Skyfall wins best British film at Bafta's - Feb 2013

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James Bond film Skyfall has won the Outstanding British Film category at the Baftas.

The first award was presented by Bradley Cooper and Ben Affleck. Film-maker Sam Mendes paid tribute to the 'bravery and brilliance' of Daniel Craig and 'the great' Ian Fleming who created James Bond. Host Stephen Fry introduced the show which started with a performance by Paloma Faith of the INXS hit Never Tear Us Apart. Faith was back on stage with David Morrissey to present the award for Best Original Music to Thomas Newman for Skyfall. Speaking backstage, Mendes said he would love to make another Bond film.

He told reporters: 'I've had a great time, it's been a huge learning curve and we would want to make a better movie next time around, and if we thought we do that they might let me have another go again.' Lincoln star Sally Field came on stage to present the award for Original Screenplay without her presenting partner Eddie Redmayne after he was taken ill backstage.

Field told the audience: 'He seems to be puking his guts out back there.' Quentin Tarantino picked up the award for his western Django Unchained and thanked his actors for doing a 'bang-up job with my dialogue'. The film has attracted criticism for its liberal use of racial insults and Tarantino thanked his backers for standing by what he described as 'a hot potato' film.

Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence handed the award for Best Supporting Actor to Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained. Accepting his award, he said it was an 'immense honour' and paid tribute to its 'silver-penned' writer. He said: 'Why I get to stand here is really no mystery because it says at the beginning of our film, 'written and directed by Quentin Tarantino'.'

George Clooney presented the award for Supporting Actress to Les Miserables star Anne Hathaway. The actress thanked the 'golden-hearted group' who made the film and wished her co-star Redmayne well, saying: 'Feel better. I mean I'd be holding your hair back, but, you know...'

Meanwhile, the award for Best Short Film went to Swimmer which was made by We Need to Talk About Kevin director Lynne Ramsay. The Making of Longbird picked up the award for Best Short Animation. Jacqueline Durran won the award for Costume Design for her work on the Keira Knightley film Anna Karenina.

Lisa Westcott won the award for Best Make-up and Hair for her work on Les Miserables. Brave, a Disney fantasy set in the Scottish Highlands, was named Best Animated Film. The awards for Sound and Editing went to Les Miserables and Ben Affleck's Iran hostage crisis drama Argo respectively. Mark Strong presented the Cinematography award to Claudio Miranda for his work on Life Of Pi which was picked up on his behalf by the film director Ang Lee.

Earlier, some of the biggest names in Hollywood braved the wind and the rain to meet fans on the red carpet. Hugh Jackman and Redmayne stopped to sign autographs and pose for pictures outside the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden.

Other celebrities were Hobbit star Martin Freeman, Alicia Vikander and Tom Hiddleston. Daniel Day-Lewis' dominance of the awards season is expected to continue, where he is the hot favourite to win the Best Actor award.

The star, who has already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for his performance in the title role of Steven Spielberg's political biopic Lincoln, is also tipped to win an Oscar later this month.

Lincoln leads the field in terms of nominations with 10 in total, with nine each for Les Miserables and Life Of Pi.

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Skyfall, Rise Of The Guardians battle at US box office...

James Bond is in a box office photo finish with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny over what looks to be the last slow weekend of the holidays.

According to studio estimates on Sunday, Sony's Bond tale Skyfall took in $US11 million ($A10.54 million) to move back to No.1 in its fifth weekend.

That put it narrowly ahead of Paramount's Rise of the Guardians, the animated adventure of Santa, the Easter Bunny and other mythological heroes that pulled in $US10.5 million.

The two movies inched ahead of Summit Entertainment's The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, which had been top for three straight weekends.

The Twilight finale earned $US9.2 million, slipping into a tight race for No.3 with Disney's Lincoln, which was close behind with $US9.1 million.

The top movies were bunched up so closely that rankings could change once final weekend revenues are released on Monday.

The weekend's only new wide release, Gerard Butler's romantic comedy Playing for Keeps, flopped with $US6 million, coming in at No.6.

Skyfall raised its domestic total to $US261.6 million and added $US20.3 million overseas to bring its international income to $US656.6 million. At $US918 million worldwide, Skyfall has the best cash haul ever for the Bond franchise and surpassed Spider-Man 3 at $US890 million to become Sony's top-grossing hit.

The Twilight finale also is a franchise record-breaker, surpassing the $US710 million worldwide haul of last year's Breaking Dawn - Part 1. The finale's domestic total now stands at $US268.7 million.

Rise of the Guardians led the international box office with $US26 million, followed by 20th Century Fox's Life of Pi at $US23.8 million.

It was another traditionally quiet post-Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with big November releases continuing to dominate in the lull before a pre-Christmas onslaught of movies.

The box office is expected to soar next weekend with the arrival of part one of The Hobbit, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings prelude.

After that comes a steady rush of action, comedy and drama through year's end, including Tom Cruise's Jack Reacher, Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx's Django Unchained, Seth Rogen's The Guilt Trip and Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe's Les Miserables.

'The last couple of weeks of the year are some of the strongest every year,' said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box office tracker Hollywood.com

'We are on the cusp of some really huge box office. There's a lot of money still left in the year despite this slow period right now.'

Hollywood's domestic revenues have topped $US10 billion so far this year, with the industry expected to finish 2012 ahead of the all-time high of $US10.6 billion set in 2009.

Trashed savagely by critics, FilmDistrict's Playing for Keeps stars Butler as a washed-up soccer star trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Jessica Biel) and young son. The all-star cast includes Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman as soccer mums with the hots for Butler.

In limited release, Bill Murray's Franklin Roosevelt drama Hyde Park on Hudson opened solidly with $US83,280 in four theatres, averaging a healthy $US20,820 a cinema. By comparison, Playing for Keeps averaged $US2115 in 2837 theatres.

Released by Focus Features, Hyde Park on Hudson stars Murray as Roosevelt, whose intimate relations with a distant cousin (Laura Linney) become both a source of strength and distraction as the president plays host to the king and queen of England on the eve of World War II.