CINEMA BuzzFEED - 7 September 2013

Going Out On Top

Rumors are that 76 year old, three time Oscar winner Jack Nicholson is retiring from acting due to memory loss as he can no longer remember script lines.

Nicholson was last seen in the 2010 romantic comedy How Do You Know which co-starred Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd.  Before that he starred in The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman which was released in 2007.  He currently has no film deals pending.  Nicholson won two Best Actor Oscars (in '75 for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and in '98 for As Good As It Gets) and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar (in '84 for Terms of Endearment), and holds the record for the highest number of Oscar nominations for a male actor: 12.  He has also won six Golden Globe Awards.

According to sources close to the Nicholson, "He's not retiring from public life, at all. He just doesn't want a tribute. He's happy to tacitly join the retirees club, like Sean Connery".  Although the rumors are unconfirmed, Nicholson reportedly turned down the chance to play an alcoholic father travelling with his son to pick up a million-dollar lottery prize in the film Alexander Payne's Nebraska. That role won 77 year-old Bruce Dern the best actor prize at this year's Cannes film fest.   Nicholson was also due to star alongside Clint Eastwood and Warren Beatty as retired superheroes in Matthew Vaughn's The Golden Age; however, this project is currently on hold.

The Demise Of The 3D Movie

As time goes on the popularity of 3D movies seems to be waning. It appears that Hollywood's efforts to advance the 3D format may be dying, as popular demand for 3D is fading away.

The graph shows just how much the 3D format has dipped - with only 16 3D films scheduled for release in 2014.  After the release of Avatar, 3D took off and many films, which should never have been released in 3D, unfortunately, were.  I believe, that starting next year, the studios will only release their very biggest titles in 3D - and that is how it should be.

For awhile, the novelty of 3D got moviegoers to see movies they may otherwise have ignored, particularly after Avatar - which was so successful as a 3D feature - but everything gets old and routine and the enticement of 3D has now worn off.  The same can be said for 3D TVs, as their sales have steadily declined as well.

Don't expect to see 3D movies disappearing but the studios are going to be much more selective in how they use the 3D format in the future.

Best
Jim Lavorato