Having seen all the nominated films (without leaving home hehe) I’m not convinced Slumdog will win Best Picture, but I really hope it does - Milk surely will get close though while Penn should win Best Actor. Also would be good if Heath won Best Supporting. Kate was pretty good in The Reader, still that + Revolutionary Road kinda underwhelmed me tho The Reader was the preferred flick (what is it about all the films with Nazi themes and subtext : Valkyrie, The Reader, Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds later this year ?) The Slumdog ‘back-end’ is certainly interesting via LA_Times : “We’ve got a great script by ["The Full Monty's"] Simon Beaufoy, a great director in Danny Boyle, and we’re in love with this thing,” Colson was asking for between $8 million and $10 million for the film’s American rights, or $18 million for the remaining global rights.. would have to gross more than $20 million domestically to justify an $8-million purchase.. WIP, though, soon developed an appetite. The art-house division of Warner Bros. had released the $77.4-million-grossing “March of the Penguins” in 2005.. “We all read it, and we all loved it,”.. WIP’s opening $7-million offer for the film’s remaining worldwide territories, a tentative deal was struck in September 2007, with WIP buying North American rights for $5 million and France’s sales agent Pathé Pictures International coming in to handle most of the rest of the world.. Boyle and his producer, Christian Colson, had traveled from London to Burbank with a video copy of “Slumdog,” $14-million film’s rough cut to Warner Bros. executives. Warners decided to close WIP, focusing instead on mass-appeal movies such as “The Dark Knight.”.. the film’s advocates were vanishing: the WIP executives who had paid $5 million domestic rights either had left the company or were on their final days.. Warner Bros. had canceled the get-together a few days before the screening, citing schedule problems. Once at the studio, it wasn’t entirely clear they were welcome; as soon as Colson and Boyle started toward two open screening.. reception felt strikingly icy to several people in the room. “It was quiet,” Boyle says. Adds Federbush: “I was uncomfortable with the silence and felt bad for the filmmakers.”.. the filmmakers flew the 5,500 miles back to London unsure of its American future. Boyle and Colson said they didn’t hear from Warner Bros. for weeks.”

“.. The studio eventually decided that Colson could show the movie to one other distributor. “It didn’t take us long to decide,” Colson says, “that it should be Peter Rice.” So in mid-July, Rice summoned about 20 of his senior staff — including marketing head Nancy Utley, distribution chief Steve Gilula, and acquisitions head Tony Safford — into the Little Theater screening room on the 20th Century Fox lot to watch the movie.. this was breathtaking, complete with applause at the end. “It was completely, emotionally gripping, and it had an energy to it,” Rice says. He immediately polled his staff about their reactions, going around the theater a person at a time. “Exhilarating,” said one. “Magnificent” said another. Colson was driving back to the Four Seasons hotel 15 minutes after the screening when his mobile phone rang, with Rice on the line. “What do we need to do to get it?” Rice asked Colson. But now that Fox Searchlight was interested, Warner Bros.–which was in the middle of releasing its blockbuster “The Dark Knight” — grew cautious, Colson says. “As soon as another studio wants it, there’s an anxiety about selling it, because it makes it seem more valuable,” Colson says.. Fox Searchlight ended up paying Celador $2.5 million to take over the film’s domestic release.. Fox Searchlight will split its “Slumdog Millionaire” costs and revenues with Warner Bros. after collecting a 12.5% distribution fee. “Warners did the right thing a little slowly, which is why we got twitchy. But they still have a chunk of the movie, and I hope they make a lot of money because in the end, they did the right thing,” Colson says. “Is it the best result for Warner Bros.? No,” Robinov says. “But having made the decision to support Danny, it’s hard to have any regrets about it.”

Best Picture Oscar b/w Slumdog Millionaire + Benjamin Button accg to LA_Times

Slumdog Millionaire is easily the best film I’ve seen in quite awhile, but I don’t disagree at all with the argument put forward by Muslimah Media Watch that the (co-lead) female character Latika, is two dimensional : “Latika is the princess to Jamal’s prince. He becomes infatuated with her from the moment they meet. He feels a constant need to protect her. In their initial meeting, Latika is standing in the rain after the Mumbai riots of 1993 with no shelter. Jamal convinces his brother to let her share their shelter with them. The scene is poignant and it also sets up the relationship among the three throughout the film. The protection theme runs throughout the film with Jamal constantly trying to protect Latika. He obviously loves and cares for her. However, one aspect of their relationship that I always wondered about was why he loved her. I don’t say that in a mean way: I wondered about that because the audience is never given a glimpse into her character. We only see Latika as a victim of various men or as the love interest of Jamal.”

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