About the Book

"This chronicle of 2012 is a slice of what happened during a watershed year for the Hollywood movie industry. It's not the whole story, but it's a mosaic of what went on, and why, and of where things are heading."

What changed in one Hollywood year to produce a record-breaking box office after two years of decline? How can the Sundance Festival influence a film's fate, as it did for Beasts of the Southern Wild and Searching for Sugar Man, which both went all the way to the Oscars? Why did John Carter misfire and The Hunger Games succeed? How did maneuvers at festivals such as South by Southwest (SXSW), Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, and New York and at conventions such as CinemaCon and Comic-Con benefit Amour, Django Unchained, Moonrise Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook, Les Misérables, The Life of Pi, The Avengers, Lincoln, and Argo? What jeopardized Zero Dark Thirty's launch? What role does gender bias still play in the industry? What are the ten things that changed the 2012 Oscar race?

When it comes to film, Anne Thompson, a seasoned reporter and critic, addresses these questions and more on her respected daily blog, Thompson on Hollywood. Each year, she observes the Hollywood machine at work: the indies at Sundance, the exhibitors' jockeying at CinemaCon, the international scene at Cannes, the summer tentpoles, the fall's "smart" films and festivals, the family-friendly and big films of the holiday season, and the glamour of the Oscars®. Inspired by William Goldman's classic book The Season, which examined the overall Broadway scene through a production-by-production analysis of one theatrical season, Thompson had long wanted to apply a similar lens to the movie business. When she chose 2012 as "the year" to track, she knew that box-office and DVD sales were declining, production costs were soaring, and the digital revolution was making big waves, but she had no idea that events would converge to bring radical structural movement, record-setting box-office revenues, and what she calls "sublime moviemaking."

Though impossible to mention all 670-plus films released in 2012, Thompson includes many in this book, while focusing on the nine Best Picture nominees and the personalities and powers behind them. Reflecting on the year, Thompson concludes, "The best movies get made because filmmakers, financiers, champions, and a great many gifted creative people stubbornly ignore the obstacles. The question going forward is how adaptive these people are, and how flexible is the industry itself?"

Critical Praise

Nobody reports on the movie business with greater savvy or a sharper eye than Anne Thompson. In this valuable book she explores an entire year’s worth of events, clarifying the Big Picture while revealing insider details along the way. What a juicy read! — Leonard Maltin, author of Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen

The $11 Billion Year combines insight, intelligence, and irony. Whether Anne Thompson explains the growing importance of film festivals like Telluride, or dissects how a marketing strategy worked, she gives us ‘2012: A Movie Odyssey.’ — Annette Insdorf, Director of Undergraduate Film Studies, Columbia University

I loved it! The $11 Billion Year is both a wonderful read and an informative one. Not always the same. Anyone who is interested in movies, business, or American culture should read this book. You could make a movie about this book about making (and marketing) movies! — David Black, award-winning film & TV screenwriter and author of An Invisible Life and Like Father

The $11 Billion Year makes you feel like a Hollywood insider. No matter how much you think you know about the movie industry, you’ll learn more from Anne Thompson. She lives and breathes the business. — Nora Rawlinson, co-founder and editor Early World, former editor of Library Journal and editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly

Ace Hollywood analyst Anne Thompson not only knows where the bodies are buried—she digs them up for you! — Peter Rainer, author, Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era

Anne Thompson (her name is spelled correctly, and she has never suggested we are related) has for several years run one of the liveliest movie websites done with characteristic flair and aplomb. I am amazed by her cheerfulness, but I love hearing her give voice to it. — David Thomson, author of The Biographical Dictionary of Film and Moments that Made the Movies

Mixing behind-the-scenes stories about the making of the most notable films of 2012 with keen observations about the changing nature of the business, Thompson has crafted a page-turning look at the moviemaking industry that is bound to appeal to film buffs. — Booklist

An in-depth analysis of the changing business of filmmaking . . . Thompson also provides personally gleaned insights from the directors and stars of the major 2012 vehicles. Why didn’t the prestigious “Lincoln” win Best Picture? Read and learn. — New York Daily News

Product Details

• ISBN: 9780062218018
• ISBN 10: 0062218018
• Imprint: Newmarket Press
• On Sale: 03/04/2014
• Trimsize: 6.000 in (w) x 9.000 in (h) x 1.080 in (d)
• Pages: 320
• List Price: $26.99
• BISAC1 : PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / History & Criticism
• BISAC2 : PERFORMING ARTS / Business Aspects
• BISAC3 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History
• BISAC4 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General
• BISAC5 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Automobile Industry
• BISAC6 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Service
• BISAC7 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Transportation
• BISAC8 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Entertainment
• BISAC9 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Food Industry
• BISAC10 : BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate & Business History