Oscar News

• There will be a major change to the Best Picture slate this year, with a fluctuating number of nominees in the category. Between five and ten Best Picture nominees will be in the running, changing every year based on the voting. A film now has to have at least 5% of the number one votes to contend for the big prize.
• The Visual Effects, Animated Film and Documentary categories will also have changes as to how nominees are selected.
• The Academy also announced 178 new members this week. Among the new voters for the Oscars are former nominees and winners Jesse Eisenberg, Tom Hooper, Ellen Page, Aaron Sorkin and a posthumous membership to filmmaker Tim Hetherington.
• Among the winners at the Tony Awards last Sunday were Oscar winners Frances McDormand, Tim Chappell and Lizzie Gardiner, and Oscar nominee Trey Parker.

Review Round-Up

In the midst of Summer blockbusters, no possible Oscar contenders were released this week.

Oscar Box Office

• Super 8, which some people were trying to position as a dark horse Best Picture nominee, was number one last weekend. Still, it drew in a disappointing $33 million.
• Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris expanded this weekend to over 1,400 screens, making it the widest release ever for a Woody Allen film. It’s intake of over $5 million last weekend was Woody’s biggest weekend ever.

Oscar Farewell

• Laura Ziskin, the producer of such films as Oscar nominees Pretty Woman, Spiderman and Murphy’s Romance passed away at the age of 61 after a battle with lung cancer. Ziskin also spent two years as the producer of the Academy Awards ceremony.
• Legendary cinematographer Gunnar Fischer passed away last weekend at the age of 100. Among Fischer’s films are Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries and The Seventh Seal.