- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
- My Exclusive Interview With Bob Iger
- Activision Blizzard's "Modern Warfare 2" Sales Break Records
- Disney's CFO-Theme Park Chairman Executive Swap
More Videos
- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
- My Exclusive Interview With Bob Iger
- Activision Blizzard's "Modern Warfare 2" Sales Break Records
- Disney's CFO-Theme Park Chairman Executive Swap
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- Wall Street Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- What if a Recovery Is All in Your Head?
- Kraft Weighs Higher Cadbury Bid as Rivals Circle
- China Should Stop Property Stimulus Now: Central Bank
- China Wind Power Reportedly Seeking $2.2 Billion in IPO
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- U.S. Stocks Slip, Dollar Rises
- How Stock Investors Can Play Holiday Travel
- Time Lapse World Series Is A Great Play
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
- My Top 10 Tech Toys for the Holidays
- iPhone a Better Gaming Platform Than Android?
- May Day For Dendreon
- 100% Mortgage Financing From USDA
- US Job Losses to Bottom out Next Quarter: NABE
- Late Payments on Credit Cards Drop in Third Quarter
- Smallest US Businesses Borrowing Again: PayNet
- Little Sign of Inflation on the Horizon: IMF
- Kraft Weighs Higher Cadbury Bid as Rivals Circle
- MBS Program Should be Extended: Fed's Bullard
- JPMorgan's Dimon Could Succeed Geithner: Report
- Wall Street Finds Profits by Reducing Mortgages
- Microsoft, News Corp Weigh Online News Pact
Media Money
Text Size 
The Academy Award nominations are out and the movie studios are counting their wins so far and their chances of taking home gold statuettes next month.
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" from Paramount Pictures [VIA
Loading...
()
] and Warner Bros [TWX
Loading...
()
] won the most nominations -- 13 in total including one for Best Picture.
Fox Searchlight's [NWS
Loading...
()
] "Slumdog Millionaire" earned 10 nominations, also including one for Best Picture. "Milk," from CNBC's sister company Universal Pictures [GE
Loading...
()
] brought in eight nominations, also including Best Picture.
There were a number of upsets.
Hollywood was buzzing that either "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros.) or Wall-E would be nominated for Best Picture. "The Dark Knight" drew eight nominations, including a posthumous Best Supporting Actor for Heath Ledger. But the movie earned such critical acclaim, Hollywood was buzzing that it could win that top honor. And "Wall-E" was the best reviewed picture of the year, so many were hoping it would break out of the animated category into best picture. Without those two high-grossers, "The Dark Knight" and "Wall-E", there's some concern that not as many viewers will tune in to the show. The Oscars had its best ratings ever in 1998 when the biggest movie of all time, "Titanic" won 11 Oscars.
In contrast to big-budget "Dark Knight" and "Titanic" some smaller budget films won significant Oscar presence.
One surprise was "The Reader," from The Weinstein Company, a Holocaust movie about a German woman with a dark past and her relationship with a much younger man. It was the wild card winner of that fifth Best Picture slot. And Kate Winslet, expected to win a nomination for her role in "Revolutionary Road," won for "The Reader" instead.
I think that "Slumdog Millionaire" — a sort of fairytale set in the slums of India — particularly speaks to our time.
The $15 million budget movie has already brought in $60 million at the worldwide box office ($44 million of that in the U.S.) and I think it'll continue to do well through Oscar season.
During this recession I think people will be drawn to the upbeat fantasy of a kid from the slums of India becoming a millionaire. And as of now, I'm betting it'll win Best Picture.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes