Oscar News

• Two time Academy Award winner Robert DeNiro will receive the 2011 Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. DeNiro will accept the lifetime achievement award at the January 16, 2011 awards ceremony.
• Hugh Jackman has reportedly turned down the opportunity to return as Oscar host this year. No word yet on who will host.
• Gwenyth Paltrow, who is gunning up for a Best Actress campaign for her country music film Country Strong, debuted her pipes on the Country Music Awards this week, and the reviews were generally positive.
• Sapphire has sold her second novel this week. Titled The Kid, it is a sequel to Push, which was of course turned into last year’s Oscar winning film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Review Round-Up

• Morning Glory opened to good reviews, but not the kind that could push a lightweight comedy into awards contention.

Oscar Box Office

• Last weekend was the second-highest box office ever for a “holiday kick-off weekend.” Leading the pack was potential Best Animated Film contender Megamind with a strong $46 million.
• 127 Hours had the second highest per-screen-average of the year, after only The Kids are All Right. It brought in almost a quarter of a million dollars on only 4 screens.
• For Colored Girls brought in $19 million, one of Tyler Perry’s lowest openings in years.
• Secretariat continued its resilience, dipping only another 19% this week. However, after a month in theatres, it has only grossed around $50 million.

New Trailers

• The Eagle: A possible tech contender for next year, although it looks schlocky.
• Jane Eyre: One of the first 2011 contenders, no British literary adaptation can be discounted until it has been seen. As Wesley said, the March release date doesn’t bode well.
• Kung Fu Panda 2: The first film was a surprisingly smart film, and this is a definite early Best Animated Film contender for 2011.

Oscar Farewell

• 91 year old Oscar winner Dino DeLaurentis passed away this week. The legendary producer won Best Foreign Film for La Strada as well as the 2000 Thalberg Award. A full obituary can be found here.
• Olga Nardone, one of the last surviving Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz, passed away at the age of 89. She was a member of the Lullaby League.