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Global Cinema Blockbuster Hits(Photo Credit –Prime Video)

Box office records are like shifting sands, always moving, always reshaping cinema history. Every few decades, a film arrives that doesn’t just entertain but redefines what’s possible commercially. Whether through technological innovation, sweeping love stories, intergalactic battles, or groundbreaking effects, these films create cultural events that bring people to theatres in droves. Some dominate for years, others are surpassed swiftly, but all of them, at some point, claimed the same title: the highest-grossing movie of all time.

This title isn’t just about bragging rights, it’s a reflection of a film’s reach and the evolution of cinema itself. From hand-painted reels of the early 20th century to CGI spectacles of today, the list of box office kings tells a parallel story of filmmaking innovation and audience taste. And while the numbers keep climbing, only a rare few have worn the crown.

Which 1939 movie still holds an unbeatable box office record? (Photo Credit – Prime Video)

In an era of billion-dollar blockbusters, IMAX screens, and global releases spanning over 100 countries, it might be easy to assume that the biggest box office hit of all time is a recent CGI-heavy spectacle. Films like Avatar and Avengers: Endgame have dominated headlines and shattered records since their release and are hailed as the pinnacle of cinematic commercial success. But when the numbers are adjusted for inflation, the true champion isn’t blue-skinned aliens or Marvel superheroes. It’s a sweeping epic from 1939 that continues to wear the crown.

Released more than eight decades ago, Gone with the Wind still stands at the summit of box office history when ticket sales are calculated with inflation factored in. It was a cinematic phenomenon in its time, and its popularity has endured across generations, despite the cultural conversations it continues to ignite.

Exploring how the power of storytelling in historical fiction deepens our understanding of the complexities of real-world history. Not to be confused with Alternate History, which focuses on a slight yet impactful change in our historical timeline, nor with the Historical Drama that attempts to make actual historical events more entertaining and dramatic. Historical Fiction still maintains a historical setting, borrowing the era’s manners, events, and social context to create a fictional narrative in order to educate and offer a unique perspective on a particular moment of Human History. While many view the genre negatively due to the titled historical inaccuracy, the Historical Fiction genre still is able to act as a unique form of educational entertainment. Not only giving audiences a glimpse into how life was in certain eras gone by outside from the nobility and those embedded into the pages of the history books, but it also...

Vivien Leigh was the two-time Oscar winner who made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. Let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.

She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the relatively unknown thespian beat out the likes of Bette Davis, Claudette Colbert,...

British director Alfred Hitchcock adapted many books in his career. Had the dice landed differently, Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's 1925 diatribe, might have joined the list of his crowded filmography. As explored in Hitchcock and Selznick, producer David O. Selznick jumped at the chance to obtain the US film rights days after Pearl Harbor with the Title Registration Bureau. Sensing war with Germany was imminent, he outlined a war picture written by Ben Hecht and directed by Hitchcock. What direction the independent producer intended to take the source material remains a mystery.

Hitchcock was in his prime, coming off of his US debut Rebecca. Like Hitchcock, Selznick was no slouch when it came to transforming must-reads into blockbuster movies. Selznick was the hottest producer, having masterminded Gone With the Wind, but choosing the idiot who wrote Mein Kampf as his next subject presented problems ultimately insurmountable. Finally outfitted with a budget commensurate with his talent,...

John Wayne is an American institution, and that's kind of a pity. The films he made from the 1930s through the 1970s all presented what many consider the most persistent cinematic archetypes of old-world machismo. Wayne was a symbol of stalwart, unbending manliness, a testament to the power of being gruff and insoluble. It is, however, hard to accept him as a positive role model when one recalls how bigoted he was in life. Every few years, his 1971 interview with Playboy Magazine resurfaces and a new crowd discovers Wayne vaunting the values of white supremacy and flippantly excoriating minorities.

He also, in that interview, talked about the moral righteousness of his old Westerns, saying that Europeans were in the right for stealing American land from the First Nation people. He was pretty despicable.

But he was also one of the biggest movie stars of all time, and cinema lovers have...

Victor Fleming's Gone with the Wind is an award-winning film, but it is also a controversial one due to its depiction of enslaved people and the Civil War. Adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell, the film stars Vivien Leigh as Scarlett OHara, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Thomas Mitchell as George OHara, and Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes.

David O. Selznick, one of the most famous producers in Hollywood history, almost passed on his most famous movie.

According to Time, Selznick's story editor, Kay Brown, found author Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" and tried to convince the producer to adapt it into a movie. (You can read her actual note to him here.) But when Selznick first read the synopsis and realized it was a Civil War story, he passed on the project, reportedly because it was too similar to a movie he had recently made, 1935's "So Red the Rose," which was a financial disappointment. No trailers for "So Red the Rose" are available on YouTube or any other legal streaming platform, but this tribute video contains some footage from the film. Watching that, it's easy to see why Selznick may have been hesitant to greenlight "Gone with the Wind" -- there are plenty of surface-level similarities,...

This story about university curriculum first appeared in the College Issue of TheWrap magazine.

“Take a good look, my dear. It’s a historic moment you can tell your grandchildren about—how you watched the Old South fall one night.” That’s perhaps not the most famous line from the 1939 classic “Gone With the Wind,” but it’s possibly the most cutting example of the complicated legacy contained within it.

In 2023, how much should one be telling their grandchildren about this film’s knotty endurance, given its revisionist depictions of contented slaves devoted to kind masters in the Civil War-torn South? And what if those grandchildren are currently enrolled in film schools that traditionally have taught “Gone With the Wind” as a prime example of filmmaking prowess?

“Context is so important,” Emily Carman, associate professor of Film and Media Studies in the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University,...

Scarlett's views on marriage are cynical, viewing it as a means to an end rather than a source of happiness and love. Rhett values Scarlett's strength and determination, but their constant bickering and lack of support for each other damages their relationship. The characters in Gone With The Wind struggle with loss, harship, and the changing times, but ultimately, they are resilient and capable of growth.

While it might not be considered a blockbuster today, Gone With The Wind was part of 1939's biggest box office competition, and its quotes are still as insightful, romantic, and witty as they were over 80 years ago. Based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, it follows feisty Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Lee) before, during, and after the Civil War shakes the foundations of the antebellum South. While trying to secure her future as her estate, Tara, crumbles around her, she engages in...

Sometimes when you finish reading a good novel or collection of short stories, you look forward to picking it up again it in a year or two or 20, to reenter its world and discover new wisdom in its powers of observation, new flashes of light in its turns of phrase. Ethan Hawke’s Wildcat casts a similar spell, so rich is it in detail and nuance and creative juice. Drawing upon the distinctive voice of Flannery O’Connor, it’s a sublime portrait of a great writer, a movie I can’t wait to see again for its visual elegance, its electric leaps between an author’s life and her work, and the delicious, playful intensity of all the performances, with Maya Hawke and Laura Linney each taking on a half-dozen interconnected roles.

At one point in Wildcat, Flannery, embodied with terrific wit and feeling by Maya Hawke, rails against the...

While breezy and predictable popcorn flicks are a welcome distraction, they rarely leave viewers with a lasting impression. Certain classical titles, however, have stood the test of time, and are still watched, commented, quoted, and referenced today. Whether featuring a crime syndicate like the gripping The Godfather; a swoon-worthy love confession at dawn like the period drama Pride & Prejudice; a notorious shower murder scene like Hitchcock’s Psycho; a beloved singing family in pre-World War II Austria like The Sound of Music; or an epic showdown sequence like the Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, certain movies were crafted so well that they still endure to this day.

One such film is the 1939 period romance drama Gone with the Wind, based on the best-selling 1936 novel of the same name by Margaret Mitchell. Directed by Victor Fleming and set against the backdrop of the American Civil War and the Reconstruction period,...

EntertainmentWhile Shah Rukh Khan was listed in the ‘Icons’ category, Rajamouli was featured in the ‘Pioneers’ category. Novelist Salman Rushdie also found a spot in the 2023 list of icons.Two loved and celebrated personalities from Indian cinema –Actor Shah Rukh Khan and Director SS Rajamouli– each grabbed a spot in Time magazine’s 2023 list of 100 influential people in the world. While Shah Rukh Khan was listed in the ‘Icons’ category, Rajamouli of Rrr fame was featured in the ‘Pioneers’ category. Booker prize-winning Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie was also featured in the Icons category. Rushie recently survived a brutal attack in August 2022, when he was stabbed more than 10 times, damaging the optic nerve, and resulting in loss of sight in the right eye. In his interview with Time, speaking about his health, the author said, “...The eye is lost. The hand which was badly damaged is recovering quite well with a lot of therapy.

Gone With the Wind will now come with a trigger warning for those affected by descriptions of 19th century slavery in the Deep South.

The Daily Telegraph in the UK reports that publisher Pan Macmillan has decided readers could find depictions of the era “hurtful or indeed harmful,” and is adding a warning to new editions of Margaret Mitchell’s classic novel – published in 1936 and brought to the screen in 1939 starring Vivien Leigh and Clarke Gable as southern belle Scarlett O’Hara and her husband Rhett Butler.

In contract with recent issues of Agatha Christie works – which have been edited to remove content considered objectionable in 2023 – Mitchell’s copy has not been altered, but the warning gives notice of “shocking elements” and “the romanticization of a shocking era in our history.”

It adds: ‘The novel includes the representation of unacceptable practices, racist and stereotypical depictions and troubling themes, characterisation, language and imagery.

“Gone with the Wind” originally had a more fraught relationship with its portrayal of slavery.

The 1939 film has frequently been criticized for its depiction of slavery on a plantation, but Historian David Vincent Kimel reveals the script had a very different approach in several cut key scenes.

In an article for The Ankler, he detailed his explosive finds in his purchase of the 301-page shooting script which included two different schools of thought regarding how to approach history. “Rival groups of screenwriters on the script emerged: ‘Romantics’ and ‘Realists’ who amped up scenes of mistreatment to highlight the brutality of Scarlett’s character and even condemn the institution of slavery itself,” wrote Kimel.

He purchased the script in 2020 for $15,000 and estimates less than a dozen copies remain.

Read More: Olivia de Havilland, ‘Gone With The Wind’ Star, Dead At 104

The film adapted Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel with producer David O. Selznick...

Cinema and literature have a long and successful relationship, with early film being dominated by literary adaptations. Whether it's Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind being adapted by director Victor Fleming into one of Hollywood's greatest movies or the countless early adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula including the Francis Ford Coppola-directed film starring Keanu Reeves and Gary Oldman. Adaptations have been crucial to the development of our favorite art form. Literature allows directors to take an original piece and mold its themes and style onto the big screen, often tackling difficult subject matters and bringing them to a larger and wider audience. Original screenplays allow freedom of creativity, but literary adaptations ground the work in a sense of reality and often the experience of the original author, regularly leading to an emotionally rich and moving experience. Some of world cinema's greatest cinematic successes owe their riches to literary originals,...

John Agar never asked to be a movie star, but when the question is put to you by David O. Selznick, you say yes every damn time.

Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Agar was a physical training instructor for the U.S. Army Air Corps when, in 1945, he found himself at a glitzy party rubbing shoulders with Hollywood's heaviest hitters, as Shirley Temple's date. Selznick, the legendary producer whose dogged determination brought Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" to the big screen, was struck by the handsome, twentysomething, 6'1"  man on the arm of filmdom's most famous child star, and the filmmaker offered him a five-year contract at 150 a week -- that's twice what the Army was paying him. Though he'd never performed before, he signed on and began taking acting lessons.

Three years later, Agar got a chance to prove himself as Second Lieutenant Mickey...

Until recently, the literary pedigree of a motion picture could clear a path to an Oscar nomination and often a win. Best Picture champs such as “No Country for Old Men” (2007), “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) and “The English Patient” (1996) all began their lives on the page in works by Cormac McCarthy, F.X. Toole and Michael Ondaatje, respectively. This year, “White Noise,” Noah Baumbach‘s Netflix film based on Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, is angling for such a Best Picture nomination.

The tradition dates back to the earliest days of the Academy Awards when classic novels were regularly adapted for the screen. The 1930s saw “All Quiet on the Western Front” (by Erich Maria Remarque), “Mutiny on the Bounty” (by Charles Nordoff and James Norman Hall) and “Gone With the Wind” (by Margaret Mitchell) walk off with the top prize. The subsequent decade was also fortunate for novelists, as adaptations of “Rebecca...

San Francisco, Feb 20 (Ians) Google has fired another artificial intelligence (AI) ethics leader Margaret Mitchell who was the the co-lead of its Ethical AI team, following an investigation into her use of corporate email.

According to a report in Axios, Google fired Mitchell after she used an automated script to look through her emails in order to find evidence of discrimination against her coworker Timnit Gebru who was fired earlier.

"Mitchell also posted a tweet critical of Google's handling of Gebru and a subsequent meeting between CEO Sundar Pichai and historically Black college and university leaders," the report said on Friday.

Google said that in a statement that after conducting a review of Mitchell's conduct, "we confirmed that there were multiple violations of our code of conduct, as well as of our security policies, which included the exfiltration of confidential business-sensitive documents and private data of other employees."

Mitchell's firing...

During quarantine, I kicked off my sheltering in place by watching the critically acclaimed Netflix original docuseries Tiger King. I finished the series in three days. Now where in the World will I find a cast of characters to quench my thirst for the same level of white ratcheted ignorance that Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin brought to the screen? I found them in the pages of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Before the murders of Ahmed Aubery and George Floyd, before the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, and before the controversy about whether HBO should air a …...

“Gone With the Wind” is back on HBO Max — with an introductory disclaimer that discuss the historical context of the classic film. WarnerMedia had pulled the movie two weeks ago, citing the need to address its “racist depictions.”

In the intro video, which now plays on HBO Max before the movie starts, Turner Classic Movies host and film scholar Jacqueline Stewart discusses “why this 1939 epic drama should be viewed in its original form, contextualized and discussed.” A second video provided with the title is a one-hour recording of a panel discussion, “The Complicated Legacy of ‘Gone With the Wind,'” from the TCM Classic Film Festival in April 2019, moderated by author and historian Donald Bogle.

Stewart, in the 4:26-minute segment HBO Max also added as an extra feature for “Gone With the Wind,” calls the movie “one of most enduringly popular films of all time.”

At the same time,...

Gone With the Wind is no longer gone from HBO Max, having been restored to the streaming service’s library with a new prologue about the film’s problematic themes and depictionof the antebellum South.

Jacqueline Stewart, host of TCM’s “Silent Sunday Nights” and a professor in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago, leads the four-and-a-half minute intro, which starts off with a general cinematic lesson — recounting the eight Academy Awards (including for Best Picture) won in 1939 by the “highly anticipated” adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel, as well as its inflation-adjusted standing...

HBO Max’s decision to remove Gone with the Wind from their streaming platform kicked up quite a fuss. The action was sparked by an article from 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley, who made a persuasive argument that the movie “doesn’t just ‘fall short’ with regard to representation. It is a film that glorifies the antebellum south. It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.”

Mere hours later, one of the most famous films of all time disappeared from HBO Max. Like most things these days, this sharply divided opinion. Black Lives Matter supporters – many of whom have long criticized the movie for its objectively pretty rosy vision of the slave-owning South – were happy to see it go. Conservatives were not, though, comparing it with book-burning and...

“Gone With the Wind” zipped to the top of Amazon’s best-sellers sales chart for TV and movies, a day after WarnerMedia’s HBO Max pulled the movie for “racist depictions.”

Amazon bases its rankings on sales data. The site currently offers the 70th anniversary two-disc DVD edition of “Gone With the Wind” starting at $29.55, while Amazon Video offers the movie as a digital HD rental at $3.99 and for purchase at $9.99.

Meanwhile, on Apple’s iTunes movie chart for the U.S., “Gone With the Wind” on Wednesday was in the No. 5 spot.

Oscar-winning film “Gone With the Wind” was removed Tuesday from the HBO Max streaming service temporarily. WarnerMedia said it plans to return to the movie to the library, along with a discussion about the historical context for the 1939 movie and a “denouncement” of the movie’s racist stereotypes.

“’Gone With The Wind’ is a product of its...

HBO Max made a splash earlier this month when it debuted its service with an inaugural line-up of cinema classics. From Warner Bros. crown jewels like Casablanca to major Criterion Collection gems such as 8 1/2, the bench was deep. High among these films, however, was MGM’s golden age catalogue, which included Gone with the Wind. Still, technically the most successful movie ever made, the Scarlett O’Hara epic even played on television commercials for the new streaming service.

As of Wednesday morning, however, Gone with the Wind has been removed from HBO Max with no clear indication when it might return. This move comes after astute criticism by no less than John Ridley, the Oscar winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave, who took to The Los Angeles Times to consider Gone with the Wind’s complicated legacy as a piece of Southern Revisionism that glorified the Antebellum South and the...

How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have? That’s the question George R.R. Martin always raises when asked about the differences between his literary series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” and HBO’s television adaptation, Game of Thrones. He mentioned it on his blog when defending the TV series surpassing the books’ narrative in 2015, and he repeated it more than once in 2019 when Game of Thrones ended, seemingly by revealing the final betrayals and tragedies Martin has planned for the novels.

So just how many children did Scarlett have?

For those who’ve never read the book or seen the movie version of Gone with the Wind, the answer is three in Margaret Mitchell’s 1936 novel, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction the following year, and one in the David O. Selznick movie adaptation from 1939. “I think they’re both true to the spirit of the work,” Martin...

Tribute My first memory of Irrfan Khan was 14 years ago, in a TV series called Mano Ya Na Mano (Believe it or not), and I’ve been captivated ever since.Geetika MantriIrrfan/FacebookI remember the first time I watched Irrfan Khan on screen, 14 years ago. Not unusually, 12-year-old me was surfing the channels on the TV till something grabbed my attention on Star One. It was his voice that caught me – he was setting the stage for an episode of a show called Mano Ya Na Mano (Believe it or not). The show itself was about mystical, inexplicable and spooky things that have happened in India – which was right up my alley – but it was Irrfan’s calm anchoring that pulled me in. From that day on, I would try to catch the reruns of the show every afternoon – I wasn’t allowed to watch TV too late at night,...

Bob Dylan fans woke up this morning to the stunning news that the songwriter had released a 17-minute epic titled “Murder Most Foul.” “Greetings to my fans and followers, with gratitude for all your support and loyalty over the years,” Dylan wrote. “This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting. Stay safe, stay observant, and may God be with you.”

It’s his first original song since 2012’s Tempest, though he has released three albums of cover songs associated with Frank Sinatra since then.

President Donald Trump isn’t pleased with this year’s Oscar wins.

Thursday night, at a rally in Colorado, Trump, 73, mocked both Korean film Parasite and Brad Pitt for their victories.

“The winner is a movie from South Korea. What the hell was that all about? We’ve got enough problems with South Korea, with trade. And after all that, they give them best movie of the year?” Trump said, The Hill and Variety reported.

Trump’s rant was also shared by Vox journalist Aaron Rupar.

In the clip, Trump is heard saying, “Can we get Gone with the Wind back?...

The scale of “The Goldfinch” opening weekend fiasco overshadowed the reality. Making it a success at the box office was always going to be a long shot for Warner Bros. The adaptation of the Donna Tartt bestseller almost landed in the lowest-20 grossing titles opening in over 2,000 theaters. Its $2.7 million gross ranks with the worst performances ever for a film of its pedigree.

But that pedigree lessened its chances of becoming a hit. With a $45-million budget, a global marketing campaign took the bottom line north of $100 million. With openings in a few countries showing little initial strength, the worldwide theatrical take could struggle to get to $25 million. With Amazon holding streaming rights and a one-third stake, returns to the studio are reduced.

This debacle is bad news for any studio executives pushing for non-franchise content. In five weeks time, Warner Bros. released three original standalones: “The Kitchen,” “Blinded By the Light,...

Spencer Mullen Jul 12, 2019

DVD menus, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Terminator: Dark Fate, and more in today's daily Link Tank!

Here's why we miss the lost art of the DVD menu.

"For almost as long as I've been watching movies, I've been falling asleep to them. As a kid, this would sometimes mean starting something on TV — You've Got Mail, maybe — and waking up hours later to Sleepless in Seattle. Most of the time, though, I watched movies we checked out from our grocery store; as a result, my late night crashes were primarily set to the soundtrack of the DVD menus that would pop back up again after the credits rolled."

Read more at The Week.

Here's why Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker should return to Darth Vader's home planet.

"There are mostly new planets confirmed to populate that faraway galaxy in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,...

As “Avengers: Endgame” crushes everything in its path, it’s already broken box-office records. It’s the top domestic and global release of 2019, and reached the $2 billion worldwide mark faster than any film in history. But when it comes to claiming the biggest-ever box office, that means contending with the adjusted gross.

It could be so much simpler. Money is a plastic concept (and we don’t mean credit cards). Ticket prices vary; time creates inflation. The calculus that remains unchanged is 1 ticket buyer = 1 seat; if we tracked admissions instead of grosses as a metric of success, there wouldn’t be any discussion. Billboard tracks music by units sold; so does the New York Times’ best-sellers lists.

But that’s not the way Hollywood does it. The argument over box-office bragging rights stretches back to “Gone With the Wind,” which set the standard with its $189 million domestic initial gross. As...

David Crow Feb 19, 2019

Gone with the Wind returns to theaters for anniversary with encore screenings already announced. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Fiddledeedee, no matter the conversation around a classic, you cannot deny its power or allure. That certainly appears to be the case for Gone with the Wind, the 1939 Southern revisionist fantasy that was brought to breathtaking life in Technicolor by David O. Selznick and an army of MGM dream casters in Hollywood’s golden age. And that’s why it must be coming back.

As a film that is certainly more critically considered 80 years later for its depiction of slavery and people of color in the Antebellum South (one of Scarlett O’Hara’s many husbands does die while in Klan activity), the picture nevertheless remains a grandiose and beloved romantic epic due to the sheer power of its vision. Starring Vivien Leigh in her most iconic...

Vivien Leigh would’ve celebrated her 105th birthday on November 5, 2018. The two-time Oscar inner made only a handful of films before her untimely death in 1967 at the age of 53. Yet several of those titles remain classics. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back at 10 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in British India, Leigh appeared in a number of roles on both the stage and screen in England, including a production of “Hamlet” opposite her husband, Laurence Olivier.

She came to international attention after landing the coveted role of Scarlet O’Hara in David O. Selznick’s massive adaptation of Margaret Mitchell‘s bestseller “Gone with the Wind” (1939). Leigh was far from the first choice to embody the headstrong Southern belle who pines after a married man (Leslie Howard) while wedding another (Clark Gable) against the backdrop of the Civil War. Yet the...

Over his remarkable career in film, Orson Welles was the recipient of a trio of Oscar nominations, all for “Citizen Kane” (1941). That marked his feature film debut and is widely considered one of the greatest motion pictures ever produced. He, alongside Herman J. Mankiewicz, triumphed in Best Original Screenplay on the big night and, nearly three decades later, Welles earned an Honorary Oscar for his contributions to cinema.

Though Welles died in 1985, the filmmaker once again finds himself the talk of Oscar season, this time posthumously, with his final picture, “The Other Side of the Wind.”

The film, which made its world premiere at this year’s Venice Film Festival, stars two-time Oscar winner John Huston (who died in 1987) as Jake Hannaford, a washed-up, hard-drinking Hollywood director who vies to revive his career with an experimental film, full of sex and violence. Shot over several years in the 1970s, “The Other Side of the Wind...

There are numerous ways to get a book to screen: by gut instinct, by pre-emptive calculation, by sheer luck. But the best ones may be those done the right way for the right reason, out of pure passion. Case in point: “Bel Canto,” which hits theaters today.

The novel, by Ann Patchett, became a best-seller not long after it was published in 2001. It tells the harrowing tale of an opera star and others of different nationalities being held hostage in a mansion in an unnamed South American country. Even (or perhaps especially) after 9/11, people continued to read this tale of terrorism. What is rather amazing is that it has taken over 16 years to be adapted to the screen.

Not that someone wasn’t trying throughout those years. When producer Caroline Baron read the novel, she instinctively believed she was the one to turn it into a movie. She had produced...

Howdy y'all Jason from Mnpp popping in to clear my throat and let out a rollicking "Stella!!!" in honor of the master Tennessee Williams birth - he was born in the town of Columbus, Mississippi (three hours south of Memphis) on this day in the year 1911, and went on to basically shape the entire Southern United States with his writings; I'd argue he's had more of an effect on our modern view of the sub-Mason-Dixon than maybe anybody but Margaret Mitchell did. And to think a gay man did that!

Anyway for this week's "Beauty vs Beast" let's zoom in on his most famous story, the one about the Streetcar Named Desire that you take to the one called Cemetery that you take to Elysian Fields. And yes that means we're facing down arguably two of the greatest movie performances ever put on screen - Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois...

Illness"Neuro is not always about the brain and googling is the easiest way to do research," Irrfan said, referring to rumours that he had brain tumour.Tnm StaffIrrfan Khan/FacebookOn March 5, Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan announced that he may have a rare disease. He asked the media not to speculate, saying he would reveal the diagnosis within 10 days. And ten days later, on Friday, the Qarib Qarib Singlle actor revealed on social media that he has been diagnosed with Neuroendocrine tumour. He also stated that he will be travelling out of the country, possibly for treatment. Irrfan Khan started his post with a quote from author Margaret Mitchell, which read, “Life is under no obligation to give us what we expect.” He continued, “The unexpected makes us grow which is what the past few days have been about. Learning that I have been diagnosed with NeuroEndocrine Tumour as of now has admittedly been difficult, but the love and strength of those around me and that I found within me has brought me to a place of hope. The journey of this is taking me out of the country, and I request everyone to continue sending their wishes. As for the rumours that were floated Neuro is not always about the brain and googling is the easiest way to do research ;-) To those who waited for my words, I hope to back with more stories to tell. (sic)” The rumours Irrfan is referring to here are unconfirmed reports that surfaced in the media shortly after his March 5 announcement, speculating that he has brain tumour. The neuroendocrine system is composed of nerve and gland cells, and is responsible for the production and release of hormones into the bloodstream. According to information on the Cancer Treatment Centres of America website, neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are abnormal growths that start in neuroendocrine cells which are distributed throughout the body. There are various types of NETs, and the “type you have depends on the particular cells that are affected,” says Cancer Research UK. These tumours can be functioning tumours (those that produce extra hormones and reveal symptoms) or non-functioning ones. NETs can also be either cancerous or benign. Usually, the latter grow slower and are “low or intermediate grade”. The opposite is generally true for cancerous NETs. Irrfan has not provided more details in his statement as to which of his organ(s) are affected by the tumour and if it is cancerous in nature.

A biopic about actress Hattie McDaniel, the Gone With the Wind star who became the first African American to win an Academy Award, is in development.

Variety reports that producers Alysia Allen and Aaron Magnani have acquired the writes to author Jill Watts’ biography Hattie McDaniel: Black Ambition, White Hollywood with the plan to bring the pioneering actress' life story to the big screen.

The daughter of freed slaves, McDaniel started in vaudeville and radio before portraying Mammy, a housemaid to Vivien Leigh's Scarlett O'Hara, in the legendary adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's novel.

All-time classic Gone with the Wind is back in Cineplex theatres as part of the Classic Film Series!All-time classic Gone with the Wind is back in Cineplex theatres as part of the Classic Film Series!Ingrid Randoja - Cineplex Magazine9/13/2017 1:03:00 Pm

It took three directors, seven writers, 1,500 extras and one obsessed producer named David O. Selznick to make the 1939 classic Gone with the Wind.

Selznick bought the rights to author Margaret Mitchell’s 1,037-page epic Civil War romance that finds spoiled Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) pining for the melancholy Ashley (Leslie Howard) while falling into a tempestuous relationship with the arrogant Rhett Butler (Clark Gable).

Selznick wanted only Gable for the role and waited two years until he became available. However, finding the perfect Scarlett was a chore as he screen-tested 33 actors before signing Leigh, a relatively unknown British beauty. He hired screenwriters only to fire them,...

There is no denying that Gone With the Wind is a certified classic, and considered one of the greatest movies ever made. But its head is firmly on the chopping block in the wake of racial tension and protests around the country. The events of Charlottesville have left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. And now this 1939 drama is being shown the exit door at one theater in Memphis, Tennessee before it screens for the 34th year in a row. The reason? It's too racially insensitive.

As it stand, fans in Memphis have wildly mixed feelings about it. As one would imagine. You probably have mixed feelings about it as well, if you remember the movie. Most millennials don't, though, and that's the problem. Though the movie has been around for nearly 80 years, some newcomers are finding it beyond shocking. Though, for its time, it isn't shocking at all.

Gone with the Wind...

Gone With the Wind is now gone from a Memphis, Tennessee, movie theater where it was annually screened for the past 34 years — and fans have mixed feelings about it.

The 1939 film adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s novel of the same name — which tells the story of plantation Southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh)’s love affair with Confederate soldier Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods — has been pulled from The Orpheum Theatre’s 2018 summer movie series.

Though it had been a part of The Orpheum’s annual summer movie series for years, complaints from an Aug.

One of Hollywood’s iconic films is under some serious scrutiny in Memphis, Tennessee. The city’s historic Orpheum Theatre is pulling showings of Gone with the Wind after the 1939 classic was deemed as “insensitive.” Victor Fleming’s film was part of their summer series programming. After the first screening on August 11, the Orpheum received numerous comments about the film which prompted them to drop it from their 2018 series. Based on the book by Margaret Mitchell, Gone…...

It was only about two weeks ago that we shared theatrical and VOD release details for Bethany and the goodies keep rolling out of the oven with official stills ahead of the film's debut on April 7th. Also in today's Horror Highlights: the season 2 renewal of Kindred Spirits, Heather Langenkamp (A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise) at Women in Horror Film Festival, Peeler stills, Psychos trailer and poster, and the horror anthology Gone With the Dead's call for submissions.

Check Out New Images from James Cullen Bressack's Bethany: "Tom Green (Road Trip, Freddy got Fingered) and Shannen Doherty (Charmed, Beverly Hills 90210) star in the spine-chilling Bethany, from acclaimed filmmaker James Cullen Bressack (Pernicious, To Jennifer), in theaters and On Demand this April.

After Claire's mother dies, she and her husband move back to her childhood home only to have the abusive and traumatic memories of her mother come...

There’s a rule for tightrope walkers: don’t look down. If you look down, you’ll fall. Focus instead on the other end of the wire, where you’re headed. Focus on the goal. I’ve always felt that’s good advice for writers as well.

Don’t look down.

If you doubt that you can write, you can’t. If asked if you are a writer, your answer has to be “Yes.” If you’re asked if you are a good writer, your answer has to be “Yes.” If you’re asked if you are the best writer that you can ever be, your answer should be “Not yet.” You not only have to say it, you have to believe it. If you don’t or can’t, then you are looking down.

Don’t look down.

This isn’t about being humble. It’s not about modesty.

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More Best Picture Oscar winners have had sequels than you may think. This lot, in fact...

There’s still an element of snobbery where sequels to certain films is concerned. Whereas it’s now almost compulsory to greenlight a blockbuster with a view of a franchise in mind, it’s hard to think of most Best Picture Oscar winners being made with a follow-up in mind. Yet in perhaps a surprising number of cases, a sequel – or in the case of Rocky, lots of sequels – have followed.

These cases, in fact…

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

Followed by: The Road Back

Don’t be fooled into thinking sequels for prestigious movies are a relatively new phenomenon. Lewis Milestone’s 1930 war epic All Quiet On The Western Front, and its brutal account of World War I, is still regarded as something of a classic. A solid box office success,...

Vivien Leigh ca. late 1940s. Vivien Leigh movies: now controversial 'Gone with the Wind,' little-seen '21 Days Together' on TCM Vivien Leigh is Turner Classic Movies' star today, Aug. 18, '15, as TCM's “Summer Under the Stars” series continues. Mostly a stage actress, Leigh was seen in only 19 films – in about 15 of which as a leading lady or star – in a movie career spanning three decades. Good for the relatively few who saw her on stage; bad for all those who have access to only a few performances of one of the most remarkable acting talents of the 20th century. This evening, TCM is showing three Vivien Leigh movies: Gone with the Wind (1939), 21 Days Together (1940), and A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Leigh won Best Actress Academy Awards for the first and the third title. The little-remembered film in-between is a TCM premiere. 'Gone with the Wind' Seemingly all...

Cinema Retro has received the following press release:

Revisit 1939, Hollywood’s Greatest Year, with 4 New Blu-ray™ Debuts

The Golden Year Collection June 9

Features Newly Restored Blu-ray Debut of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Starring Charles Laughton, and Blu-ray Debuts of – Bette Davis’ Dark Victory, Errol Flynn’s Dodge City and Greta Garbo’s Ninotchka. Collection also includes Gone With the Wind.

Burbank, Calif. March 10, 2015 – On June 9, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment will celebrate one of the most prolific twelve months in Hollywood’s history with the 6-disc The Golden Year Collection. Leading the five-film set will be the Blu-ray debut of

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in a new restoration which will have its world premiere at TCM’s Classic Film Festival beginning March 26 in Los Angeles. Charles Laughton and Maureen O’Hara star in Victor Hugo’s tragic tale which William Dieterle directed.

The other films featured in the Wbhe...

With the Game Of Thrones TV timeline set to overtake the novels, should A Song Of Ice And Fire readers avoid it to stay spoiler-free?

Forget the winds of winter, a wind of change is blowing. The balance of power between A Song Of Ice And Fire readers and Game Of Thrones-only viewers (referred to neatly in some quarters as the Sullied and the Unsullied) is shifting.

As the HBO show’s fifth season promises to depict events from the most recently released book, and with no imminent sign of the next tome (we’ve been told not to expect The Winds Of Winter until 2016), the TV timeline is due to overtake that of A Song Of Ice And Fire. The crown of smugness is being melted down. Book readers will no longer know when to brace themselves for bloody shocks, or when to smile knowingly while events unfurl on-screen.

Hillary Busis has seen Gone with the Wind approximately one billion times. Neil Janowitz ... hasn't. On the occasion of the film's recent 75th anniversary, he decided to change that. Hillary: Neil: It breaks my heart (but doesn't totally surprise me) to hear that you've never seen or read Gone With the Wind. I'm gonna start by asking you a simple question: What do you know (or think you know) about Margaret Mitchell's classic story?...