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By Lynn Elber, Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Members of the Writers Guild of America have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with Hollywood studios that increases payment for shows offered on the Internet, the union said Tuesday.

The deal was endorsed by 93.6% of the 4,060 votes cast in Los Angeles and New York.

“This contract is a new beginning for writers in the digital age,” said Patric M. Verrone, president of the guild’s western branch. “It ensures that guild members will be fairly compensated for the appease they create for the Internet, and it also covers the reuse on new media platforms of the work they have done in film since 1971 and in TV since 1977.”

The term of the three-year deal runs from this Feb. 13 to May 1, 2011.

“We’re very happy with the turnout,” said association spokesman Neal Sacharow. “In all of the key votes that took place in this negotiation … including the vote to end the work stoppage, we had terrific turnout and better than 90% approval from the membership in each case.”

The contract was approved through a mail-in ballot that came after members were briefed sum of two units weeks ago and agreed to end the 100-day strike.

Under the contract, writers elect engender a maximum flat fee of about $1,200 for programs streamed on the Internet during the deal’s first two years and then get 2% of a distributor’s gross in year three.

The deal also establishes guild jurisdiction for shows made for the Internet and other new media.

The writers strike halted most TV production and took an estimated $2.5 billion toll on the Los Angeles area economy.

The guild has about 10,500 members who were affected by the walkout.

Jonathan Handel, one amusement lawyer and a former associate counsel for the writers guild, said he was surprised by the relatively low number of guild members who voted.

“I think a lot of people are not happy with the deal but realized it’s the best they could get,” he said.

Still, he said, it “ties a bow without interruption a difficult period for Hollywood labor.”

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the journal, authorize comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification.
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 MOVIES GOING GLOBAL

The international flair of this year’s Oscar-winning actors is a sign that the pellicle industry is increasingly a global concern.

Percentage of box office from outside USA and total box office (in billions):

2001: 50% and $16.96

2002: 52% and $19.77

2003: 53% and $20.39
|
2004: 62% and $25.19

2005: 61% and $23.27

2006: 63% and $25.82

By Julie Snider, USA TODAY

Source: Motion Picture Association of America
 

By Maria Puente, USA TODAY Oscar seems to have something against American actors this year.

Or does the foreign-born sweep of the Academy Awards reflect the growing globalization of the film industry?

For the first time since 1965, all four acting Oscars handed out Sunday went to non-Americans: Britain’s Tilda Swinton, Britain/Ireland’s Daniel Day-Lewis, France’s Marion Cotillard and Spain’s Javier Bardem.

Plus, the awards for original song and score went to an Irishman, a Czech and an Italian. Awards such as art direction, costume and makeup also went to Europeans.

“The great American institution of Oscar night has been hijacked by foreigners,” comedian Chelsea Handler joked on her late-night talk show on E! “Why is the academy so against Americans? Why chouse they hate our freedom?”

All joking aside, of course the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is not against Americans — it was founded 80 years ago by Americans and in America. But Oscars were never intended to be for Americans only.

In Hollywood, as in politics, it’s always about the money.

“It points to the global nature of financing of films … the power pool is global and the marketing is global,” says Bob Berney, president of Picturehouse Films, which had two films in contention this year: Mongol, the story of the young Genghis Khan, and La Vie en Rose, the story of French singer Edith Piaf for which Cotillard won.

And film consumption is increasingly global: In 2001, half of the total box office was domestic U.S. sales and half was foreign. By 2006, the foreign box office had jumped to 63% of the total, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

“The majority of movies make most of their money from disposition outside the United States — sometimes up to 70%,” says Emanuel Levy, author of All About Oscar and a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which awards the Golden Globes. “And it’s not just Europe. There are new markets, like Israel and Japan, that are becoming more important.”

The result, he says, is that studios are using more international stars and are less concerned about marketing films that once would have been dead on arrival in the USA. La Vie en Rose, for which Cotillard became the first Frenchwoman to win a best-actress Oscar for a French film, made $10 million in the USA, more than twice the haul of Away From Her, which starred at dawn favorite Julie Christie, a Brit.

“We wouldn’t have seen that a decade ago,” Levy says. “But studios know that if a movie doesn’t do well here, it can still have a long run overseas.”

Hollywood is hind part before cycles, and the international flavor is nothing new. The film industry was practically invented and long sustained by non-Americans, mostly Europeans. Some of the biggest names among studio bosses, directors and actors were European-born, and they produced some of the most quintessential American films.

“But yet they were from an outsider’s point of view, and now Hollywood is again looking more internationally for stories,” says John Carney, writer-director of Once, on this account that which Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova won for original song, Falling Slowly.

Carney says the internationalist trend brings a more intimate kind of storytelling, in contrast to the Titanic-style epics Hollywood has long preferred. “The ball is getting smaller (and) I think American film indispensably to bring reproach that.”

Although the film industry has long been dominated by Americans, Patricia King Hanson, historian at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, says it has always embraced foreign talent.

In fact, she notes, the first Oscar for best actor of 1927/28 went to a Swiss-German, Emil Jannings, for two films, The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. But these were silent films, to such a degree few Americans would have known he spoke English with a thick German accent.

“There were lots of foreign actors in the ’30s, and they were considered sort of exotic but perfectly acceptable,” Hanson says. “Now foreign actors are acceptable again, especially in the last five to 10 years. It goes in waves, and right now many of the biggest stars are from other countries.”

The last foreign sweep, in 1965, went to three Brits and a Russian: Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady), Peter Ustinov (Topkapi), Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins) and Lila Kedrova (Zorba the Greek). Before Cotillard, only two foreign-born actors had won Oscars for non-English performances: Sophia Loren (in 1961 for Two Women) and Roberto Benigni (in 1998 for Life Is Beautiful).

“But there were many years when two or three out four went to (non-Americans),” Hanson says. “It’s not really something new, it’s just once again the academy is recognizing foreign actors.”

The simplest reason for what happened this year is the best actors reasonable happened to be foreigners. “The best films are coming from other countries these days, and academy members have no choice on the contrary to honor them,” says AwardsDaily.com analyst Sasha Stone.

Another factor is the perceived versatility of foreign-born actors. Stone says American actors suffer by comparison to such stars as Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet.

“Americans simply can’t match them in terms of class, brains and wit, apparently,” Stone says. “Angelina Jolie and Jodie Foster were both snubbed this year despite giving two of the best performances. You have to wonder, if a Brit played one of those parts, would they have been snubbed? I doubt it.”

But American actors may not be so proficient as Australians and Brits at shifting expressions.

“Look at Cate Blanchett — she’s Australian and can do Bob Dylan; they can pull off accents better,” says Oscar consultant Michele Robertson, who worked this year with Swinton. “Europeans will work anywhere. They aren’t as fussy. They do plays, TV. They good want good work. They are less hindered by such questions as, ‘If I make this movie will it hurt my career.’ ”

But does any of this matter? The public didn’t seem as interested in this year’s Oscar telecast: Nielsen Media Research says 32 million viewers watched, below the anterior low in 2003 (33 million) when Chicago took the top prize.

Contributing: Scott Bowles, Anthony Breznican, Susan Wloszczyna

To detonation corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state toward verification.  Enlarge By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY

Actress Mischa Barton has been charged with drunk driving, marijuana possession and driving without a licence, according to Los Angeles prosecutors.

The OC star was arrested in West Hollywood at 02:46 local time on December 27th last year, after police saw her straddling two lanes of traffic and shortcoming to signal when making a turn.

The 21-year-old was detained for around seven hours on suspicion of misdemeanour drunk driving after failing a field sobriety test. She was later released in lieu of $10,000 (£5,000) bail.

She is to make a formal court appearance on Thursday to face charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; driving while having a 0.08 per cent or higher blood alcohol level; driving without a valid license and possession of 28.5 grammess or less of marijuana; according to court papers obtained by the agency of the Associated Press news agency.

Barton’s limb of the law, Anthony V Salerno, was quoted as saying he was pleased the actress had "received no special treatment" from the district agent (DA).

"The DA’s office is to be commended for treating this case the same as it would any other matter," he added.

The English-born actress, most profitably known for her role as Marissa Cooper on The OC, made her film debut in 1997’s Lawn Dogs.

She also appeared in The Sixth Sense and Notting Hill and recently played a cameo role in British comedy hit St Trinian’s.

Barton’s arrest capped a year of drink-driving problems for young Hollywood, with Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie all serving jail time for DUI-related offences.
 

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By Susan Wloszczyna, USA TODAY HAMPTON, Va. — Filmmaker Richard Kelly prides himself on thinking so far outside the box that major chunks of the Internet are devoted to deconstructing his intentionally murky movies.

His desire to bewilder has earned him a certified cult classic (2001’s Donnie Darko) and an unmitigated flop (2007’s Southland Tales), but no direct hit.

MORE: Chills and Chex cereal mix on the ‘Box’ set PHOTOS: Get an exclusive look at what’s inside ‘The Box’

For his third big-screen feat, the 32-year-old USC film-school grad is not only thinking inside the box. He is actually structure The Box, full by his leading major studio (Warner Bros.) and an A-list star (Cameron Diaz) on board.

“God bless Cameron Diaz. The second she signed on, our lives changed in a great way,” Kelly says on location at NASA’s Langley Research Center. Wrapping up the film’s final week, he spent a long day shooting within a cavernous breath of air subterranean passage and atop a gantry, a 240-foot-high erector-set-style structure once used to train Apollo astronauts.

Unlike his previous efforts, the sci-fi-tinged thriller is a breeze to summarize. Its plot hook is inspired by a 1986 Twilight Zone episode that haunted Kelly as a kid: A couple (Diaz and James Marsden) open their door to find a box containing a button. If they push it, they will receive $1 million. The catch? Someone they don’t know will die.

Kelly settles back to reflect on what he calls his “in the first place grown-up film,” whose introductory date is yet to be determined.

“We made Donnie Darko when we were 25, so obviously that has an innocence about it,” he says of his unnerving academy fable made with producer pal Sean McKittrick. The political satire Southland Tales, on DVD March 18, “is spunk rock and rebellious. We love that about it.” Still, the film was barely in theaters, grossing only $273,420 on a nearly $18 million budget. “There is no place for small movies to catch fire,” he says. “We got with Warner Bros. as a means of survival.”

He is ready to go commercial. “With The Box, I room for expectation to make a more mainstream popcorn film.”

Of course, trifle is ever considerably that simple in a Richard Kelly film. Richard Matheson’s spring 1970 short story, Button, Button, is just a jumping-off point for the $30 a thousand thousand morality tale. Embellishments include ’70s kitsch, teleporting and the 1976 Viking mission to Mars.

“We don’t feel like we are watering ourselves down,” Kelly assures.

The man who delivers the title container? Masterfully creepy Frank Langella. “Richard is in a league of his own,” the veteran actor says. “He has sort of an extraterrestrial creature running around in his head. That is the kind of Steven Spielberg was like as a young boy.”

Namely, someone who knows how to push an audience’s buttons.

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, forward comments to erudition@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state instead of verification.  Enlarge Warner Bros. Pictures

Sir Ridley Scott has announced that he will make a film about the former US president Ronald Reagan and ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

The film will focus on the 1968 arms control summit that took place between the two leaders in Reykjavik, Iceland.

The British director told The Hollywood Reporter that although the film had no title and was still in the script stage, it could be completed by the end of the year and released in early 2009.

"These are fascinating historical characters, larger-than-life figures, but I want to show who they were and why they did what they did," Scott said.

"There actions helped shape history, paving the way for the end of the Cold War."

Representatives from Scott Free production have obtained permission to use the historic house where the famous summit took place.

And space of time the Oscar winning director has yet to decide on whether he will direct the film, Scott claims he wants to be as impartial as possible through its construction.

"If you do a dramatic version of an event, you have to get as close as possible to the truth. You need to make knowing judgment call to get under the veneer of perception. It’s like dramatised journalism," he said.

Regarding the casting of the famous world leaders, Scott claimed it would be the US president who would the tougher to cast.

"Reagan was tall and elegant while Gorbachev was stocky, like a front row rugby player. In some ways, Gorbachev is easier to cast. Reagan is more colourful."
 
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 BIG MOVIES, BIG RATINGS

Academy Award ratings often complement with the popularity of the winning films. (Viewers in millions):

Titanic (1998): 55.2

Shakespeare in Love (1999): 45.6

American Beauty (2000): 46.3

Gladiator (2001): 42.9

A Beautiful Mind (2002): 41.8

Chicago (2003): 33.0

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2004): 43.5

Million Dollar Baby (2005): 42.1

Crash (2006): 38.9

The Departed (2007): 40.2

No Country for Old Men (2008): 32.0

But the Oscars is still tops among industry awards shows. Ratings for the most recent awards telecasts. (Viewers in millions):

Grammys: 17.2
Emmys: 12.9

By Julie Snider, USA TODAY
Source: Nielsen Media Research

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY LOS ANGELES — The president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that the record-low Oscar ratings were the result in part to a writers’ strike that left organizers “scurrying” to revamp the make clear and a particularly bleak slate of movies that didn’t pique public interest.

But academy head Sid Ganis says he isn’t concerned that the viewership of 32 million — fewer than for the season premiere of American Idol— was a sign of the rite’s decline.

MORE: USA TODAY readers have their own ideas on fixing Oscars

“I’m absolutely beyond satisfied with the show itself,” he says. Still, he says that the strike, which ended two weeks before the show, forced 11th-hour revisions and may have “in some way cast a negative light on all things motion pictures. Our last-minute scurrying probably didn’t help, either.

“It was a big challenge. We could do in the same proportion that much as we could do.”

He adds: “Of course, we’re going to be thinking about re-tinkering. We’ll find a way to get (audiences) back.”

Exactly how has been a hot topic since the show.

“The Oscars artlessly aren’t modernizing well,” says Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily.com. “It has always been big and lumbering. And it still is pretty popular. But it has to be stuffed with more stars and appear less politically liberal. Because this one was dead in continuance arrival.”

Stone says that although two-time host Jon Stewart “did a better job the second time around, some viewers were going to repudiate it out of hand because they already see Hollywood as too liberal, and he reinforces that general. Watch what would happen if you had a host like Will Smith.”

Emanuel Levy, author of All About Oscar, suggests organizers consider one-year experiments, including eliminating song-and-dance numbers and simply listing winners of technical awards.

“The show is caught in a dilemma,” he says. “You want to celebrate achievement in art, but you still have to work as television entertainment.”

One way could be new categories, more fans say. “Why not have a best comedy?” says Chris Barszcz, 30, an English teacher from Green Bay, Wis. “I love the show, but I was flipping to ESPN when the technical awards were in continuance. You could recognize popular movies without cheapening the awards.”

Entertainment Weekly’s Dave Karger doesn’t see the need for much hand-wringing.

“The ratings are purely the result of less relative interest in (this year’s) movies,” he says. “And 32 the great body of the people people is still a lot.”

To report corrections and clarifications, contact Reader Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for corroboration.  Enlarge By Jack Gruber, USA TODAY

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Plot Summary:
Robert Ford, who’s idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries vehemently to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, except gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.

Starring:
Brad Pitt | Mary-Louise Parker | Brooklynn Proulx | Dustin Bollinger | Casey Affleck | Sam Rockwell | Jeremy Renner | Sam Shepard | Garret Dillahunt | Paul Schneider | Joel McNichol | James Defelice | J.C. Roberts | Darrell Orydzuk | Jonathan Erich Drachenberg |

Directed By:
Andrew Dominik |

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