discussed person in the blogosphere for the day. Bloggers have also been discussing the unique send a phone message from Samual L. Jackson promotion that has been running. There are already nearly 1,500 links to the Varitalk promotion which generated 100,000 phone calls in the first 24 hours.
Our Watchers Watch sister site forecasts good numbers for the film. This is good for the Internet but it could be a bad thing if we are bombarded with ill-conceived sequels.
There is no competing horror movie opening this weekend, so Snakes on a Plane should do well. This will confirm what we already know -- that Internet buzz can truly boost a film's performance at the box office. The only downside of Snakes being a box office smash is that we may have to deal with all sorts of "Something on a Something" sequels. You know, Snakes on a Boat, Snakes on a Train, Snakes on Your Bike, Snakes on a Segway. And when they run out of Snakes titles, they could always go for the cute, with Kittens on a Plane. That sounds like a good holiday movie.
Not everyone likes the idea of deadly snakes being on an airplane -- some people will be too frightened to go! However, with all the Internet discussion this film has probably already found enough fans to be a hit.
John Tucker Must Die is a new film from 20th Century Fox about four girls
who try to get revenge on womanizing high school stud John Tucker.
The film has exceeded expectations at the box office. It almost beat Pirates of the Caribbean for the number two slot Friday night. One reason for the film's strong performance could be the film's marketing campaign which made used of the MySpace URL: http://www.myspace.com/JohnTucker. The MySpace URL was promoted on television advertisements and movie previews.
The MySpace site includes information the film, downloads, photographs and buddy icons. It also includes a basketball schedule that shows John Tucker as the leading scorer in each game. The MySpace site has quickly acquired over 100,000 MySpace friends and the individual profiles for the vengeful girls (Heather, Carrie, Beth and Kate) in the film have also garnered thousands of MySpace friends. It is an interesting way to promote a movie that probably works best for films like this one that target the younger demographic that loves to use social networks. The film is a Fox product and MySpace is owned by Fox so it would have been a huge mistake for Fox not to have promoted this movie on MySpace.
The upcoming movie called Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson already has a cult following on the Internet even though the film has not been released. Apparently, Internet buzz was part of the reason more scenes were filmed. The blogger at Snakes on a Blog started the blog in the hopes it could help him or her get invited to the world premiere.
Some of you know each other, others may not, but I'm calling all of your powers together because I have a goal that I cannot achieve alone. It's a goal of such lofty proportions that the mere thought of achieving it has me trembling in my darkened apartment. It's keeping me up at night. My goal, my quest, is to be an invited guest to the world premiere of the movie that is destined to change the world. A movie of such scope and awe that you need only read the title to understand everything you'll ever need to know about the movie. The fact that it's staring Samuel L. Jackson is a mere afterthought to the magical title. I want to attend the glitzy Hollywood premiere of:
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Blog even has a Snakes on a Petition that people can sign. TagWorld is currently hosting a song contest for the film. Technorati shows over 9,000 posts already for the upcoming film. Snakes on a Plane will be out in theatres on August 18, 2006.
Here are some more Oscar highlights from the blogosphere:
Lots of blogs here,
here,
here,
here
and here are linking to Ebert's article that dismisses homophobia and says Crash won because it was the better film.
BlogPulse has a the final Crash and Brokeback Mountaingraph showing discussion of the films in the blogosphere: "A BlogPulse
Trend Graph shows how closely the two movies tracked...right up until
the moment when the statuette went to the Crash crew"
Appassionata nominates Jon Stewart to host the Oscars
again.
Author and screenwriter Larry McMurtry gave a shout out to the
culture of the
book during his acceptance speech for the Best Adapted Screenplay award
for Brokeback Mountain. Good for him.
Toyota and Ford plugged hybrid cars but GM stuck with
non-hybrid luxury cars by driving stars in Escalade SUVs and
advertising their Hummer vehicles.
The Movie Blog has some suggestions
for Oscar improvements including cut the montages and the President of the Academy speech.
They also suggest cutting the Best Song performances but without those there would have been no Three 6 Mafia performance.
Best Original Screenplay oscar winner Paul Haggis has been writing
screenplays since his early days with tv shows like Different Strokes
and Who's the Boss.
ShoppingBlog.com reviews dresses worn by Jennifer Aniston,
Salma Hayek, Keira Knightly and Michelle Williams.
Konrad West finds an interesting quote
about star power in Hollywood.
Idea Grove asks if
Crash beat Brokeback Mountain with better PR.
Go Fug Yourself spots a fugged out Sean Young at the post-Oscar parties.
Wendy doesn't like the Oscars: "Personally I find the Oscars boring, I've always more or less thought of them as an annoying interruption of my regular scheduled programs, chock full of pretentious people making dull speeches about how now they 'finally matter' and thanking God for choosing them to win over all the other nominees who just have sit back, smile and clap politely while wondering to themselves why God doesn’t love them as much."
Steve-0 is an idiot for peeing on the red carpet. (via Buzz Patrol)
Jon Swift is critical
of the March of the Penguins movie: "Like many Hollywood stars these penguins practice what is known in Los Angeles as "serial monogamy" and in the rest of the world as promiscuity. After spending a year with one partner, these swinging penguins then abandon their mates and find someone else to shack up with." Other bloggers, like Quillnews, were happy to see a March of the Penguins victory
PopSugar reports on Heath Ledger's ongoing feud with the
Australian press.
The Blingdom of Gods asks why didn't Felicity Huffman wear the Black Orlov Diamond like this article said she would. More on this story here at ShoppingBlog.com.
Note: For the most recent Oscar posts please visit ShoppingBlog.com's Oscar section.
Here are some more highlights of Oscar coverage in the blogosphere:
YouTube.com has tons of Oscars video clips here.
Jason Calacanis says it looks like
YouTube "got the rights to air the Oscars!"
ShoppingBlog.com has a write-up about this year's Oscar dresses. They also remind Into the Blue star Jessica Alba to keep her head-up because "Best Supporting Actress winner Rachel Weisz got her start in The Mummy and The Mummy 2"
Defamer caught
Capote co-star Catherine Keener trying to email or Blackberry someone during the Oscars.
Defamer also asks who was Tom Hanks swearing at?
M. Night Shyamalan: Jaffe Juice liked
the American Express commercial starring M. Night Shyamalan: "A brilliant American Express 2-minute commercial, featuring M. Night Shyamalan. I was TiVo'ing through the awards, but somehow I found this and couldn't help but watch...rewind...and watch again. Although I struggled to find the commercial online using traditional search keywords, I eventually did and you can view it here."
AdRants also liked the Shymalan ad. (via psfk.com)
There seems to a growing anti-Clooney movement in one corner of the blogosphere -- see the blog posts here,
here, here and here.
Clooney won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Syriana and explained the importance of films in his acceptance speech: "We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while... but maybe that's a good thing. We were the ones who talked about AIDS when it was being whispered. We talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular. This Academy gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I'm proud to be part of this Academy. I'm proud to be part of this community. I'm proud to be out of touch."
Meanwhile, Running Scared blogs that some bloggers are critical of films they probably haven't even seen.
Some bloggers, like Molly Golightly, think
George Clooney is attractive: "Also? George Clooney is an attractive man. That is how you make a movie star, dear readers. More George, less Oscars."
Jennifer Garner saved herself from an Oscar disasters when she caught herself after a slip. She even managed a clever quip: "I do my own stunts."
Boston Mommy has a post about Garner's slip including a couple photos.
Blogaholics compares two pictures: one is of Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman and
the other is a picture of Robert Scoble.
Long Plastic Hallway: "When the line in the Hustle and Flow nominated song was changed from "a whole lotta bitches talkin' sh**" to "a whole lotta witches jumpin' ship". Melonfarming fantastic! I hate it when those witches jump ship."
PopSugar has photos of Madonna at the Oscars with Guy.
Oscars schadenfreude from Girl with a movie camera: "Despite the rant, Oscar night piques my interest for one reason and one reason only: a delightful dose of schadenfreude (as in, pleasure derived from someone's misfortune)."
The FaerieWizard writes "So as expected, there is a lot of Oscar backlash going on in the blogosphere as well in some papers about how Crash upset Brokeback to take the best picture award. Some people are claiming Hollywood homophobia, some are claiming Hollywood played it safe and didn't want to scorn the religious right anymore than they already had." Another possibility is that some
just thought Crash was the better film.
A lot of bloggers, including Shaghaghi.net, watched the Oscars with Tivo.
AdJab enjoyed the funny Oscar campaign ads created by Stewart and the Daily Show team. "Created to resemble political ads, one featured an elderly couple who felt suspicious of all the 'foreign-sounding' first names of the Best Supporting Actress nominees. One stood out as clearly American, though: Reese. Another attacked Charlize Theron for being unattractive in North Country but praised Keira Knightly, whose cheekbones must be sprinkled with 'God dust', for 'acting while hot.'"
Oscar Babies: Blogging Baby blogs about the celebrity moms and celeb moms-to-be at last night's Oscars show. Pregnancy Weekly also blogs about Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon, a mother of two.
Note: For the most recent Oscar posts please visit ShoppingBlog.com's Oscar section.
Three 6 Mafia performed
their song, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the movie Hustle & Flow. As we noted earlier the song was toned down for the Oscars. Three 6 Mafia was very enthusiastic when they won the Oscar as host Jon Stewart noted. The Moderate Voice has
more on Three 6 Mafia and their performance.
Will Stewart be back? We hope so. USA Today's O-Factor blog also liked Stewart's performance: "Certainly, there was much to praise tonight: Jon Stewart enjoyed a respectable freshman debut as host. Whle some jokes landed with a thud, he scored laughs with his off-the-cuff remarks and jabs at Hollywood pomposity."
Wil Wheaton also loved Jon Stewart but didn't care for the movie montages. "I loved Jon Stewart, even if most of the audience didn't until halfway through. This crowd takes itself very seriously, and they tend to sit on their hands for the new guy. Lighten up, jerks! It's a party!"
The Guardian's Culture Vulture blog thought the events were too well-behaved:
"Certainly the nominated movies were more explicitly political than anyone could remember, tackling everything from the oil industry (Syriana) to homosexuality (Brokeback Mountain, Capote) to racism (Crash) to right-wing demagoguery (Good Night, and Good Luck). Moreover, the Oscars had - in host Jon Stewart - a man who had made his reputation by poking fun at the current administration. The omens were intriguing, but the event fell flat. These Oscars were almost too well-behaved for their own good."
The Envelope lists
their picks for the best and worst of Oscar night including:
"Most memorable dress color: Not saying supporting actress nominee Michelle Williams' dress was too orangy, but we did have a sudden hankering for Kraft mac and cheese..."
and "Best comeback: Alias and Elektra star Jennifer Garner nearly did an embarrassing trip-and-slip when she took the stage to present the Oscar for sound editing, but she steadied herself in time and recovered by saying she did her own stunts."
Diane Rambling On blogs that Oscar Winner Reese Witherspoon
earns $29 million a film: "Congrats to Reese-not only for her Oscar but also for commanding $29
million a flick. She's the highest paid actress of all times. I think she's a
talent, but not up there with Meryl Streep. I like that Reese is down to earth
and her acceptance speech (and voice) were really sweet. Husband Ryan is
from nearby Wilmington, DE ( as is Jada Pinkett Smith-some good lookers from these parts!)"
Many fashion blogs including the Catwalk Queen gave
Keira
Knightley the thumbs up for her dress. PopSugar did not like the dress but they have several photos of the stars on the red carpet including Jessica Alba, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner.
March of the Penguins won the Documentary Feature Oscar and the
filmakers took plush penguins on stage when they accepted the Oscar.
A Daily Kos post
discusses some FreeRepublic.com comments about the oscars.
The IWJ blogs about Three 6 Mafia's rewrite of their nominated song from Hustle & Flow called, "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." They had to write a tamer version of it for the live Oscars telecast.
Popwatch provides us with this link to the worst acceptance speeches of all-time.
Green Celebs: Treehugger discusses the Oscars and eco-celebs. They also cover ecoSwagg bags and solar chargers. Autoblog names
some celebrities driving "green" to the Academy Awards.
Pajamas Media is also live-blogging the Oscars although they don't sound too excited about it: "Does anybody care what Nicole Kidman is wearing (or not)? Does anybody care how many times Jon Stewart disses Dick Cheney? Does anybody care who even wins the Academy Awards anymore?"
Comedian Jenee blogs about bartending the Academy Awards.
The IRS is reminding celebrities that those expensive Oscar swag bags are taxable income. The TaxProf blog says, "A gift bag valued at $100,000 would result in about $45,000 in federal and state taxes for a California resident in the top tax brackets." Some details about the tech gadgets found in this year's swag bag can be found in this article that Endgadget is discussing.
BlogTO suggests some Oscar alternatives for those who don't want to watch this year.
BlogPulse provides graphs showing the buzz in the blogosphere for the different awards.
The Writer's Blog points out that John Stewart has been getting some help writing the monlogue from " two writers who used to work for The Onion and who helped him write America: The Book." John Stewart has promised to be good tonight.
Chintz Cottage prefers the Red Carpet to the actual awards. Her favorite dress: "Nicole Kidman’s 1997 green John Galliano for Dior."
The Oscars are tonight and John Campea at the Movie Blog doesn't care: "It's an odd feeling. The Oscars are being handed out tonight... and I basically couldn't care less about them this year. Why is that odd? Because I usually look forward to the Oscars almost as much as Christmas (yes yes... I really am a movie geek)."
PopSugar provides a photograph of Jake Gyllenhaal at Oscar rehearsals. It looks like they practice standing still.
The Sundance Film Festival is becoming a blog fest according to a Reuters article (on News.com) that reports on some of the blog coverage.
"Blogs are becoming a vital part of an independent film scene that relies on word-of-mouth and alternative media to truly thrive," says Eugene Hernandez, editor of the pioneering indie film site IndieWire.com, which hosts some two dozen blogs and this year has asked 12 filmmakers from Sundance and the concurrent Slamdance to blog about their experiences.
BloggingSundance.com, a pioneering festival blog, was dreamed up by the founder of the Weblogs Inc. Network, Jason Calacanis, who persuaded the festival to let him blog in 2003. "I blogged live from inside movie theaters. I'd sit in the back row with my laptop," he recalls. "It's the closest thing to live coverage." Film fanatic Calacanis continued to blog Sundance through 2004 and '05, when he reviewed 19 to 20 movies by himself. "When I'm at Sundance I don't go to parties, I watch films," he says.
The article focuses on Sundance blogging from IndieWire.com and Weblogs Inc.'s Cinematical. Other blogs mentioned include the Hot Blog from Movie City News, Defamer and Hollywood Elsewhere. These blogs are providing a significant amount of Sundance coverage but they aren't they only blogs covering Sundance.
Graphs from Technorati or BlogPulse show the predictable burst in Sundance blog coverage. Technorati tags can be found here and there are 19,800+ english language posts containing the keyword Sundance. BlogPulse shows over 12,400 results and IceRocket.com has listed over 27,000 posts. Just like CES the Sundance Film Festival is an event where many blogs are providing coverage. Here is an alphabetical list of some blogs covering Sundance.
Yo, Adrian! There is a new blog to promote Rocky Balboa, the upcoming Rocky movie, called the Rocky Balboa Blog. The first post includes a video of Sylvester Stallone talking about the upcoming Rocky movie. In addition to blogging, Stallone will also write, direct and star in the new movie where Rocky once again comes out of retirement. Cinematical discusses the new Rocky Balboa blog in this post and also sums up the new world of pre-movie blogs.
Now that blogging has officially become the new "cool" way to market a movie, it seems as if we no longer need to see the film once it comes out since the entire thing has already been shown to us over the course of a year and a half on that damn webpage. Between the interviews and the assortment of behind-the-scenes tours, these blogs are waging a tough battle against, what used to be, a sweet spoiler-free world.
Rob Zombie, writer/director of The Devil's Rejects blogs here.
Fox Searchlight Pictures also created blogs for its Garden State and
Club Dread films. They have a new
blog now for the film, The Namesake directed by Mira Nair and starring Kal Penn. Paris Hilton did a podcast for House of Wax.
David Duchovney had a blog
for his House of D film. And there are likely to be many more film and director blogs because they are appreciated by fans. The L.A. Timesarticle explained why fans like director blogs:
Directors' blogs have subdivided into two distinct camps -- slickly produced
video-driven production journals and technologically minimal Web diaries. But to hear it from Michael Regina, editor in chief of The One Ring Inc., a company that specializes in constructing movie fan sites -- including kongisking.net and theonelion.net, for the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — fans are simply interested in the minutiae of movie magic, in whatever format they're conveyed.
"The production diaries the fans love most are about the littlest aspects of
moviemaking — the nitty-gritty stuff," he said.
Rent has started a weblog to promote the Rent movie which will be in theatres on November 11, 2005. Some of the bloggers so far on the Rent blog include Anthony Rapp (Mark Cohen), Wilson Jermaine Heredia (Angel) and Idina Menzel (Maureen). Chris Columbus, the Director of Rent, also has a post in the blog and his is a video entry. The blog also includes some production photos for the movie.
A Clickz article discusses the rise of promotional blogs. Promotional blogs are being used increasingly by PR firms. So far, films and tv shows appear to be the best at taking advantage of blogs. The ClickZ article mentions the
vlog production diary for the upcoming
King Kong film as a promotional blog. This blog appears to working. ClickZ says the site is already averaging 1.5 million unique visits per month for a
December release. Another PR film blog is Paris Hilton's podcast for the
upcoming House of Wax film that we
mentioned last week.
And David Duchovney, the director and writer of the House of D, also
blogged about creating the film here on the Lions Gate Directors website. In television, ClickZ mentions the Friendster collection of blogs for the new Stacked sitcom starring Pamela Anderson, who also has a blog there. More on the Stacked blogs can be found here. The Producer's Blog for this year's Oscars could fit in the promotional blog for a
TV show category as well. Another blog mentioned in the article is DontFlinch.us, which is a fictional blog by a "90 ft. babe" who was featured in a Lee Jeans commercial. ClickZ gives the King Kong, Stacked and Don't Finch blogs high marks:
So far, the new breed of promotional bloggers seems to be doing everything right. They have a motive for using the medium; they aren't jumping on the blog bandwagon without good reason. Their sites don't just generate awareness and buzz, but connect consumers with the company's products by inviting them into their personal world. Posts on these blogs have a purpose and allow users to relate to the people behind them.
Buzz Marketing with Blogs also has a blog entry on the ClickZ article.
There's far less buzz for this year's Oscars than there was in 2006 and 2007. The 100-day writer's strike may have helped to dampen the buzz. During the strike we weren't sure if there would even be an oscars. Writers are now 
Writers Write, Inc., the parent company of BloggersBlog.com, has added a new blog to its blog network called 
MTV has a new movie blog called the 
Eventually we will hit an awards season where every major media company already has an awards blog. Until then newspapers and magazines will continue to launch Oscar blogs a month or two before the big event. In past years we have seen awards blog launches like the New York Times' 
The new 
Reuters 
News.com 
The Rocky Balboa film comes out December 22nd. You would know that if you kept up with the official 
Actress Jenna Mattison has started a blog called 
The promotional blast from the blogosphere was not as big as had been anticipated but it was just enough to push 
The upcoming movie called 
Yo, Adrian! There is a new blog to promote Rocky Balboa, the upcoming Rocky movie, called the 
Rent has started a 
