Blog Title: indieWIRE:Biz

AWARDS WATCH '08 | "Frozen River" and "Trouble the Water" Take the Gothams

Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River" took best feature at the 18th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Tuesday night in New York, while Tia Lessin and Carl Deal's "Trouble the Water" won best documentary during the ceremony held at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. "Frozen River"'s Melissa Leo also won the Gothams' breakthrough actor award.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | "River," "Rachel," "Ballast" Lead Spirit Award Nominations

Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River," Lance Hammer's "Ballast" and Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" topped the 2009 Film Independent's Spirit Award nominations, announced this morning in Los Angeles by actors Sandra Oh and Jason Bateman. All three films grabbed six nods apiece, including best feature, where they will compete against Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" and Kelly Reichardt's "Wendy & Lucy."

iW BOT *UPDATE* | "Milk," "Slumdog" Find Significant Thanksgiving Success

Gus Van Sant's "Milk" scored a huge Thanksgiving opening, according to final numbers from Rentrak this afternoon. The Focus Features release, a biopic of gay rights activist Harvey Milk, grossed $1,453,844 on just 36 screens over the three-day weekend, for a $40,385 average. This ranks as the highest opening weekend for any film released in the range of 30-40 theaters (a record previously held by Focus' "Atonement"). Since opening last Wednesday, "Milk" has taken in an impressive $1,938,439.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | Back and Forth: Gothams Speculation and the Always Evolving State of Oscar Buzz

Continuing this year's awards season coverage in indieWIRE, editor-in-chief Eugene Hernandez and assistant editor Peter Knegt chatted via instant message about the ever-evolving race. Topics for this installment include a look at the upcoming Gotham Independent Film Award, the box office performances of "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire," as well as discussion surrounding our recent viewings of "Revolutionary Road" and "The Reader."

AWARDS WATCH '08 | "Slumdog" Wins Big At British Indie Awards

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" led the winners at the British Independent Film Awards, which were handed out at London's Old Billingsgate Market earlier this evening. "Slumdog" took the nights top prizes for best picture and best director, and also won an award for Dev Patel as most promising newcomer. Steve McQueen's "Hunger" also took three awards, included best debut director for McQueen, best actor for Michael Fassbender, and best technical achievement for Sean Bobbitt's cinematography.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | "Australia," "Milk," "Slumdog" Lead Satellite Nods

Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" led the 13th Annual Satellite Award nominations, which were announced today by the International Press Academy. However, "Australia"'s nine nominations were mainly in the artistic and technical categories. It failed to make the cut for the Motion Picture, Drama category, where the nominees were "Frost/Nixon," "Frozen River," "Milk," "The Reader," "Revolutionary Road" and "Slumdog Millionaire." "Milk" and "Slumdog" both tallied six nominations apiece, the second highest total of any film.

iW BOT | "Slumdog" Poised To Become Season's Success Story

It all sounds very familiar. Fresh from hugely favorable screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival, a Fox Searchlight release rides a wave of word-of-mouth that leads to scores of accolades and even more box office. This is the story of 2004's "Sideways," 2007's "Juno," and potentially, this year's "Slumdog Millionaire." As Searchlight continues to slowly expand Danny Boyle's Oscar hopeful, it becomes more and more clear that it might have 2008's specialty powerhouse on its hands.

iW BOT | Weekend Estimates: Sophomore "Slumdog" Still Scores

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" was high atop the iW BOT for the second weekend in a row, according to initial estimates from Rentrak early this afternoon. Fox Searchlight's Oscar hopeful expanded from 10 to 32 screens, and saw its per-theater average barely drop from last weekend's near-year high of $36,002 to $30,985 (which even topped blockbusting "Twilight"'s first weekend average by about a third). Its $991,529 total weekend gross was good enough to make a true millionaire out of "Slumdog," taking its total to $1,613,974.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | Back and Forth: Debating The Doc Shortlist and More

Continuing this year's awards season coverage in indieWIRE, editor-in-chief Eugene Hernandez and assistant editor Peter Knegt chatted yesterday via instant message about the ever-evolving race. Topics for this installment include a look at the recently announced shortlist for the documentary feature category, as well as discussion surrounding our recent viewings of contenders like "Doubt" and "Australia."

BOX OFFICE REPORT | "Slumdog" Pays Off; And Ohh la-la "Xmas Tale"

Fox Searchlight's "Slumdog Millionaire" cruised on up the iW BOT over the weekend, opening in limited release with a stellar $36,000 average, while Miramax's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" nestled into second place after an expansion in its second weekend in theaters. The French had a good weekend Stateside with the launch of IFC Films' "A Christmas Tale" (Un conte de Noel) which finished in third place on the indieWIRE box office chart, which is ranked on a per screen average. Fellow Gaul roll out, "Tell No One" by Guillaume Canet enjoyed a nice milestone over the weekend, becoming the largest grossing foreign-language title this year in the U.S.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | Academy Shortlists 15 for Best Doc Race

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have named 15 films that made the short-list in the Documentary Feature category for the 81st Academy Awards, whittling the number down from a record 94 that had originally qualified. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles on the shortlist. The Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Thursday, January 22, 2009, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, and the awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on Sunday, February 22, 2009, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

iW INSIDER | Eugene Hernandez: The Battle for Marriage Equality and the Intersection with Indie Film

For a full week now, many friends, colleagues and co-workers have asked me if and when I'd write more personally about the intensifying fight for marriage equality and its intersection with the indie film community. Last week brought calls for a Sundance Film Festival boycott and then the focus shifted slightly to Film Independent and its Los Angeles Film Festival. Folks are clearly at odds over how to deal with the two festivals, arguing that each has some link to the Mormon church, which aggressively funneled some $20 million into the campaign to defeat Prop 8. But, the situation isn't black and white. Like most issues, it is complicated. There are no simple solutions and even at the indieWIRE office we've had passionate debates on the matter. It goes without saying that I don't speak for any of my colleagues here.

iW BOT | Weekend Estimates: "Slumdog" Scores Huge Numbers

Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire" was high atop the iW BOT this weekend, according to initial estimates from Rentrak early this afternoon. Screening in 10 locations, "Millionaire" scored one of the best per-theater-averages of any film this year. Grossing $350,434, its $35,043 average even rivaled "The Dark Knight's whopping $36,283 average last July. It certainly found the best specialty numbers so far this season, beating recent $30,000+ openings from "Changeling," "Noah's Arc: Jumping The Broom" and "Rachel Getting Married." Since opening Wednesday, the Fox Searchlight Oscar hopeful has grossed an impressive $418,131.

AWARDS WATCH '08 | Back and Forth: Buzzing Best Picture, Underdogs

Continuing this year's awards season coverage in indieWIRE, editor-in-chief Eugene Hernandez and assistant editor Peter Knegt chatted yesterday via instant message about the ever-evolving race. Topics for this installment include a look at emerging best picture contenders, from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to "Milk," and potential dark horses that might play a larger role in this race than people are expecting.

iW BOT | Weekend Estimates: "Pajamas" Leads

Miramax's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" led the iW BOT this weekend, according to initial estimates from Rentrak early this afternoon. The holocaust drama, directed by Mark Herman and starring Asa Butterfield, Vera Farmiga and David Thewlis, grossed $255,000 on 17 screens for an impressive $15,000 average. "Pajamas" will expand to 31 screens next weekend, where it will face off against the iW BOT potential of "Slumdog Millionaire."