2013 PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS: “THE HUNGER GAMES” LEADS THE WAY WITH 6 WINS

It was all about The Hunger Games, leading the way with a stellar six Wins at tonight’s People’s Choice Awards held at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The Film won top honour of Favourite Movie, Favourite Movie Franchise, Favourite On-Screen Chemistry, Favourite Movie Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Favourite Face of Heroism (Jennifer Lawrence) and Favourite Action Movie. Timed perfectly, Entertainment Weekly will be releasing a Catching Fire Preview Issue Friday featuring Interviews and Photos from the second installment of the Suzanne Collins Trilogy!  See some Photos here.

The annual Awards Show honours the Public’s Favourites in Music, Television and Music, a bit of a Teaser leading-up-to this weekend’s Golden Globe Awards, tomorrow morning’s Oscar Nominees Announcements and next month’s GRAMMYs.

Ellen DeGeneres won her 13th People’s Choice Award tonight for Favourite Daytime TV Host (Jimmy Fallon won Late Night Host) and hilariously thanking the People on her “Team” figuratively, “Melissa Etheridge, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes…”, during her Acceptance Speech.

Meanwhile, Katy Perry and One Direction also were recognized with multiple Wins tonight – the former winning Favourite Music Following for her Fans (KatyCats), Favourite Pop Artist and Favourite Music Video (Part of Me).  The latter won Favourite Album (Up All Night) and Favourite Song (What Makes You Beautiful), although they were defeated in the voting by rival British Boy Band The Wanted for Favourite Breakout Artist.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower was awarded Favourite Dramatic Movie, while one of its Stars Emma Watson won Favourite Dramatic Actress.

Toronto also got  piece of the pie with locally-filmed Series Beauty and The Beast, winning Favourite New TV Series!

Click here for a complete list of Winners.

(Photo credit: CBS/Getty Images)

#OSCARS: 85TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED THURSDAY

With the voting deadline having passed for Academy Members, Deadline is reporting much controversy over the transition of the voting process from over-the-mail to online.  Apparently, some Movers & Shakers and even Oscar-winning Actors themselves were having technical issues accessing their accounts as they scrambled to make this week’s deadline. Click here to read more about that.

Non-theatrical Drama aside, I am beyond-excited for this Thursday morning’s Oscar Nominee Announcements.  Expect Jessica Chastain to be the definitive Favourite to win Best Actress for Zero Dark Thirty, as is the case with Anne Hathaway in the Category of Best Supporting Actress based on her bone-chilling Les Misérables Performance.  In a tight match, Hugh Jackman and two-time Winner Daniel Day-Lewis foreseeably will be neck-in-neck for Best Actor, while Django Unchained Co-Stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz likely will vie for Best Supporting Actor along with Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln, and Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master.  In a year with several standouts, Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, Argo and Lincoln all to be in close contention, while divisive Dark Horse The Master, could surprise.

Seth MacFarlane hosts the 85th annual Academy Awards on February 24, 2013. ABC airs at 7:00 PM EST. 

As a reminder, the Golden Globe Awards follow only a few days after the Oscar Nominations are unveiled, taking place on Sunday, January 13, 2012 at 8:00 PM EST, to air on NBC; Tina Fey & Amy Poehler host. 

I live for this!

 

(Photo credit: Oscars.com)

#BOXOFFICE: “THE HOBBIT” DEBUTS TO RECORD-BREAKING NUMBERS

There is nothing dwarf-like at all about the success of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which debuts with $85 million this weekend across North America in 4,045 theatres for Warner Bros. The Peter Jackson Fantasy Flick also sets a Box Office record for highest December weekend and biggest December opening ever (Friday – $37.5 million) and also sets a record for highest opening ever in December.

Last week’s Champ Skyfall slips to second this weekend with $7.1 million, neck-in-neck with Rise of the Guardian  earning $7.0 million in third.

Disney‘s Lincoln continues to perform impeccably in fourth with $6.7 million, now it its sixth week of release.  The Historical Drama no doubt got a boost from Thursday’s Golden Globe nomination announcements, where it led the way a smashing seven nominations.

Not  much particularly earth-shattering on the bottom end of this weekend’s Top Ten as Wreck-It Ralph lands in seventh with $3.2 million for Disney, while Playing for Keeps earns $3 million in eighth. TIFF 2012 People’s Choice Winner  Silver Linings Playbook, which received three Golden Globe nominations earlier this week, rounds things out with $2.0 million.