Cameron's "Avatar" Wins Best Drama Honor at Globes

********************************** ********************************************* James Cameron's "Avatar" Wins Best Drama Honor at Globes ********************************************* BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - The science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" won best drama at the Golden Globes and picked up the directing honor for James Cameron on Sunday, raising the "Titanic" filmmaker's prospects for another Academy Awards triumph. It was a repeat of Cameron's Globes night 12 years ago, when "Titanic" won best drama and the directing prize on its way to dominating the Oscars. This time, though, instead of being "king of the world", as Cameron declared at the Oscars, he has become king of an alien landscape, elevating space fantasy to enormous critical acclaim. ""Avatar" asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic", Cameron said. ******---******Winning the dramatic-acting honors were Sandra Bullock for the football tale "The Blind Side" and Jeff Bridges for the country-music story "Crazy Heart". The crowd gave a standing ovation to Bridges, a beloved veteran generally overlooked for key Hollywood honors. ******---******The acting prizes for musical and comedy went to Meryl Streep for the Julia Child story "Julie & Julia" and Robert Downey Jr. for the crime romp "Sherlock Holmes". The supporting-performance Globes were won by Mo'Nique as an abusive welfare mother in "Precious" and Christoph Waltz as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds". The Vegas bachelor bash "The Hangover" won for best musical or comedy, bringing uncharacteristic awards attention for broad comedy, a genre that often gets overlooked at Hollywood honors. "I just want to thank my mom, who supported my decision to become a director when she realized I wasn't as smart as my two sisters", said "Hangover" director Todd Phillips. As he accepted the directing Globe, Cameron had kind words for ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, nominated as best director for "The Hurt Locker". "Frankly, I thought Kathryn was going to get this. She richly deserves it", said Cameron, whose "Titanic" earned the directing and best-drama Globes 12 years ago on its way to Academy Awards triumph. The blockbuster "Up" came away with the award for animated film. While Streep is a perennial at awards shows, the prize marked a dramatic turning point for Mo'Nique, who was mainly known for lowbrow comedy but startled audiences with her ferocious performance in "Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire". "First let me say, thank you, God, for this amazing ride that you're allowing me to go on", the tearful Mo'Nique told the crowd. She went on with gushing praise for "Precious" director Lee Daniels and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, a best dramatic actress nominee at the Globes with her first film role, playing Mo'Nique's abused, illiterate daughter. "Lee Daniels, the world gets a chance to see how brilliant you are. You are a brilliant, fearless, amazing director who would not waver, and thank you for trusting me", Mo'Nique said. "To Gabby, sister, I am in awe of you. Thank you for letting me play with you". Streep's competition for best actress in a musical or comedy included herself. She also was nominated for the romance "It's Complicated". "I just want to say that in my long career, I've played so many extraordinary woman that I'm getting mistaken for one", Streep said. "I'm very clear that I'm the vessel for other people's stories and other people's lives". Waltz, a veteran Austrian actor who is a relative newcomer in Hollywood, won the supporting-actor Globe as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds". "A year and a half ago I was exposed to the gravitational forces of Quentin Tarantino", Waltz said. "He took my modest little world, my globe, and with the power of his talent and his words and his vision, he flung it into its orbit, a dizzying experience". Though one of Hollywood's biggest parties, the Globes bore somber reminders of tragedy in the real world, many stars wearing ribbons in support of earthquake victims in Haiti. Films from Pixar Animation, the Disney outfit that made "Up", have won all four prizes for animated movies since the Globes introduced the category in 2006. Past Pixar winners are "WALL-E", "Ratatouille" and "Cars". "Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in a tale of a lonely, bitter widower who renews his zest for adventure by flying his house off under helium balloons to South America, where he encounters his childhood hero and a hilarious gang of talking canines. "When it came to finding the heart of the film, we didn't have to look very hard", said "Up" director Pete Docter, whose film also won for musical score. "Our inspiration was all around us. Our grandparents, our parents, our wives, our kids. Our talking dogs". Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honor for "Up in the Air", which Reitman also directed. The foreign-language honor went to "The White Ribbon", a stark drama of guilt and suspicion set in a German town on the eve of World War I. "Mad Men" won for best TV drama, while Michael C. Hall won for best actor in a TV drama for "Dexter", in which he plays a serial killer with a code of ethics, killing only other murderers. Hall's publicists revealed this past week that Hall is being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma and that the cancer is in remission. "It's really a hell of a thing to go to work in a place where everybody gives a damn. That's really the case with "Dexter"," Hall said. "It's a dream job. I'm so grateful". "Dexter" also won the supporting-actor TV honor for John Lithgow. Other TV winners included Juliana Margulies as best actress in a drama for "The Good Wife" and Toni Collette as best comedy actress for "The United States of Tara". The rain-drenched red carpet was a rare sight for an awards show in sunny southern California, stars in their finery getting damp under umbrellas as storms swept the region. The Globes got a makeover, featuring Ricky Gervais as master of ceremonies, the first time in 15 years the show had a host. One of his most biting quips came as he sipped a beer on stage. "I like a drink as much as the next man, unless the next man is Mel Gibson", Gervais wisecracked as he introduced Globe presenter Mel Gibson, who made an anti-Semitic rant a few years back during a drunken-driving arrest. Gervais opened by mocking Steve Carell, star of the U.S. version of "The Office", based on Gervais' British comedy series. While a stone-faced Carell watched, Gervais yammered on about how fans love Carell and wonder where he gets his ideas from. Carell then mouthed and pantomimed, "I will break you", to Gervais, an executive producer on the U.S. version of the show. Gervais joked about the international causes near and dear to Hollywood stars. "You can be a little Asian child with no possessions and see a picture of Angelina Jolie and you think, `mommy'," he said. With stars sharing dinner and drinks, the Globes traditionally are a loose and relaxed affair compared to the courtly Oscars. Celebrities sometimes are caught more in reality-show mode — Jack Nicholson once mooned the crowd for a laugh, and Christine Lahti had to rush from the restroom to collect her Globe for the TV drama "Chicago Hope". Sunday's winners could get a last-minute boost for the Oscars, whose nominations balloting closes Saturday. Last year's big Globe winner, "Slumdog Millionaire", went on to dominate the Oscars. The Globes are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets. The show airs live on 'NBC'. ********************************** ********************************** *** AVATAR - Action sequence from the movie ********************************** *** AVATAR - Action sequence from the movie ********************************** *** Actress Zoe Saldana at the Golden Globe Awards Gala ********************************** *** Actress Zoe Saldana as Neytiri character in Avatar ********************************** *** Actress Zoe Saldana as Neytiri character in Avatar ********************************** *** Actress Sigourney Weaver at the Golden Globe Awards Gala ********************************** *** Actors Sigourney Weaver and Giovanni Ribisi into an action sequence from Avatar Movie ********************************** *** Actors Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington into an action sequence from Avatar Movie ********************************** *** Actor Sam Worthington playing Jake Sully character in Avatar Movie ********************************** *** Actor Sam Worthington (Jake Sully) into an action sequence from Avatar Movie ********************************** *** Actors Sam Worthington and Stephen Lang playing an action sequence in Avatar Movie ********************************** *** Actress Michelle Rodriguez at the Golden Globe Awards Gala ********************************** *** Actress Michelle Rodriguez as Trudi Chacon character into the Avatar Movie

Cameron's sci-fi saga "Avatar" become No.1 movie of all times

*********************************************** "Avatar" passes "Star Wars" with $491.8M in US *********************************************** LOS ANGELES - James Cameron's "Avatar" had a $41.3 million weekend to shoot past "Star Wars" as the No. 3 movie on the all-time domestic box office charts. Next stop, "The Dark Knight". No. 1 for the fifth-straight weekend, Cameron's sci-fi saga raised its domestic total to $491.8 million and should top $500 million after revenues are counted on Martin Luther King Day, according to studio estimates Sunday. Worldwide, '20th Century Fox's "Avatar" lifted its total to $1.6 billion, second only to Cameron's last movie, 1997's "Titanic", at $1.8 billion. "One guy makes two movies in 10 years, and they're by far the biggest movies of all time. That's remarkable", said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for the studio. "Avatar" topped the original "Star Wars", which took in $460.9 million domestically in its original run and several reissues over the years. But factoring in today's higher admission prices, "Star Wars" remains well ahead of "Avatar" on actual number of tickets sold. "Avatar" now is closing in on "The Dark Knight", No. 2 domestically with $533.3 million. After that, only Cameron's "Titanic" at $600 million will remain ahead of "Avatar" domestically. "We'll be proud of our No. 3 slot", said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for 'Warner Bros'., which released "The Dark Knight" and has hopes for more in the "Batman" franchise from its director, Christopher Nolan. "I can just give Chris Nolan a nudge that he's got to raise the bar". 'Warner', which has Nolan's sci-fi tale "Inception" with Leonardo DiCaprio opening this July, had a strong No. 2 debut of $31.6 million for its action thriller "The Book of Eli". The movie stars Denzel Washington as a post-apocalypse prophet carrying the last known Bible to safe haven across a decimated America. Expanding nationwide after a month in limited release, 'Paramount's drama "The Lovely Bones" came in at No. 3 with $17.1 million. Directed by "The Lord of the Rings" creator Peter Jackson, "The Lovely Bones" features Saoirse Ronan, Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz and Stanley Tucci in the story of a murdered teen looking back on the world from the afterlife. 'Lionsgate's family action tale "The Spy Next Door" debuted at No. 6 with $9.7 million. It stars Jackie Chan as a newly retired agent forced back into the spy game when bad guys come after him and his girlfriend's kids. Like "Titanic", which dominated the Academy Awards 12 years ago, "Avatar" is expected to remain aloft in the box office charts as Oscar season progresses. "Avatar" was up for best drama at Sunday's Golden Globes and is considered a likely best-picture nominee when Oscar nominations come out Feb. 2. "It's kind of the cherry on top of the cake for this movie to not only be a massive box office hit, but to get all this awards attention", said Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It's hard sometimes to get a 50- or 60-year-old out of their chair to go see a science-fiction movie in 3-D. But if "Avatar" gets enough recognition from the critics, they may just do it". 'Fox' executive Aronson would not say if the studio expects "Avatar" to pass either the $600 million domestic total for "Titanic" or its $1.8 billion worldwide total. Some box office watchers say "Avatar" could climb as high $2 billion, though. "`Titanic' was a ship. 'Batman' had a motorcycle. `Avatar's' a rocket ship", Aronson said. "Is there a lot of fuel left in the tank ? You bet". Even if "Avatar" sets a new revenue record, it's doubtful it would sell as many tickets as "Titanic" did because of today's higher admission prices. "Titanic" sold about 130 million tickets domestically based on average ticket prices of about $4.60 back in 1997 and 1998. Based on today's average domestic price of about $7.50, "Avatar" would be at around half that mark. Average admission prices for "Avatar" likely run even higher, given that much of its business comes from a 3-D version, which costs a few dollars extra to see. Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Tuesday. 1. "Avatar", $41.3 million. 2. "The Book of Eli", $31.6 million. 3. "The Lovely Bones", $17.1 million. 4. "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel", $11.5 million. 5. "Sherlock Holmes", $9.8 million. 6. "The Spy Next Door", $9.7 million. 7. "It's Complicated", $7.7 million. 8. "Leap Year", $5.8 million. 9. "The Blind Side", $5.6 million. 10. "Up in the Air", $5.5 million. ***********************************************