Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Guardians Of The Galaxy took the top film honors tonight at the Art Directors Guild’s 19th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Birdman took the Contemporary Film prize, The Grand Budapest Hotel won for Period Film and Guardians Of The Gal…

Screenwriter Graham Moore and author Andrew Hodges have won the 27th annual USC Libraries Scripter Award for The Imitation Game, based on Hodges' book Alan Turing: The Enigma. The winners were announced tonight at a black-tie gala at the Edward L. Doheny Memorial Library on the USC campus. The Scripter Award…

We have an animated Oscar front-runner, ladies and gentlemen. How To Train Your Dragon 2 dominated the 42nd annual Annie Awards tonight. The DreamWorks Animation sequel won Best Animated Feature, Best Director for Dean DeBlois and four other trophies during the ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Its two studio rivals…

DreamWorks Animation’s highflying sequel How To Train Your Dragon 2 sailed away with the big prize tonight at the 42nd annual Annie Awards. Writer-director Dean DeBlois‘ film scored a leading six trophies, including Director and Best Animation Feature over the other four Oscar nominees in the category and snubbed…

UPDATED with details and quotes: The Sundance Film Festival awards ceremony tonight in Park City saw a dramatic dual decision and strong political voices to put a cap on a hot-deals festival. Like last year, when Whiplash took both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award on its way to an Best…

Birdman landed four wins including Best Film tonight at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts’ fourth annual AACTA International Awards for film in Los Angeles. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s film, which went in with a leading seven nominations, also won Best Direction, Screenplay and Lead Actor…

There’s a lot on the line tonight for the Best Animated Feature nominees at the 42nd annual Annie Awards. The champion should be considered the favorite to win the Oscar next month, as nine of the 13 winners since the Best Animated Feature Oscar category was introduced also took the top prize at the Annies. That…

Lots of talk today about the controversy behind American Sniper during a screenwriters panel featuring seven Oscar nominees at the 30th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The key points in that regard were powerfully made by Sniper’s Academy Award and WGA-nominated writer, Jason Hall who succinctly…

EXCLUSIVE: Upstart distributor Broad Green has gotten on the acquisitions board big time, just before they begin giving out prizes that concludes the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The distributor has paid a whopping high-seven-figure P&A commitment for A Walk In The Woods, the Ken Kwapis-directed drama that stars…

UPDATE: This deal, which hit mid- to high-six figures I’m told, is in the books. Release below. EXCLUSIVE: In a fitting climax to one of the most vibrant deal-heavy Sundance Film Festivals in memory, Bleecker Street is wrapping up an acquisition of I’ll See You In My Dreams, the Brett Haley-directed drama that…

Nearly 25 years ago, producer Christine Vachon's first film Poison won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Since that Todd Haynes pic, she hasn't snagged the award again, but this year Vachon and Pamela Koffler's Killer Films was back in Park City to celebrate 20 solid years as an indie…

HBO has acquired U.S. television rights to director Marc Silver's 3 1/2 Minutes, a documentary about the shooting death of black teenager Jordan Davis and the subsequent trial of his killer, Michael Dunn. The docu premiered in the U.S. Documentary Competition at Sundance and will debut on HBO in late fall…