It’s a strange fact that over its 10 year history The Harry Potter Franchise has failed to win even a single Oscar. The movies based on the best-selling novel of the same name written by J.K Rowling have failed to work their magic on the Academy. The films were nominated for 12 Oscars over the 10 years in the categories such as art direction, visual effects, make-up, cinematography, costume design and music. However, each time they went away empty handed much to the frustration of the cast and crew who worked on the most successful movie franchise in history.

The last chance to clinch an Oscar came with the final installment “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows – Part 2” which was released last year and nominated for art direction, make-up and visual effects. In two of the categories it was beaten by Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” while the make-up award went to the Margaret Thatcher biopic “The Iron Lady”. John Richardson, special effects supervisor on the Harry Potter movies stated at the press launch of the new Potter studio tour at Leavesden studios outside London, “I think a lot of us look fairly wryly at the politics of the American Academy (of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), of which I am a member, It does beg the question why did Harry Potter not get recognized at all for the last Deathly Hallows film?”. He further adds that the film got three nominations and was one of the best made and best grossing films of the year, however a Martin Scorsese film which wasn’t as successful won three awards.

The story of a French black and white movie with no dialogues or any major stars sweeping the Oscars is a fairytale to say the least. As with most fairytales the ending was happy and joyous. The movie won five Oscars including best picture, best directing, best costume design, best original music score and best actor. The Oscar favorites were all nominated, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Woody Allen, but it was ‘The Artist’ director Michel Hazanavicius who bagged the honor for best director.

While the film is now celebrated by one and all, everybody has a little seed of doubt in their minds as to how this happened? How did such an uninspiring movie become a colossal success? Well, most seem to believe it is the handiwork of one genius named Harvey Weinstein, the man who bought the film’s distribution rights in the U.S before it even hit the film festival scene. Harvey Weinstein is a movie mogul and someone who is widely known for unearthing talents like Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is a successful film-maker who has attained widespread success and critical acclaim for his movies like Pulp Fiction, Kill-Bill and Inglorious Bastards. Harvey also backed last year’s best picture winner The King’s Speech.

For the 84^th Academy Award Ceremony, the academy is putting together a brilliant line up of presenters. The ceremony will take place on the 26^th of February. The ceremony hosted by the American Academy of Motion Pictures will honor the best films of 2011.

Eddie Murphy was set to host the show originally, but Billy Crystal has replaced him. This will be his 9^th time to host it. Brian Grazer and Don Mischer will be producing it.

This week, Brian Grazer and Don Mischer have added yet another star to the already starry line-up of presenters at the Academy Awards. Angelina Jolie will be joining the talented lineup of presenters that includes Halle Berry, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez and the cast of Bridesmaids.

As 2012 beckons, let’s bid farewell to the year gone by. It’s been an eventful year in the movies. So here’s all the year-end news you should know before ushering in the New Year.

Bid Goodbye to Film

In what comes as probably the biggest change in Cinema in recent memory is that film will be a thing of the past. Movie theaters have been put on notice to have them convert all their projections to digital. Movie studios are mulling over a change to do away with shipping films on film stock, which are a huge expenditure and a logistical nightmare. Fox Studios is leading the change; it expects to go fully digital by the end of 2012. All other major players will also follow suit. The only other movies that we might see on film are IMAX and indie films. The younger generation might not understand the fuss behind the move, however it would be a landmark change in the way cinema has been viewed; the move can be compared with the previous decision to shift to color movies or the momentous move from silent cinema. However, as we all know ‘Change is constant and inevitable’.