The $11 Billion Year

From the Sundance Festival to the Oscars, a seasoned insider reveals how Hollywood really works by chronicling the making and marketing of movies released in one transformative year (2012)-from low-budget indies to studio blockbusters, detailing the players, the winners, the losers, and every facet of the billion- dollar global motion picture business

Why did Argo beat Lincoln for Best Film at the Oscars? How did Beasts of the Southern Wild become the darling at Sundance? How did Harvey Weinstein's maneuvers at Cannes benefit Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook? What might Cinema-Com, Comic-Con and the Telluride, Toronto, New York Festivals have to do with making or breaking a film's chances? What films are China and Russia developing for global release? Did women filmmakers and actors fare better or not?

When it comes to film, Anne Thompson is a reporter who sees, and reports on it all in her daily blog "Thompson on Hollywood"-the indies at Sundance, the glamour of the Oscars, the exhibitor's jockeying at Cinema-Com, the international scene at Cannes, the summer tent poles, fall's "smart" films, and the BIG films of the holiday season. From January through December, each year, she sees the Hollywood machine at work, from script development, production, to marketing and distribution, as studios decide on their release strategies, schmooze with media influencers, and face the myriad challenges now facing the industry, including declining DVD sales, soaring production and marketing costs, escalating box office ticket prices, shorter exhibition windows, and the incredible impact of the digital revolution-from 3-D to VOD and IMAX.

Inspired by William Goldman's classic book, The Season, about one year on Broadway, Thompson long wanted to write an in-depth, informed chronicle of what goes on within one year inside the motion picture industry from her reporter's point of view. She believed it could provide insights and a behind-the-scenes perspective on every aspect of the business of movies like no other book had done before. The 2012 slate provided her the perfect opportunity to take on the ambitious and fascinating challenge resulting in The $11 Billion Year.