The candidates for Best Motion Picture of the Year for the 80th Annual Academy Awards:

1. Atonement: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster.
2. Juno: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick, Russell Smith.
3. Michael Clayton: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent.
4. No Country for Old Men: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin.
5. There Will Be Blood: Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar.

The Oscar goes to No Country For Old Men.

Bo Zenga, who produced Scary Movie, is making a directorial debut on Stan Helsing, a horror spoof. (His last production was Turistas, starring Josh Duhamel of Las Vegas – see video clip below.) The movie, written by Zenga, is about a video store clerk, Stan Helsing, who has to save his town from various monsters. Shooting starts this April.

Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds had a wedding ceremony New Year’s Day on an island near Bora Bora, but under French law, they would have to be resident 30 days for a legal marriage. So not only were they not legally married, they didn’t have a legit ceremony upon returning to the U.S. Now, only two weeks later, they’ve split from their fake marriage. Apparently, Murphy yelled at Edmonds during the ceremony.

Personally, I think it’s because Edmonds finally watched Norbit and was horrified.

Sasha Baron Cohen, aka Borat, aka Ali G, might be appearing in a Steven Spielberg film, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2010). The film is about counter-culture hero Abbie Hoffman (pictured above and in video clip below), who was one of several protesters involved in disrupting the 1968 Democratic convention. Charges against Hoffman and others – conspiring to incite a riot – were dismissed. His death on April 12, 1989 was ruled a suicide.

Cohen is reported to be taking on the role of Abbie Hoffman. He’s currently appearing as a rival barber to Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He’ll also be in Bruno in 2008, and Dinner for Schmucks and Curly Oxide and Vice Thrill, both in 2009.

The ladies’ man Eddie Murphy reportedly wed Tracey Edmonds on New Year’s Day near Bora Bora in a private ceremony. They’ve been dating for about a year and were in engaged in July 2007.

Edmonds is a film producer, with Chilled in Miami scheduled for 2009. (Marrying film producers must be a trend, as Jimmy Fallon just married Nancy Juvonen.)

Murphy will be appearing in three movies in 2008 (Starship Dave, NowhereLand, and an untitled Brett Ratner project), one in 2009 (untitled Romeo and Julie project) and one in 2010 (Shrek Goes Fourth, voice). Starship Dave opens May 30th. A video clip from the filming is below.

Frank Capra, Jr., president of EUE/ Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, Delaware, and son of the director Frank Capra, died mid last week at age 73 of prostate cancer. His father, Frank Capra, Sr. (d. 1991), is probably best known for what is arguably the best Christmas movie ever, 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life (starring the legendary Jimmy Stewart, d. 1997).

Capra, Jr., has been in the movie business since 1959 but went into it reluctantly. He moved to Wilmington in 1983 while producing Stephen King’s Firestarter and ended up settling there. His son Frank Capra III went into the business much more eagerly. He’s first assistant director on The Bucket List (Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman), which opens Dec 25th.

Firestarter starred David Keith, Drew Barrymore, Heather Locklear, Martin Sheen, George C. Scott, Art Carney. The video clip below is from the movie but is set to Prodigy’s song Firestarter.

Two of the hottest producers of right now are Judd Apatow and Jerry Bruckheimer, though you’re probably more familiar with Bruckheimer’s name. Between them, each of their last five films combined (i.e, ten in total) have pulled box office profits of about $1.6B.

In the TV arena, Bruckheimer’s name is behind the three CSI franchises (CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY), Cold Case, Without a Trace, The Amazing Race, and more. In movies, his producing credits go back to 1972 and include Thief, Cat People, Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop I and II, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, Dangerous Minds, Pirates of the Carribean (all three), National Treasure and National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets.

While Apatow is a relative newcomer to Bruckheimer’s veteran career, Apatow has about half the producing credits since only 1991, starting out in TV with Jim Carrey, Tom Arnold, Roseanne Arnold, and Ben Stiller and later Larry Sanders. One of his first big movie productions is The Cable Guy (directed by Ben Stiller, starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick), followed by arguably entertaining flicks such as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Kicking & Screaming, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Knocked Up, Superbad, and the just-opened Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Obviously two very different demographics are being targeted by either producer, but apparently very successfully. While I am not nor ever have been a movie snob, I’ll have to admit I wouldn’t have rushed out to see any of Apatow’s movies in a theater – with the possible exception of Walk Hard simply because dishy Jenna Fischer is in it. I love super-talented Will Ferrell as much as the next SNL fan, but his characters in Apatow films are complete buffoons. I’m happy saving $8-15 per flick and seeing them for free on TV.

Surprisingly to me, I’ve also never rushed out to see Bruckheimer films, though I have gladly watched pretty much all of the big ones on TV. I’m also a very big fan of most of his TV crime dramas, including CSI, Cold Case and Without a Trace.

Of course, they aren’t the only two hot producers, but at present, they appear to be doing quite well for themselves. Apatow is producing four films for 2008 and two for 2009. Bruckheimer only has one for 2008 and two for 2009.

Since Peter Jackson has other obligations, he’ll not be directing the two upcoming “The Hobbit” movies. He will executive produce The Hobbit, now that he’s settled his lawsuit with New Line Cinema. Directing duties are falling to Sam Raimi, who’s probably best known for directing the first three Spiderman films, Evil Dead, The Messengers, 30 Days of Night (video clip below), and various other horror filcks.

Filming is supposed to start immediately. Raimi is also directing Wizard’s First Rule for 2008, a TV mini-series based on Terry Goodkind’s popular “Sword of Truth” adventure-fantasy novels. In addition, he’s producing several TV series and movies. 2008: Wizard’s First Rule, Drag Me to Hell, Dibbuk Box; 2009: Armored, The Grudge 3, The Evil Dead, Priest, and an untitled project.

Moviemaker Saul Zaentz is launching a lawsuit against New Line Cinema. Zaentz made a hybrid live action-animated version of Lord of the Rings in 1978. He’d acquired the rights to the LOTR novels and The Hobbit and later licensed them to Miramax, who licensed them to New Line. So he feels he should get a share of the newer LOTR trilogy of movies, which Peter Jackson directed. (Several actors from New Zealand who also appeared in Jackson’s movies.)

Jackson himself recently settled with New Line. He’d had a lawsuit against them, claiming they’d underpaid him commissions on his LOTR movies. Everything’s hugs and kisses now, and Jackson will executive produce (not direct) two Hobbit movies (based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit novel), which predate the Rings books. Filming will start immediately.

Zaentz himself produced some acclaimed films, including Goya’s Ghosts, The English Patient, At Play in the Fields of the Lord, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Mosquito Coast (executive producer), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The video clip below is from The English Patient.

Lovers of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic Lord of the Rings books or even the acclaimed trilogy of movies directed by Peter Jackson should be happy to hear that another Tolkien novel, 1937’s The Hobbit, will be turned into a live-action movie. Unfortunately, Jackson will not direct, but he will be the executive producer.

There are actually going to be two movies filmed together, though no word if it’ll be in New Zealand like the Rings trilogy. The first will be released in 2010 and the second in 2011.

The Hobbit is a prequel to the Rings books, and follows the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, the uncle of Frodo Baggins, who was the main character in the Rings books and movies.

There was an animated TV movie, The Hobbit, in 1977, of which a clip is below.