One of the biggest online events was a one in which Yahoo! teamed up with the creative heads at Sundance and streamed 9 short films which were in competition at Sundance. The idea behind this was to let fans actively participate in the Sundance Film Festival. I mean isn’t that what Sundance is all about? And participate they did!

In addition to viewing the nine movies, fans were also able to vote for their favorite, which led to Sundance’s first ever online “Audience Award.” Whichever film won this Audience Award also got to take home $5,000.

During this online competition, Yahoo! provided over 1.6 million views of the nine short films. 1.6 million! That’s a lot of people watching.

Well, not to spoil the surprise, but out of the nine films in competition, Tom Clark, Maria White, Kristy Olson Cuthbert, and Brad Jayne’s film Debutante Hunters took home best-like award (and not to mention the money).

Pretty cool, right? And what’s even cooler is that Yahoo! is continuing to screen these nine short films for six more weeks. So if you missed them during the actual Sundance Festival, do not fret, just click here.

For more information as well as the complete list of the nine short films, check out the official press release below:

YAHOO! TO OFFER EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF

2012 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL,

INCLUDING SELECT SHORT FILMS STREAMING FREE ONLINE

First-Ever Online “Audience Award” Enables Fans to Vote
for Best Short Film on Yahoo! Screen
Yahoo! Movies & omg! NOW Feature Behind-The-Scenes
Content Straight from Park City
SUNNYVALE, CA (January 19, 2012)— Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, is opening the doors to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, giving independent film fans access to one of the year’s most highly anticipated industry events. The general public will have access to 9 short films from this year’s Festival by visiting sundance.yahoo.com, powered by Yahoo! Screen, Yahoo’s video destination and home to the most comprehensive collection of premium video content. Additionally, for the first time ever, they will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite of those nine short films. Fans will also get behind-the-scenes access to film and entertainment news, celebrities in attendance and the biggest stories of the festival through Yahoo! Movies (http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/sundance ), one of the top destinations online for movie fans with more than 26 million users per month, and omg! (http://omg.yahoo.com), the #1 most-visited celebrity news site on the Internet.

Beginning today and lasting through January 27, Yahoo! Screen will host a selection of short films premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and chosen in close collaboration with the Festival and Yahoo! Movie editors. Film aficionados will have the chance to vote for their favorite, and on Saturday, January 28th– at the Festival’s Official Awards Ceremony – Yahoo! will present the winning filmmaker with the inaugural Yahoo! Audience Award and five thousand dollars. Plus, the winning film will be given prominent placement on Yahoo!. All of the additional featured films will remain accessible on Yahoo! Screen for six additional weeks.

Throughout this celebration of independent cinema, Yahoo! Movies is providing exclusive film-related content and original news daily from their on-the-ground correspondents in Park City. omg! NOW (http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/now/) host Kristen Aldridge will take her audience past the velvet ropes, providing insider access from Main Street to the hottest parties and biggest premieres. A daily video series, omg! NOW is the web’s #1 online show for celebrity and entertainment news.

“Yahoo! is the home for major entertainment events online and this year, we’re bringing film buffs with us to one of the world’s most significant film festivals,” said Mickie Rosen, senior vice president of Yahoo! Media Network. “We look forward to providing film lovers a role in Festival voting with our new Audience Award and keeping them connected with minute-by-minute reporting. Some of the best filmmakers started their careers developing short films and now our audience has the chance to pick what could be the next big name in the film industry.”
Short films available now on Yahoo! Screen include:

· ’92 Skybox Alonzo Mourning Rookie Card
Jim and Dave, two brothers who don’t like each other very much, are forced to come together when their dad dies in Kansas City. Dave is pretty sure he has an Alonzo Mourning Skybox Series rookie card, but Jim has other ideas.

· Aquadettes
A meditation on life, death, and synchronized swimming.

· The Arm
To keep up with social pressure in a technologically advanced world, Chance starts a texting relationship with Genevieve—a girl he meets at a yogurt shop. But tragedy forces Chance to realize that he was never in a relationship at all.

· Debutante Hunters
In the low country of South Carolina, some true southern belles reveal their more rugged side, providing a glimpse into what drives them to hunt in the wild.

· Dol (First Birthday)
A gay Korean American man yearns for a family life that is just out of reach.

· Henley
Meet nine-year-old Ted Henley, budding motel manager and roadkill entrepreneur.

· Long Distance Information
Father always told us, “Never talk to strangers,” . . . But surely we have to phone home sometimes?

· Odysseus’ Gambit
During his lifetime, each man plays cosmic chess against the devil.

· Una Hora por Favora
A woman hires a day laborer for an hour and gets more than she bargained for.

Yahoo! is the Official Sponsor of the Short Film Program at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, which runs January 19-29, 2012 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

The three figures in the sky were supposed to look like Andrew, Matt, and Steve the stars of the upcoming film Chronicle. But what are they doing in the sky?

Chronicle tells the story of three friends who discover a strange crater in the middle of some spooky area a la Superman. But these kids are punks. Using their powers to scare little girls and mess around with locals…until one takes it too far. Apparently the dark horse, one of the boys has evil running through his veins. Classic superpower story.

Here is the video of the “people” flying around NYC.
Here is the trailer for Chronicle, out February 3rd.\

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture:
“Bridesmaids”
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Midnight in Paris”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role:
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Demian Bicher, “A Better Life”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role:
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Armie Hammer, “J. Edgar”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”

For a full list of winners, including winners from the television categories, click here.

Moonrise Kingdom will mark Wes Anderson’s seventh foray into the world feature-film writing and directing; and as an avid fan of both movies in general and Anderson specifically, I remain eternally grateful for the glimmer of hope that this trailer represents. This is the kind of hope that assures us movie-goers that there is some validity to the claim that all creativity and originality in feature-filmmaking is not dead. Oh happy day, indeed!

As far as anyone can tell from the true-to-form, somewhat-elusive trailer, Moonrise Kingdom documents a pair of young (children-young) lovers who flee the 1960s New England town/camp in which they are living, prompting a chase by a local search party. Co-written by Roman Coppola, brother of Sofia and son of Francis (seriously, could this get any better?!), Moonrise Kingdom stars (serious) newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the two star-crossed lovers. As expected, Anderson has also managed to deliver a fine supporting cast, made up with the likes of Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jason Schwartzman (duh), Bill Murray (duh again), and Harvey Keitel. And most importantly (as well as very expectedly), Moonrise Kingdom seems to boast the same sort of picturesque beauty Anderson has been known to create in both his live-action (Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums) and stop-motion animation (The Fantastic Mr. Fox) films, with a stellar soundtrack to boot! If this doesn’t excite you, then I’m not sure what will.

Moonrise Kingdom is set for release on May 25th. Until then, feel free to watch the trailer (below) on repeat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All you fanboys (and fangirls) of the upcoming Lionsgate film The Hunger Games, based on the insanely popular books that bares the same name, should be stoked that advanced tickets will go on sale A LOT earlier than expected. In fact, an entire month earlier.  Feb 22nd, 2012 to be exact.  Lionsgate continues to be at full speed after purchasing Summit over the weekend. Click here for more details on the Summit purchase.

Lionsgate, in an interesting marketing ploy, seems to be implementing a domino-effect type strategy that will likely garner plenty of buzz.  Essentially, I go get my tickets on Feb 22, then go home and ask you if you got yours. Then you follow by asking the next person. This would only work for a film with as much anticipation as The Hunger Games, and is not surprising as Lionsgate starts implementing some of Summit’s brilliant schemes learned from its experience with successfully launching the Twilight franchise.

See below the full press release.

LIONSGATE ANNOUNCES ADVANCE TICKET SALES DATE FOR THE HUNGER GAMES

Tickets Will Go On Sale On February 22^nd, 2012

SANTA MONICA, CA (January 9, 2012) – Lionsgate announced today that tickets for the highly anticipated film THE HUNGER GAMES will go on advance sale on Wednesday, February 22^nd, 2012.  The film takes place during the 74^th Annual Hunger Games, and today marks the celebration of 74 days until the film’s release, another milestone in the countdown to release following the successful #HungerGames100 Poster reveal across 100 websites on December 15^th.

Fans can register for email or text alerts to remind them when tickets go on sale, and also RSVP for the event by clicking here.

Tickets will be on sale on the 22^nd at www.movietickets.com and www.fandango.com.

Share the news on Twitter #HungerGames74

About THE HUNGER GAMES

Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games.  A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains.

Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy.  If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

THE HUNGER GAMES is directed by Gary Ross, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy published by Scholastic that has over 16 million copies in print in the United States alone, has developed a massive global following.

Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES on March 23, 2012.

Some people aren’t like me and scoff at the idea of Elizabeth Olsen. “A sister of the Olsen twins?! How good can she be?” these people wonder aloud. But let me just tell you: she can be THAT good. And it is just as bad to begrudge her the praise she so obviously deserves just because she’s siblings with two of the richest people in the world. That would be like nepotism in reverse!

Anyway, why am I so set on proving my deserving love of Elizabeth Olsen? Well, because she’s in a new movie of course! And perhaps taking a note from many new-to-the-scene stars, this latest movie also happens to be a horror film.

This is great news for me, because along with my undying devotion to Olsen, I also have a pretty steady thing going with horror films. For all you naysayers out there though who think that no horror film will ever be good or live up to the hype created for it, I’ve taken a look at the trailer and I am digging it. I am really digging it.

So, Silent House is Olsen’s latest venture. Remade from the Gustavo Hernandez Uruguayan  film of the same name (I know, I know), the American Silent House is directed by the duo behind Grind and Open Water, Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. In addition to Olsen, the movie also stars relatively small actors, Adam Trese and Eric Sheffer Stevens.

So, what’s so great about this movie? Well, it looks as if it documents Olsen’s “decent into madness,” as IMDB puts it. A little bit The Shinning, a little bit Amityville Horror? I love it!

Watch the trailer below (and see the film on March 9th!):

Click here to view the embedded video.

And what’s even better? Well, the red band trailer seems to elaborate on the actual plot a bit more than the official trailer did. So now, it looks like we not only have a run-of-the-mill possessed woman getting exercised film, but also possibly all of Catholic Italy becoming possessed and killing things. Sounds like a jolly good time to me!

As seems to be the case with most found-footage films (Paranormal Activity, Quarantine, The Last Exorcism, etc.), William Brent Bell’s The Devil Inside is filled to the brim with relatively unknown actors and actresses, including Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Evan Helmuth, and Bonnie Morgan. Even so, it doesn’t look like that’s going to take away from the movie. In fact, it usually works toward the found-footage genre believability when its cast is not super well-known.

The Devil Inside opens Friday, January 6. Watch the red band trailer below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I always get a little giddy when I hear of an actress, that I actually like, book exciting, award-potential work. Well, today I get to get even more giddy as two of Hollywood’s most respected actresses- Naomi Watts (Funny Games, 21 Grams) and Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride)—have not only decided to take on a new project, but they have decided to take on a new project together. The Oscar-nominated Watts and the Golden-Globe-nominated Wright have just signed on to Anne Fontaine’s latest feature, The Grandmothers, and, perhaps, each actress will get a chance to turn their respective nominations into big wins.

Well, I guess I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. But hear me out, this is why: French writer and director Anne Fontaine, coming off of writing and directing Coco Before Chanel (Audrey Tautou, Alessandro Nivola) and writing Chloe (Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson), seems to have a knack for directing women and pictures about women. While some of her other movies may have fell slightly short of the awards race, this newest movie, based off of Doris Lessing’s novel of the same name, has been transformed for the screen by Oscar-winning writer and playwright, Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liasons), who also seems to have a knack for writing for women.

And what’s more? The Grandmothers, which will also star Xavier Samuel (Twilight Saga: Eclipse) and relative newcomer James Frecheville. is a story about love and female friendship, but with an “erotic” twist, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently the two central friends (Watts and Wright) fall in love with the other’s teenage sons. I mean, sounds like an Oscar plot to me!

Of course there’s no real way to tell until we actually get to see the thing. No specific release date has been set yet, but you can expect to see The Grandmothers sometime in 2013.

Well, it’s not that simple! Seeing as it’s a Diablo Cody written movie, there was bound to be one character who is a little, er, off. And that character is played by Theron herself! Not only is she a 30 something divorcée who attempts to rekindle a relationship with her high school boyfriend, but she’s also a 30 something woman who seems to never have left high school or the role she had while there. That’s right, Theron plays a 30 something bitchy (yikes, I said it) high-school-like student. Color me excited!

I mean, don’t get me wrong, I am not, in any sense of the word, the biggest Diablo Cody fan. Her campy and too-ironic writing style often leaves me frustrated (ugh, like her “Honest to blog” dialogue quote in Juno), but, even so, I have no problem admiting that Cody just has a knack for writing fun characters, and this latest one in Young Adult is slated to be her most fun character yet.

Don’t believe me? Well, check out the new Young Adult expletive-ridden red band TV spot that just hit the web. Trust me, it’s worth it (if you aren’t too easily offended by fowl language, that is).

Young Adult, also co-starring Patton Oswalt and Elizabeth Reaser, opens on December 16th. It’s going to be a long two weeks.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Now, in a move heard around the indie/Coen-loving world (like there is any other kind),Variety has reported, that the famed writing/directing duo have extended an offer to Justin Timberlake (um, yes, that Justin Timberlake) to star as a folk singer married to Jean (Carey Mulligan).

So, Timberlake–the Timberlake who has also starred in a string of poorly received, and rightfully so I might add, projects such as Alpha Dog, Friends with Benefits and Bad Teacher– in a Coen Brothers’ picture?! Is this really true? Well, I guess there’s not much to say except: color me excited at the prospect. If JT knows what’s good for him, he’ll sign on in an instant, before the brothers Coen realize that they’ve offered the role to a pop star who has trouble (to say the least) in the acting department.

But, maybe, just maybe, this is a good thing? I mean, if anyone can make Justin a good actor it’ll be the Coen Brothers, right? Do the collective hold that much power between them? Clearly David Fincher did not. But the Coen Brothers– they’re magical. The question that remains to be answered though, is if they are magical enough to make Justin Timberlake into an sort of credible thespian? Either way, my loyalties lie with the brothers Coen, and therefore, I question very little they decide to do. So if they say Justin Timberlake, so say I.