In Contention

Tag: Lionsgate

  • Sneaking ‘Warrior’

    Many of you may be interested, so, the press release, in part:

    Santa Monica, CA, August 30, 2011- LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF), a leading global entertainment company, today announced a special sneak preview screening program for inspirational sports drama WARRIOR. The screenings will be held on Sunday, September 4th at 7:00 pm, at theaters nationwide. The announcement was made by Lionsgate’s co-COO and Motion Picture Group President Joe Drake.

    To promote the sneak previews, Lionsgate has partnered with Twitter to designate the hashtag #WARRIORMovieSneakPreview, which Lionsgate has also sponsored as a Promoted Trend, allowing Twitter’s powerful user base a direct link to buy tickets and continue to spread the tremendous word of mouth the film is receiving.

    [Photo: Lionsgate]

  • The lost contenders of ‘For Colored Girls’

    Thanks to a crippling flu attack during the film’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it UK release, I was late in getting round to Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” — a rumored Oscar spoiler for about seven-and-a-half minutes back in the autumn, before Lionsgate got curiously tentative about publicizing it.

    A paucity of press screenings meant several key online voices missed the film entirely; they haven’t been that generous with awards screeners, either.

    Given Perry’s history, and the steamroller-subtle nature of the film, the studio can’t have been expecting a critical hit — though it found some prominent supporters anyway, chief among them Manohla Dargis. I heard from a number of people I trust that the film, a free adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s beloved 1970s “choreopoem,” was messy and misjudged, while others acknowledged that it retained an inelegant brute power.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Venice winners, Toronto bites, ‘Network’ raves

    • Sofia Coppola’s “Somewhere” surprised many by taking top honors at the Venice Film Festival; we took a closer look at the Lido winners.

    • Meanwhile, we were considerably less than wowed by the festival closer, Julie Taymor’s “The Tempest.”

    • This week’s Off the Carpet column reflected on the unusual depth of this year’s Best Actress race.

    • A race that subsequently got even deeper as Lionsgate made the biggest acquisition thus far of this year’s Toronto fest: Nicole Kidman’s comeback effort “Rabbit Hole.”

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  • TIFF: Lionsgate picks up ‘Rabbit Hole’ for 2010 Oscar season

    Man, Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions are getting ON IT this year.  First Roadside rolled out the early buzz on “Winter’s Bone,” then it picked up Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful.” Soon after, Lionsgate announced a fall release for Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” and grabbed Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” through Roadside for a 2011 release.

    Well, now it looks like Lionsgate is wrapping up its acquisition of John Cameron Mitchell’s “Rabbit Hole,” which drew praise for Nicole Kidman (a potential nominee now), Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest (welcome to the supporting actress line-up) at the fest.

    Talk about having a full plate all of a sudden.  Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports that “the plan is to jump right into this year’s Oscar race by releasing  the picture  before year’s end. They will take advantage of a career performance by Nicole Kidman as a mother who loses her child.”  So add one more to “the year of the woman.”

    What more is there to add to that?  Congrats on a healthy slate of contenders and let the games begin.

    [Photo: Buzznet]

  • TIFF: Lionsgate/Roadside grabs ‘Conspirator,’ Hawkins belle of the ball, Black’s melodramatic upbringing

    It seems Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator” has become the first significant sell of Toronto (a few things have been picked up here and there already).  Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions (which is really stepping it up this year) have nailed down the domestic rights, but go ahead and strike the film from your longlists.  It won’t be released until the spring, Deadline’s Mike Fleming reports.

    Meanwhile, Patrick Goldstein sat down with Sally Hawkins, who has three films at the festival in “Never Let Me Go,” “Submarine” and “Made in Dagenham.” Andrea Riseborough is in two of those films (as well as “Brighton Rock”) and has been getting similar notices, but it’s Hawkins who could really make a dent on the season.

    In his piece, Goldstein offers that for him, “what makes [‘Made in Dagenham’] work so well is that it doesn’t treat its story as a weighty political screed.”

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  • ‘For Colored Girls’ trailer

    Ever since Lionsgate announced a November 5 release date for Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls,” talk has circulated around an expected Oscar campaign. A set of posters dropped recently that went a long way toward showcasing the female acting talent on display. But is it a contender? Could one of these ladies (or the film itself) slide into the race? Or should we expect the usual from Perry? Lionsgate did a fine job launching “Precious” on the same release date last year, but it also had a headwind coming out of the Sundance and Cannes film festivals.  We’ll have to wait and see.  The new trailer for Perry’s film, released today at Yahoo! Movies, is at the very least handsomely mounted. Have a look by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

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  • Eight actresses showcased in ‘For Colored Girls’ poster set

    We’ve been wondering for a couple of weeks now whether an unexpected contender could hop into this year’s race.  Last week Lionsgate announced a November 5 release date Tyler Perry’s “For Colored Girls” (the title of which had been officially shortened in the release from the original play’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf”).  Anne and I discussed the film as an awards possibility in Friday’s podcast.  And this week it looks like everyone’s catching up to the left-field idea.

    Scott Mendelsen used the occasion for Oscar pondering at The Huffington Post.  Sasha Stone picked that up and offered her own thoughts yesterday.  Meanwhile, no one really knows for sure what we’re dealing with here.  It could be a legitimate awards contender or it could just be a respectful push on behalf of a filmmaker that has made a lot of money for the studio.

    One thing is certain: there is a slew of prime female parts in the material for the role call of actresses involved to sink their teeth into.  That has been handsomely reflected in a recently released group of eight posters for the film.  Check them out at Yahoo! Movies.

    [Photo: Lionsgate]

  • Lionsgate sets Nov. release for Perry’s ‘For Colored Girls’

    The rumors were swirling around a potential fall release for Tyler Perry’s adaptation of the Ntozake Shange play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the World is Enuf.”  Today, a release dropped announcing a November 5 release.  And, perhaps predictably, the film’s title has been shortened to “For Colored Girls.”

    Guy pondered the awards possibilities of the title a few days back.  Could we have a player on our hands?  It’s the best bet Lionsgate has on its plate, and there are plenty female performances that could have the stuff.  Time will tell.  Check out a new image from the film after the jump.

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  • Tyler Perry, Oscar nominee?

    One thing I like about David Poland as an awards analyst is that he often makes an effort to expand the tight circle of contenders by bringing little-buzzed names into the conversation. Needless to say, this kind of punditry can lead to a lot of dead ends, but every now and then he lands on a genuine sleeper — which is why this casual aside in his Friday box-office column caught my eye:

    Of the current 16 [Lionsgate] $20m domestic openers, 7 are Tyler Perry (which is why For Colored Girls… is a lock to end up in this year’s Oscar race come December)…

    In case it hasn’t been on your radar, he’s talking about “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,” Perry’s filmization of Ntozake Shange’s landmark 1975 stage study of the African-American female experience. The play, a poetry-based piece taking on issues of abuse, rape, abortion and eventual empowerment, is pretty strong medicine; it’s difficult to imagine how it might work on film, and how it’ll mesh with Perry’s brash creative sensibility.

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  • Studio FYC sites on the march

    A Serious ManIt’s that time of year, when studios roll out their awards-centric websites for films in play.  You get screening info, news and notes, reminders of how AMAZING their films are (with critical quotes to back it up), goodies like screenplays and such, etc.  It’s a good way to see how wide the net is cast during the season (since any and everything gets a “For Your Consideration” blurb), but I’ve always found it’s a good way to revisit the year’s films.

    First up, Universal Pictures has put together its standard assemblage hawking “Public Enemies,” “Bruno,” “Funny People” and “It’s Complicated.” Skimming through the “Public Enemies” section I was instantly reminded that Elliot Goldenthal’s score was actually quite wonderful and could be a sleeper to watch in a field that is notorious for its insularity.  You can even skim through tracks in a dedicated section and download the screenplay.

    “Funny People” has a similar set-up, with score toggling, the script, etc., while “Bruno” has no script to offer.  But you can listen to the raved out score again if you wish.  The “It’s Complicated” section has material to come and only mentions “in all categories” as it pertains to FYC business.

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  • THE LONG SHOT: Critical condition

    Gabourey Sidibe in PreciousAhead of its U.S. release this week, there is a wave of mild surprise in the blogosphere over the fact that “Precious,” the film deemed by some (yours truly included) to be the present Best Picture frontrunner, is currently sitting on a lowly Metacritic score of 57. Fitting neatly with the largely media-fabricated talk of a backlash against the film, some commenters are citing this rather arbitrary number as a debit against the film’s chances.

    As much as I’d personally like that to believe that — and as relieved as I am to see that I’m not the only person who didn’t respond to the film – such talk will doubtless be short-lived, given the paucity of reviews making up the current score and the likelihood of raves to come. If anything, public support is more crucial than critical consensus to this film’s campaign – if audiences don’t turn up to see this grim, minority-oriented indie, many Academy members won’t feel compelled to either.

    That said, it looks increasingly possible that “Precious” (I refuse to use that lumpy subtitle all season, by the way) could turn out to be a more critically divisive item than might have been expected following an ecstatically received festival run.

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  • ‘Precious’ poster #2

    I think it’s safe to say Lionsgate is winning the one-sheet war this year.  You’ll recall the first teaser, which dropped mid-Cannes.  Now, courtesy of HitFix, we get this:

    Precious