COUPLES RETREAT Tops Box Office

Universal’s comedy Couples Retreat safely landed at the top of the North American box office this weekend with a solid $35.3 million in ticket sales at 3,000 locations, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell and Jason Bateman, the film follows four couples traveling to a prestigious tropical island resort where they’re forced to partake in numerous couple therapy sessions.

Also breaking into the top 10 this weekend was Oren Peli’s Paranormal Activity, which expanded to 159 locations and took the No. 5 spot with a superb $7 million. The film’s early total gross currently stands at $8.2 million.

Last week’s winner Zombieland, starring Jesse Eisenberg [...]

ZOMBIELAND Rules Box Office

Ruben Fleischer’s excellent horror comedy Zombieland stormed the North American box office, slashing its competition this weekend with a solid $25 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The film scored a surprising average of $8,235 per theater at 3,036 locations. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, Zombieland follows four humans trying to survive in a world taken over by zombies.

At a distant No. 2, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs bagged another $16.7 million, lifting its domestic gross to an impressive $82.3 million after a three-week run. The Sony Pictures Animation release is playing in both 3D and standard format.

Debuting in third place [...]

Oscar 2008: Jennifer Garner, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page

Marion Cotillard

Jennifer Garner

Ellen Page, Robert Osborne
Photos: Michael Yada (Garner), Armando Flores (Cotillard), Matt Petit (Page). All photos: © A.M.P.A.S.

Spirit Awards 2008

2008 Spirit Awards
Film Independent’s 2008 Spirit Award nominations: November 27, 2007
2008 Spirit Award winners: February 23, 2008
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

Ellen Page in Juno
 

BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Jon Kilik
I’m Not There, Producers: Christine Vachon, John Sloss, John Goldwyn, James D. Stern
* Juno, Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick, Russell Smith
A Mighty Heart, Producers: Dede Gardner, Andrew Eaton, Brad Pitt
Paranoid Park, Producers: Neil Kopp, David Cress
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Director: Cristian Mungiu (Romania)
The Band’s Visit, Director: Eran Kolirin (Israel)
Lady Chatterley, Director: Pascale Ferran (France)
* Once, Director: John Carney (Ireland)
Persepolis, Directors: Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi (France)
BEST FIRST [...]

Genie 2008 Nominations

The two top nominees for the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s 2008 Genie Awards are heavy dramas: David Cronenberg’s Russian mafia thriller Eastern Promises and Roger Spottiswoode’s Rwanda genocide tale Shake Hands With the Devil, each with 12 nominations.
They were followed by Away from Her with seven nods; The Tracey Fragments with six; Continental, a Film Without Guns and Silk, both with five; and Days of Darkness with four.
The violent Eastern Promises, which is up for the best British film BAFTA (it’s a co-production), stars American Viggo Mortensen and Australian Naomi Watts as two disparate people — he a Russian hitman; she a midwife — whose paths are crossed following the death of a pregnant 14-year-old girl. [...]

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