Notícias

2024 was a great year for animation. One of the year's most successful animated movies, The Wild Robot, has recently landed on Netflix.

The DreamWorks Animation movie had a wonderful theatrical run and later continued its success during awards season. The Wild Robot comes from Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon director Chris Sanders, who also co-wrote the story with Peter Brown. Shortly after its release on Netflix, The Wild Robot became a hit and ranked high on the domestic charts, per Tudum.

The Wild Robot premiered on May 24 on Netflix, and it had only one day to make an impact. The animated film debuted in 10th place in the global charts with 3.3 million views and 5.6 million hours viewed. With only one day at its disposal,The Wild Robot achieved strong numbers and was only available in the U.S. and New Zealand.

Since Netflix stopped the count for the week,...

The very moment Jason Isaacs’ Lucius Malfoy is introduced in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, anyone watching the film for the very first time can tell whose father he is. It’s not just the hair, but the way he speaks for the first time; the pride of the ‘pure-bloods’ is dripping from his personality. But he wasn’t there to show off his family’s class; he was there to tell the audience that Draco is just a product of loveless and prideful parenting.

In his latest interview with The Hollywood Reporter, where he appears on the publication’s Awards Chatter podcast, he tells the audience that:

My job wasn’t being in a franchise, my job was trying to explain to the audience why Draco was such a little s*** at school. He came from a loveless home, and I came from a long, unbroken chain of loveless parenting.

Final voting is February 11-18. The 97th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 2, and air live on ABC at 7 p.m. Et/ 4 p.m. Pt. We update our picks throughout awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2025 Oscar predictions.

The State of the Race

The Best Sound Oscar nominees are “A Complete Unknown,” “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Pérez,” “Wicked” and “The Wild Robot.” After taking the Mpse Golden Reel Awards for feature/effects and foley from the sound editors, “Dune: Part Two” is now the favorite over “Wicked” (which grabbed the Mpse music editing award) and “A Complete Unknown” (which captured the Cas Award for live action sound mixing).

For Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two,” the sound team was led by Gareth John, Richard King, Ron Bartlett, and Doug Hemphill. “Dune” won the Best Sound Oscar, but the sequel was more action-driven with lots of battles on Arrakis,...

Winners were widely spread across genres at the 72nd annual Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards on Sunday, celebrating sound editing, sound design, music editing and Foley artistry across film, television and gaming. The organization awarded its top three honors — feature dialogue/Adr editing, feature effects/Foley and feature music editing — to Saturday Night, Dune: Part Two and Wicked, respectively.

In addition to the standard category recognitions, two honorary awards were also presented at the event, held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, where comedian and actor Patton Oswalt returned as host for a third time. Kevin Costner received the Filmmaker Award, and supervising sound editor Greg Hedgepath, Mpse was recognized with the Career Achievement Award. Additional special guests included local firefighters who were recognized for their heroism in halting the L.A. wildfires.

Both Dune: Part Two and Wicked are up for the sound Oscar this...

Wicked, Dune: Part Two, Saturday Night, The Wild Robot and Emilia Pérez were among the film winners at the Motion Picture Sound Editors‘ 72nd Golden Reel Awards, which were handed out Sunday night at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

FX’s Shōgun, Disney+’ The Penguin, Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building and Netflix’s Ripley and Arcane took TV awards during the ceremony, which honors for outstanding achievement in sound editing, sound design, music editing and foley artistry in film, TV and gaming. See the full winners list below.

Universal’s Wicked scooped the marquee prize for Outstanding Achievement in Music Editing – Feature Motion Picture, with Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two picking up the awards for Feature Effects/Foley. Columbia Pictures’ Saturday Night, won for Feature Dialogue / Adr, and Emilia Pérez received the Feature International award.

The Wild Robot won the Feature Animation prize to continue its...

“Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Perez,” “Wicked,” “The Wild Robot” and “Saturday Night” won one award apiece at the 72nd annual Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards, Sunday at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

In the feature competition of the annual awards, “Dune: Part 2” topped the category for effects and foley: “Saturday Night” collected the trophy for dialogue and Adr; “Wicked,” for music editing; “Emila Perez,” for sound editing in an international feature; and “The Wild Robot,” for sound editing in an animated feature.

The results set up a competitive Oscar race in sound. “Dune: Part Two,” “Emilia Perez,” “Wicked” and “The Wild Robot,” along with “A Complete Unknown” are nominated for the Oscar in sound, which combines sound editing and mixing. On Saturday, the Cinema Audio Society, which represents sound mixing, weighed in, giving its top awards to “A Complete Unknown,” for a live-action feature; and “The Wild Robot,...

“Dune: Part Two” (feature effects/foley), “Wicked” (feature music editing), and “Saturday Night” (feature dialogue/Adr) were the big winners at the 72nd annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards, February 23 at The Ebell of Los Angeles.

The feature international award went to “Emilia Pérez,” the feature animation award belonged to “The Wild Robot” (which has been sweeping the guild and honorary awards), and “The Blue Angels” took the feature documentary prize.

For TV, the Motion Picture Sound Editors honored “Shōgun” (long form dialogue/Adr), “Ripley” (long form effects/foley), “The Penguin” (long form music editing), “Earthsounds” (short form sound editing), and “Only Murders in the Building” (short form music editing).

As previously announced, the Mpse honored Kevin Costner (“Horizon”) with the Filmmaker Award and supervising sound editor Greg Hedgepath (“Twister”) with the Career Achievement Award.

As we head into the Oscar homestretch, “Dune: Part Two” and “Wicked” find themselves in a...

There’s something special about DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot, which earned three Oscar nominations for Animated Feature, Sound and Original Score.

“I knew from the moment I read the book that we had to move in a completely new direction in order to faithfully get this narrative up on the screen,” writer-director Chris Sanders says during a panel for Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees.

One of the more unique aspects of the film is the lack of dialogue, which allowed for more reliance on sound design and score. Even in the beginning of the film, only the main character Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, has dialogue.

“One of my big nitpicks about American animation is that it tends to rely too much on dialogue, and this movie has quite a bit less dialogue [than] typical,” says supervising sound designer Randy Thom. “The great thing about that is that...

The awards season is winding down, the nominations are out and the final stretch of the race that concludes at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood with the 97th annual Oscars is on. That means it’s time for Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees, our annual virtual nominees showcase that kicks off this morning at 9 a.m. Pt.

Click here to sign up for and launch the livestream.

In a season in which the Los Angeles wildfires tragedy have also affected the race — postponing some precursor ceremonies, delaying Oscar voting and the nominations announcement and putting into question whether the large number of voters in the area have had time to even see the movies, much less vote — Contenders offers one-stop shopping for a cross-section of nominated movies and designed to get voters more engaged and excited, and maybe even to catch up in this troubled season.

Although Emilia Pérez...

Universal’s Wicked, Neon’s Anora and Amazon MGM Studios’ Nickel Boys, all nominated in this year’s Best Picture Oscar race, are among the films set to take part in Deadline’s Contenders Film: The Nominees awards showcase on Saturday, February 8 beginning at 9 a.m. Pt.

A total of nine films with a total of 28 Oscar nominations in all will be spotlighted at the event, our annual virtual panel discussion series featuring a cross-section of Oscar-nominated movies and the creatives behind them.

Click here to sign up for the livestream.

The trio of Best Picture nominees will be joined at Contenders this weekend by three films up for the Animated Feature Oscar: Inside Out 2 from Disney/Pixar, 2024’s highest-grossing film at the global box office; Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot; and IFC Films’ Memoir of a Snail. Also in the lineup are National Geographic Documentary Films’ Documentary...

The Wild Robot made history for DreamWorks Animation on Thursday when it received three Oscar nominations: Best Animated Feature (Chris Sanders and Jeff Hermann), Best Score (Kris Bowers), and Best Sound. That’s the most bids ever for a single film in the studio’s 30-year history.

“I could not be more delighted,” director-writer Sanders tells Gold Derby via phone from Japan, where The Wild Robot was “on the verge of opening widely.”

“So many people work on these for such a long time, and this sort of recognition is just so wonderful.”

Sanders is now tied with Pete Docter and Hayao Miyazaki with four nominations in the Best Animated Feature category. Sanders previously contended at the Oscars for Lilo & Stitch (2002), How to Train Your Dragon (2010), and The Croods (2013), and is now looking for his first win.

The Wild Robot is the first DreamWorks Animation title to receive a sound nomination at the Oscars,...

Courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Nominations for the 97th Academy Awards were announced today by actor-writer-comedians Rachel Sennott and Bowen Yang in a virtual presentation that revealed the nominees in all 23 Academy Award categories. The 97th Oscars airs Sunday, 2 March, with the in-person event taking place at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood.

And the nominees are…

Best Picture

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Emilia Pérez

I’m Still Here

Nickel Boys

The Substance

Wicked

Actor In A Leading Role

Adrien Brody - The Brutalist

Timothée Chalamet - A Complete Unknown

Colman Domingo - Sing Sing

Ralph Fiennes - Conclave

Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice

Actor In A Supporting Role

Yura Borisov - Anora

Kieran Culkin - A Real Pain

Edward Norton - A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce - The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong - The Apprentice

Actress In A Leading Role...

Quick Links Why is Here Special? How Does Here Connect to Forrest Gump? Here Got a Disappointing Critical Reception

It takes some time, but at some point, every film will be confronted with its own legacy. Some films see their impact immediately, while others have to wait a while. Early pioneers like The Jazz Singer and The Toll of the Sea introduced sound and technicolor, respectively, and immediately saw the lasting impact of their work as the industry shifted. Canon classics such as Psycho, The Wizard of Oz, and more recent films like Michael Clayton have a similarly impactful legacy within their genres, but it isn't immediately visible in the same way.

Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump is, without a doubt, one of the most well-known and universally loved films out there. Even when confronted with the ridiculously crowded film landscape of 1994, the charming epic managed to woo audiences and critics alike.

What is Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) made of? The plot of “The Wild Robot” answers this in a dramatic, metaphorical way, once Roz is stranded on an island with no humans to care for but nonetheless stumbles her way into rearing a gosling named Brightbill (Kit Connor) and preparing him for migration. But just physically, what is Roz made out of, and what sort of abilities does she have?

That second question isn’t just a matter for the script or the character design process but for the sound team, too. Sound designers can create all the sounds we hear from scratch in a live-action context, of course — everything from Foley to Adr can replace the production sound captured on the day. But in animation, sound can do even more storytelling work, giving us the sense of a grounded reality no matter how high-flying the animation style, and director Chris Sanders...

Universal premiered the second trailer for “The Wild Robot” at the Annecy Animation Festival on June 11. Adapted from Peter Brown’s illustrated book and directed by Chris Sanders, the sci-fi adventure concerns a robot called Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), washed ashore on an uninhabited island, who must adapt and live among the animals, especially after adopting an orphaned gosling bird.

Also contributing voice performances are Pedro Pascal as Fink the fox, Catherine O’Hara as Pinktail the opossum, Bill Nighy as Longneck the goose, Kit Connor as Brightbill the gosling, and Stephanie Hsu as Vontra the robot, as well as Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, and Mark Hamill.

Fully animated at DreamWorks, “The Wild Robot” explores the relationship between technology and nature. For this, DreamWorks embraced an impressionistic 2D aesthetic (inspired by Tyrus Wong’s legendary watercolor backgrounds in “Bambi” and Hayao Miyazaki’s lush forests), expanding on the tech the studio created...

One of the most underrated and appreciated aspects of any project is its sound design. Music and sound effects are what bring life to any film, and despite this, they are given the least amount of credit when a film is being made. Although, in some way, this department is supposed to hide in the shadows, John Williams still managed to shine in the Star Wars franchise.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi I LucasFilm

Over the years, he has worked as a composer for every single iconic project from the franchise, as well as others outside its world. The best example of his genius would be the 1983 film, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, where he had to join hands with two other legends, Ben Burtt and Randy Thom.

During the production of the film, it would seem that one scene in particular got a little too funny for...

While many celebrate the groundbreaking visual effects of the Star Wars series when it was released, few know that the sci-fi franchise also introduced many new techniques and revolutionized the sound design and mixing industry. George Lucas established Skywalker Sound (then Sprocket Systems) to work on the sound design of his epic franchise.

Sound designers of Skywalker Sound were reportedly involved early on in the Star Wars sequels as Lucas wanted specific sounds for the films. These included creating sounds for the tech such as lightsabers and robots as well as for the animals and creatures featured. The designers recounted how one old Mongolian woman laid the foundation for Ewoks.

An 80-Year-Old Woman Laid The Foundation For Ewoks in Star Wars A still from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi | Credits: Lucasfilm

The Ewoks were reportedly created by George Lucas as he wanted a primitive tribe to bring down the technologically advanced Galactic Empire.

The Star Wars franchise gained its iconic status in Hollywood thanks to the genius vision of pioneering filmmaker George Lucas who set the benchmark when it came to the sci-fi genre. Lucas was also fortunate to have a strong team of technical experts who brought his ambitious ideas to life on screen.

A scene from Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi (image credit: LucasFilm)

Sound designers Ben Burtt and Randy Thom who created the entire soundscape for the franchise, were expectedly crucial to the narratives. Speaking about the extensive research that went into creating unique languages and sounds for the non-human characters, Burtt revealed the out-of-the-box process they used to arrived at the now recognizable language of Jabba The Hutt.

How Jabba The Hutt’s Iconic Speech Patterns Were Perceived And Created

Creating Star Wars is undoubtedly a task of Herculean proportions that only a visionary like George Lucas could have achieved.

Lightsabers' iconic sound: interlocking motors hum, enhanced by old TV tube noise and dry ice clashing. Actor's favorite! At-at march: stamping feet are metal shearing machines, rhythmic engine sound from an oil derrick. Tie Fighters are just elephants! Wookiee speech made of 4 bears, lion, badger, and walrus. R2-D2's voice required a year of work and experimentation - a real performance!

How were some of the most memorable and iconic sounds in the Star Wars original trilogy made? We tend to underestimate the importance of sound effects when making movies, but the best sound engineers spend months and perhaps even years looking for just the right sound. When George Lucas began work on the Star Wars original trilogy, he hired some real trailblazers - including sound engineer Ben Burtt. Since then, Burtt and his team have constantly done the rounds, revealing secrets of their stunning sound effects.

Fans may often wonder how lightsabers work,...

Christmas movies are one of the most beloved genres in cinema history with every film fan having their own select favorite that they watch and rewatch every year. However, while the genre is treasured, the Oscars haven’t rewarded it as much as you might think or hope. There are several movies, however, that have found their way into Oscars lineups. We’ve detailed just five of those Christmas movies that have managed Oscar nominations or wins.

By the way, “The Apartment” is not included on this list (but might be in a future article). The Billy Wilder movie won five Academy Awards including Best Picture (1961) but there seems to be debate around whether it actually qualifies as a Christmas movie or not. It’s set during the holiday period, but some feel that isn’t enough for it to be an out-and-out Christmas movie. Perhaps that’s one for our forums.

The Motion Picture Sound Editors said today that Supervising Sound Editor/Sound Designer Dane A. Davis will receive its 2024 Career Achievement Award during its 71st annual Golden Reel Awards in March.

Davis is known for his Oscar winning work on The Matrix, and for his creative contributions to that film’s sequels and scores of other films and television shows.

“With his work on The Matrix, Dane Davis set a new standard for how to use sound to create worlds, add impact to stories, and arouse the emotions of the audience,” said Mpse President Mark Lanza. “Since then, he has continued to innovate across features, animation, television, and other mediums. We are excited to recognize his unique accomplishments with our annual Career Achievement Award.”

Davis has been a sound designer and sound editor for more than 40 years with over 180 film, television, and game credits. Along with his Oscar for The Matrix,...

“32 Sounds,” an immersive and experiential documentary, has sold North American rights to Abramorama following its premiere at Sundance Film Festival.

The movie, which explores the phenomenon of sound through 32 specific sonic experiences, will begin its nationwide theatrical rollout at New York City’s Film Forum on April 28.

To complete the unique auditory experience, several venues, including Film Forum, will offer audience members individual sets of headphones so they can watch “32 Sounds” the way the filmmaker intended.

“32 Sounds” had its world premiere at Sundance, where it played to positive reviews. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge wrote that the movie is “bursting with humor, emotion and curiosity” and praised it as a “rare and rewarding sonic journey with the potential to enrich our lives.”

London-based sales agent and financier Architect are handling international sales and introduced 32 Sounds to distributors during last month’s EFM.

Directed and written by Sam Green...

Motion Picture Sound Editors spread the wealth at the 70th Golden Reel Awards, its first in-person ceremony since the start of the pandemic, held in a new venue, L.A.’s Wilshire Ebell Theatre.

In the feature competition, winners included the teams from Top Gun: Maverick, for effects and Foley; Elvis, for music editing; All Quiet on the Western Front, for a foreign language film; and in a surprise, The Banshees of Inisherin, for dialogue and Adr.

A day after winning the PGA and top Annie Awards, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio collected the prize for sound editing in an animated feature. In nonfiction filmmaking, Good Night Oppy won the category for sound editing in feature documentary; and Moonage Daydream, for music editing in a feature doc.

All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis and Maverick, along with Avatar: The Way of Water and The Batman are Oscar nominated for sound,...

In honor of May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day, Apple has released “Behind the Mac: Skywalker Sound.”

The short film, which can be viewed on Apple’s YouTube channel, takes viewers behind the scenes at the iconic company that has continuously revolutionized the art of cinematic sound. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, the film follows foley artists, sound designers and mixers at the ranch’s community of creators as they explore the possibilities of sound and share the secrets behind legendary moments from the “Star Wars” universe and beyond.

The cast is a lineup of sound royalty, including Al Nelson, André Fenley, Baihui Yang, Bonnie Wild, Chris Scarabosio, Danielle Dupre, Matthew Wood, Randy Thom, Ryan Frias, Shelley Roden and Tom Myers.

Audiences will be able to see Wild break down a key scene from “The Mandalorian,” while Fenley talks about the “Jurassic Park” roars and Myers gets emotional breaking down...

The American Cinema Editors gathered with production designers, set decorators and more as a sign of solidarity to push the Academy for inclusivity as they look ahead to the 2023 Academy Awards.

Releasing a video statement that opens with a quote from director Francis Ford Coppola, “The essence of cinema is editing,” the editors addressed the Academy’s decision to trim eight categories from the main broadcast and pre-record the winning speeches in the “Golden Hour.”

The message was direct, “We feel cheated, insulted and angry by the way our art was deemed superfluous in favor of bloated performances and spectacle.” As they pleaded with other crafts to join in the call, they asked that in the future their voice be included in the conversation, “Give us a voice in this process. Let us work together to find a solution that truly honors filmmaking and assure this never happens again.”

Leading up to the Oscars,...

Dozens of sound designers, engineers and mixers have signed a petition protesting the Academy’s decision to award the sound Oscar during its pre-telecast hour on Sunday.

A source close to the sound branch also revealed that guild members are planning on wearing their guild badges upside down as a form of silent protest over the demotion of crafts at the Oscars.

Karol Urban, President of the Cinema Audio Society confirmed the protest might go one step further. In a statement, Urban said, “This weekend, the Oscars may be turned upside down as we may see winners from all categories accept their Oscars upside down in a silent show of solidarity with the eight affected categories. We are all filmmakers of equal importance.”

More than 80 people, including 16 Academy Award winners, signed the letter to the Academy, which is posted in full below.

“As a community of sound artists, we respectfully...

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the largest union representing behind-the-scenes workers in North America, has joined the growing number of critics expressing their disapproval of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to pre-record eight craft categories at the Oscars.

The eight categories to be aired retroactively as part of the awards broadcast on March 27 include film editing, make-up and hairstyling, production design, animated short and sound.

The statement released by IATSE President Matthew Loeb said, “By the nature of our jobs, behind the scenes, workers get little recognition as is, despite being the backbone of every production. The Academy Awards has been virtually the only venue where the very best on and off the big screen, above and below the line gather to honor each other’s incredible contributions through their crafts, inspiring millions who tune into the TV Broadcast in the process. We...

The hardest blow is the feeling that their work doesn’t matter as much as other filmmaking disciplines. That was the sentiment shared by a panel of veteran artisans who represent the craft categories that will no longer be presented live at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony on March 27.

“What offends me is that somebody in the Academy would claim to or imply that they know which crafts are more important and more deserving of respect than time than other crafts,” said Randy Thom, a two-time Oscar winner for sound. Thom was among the participants in the “Variety Artisans: Special Report” virtual panel, moderated by Jazz Tangcay, Variety‘s Senior Artisans Editor, to examine the fallout from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ decision to reformat the Oscars ceremony this year.

Like the other panelists, Thom is no stranger to the Academy Awards. He’s been nominated...

Variety will shine a spotlight on the controversy over changes to this year’s Academy Awards telecast with a virtual panel featuring Oscar winners and current nominees in the award categories that will be removed from the live telecast.

“Variety Artisans: Special Report” will be available for viewing Friday, March 4 on Variety.com. Moderated by Jazz Tangcay, Senior Artisans Editor for Variety, the lineup features past Oscar winners and current nominees in the eight craft- and technology-focused categories that will no longer be presented live as part of ABC’s March 27 telecast of the 94th Academy Awards.

“Variety pioneered deep coverage of the artisans of the entertainment world back in the 1990s. Every year we’ve increased our commitment to insightful crafts coverage and broadening readers’ understanding of its importance to the entertainment arts,” said Steven Gaydos, Variety’s executive vice president of global content. “Behind the current headlines about the 2022 Oscar telecast changes,...

One of the “great things” about doing sound design for animated films is that one is involved from the early stages of production, says sound veteran Randy Thom, an Academy Award winner for The Incredibles and sound designer and rerecording mixer on Sony Pictures Animation’s Vivo. “The filmmakers really need sound in their early experiments to see how scenes are going to work when all they have visually is storyboards.”

For Vivo, which debuted this summer on Netflix, that included vocalizations for the title character, a kinkajou voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. “Vivo speaks English some of the time,...

One of the “great things” about doing sound design for animated films is that one is involved from the early stages of production, says sound veteran Randy Thom, an Academy Award winner for The Incredibles and sound designer and rerecording mixer on Sony Pictures Animation’s Vivo. “The filmmakers really need sound in their early experiments to see how scenes are going to work when all they have visually is storyboards.”

For Vivo, which debuted this summer on Netflix, that included vocalizations for the title character, a kinkajou voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. “Vivo speaks English some of the time,...

The Motion Picture Sound Editors are out with nominations for the 68th annual Golden Reel Awards, which recognize sound artists in 22 categories spanning film, TV, toons, computer entertainment and student productions.

Eight films will vie in the marquee Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Feature Underscore category: The Invisible Man, The Midnight Sky, News of the World, Sound of Metal, Tenet, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Wonder Woman 1984.

Winners will be announced during an international virtual trophy ceremony on Friday, April 16.

The Golden Reels also will honor Mad Max franchise director George Miller with the 2021 Mpse Filmmaker Award.

“We’re very excited about this year’s Mpse Golden Reel Awards,” Mpse president Mark Lanza said. “It will feature a dynamic, virtual format that will be great fun and allow people from around the world to participate. We will have presenters from every part of the globe along with many other surprises.

Darius Marder’s innovative “Sound of Metal” and Paul Greengrass’ “News of the World” western each grabbed three sound editing nominations at the 68th annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards (which will be held virtually on April 16). “Sound of Metal,” the frontrunner, captures Riz Ahmed’s heavy-metal drummer slowly losing his hearing, while “News of the World” creates the shootouts, sandstorms, and rainstorms that assault Tom Hanks on his journey in post-Civil War Texas. The Academy has consolidated sound editing and mixing onto a single category for the first time this season.

Several features scored two nominations: “Tenet,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” and “Greyhound.” Also making the cut were “Mank,” “The Midnight Sky,” “The Invisible Woman,” “Nomadland,””Wonder Woman 1984,” “Emperor,” and “Cherry.”

Feature musical nominees included “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” The Prom,” “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of the Fire Saga,” “The High Note,...

The Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse) have announced the nominations for the 68th Annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards.

“Sound of Metal,” “News of the World” and “Wonder Woman 1984” are among the nominees. “Sound of Metal,” a frontrunner in the Oscar race for best sound, leads the way with three nominations for outstanding achievement in sound editing including feature effects/foley, feature dialogue/Adr and feature underscore.

Elsewhere, Netflix’s “Better Call Saul” landed three nominations, and freshman shows “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Ted Lasso” also scored nominations.

“We’re very excited about this year’s Mpse Golden Reel Awards. It will feature a dynamic, virtual format that will be great fun and allow people from around the world to participate,” said Mpse president Mark Lanza. “We will have presenters from every part of the globe along with many other surprises. Most importantly, this will be an opportunity to celebrate...

“Every movie presents new challenges,” admits veteran sound designer Randy Thom about the bespoke nature of mapping out the soundscape of every new project. “George’s expectations for this movie were very high,” he explains. “What is space going to sound like? What the really severe, terrible Arctic Earthbound experience going to sound like?” Watch our exclusive video interview with Thom above.

Ever since starting out as a fledgling sound effects artisan on “The Empire Strikes Back” back in 1980, Thom has amassed over 50 credits as one of the most prolific sound designers in Hollywood, racking up a staggering 15 Oscar nominations, including two wins; for Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. Notwithstanding his vast experience and knowledge in the field, Thom says that, like every film before it, “The Midnight Sky” posed new demands that required innovation and problem solving.

See Exclusive Video Interview: Alexandre Desplat (‘The Midnight Sky’ composer’)

“The Midnight Sky...

Space and silence are the structural bones of Netflix’s “The Midnight Sky.” Still, the spirit and heart are fixed within its visual decorations and taut narrative that allows director, producer and star George Clooney to examine uncharted and personal territories. Based on the book “Good Morning, Midnight” by Lily Brooks-Dalton, there’s a compelling case to be made that “The Midnight Sky” is his finest hour, both in direction and performance. He assembles an impeccable crafts team, all of which could dominate the below-the-line Oscar categories, even leaping to the front of a few. When a movie has a strong chance of dominating multiple technical races, nominations for best director and picture are usually not too far off. As movie theaters remain absent from the film-watching experience, the alluring drama is as close to “home” as you can feel in 2020.

The film tells Augustine’s post-apocalyptic story (Clooney), a...

After a delay of seven years, The Croods are back. The Stone Age family consisting of Grug (Nicolas Cage), Ugga (Catherine Keener), Eep (Emma Stone), Thunk (Clark Duke), Gran (Cloris Leachman), Sandy (Randy Thom), and Guy (Ryan Reynolds) have returned in the new trailer for Dreamworks Animation and Universal Pictures' The Croods: A New Age. The sequel finds the Crood family encountering the Bettermans, a much more modern family who live in an idyllic walled-in paradise full of elaborate…...

The trailer for “The Croods: A New Age,” the sequel to the hit 2013 DreamWorks Animation film about a family of cave-dwellers, has dropped. The movie is scheduled to open theatrically on November 25 from Universal Pictures. Joining the original voice cast including Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke, Randy Thom, and Cloris Leachman will be Leslie Mann, Kelly Marie Tran, and Peter Dinklage. Watch the trailer below.

Mann, Tran, and Dinklage play another caveman family, known as the Bettermans, who pose the biggest threat to the Croods since leaving their cave. The Bettermans (emphasis on the “better”) — with their elaborate tree house, amazing inventions, and irrigated acres of fresh produce — are a couple of steps above the Croods on the evolutionary ladder. When they take the Croods in as the world’s first houseguests, it isn’t long before tensions escalate between the cave family and the modern family.

The list of candidates for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 2020-2021 Board of Governors has been unveiled to members.

Voting begins on June 1 and ends on June 5.

Candidates run for three-year terms with a maximum of three terms. Each branch has three seats on the board. Only one of those seats is open each year because terms are staggered.

The candidates were posted on the Academy members’ portal on Friday afternoon. Below is the complete list (divided by branch) of those running for spots on the board.

Actors

Michael Lee Aday

Ed Begley, Jr.

Robert Carradine

Nicolas Coster

Colman Domingo

Richard Dreyfuss

Spencer Garrett

Bruce Glover

Whoopi Goldberg (incumbent)

James Keach

Stacy Keach

Peter Wong

Jodi Long

Tim Matheson

Joe Pantoliano

Lou Diamond Phillips

Andrea Riseborough

Andrew Stevens

Rita Wilson

Casting Directors

Kerry Barden

Richard Hicks

Margery Simkin

Debra Zane

Cinematographers

Andrzej Bartkowiak

Richard P. Crudo

Svetlana Cvetko...

Updated, writethru: Ladj Ly’s Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize laureate Les Misérables was the big winner at Friday night’s 45th annual César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, including taking the top honor of Best Film. The night unfolded, however, under tumultuous conditions owing to controversy surrounding Roman Polanski, whose An Officer and a Spy was the leading nominee going in with 12 mentions.

The filmmaker was not in attendance, but his film won three prizes including Best Director — an occurrence that caused walkouts from the Salle Pleyel, which earlier in the evening had been the site of protests by feminist organizations.

Scroll down for full list of César winners.

Polanski on Thursday said he would not attend the local industry’s biggest night. “Activists are threatening me with a public lynching. Some have called for demonstrations, others are planning to make it a platform,” he said. “This...

The 45th César Awards ceremony took place on Friday, February 28, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris to honor the best in French cinema of 2019 — and at a fractious moment for the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma. The event was emceed by French comedian Florence Foresti, with actress Sandrine Kiberlain presiding. See the full list of winners below.

Earlier this month, the entire board of directors of the French academy announced their planned resignation after the publication of an open letter from hundreds of members calling for a complete overhaul of the organization. The announcement unspooled in the wake of allegedly dodgy financial practices, an overall lack of transparency, and the repeated omission of filmmakers Claire Denis and Virginie Despentes from the Academy’s annual Dîner des Révélations event, focused on emerging talent. The young guests are asked to nominate talent they’d like to see at the event,...

Throughout the year, The Hollywood Reporter's Behind the Screen has featured conversations with creative talent behind movies that could factor in this year's Oscar race.

Here's a chance to catch up on some of those discussions.

Cinematography

Joker with cinematographer Lawrence Sher

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with cinematographer Robert Richardson

1917 with director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins

The Goldfinch with cinematographer Roger Deakins

John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum with director Chad Stahelski and cinematographer Dan Laustsen

Score

Harriet with composer Terence Blanchard

Yesterday with Daniel Pemberton

Sound Editing And Mixing

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with supervising sound editor Wylie Stateman and production sound mixer ...

The Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse) made some noise today as they revealed the extensive list of nominees for the 67th Annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards. The nominees are a representation of the work of the world’s most talented sound artists and their contributions to the past year’s most outstanding feature film, television, animation, computer entertainment and student productions.

“Sound artists continue to push boundaries for artistry and technical achievement in entertainment sound,” said Mpse president Tom McCarthy. “This year’s nominees represent the best work in sound across films, television, games, documentaries and other media. On behalf of The Motion Picture Sound Editors, I would like to congratulate all the nominees for their outstanding contributions to the art of sound.”

The Mpse Golden Reel Awards will give shine to outstanding achievement in sound editing in a staggering 23 categories encompassing feature films, television, animation, computer entertainment and student work.

The Motion Picture Sound Editors (Mpse) will honor Academy Award-winning supervising sound editor Cecelia “Cece” Hall with its 2020 Mpse Career Achievement Award at the 67th Annual Mpse Golden Reel Awards ceremony which will take place in Los Angeles on January 19, 2020.

Hall has worked on several iconic films in her career. In 1987, she received an Oscar nomination for sound editing on Top Gun and won the Oscar four years later for The Hunt for Red October. She served for many years as senior vice president for post-production sound at Paramount Pictures and currently teaches sound design at UCLA. Hall has also earned two Mpse Golden Reel and was elected president of the Mpse in 1984, the first woman to hold that office. On top of that, she served on the executive committee of the sound branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for seven years.

“Cece Hall is one...

The Cinema Audio Society revealed that they will honor Oscar and Emmy-winning Sound Mixer Tom Fleischman, Cas with the Cas Career Achievement Award, the organization’s highest accolade. Fleischman will be presented with the honor at the 56th Cas Awards which will take place January 25, 2020, at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown.

“I am delighted to announce the selection of Tom Fleischman by the Cas for our Career Achievement Honoree at this year’s 56th Annual Cas Awards,” said Cas President Karol Urban. “Tom is a world-renowned sound mixer with a portfolio of over 190 films and over 20 television projects.”

She continued, “It is hard to be a fan of the small or large screen without having experienced the work of this talented sound artist. Whether collaborating with Martin Scorsese or mixing rare footage of some of the world’s most renowned musical artists, Tom is a powerhouse professionally as well as...

In today’s film news roundup, “A Star Is Born” gets an Imax release, Oscar winner Stephen Flick gets an honor and Jeremy Renner’s “Arctic Dogs” is set for a 2019 release.

IMAX Release

Awards contender “A Star Is Born” has been set for a one-week Imax release beginning on Dec. 7 — the first time the Lady Gaga-Bradley Cooper drama has been shown in the large-screen format.

Warner Bros. Pictures, Live Nation Productions and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures made the announcement on Monday. The showings will include “The Road to Stardom,” an exclusive look at the making of “A Star Is Born,” featuring Cooper and Gaga, both of whom also wrote and produced many of the film’s songs, and performed them live for the movie.

Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, said, “Securing premium Imax screens in this competitive holiday window, 10 weeks into release,...

Several of this year’s sound contenders explored battles and other action in a retro fashion very different from the usual superhero mayhem. They include the World War II arenas of “Hacksaw Ridge” and “Allied,” as well as the grittier “Star Wars” battles in “Rogue One”; the terrorist bombing of “Patriots Day”; the miracle on the Hudson in “Sully”; and the unique Indian presence of “The Jungle Book.”

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”

To comply with director Gareth Edwards’ desire for a grittier “Star Wars” movie, sound editors Matthew Wood and Christopher Scarabosio created a new kind of soundscape. “We tried to make it more war-like than a classic ‘Star Wars’ battle,” Scarabosio told IndieWire. “Obviously there are lasers but we were going for impacts that were more realistic, more like you would hear when a bullet hits a tree or some kind of container, and of sand kicking up.

We’re pleased to be sharing this podcast conversation with legendary editor Walter Murch, conducted by Glenn Kiser and including questions from other leading sound designers including Randy Thom, Gary Rydstrom, and Ren Klyce, for the Dolby Institute Conversations with Sound Artists series. In this first part, he discusses documentaries’ effects on contemporary films, as well as aspects of his work on four of his most famous films: Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The Godfather and The English Patient. We’ll post part two of the podcast tomorrow.

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We're sad to report that Erik Bauersfeld, the voice actor famous for playing Admiral Ackbar in two Star Wars movies, has passed away.

Erik Bauersfeld may not have been a household name, but he made a major contribution to the Star Wars universe. In 1983's Return Of The Jedi, he provided the voices of Bib Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar, the latter being the amphibious Rebel commander famous for his oft-quoted line, "It's a trap!" Bauersfeld reprised the latter role in last year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where Ackbar helped organise a Resistance assault on the Starkiller Base. 

We're now sorry to report that Bauersfeld passed away peacefully at his Berkeley, California home at the age of 93. 

Before Star Wars came calling, Bauersfeld worked as a director at the radio station Kpfa in California, before moving to Lucasfilm to work with sound designer Randy Thom on a...

The Star Wars franchise lost a beloved figure over the weekend, with actor Erik Bauersfeld, who voiced Admiral Ackbar, passing away at the age of 93. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed through Derek Maki, Erik Bauersfeld's manager, that the actor died Sunday morning at his home in Berkeley, California. While he was also an accomplished radio dramatist, he will be most remembered for voicing the Mon Calimari Rebel commander Admiral Ackbar, and his iconic line "It's a trap!"

Tim Rose Physically played Admiral Ackbar in both Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi and the current blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which has taken in over $2 billion at the box office. But the character's voice was provided by Erik Bauersfeld in both movies. He also voiced Bib Fortuna, one of Jabba the Hut's employees in Return of the Jedi, while voicing Admiral Ackbar in the 1993 flight simulator video game Star Wars: X-Wing.