Academy Announces Oscars Dates for 2014 and 2015
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and network ABC said the 86th Academy Awards will take place Sunday, March 2, 2014. Typically the show takes place the final weekend of February, but is being moved one week so as not to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics. The Oscars will return to the final Sunday in February slot in 2015, which will fall on Sunday, February 22. Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards will be announced Thusday, January 16, 2014, a week later than they were announced this year, THR reports.
Tribeca Unveils Free Events at Upcoming Festival
Tribeca will once again host its free community events including the Tribeca Drive-In (April 18 – 20), Family Festival Street Fair (April 27), Tribeca ESPN Sports Day (April 27) and Family Screenings (April 21 and 27). The Tribeca Drive-In will screen three films including the classic Hitchcock film The Birds, followed by Tim Burton’'s beloved comedy Beetlejuice and a screening of Lil Bub & Friendz, described as “a new film playing in the Festival about a cat made famous online and his friends.”
The Grocer & Blood Brother Win 15th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Greece's The Grocer by Dimitris Koutsiabasakos and U.S. doc Blood Brother won top Audience prizes at the 15th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. Greece's They Glow in the Dark by Panayotis Evangelidis won the Greek Selection FIPRESCI Award, while Diego Gutierrez's Parts of a Family won in the international selection, Indiewire reports.
China Becomes Second Biggest Movie Market
China has dethroned Japan as the world's second-largest movie market. The country's box office revenues surged 36% to $2.7 billion in 2012, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The jump came after China loosened some restrictions on the number of foreign films allowed for theatrical release in its market. The government also allowed the amount of revenue foreign movies are allowed to collect from distribution in China to 25% of overall ticket sales from the previous limit of 13%, BBC reports.
Danny Boyle: “3-D Movies Are a Phase”
The British filmmaker received an Outstanding Contribution Prize at the Empire Awards Sunday night and said he believed 3-D was nothing more than a passing fancy. “I don't use 3-D,” he said. “I'm a spectacle wearer, so I hate going to 3-D movies because you have to wear two pairs of spectacles, which makes you feel like even more of a prat. You know how everybody feels a bit of a prat wearing 3-D spectacles? You a a spectacle wearer feel a double prat.” Still, Boyle praised some “extraordinary work” being done in 3-D. He described Ang Lee's Oscar-winning Life of Pi, which had its World Premiere at the 50th New York Film Festival, as “incredible.” The Guardian reports.
