Cinema 2006: You Must Remember This–Moves, Events, Stars, Box-Office, Hollywood

Cineliteracy: What You Want and Need to Know about 2006 as Movie Year

My Pioneering Oscar Book:

Critic Philip French described 2006 as “an outstanding year for British cinema, six of our well-established directors have made highly individual films of real distinction: Michael Winterbottom’s A Cock and Bull Story, Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Christ Nolan’s The Prestige, Stephen Frears’s The Queen, Paul Greengrass’s United 93 and Nicholas Hytner’s The History Boys.

Two young directors made confident debuts, offering jaundiced view of contemporary Britain: Andrea Arnold’s Red Road and Paul Andrew Williams’s London to Brighton.

The Mexican Alfonso Cuaron made the dystopian thriller Children of Men. He also stated, “In the US, Shyamalan of The Sixth Sense fame fell flat on his over-confident face with Lady in the Water, but Martin Scorsese’s The Departed was his best for years, and he was with Jack Nicholson at last. Apart from that, the best American films were political (Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, The New World) or very personal (Little Miss Sunshine, Little Children, The Squid and the Whale). Sadly, Oliver Stone’s 9/11 picture World Trade Center was neither. Asian cinema produced a string of elegant thrillers and horror flicks. The best Eastern European movie was The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, a devastating look at the Romania Ceausescu left behind him. Most of the best Western European films came from France, with Michael Haneke’s Caché, proving the most widely discussed art-house puzzle picture since Last Year at Marienbad.

The award of 18 certificates by the BBFC to Shortbus and Destricted has brought close the abolition of censorship, but not of classification, and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain was a step forward for the representation of homosexuals in mainstream cinema, though Gore Vidal claims that there’s gay subtext to every western.

The year’s most extraordinary event was the release of Tommy Lee Jones’s directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

In the 1960s, when they were roommates at Harvard and used by Erich Segal as joint models for Oliver Barrett IV in Love Story, and both Jones and Gore ended up as movie stars – if, in Gore’s case, accidentally and temporarily?”

Highest-Grossing films of 2006

Rank Title Distributor(s) Worldwide gross

1 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Buena Vista $1,066,179,725

2 The Da Vinci Code Sony $760,006,945

3 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $660,998,756

4 Casino Royale Sony $606,099,584 (Bond)

5 Night at the Museum 20th Century Fox $574,480,841

6 Cars Buena Vista $461,983,149

7 X-Men: The Last Stand 20th Century Fox $460,435,291

8 Mission: Impossible III, Paramount $398,479,497

9 Superman Returns Warner, $391,081,192

10 Happy Feet, $384,335,608

Box office records
Sony Pictures grossed more than $3 billion in worldwide box office for the first time in its history.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest became the third film in history to gross over $1 billion and is the 43rd highest-grossing film of all time.

Events
Month Day Event

January 4

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) nominates Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Walk the Line as contenders for their best-produced film award.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) nominate The 40-Year-Old Virgin, I Tried, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and The Squid and the Whale for best original screenplay.

The WGA nominees for best adapted screenplay are Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence and Syriana.

Jan 9 Jon Stewart is named host of the 78th Academy Awards.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association present their Critics’ Choice Awards for 2005 live on The WB network. Brokeback Mountain is named best picture, best director for Ang Lee and ties for best supporting actress for Michelle Williams. Philip Seymour Hoffman is named best actor for Capote and Reese Witherspoon is awarded best actress for Walk the Line.

19 The 2006 Sundance Film Festival starts in Park City, Utah.

24 Disney announces plans to acquire Pixar

28 Directors Guild of America names Ang Lee best film director of 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, best documentary goes to Werner Herzog for Grizzly Man and its Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Clint Eastwood.

29 The Screen Actors Guild names Philip Seymour Hoffman outstanding male movie actor for Capote, Reese Witherspoon as outstanding female lead movie actor for Walk the Line, Rachel Weisz is female actor in a supporting role for The Constant Gardener, Paul Giamatti as outstanding male actor in supporting role for Cinderella Man, the cast of Crash as outstanding ensemble in theatrical motion picture, and Shirley Temple Black is given a life achievement award.

Jan 30

The 26th Golden Raspberry Awards nominees include Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, Dirty Love, The Dukes of Hazzard, House of Wax and Son of the Mask for worst film; Tom Cruise, Will Ferrell, Jamie Kennedy, The Rock and Rob Schneider for worst actor; and Jessica Alba, Hilary Duff, Jennifer Lopez, Jenny McCarthy and Tara Reid for worst actress.

Jan 31

The Academy Awards: Brokeback Mountain led the nominations with 8, followed by Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck and Memoirs of a Geisha all earning six.

February 5

The 33rd annual Annie Award – Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won the best animated feature, as well as all nine categories which it was nominated. Family Guy won the best voice acting and directing, Star Wars: Clone Wars II Chapters 21-25 won the best animated TV production, Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch won the best home entertainment award, and Ultimate Spider-Man won the new “best video game award”.

March 4

Dirty Love dominates the 26th Golden Raspberry Awards with 4 awards including Worst Picture and Worst Actress for Jenny McCarthy. Rob Schneider is Worst Actor for Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. Other awards went to Hayden Christensen as Worst Supporting Actor for Star Wars: Episode III– Revenge of the Sith and Paris Hilton as Worst Supporting Actress for House of Wax

March 5:

78th Academy Awards:

Crash earns a win for Best Picture upsetting favorite Brokeback Mountain.

No film, for the first time in 58 years, won a clear majority.

Both films as well as Memoirs of a Geisha and King Kong win three Oscars each.

Favorite March of the Penguins wins Oscar for Documentary Feature.

South Africa wins its first motion picture Oscar with the Best Foreign Film award for Tsotsi. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit wins Oscar for Animated feature.

Major awards:

Director: Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote
Actress: Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line
Supporting Actor: George Clooney for Syriana
Supporting Actress: Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener

April 18

Tom Cruise and fiancée Katie Holmes welcomed their newborn baby Suri.

April 25

The 5th Tribeca Film Fest opens with Mission: Impossible III and United 93.

28 TV double act Ant & Dec make their big screen debut with Alien Autopsy.

May 17

The 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Films in competition: Babel by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Fast Food Nation by Richard Linklater, Iklimler by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, El Laberinto del Fauno by Guillermo del Toro, Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, Southland Tales by Richard Kelly, Volver by Pedro Almodóvar, and The Wind That Shakes the Barley by Ken Loach

May 27

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie give birth to daughter Shiloh in the African nation of Namibia.

June 3

The 2006 MTV Movie Awards winners were announced.

June 14

The American Film Institute releases its ninth list of its AFI 100 Years… series, AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers recognizing 100 films as the most “inspirational” in cinema history. Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is the most “inspirational” film of all time.

July 7

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opens later grossing $55.8 million on its opening day, setting records for the largest opening day, the largest single day gross, and the largest Friday gross of all time (the previous record was held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith with $50,013,859, the previous year). It also surpassed the opening weekend gross (at $135,634,554 between July 7–9) previously set by Spider-Man in 2002 with $114,844,116 between May 3–5.

July 28

Actor and Oscar-winning director Mel Gibson is arrested after speeding on Pacific Coast Highway due to DUI. Police reports reveal anti-Semitic comments made to the officer (a Jew). Gibson checked into rehab and apologized for rude comments.

September 7

Ellen DeGeneres is named host of the 79th Oscars.

7-16

The 2006 Toronto International Film Fest

Awards

January 15, 2007 12th Critics’ Choice Awards
January 14, 2007 Producers, Directors, Screen Actors, Writers Guild Awards

Oscars: 79th Academy Awards, Feb 25, 2007

Best Film: The Departed
Best Director Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best Actor Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress Jennifer Hudson
Dreamgirls
Best Screenplay, Adapted, William Monahan, The Departed
Best Screenplay, Original Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Animated Film
Best Original Score The Painted Veil
Alexandre Desplat The Illusionist
Philip Glass — Babel
Gustavo Santaolalla
Best Original Song “The Song of the Heart”
Happy Feet “Listen”
Dreamgirls — “I Need to Wake Up”
An Inconvenient Truth
Best Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others

Deaths
Month Date Name Age Country Profession Notable films

January

Jan 14

Shelley Winters 85 US Actress, The Diary of Anne Frank, Lolita

Jan 19

Anthony Franciosa 77 US Actor, Hatful of Rain, Face in the Crowd

Jan 24

Chris Penn 40 US Actor, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose

Jan 31

Moira Shearer 80 UK Actress, Dancer, The Red Shoes

February 1

March

March 7

Gordon Parks 93 US Director, Shaft, The Learning Tree

March 13

Maureen Stapleton 80 US Actress, Reds, Cocoon

16 Moira Redmond 77 UK Actress
A Shot in the DarkNightmare
17 Bob Papenbrook 50 US Voice Actor
Stranger than FictionJeepers Creepers 2
18 Michael Attwell 63 UK Actor
LabyrinthHigh Heels and Low Lifes

March 25

Richard Fleischer 89 US Director, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

29 Henry Farrell 85 US Screenwriter
Hush…Hush, Sweet CharlotteWhat’s the Matter with Helen?
29 Gretchen Rau 66 US Set Decorator, Art Director
Memoirs of a GeishaThe Last Samurai
31 Candice Rialson 54 US Actress
Hollywood BoulevardSummer School Teachers

April 4

April 9

Vilgot Sjöman 82 Sweden Director, I Am Curious (Yellow) My Sister, My Love

13 Jacques Maumont 81 France Sound Engineer
The Longest DayBreathless
17 Henderson Forsythe 88 US Actor
SilkwoodSpecies II
22 Alida Valli 84 Italy Actress
The Third ManSuspiria
23 Susan Browning 65 US Actress
Sister ActThe Money Pit
23 Jennifer Jayne 74 UK Actress, Screenwriter
The Medusa TouchDr. Terror’s House of Horrors
29 Alberta Nelson 68 US Actress
Beach Blanket BingoDr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
May 1 Jay Presson Allen 84 US Screenwriter
CabaretMarnie
1 Betsy Jones-Moreland 76 US Actress
Last Woman on EarthCreature from the Haunted Sea
4 Michael Taliferro 44 US Actor
The ReplacementsBad Boys
7 Tanis Chandler 81 France Actress
Shadows Over ChinatownLured
10 Val Guest 94 UK Director, Screenwriter
Casino RoyaleThe Day the Earth Caught Fire
14 Paul Marco 78 US Actor
Plan 9 from Outer SpaceHiawatha
21 Katherine Dunham 96 US Dancer
Stormy WeatherCasbah
24 Henry Bumstead 91 US Art Director, Production Designer
To Kill a MockingbirdVertigo
27 Barbara Cohen 53 US Casting Director
RushmoreI Am Sam
27 Paul Gleason 67 US Actor
The Breakfast ClubDie Hard
29 Katarína Kolníková 85 Slovakia Actress
Vášnivý bozk
30 Shōhei Imamura 79 Japan Director, Screenwriter
Endless DesireThe Insect Woman
30 Robert Sterling 88 US Actor
Voyage to the Bottom of the SeaShow Boat
June 8 Robert Donner 75 US Actor
Cool Hand LukeEl Dorado
10 Gerald James 88 UK Actor
The Man with the Golden GunHope and Glory
12 Hugh Latimer 75 UK Actor
The Million Pound NoteJane Eyre
10 Monty Berman 92 UK Producer, Director, Cinematographer
Jack the RipperWhat a Carve Up!
16 Arthur Franz 86 US Actor
Invaders from MarsSands of Iwo Jima
18 Vincent Sherman 99 US Director
The Young PhiladelphiansMr. Skeffington
18 Richard Stahl 74 US Actor
Private SchoolGhosts of Mississippi
23 Aaron Spelling 83 US Producer, Actor
Mr. MomSoapdish
25 Kenneth Griffith 84 UK Actor
Four Weddings and a FuneralSky Riders
July 2 Jan Murray 89 US Actor
Which Way to the Front?The Busy Body
3 Jack Smith 92 US Actor
On Moonlight BayCannonball Run II
5 Amzie Strickland 87 US Actress
Pretty WomanShiloh
6 Kasey Rogers 80 US Actress
Strangers on a TrainTwo Lost Worlds
8 June Allyson 88 US Actress
The Glenn Miller StoryThe Three Musketeers
9 Chris Drake 82 US Actor
Them!A Walk in the Sun
11 Barnard Hughes 90 US Actor
TronMidnight Cowboy
12 Kurt Kreuger 89 Germany Actor
SaharaThe Enemy Below
12 Loredana Nusciak 64 Italy Actress
DjangoGladiators 7
13 Red Buttons 87 US Actor
SayonaraPete’s Dragon
19 Pascal Renwick [fr] 51 FR French voice actor
The TerminatorThe Running ManThe Matrix
19 Jack Warden 85 US Actor
Heaven Can Wait12 Angry Men
20 Robert Cornthwaite 89 US Actor
The War of the WorldsWhat Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
21 Mako 72 Japan Actor
Conan the BarbarianThe Sand Pebbles
27 Johnny Weissmuller Jr. 65 US Actor
THX 1138American Graffiti
28 Patrick Allen 79 Malawi Actor
Dial M for MurderJet Storm
August 4 John Alderson 90 UK Actor
Blazing SaddlesMy Fair Lady
7 Lois January 92 US Actress
The Wizard of OzThe Pace That Kills
13 Tony Jay 73 UK Voice Actor, Actor
The Hunchback of Notre DameBeauty and the Beast
14 Bruno Kirby 57 US Actor
City SlickersWhen Harry Met Sally…
16 Alan Vint 61 US Actor
BadlandsThe Panic in Needle Park
19 Sig Shore 87 US Producer, Director
Super FlyThat’s the Way of the World
25 Ann Richards 88 Australia Actress
Sorry, Wrong NumberAn American Romance
25 Joseph Stefano 84 US Screenwriter, Psycho, Two Bits
29 Bill Stewart 63 UK Actor
101 DalmatiansAnna and the King
30 Glenn Ford 90 Canada Actor Gilda
31 William Aldrich 61 US Producer, Actor
Flight of the PhoenixThe Sheltering Sky

September

Sep 9

Gérard Brach 79 France Director, The Name of the Rose, Frantic

Sep 14

Mickey Hargitay 80 Hungary Actor, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Loves of Hercules

Sep 20

Sven Nykvist 83 Sweden Cinematographer, Cries and Whispers, Unbearable Lightness of Being

Sep 22

Edward Albert 55 US Actor, Butterflies Are Free, 40 Carats

23 Malcolm Arnold 84 UK Composer, Bridge on the River Kwai, Suddenly, Last Summer

October

9 Danièle Huillet 70 France Director, The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena, Bach History Lessons

Oct 10 Jerry Belson 68 US Screenwriter, Producer
AlwaysFun with Dick and Jane

12 Gillo Pontecorvo 86 Italy Director, The Battle of Algiers, Kapò
15 Derek Bond 86 UK Actor
Uncle SilasWhen Eight Bells Toll
16 Jack DeLeon 81 US Actor
The HobbitLife Stinks
16 Tommy Johnson 71 US Musician
The MatrixThe Godfather
19 James Glennon 64 US Cinematographer
About SchmidtElection

November

Nov 1

Adrienne Shelly 40 US Actress, Director, Waitress, Unbelievable Truth

Nov 2

Leonard Schrader, 62, US Screenwriter, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Blue Collar

Nov 16

Ernest Day 79 UK Cinematographer, A Passage to India, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Nov 20

Robert Altman 81, US Director, M*A*S*, Gosford Park

Nov 23

Betty Comden, 89 US Scribe, Lyricist, Singin’ in the Rain, The Band Wagon

Nov 23