Free Republic

Now is the time annual compilation lists come out. While most focus on the year’s best, these are the bottom-dwellers in entertainment this year. The “Best of…” list is required this time of year. The calendar is about to wrap up, so the timing is natural, and frankly writers are not too eager to put in serious work around the holidays.But while most are eager to collect their opinions on the top films, shows, performances, etc., notable misfires also took place in the past year. There was plenty of wreckage by the side of the road in the entertainment industry.Here...

Austin film production crews, vendors and small business owners are coming together to fight for a state program they rely on. The Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP) was designed to entice big productions to do business in Texas, creating local jobs and spurring the economy. It’s used to attract television, video game and film productions to the state. In 2013, the program got a big boost from the legislature, over $90 million, the largest dollar amount since the program was created in 2005... We reached out to all three lawmakers and received a response from Sen. Burton. While...

When Hollywood leaves Hollywood, you know things are bad. Sony Pictures Imageworks is moving its headquarters from Culver City to Canada.The visual-effects unit, which employs about 270 people, said it was moving a bulk of its operations to Vancouver, where it already has a satellite studio, the Los Angeles Times reported.A small staff will remain in Los Angeles. The move will cut costs due to Canadian tax breaks, the Times said. For the moment this is just the visual effects unit, but considering how much filming is done abroad, it’s not a good sign.Movies are going where the tax credits...

In a March 29, 2009 Detroit Free Press column, film industry proponent and popular author Mitch Albom said that if legislators were to put a cap on the state’s refundable, unlimited film incentives, you might as well “kill” them altogether. He said that a cap “…effectively chases films away. No successful tax-incentive state has a cap like this, because no studio wants to be the last film in, then find out the money is gone. They can't plan that way. They just won't come.” Film industry supporters insisted in numerous media outlets that mere ‘talk’ of capping the film incentives...

POLITICIAN turned actor turned politician Fred Thompson may have a Hollywood strategy when it comes to his presidential run (after all, he did announce his candidacy this week on the Jay Leno show), but he'll have a hard time getting a Hollywood audience. For starters, the entertainment industry Democrats are much too busy shuttling between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraisers to even think about helping out a fellow actor, let alone a conservative Republican one. And the Hollywood Republicans -- what few there are -- already have yard signs out for the far more moderate Rudolph W. Giuliani....

NEW YORK -- Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" ranks as the most controversial film of all time, according to Entertainment Weekly. The magazine ranks the 25 films that have most shocked, disgusted and divided moviegoers, in its June 16 issue, on newsstands Monday. EW writes that Gibson's grisly depiction of Jesus' betrayal and crucifixion ignited "a culture-war firestorm unrivaled in Hollywood history." Despite -- or to some degree, because of -- the religious uproar, the 2004 film grossed over $370 million at the U.S box office. Coming in second is Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." Kubrick's 1971 futuristic...

They litter almost every studio and agent's office in Hollywood -- issues of the instantly recognized Hollywood trade paper Variety, its bright green banner and bold headlines heralding opening box office receipts, movie deals, acquisitions, everything on the big and small screen to behind the scenes. In the competitive world of show business, Variety is almost required reading. For the newcomer, the reading requires a certain knowledge of show biz shorthand. Scanning the headlines at this Los Angeles newsstand, this one caught my eye: MOUSE HEADS TO COURT FOR CEO SEARCH. Now if you didn't know right away this was...

SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is poised to throw his star power, and political clout, behind tax breaks for the entertainment industry aimed at keeping film productions in the state. ``It is extremely important that we continue supporting our motion picture industry and that we, as a state, do everything that we can,'' he told a mostly entertainment-industry crowd at a glittery, Hollywood-style premiere Tuesday night. To help the state create jobs for everyone from caterers and janitors to make-up artists and gaffers, Schwarzenegger said, ``we are working right now through the legislators on a bill to give tax credits,...

GRAND RAPIDS, January 5, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A film rejected by Hollywood distributors has set a record for the longest test screening in history -- 55 weeks -- set at the Michigan theatre where it has been playing since December 2003. The pro-family, feel-good comedy, Uncle Nino, out-endured every other film released in the US in 2004, including The Passion of the Christ. Made for only US $2.9 million and shot in 25 days, Uncle Nino is the story of "an eccentric Italian relative whose visit helps heal a fractured American family," according to a telegraph.co.uk report. The test-screening was...

As actor and left-wing activist Tim Robbins complains about how unfairly he and Susan Sarandon are being treated these days, you can almost hear the world's smallest violin playing in the background. Until it was abruptly canceled, Robbins and Sarandon were scheduled to appear at a Baseball Hall of Fame salute to their movie Bull Durham. The Hall's president decided to can the whole event, saying the couple's opposition to the war in Iraq undermined the U.S. position and "ultimately could put our troops in even more danger." It's not the first time their anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom statements have...

Canadian Hookers Campaign Against Hollywood Wed Aug 21, 3:29 AM ET By Don Townson VANCOUVER (Variety) - Runaway production is clearly a problem: Now even Canadian hookers, beggars and druggies are upset. For years, Hollywood guilds have bemoaned the fact production has emigrated to Canada, which offers cheaper costs. But now shooting in downtown Vancouver has created a Canuck conundrum as street workers are demanding compensation for the business they lose thanks to filming. The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, which represents about 1,000 residents of the seedy Downtown Eastside, has sent a letter demanding compensation to 30 production...