Showbiz History: The Love Boat, The Social Network, Nevermind

10 random things that happened on this day, September 24th, in showbiz history

Alison Pill and Tom Hiddleston as the Fitzgeralds in "Midnight in Paris"

1896 F  Scott Fitzgerald born in St Paul Minnesota. Though he only lives 44 years, plagued by alcoholism and ill health, he leaves behind a rich legacy of novels and short stories that other artists have riffed on or adapted ever since, most notably The Great Gatsby, The Last Tycoon, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. He's been recently played onscreen by Tom Hiddleston (Midnight in Paris) and David Hoflin (Z: The Beginning of Everything)

1976 Oh! Calcutta! opens on Broadway (after a successful run Off Broadway in 1969) becoming a controversial musical hit (with explicit nudity) and eventually the 2nd longest running revival of all time, running for 13 years (Chicago is #1 by a mile, still playing and about to hit its 22nd anniversary) 

1965 Marriage on the Rocks opens in movie theaters, the last leading men screen pairing of Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin. I have to share this nutso poster for y'all...

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Tweetweek: A Simple Flavor, Premature Oscar Predix and more...

So true. 

Next week has been exhausting.

— Jordon Nardino (@jnardino) September 24, 2018

INT: GAY BAR, 2035, TRIVIA NIGHT
Host: “Which multiple Oscar nominated actress is the only woman to lose an Oscar to Best Dance Recording Grammy winners? Name the Oscar loser and the two winners who beat her!”
Me: “Glenn Close, she lost to Cher in 1987 and Lady Gaga in 2018!”

— Hispanic Pixie Dream Girl (@mathewrodriguez) September 22, 2018

We haven't done one of these in a while but wanted to share these bon-mots. Lots of A Simple Favor enthusiasms, and much more after the jump...

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What did you see this weekend?

by Nathaniel R

While there were solid debuts in wide and limited release friday (The House with the Clock In Its Walls, Fahrenheit 11/9, Colette, The Sisters Brothers) it was a rough weekend for wide release newbies Assassination Nation and Life Itself, neither of which managed a top ten showing. But the best news was surely the solid hold from Paul Feig's wildly entertaining comic thriller A Simple Favor. You have to see those nutsy bold performances from both Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively for yourself. I had a blast and I'm going again with another friend soon.

Weekend Box Office Estimates (September 21st-23rd)
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 THE HOUSE WITH THE CLOCK IN ITS WALLS $26.8 *NEW*	1. THE WIFE $975K on 468 screens (cum. $4.9) Review, Poster Blurb, Glenn's Oscar

2. A SIMPLE FAVOR $10.4 (cum. $32.5)	2. 🔺 LIZZIE $256k on 240 screens (cum. $325k) Review

3. THE NUN $10.2 (cum. $100) Nun Movies	3. 🔺 COLETTE $156k on 4 screens *NEW*

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Sept 23rd - Post Festival Oscar Charts Redux

by Nathaniel R

Once Venice and Telluride and TIFF wrapped it was time to reflect the changes in buzz and hunches to reflect all that new information. Only a few potentially key titles now remain largely unseen by anyone: Vice, Mary Poppins Returns, Mary Queen of Scots, and Wecome to Marwen. If you want to get generous in the technical categories Mortal Engines and Alita: Battle Angel are two risky original would-be blockbusters that remain mysteries as well. 

The freshly revamped charts...

INDEX |  PICTURE | DIRECTOR | ACTOR  | ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | SCREENPLAYS | FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM - we're up to 70 submissions now | VISUALS | SOUNDS | ANIMATED & DOCUMENTARY CATEGORIES

Hope you enjoy the updates.

Best Actress - New Oscar Chart

by Nathaniel R

Beware the premature envelopers! The Best Actress race is far from over and it's very exciting. I still suspect that Glenn Close wins IF nominated but Lady Gaga could IF nominated (though we suspect she's just winning Best Song despite the early hoopla). And who knows, perhaps Olivia Colman in The Favourite will go lead (we still have her in the supporting chart) and from early reports she could also win IF nominated. Then you have Carey Mulligan and Melissa McCarthy, both arguably doing the best work of their careers. Nicole Kidman, Emma Stone, Emily Blunt, Toni Colette and Viola Davis all in very flashy roles or high profile films and Yalitza Aparicio as a highly sympathetic debut in a critical favorite. 

The grid above shows you what we predict are the current top ten (alpha order) but a lot can change once the movies... 

1. Face the public
2. Fine tune their Oscar campaigns and press play/
3. Meet the first wave of precursors which will generally shun some worthy competitors and embrace others and in ways that are not always easy to predict until suddenly everyone is doing the same thing and it is.

Ah the agony and joy of Awards Season. It's not much further away. One thing is for certain. If any competitors from the first half of the year want to reemerge or move up the chart, they need a strong campaign. Only Toni Collette in Hereditary remains in the top ten from the year's first half and it's not because other contenders (Elsie Fisher, Charlie Theron, Rachel Weisz, Michelle Pfeiffer, etcetera... ) didn't do fine work, too. It's just people have short memories and they like shiny new toys.

UPDATED OSCAR CHARTS: Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Foreign Film