SPECIAL EDITION

THE GOLDEN MOON AWARDS NOMINATIONS

By Charlie Kiggs

Another edition of the GMA and, as usual, another mix between predictable nominations and unexpected ones. Maybe, this time more surprising that who is in is who is out, as there have been some unexpected oblivions. But that’s part of the fun of any awards: feeling satisfied or outraged with the choices. You choose.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

This Edition of the GMA can be considered as the 'Indie Edition'. Voters have gone for indie spirit productions, little movies like ‘Lyra’, ‘Velcro’ or ‘Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind’, ignoring the biggest productions from the Studio. More than ever, it seems like voters have turned their back to big shows and decided to recognize those little jewels that sometimes are forgotten due to all the hype around major productions.

Once again, box office and awards nominations go their own separate ways. The biggest blockbusters of the Season won’t be represented at the ceremony. On the other side, it is curious how two of the most nominated movies, ‘Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind’ and ‘Velcro’ were the only two box office’s flops of the Season.

The sleeper of the Season, ‘Lyra’, meets the epic ‘Pompeii’ as the two most ever nominated movies with those 7 nominations. It could be expected in the case of ‘Pompeii’, but this low budget production has surprised everyone not only with its amazing net gains but also with all these nominations.

Bill Murray surprisingly becomes one of the main attractions of this edition. For the first time in CMP’s history, a star has been nominated in three different categories for just one movie: Best Villain, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director. Without doubt, Murray will have a lot of pressure on him during the ceremony.

Ted Froats is the author of the most awarded movie ever in GMA’s history: the musical ‘Carousel’, the only movie to win 5 awards. And he could repeat that landmark again in the upcoming ceremony. His latest musical, ‘Only In America’, could become the new ‘Carousel’. It is obvious that voters love Froats’ musicals.

THE IGNORED

Blockbusters ignored: None of the most profitable movies of the Season have got a single nomination. Megahits like ‘Faction 12’ or ‘Captain Planet’ have been absolutely ignored by voters. Amazing: 4 out of the box office’s top 6 movies of the Season have stayed away from the nominations list.

Also, voters were not in the mood for fantasy adventures. ‘Atlantis’, ‘The Legend Of Zelda’ and ‘He-Man. The power of Greyskull’ were all ‘100s’. Are GMA’s voters becoming too mature? The truth is that these sophisticated productions have been left aside in favour of minor productions more focussed on the story and the acting than on action and special effects.

In this ‘Indie Edition’, where little productions have become voters’ favourite choices, it looks too unfair the oblivion of one of the ‘sleepers’ of the Season. The brilliant drama ‘A Standing Eight’ didn’t make it in any category, although it worked both for critics and in box office. Richard Franzwa’s sentimental drama deserved a better treatment.

We all knew from the start that Best Actress category was going to be one of the more disputed and appealing. It has been a great Season for actresses. And there is only room for three nominations. But I must admit my sadness not seeing Kim Basinger there after her brave and daring work in ‘The Sex Monster’.

And it is also a bit disappointing, at least for me, the low presence of movies that, in my opinion, are some of the most brilliants productions coming from CMP past Season: ‘Five Thunderbolts’, ‘3’s and 7’s’ and ‘Monolith’.

THE RETURNS

As usual, a few returns this Edition, although not as much as other times. There are quite a few new faces in the nominations list. But still can be found a few familiar ones.

Kevin Spacey, past Edition winner as Best Supporting Actor for ‘Blink’, is back again in the same category with ‘Monolith’. If winning, it would be the first time a star wins in the same category twice in a row.

Will it be this one the time for Collins at last? Josh Collins has become a regular in the Best Screenplay category. He was there with ‘Hollyweird’ and also with ‘Blink’. Now, he’ll have two chances to finally win the award: ‘Lyra’ and ‘Velcro’.

But his opponent is another experienced candidate. Froats has won two Best Screenplay awards for ‘Carousel’ and ‘Three Wooden Crosses’. In fact, in Season 5 Froats and Collins already competed alone for the award like now. That time it was the other way around: Froats had two nominations and Collins had one. And it was Froats who won.

Shia LaBeouf became one of the most demanded talents in CMP after winning a Best Supporting Actor GMA for ‘American Heartland’. Now, he challenges for his second statue, this time together with Chris Evans, for Best Starring Couple.

Russell Crowe’s triumph at the GMA took place in Season 2. That time, Crowe won Best Actor for his brilliant performance in ‘Cathedral’. Now, he’s back in the nominations list due to his tough villain in Tarantino’s ‘3’s and 7’s’.

And this Edition will offer a second chance to Chow-Yun Fat. Nominee for Best Starring Couple together with Gong Li for ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’, now he runs for Best Villain with ‘Five Thunderbolts’.

THE PREDICTIONS

As I did past Edition, I won’t take risks with predictions. In fact, I think this is the less predictable GMA’s Edition ever. Here is how I see the nominees in the main categories:

1-BEST ACTRESS

Jena Malone
In favour: The perfect performance to win an award. A must win.
Against: Kate Hudson

Kate Hudson
In favour: An impressive acting work. Another must win.
Against: Jena Malone

Uma Thurman
In favour: Nothing to envy to Jena or Kate. And that makes the third ‘must win’ performance in this category…
Against: …but I have the feeling that she will only be a witness of the duel between Jena and Kate.

2-BEST ACTOR

Haley Joel Osment
In favour: Awards voters love these portraits of tortured falling stars.
Against: Everett and Black’s works are too good.

Jack Black
In favour: A wonderful acting work full of shades. We all know he’ll never have another chance like this to win.
Against: Can anyone really imagine Jack Black winning an acting award?

Rupert Everett
In favour: He has created an adorable and appealing character that audiences and critics love.
Against: Nice characters always have a harder time to win than dramatic ones.

3-BEST DIRECTOR

Bill Murray
In favour: Awards voters love to reward an actor when he proves he can also direct.
Against: Fighting in three different categories might split the votes he gets.

Cameron Crowe
In favour: The talent he has shown filming musical numbers and making them both appealing and funny.
Against: Can’t think of anything except the ‘in favour’ reasons for Bill and Noah.

Noah Baumbach
In favour: If this is finally the ‘Indie Edition’, he’ll be the winner.
Against: ‘Lyra’ is more based in dialogues and acting works than in directional job strictu sensu.

4-BEST PICTURE

Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind
In favour: Voters will feel mature and daring voting it.
Against: Voting a box office’s flop feels strange (despite ‘Nagasaki Daydreams’)

Lyra
In favour: The movie was nice, touching, funny and deep.
Against: It is the typical little movie that usually gets a lot of nominations but not so many awards.

Only in America
In favour: It is a great, funny and brilliant show. Everybody loved it. Maybe it won’t be ‘Indie Edition’ after all.
Against: ‘Carousel’. Another Froats’ musical winning it all may feel a bit repetitive.

THE 7TH SEASON’S FINAL REPORT

(Bracket: same data from Season 6)

MOVIES RELEASED: 30 (30)
SEQUELS RELEASED: 2 (8)

MOVIES WITH NET GAINS: 28 (25)
MOVIES WITH NET LOSSES: 2 (5)

NET GAINS TOTAL: 1792.1 (1379.1)
NET LOSS TOTAL: 17 (31.4)
FINAL BALANCE: 1775.1 (1347.7)

MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 200 MILL: 0 (1)

MOVIES WITH BOX OFFICE SUPERIOR TO 100 MILL: 7 (3)
-Faction 12 (J.J. Abrams / John Daws)
-Only In America (Cameron Crowe / Ted Froats)
-The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman (Mike Newell / James Bradley)
-Atlantis (Steven Spielberg / Matt Kubrick)
-Captain Planet (Ben Tyler)
-The Legend Of Zelda (Stephen Sommers / Josh Collins)
-He-Man. The Power Of Greyskull (Tony Scott / John Daws)

TOP 1 NET GAINS: Captain Planet – 199 mill.
TOP 1 NET LOSSES: Life and Facts of a Dirty Mind – 10 mill.

SCREENWRITERS ACTIVITY
(Number of movies released / Best box office)

-MATT KUBRICK: 8 (Atlantis – 113 mill.)
-JOSH COLLINS: 5 (The Legend Of Zelda – 100 mill.)
-JOHN DAWS: 3 (Faction 12 – 185 mill.)
-DAVID MAKALASTER: 3 (3’S AND 7’S – 65)
-BEN TYLER: 3 (Captain Planet – 143)
-JOEY STARK: 2 (Chrysalis: Pennies From Hell – 91)
-JAMES BRADLEY: 2 (The Misadventures Of Harry Flashman – 108)
-TED FROATS: 2 (Only In America – 153)
-RICHARD FRANZWA: 2 (A Standing Eight - 64)
-MARCUS TRAX: 1 (Fortune City – 30)
-STEVE CONNORS: 1 (Black Guys – 35)

SOME CONCLUSIONS
By Harry Stark

Season 7 has been the most successful CMP’s Season ever!
We planned a release schedule in which at least one of each week’s releases could reach the 100. Not all of them made it, but 7 productions hit that landmark. Net Gains have been higher than ever. And, besides money, I feel happy of the variety of films released, touching so many different genres. So here are my highlights of the Season:

For the good:
-Those 7 movies making more than 100 millions in box office. No Season before had had so many blockbusters (not to mention a few ‘90s’).
-Only 2 movies flopped. The lowest number of flops ever. It is beginning to be hard losing money with a CMP’s movie.
-Outstanding final net gains. Boy, we are getting rich!
-And those ‘sleepers’ I love: ‘A Standing Eight’, ‘Lyra’ and ‘A Horse With No Name’ were the nice surprises of the Season.

For the bad:
-Any of this Season’s releases reaches the alltimes worldwide gross top 6.
-Any of this Season’s releases made a box office superior to 200 millions.

All in all, a most wonderful Season!

I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

THE SEASON 7’S BOX OFFICE TOP 6

1-FACTION 12 – 185
2-HE-MAN.THE POWER OF GREYSKULL – 154
3-ONLY IN AMERICA – 153
4-CAPTAIN PLANET – 143
5-ATLANTIS – 113
6-THE MISADVENTURES OF HARRY FLASHMAN – 108

THE SEASON 7’S NET GAINS TOP 6

1-CAPTAIN PLANET – 199
2-FACTION 12 – 141
3-ONLY IN AMERICA – 132
4-A HORSE WITH NO NAME – 128
5-ATLANTIS – 122
6-HE.MAN.THE POWER OF GREYSKULL – 120

THE ALLTIMES WORLWIDE GROSS TOP 6
(Box Office / Net Gains)

1-GAME BOY: WARLANDS – 265 / 206
2-STAR WARS: NEW ORDER – 229 / 250
3-GAME BOY: 211 / 242
4-THE GREAT WAR SERIES: DARKENING SKIES: 206 / 238
5-DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: 194 / 231
6-HF: 193 / 229