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The History of American Cinema: 2009

2/1 -

Each of the six major studios report a gross overseas box office revenue in 2008 of over $1 billion (approx. £668,573,000).  Total grosses are estimated at $9.9 billion (approx £6,620,100,000) according to the Hollywood Reporter.  Paramount Pictures International is the most successful studio with an estimated total gross of $2.04 billion (£1,364,211,684) thanks largely to the success of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. [ADD]

3/1 -

Will Smith tops the annual Quigley poll of 2008’s top money-making film star, replacing 2007’s top star, Johnny Depp, who fails to make 2008’s top ten. [ADD]

4/1 -

Israeli film Waltz With Bashir wins the Best Picture Award at this year’s  National Society of Film Critics awards, while Mike Leigh wins best director for Happy-Go-Lucky. [MORE]

5/1 -

Ned Tanen, the former President of Universal Pictures, dies from natural causes at his Santa Monica home at the age of 77.   Tanen was in charge of Universal from 1976 to 1982, overseeing the production of On Golden Pond and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. [ADD]

6/1 -

Los Angeles attorney Blair Berk, the legal representative of Josh Brolin, Jeffrey Wright and three others, confirms that Louisiana prosecutors have agreed to drop all charges relating to the brawl that took place in a Louisiana bar in July 2008  against his clients. [ADD]

7/1 -

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight wins five awards at the Peoples Choice Awards. [MORE]

8/1 -

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire wins five awards at the 14th annual Critics' Choice awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer (Simon Beaufoy), Best Young Actor/Actress (Dev Patel) and Best Composer (A. R. Rahman). [MORE]

9/1 -

Gran Torino, which veteran actor Clint Eastwood both stars in and directs, goes on general release.  The film proves to be a success with filmgoers, giving Eastwood the best US opening weekend of his career as both an actor and director. [ADD]

9/1 -

Actor Ryan O’Neal is sentenced to 18 months rehabilitation treatment after pleading guilty to drug possession. [MORE]

11/1 -

Slumdog Millionaire wins four awards at the 2009 Golden Globe awards - Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Director (Danny Boyle), Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.   British actress Kate Winslet wins two awards – Best Actress for Revolutionary Road, and Best Supporting Actress for The Reader. [MORE]

14/1 -

The Motion Picture + Television Fund, a charity that cares for ageing TV and film actors, announces that it will have to close its’ two Woodland Hills, California care facilities due to lack of funds and relocate its patients and residents. [MORE]

15/1 -

Mexican-born Ricardo Montalban dies from ‘complications related to old age’ in Los Angeles at the age of 88. [ADD]

Warner Bros. and Fox hammer out a deal over their legal dispute regarding ownership of the rights to Watchmen, the subject of a forthcoming film adaptation from Warner Bros. [ADD]

19/1 -

Studios consider opening ‘urban’ films on a Wednesday (instead of on a Friday) following two violent incidents connected with the weekend release of Notorious, the biopic about gangsta rapper Notorious B.I.G.  One man is gunned down in a cinema in Greensboro and four men are stabbed at an after-movie party at Djumbala nightclub in Brooklyn. [MORE]

20/1 -  

Warner Bros announce that nearly 800 jobs – approximately 10% of the organisation’s worldwide staff – are to be axed over the next few weeks.[MORE]

Lawyers representing Roman Polanski request a postponement of the hearing scheduled for 21^st January 2009 to determine whether 32-year-old charges of sexual relations with a minor should be dropped. [MORE]

23/1 -  

At the 15^th Slamdance Film Festival, Mo Perkins’ A Quiet Little Marriage wins the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, while Zachary Levy’s Strongman wins the documentary award. [MORE]

25/1 -

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire wins the Best Film Award at the 2009 Screen Actor’s Guild Awards ceremony. [MORE]

Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire, the tale of a pregnant illiterate Harlem teenager struggling with her studies, wins three top awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. [ADD]

27/1 -

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces that, in the case of The Reader, it will make an exception to its rule regarding a maximum of three producers to be nominated for each film, because of the deaths of co-producers Anthony Minghella and Sidney Pollack during production. [MORE]

 30/1 -

Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda wins 15 of the 24 awards at this year’s Annies’ Awards, held at UCLA’s Royce Hall.   Favourites Wall-E and Waltz With Bashir win nothing. [MORE]

31/1 -

Danny Boyle wins the Outstanding Directorial Achievement Award at the 2009 Directors’ Guild Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. [MORE]

3/2 -

Universal announces that the back lot destroyed by fire in 2008 will be re-opened in the summer. [MORE]

In an interview with the Los Angeles-based Kevin & Bean radio show, actor Christian Bale expresses his regret at his profane outburst aimed at Shane Hurlbut during the filming of a scene on the new Terminator film which was leaked onto the internet on the 3^rd February 2009. [MORE]

Henry Selick’s animated film Coraline is released to favourable reviews.   The film, which features the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders tells the story of a girl who discovers an alternate version of her life. [ADD]

7/2 -

Milk, written by Dustin Lance Black, wins the Original Screenplay Award at the 2009 Writers Guild Awards ceremony. [MORE]

9/2 -

DreamWorks enters into a long-term distribution deal with Disney after talks with Universal collapse. [MORE]

11/2 -

Docudrama Films announce they are to release on DVD Jane Fonda’s controversial 1972 anti-Vietnam War documentary fta.   The film was withdrawn from circulation within a week of its release amidst claims from director Francine Parker that the withdrawal was due to pressure from the White House. [MORE]

15/2 -

Marcus Nispel’s Friday the 13^th remake breaks domestic box office records for horror films by earning $42.2 million (£28.1 million) on its opening weekend. [ADD]

Judge Peter Espinoza rules that Roman Polanski must return to the United States if he wishes to have his application for the dismissal of outstanding sexual misconduct charges heard. [MORE]

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California since 2003, returns to the big screen for the first time in six years for a brief appearance in Sylvester Stallone’s forthcoming film The Expendables.   The film, about a group of mercenaries attempting to overthrow a dictator, also features Ben Kingsley, Eric Roberts, and Mickey Rourke and is scheduled to start filming in March 2009. [ADD]

Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire wins eight awards at the 81^st Academy Awards ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay (Simon Beaufoy). [MORE]

Zack Snyder’s Watchmen enjoys the biggest opening of 2009 to date, taking an estimated $55.7 million (£39.8 million) over the weekend. [ADD]

18/3 -

British actress Natasha Richardson dies in a New York hospital after sustaining brain damage in a ski-ing accident in Canada. [MORE]

Joel and Ethan Coen announce that they are to remake the classic John Wayne western True Grit.   The film will tell the story from the viewpoint of the young girl played by Kim Darby in the original film, instead of that of Rooster Cogburn, the grouchy old marshal who helps her track down her father’s killers. [ADD]

Paramount and DreamWorks Animation's 3D animation Monsters vs. Aliens is released.   Of the 4,104 opening locations, 1,550 are 3D sites – the highest ever number of screens for a 3D release.   Tickets for the 3D version cost $3-$4 more than regular tickets. [ADD]

1/4 -

Thousands get an illicit preview of Fox’s forthcoming X-Men film, Wolverine, when an unfinished version of the film is leaked onto the internet. [MORE]

1/4 -

Fox Home Video’s new policy of removing extras from rental DVDs backfires embarrassingly when thousands of buyers of Slumdog Millionaire find that extras advertised on the packaging of their new copies are not included on the disc. [MORE]

Officials at the University of Maryland cancel the screening of the $10 million Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge, the world’s most expensive hardcore porn film, following threats from State lawmakers to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if the planned screenings take place. [MORE]

Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious earns an estimated $72.5 million domestic gross in its opening weekend – a record for the month of April.   The road racing film re-unites Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, the stars of the first film in the franchise. [ADD]

Clothing firm American Apparel challenge Woody Allen to prove he can command a fee of $10 million (£6.8 million) for commercials appearances.   The sum is the minimum amount for which the actor is suing them for using his image on an advertising billboard in 2007 without his consent. [MORE]

Disney’s documentary Earth grosses more than $4 million on its opening day (Earth Day) – a record for a documentary – and receives rave reviews. [ADD]

Director Ken Annakin dies in Los Angeles at the age of 94 after suffering a heart attack and stroke within a day of each other in February 2009.   The British director was best known for The Battle of the Bulge and Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. [ADD]

In the wake of the near-collapse of the global banking system, 20th Century Fox announces it is to produce a belated sequel to Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street.   Stone will once again direct Michael Douglas in the role of Gordon Gekko. [ADD]