Eye-popping Jackass trailer caps hectic schedule on Gold Coast

THE Australian International Movie Convention ended with exhibitors and distributors a little befuddled by the breadth of movies coming their way.

Paramount's slate is always reliably eclectic, although no one quite expected the visceral wonders of Jackass 3D (tentative release November 4) to be a highlight. an extended clip showed Johnny Knoxville in delightful, if scatological, form and, surprisingly, using the 3D format (and super slo-mo) far more effectively than other 3D filmmakers. Paramount's line-up with local distributor Transmission has some excellent art-house titles coming, led by the period drama the King's Speech (December 26 release) starring Colin Firth and Geoffrey rush in award-hogging form; John Michael McDonagh's droll black comedy the Guard "from the brother of the bloke who wrote and directed In Bruges"; and Fred Schepisi's the Eye of the Storm (2011), the first trailer of which is enticing. Jonathan Teplitzky's Aussie film Burning Man (2011), starring Matthew Goode, Rachel Griffiths and Bojan Novakovic had a striking energy, as did Ben Lucas's Perth drama Wasted on the Young. Paramount's international slate was led by Gore Verbinski's off-kilter animation starring Johnny Depp, Rango (April 7); the Broadcast News redux, Morning Glory (January 6), starring Harrison Ford, Rachel McAdams and Diane Keaton; and the big and silly Thor (May 5).

UNIVERSAL's coming year is packed full, with another comedy, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's Paul (April 14) and its profane alien winning over the audience. James Schamus introduced the Focus Features slate, headed by Anton Corbijn's sleek thriller the Amercian (December 16); Sofia Coppola's somewhere (with music by another hip French band, Phoenix, natch); and Mia Wasikowska starring in Cary Fukunaga's Jane Eyre (April 7). Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett and Saoirse Ronan looked terrific in Joe Wright's adventure thriller, Hanna (May 5). Reel Time is happy Saturday Night Live's Kristen Wiig has starring roles next year: she produced an amusing greeting with Rose Byrne for her upcoming comedy Bridesmaids (also starring Jon Hamm). Extended scenes from the Australian film produced by James Cameron, Sanctum (February 10), were very strong in a B-film adventure style, and the return of Muriel's Wedding's PJ Hogan to direct Toni Collette in the comedy Mental (December 2011) had exhibitors excited. Hogan said the film mined his "life-long love of the Sound of Music" and his "favourite actor in the world".

SONY Pictures Releasing played it low key with materials available for only a few films. David Fincher's the Social Network (November 25) previewed in the US at the same time and is getting laudatory reviews. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg introduced the Other Guys, with Ferrell noting the film's running gag: Little River Band "was a favourite of mine growing up on the mean streets of southern California". among other clips, Boxing Day musical Burlesque, starring Christina Aguilera and Cher, looked like a Showgirls sequel with wider g-strings. a preview of the book adaptation Eat Pray love (October 7), starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, split the crowd, down the middle, females on one side, males on the other.

THE Walt Disney Studios slate was notable mostly for its failure to acknowledge long-time Australian film chief Alan Finney, who left the company this year. Not good for a family entertainment company. Anyway, its middle-of-the-road line-up was distinguished by little other than the appealing catfight comedy starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver, You again (September 30); a re-imagining of Winnie-the-Pooh (September 2011), the new 3-D animated musical by Elton John Gnomeo and Juliet, a film turned down by Adam Elliott (February 10); the Muppets (early 2012); and Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks films, including his own directing gig War Horse (late 2011). Disney will inflict upon us a sequel to the worst Pixar film, Cars (June 2011), although that was balanced by an appealing clip from Tron Legacy (December 16) with a thumping soundtrack by Daft Punk.

THE Icon year could be strong with October packed with three rippers: RED, starring Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman as retired CIA agents; Buried, a riveting, claustrophobic thriller starring Ryan Reynolds; and Let Me In, the re-imagining of the Swedish vampire oddity, Let the Right One In. Icon's Mark Gooder went so far as to say it was the best film he'd seen in 12 months. Icon will release Terrence Malick's the Tree of Life on Boxing Day. Its teaser clip made it no clearer. the Flight of the Conchords' third banana, Rhys Darby, introduced clips from his new romantic comedy, Lovebirds, starring Sally Hawkins. he noted new Zealand doesn't really make rom-coms, instead preferring "a lot of killing and sadness". he cast Hawkins, "an English chick, because the new Zealand chicks aren't into [romance]." Darby also nailed the conference venue, the Gold Coast, noting he is "a fan of Venice, Disneyland and the Jetsons, so I'm really f . . king loving this place!"

ELSEWHERE, Melbourne International Film Festival audiences voted new Zealand film Boy, from director Taika Waititi, their favourite feature. Bill Cunningham: new York was voted favourite documentary. Other popular features were Sherry Hormann's Desert Flower, Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy, Chris Morris's four Lions and Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars. the Invention of Dr Nakamats, Cities on Speed: Bogota Change, Cities on Speed: Cairo Garbage, Mother of Rock: the Life and Times of Lillian Roxon, La Danse: the Paris Opera Ballet and Cooking History topped the docos.

BRUCE Beresford and Jan Sardi's Mao's last Dancer has earned $US199,657 on 33 screens in its first weekend in the US while attracting favourable reviews. the film will hit more screens this week with Boxofficemojo.com predicting its total box office beyond $US750,000. Even better, the new York Observer's venerable Rex Reed said the film is a "masterpiece." Animal Kingdom continues to slow-burn in the US with another $US101,440 taking it to a $US200,000 gross.

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