The artifacts of 20th-century cinema are being preserved in museums, archives and other august institutions. But they are surviving, too, in the care of private film collectors like Mr. Darwas, who has amassed hundreds of movie prints at his home in Westchester County. - The New York Times
“Every year, studios, publicists and talent huddle to determine categories for the acting contenders on the bubble between lead and supporting. And many film fans step in to disagree, … debating how the system has been unfairly gamed. … But of course this kind of strategizing is what the Oscars are all about.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Disney is the first and only studio to cross $6B this year, the next best major is Warner Bros with $4.3B. 2025 repped Disney’s biggest year at the B.O. since 2019 when it earned an all-time $13.1B ($11.1B from Disney titles alone, the rest being 20th Century Studios and Searchlight). - Deadline
Central Casting — now so eponymous that its name has become a cultural phrase — celebrated its 100th anniversary earlier this month. Remember the long lines for casting calls? No more. - Los Angeles Times
The series is called Finding Mr. Christmas. “What is fascinating about the premise is that it’s television for women about men making television for women. It’s the hosts and judges evaluating, week by week, what makes a man appealing to a likely female Hallmark viewer.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
“Connecticut — the location for at least 22 holiday films by Hallmark, Lifetime and others — is promoting tours of the quaint Christmas-card cities and towns featured in this booming movie (genre).” You even get to watch the matching films while on the bus between stops. - AP
“On Monday, Skydance-owned Paramount announced that Larry Ellison — the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison — had personally agreed to be responsible for $40.4 billion of equity financing for the company’s offer (to buy Warner Bros. Discovery), as well as any damage claims.” - AP
In 2023, “Meyers had written a semi-autobiographical rom-com called Paris Paramount. She’d originally written it for Netflix, but they did not want to give her the budget she needed.” And that was all the news - until this weekend. - Vulture
Bari Weiss is said to have spiked the show a few hours before it was supposed to run. "The report … was to have featured correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing deportees who the Trump administration has sent to the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador.” - Variety
You know the word - the f-word. “A single use of the F-word requires at least a PG-13, while additional uses will elevate it to an R.” - The New York Times
“I covered the 3-D boom from the start, and even early on one could see that the golden goose was cooked. It was clear that the marginal returns on 3-D screenings were rapidly diminishing.” - The Atlantic
Bad, really bad. "It’s a mistake to compare this stuff to other films. It is, indeed, a mistake to compare it to any other artistic enterprise. What we’re dealing with is closer to tinsel or snow in a can. Christmas movies are mere decoration.” - Irish Times (Archive Today)
How to pick an (Oscar) winner: "The presumptive top five in the Best Picture race includes two auteur-driven blockbusters, one old-school weepie, one timely social drama, and one family saga by a venerated European director.” - Vulture
