Angelina Jolie wins at Annie’s
The Vince Lombardi trophy wasn’t the only award handed out this weekend. In Los Angeles, The Directors Guild of America and The Annie Awards honored their own for excellence in directing in film and television and animation, respectively
Angelina Jolie wore a silver gown and brought two of her children, Shiloh and Zahara, to UCLA’s Royce Hall where The International Animated Film Society were handing out the 45th Annual Annie Awards.
Last night, she shared the award for Best Animated Feature-Independent for The Breadwinner, which she co-produced. The film is about a young girl in Afghanistan who disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Pixar Animation Studios Coco was the big winner garnering top honors across 11 categories including Best Animated Feature, Character Animation, Character Design, Directing, Music, Production Design and Writing — Adrian Molina, Matthew Aldrich and Editorial — Steve Bloom, Lee Unkrich, Greg Snyder, Tim Fox.
The evening was dedicated to the late June Foray, the legendary voice actress who was, more than anyone else, is responsible for founding the Annie’s 45 years ago. June’s creativity, generosity and unrelenting advocacy for the animation community were evident in the touching presentation.
Presenters for the evening included actress Wendie Malick; Coco’s Anthony Gonzalez; Director Nora Twomey and actress Saara Chaudry from The Breadwinner and SpongeBob himself, Tom Kenny.
A full list of winners can be found by clicking here.
Guillermo del Toro and Jordan Peele take top DGA honors
Meanwhile over at the Beverly Hilton, more than 1,200 guests attended the 70th Annual DGA Awards hosted by Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin).
Guillermo del Toro once again took home the top award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film for The Shape of Water.
The Mexican director’s love story about a human and fish out of water took the award over a strong field that included Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird), Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri).
Del Toro’s win — which comes on the heels of victories for The Shape of Water at the Golden Globes and the Producers Guild Awards — may bode well for his chances to take the directing prize at the Academy Awards. Thirteen of the past 14 DGA Award winners have gone on to earn the Oscar for directing, including last year’s winner, La La Land director Damien Chazelle.
Jordan Peele was also honored with Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature for his brilliant and provocative film, Get Out. The former Key and Peele host drew a standing ovation from the crowd in recognition of his work on one of the year’s most critically acclaimed films and biggest box office smashes.
When he took the stage, Peele also took the time to comment on what is happening in the country and what we can do about it. “This has been the best year of my life, hands down,” Peele said to the crowd. “At the same time, I’ve had to balance that with the knowledge that this is not a good year for this country. This is not a good year for many of us. For everyone in this room, what we do is important, what we do is powerful,” he continued. “Keep doing the only thing we know how to. Keep using your voice. It’s the most powerful weapon we have against evil.”
Amy Schumer, also one of the evening’s presenters and a nominee in the variety, talk, news and sports category, commented on #metoo and the need to promote women into top positions. “We need to promote women to the very top positions of power — and we need to do it yesterday.”
A full list of winners can be found by clicking here.
Jumanji becomes Dwayne Johnson’s highest grossing film
With most studios staying away from new openings this weekend due to Super Bowl LII, the box office took its expected drop in business with an estimated 33 percent decrease compared to last week. Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle will take the No. 1 spot once more with $11 million in its seventh frame.
With a domestic total of $352.7 million, Jumanji will pass Furious 7 on Monday to become Dwayne Johnson’s highest grossing film in North America. Furious 7 will remain his top global grossing film with $1.5 billion.
The Johnson-Kevin Hart vehicle just edged out last weekend’s No. 1 film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure, which made an estimated $10.5 million this weekend for a 56 percent drop off from its $24.1 million opening.
Newcomer Winchester opened to $9.25 million. The horror film has a B- on CinemaScore and a 10 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes which doesn’t bode well for next weekend.
Melania gets woke in hilarious new SNL skit
Natalie Portman hosted. Alec Baldwin (as President Trump) called Fox and Friends his “daily intelligence briefing.” And Melania (Cecily Strong), while preparing for the SOTU address and pondering Donald’s alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, is visited by former first ladies in this hilarious video:
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
