Here's why you likely won't see Angelina Jolie's vanity project 'By the Sea' in this year's Oscar race

It had all the makings for a project that would appeal to Oscar.

A movie star writing, directing, and starring in a romantic drama, in which her fellow-movie-star husband plays opposite her.

But the opening weekend confirmed what many in Hollywood already knew: Angelina Jolie's latest directing effort, "By the Sea," is not going to be an Oscar contender.

"By the Sea" stars Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt as a married couple struggling to recapture the flame in their relationship following a traumatic event in their lives. They travel to a small French village to vacation, but that mostly entails Jolie's character perched on her balcony all day while Pitt's character gets drunk down the road at a cafe.

An intimate tale with little dialogue and even less happening (though it does have intriguing moments about being in a relationship), it will likely go down as a vanity project by Jolie that will be quickly forgotten or find an audience a generation from now at the repertory theaters.

So why was the movie even made?

The Pitts are still huge movie stars, and with "By the Sea" being touted as the pair's first time together on the screen since 2005's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," many were intrigued.

Jolie also has a strong relationship with Universal, the studio that released the film. Her last directing effort, "Unbroken," was made at the studio. To keep the relationship secure with one of its big stars, Universal made a relatively small gamble in forking over $30 million ($10 million budget, the rest for prints and advertising).

But with negative reviews (the film currently has a 32% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), the chances for "By the Sea" to do well in its opening weekend were slim.

On Sunday, "By the Sea" came in with a disappointing $95,440 in 10 theaters for a per-screen average of $9.544. But Universal isn't giving up. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio will expand the movie to 100 theaters in 40 markets next week.

But that's more to show it's not burying the movie. Universal has no intention of campaigning it for the awards season, a source close to the studio told Business Insider.

Tom O'Neil, of awards tracking site Gold Derby, told BI that early screenings of the film proved its lack of awards buzz.

"Audience reaction was mixed," O'Neil said of the screenings. "Some people view it as a lightweight vanity production brimming with arthouse pretension. Others truly appreciate the film, but don't feel passionately enough about it to champion for Oscars."

The film currently has a 100/1 shot to win Best Picture, according to the odds Gold Derby lists for the movies that could be eligible for the Academy Awards. That's one very long shot.

Source:http://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-why-you-likely-wont-see-Angelina-Jolies-vanity-project-By-the-Sea-in-this-years-Oscar-race/articleshow/49807927.cms

By the Sea Review: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt's Drama Gets 1.5 Stars, Enters Into "Gigli-Ville" Territory

In theaters Friday, Nov. 13

1.5 stars (out of 4 stars)

Mr. & Mrs. Smith have taken a trip to the Maltese Coast. And wow, are they miserable.

Don’t keep them company.

That’s the big takeaway from a pointless and glacially paced vanity project from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Written, produced, directed by, and costarring the missus, the film will be remembered — if it's remembered at all — as the couple’s ill-conceived turn into Gigli-ville. At least it’s significantly more gorgeous.

Strip away the pair’s sizzling and playful chemistry from their hit 2005 action flick. In this drama, the two play a married couple in the 1970s who, from the moment they arrive at the sleepy French beach hotel, palpably despise each other. He’s a writer named Roland; she’s a former dancer named Vanessa. Yet at no point will you not think to yourself, “That is Brad Pitt. That is his wife, Angelina Jolie. They are married in real life. I wonder how weird it was for her to direct her husband. It's crazy that they have six kids.” (Such is the downside of a super-famous Hollywood couple paired up on-screen).

“We’re here to get away from it all,” Roland explains in perfect Francais to the hotel owner at check-in. Indeed, judging from their stilted conversations and her penchant for self-medicating, there’s an underlying issue haunting them. (It’s so unoriginal that you will guess it within the first 30 minutes.) But this movie isn’t about solving a mystery — if only!

Jolie would rather capture fleeting scenes from a tormented marriage. For much of the pic, she smokes on the sun-kissed balcony and gazes forlornly into the horizon. It’s like she only wants to film herself looking as glamorous and bored as possible. (The woman even goes to bed in full makeup, complete with false eyelashes.) He drinks heavily and engages in wistful conversations with the seen-it-all owner. If there’s a narrative treasure in here, it’s buried deep in the sand.

These long days and nights at the beach perk up a bit upon the introduction of the young French honeymooners vacationing in the room next door. They’re friendly and in love, which piques Vanessa’s curiosity to unsettling degrees. With the discovery of a small hole at the bottom of the conjoined wall in her room, she becomes a 24/7 voyeur. She can’t stop watching them have sex and talk about having children and have more sex. Even after Roland catches her on the floor with a guilty smile on her face, the two watch together. But he does it as a form of bonding with his distant wife, while she just lets the rage burn deep inside her.

In a more sophisticated piece of work, this could have laid the foundation to a fascinating psychological thriller — one in which an emotionally pained housewife is determined to slowly sabotage her marriage, as well as the union of two perfectly happy strangers, in a dreamy international backdrop. And all her helpless husband can do is watch the drama unfold through a tiny peephole. Keep the original title; lose almost everything else.

Source:http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/by-the-sea-review-angelina-jolie-brad-pitts-drama-gets-15-stars-20151011#ixzz3r8xmGeXl

Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt Are a Stunning Red Carpet Couple at Event in N.Y.C.

One of Hollywood's most glamorous couples – Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt – stunned on the red carpet Wednesday night. 

The A-list pair stepped out for the WSJ Magazine 2015 Innovator Awards, where they kept close to one another on the red carpet at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. 

The pair might play a couple struggling with their marriage in their upcoming film, By the Sea, but there were certainly no signs of strife between the real-life couple Wednesday. The couple sweetly stayed close for most of the evening, and when Jolie Pitt stepped away for solo photos Pitt cast a protective eye over her to make sure she looked comfortable. 
The duo sat with Robert De Niro inside the event, and the Oscar-winning actor presented Jolie Pitt with the WSJ Innovator Award for Entertainment/Film.

Source:http://www.people.com/article/angelina-jolie-pitt-brad-pitt-wsj-magazine-innovator-awards