Thanks primarily to good timing, this year's Academy Award contenders for best picture drew in an extra $111 million between the Jan. 22 announcement of the nominees and Sunday's telecast, E! reports.Unlike some past years when all of the nommed films were released before November, many of this year's nominees rolled out much closer to the nominations, taking advantage of the buzz. Juno was the biggest earner, adding about $43.3 mil to its previous earnings. There Will Be Blood made 75 percent of its $35 mil post-nominations, having been in limited release until late January.Even Michael Clayton, which had a disastrous box office debut last fall, tacked on nearly $10 mil with a re-release. Atonement earned an extra $16 mil, while big winner No Country for Old Men added a respectable $15 mil to its gross in the past month. — Adam Bryant
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DVD Tuesday Michael Clayton cynicism disillusionment and all those Oscar nominationsMichael Clayton has been nominated for seven Academy Awards including best picture so nows the time catch up with it on DVD Michael Clayton George Clooney is a lawyer but Michael Clayton isnt a courtroom drama Its dedicated to the proposition that the real drama of legal proceedings takes place everywhere but in court And Clayton is the guy who in most films about the law would be the bad guy An in-house fixer for the white-shoe Manhattan firm of Kenner Bach Ledeen He brokers private deals talks reason into arrogant clients convinced they can get away with murder and babysits for staffers with problems like senior partner Arthur Edens Tom Wilkinson a great guy as long as he takes his psychotropic meds The firm needs Clayton enough that theyve bailed him out of his own messes notably a recurring gambling problem But hes not quite their sort a blue-collar scr
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As anticipation for this Sunday's 80th Academy Awards grows, some Oscar fans just can't help looking back. In a survey by Parade magazine, readers were asked to pinpoint the most memorable moments from the show's 80-year history as well as sound off on this year's races. Categories included everything from most memorable acceptance speech — which went to Sally Field's "You like me right now!" declaration — to the viewers' preferred host of the annual event, where Billy Crystal was the landslide winner.Richard Gere and Sandra Bullock came away as the fans' favorite actor and actress to never receive an Oscar nod, while (shocker, not!) 69 percent of readers want the acceptance speeches cut shorter. Looking toward this weekend's ceremony, George Clooney (Michael Clayton) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) are your picks in the lead-acting contests, while No Country for Old Men has the viewers' support for best picture. (Full results from the survey can be found he...
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If you haven't seen most (or any) of the Best Picture nominees, have no fear: Neither have most of your friends. So here's a quick primer — an Oscars cheat sheet, if you will, to Hollywood's top prize. —Steve PondAtonement• Themes: Love, guilt, war, memory, obligation... and, well, atonement.• Covers six decades, using three actresses (Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai and Vanessa Redgrave) to play the lead character.• Adapted by Christopher Hampton from the novel by Ian McEwan, an award-winning British writer who, between writing acclaimed novels, also penned the screenplay for the 1993 Macaulay Culkin flop The Good Son.• Acting style inspired by British movies of the '30s and '40s, especially Brief Encounter.• Made use of all eight World War II vintage British ambulances still known to exist.• Includes a mammoth, uninterrupted five-and-a-half-minute tracking shot that covers the British evacuation of Dunkirk; director Joe Wright said he was forced...
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And now to the films that made out like banditsTheres Juno of course and Paul Thomas Andersons bleak There Will Be Blood based on Upton Sinclairs muckraking 1927 novel Oil was nominated for best picture best actor Daniel Day-Lewis best director and best adapted screenplay The quietly effective Paul Dano of last years indie favorite Little Miss Sunshine was passed over for best supporting actor Lewis was widely considered a shoo-in but the rest of the nominations were less than givens despite critical raves for this lengthy 158 minutes epic examination of greed false prophets and near-biblical retributionThinking-mans thriller Michael Clayton scored big with critics without exciting much attention among moviegoers Its nominated for best picture with star George Clooney recognized in the best-actor category Costars Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson were both nominated in the supporting categories and first-time director Tony Gilroy got a nod both for direct
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