Industry

The National Association of Theater Owners (NATO, if you please) kicked off its 7th annual convention of cinema owners today at the Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Members of the trade association control over 32,000 cinema screens in all 50 states and 81 countries overseas, and more than 5,000 of them are in attendance.

In a country addicted to 3-hour long movies that are mash-ups of every genre (musical numbers, bodice-ripping melodrama, action and chase scenes all in the same movie) with saintly mothers, perky heroines and suffering-while-singing heroes, the second biggest movie of last year was The Jungle Book.   It shattered every record by grossing $39 million.

“Often in my career I have been the only woman in the room”, notes Ramsey Naito, one of the producers of The Boss Baby, an animated movie about love, belonging, and sibling rivalry, hitting the screens at the end of March. “The industry has made slight gains when it comes to including women, but at DreamWorks, specifically, there are so many women in leadership roles and here you find so much more gender equality.

Even as American policy cracks down on immigration from Muslim majority countries, there are signs that in Hollywood attitudes are changing towards practitioners of that religion. While official policy out of Washington may constitute an official endorsement of islamophobia, this year, for first time in its history, the Academy honored a Muslim actor, Mahershala Ali.

  “I was very happily not working,” notes Judy Hofflund, who had retired after 30 years in the business as an agent and manager, “but I had to say, ‘Yes,’” when former client, Kenneth Branagh asked her to be a producer on his latest film, Murder on the Orient Express. “I asked Ken, “This movie is huge, are you sure?’ He was completely confident, saying, ‘I know you will find your way.

“Ai-Ling Lee and I would like to do big tentpole movies,” says Mildred Iatrou Morgan, the co-sound editor of La La Land, “As a team, we haven’t gotten anything like that yet. The movies we tend to get are on the smaller scale.

Being an editor is a “happy coincidence,” according to Joi McMillon, the first African-American woman nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing, along with co-editor, Nat Sanders, for their work on Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins. “I wanted to be a journalist but all the slots were taken, so as part of the Junior Achievement Program, I went with my next choice, which was film.

Set to be the largest US-China co-production ever, The Great Wall will open this Friday, February 17 in the US. Directed by the renowned Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou, the fantasy blockbuster is set against the breathtaking backdrop of China’s iconic landmark and follows two western explorers’ journey to the frontier of a heroic battle between Chinese warriors and ruthless yet intelligent creatures called Tao Tie.

John Hurt, versatile actor of screen and stage, Golden Globe winner, dies at 77. Arguably one of the most multifaceted of actors, Hurt burst on the world stage as the co-star of Alan Parker's Midnight Express (1978), a fact-based movie starring Brad Davis as an American student caught smuggling drugs and imprisoned in a Turkish jail.

Mary Tyler Moore (December 29, 1936 – January 25, 2017) first captured the hearts of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1965.   A year earlier the Dick Van Dyke Show had won the Globe for Best TV Show-Comedy.