Oscar News

• The Telluride Film Festival was last weekend, and several movies used that launching pad to get out of the box running. Among the films to make a loud impression were The King’s Speech, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours and Never Let Me Go. Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan garnered good buzz, especially for Natalie Portman.
• The Toronto Film Festival opened this week, and a lot of major contenders are having their premieres. Next week, I will have a full recap of the films that impressed and the films that didn’t.
• The 2010 lineup lost one of its big contenders this week when Fox Searchlight announced that Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life has been pushed back to 2011.
• Word is still out as to whether Jean-Luc Godard will pick up his Honorary Oscar in November. He has now been contacted and knows about the award, and The New York Times hinted this week that he may actually show up, contrary to popular belief.
• If you want tickets to the Oscar bleachers on February 27, the online drawing begins on Monday, September 13.

Review Round-Up

No major Oscar contenders were released this week.

Oscar Box Office

• Last year’s Best Picture Avatar became the first film to break $2 billion worldwide.
• The American was the top film at the box office last week, taking in $16.7 for the long weekend. It is the fourth-largest Labor Day opening ever, and on par with Clooney’s usual opening weekends.
• Get Low, with a contending performance from Robert Duvall, was the highest grossing limited release for the fourth week in a row.
• Toy Story 3 is officially the highest grossing film of the year with $622.2 million worldwide.

New Trailers

No new Oscar contender trailers were released this week.

Oscar Farewell

As the Oscars always have a remembrance of those they have lost, I thought it would be nice each week to remember those Oscar winners, nominees and associates who we have lost that week. The Oscar community didn’t lose any members this week.