Munich News

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences have nominated five small, sober dramas for best picture at the 78th annual Academy Awards. In the picture race, "Brokeback" will compete "Crash," "Good Night, and Good Luck," "Capote" and "Munich." The acting races are filled with portrayals of real-life folks, including Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote"; Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"; David Strathairn, "Good Night"; Judi Dench, "Mrs. Henderson"; Charlize Theron, "North Country"; and Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line." And, in the supporting category, Paul Giamatti, "Cinderella Man"; Catherine Keener, "Capote"; and Frances McDormand, "North Country" all portrayed real people. Other actor nominees are: Terrence Howard, "Hustle & Flow"; Heath Ledger, "Brokeback"; Felicity Huffman, "Transamerica"; Keira Knightley, "Pride & Prejudice." Supporting categories comprise Clooney, "Syriana"; Matt Dillon, "Crash"; Jake Gyllenhaal, "Brokeback"; William Hurt, "A History of Violence"; Amy Adams, "Junebug"; Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener"; and Michelle Williams, "Brokeback."

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Sony's Screen Gems horror pic "Underworld: Evolution" sunk its teeth into a boffo $27.6 million over the weekend, dominating a full slate at the box office. While "Brokeback Mountain" was expanding its range, few made the passage to "The New World" or checked out Christian pic "End of the Spear." Meanwhile, "Hoodwinked" successfully expanded, "Walk The Line" crossed the $100 million mark...and "Munich" and "Memoirs of a Geisha" continue to struggle.

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Opting for moderate-scale dramas from specialty divisions -- and another pic from Steven Spielberg -- the DGA awarded nominations to George Clooney for "Good Night, and Good Luck," Paul Haggis for "Crash," Ang Lee for "Brokeback Mountain," Bennett Miller for "Capote" and Spielberg for "Munich." It was Spielberg's 10th DGA nom and Lee's third. Clooney, Haggis and Miller are first-time nominees and each is a second-time feature director.

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Though three wide releases hit theaters this weekend -- Lionsgate's slasher "Hostel," 20th Century Fox's "Grandma's Boy" and vidgame adaptation "Bloodrayne" -- most attention at the box office will be on whether the awards contenders can capitalize on awards buzz as they expand. Universal will add 953 engagements, for a total of 1,485, to the run of Steven Spielberg's "Munich," Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain" will widen to 484 screens, Woody Allen's "Match Point" has 304 bookings, and Disney's "Casanova" bumps up its run to 1,004 locations.

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Though lighter fare and family viewing tend to dominate the holiday weekend, the specialty market did well with serious counterprogramming for adult auds. "Munich" got off to a strong start on 532 screens, while "Brokeback Mountain" tripled its screen count to 217. Steven Spielberg's political drama "Munich" entered the chart in the No. 10 position despite its few playdates. Four-day gross was $5.7 million and three-day take was $4.1 million, with a three-day average of $7,706.

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In a frame that could prove the wildest in over a decade, Christmas weekend features five new pics in wide release, two expanding wide and five new limited release films. Three films opened Wednesday, four hit theaters today and another five bow or go wide Sunday. Christmas hasn't fallen on a Sunday since 1994, leaving many studios struggling to figure out how their pics will perform. Among the new films in wide release: Johnny Knoxville starrer "The Ringer," from Fox Searchlight; WB adult comedy "Rumor Has It"; and Dimension scarer "Wolf Creek." A number of pics with Oscar hopes bow in limited: Steven Spielberg's political thriller "Munich" from Universal; Disney romantic comedy "Casanova"; and Terrence Malick's historical epic "The New World" from New Line.

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As part of his efforts to head off "Munich" controversy, Steven Spielberg is reaching out to current and former agents of Israel's secret service, the Mossad, including its current chief, Meir Dagan. Pic, which tells of Mossad's campaign of reprisal killings after Palestinian terrorists murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, opens in Israel in late January. Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has distanced itself from Israel's L.A. Consul General, Enud Danoch, who blasted the film for making "superficial statements" about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Steven Spielberg's "Munich" has sparked a subplot worthy of the Mossad itself, as "Vengeance," the book that serves as the film's source material, has come under fire in a new book by an author upset by the book's role in the movie. After some initial uncertainty, "Vengeance," the controversial book by Canadian journalist George Jonas, now is credited in the film as the account on which scribes Tony Kushner and Eric Roth based their screenplay. But Random House says that book -- and by extension the pic -- botches the history of the targeted assassinations after Munich. It is releasing "Striking Back," a new book by Time magazine Israel correspondent Aaron Klein, to "correct" the account.

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"Brokeback Mountain" and "Capote" were the biggest winners in the 24th annual balloting of the Boston Society of Film Critics, announced Sunday. "Brokeback" and director Ang Lee bested "Munich" and director Stephen Spielberg in the picture and director categories. "Capote" and "Brokeback" went head to head in the actor category, with Philip Seymour Hoffman's uncanny portrayal of the author edging out Heath Ledger's taciturn cowboy. Reese Witherspoon copped actress honors for "Walk the Line."

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Prying information loose about any Steven Spielberg project isn't easy -- just ask the Paramount execs who struggled to get a peek at "War of the Worlds" dailies. But that's nothing compared to the shoot Spielberg began this month in Malta about Israel's covert campaign to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes in the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Tony Kushner script is under such a lockdown that a Mossad agent would be hard-pressed to infiltrate its cover page. But Variety can at least reveal what that cover page starts with: "Munich." That's the official title of the film. Though not very descriptive, Spielberg's inner circle can only hope the title might defuse the notion that the movie is based on "Vengeance," a book based on input from a purported member of the hit team. Its veracity has been widely questioned.

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