The $11 Billion Year

March 3, 2014
Veteran film reporter Thompson provides insight into the movie industry through the prism of one year, by chronicling the Hollywood successes and failures as they occur in the year 2012. She chats with director Benh Zeitlin on the collaborative nature the Sundance favorite Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Bradley Cooper on working with the "demanding" director David O. Russell on Silver Linings Playbook. At Cannes, Thompson speaks to Wes Anderson about Moonrise Kingdom and Michael Haneke on casting Amour. Thompson notes Hollywood's extreme risk aversion that results in a clinging to tent-poles and franchises while comparing the Disney marketing disaster John Carter to Lionsgate's wildly successful Hunger Games. Other subjects include the arduous production process of Life of Pi, Tony Kushner's struggles with the Lincoln screenplay, and Quentin Tarantino's inspiration for Django Unchained. Thompson also explains the newest models of acquisition and distribution including video-on-demand, independent self-releasing and technological switches to digital and 3-D. Finally, she takes readers to the Oscars and reviews the night's winners and losers. Thompson's insider perspective makes this a shrewd study of Hollywood's mechanics and challenges, as well as a nice celebration of the industry's best.

March 1, 2014
A yearlong chronicle of 2012's major films--from Sundance to Oscar night--highlighting the many challenges currently dogging the industry. It might be self-evident to point out that the film industry has not remained immune to the stark changes presented by digital technology. In Thompson's (Film Criticism/Univ. of Southern California) dissection of the film year, she provides an interesting case study for the future of the industry. After all, 2012 was a banner year for Hollywood, as her title suggests. However, the old model is being challenged by digital encroachment in a variety of ways. Therein lies the paradox of the new paradigm: Digitization is at once propelling the industry to untold revenues, while at the same time making it more difficult for the industry to stake out easy gains in a rapidly shifting and unpredictable landscape. More than ever, consumers have nearly limitless choices, further pressuring Hollywood to produce safe bets like gigantic, CGI-filled action flicks to pad out the bottom line. This type of stratification is not exclusive to Hollywood either, and a case could be made that Hollywood's problem is really a symptom of the larger, systemic problems with our technology-crazed economy. In her examination, Thompson tracks films, from fledgling indies, like Beasts of the Southern Wild, vying for distribution contracts on the festival circuit to major "tent-pole" summer blockbusters--both the successes, like Marvel's franchise juggernaut The Avengers, and flops, like Disney's disastrous John Carter. While the author undoubtedly understands the prevailing industry trends and how they are changing, she remains a reporter at heart. Rich with anecdotes and gossip, Thompson presents Hollywood as a living, breathing community. From executive firings and hirings to the stories behind films that almost never made it to the screen, Thompson's journalistic flair makes her analysis of the film industry a compelling and page-turning read. An insider investigation into the ways in which Hollywood is changing that will certainly prove invaluable in the coming years.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2014
Showbiz journalist Thompson offers a thrilling behind-the-scenes look at a year in the business of film, 2012, which many deem a banner year for movies. Thompson reports from the big film festivalsSundance, South by Southwest, Telluride, and othersto show how films premiere and gain word-of-mouth buzz from the critics and industry insiders in attendance. On the other end of the spectrum, she witnesses how the studios create blockbuster genre franchises, such as Twilight and The Avengers, by marketing directly to cinemagoers at San Diego Comic Con, which has grown into a massive industry convention that puts fans in the room with their favorite stars. It all leads up to a big finale at the Oscars, when critical acclaim and marketing dollars vie to anoint the best film and performances of the year. Mixing behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the most notable films of 2012 with keen observations about the changing nature of the business, Thompson has crafted a page-turning look at the moviemaking industry that is bound to appeal to film buffs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)