SUNDAY AM: It’s a dull pre-Oscar weekend at the North American box office with only two major releases are genres fighting each other for No. 2. There were better than expected grosses considering the East Coast was slapped with another harsh snowstorm. Otherwise, there’s not much to say. Holdover Shutter Island, the…

LOS ANGELES, February 27, 2010–Christian Berger, AAC, Alar Kivilo, ASC, CSC and Eagle Egilsson claimed top honors in the three competitive categories at the 24th Annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration here tonight at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel. Berger…

LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK (Feb. 27, 2010) — The National Board of Directors of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), a national union of more than more 70,000 performers, journalists, broadcasters, recording artists and other talent working in the entertainment and news media, met today by…

Anika Noni Rose and Hill Harper hosted the 41ST NAACP IMAGE AWARDS, which was broadcast live from Los Angeles' historic Shrine Auditorium tonight on FOX. The star-studded event was executive-produced by Vicangelo Bulluck. Celebrated were the accomplishments of people of color working in the fields of literature…

Documentary filmmaker RJ Cutler, who directed the Anna Wintour/Vogue profile The September Issue, is heading from high fashion to the Hamptons social swirl. Cutler successfully pitched Warner Bros on the feature film Au Pairs, an adaptation of the Melissa de la Cruz novel  about three teenage girls from different…

Oy, now there’s even more about Oscar badmouthing, and this is even more unimportant. I’ve learned that Hurt Locker financier and producer Nicolas Chartier today admitted to Summit Entertainment he sent more emails about Avatar. But these weren’t mass mailings to Oscar voters; rather, they were simply individual…

EXCLUSIVE: I've learned that Summit Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights for The Three Musketeers, a 3-D period adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas novel that will be directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. Constantin Films and Impact Pictures are producing a film that will be shot in "real 3-D." The action…

From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler: You wait ages for one cozy class-bound drama to come along again, and then two come along at the same time. Bit like London buses really. The BBC this week announced it has signed a deal with PBS to remake that classic ITV drama Upstairs, Downstairs, which told the story of the…

From Deadline|London editor Tim Adler: There’s a great scoop in this morning’s Times of London but it’s bad news for American television producers: the BBC could have 1/3 less to spend on importing Hollywood TV shows such as Mad Men and Heroes. That’s because the BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, is to try…

Some snarkster sent this to me a few days ago. I think it deserves equal time since Nicolas Chartier’s email has gotten so much publicity: From:  Jake Sully I hope all is well with you. I just wanted to write you and say I hope you liked Avatar and if you did and want us to win, please tell (name deleted) and your…