REEL NEWS:Break out the party-poppers. Find a canal of champagne on which to float your gondola. While the rest of the world's industries continue to cough bloody puss into their handkerchiefs, cinema remains in astonishingly rude health.
This summer’s box-office gross in the US was more enormous than ever.
Buoyed by mainstream blockbusters such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallenand Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,takings rose to a colossal $4.17 billion (€2.19 billion), which just exceeds the previous record set in 2007. Whereas those hugely expensive epics attract all the headlines in Variety, Hollywood will be particularly delighted by the superb performance of relatively inexpensive comedies such as The Hangover(now the most successful R-rated comedy ever) and The Proposal(the biggest ever rom-com of the US summer). Mind you, as reported elsewhere this week in T he Irish Times, the performance of The Hangoverin Ireland put its US run to shame. The ribald comedy was by far the biggest film of the domestic summer.
Harry Potterand Terminator 2grabbed the silver and bronze medals in the Irish race. Finishing outside the top 10, Terminator Salvationwas the big disappointment. What did The Ticketmake of the final 10? Well, the average star rating works out at 2.6. Could be worse.
Rocky road to horror classic
Two weeks ago we suggested that Rathmines's new Swan Cinemas in Dublin, due to open in November, might like to consider paying homage to Harold's Cross's lamented Classic Cinema by staging regular screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Cannily enough, the proprietors have declared their willingness to revive the tradition and have started an online petition requesting that 20th Century Fox issue a digital print. If it's a publicity stunt, it seems to be working. (Here's their publicity.) Anyway, you can sign at: www.petition.fm/ petitions/ rockyhorror
Bond for Sheridan Dream flick
Daniel Craig has been signed up to appear in the latest film from Jim Sheridan. Described as a psychological thriller, Dream Housefinds its hero moving to a new house and encountering the ghosts of the murdered former inhabitants. Written by David Loucka, the picture is to begin shooting in January of next year.
Comic twist for Dingle
The already crowded Dingle Film Festival, which begins on September 10th, gets busier and busier. A strand named "Don't Make Me Laugh" is to offer a series of events focusing on the humorous side of film- making. As well as screening a fine array of comic Irish shorts, the festival will present a seminar on comedy featuring such luminaries as Marc Flanagan, former screenwriter of The Tracy Ullman Show, and the vastly experienced producer Ned Dowd. www.dinglefilmfestival.com
Have your say in European poll
Hmm? The European Film Academy has opened public voting on its People’s Choice Award for the 22nd European Film Awards in December.
The somewhat peculiar shortlist comprises Uli Edel's The Baader Meinhof Complex, Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces, Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel, Saul Dibb's The Duchessand Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire. The Irish Times tries to remain neutral in its election coverage. But Coco Before Chanel? You're having a laugh, aren't you? Anyway, vote at peopleschoiceaward.org
PR nightmare for Oscars?
We have more changes to announce in the voting procedures for the Oscars. Earlier this summer, it transpired that the number of nominations for Best Picture was to increase from five to 10. Now the Academy has confirmed that the voting system for the final ballot will change from first-past-the-post to a variety of proportional representation. Could this mean that a coalition might win in which smaller films have a disproportionate degree of power? At any rate, the change will generate quite a few headaches in the studios’ marketing departments.
A Marvel of a merger
By now you will have heard that Disney is to buy the comicbooks giant Marvel. Yet one big question remains. How on earth did they keep this deal a secret? Oh well. I suppose the Allies somehow surprised the Germans on D-Day. And that was, like, a way bigger deal than this Disney-Marvel business.
