The Oscar Race Plot Keeps Thickening... or is it Thinning?

by Nathaniel R

For those of you who are wondering why the Oscar charts are still not updated, here's a simple fact. Every time I go to work on them, something huge changes and I have to start over. I'm fully aware that other pundits keep making breathless pronouncements of what will actually WIN the Oscars but I just can't do that. We STILL have no real sense of what will actually open since Hollywood keeps clearing and resetting the chess board. The latest upheaval is that West Side Story, Steven Spielberg's remake of the Oscar-winning classic that didn't need to be remade, has moved back an entire year to December 2021. So now both of the big latinx musicals that were originally intended for 2020 have just essentially scrawled a one over the final zero on their original calendars with The Heights in summer 2021 and West Side Story for Christmas 2021...

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Links

EW Scarlett Johansson covers the magazine and talks Black Widow
Guardian Guy Lodge curates a Max von Sydow mini-fest for us
Disney+ Frozen 2 is now streaming three months ahead of schedule.
EW Judi Dench delighted by her Razzie nomination for Cats
Coming Soon new Wonder Woman 1984 motion poster

Coronavirus 

The New Yorker "what the coronavirus crisis means for watching movies"
The Oatmeal "How to touch your face less" practical advice for a pandemic time
IndieWire AMC and Regal are limiting capacity to 50% at their movie theaters to help stop the quick spread of Coronavirus
IndieWire Cannes is now waiting until April 15th to decide on whether to cancel Cannes in May (French movie theaters have now closed)
Deadline Emmy campaigning forced to change due to industry shut downs and fears

Let Them All Link

• Salon The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's Emmy campaign disrupts Los Angeles with 1959-era prices 
• The Atlantic's "friendship files" talks to three thirtysomething women who all cosplay Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow 
• Slate comparing the starpower of 2019's Little Women to the starpower (back in the day) of the 1994 cast - Saoirse vs Winona and more. Really fun article but the part on Sarandon and Dern is a major misread of the mid-90s. Sarandon was at the very peak of her fame in 1994, headlining a sleeper blockbuster (The Client) and building yet more momentum to win her inevitable Oscar win the following year. She should have bested Dern (who we loooove, don't get us wrong).

 After the jump The Godfather, Faye Dunaway's trouble, Steven Soderbergh's secret movie, Mulan trouble, Kristin Chenoweth's breakout and more...

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Disney Upcoming World Domination -- Now with Release Dates

by Nathaniel R

After Disney's acquisition of Fox, the Mouse House stands to control an ungodly percentage of the movie business (40%... what is the number exactly?) Today they released their schedule for the next few years, albeit a vague one since many of the movies are untitled. Several things become clear despite the lack of specifics: First, Disney hopes to maintain the luster of Star Wars by abandoning the overselling we've seen these past few years (which have taken a noticeable toll with diminishing box office) and releasing one only every other year, alternating them with Avatar pictures. Meanwhile Disney Animation, Pixar, and Marvel Studios will basically maintain their current clips of two to three titles each per year.  The more distressing thing that appears to be the case if you look at this schedule is that Disney seems to be burning off the Fox properties but must have abandoned anything in the pipeline that isn't finished already save for animated features since they take so long to make and Steven Spielberg's West Side Story which starts filming very soon. Apparently the only reason Disney wanted Fox was for the Avatar franchise? 

You can see the schedule after the jump...

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Showbiz History: Evita, Black Widow, and Fred & Ginger

six random things that happened on this day in showbiz history

1919 Maria Eva Duarte de Peron is born in Argentina. She will later be known globally by just one nickname "Evita." Her story will inspire a 1979 Andrew Lloyd Webber stage sensation (starring Patti LuPone) which wins 7 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Later it becomes a successful 1996 movie musical with Madonna (picture above in a promotional photoshoot for the film) in the leading role, which everyone including Michelle Pfeiffer and Meryl Streep wanted at the time. Madonna takes the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical...

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