Compass Leads at Top Spot, Yet Falls Short

(NEWSER) - The Oscars are coming up, but that orgy of self-congratulation doesn’t celebrate what really matters in Hollywood: money. Forbes crunched the numbers for 2008 and selected the winners of a different award: the Rainmaker.

• Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. returned $52.60 to Paramount for every dollar it spent to put him in Iron Man. The sky-high profit was enabled by Downey's then-low asking price, an aftereffect of his years of trouble with drugs and the law.

Small, 'self-involved' clique hands out the awards: NYT critic

(NEWSER) - Oscar night may seem like fun, but it has quietly turned the US market for serious films into a “brutal blood sport,” critic AO Scott writes in the New York Times. The highly commercial fare of January through August is followed by an “avalanche of art” after Labor Day—and those that are released too soon "will bear the stigma of failure," Scott laments. More»

Step closer to Oscar at BAFTA

(NEWSER) - In what many see as a prologue to the Oscars, Atonement was named best film at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards yesterday, and Daniel Day-Lewis won the best actor award for his power performance in There Will Be Blood, reports Variety. In a surprise win French actress Marion Cotillard and her portrayal of chanteuse Edith Piaf beat out Julie Christie for the best actress award. More»

Roscoe Jenkins takes second and Hannah Montana drops to third

(NEWSER) - Movie fans valued Fool’s Gold at $22 million this weekend and made the Matthew McConaughey-Kate Hudson pic tops at the box office, Variety reports. The Martin Lawrence vehicle Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins debuted in second with $17.1 million, and last week’s surprise flick, Hannah Montana, dropped from $31.1 million to $10.5 million and third spot. More»

Here's a look at actors who came of age this year

(NEWSER) - Before No Country for Old Men, Josh Brolin couldn’t get a job. “My most famous role was in The Goonies,” he reflects. Now, scripts are pouring in. Brolin is one of the New York Times’ 15 “breakout” performers of the year. Many, though not all, are newcomers. Others, like Juno’s Ellen Page, are following artistic breakthroughs with commercial ones. Here’s the list: More»