The word from Sundance is that Amazon was the accepted high bidder– a whopping $10 million– for Kenneth Lonergan’s “Manchester by the Sea.”

Several established distributors like Fox Searchlight and Focus also bid on the praised film starring Casey Affleck. But amazon wants an Oscar and will pay for it. No one can blame playwright Lonergan for taking the big check. His last film, “Margaret,” dragged on for years in a tortuous experience with Fox Searchlight. It lost money for everyone.

But Amazon is a gamble for feature films. While they are doing very well with original TV shows like “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle,” their movie marketing acumen is a question mark. They released Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq” through Roadside Attractions and, like all Roadside projects, it died. (I call them Roadkill.) “Chi-Raq” has made only $2.6 mil since December 4th. It was ignored by the Oscars. “Manchester” will also be dead if goes through “RAtt.”

Plus, there is the lesson of Netflix’s foray into feature with “Beasts of No Nation.” By going day and date in theaters and on TV sets (or computer screens), they sent the message to Oscar voters that “Beasts” wasn’t really a movie.

Already my friend Scott Feinberg, who covers awards season, tweeted that “”Manchester”‘s Oscar chance have “passed away.” Let’s hope not. Amazon just has to be savvy enough to make “Manchester” a big deal MOVIE and not something to put in the checkout basket.

Upset at the PGA! “The Big Short” won Best Picture. Seems like we have chaos now in the Oscar race. “Spotlight” or “The Revenant” were supposed to win. The PGA winner usually wins the Oscar. Holy moly! Now what? No one has picked “The Big Short” to win the Oscar. Now the race til February 28 is a free for all!
Leah reports:
Michael B. Jordan came on to announce Best Picture. He announced four of the nominees, but not The Big Short. It was a mistake He opened the envelope quickly. Then he turned around to no one the audience could see and he said, “Well I lost the best, The Big Short.” The problem was that the room and the Big Short Table, which was in the back, thought Michael was just announcing it as a nominee, since he didn’t include it in the first place..So there was no reaction, silence, because the room was supposedly waiting for the winner. Then Michael said, “Hey guys, you won, Big Short.” Then the table erupted, but it was confusing and awkward…
PGA got the A list, JJ Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Jeff Skoll, F. Gary Gray, all were in a huddle. They told Gray that that Straight Outta Compton should have gotten a Best Picture from the Academy. F. Gary Gray seemed moved by it.

Fargo (Season 2)
Producers: Noah Hawley, John Cameron, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Warren Littlefield, Kim Todd

Leah Sydney reporting…

Lady Gaga never ceases to amaze or reveal. At the Producers Guild of America Awards tonight in Hollywood she revealed why she got involved with the campus rape doc, “The Hunting Ground.” She told the crowd she wrote the song “Til it Happens to You” with Diane Warren because her aunt– her father’s older sister– was raped in college. It gets worse: the young woman suffered from Lupus, which was exacerbated by the rape. She died not long after that. Gaga said that what happened to her aunt affected her for years.

Gaga went on to perform “Til it Happens to You” to a huge ovation. The song is the “Glory” of this season.

#PGAwards: Watch @LadyGaga perform ’Til It Happens to You’ from The Hunting Ground pic.twitter.com/O9lCzPESIo

— Pamela McClintock (@PamelaDayM) January 24, 2016

Here are the ten movies nominated for the PGA tonight. The ceremony starts soon in Hollywood. Going back at least until 2007, the PGA winner has won the Oscar for Best Picture. Last year “Birdman” won. I think “Spotlight” this year. But that damn bear and horse carcass may prevail in “Revenant.”

This year “Carol” was snubbed, which caused a scandal. Which film will win, and will that affect the Oscars? Keep refreshing– I’ll have all their winners here. Plus the documentary “The Hunting Ground” is getting the Stanley Kramer award. Lady Gaga is performing “Til it Happens to You”– her Oscar nominated song with Diane Warren, from that movie.

The Big Short

Producers: Brad Pitt & Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner

Bridge of Spies

Producers: Steven Spielberg, Marc Platt, Kristie Macosko Krieger

Brooklyn

Producers: Finola Dwyer & Amanda Posey

Ex Machina

Producers: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich

Mad Max: Fury Road

Producers: Doug Mitchell & George Miller

The Martian

Producers: Simon Kinberg, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Mark Huffam

The Revenant

Producers: Arnon Milchan, Steve Golin, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Keith Redmon

Sicario

Producers: Basil Iwanyk, Edward L. McDonnell, Molly Smith

Spotlight

Producers: Michael Sugar & Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin, Blye Pagon Faust

Straight Outta Compton

Producers: Ice Cube, Matt Alvarez, F. Gary Gray, Dr. Dre, Scott Bernstein

Friday night brought out the worst in moviegoers. “Dirty Grandpa,” with a 6 rating on Rotten Tomatoes and reviews citing it as “the worst ever” took in $4.2 million. Was it seeing Zac Efron? Was it the idea of Robert DeNiro in his 20th (or so) really bad movie? Who knows?

“Dirty Grandpa” beat “The Revenant” in per screen average even though its cume for the day was $30,000 less. Maybe they should have called the former film “Rubbernecking.” Everyone slowed down to see an accident.

“Star Wars” is really slowing down. It’s only up to $868.5 million domestic. I know two perfectly healthy adults who haven’t seen it. And they will, soon. There are still a few people out there who will be first timers.

The snow is a problem today. Box office impact should be high. This is God’s way of trying to keep people away from “Dirty Grandpa.” In all religions.

In a sweeping move today, Motion Picture Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced changes to membership rules intended to make the group more inclusive, multi-cultural, younger and female friendly. Boone Isaacs didn’t just come up with this overnight. She’s obviously been working on it. This won’t change how movies are made, or who is cast, but it goes a long way toward modernizing an antiquated system. Bravo!

Here is the release:

LOS ANGELES – In a unanimous vote Thursday night (1/21), the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved a sweeping series of substantive changes designed to make the Academy’s membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse.  The Board’s goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up,” said Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition.”

Beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade.  In addition, members will receive lifetime voting rights after three ten-year terms; or if they have won or been nominated for an Academy Award.  We will apply these same standards retroactively to current members.  In other words, if a current member has not been active in the last 10 years they can still qualify by meeting the other criteria.  Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status.  Emeritus members do not pay dues but enjoy all the privileges of membership, except voting.  This will not affect voting for this year’s Oscars.

At the same time, the Academy will supplement the traditional process in which current members sponsor new members by launching an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity.

In order to immediately increase diversity on the Board of Governors, the Academy will establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by the President for three-year terms and confirmed by the Board.

The Academy will also take immediate action to increase diversity by adding new members who are not Governors to its executive and board committees where key decisions about membership and governance are made. This will allow new members an opportunity to become more active in Academy decision-making and help the organization identify and nurture future leaders.

Along with Boone Isaacs, the Board’s Membership and Administration Committee, chaired by Academy Governor Phil Robinson, led the efforts to enact these initiatives.