SAG Award Nominationss Announced

The Screen Actors Guild award nominations were announced this morning. Since the Actors branch is the largest block of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the SAG Awards often track the Oscar nominations very very closely.

Here they are (courtesy AwardsDaily.com):

Ensemble:
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network

Actress, Lead:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Hilary Swank, Conviction

Actor, Motion Picture
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Robert Duvall, Get Low
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours

Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter
John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

Actress, Supporting
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

I am bitterly disappointed by the absence of Inception from this list.

Toy Story 3 Tops 2010 Box Office With $415M

Toy Story 3 has ended it's box office run with a total of $415 million, which puts it at #9 on the all-time domestic box-office champions list, just behind the execrable Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men's Chest at $423 million.

Toy Story 3 will almost certainly end the year as the #1 movie of the year, with only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 possibly having enough legs to challenge it. That movie is already at $232 million in just under three weekends but it is highly doubtful it will break the $400 million dollar barrier; it almost certainly will become the highest grossing of the Harry Potter franchise (at least until the final film y Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is released, in 3-D, on July 15, 2011).

The rest of the Top 10 grossing films for 2010, so far, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com are:

Rank	Movie Title (click to view)	Studio	Total Gross /Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Open	Close
1	Toy Story 3	BV	$415,004,880	4,028	$110,307,189	4,028	6/18	12/2
2	Alice in Wonderland (2010)	BV	$334,191,110	3,739	$116,101,023	3,728	3/5	7/8
3	Iron Man 2	Par.	$312,128,345	4,390	$128,122,480	4,380	5/7	8/19
4	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Sum.	$300,531,751	4,468	$64,832,191	4,468	6/30	10/21
5	Inception	WB	$292,316,474	3,792	$62,785,337	3,792	7/16	-
6	Despicable Me	Uni.	$249,787,065	3,602	$56,397,125	3,476	7/9	-
7	Shrek Forever After	P/DW	$238,395,990	4,386	$70,838,207	4,359	5/21	9/9
8	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1	WB	$232,301,000	4,125	$125,017,372	4,125	11/19	-
9	How to Train Your Dragon	P/DW	$217,581,231	4,060	$43,732,319	4,055	3/26	7/22
10	The Karate Kid	Sony	$176,591,618	3,740	$55,665,805	3,663	6/11	9/23

Interestingly, I have seen 7 of these Top 10. (Happily I have missed viewing the cinematic trainwrecks that are The Last Airbender, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and The Karate Kid.)

Some people believe that Toy Story 3, in addition to being the top grossing film of 2010 is also the best picture of the year. I would have to say that I disagree (see MadProfessah's review) although it is currently tied with Inception (see MadProfessah's review) as my best reviewed film of the year (4.167/4.0). Another contender for Best Picture, The Social Network, is languishing at 3.73/4.0.

There are a lot of outstanding movies released in 2010 I have yet to see, such as Black Swan, 127 Hours, The King's Speech, True Grit and The Fighter. What films are you hoping to see before 2010 ends?

Emmy Award Results: Nailed It!

So, yesterday while I was at the Hollywood Bowl experiencing The Chemical Brothers throwdown, the Emmy Awards were being handed out a few miles away. Earlier in the day I made a bunch of predictions about who would win (mostly in the comedy categories). Here's the official list of winners:

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy -- Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy -- Modern Family

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy -- Jane Lynch, Glee

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy -- Glee

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy -- Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy -- Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program -- Top Chef

Outstanding Writing for a Drama -- Mad Men

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama -- Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama -- Archie Panjabi, The Good Wife

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama -- Brian Cranston, Breaking Bad

Outstanding Directing in a Drama -- Dexter

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama -- Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Outstanding Drama Series -- Mad Men

Outstanding Comedy Series -- Modern Family

First of all, I nailed all the Comedy Acting Categories (Parsons, Falco, Lynch, Stonestreet) and I said that Modern Family should win but that Glee probably would. I'm happy that what I thought shoudl win, actually did. In the Drama category, I really wanted Lost to go out with a win but Mad Men pulled it off for the third year in a row.  I have never seen a single episode of that show (the whole 50's romanticism/nostalgia makes me ill) but isn't it peculiar how on BOTH of the winners for Best Series there is not a single African American major or minor character? Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm."

On a lighter note, I am very happy that Kyra Sedgwick won, The Closer is one of my secret pleasures every summer, (along with True Blood) and she is the best thing in a great ensemble cast. Also, Temple Grandin, an HBO made-for-TV starring an absolutely amazing Claire Danes cleaned up in the Miniseries or Television Movie categories by picking up 5 awards. It's an amazing true story about a woman diagnosed with autism in the 1950s who was able (through an excellent teacher and loving mother) to go to college and graduate school and become a designer of cattle slaughterhouses due to her affinity with animals. I highly recommend renting Temple Grandin.

WATCH: Latest Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows trailer

Happy 61st Birthday Meryl Streep!

Hat/tip to I Should Be Laughing for reminding me that national treasure Meryl Streep turns 61 today!

Celebrity Friday: Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels, the 50-year-old, openly gay Oscar-nominated director of Precious: Based On the Novel "Push" By Sapphire (which won two Academy Awards (Best Supporting Actress for Mo'Nique and Best Adapted Screenplay for Geoffrey Fletcher) is in the news as one of the two Black members of the Out 50. The other is Wanda Sykes.

Hat/tip to LOL Darian

Avatar Breaks $700m Domestic Gross Record

Avatar has now grossed a record-breaking $700 million, domestically. I guess that's just a consolation prize for writer-director-producer James Cameron, because it is looking more and more likely that his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow will win the Best Director Oscar, and her film The Hurt Locker, will win the Best Picture Oscar.

The two films went head-to-head at "British Oscars" (formally known as the BAFTAs) and The Hurt Locker won 6 awards: Picture, Director, Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing and Sound. (Avatar won one, for Visual Effects.) The BAFTAs are looked at closely as precursors for the Academy Awards because often the films that are nominated there are also nominated for BAFTAs and the two award ceremonies have similar categories.

The Oscars are on Sunday March 7th. I will have my annual Oscar prediction post up within the next week. I correctly predicted 82% of the Top 8 categories of this year's Oscar nominations. Last year I correctly preidcted all 8 of the Top 8 categories (no surprises with a Slumdog Millionaire sweep) and 20 of 24 categories overall.

Avatar Breaks Worldwide Box-Office Record

James Cameron's Avatar has now exceeded James Cameron's Titanic as the highest grossing film of all-time, with $1.842 billion worldwide after its 39th day of release. Just two weeks ago, Avatar had earned $1.35 billion worldwide and more than $400 million dollars, domestically. It earned nearly $500 million dollars worldwide and more than $150 million domestically in the interim to exceed 2008's The Dark Knight's $533 million. Box-office prognosticators fully expect that Avatar will exceed Titanic's domestic box-office record of $600.8 million in the next two weeks.

On Saturday, its 37th day, Avatar surpassed The Dark Knight's $533.3 million total to become the second highest-grossing movie of all time, though, in terms of attendance, it likely hasn't yet cracked the Top 50. At its current trajectory, Avatar will exceed Titanic's $600.8 million total within two weeks. In 38 days, Avatar's tally stands at $551.7 million, 80 percent of which from 3D presentations (including 16 percent from IMAX venues alone)

Oscar nominations come out on Tuesday February 2nd. Avatar is also widely expected to lead all films with the most Academy Award nominations. Titanic won Best Picture and 10 other Oscars. It's certain that Avatar will not reach that total but it's doubtful that it will win Best Picture, although MadProfessah called it the #1 Movie of 2009 and the #2 Movie of the Decade 2000-2009.

'Avatar' Breaks $400m Domestic Box-Office Total

Avatar has now grossed $429 million dollars, domestically, and $1.35 billion worldwide. It reached the $400 million barrier domestically in 23 days, slightly slower than The Dark Knight's 18 days in 2008. Christopher Nolan's movie ended with a gross of $533 million domestic, $1 billion worldwide.

Avatar is now the #2 all-time box-office champ, behind James Cameron's previous blockbuster, Titanic, which grossed $600 million domestically and $1.8 billion worldwide. It is doubtful to surpass that number but it has a decent chance of reaching $500 million and perhaps beating The Dark Knight, depending on the upcoming Oscar race.

Golden Globe Nominations Are Out

The Golden Globe nominations are out:

Motion Picture, Drama
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
Up in the Air

Motion Picture, Comedy/Musical
500 Days of Summer
The Hangover
It’s Complicated
Julie & Julia
Nine

Actress, Drama
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabby Sidibe, Precious

Actor, Drama
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Tobey Maguire, Brothers

Actor Comedy/Musical
Matt Damon, The Informant
Daniel Day Lewis, Nine
Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
Joe Gordon Levitt, 500 Days of Summer
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Actress, Comedy
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Julia Roberts, Duplicity
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Meryl Streep, It’s Complicated

Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Clint Eastwood, Invictus
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious
Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Screenplay
Neill Blomkampt & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Nancy Meyers, It’s Complicated
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Original Score
Michael Giacchino, Up
Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant
James Horner, Avatar
Abel Krozeniowski, A Single Man
Karen O. and Carter Burwell, Where the Wild Things Are

Foreign Language Film
Baria
Broken Embraces
The Maid
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

Original Song
“Cinema Italiano,” Nine
“I Want To Come Home,” Everybody’s Fine
“I See You,” Avatar
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart
“Winter,” Brothers

Hat/tip to AwardsDaily

Syfy Renews 'Stargate Universe' For 2nd Season

MadProfessah is a big fan of science fiction in general, and although I was somewhat agnostic about the television series Stargate: Atlantis and Stargate: SG-1, they were in my DVR and so is the latest version of the NBC Universal franchise: Stargate Universe. Thus I am happy at the news that it has been renewed for a second season, half-way through its first.

Apparently ratings have been good, averaging 2.6 million views (including 7-day DVR views).

And at Hollywood Reporter, there are interesting tidbits on what we can expect to see when the first season resumes on April 2.

With a fall-finale cliffhanger that left the ethically compromised Dr. Rush (Robert Carlyle) stranded on a planet, [executive producer Robert] Cooper said the season's second half will become more serialized and build on the fractures within the show's group of spaceship-trapped castaways.

"The implications of leaving Rush on the planet, the real division that will cause amongst the crew, the judgment of those characters and their actions are going to have a big impact on the show," Cooper said. "We have a lot of things planned for the second half of the season."

The show also plans to have more scenes set on the ship, as opposed to cutting back to drama on Earth, and will introduce a full-bodied alien.

"There is a big story point coming up that does introduce an alien race," Cooper said. "It's more along the line of a "District 9"-type alien. Our interaction is handled in a very "Universe" way; they're not the typical "Stargate" alien bad guys."

Interesting. I loved the alien from District 9. Popular sci-fi author and blogger John Scalzi is a creative consultant on the show, and alerted me to its renewal.

Protest in LA Tonight Against Buju Banton at 8:30pm

There's a protest set for tonight, October 15th in Hollywood to protest a quietly rescheduled show by reggae artist Buju Banton, who is unabashedly homophobic and is most well-known for singing what is commonly called "murder music."

What Buju Banton is most well-known for is the song "Boom Bye-Bye" which is basically all about the killing of gay men.

Here's an ACTION ALERT from the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's Lorri Jean:

Despite the Cabana Club’s initial decision to do the right thing and cancel Banton’s concert, the venue has quietly re-booked him for a show TONIGHT (Thursday, Oct. 15).

PLEASE JOIN US FOR A PEACEFUL PROTEST IN FRONT OF THE CLUB TONIGHT, and remind Sunset Entertainment Group (SEG), which owns and operates the club, that it is not acceptable to profit from hate-peddlers like Banton.

Where: Cabana Club
1439 Ivar Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
When: 8:30 p.m.

Bring your signs and show your solidarity with activists around the world—especially in Jamaica, where prominent LGBT activists have been murdered—against musicians whose hateful lyrics foster this anti-gay sentiment.

Spread the word by joining the “Cancel Buju Banton's Los Angeles Show!” Facebook group, and watch www.lagaycenter.org/stophatelyrics for developments.

You can also contact the Cabana Club’s owners directly and let them know we’re outraged that they are profiting from a singer who won’t apologize for his vile hate speech or promise to stop performing violently anti-gay songs.

Cabana Club owners
Phone: 323-463-1473
Chris Breed – chris@sunseteg.com
Drew Greeley - drew@sunseteg.com

Please join me in demanding that SEG silence murder music!

Interestingly, earlier this week Buju met personally with a bunch of LGBT activists in Northern California that was widely publicized.

Perhaps he thinks that because of that, the boycotts and protests will diminish? Hardly, likely!

New Head Of Disney Studios Openly Gay

Interesting pick up from Kevin Broderick over at LA Observed who noticed that the Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein discusses the sexual orientation of Rich Ross in his blog for the paper. Ross, who was recently named to head Walt Disney Studios after longtime studio head Dick Cook was fired a little over two weeks ago, has a male partner of over 20 years and is comfortably out. Ross becomes the first openly gay head of a Hollywood studio, although rumors have long swirled around Diane Von Furstenberg's husband (Barry Diller).

Maybe a sequel to Kirby Dick's Outrage is in order on Hollywood?

Whitney Houston Album Debuts At #1

Whitney Houston returned to the top of the Billboard 200 Album charts with the debut of her latest release I Look To You at #1, her fourth album to do so.

"I Look To You" becomes Houston's fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 304,801 copies during the week ended September 6, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It's by far Houston's best opening sales week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.

"I Look To You" is also the singer's first chart-topper since the Houston-fueled "The Bodyguard" soundtrack spent 20 weeks at No. 1 in 1993. The albums are joined by Houston's two previous toppers: her self-titled set in 1986, and her 1987 sophomore set, "Whitney."

Early returns showed "I Look To You" also debuted at No. 1 in Canada, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, according to her Arista Records label.

Houston's previous album, "Just Whitney," debuted at No. 9 in 2002 with 205,000 copies.

Go, Whitney! I haven't bought the album yet, what do you all think of it?

Disney Buys Marvel For $4 Billion

Disney announced on Monday that they are buying Marvel for $4 billion. The details of the deal are available at Wonder Man's blog, who is worried that The Mouse will "bring Ororo, Jean Grey and The Wasp into the Disney family and make them princesses."

What do you think?

Oscars Announce 10 Best Picture Nominees For 2009

This is huge news for the Gay Superbowl. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Wednesday that they were expanding the list of Best Picture nominees from five to ten:

In all about 300 films were eligible for awards in 2008. Were that to hold going forward, roughly one of every 30 films would become a best-picture nominee.

While a best-picture nomination now becomes a bit easier for makers of documentaries, animated films and foreign-language films to aspire to, it may also dilute the value of that nomination. In the past studios have built the marketing campaign for many films around a coveted best-picture nomination.

In a phone interview Mr. Ganis said support for the change had been very strong among the academy’s governors. He said the academy, which has about 6,000 voting members who work in the film industry, did not consult studios about the possible implications for business. “We’re the arts organization, not the business organization,” he said.

It wll be interesting to see the impact the change has on year-end Top 10 lists. I have only seen four movies this year that would qualify, and only Up would likely to make my year-end list.

Mariah Carey's Obsessed Drops Today

Mrs. Nick Cannon, umm, excuse me, Mariah Carey is releasing the first single "Obsessed" from her upcoming album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel to radio today.

The track is apparently another dig at Eminem, who Mariah last slapped down with one of my favorite tracks from her Charmbracelet album called "Clown" and who (in return) dissed Mariah on the track "Bagpipes from Baghdad" from his latest album Relapse, which was released earlier this year to very little notice. Mariah's husband made headlines by complaining about the track on his blog at the time.

Anyway, courtesy Love B Scott here are the lyrics to Mariah Carey's latest single "Obsessed":

OBSESSED
(Mariah Carey – C. Tricky Stewart – Terius “The-Dream” Nash)

I was like, “Why are you so obsessed with me?”

So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh

Will the real MC please, step to the mike?

So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh
So oh oh oh oh

All up in the blogs
Saying we met at the bar
When I don’t even know who you are
Saying we up in your house
Saying I’m up in your car
But you in LA and I’m out at Jermaine’s.
I’m up in the A
You so so lame
and no one here even mentions your name
It must be the weed. It must be the E
Cause you be popping hood
You get it popping, Oh

Why you so obsessed with me (Boy I wanna know)
Lying that you’re sexing me (when everybody knows)
It’s clear that you’re upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn’t impress
Last man on the earth still couldn’t hit this
You’re delusional, you’re delusional
Boy you’re losing your mind
It’s confusing yo, you’re confused you know
Why you wasting your time
Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you’re bathing in Windex
Boy why you so obsessed with me?

You on your job
You hating hard
Ain’t gon’ feed you
I’m gonna let you starve
Gasping for air
I’m ventilation
You out of breath
Hope you ain’t waiting
Telling the world how much you miss me
But we never were
So why you trippin’
You a mom and pop
I’m a corporation
I’m the press conference
and you a conversation

Why you so obsessed with me (Boy I wanna know)
Lying that you’re sexing me (when everybody knows)
It’s clear that you’re upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn’t impress
Last man on the earth still couldn’t hit this
You’re delusional, you’re delusional
Boy you’re losing your mind
It’s confusing yo, you’re confused you know
Why you wasting your time
Got you all fired up with your Napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you’re bathing in Windex
Boy why you so obsessed with me?

Why you so obsessed with me
Lying that you’re sexing me
It’s clear that you’re upset with me
Finally found a girl that you couldn’t impress
Last man on the earth still couldn’t hit this
You’re delusional, you’re delusional
Boy you’re losing your mind
It’s confusing yo, you’re confused you know
Why you wasting your time
Got you all fired up with y our napoleon complex
Seeing right through you like you’re bathing in windex
Boy why you so obsessed with me?

You can also hear the track by playing the video below:

President Obama on The Tonight Show

Barack Obama became the first sitting President to appear on a late-night television show.

REMINDER: FUSION LGBT POC Film Festival Today!

The FUSION LGBT People of Color Film Festival starts today...

Fusion 2009: LGBT People of Color Film Festival March 6-7

The 2009 edition of FUSION: The LGBT People of Color Film Festival will be held March 6-7 (next weekend) in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. MadProfessah has been looking forward to the next FUSION film festival since I reviewed the 5th edition in December 2007.



Tickets are still available online! 21 and under attend for free!!