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Bieber Documentary Ends Run with Just 7 Theatres, Made One Thousand Bucks Thursday

Roger Friedman
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Bieber Documentary Ends Run with Just 7 Theatres, Made One Thousand Bucks Thursday

The Justin Bieber documentary “Believe” will end its four week run in theatres with just seven locations starting today. Yesterday the flop infomercial made just $1,000 in 77 locations. The total take comes to $6.2 million.

This news comes in a week when Bieber, 19, had a police raid in his suburban Los Angeles home on a complaint from his neighbor that Bieber egged his house. The neighbor is claiming $20,000 in damage. The local sheriff’s department, already annoyed with Bieber over past indiscretions, arrested one of his pals during the 8:30am raid for cocaine possession. They also confiscated Bieber’s cell phone. Who knows what else they will find?

Bieber had a successful world tour in 2013. But his new album, “Journals,” was as much of a disaster as the film. His audience is pre-tweens who rely on parents for money to buy all his tickets, albums and merchandise. Bieber doesn’t seem to realize that his behavior in the last few months– including showing up late for concerts– is now having a deleterious effect on his sales.

Justin Bieber started out on YouTube seven years ago. He could wind up back there very quickly. The wheels are starting to come off his multi-million dollar wagon.

Oprah: “Don’t Worry. Really. I’m OK” With Oscar Snub

Roger Friedman
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Oprah: “Don’t Worry. Really. I’m OK” With Oscar Snub

Oprah Winfrey wants everyone to know: she is okay not getting an Oscar nomination for her extraordinary performance in “The Butler.”

“Really,” she told me last night at the Critics Choice Awards. “I’m ok. Don’t worry. I’m fine with it.”

She meant it, too. Oprah sat between Forest Whitaker and Harvey Weinstein, at the same table with Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, and Chris Cooper. She was in fine form, toasting Whitaker from the stage for his charitable work. Forest won the Joel Siegel Award, named for our great friend and movie critic who passed away much too young in 2007 from cancer.

Oprah, who runs a cable network– OWN– and has lots of projects will keep acting if the parts are there. When he overheard me asking about her future acting, Harvey Weinstein jumped right in. “We’re doing the Richard Pryor story,” he said. Lee Daniels is directing. Oprah’s ear perked up.  She spent the two hours of Critics Choice taking pictures with fans and enjoying the night.

Meanwhile, at the opening of the Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford let the distributors of his film “All is Lost” really have it for not getting him or the film any Oscar nominations– or box office. He lambasted Roadside Attractions for conducting no campaign or spending any money.

I must agree with Redford. I call that company Roadkill. I knew it in Cannes when they went out of their way to insult the press and diss the movie’s producers. “All is Lost” is going to be remembered as a little masterpiece. Redford’s performance is a work of art. Roadkill did NOTHING for it. It was out of their league.

If Harvey Weinstein or Fox Searchlight had had “All is Lost,” we’d be talking today about Redford getting Best Actor. Shame on Roadkill. This should be a lesson to filmmakers in the future. It’s not always about the money. A couple of great little films died this season because their distributors were wholly inadequate.

I do NOT mean CBS Films, which did a great job on “Inside Llewyn Davis.” They did everything they could to make the Coen brothers film an Oscar nominee. Oscar Isaac was outstanding in it, so was everyone else. I think it will win some Indie Spirit Awards, too.

PS Maybe the Academy will let Redford present Best Picture this year as a consolation.

TVLand Double Whammy Deaths: Gilligan Island’s Professor, Partridge Family’s Reuben Kincaid

Roger Friedman
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TVLand Double Whammy Deaths: Gilligan Island’s Professor, Partridge Family’s Reuben Kincaid

Thursday brought a TV land double whammy of death. RIP Russell Johnson, 89, known as “The Professor” from “Gilligan’s Island.”

At the same time, sadly, Dave Madden, aka Reuben Kincaid from “The Partridge Family,” passed away at age 82.

Each actor portrayed a memorable iconic character from late 60s and early 70s TV, when there were only 11 or so channels and color was a new invention.

Russell Johnson was the only passenger on the Minnow who had a brain, was serious and somehow navigated the choppy waters from Gilligan’s Island. The Professor was all business, and never seemed to understand that Hollywood movie star Ginger– played by Tina Louise– had a crush on him. I’ve seen Tina a couple of times lately. She’s still a siren, much younger than Johnson.

Dave Madden was more of a comic actor. Reuben Kincaid was the smarmy manager of the singing Partridges. He spent most of his time trading barbs with 10 year old Danny Partridge (Danny Bonaduce). Madden had great comic timing, and made the most of his bristling, sarcastic dialogue.

Both actors will be missed, but they live on in reruns and DVDs and on YouTube.

Critics Choice Awards Go to Hustle, 12 Years, “Gravity” Director

Roger Friedman
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Critics Choice Awards Go to Hustle, 12 Years, “Gravity” Director

The Broadcast Critics Association handed out the 19th annual Critics Choice Awards tonight in a two hour ceremony broadcast live on the CW Network. Unlike the Golden Globes or National Board of Review, the Critics Choice is voted on by a huge national group of professional film critics and entertainment press from around the country. Critics Choice has proven to be a bellwether of the Academy Awards, which announced Oscar nominations earlier in the day.

Big surprise was Lupita Nyong’o as Best Supporting Actress in 12 Years a Slave. Jennifer Lawrence had won the Golden Globe. Matthew McConaughey’s win for Best Actor in The Dallas Buyers Club was also unexpected. The Academy may feel more passionate about Bruce Dern, who’s 77, has never won an Oscar, and does brilliant work in “Nebraska.”

The awards, given out in the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica airport, were star studded. Everyone who could be there was including Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, and Martin Scorsese.

WINNERS OF THE 19th ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS

Best Picture – “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actor – Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Actress – Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Supporting Actor – Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress – Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Young Actor/Actress – Adele Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is The Warmest Color”

Best Acting Ensemble – “American Hustle”

Best Director – Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”

Best Original Screenplay – Spike Jonze, “Her”

Best Adapted Screenplay – John Ridley, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography – Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”

Best Art Direction – Catherine Martin (Production Designer), Beverley Dunn (Set Decorator), “The Great Gatsby”

Best Editing – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, “Gravity”

Best Costume Design – Catherine Martin, “The Great Gatsby”

Best Hair & Makeup – “American Hustle”

Best Visual Effects – “Gravity”

Best Animated Feature – “Frozen”

Best Action Movie – “Lone Survivor”

Best Actor in an Action Movie – Mark Wahlberg, “Lone Survivor”

Best Actress in an Action Movie – Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”

Best Comedy – “American Hustle”

Best Actor in a Comedy – Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actress in a Comedy – Amy Adams, “American Hustle”

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie – “Gravity”

Best Foreign Language Film – “Blue Is the Warmest Color”

Best Documentary Feature – “20 Feet From Stardom”

Best Song – “Let It Go” Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, “Frozen”

Best Score – Steven Price, “Gravity”

Meryl Streep Nominations: This is 18 Going on 19, and 20…

Roger Friedman
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Meryl Streep Nominations: This is 18 Going on 19, and 20…

Meryl Streep earned her 18th Oscar nomination today, for lead actress in “August: Osage County.” She’s only won three times, however, for “Kramer vs.Kramer” (1979-Supporting), “Sophie’s Choice (1982-Lead), and “The Iron Lady” (2011–lead). She has not won “at least half as many times as she’s been nominated” as someone on CNN said today.

One of her wins and many of her nominations, including this one, have been with Harvey Weinstein. And this one will not be the last. Next Christmas, Streep co-stars with Jeff Bridges in “The Giver,” based on the best seller. It’s a TWC movie again. A nomination is never a cinch, but it’s a good bet.

This week she and Harvey are talking about their next film after that, called “The Senator’s Wife.” That should come in 2016. But also this Christmas, Streep is featured in the movie version of “Into the Woods.”

Is she really that good? In a word, yes. She is virtually flawless when it comes to approaching roles. This doesn’t mean that other actresses in her age group aren’t as good. Glenn Close and Susan Sarandon are her equals in many ways. Jessica Lange is always a knockout. But Streep has something particular that gives her an edge. She is to her age group what Jane Fonda was to hers, Cate Blanchett is to the next one.

Not only that: she’s a real person, an absolute pleasure.

“American Idol” Comes Back Stronger than Last Season, Weaker Than Ever Before

Roger Friedman
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“American Idol” Comes Back Stronger than Last Season, Weaker Than Ever Before

Good news and bad news. “American Idol” returned last night way up from its season final last summer. The newly re-jiggered show had a 4.7 rating in the demo and over 15 million viewers.

The good news: “Idol” beat every show on the air last night by miles. It also was significantly up from the 3.6 rating of the season finale last year.

The bad news: these new numbers are the worst for an “American Idol” premiere ever. But that was to be expected. The show pretty much crashed and burned last year.

Now we’ve got Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr, two good guys, with Jennifer Lopez, our house diva, and Randy Jackson — the heart and soul of “Idol” –lurking about as a mentor. If they’ve found some great new kids, this should work.

Someone pointed this out to me recently: in all these years, the only actual stars to emerge from any competition have come from “Idol.” No winner from “The Voice” has ever done as well as Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, et al. So let’s keep that in mind.

Oscar ‘Winners’: Big Studios, Woody Allen, Oracle Daughter, Philomena

Roger Friedman
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Oscar ‘Winners’: Big Studios, Woody Allen, Oracle Daughter, Philomena

Megan Ellison is no longer “the daughter of Oracle Founder Larry Ellison.” Her Annapurna Productions, just a couple of years old, has two Oscar nominees for Best Picture: “Her” and “American Hustle.” Not yet 30 years old, Ellison is Hollywood’s hottest young star, exhibiting excellent taste and savvy business acumen. She’s also one of the easiest people to work with, accessible and smart.

The Academy didn’t care about Mia Farrow and Ronan Farrow’s ridiculous attempts to hurt Woody Allen. He picked up Best Original Screenplay for Blue Jasmine. Plus, his two actresses, Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins, were nominated in lead and supporting. Bravo Woody! What’s Mia’s next move after trying to derail Woody by intimating Ronan was Frank Sinatra’s son? No one wants to hear it.

“Philomena” is the great dark horse. The Stephen Frears- directed film is a Best Picture nominee. Judi Dench is nominated for Best Actress. Steve Coogan has a screenplay nomination. The movie is over $20 mil at the box office. And everyone loves the movie. Dench has never done press in the US, too. No campaigning. She’s in India shooting Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Part 2.

The big winners are the big studios. Sue Kroll took Warner Bros’ “Gravity” and “Her” and turned them into gold. The Paramount team was relentless about “Wolf” and “Nebraska.” Sony played “American Hustle” and “Capt Phillips” beautifully. The toughest loss: “Inside Llewyn Davis” was marketed beautifully, but CBS Films is still new to the game. And the movie was very quirky. Still, I loved it and hope people see it.

Oscars Surprises, Snubs: Oprah, Redford, Hanks Shut Out

Roger Friedman
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Oscars Surprises, Snubs: Oprah, Redford, Hanks Shut Out

Shock: Oprah, Tom Hanks, Robert Redford were all shut out of this year’s Oscars.
The nine Best Picture nominees are American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, and Wolf of Wall Street. Only nine, not 10, films received nominations.

Also snubbed: Emma Thompson and “Saving Mr. Banks” are totally out.

Biggest surprise: Of all Harvey Weinstein’s possible entries, “Philomena” turned out to be his dark horse winner. “August Osage County” pulled two acting noms. And The Weinstein Company has two documentary nomineees.

Completely stopped and I’m not surprised: Robert Redford and “All is Lost.” Sadly I knew this. Roadside Attractions should be called Roadkill. What a mess. Redford was the best actor of the year.

Big winners: Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony played the game beautifully. A big studio turnaround.

Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
Judi Dench in “Philomena”
Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”

Best animated feature film of the year

“The Croods” Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson
“Despicable Me 2” Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri
“Ernest & Celestine” Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
“Frozen” Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
“The Wind Rises” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki

Achievement in cinematography

“The Grandmaster” Philippe Le Sourd
“Gravity” Emmanuel Lubezki
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Bruno Delbonnel
“Nebraska” Phedon Papamichael
“Prisoners” Roger A. Deakins

Achievement in costume design

“American Hustle” Michael Wilkinson
“The Grandmaster” William Chang Suk Ping
“The Great Gatsby” Catherine Martin
“The Invisible Woman” Michael O’Connor
“12 Years a Slave” Patricia Norris

Achievement in directing

“American Hustle” David O. Russell
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón
“Nebraska” Alexander Payne
“12 Years a Slave” Steve McQueen
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Martin Scorsese

Best documentary feature

“The Act of Killing”Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“Cutie and the Boxer” Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
“Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
“The Square” Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
“20 Feet from Stardom” Nominees to be determined

Best documentary short subject

“CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
“Facing Fear” Jason Cohen
“Karama Has No Walls” Sara Ishaq
“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
“Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” Edgar Barens

Achievement in film editing

“American Hustle” Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
“Captain Phillips” Christopher Rouse
“Dallas Buyers Club” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
“12 Years a Slave” Joe Walker

Best foreign language film of the year

“The Broken Circle Breakdown” Belgium
“The Great Beauty” Italy
“The Hunt” Denmark
“The Missing Picture” Cambodia
“Omar” Palestine

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

“Dallas Buyers Club” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” Stephen Prouty
“The Lone Ranger” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

“The Book Thief” John Williams
“Gravity” Steven Price
“Her” William Butler and Owen Pallett
“Philomena” Alexandre Desplat
“Saving Mr. Banks” Thomas Newman

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

Best motion picture of the year

“American Hustle” Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Captain Phillips” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
“Dallas Buyers Club” Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers
“Her” Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
“Nebraska” Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers
“Philomena” Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
“12 Years a Slave” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Nominees to be determined

Achievement in production design

“American Hustle” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
“Gravity” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
“The Great Gatsby” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
“Her” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
“12 Years a Slave” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

Best animated short film

“Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
“Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
“Possessions” Shuhei Morita
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

Best live action short film

“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
“The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

Achievement in sound editing

“All Is Lost” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
“Captain Phillips” Oliver Tarney
“Gravity” Glenn Freemantle
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Brent Burge
“Lone Survivor” Wylie Stateman

Achievement in sound mixing

“Captain Phillips” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
“Gravity” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
“Lone Survivor” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

Achievement in visual effects

“Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
“Iron Man 3” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
“The Lone Ranger” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
“Star Trek Into Darkness” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

Adapted screenplay

“Before Midnight” Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
“Captain Phillips” Screenplay by Billy Ray
“Philomena” Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“12 Years a Slave” Screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Screenplay by Terence Winter

Original screenplay

“American Hustle” Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” Written by Woody Allen
“Dallas Buyers Club” Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
“Her” Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” Written by Bob Nelson

# # #

Oscar Nominations: Watch it Here Live

Roger Friedman
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Oscar Nominations: Watch it Here Live

Record Biz Blues as Top 50 Albums Sell Mere 600K Copies Total

Roger Friedman
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Record Biz Blues as Top 50 Albums Sell Mere 600K Copies Total

January is never a fun time for any of showbiz. Broadway is quiet. The movie box office is recovering from Christmas highs. But nothing is worse than the record business. This past week the top 50 albums sold a total — a total, all together– of 600,000 units. The “Frozen” soundtrack sold a total of 84.5K copies. Beyonce did around 75K.

And then it’s all down hill. The name brands from Christmas are saturated. Both Lady Gaga and Britney Spears had major disasters. Justin Bieber didn’t even bother submitting his album for SoundScan counting.

Six hundred thousand– that’s what a debut album should be doing in its first week at number 1. With three major record conglomerates, that amount isn’t enough to sustain the lunches and the gifts to deejays. Keep in mind that the “Frozen” soundtrack comes from Disney– not even a major label. The bulk of the others come from Universal and Sony. Warner Music is barely in the game.

I don’t want to be a buzzkill. But unless there’s another surprise album coming like Beyonce in the next six weeks, winter is going to be cold and dark. Bruce Springsteen launches this week. And then it’s several weeks without a superstar release. There’s Dierks Bentley on 2/25 and Jennifer Hudson on 3/11. Otherwise, the only other story might be The Beatles box set next week.

Mariah Carey, we are waiting, my dear. Surprise us!

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