Search Results for: “"the sapphires"”

Cannes: Distributors To Watch

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Thursday, 16 May 2013 22:49 UKTags: Cannes Film Festival, Cannes Wrap-Up

CBS Films
CBS Films has overhauled under Terry Press and Wolfgang Hammer who were named co-presidents about a year ago. At the time, CBS Corp. president and CEO Les Moonves said, “They both possess the ‘roll-up-your-sleeves’ attitude for making, acquiring and marketing quality films for a division that is small in size, but laser-focused on assembling a mix of home-grown productions and acquisitions across a diverse range of genres.” Demonstrating its mettle here in Cannes, the company has the very high-profile Coen brothers movie Inside Llewyn Davis in Competition. It acquired the film in February after a screening on the Sony lot attracted lots of interest and created a competitive situation. CBS spent close to $4M to seal the deal. The movie will be a big part of CBS’ presence in Cannes, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t looking to buy. It’s releasing about four to six pictures a year and has the flexibility to work across any genre. Although it has never acquired a foreign language film, it’s not out of the question, I’m told. Previous pick-ups include Lasse Hallstrom’s Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, horror hit The Woman In Black and Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths.

Related: Cannes: Actors To Watch

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Specialty Box Office: Sarah Polley’s ‘Stories We Tell’ Opens Strong; ‘Mud’ Sticks

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday May 12, 2013 @ 9:59am PDTTags: Mud, Sarah Polley, Specialty Box Office, Stories We Tell

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsCanadian filmmaker/actress Sarah Polley‘s documentary Stories We Tell is leading the pack of specialty releases among titles reporting early Sunday afternoon ET. The Venice/Telluride/Toronto ’12 debut, which headed into release with strong word of mouth and festival acclaim, grossed a solid $31K in two locations and saw its grosses shoot up Friday to Saturday by a spectacular 172%. The feature, which is a personal account of Polley’s family, received a 92 score on Metacritic and 94% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

“The opening is in the range of openings of last year’s doc hits Searching For Sugar Man from SPC ($9153 a screen opening on 3 screens in NY/LA, $3,657,684 final gross) and Queen Of Versailles from Magnolia ($17,109 a screen opening on 3 screens in NY/LA, $2,401,999 final gross), which is right where we want to be,” said Roadside Attractions Sunday.

The film will head into 20 runs in the top 7 markets next weekend.

Also opening with decent numbers is Zeitgeist’s doc One Track Heart: The Story Of Krishna Das, which took in $7,500 in one Manhattan theater. IFC Films’ comedy/thriller hybrid Sightseers languished with a $4,200 average in its debut in two runs, while Anchor Bay’s No One Lives opened in an ambitious 53 theaters but only scraped together an $866 average.
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Disney, ‘Iron Man 3′ Dominate 2013 Golden Trailer Awards

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday May 5, 2013 @ 1:55pm PDTTags: Disney, Golden Trailer Awards, Hit & Run, Spring Breakers

Golden Trailer Awards Winners 2013The annual marketing kudos went big for Disney pics Iron Man 3, Wreck-It-Ralph, Monsters University, Brave, and The Avengers at the Golden Trailer Awards Friday night. The GTAs didn’t just fete the best movie promos of the year. They also doled out Trashiest Trailer (to A24′s Spring Breakers) and gave indie comedy Hit & Run the Golden Fleece award, awarded to a trailer better than its actual movie. Here’s the full list of winners:
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Specialty Box Office: ‘The Iceman’ Scores Cool Opening, ‘What Maisie Knew’ Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday May 5, 2013 @ 9:48am PDTTags: Specialty Box Office, The Iceman, What Maisie Knew

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsMillennium Entertainment’s The Iceman warmed over the specialty box office this weekend despite the Iron Man 3 juggernaut. The film averaged a cool $23,287 from four runs and that wasn’t the only good news for the distributor. Millennium also bowed What Maisie Knew in one location, grossing $23,268. The duo were among a large number of specialty newcomers this weekend, though they did by far the best among titles reporting. Pantelion’s Cinco De Mayo: La Batalla averaged $3,500 from 20 runs, while SPC’s Love Is All You Need averaged $9,739 from its initial four theaters opening. Cannes 2012 debut Post Tenebras Lux took in $5,525 in one theater, while the weekend’s new doc Scatter My Ashes At Bergdorf’s grossed $38,294 for a $9,574 average in four theaters. Meanwhile IFC Films’ French-language Something In The Air bowed in three theaters, averaging a slight $5K.
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Specialty Box Office: ‘Mud’ Slings A Snazzy Debut; ‘Kon-Tiki’ Sails While ‘Arthur Newman’ Flails

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday April 28, 2013 @ 10:46am PDTTags: Kon-Tiki, Mud, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsMud kicked up the dirt in the specialty realm with a hefty opening and some decent audiences to boot. The Roadside Attractions release directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon bowed with $2.185 million in a release strategy Roadside says is the new path for certain indie/specialties featuring named talent. The Weinstein Company launched Kon-Tiki in one theater each in NYC and LA, taking the weekend’s highest per screen average with $11,167 among limited releases. Another big specialty release, Arthur Newman, however, tanked with a $435 average in 248 theaters. The weekend happened to coincide with the most beautiful weather in New York City in what seems like years. It was a crowded space with many new specialty releases and the lure of staying outside. But roll out they did. Sony Classics’ At Any Price had a slight opening in four theaters, IFC Films fared better with Venice opener The Reluctant Fundamentalist in three theaters, and Paladin/108 Media’s Salman Rushdie-written Midnight’s Children opened with $12,200 in two theaters. Meanwhile one film, which almost didn’t have formal distribution at all — An Oversimplification Of Her Beauty — scored a solid opening with no stars.

Roadside Attractions has verbally called out the traditional NY/LA two-to-four (or so) platform release strategy that has been the norm for many-a-specialty release. Believing it can capitalize on a blitz of media, when the film has at least one star, and a flurry of social media, the distributor has forgone the traditional limited release roll out and opened — at least in indie world numbers — fairly widely. Mud had a $6,022 average. Not gargantuan, but it debuted in 363 theaters. McConaughey and Witherspoon star in the pic, which factored into Roadside’s strategy. For comparison’s sake, Roadside’s Emperor with Tommy Lee Jones opened March 8th in 260 theaters with just over $1 million. That was nearly one-third of its come, which has topped out at a bit under $3.3 million to date. “The world moves fast. Emperor frankly didn’t have amazing reviews but had a million dollar opening,” said Roadside chief Howard Cohen. “I think the old model has come outdated especially when the PR is front loaded.” Cohen noted that their strategy with a release like Mud works when the film includes named talent. The traditional mode is still a good one theatrically when there isn’t”.
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Specialty Box Office: ‘Filly Brown’ Croons, Ricky Jay Doc Opens Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday April 21, 2013 @ 9:52am PDTTags: Filly Brown, Specialty Box Office

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsMusic drama Filly Brown rhymed its way atop the Specialty Box Office this weekend with a hefty release in 188 theaters, grossing over $1.36 million. In the per screen average race, Kino Lorber’s doc Deceptive Practices: The Mentors And Mysteries Of Ricky Jay took in $15K in one New York location, while Cohen Media Group’s In The House averaged $11,738 from three locations. Anchor Bay had the biggest roll out with Rob Zombie’s The Lords Of Salem. The thriller bowed in 355 theaters, though it was comparatively slight with a $1,752 average and a gross of $622K.

Filly Brown box office“The Filly fans really came out this weekend,” noted Indomina Production exec Rob Williams Sunday. “We’re very happy with the per screen average and looking to expand the film into more markets this weekend. Sales were especially strong in Southwestern states”. The film grossed $673K Friday but softened to $405K Saturday. Women were by far and away the big draw comprising 71% of the audience, and 41% were under 25. The film’s $7,250 average is the highest PSA of any Pantelion release to date, the distributor pointed out. And the film landed #1 at 20 locations where it outgrossed the weekend’s number one film in the overall box office, Oblivion. The screenings were followed by a live Q&A with Edward James Olmos and other members of the cast that were streamed to all locations.

Ricky Jay doc Deceptive Practices had the highest PSA among reporting Specialties in a weekend that did not boast any blistering knock outs. Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Place Beyond The Pines’ Shines, ‘To The Wonder’, ‘Disconnect’ Open Soft

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday April 14, 2013 @ 10:53am PDTTags: Disconnect, Specialty Box Office, The Place Beyond The Pines, To The Wonder

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsThis weekend’s specialty newcomers performed blasé at best and that’s despite the debut of a new film by a director who is all but a patron saint to the cineaste crowd. Topping the report Sunday morning is LD Entertainment’s Disconnect. Starring Jason Bateman and Hope Davis, the Santa Barbara Int’l Film Festival opener averaged $8,240 from 15 runs, pulling ahead of Terrence Malick and Ben Affleck’s debut, To The Wonder, which averaged $7,647 in 17 theaters. Sundance Selects opened Ken Loach’s Cannes 2012 title The Angels’ Share in 3 theaters, averaging $7K, while Oscilloscope’s It’s A Disaster also opened in a trio of locations, averaging $5,667. But the real good news came from Focus Features’ The Place Beyond The Pines. The Derek Cianfrance-directed feature showed off its box office prowess, averaging a solid $8K in over 500 theaters.

Word on the street was that To The Wonder was Malick’s “most accessible” film, but the film failed to measure up to his comparatively less user friendly previous film Tree Of Life. That film, which opened in 2011 in 4 theaters, averaged a cool $93,230 though it went on to cume $13.3 million. Hopefully the film will show some legs going forward. “I think it’s better outside a festival context and works better on its own,” said Magnolia’s Matt Cowal. “It’s sparking an incredible dialog. You can’t expect it to be liked by everyone. Some hate it, some adore it. And that’s expected in a work of art – it’s fascinating.” iTunes had some good news for To The Wonder this weekend. It topped its Independent charts all weekend. Magnolia will open the film in nearly every major market over the next two weeks.
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Specialty Box Office: ‘Trance’ Mesmerizes, ‘Upstream Color’ And Redford’s ‘Company’ Bow Solid

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday April 7, 2013 @ 10:30am PDTTags: Specialty Box Office, Trance, Upstream Color

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsFox Searchlight’s Trance seduced the Specialty Box Office this weekend, grabbing the top spot in the averages game, though DIY release Upstream Color and Sony Classics’ The Company You Keep both bowed solidly and not far behind. Danny Boyle’s thriller starring James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel and Rosario Dawson averaged a cool $34K this weekend, not quite the sizzling opening numbers of Boyle’s previous roll out, 127 Hours, but still number one on the limited release slate this weekend. Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color opened at IFC Center in New York in one showing, grossing $31,500. That is numerically a stronger showing than his last film, Primer, which opened back in October 2004. Robert Redford-directed The Company You Keep opened on 5 runs, averaging $29,212. His previous films opened comparatively wider, but on a straight average comparison, the film holds well.

But Searchlight’s Trance held the top spot in specialty theaters in the first weekend of April. Boyle, Dawson and Cassel turned out for a glittering premiere in New York midweek courtesy of the Cinema Society for the filmmaker’s first post-Olympics gig. In the comparison game, however, the film did not shine as brightly as his last film, 127 Hours. That film opened with a $66,213 average in 4 theaters in November, 2010 and went on to gross over $18.33 million domestically. His previous film, Oscar-winning Best Picture Slumdog Millionaire, however, averaged $36K when it opened in November 2008 in 10 theaters. That film went on to gross over $141.3 million in the U.S. alone. “The biggest selling point of this film is obviously Danny Boyle’s name”, noted Searchlight SVP Distribution Frank Rodriguez. Trance will move into about 350 theaters April 12.
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Specialty Box Office: ‘Pines’ Best Average

By BRIAN BROOKS | Sunday March 31, 2013 @ 4:08pm PDTTags: Specialty Box Office

Indie FilmsOn the Specialty box office front, this Easter Weekend showed strong debuts for Focus Features’ The Place Beyond The Pines and IFC Films’ documentary Room 237 while Renoir painted a passable opening leaving silent feature Blancanieves and Wrong to start with less gusto. Pines director Derek Cianfrance  showed with his film’s star Ryan Gosling up at a Film Society Of Lincoln Center party for New Directors. (The same duo caught Oscar chatter back in 2010 with Blue Valentine after its debut at the Sundance Film Festival.) Pines opened in a pair of runs in both New York and Los Angeles with a winning $67,564 average. Noted Jack Foley, Focus Features president of distribution: “It’s a testament to the appeal of this incredible cast, and also to Derek Cianfrance’s vision as a great storyteller, that audiences came out to see Pines this weekend. It’s epic, powerful and just great entertainment. Smart audiences want great movie options all year and you saw that with this weekend’s terrific numbers.”

IFC Films’ documentary centered on Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining also made an impressive showing over the weekend. That’s good news for the distributor, which saw the exit of its long time SVP of Marketing and Publicity Ryan Werner who is one of the most important backers of international and indie cinema in America. The film Room 238 averaged $18K in two NYC theaters. Noted Werner: It’s an amazing film that says so much about the way we watch movies today. … Read More »

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Specialty Box Office: ‘Gimme The Loot’ Rakes It In, ‘The Sapphires’ Solid In Debut

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday March 24, 2013 @ 11:46am PDTTags: DreamWorks, Gimme The Loot, My Brother The Dev, Specialty Box Office, The Sapphires

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Indie FilmsSundance Selects scored in the specialty arena this weekend, opening Gimme The Loot at its IFC Center in Greenwich Village with a solid $23,400. The movie, which IFC Films’ Sundance Selects label picked up last year out of the SXSW Film Festival, reported sold-out screenings Friday and Saturday nights, boosted by Q&As with former The Daily Show personality Wyatt Cenac. It premiered at MoMA on Tuesday with Sofia Coppola, Mike Birbiglia , Elizabeth Olsen, and Josh Safdie among the attendees. Loot next weekend will head to Chicago’s Music Box, L.A.’s NuArt and the Jacob Burns Center in Upstate New York. The Weinstein Company launched Cannes 2012 entrant The Sapphires in 4 NYC/LA theaters with a decent $10,232 average. Among other openers, Paladin debuted My Brother The Devil with two runs, averaging just over $6K. Starbuck is an original that DreamWorks Sudios is adapting to star Vince Vaughn. It was a hit at home north of the border, but opened comparatively quietly here, averaging $5,482 in three theaters. Next month, distributor eOne will take it to the top 30 to 50 markets. Archstone’s A Resurrection took in $7,250 at a single cinema. Read More »

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‘Sapphires’ Star Chris O’Dowd In ‘St. Vincent De Van Nuys’ Talks

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday March 22, 2013 @ 8:09am PDTTags: Chris O'Dowd, St. Vincent De Van Nuys, Ted Melfi, The Weinstein Company
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Chris O’Dowd, who opens today in The Sapphires, is in early talks to join Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy in St. Vincent De Van Nuys, the film that Ted Melfi will direct from his script for The Weinstein Company and Chernin Entertainment. O’Dowd will play a sympathetic Catholic priest shocked to see the influence that the title character has on an angelic 12-year-old boy whose hardworking single mother (McCarthy) foists the child care duties on Murray’s character. He is a cantankerous train wreck who takes the kid under his corrupt wing. The project, which Chernin Entertainment developed for two years with Melfi’s Black List script, has been compared to As Good As It Gets or even TWC’s recent Silver Linings Playbook for the way it mixes comedy and human pathos.

Related: Melissa McCarthy To Get Offer For Coveted Female Lead In ‘St. Vincent De Van Nuys’ Read More »

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Specialty B.O. Preview: ‘The Sapphires,’ ‘Gimme The Loot,’ ‘Hunky Dory,’ ‘Come Out And Play,’ ‘Starbuck,’ ‘New World’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 21, 2013 @ 11:02pm PDTTags: Come Out And Play, Gimme The Loot, Hunky Dory, My Brother The Devil, new world, Specialty Box Office Preview, Starbuck, The Sapphires

Brian Brooks is a Deadline contributor.

Only a handful of new specialty movies opened during the early part of 2013, but spring has brought an onslaught of indies and foreign titles. The Weinstein Company opens the Cannes debut The Sapphires this weekend, while two titles from last year’s SXSW, Hunky Dory starring Minnie Driver and Gimme The Loot from Sundance Selects, bow in select locations. Thriller Come Out And Play makes its way to theaters after a very unconventional production. Paladin’s My Brother The Devil enjoyed the support of Sundance but faced riots during its filming in London. Entertainment One brings a French-Canadian comedy that has already landed an English-language remake deal, and Well Go USA will launch New World, hoping once again to capitalize on past successes with Korean thrillers.

The Sapphires
Director: Wayne Blair
Writers: Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson
Cast: Chris O’Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

TWC picked up the biographical comedy/drama ahead of its Cannes Film Festival premiere in the Official Selection last year, picking up U.S. rights and other territories for low seven figures. “It’s a really, really strong film with great performances,” said TWC president of theatrical distribution & home entertainment Erik Lomis. “Chris O Dowd is terrific”, said Lomis. Set against a backdrop of racial strife in Australia in the late ’60s, the film centers on four Australian Aboriginal girls who form a group and head out to entertain U.S. troops in Vietnam, escaping the tensions and limitations of their rural community. “It plays well to an audience and hopefully will crack the formula,” said Lomis. “It’s not a four-quadrant movie, but it’s has appeal across the spectrum. It’s an audience pleaser and it has scored through the roof.”

TWC tested the feature in New York and in the Midwest where Lomis said audiences in both regions responded well. “The trick is getting them in,” he noted. “We’re hoping word-of-mouth will propel its theatrical run.” The Sapphires will have a traditional first weekend opening in New York and LA, playing at two locations in each city before expanding.
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Global Showbiz Briefs: UMedia, ‘We Are Monsters’ Casting, Remstar, ‘Danni Lowinski’, Film Critics Circle Awards

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday, 20 March 2013 04:00 UKTags: Danni Lowinski, Maisie Williams, uMedia, We Are Monsters

uMedia To Remake Johnnie To’s ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’
Brussels-based uMedia has secured the remake rights to Johnnie To’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart for an English-language redo. The 2011 romantic comedy is a Hong Kong-set love triangle. UMedia, whose finance and production division, uFilm, has been involved with such pictures as The Artist and A Monster In Paris, is also currently working on Nicole Kidman-starrer Grace Of Monaco and animation feature Mariah Mundi And The Midas Box. They’re at this week’s Hong Kong Filmart eyeing deals on English-language remakes of commercial South East Asian titles to convert into films budgeted at $15M-$60M. The company also says it will soon be opening offices in Paris and LA. It launched a new sales arm last year under exec Peter Rogers who’s repped Italian hit The Best Offer at the EFM. Under development at uMedia are the adaptation of sci-fi graphic novel Universal War One, thrillers Maelstrom and The Scent Of Adam and actioner Fallen Cross. Read More »

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HBO Series ‘True Detective’, AMC’s ‘The Killing’ Add To Casts

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday February 20, 2013 @ 12:19pm PSTTags: Hugh Dillon, The Killing, Tory Kittles, True Detective
Nellie Andreeva

Tory Kittles (Sons Of Anarchy) has landed a regular role on True Detective, HBO‘s upcoming eight-episode drama series starring Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. The project centers on detectives Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Martin Hart (Harrelson), whose lives collide and entwine during a 17-year hunt for a serial killer in Louisiana. The investigation of a bizarre murder in 1995 is framed and interlaced with testimony from the detectives in 2012, when the case was reopened. In a recasting, Kittles will play Detective Thomas Papania who, along with his partner Maynard Gilbough (Michael Potts), question Hart and Cohle about the 1995 case and feel the duo is hiding something. Kittles, repped by APA and Circle of Confusion, replaces Wood Harris who was originally cast in the role. He recently co-starred in Lifetime’s highly-rated Steel Magnolias remake and in The Sapphires, recently acquired by the Weinstein Co.

Former Flashpoint star Hugh Dillon is set as a regular on the upcoming third season of the AMC’s drama The Killing, from Fox TV Studios. Season 3 follows Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) as she investigates the disappearance of another teen girl. Dillon will play Becker, who goes head to head with death row inmate Seward (Peter Sarsgaard). Also cast on the series … Read More »

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Indie Vendetta Pic With Parallels To Christopher Dorner Saga Gets Release Date

By JEN YAMATO | Thursday February 14, 2013 @ 2:10pm PSTTags: 42, Chadwick Boseman, The Kill Hole

Kill Hole Chadwick BosemanEXCLUSIVE: The Kill Hole, starring Sons Of Anarchy‘s Tory Kittles as an ex-Marine with a vendetta and 42‘s Chadwick Boseman as the Iraq veteran tasked with bringing him down, will open theatrically in New York on March 15 via RBC Films. A DVD release will follow April 9. The indie action-thriller from first-time director Mischa Webley aims to take advantage of Boseman’s mainstream debut as Jackie Robinson opposite Harrison Ford in 42, which Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures are releasing April 12. But the pic’s PR push seems to also capitalize on the pic’s apparent parallels to ex-LAPD cop Christopher Dorner, whose vendetta against the LA Police Department led to the murders of four people, a manhunt, and culminated this week in a nationally televised gunfight standoff in the Southern California mountains.
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Global Showbiz Briefs: ‘Major Crimes’ In UK, ‘Sapphires’ Star Makes Impression

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday February 8, 2013 @ 10:09pm PSTTags: Global Showbiz Briefs, Major Crimes

‘Major Crimes’ Coming To The UK
Major Crimes, the Mary McDonnell police procedural hit for TNT, will go out on the Universal Channel in the UK. The Warner Bros. International Television Distribution show, which spins off from Kyra Sedgwick-starrer The Closer, follows McDonnell’s Captain Sharon Raydor as the recently-upped head of LAPD’s Major Crimes Division. Major Crimes got its second season order from TNT back in September, after the first season’s debut episode played to 9.5M viewers (Live + 7).  – Joe Utichi

‘Sapphires’ Actress Signs With Impression Entertainment
Shari Sebbens plays one of four Aboriginal girls from Outback Australia who formed a successful singing group in the 1960s in The Sapphires. That was her first film role but it’s landed her a U.S. management deal with Impression Entertainment. Sebbens, repped in Oz by Linsten Morris Management, is going to the U.S. next month with her co-stars, producers and director Wayne Blair for the Weinstein Co.’s March 22 launch of The Sapphires in New York and Los Angeles. She has reteamed with Blair on TV drama series The Gods Of Wheat Street. She and Sapphires co-star Deborah Mailman appear with Bryan Brown in feature The Darkside from writer-director Warwick Thornton. - Don Groves

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Clean Sweep For ‘The Sapphires’ At Australian Academy Awards

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday January 30, 2013 @ 1:15am PSTTags: AACTA, The Sapphires

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney

Nominated for 12 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, The Sapphires won six gongs at a ceremony hosted by Russell Crowe in Sydney on Wednesday night. The musical drama about four Aboriginal girls who formed a singing group in the 1960s won best director (Wayne Blair), lead actress (Deborah Mailman), lead actor (Chris O’Dowd), supporting actress (Jessica Mauboy) and adapted screenplay (Keith Thompson, Tony Briggs). That’s in addition to five craft awards presented on Monday. The Weinstein Co. will release the film in the U.S. on March 22. Thriller Wish You Were Here took the AACTA original screenplay award for husband-and-wife creative team Kieran Darcy-Smith and Felicity Price, and supporting actor for Antony Starr. German actress Saskia Rosendahl received the best young actor trophy for Cate Shortland’s Lore, which was Australia’s entry for the foreign language Oscar. The Byron Kennedy Award, named for George Miller’s late producing partner, went to director/animator Sarah Watt (Look Both Ways, My Year Without Sex), who died of cancer in 2011. John Edwards’ Puberty Blues, which was inspired by Bruce Beresford’s 1981 film, was named best TV drama series. Presenters included AACTA president Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters leads Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton. It was the second annual ACTAA awards, the successor to the Australian Film Institute’s awards. The complete list of winners follows: Read More »

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‘The Sapphires’ Dominates Early Australian Cinema & TV Academy Awards

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Sunday January 27, 2013 @ 9:00pm PSTTags: AACTA, The Sapphires

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney.

The Sapphires nabbed five Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards in craft categories presented Monday in Sydney local time. The drama, which TWC opens March 22 in the U.S., was prized for cinematography, editing, production design, costume design and sound. The major awards will be handed out Wednesday night, hosted by Russell Crowe. Iron Sky took the visual effects award, Storm Surfers 3D was named best feature documentary and Then The Wind Changed, which chronicled a community’s struggle to rebuild following the 2009 Victorian bushfires, was best docu under one hour. In TV, tabloid newspaper satire Lowdown – Season 2 was declared best comedy series,  Agony Aunts picked up the light entertainment series gong and  The Adventures of Figaro Pho, all from the ABC, won the children’s series award. Multicultural broadcaster SBS’s  Go Back To Where You Came From was judged best documentary series. Patrick Brammall won best performance in a TV comedy for the ABC’s A Moody Christmas. Julian, which looks at a day in the life of a fearless nine-year-old schoolboy, was feted as best short fiction film and The Hunter  was best animated short. The Raymond Longford Award for lifetime achievement was bestowed on producer Al Clark, whose credits include The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Chopper, Blessed, Red Hill and upcoming musical Goddess.

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‘The Sapphires’ Gets March 22 U.S. Release

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday January 25, 2013 @ 7:03pm PSTTags: The Sapphires, The Weinstein Company

Don Groves is a Deadline contributor based in Sydney.

The Weinstein Co. has confirmed The Sapphires will open March 22 in the U.S. TWC bought multi-territory rights for the musical drama at last year’s Cannes festival. Director Wayne Blair’s film based on the real-life story of an Aboriginal singing group that shot to fame in the 1960s was the top-grossing Australian film in 2012 with $A14.4 million ($14.9 million). Pic has 12 nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, including best film, direction, actress (Deborah Mailman), actor (Chris O’Dowd) and supporting actress (Jessica Mauboy). The major awards will be presented Wednesday night in Sydney, hosted by Russell Crowe.

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