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Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020

"Parasite" director Bong Joon Ho greeted by applause in South Korea

South Korean director Bong Joon Ho gestures upon his arrival at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. South Koreans are reveling in writer-director Bong's dark comic thriller, "Parasite," which won this year's Academy Awards for best film and best international feature. The movie itself, however, doesn't put the country in a particularly positive light. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

INCHEON, South Korea (AP) --

Director Bong Joon Ho smiled and waved at a waiting crowd on Sunday as he arrived home in South Korea, his first trip back since he won four Oscars for his movie "Parasite," including the award for Best Picture.

The crowd clapped and cheered as Bong walked out of the arrivals gate at Incheon International Airport.

"It's been a long journey in the United States and I'm pleased that it got wrapped up nicely," Bong said, speaking in Korean. "Now, I am happy that I can quietly return to creating, which is my main occupation."

He also joked that he would wash his hands to join the movement to defeat a new virus that has sickened tens of thousands, mostly in China.

"I'll diligently wash my hands from now on and participate in this movement to defeat coronavirus," he said. As of Sunday, South Korea had 29 confirmed cases of the new virus, which the World Health Organization has named COVID-19, referring to its origin late last More

Friday, Feb. 14, 2020

Full board of France's Cesar film awards steps down

In this May 2, 2018 file photo, director Roman Polanski appears at an international film festival, where he promoted his latest film, "Based on a True Story," in Krakow, Poland. The entire leadership of the Cesar Awards, France's version of the Oscars, stepped down Thursday Feb. 13, 2020, in a spat over both its opaque decision-making process and controversial director Roman Polanski, whose new film, “An Officer and a Spy,” leads this year's nominations. (AP Photo, file)

By Thomas Adamson

PARIS (AP) --

The entire leadership of the Cesar Awards, France's version of the Oscars, has stepped down in a spat over both its opaque decision-making process and controversial director Roman Polanski, whose new film leads this year's nominations.

The decision by the academy's influential board to resign en masse came Thursday evening, just two weeks before the glitzy 2020 award ceremony.

Multiple nominations for Polanski's "An Officer and a Spy" triggered calls by feminist groups for a boycott of the awards as an expression of outrage against the ceremony and the director. He was accused of sexual assault by a French woman just three months ago, allegations he denies.

Nominating Polanski's movie in 12 categories this year represented a last straw for the already-roiled academy board, who had expressed frustration over the closed nature of the age-old award's decision-making structure.

"To honor the men and women who made cinema happen More

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020

Cast & Crew reaches agreeement to buy Media Services

Eric Belcher

BURBANK, Calif. --

Cast & Crew, which provides payroll and human resources, accounting and financial, and workflow and productivity software and services to the entertainment industry, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Media Services, a payroll and production management solutions company servicing film, television, digital streaming and commercials. This transaction--terms of which were not disclosed--brings together two companies with the shared mission of digitizing, automating, and simplifying the experience of creating entertainment content.

Media Services has been providing payroll and production management solutions to the entertainment industry for more than 40 years. Its software offerings, including digital payroll tools, accounting solutions, and its flagship Showbiz suite of products help content creators streamline a broad range of production processes. The company is based in Los Angeles, with a regional office in New York.

“ More

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020

Entertainment Industry Professionals Mentoring Alliance to host launch event

Bernard Weiser, president of EIPMA

LOS ANGELES --

The Entertainment Industry Professionals Mentoring Alliance (EIPMA), a new, non-profit organization offering mentoring and career guidance to students and young professionals seeking artistic and technical careers in media and entertainment, will mark its official launch at an open house on Saturday, March 7, at Avid Technology in Burbank. Open to educators, students and young professionals, the free event will include speakers, panel discussions and information booths centered on behind-the-scenes careers in cinema, television and music.

A coalition of companies and organizations from across the media and entertainment industry, EIPMA is dedicated to nurturing the industry’s next generation of talent. It plans to partner with high schools, universities and entertainment industry organizations to increase student awareness for career opportunities in the entertainment industry through job fairs, speaker programs, webinars and other events. It More

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020

German filmmaker Vilsmaier, known for "Stalingrad," dies at 81

In this Friday, Jan. 19, 2007 file photo German movie producer Joseph Vilsmaier attends the awarding ceremony of the Bavarian Movie Award at the Prinzregententheater in Munich, Germany. German filmmaker Joseph Vilsmaier, whose striking portrayal of the Battle of Stalingrad brought home the horrors of war to a new generation, has died. His agent confirmed Wednesday that Vilsmaier 'died peacefully at his home' in Bavaria on Tuesday at the age of 81. (AP Photo/Christof Stache, file)

BERLIN (AP) --

Joseph Vilsmaier, a German filmmaker whose striking portrayal of the Battle of Stalingrad brought home the horrors of war to a new generation, has died. He was 81.

His agent confirmed Wednesday that Vilsmaier "died peacefully at his home" in Bavaria on Tuesday.

Vilsmaier's 1993 film "Stalingrad" painted a grim picture of the fate of a group of Wehrmacht soldiers sent to the eastern front in 1942 to fight what would become a losing battle against the Soviet Army. The months-long siege of the city, now known as Volgograd, cost the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians and marked a turning point for Nazi Germany in World War II.

Born in Munich in 1939, Vilsmaier studied music and worked as a technician before gaining a foothold in the film business in the early 1960s as a runner and later making a name for himself as a cameraman for German television.

Vilsmaier made his debut as a film director in 1988 with "Herbstmilch," More

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020

Actor Jussie Smollett faces 6 new charges in Chicago

In this March 14, 2019, file photo, Empire actor Jussie Smollett arrives at the Leighton Criminal Court Building for his hearing in Chicago. Smollett faces new charges for reporting an attack that Chicago authorities contend was staged to garner publicity, according to media reports Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The charges include disorderly conduct counts, according to the reports that cite unidentified sources. (AP Photo/Matt Marton, File)

By Don Babwin & Herb McCann

CHICAGO (AP) --

Actor Jussie Smollett was indicted Tuesday for a second time on charges of lying to police about a racist and anti-gay attack he allegedly staged on himself last year in downtown Chicago.

The indictment came from a special prosecutor who was appointed after Cook County prosecutors dropped the same charges last March.

Special prosecutor Dan Webb said in a statement that Smollett faces six counts of disorderly conduct, charges that stem from four separate false reports that he gave to police in which he contended he was a victim of a hate crime "knowing that he was not the victim of a crime."

Smollett, who is black and gay, was originally charged with disorderly conduct last February for allegedly staging the attack and lying about it to investigators. The allegations were dropped the following month with little explanation, angering police officials and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Tina Glandian, Smollett's attorney, did not More

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020

Coloma-Blaszyk, Frank, Wagner, Martinez Launch The A Team: A Creative (Co)Lab

The A Team’s (l-r) Ben Frank, Nikki Coloma-Blaszyk, Marni Wagner and Luis Martinez

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. --

Award-winning creatives Nikki Coloma-Blaszyk, Ben Frank, Marni Wagner and Luis Martinez have come together to launch The A Team: a creative (co)lab, a full-scale agency serving television networks, streamers and consumer brands.

These four partners previously worked together for over a decade at 2C Creative where the team earned industry accolades from Clio, Promax and other competitions for their projects serving such clients as Hulu, CNN, ABC, NatGeo and the NFL Network, among many others.

Coloma-Blaszyk draws on her extensive background in operations to lead the business enterprise while Frank, Wagner and Martinez lead the creative side of their company. The A Team offers wide-ranging capabilities from conceptual prowess to prolific writing, top-tier editorial to innovative design.

The foundation for the new venture is rooted in the founding partners’ motto: “Here, there is no B team,” meaning that from concept to completion, More

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020

Universal will release controversial "Hunt" film in March

In this Aug. 23, 2016 file photo, the entrance to the Universal Studios lot is pictured in Universal City, Calif. A film built around the premise of liberal “elites” hunting people for sport in red states is coming to theaters in March, and the studio behind it is leaning into controversy about its premise. Universal Pictures on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020, unveiled a trailer announcing “The Hunt” will be released March 13, roughly six months after it was supposed to have been released. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Universal Pictures said Tuesday that it will release the social satire "The Hunt," a film it canceled in the wake of criticism about its premise of "elites" hunting people for sport in red states.

A trailer announcing the film's March 13 release date presents the "elites" hunting regular people as a conspiracy theory. Star Hilary Swank says at one point that "it wasn't real" amid images of shootings, explosions and other violence.

The trailer includes the line, "The most talked about movie of the year is one nobody's seen yet."

In August, Universal Pictures canceled a September release for "The Hunt" after criticism, including from President Donald Trump. The president, without mentioning the film by name, said it was intended "to inflame and cause chaos."

The cancellation came after the studio had already paused the ad campaign for the R-rated film in the wake of mass shootings in Texas, Ohio and California.

The More

Monday, Feb. 10, 2020

VES Takes Exception To Oscars Joke Attributing "Cats" Failure To VFX

James Corden (l) and Rebel Wilson present the award for best visual effects at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

LOS ANGELES --

It was inevitable that somebody on Oscars night would make fun of Cats, a critically panned movie which performed dismally at the box office. Decked out in full Cats costumes, James Corden and Rebel Wilson did just that in presenting the Academy Award for Outstanding Visual Effects. But their attempted humor cited the visual effects as contributing to Cats failure, eliciting pushback from the Visual Effects Society (VES).

On stage, Wilson said, "As cast members of the motion picture Cats, nobody more than us understands the importance of...”

“Good visual effects,” Wilson and Corden uttered in unison.

In response to the Sunday night bit, the Visual Effects Society (VES) issued the following statement today:

“The Visual Effects Society is focused on recognizing, advancing and honoring visual effects as an art form--and ensuring that the men and women working in VFX are properly valued.

Monday, Feb. 10, 2020

Oscars viewership plunges to record low

Oscar statues stand outside Hollywood Boulevard in preparation for Sunday's 92nd Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

NEW YORK (AP) --

ABC's telecast of the Academy Awards hit an all-time low in the ratings, with 23.6 million people tuning in to see "Parasite" named best picture.

The Nielsen company says that's down from the 29.6 million people who watched the show last year. The previous low for the Oscars came in 2018, when 26.5 million people watched.

The Oscars moved up its telecast a couple of weeks earlier than it has usually been, but that clearly didn't entice viewers.

Up until the last few years, Academy Awards viewership has generally stood between 35 and 45 million people, according to Nielsen.